The children running Gavin Newsom’s X account might be legitimately brain dead, as evidenced by their latest attempt to ‘own’ conservative influencer Benny Johnson. 

On Tuesday, Johnson took to the streets of Los Angeles, posting from an ARCO station that “The average price of gas in America is $2.82 per gallon.”

“There are 19 states where you can find gas under $2,” he continued, adding “Here in Los Angeles, it’s over $4 and you get to step over homeless people while you fill up.“

The average price of gas in America is $2.82 per gallon.

There are 19 states where you can find gas under $2.

Here in Los Angeles, it’s over $4 and you get to step over homeless people while you fill up.

Californians are being ripped off.

This is theft. pic.twitter.com/CdisvOX73I

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 14, 2026

Newsom’s team pounced into action – posting a map showing gas prices above $4/gallon all over the place.

“Benny could have SAVED $1 PER GALLON driving down the road instead of picking notoriously overpriced Chevron” they replied, adding “all this guy does is mislead.” 

Benny could have SAVED $1 PER GALLON driving down the road instead of picking notoriously overpriced Chevron — all this guy does is mislead.

Just see the map here (right down the road) https://t.co/I9cKF1Z4cO pic.twitter.com/jY3Mf3cKDb

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 14, 2026

Except, Newsom’s team is the one doing the misleading. For starters, Johnson was at an ARCO, not a Chevron. 

Needless to say, the self-own was epic…

Bro is flexing $4 gas and you didn’t even get the gas station right

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 15, 2026

Hey morons his video is at an ARCO station not Chevron but congrats on proving yet again why you’re the dumbest office in America

— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) January 15, 2026

pic.twitter.com/UIPWLUs4XY

— Baron Von Grimm (@baronvongrimm) January 14, 2026

Bragging about $4.00-$5.00 gas when the national average is $2.84 is peak Newsom. pic.twitter.com/zTOhD1Yn4T

— John Seravalli (@John_Seravalli1) January 15, 2026

Hey guys, I just broke Gavin’s brain.

Check out this self-own:

Gavin, your post shows Cali gas is DOUBLE the national average.

And this is NOT the gas station I was at. I was at an Arco on Ash Ave. You just PROVED gas is expensive everywhere!

+ you ratio’d yourself.

Owned 🤣 https://t.co/4mjss4YwIT

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 15, 2026

Keep it up guys, you’re doing great!!

Gavin Newsom’s white comms guy using “sing kumbaya” to talk down to a black
woman sure is a look.

Incredible. pic.twitter.com/jYnmEUZKlx

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 21, 2025

Via The Cradle

Several Muslim-majority states are in talks with Pakistan to acquire the JF-17 fighter jet, co-produced with China, as they scramble to upgrade their air forces amid shifting regional security dynamics.

According to multiple reports from Reuters, Pakistan is in talks or has reached preliminary arrangements with Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, and Bangladesh over fighter jets, drones, and related defense systems, with negotiations at varying stages.

via Reuters

Retired Pakistan Air Force air marshal Aamir Masood told Reuters that a preliminary $4 billion agreement had been reached with the Libyan National Army for an unspecified number of JF-17s and other trainer aircraft produced by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

Masood also said a separate $1.5 billion package was “effectively” finalized with Sudan’s government for light-attack aircraft, surveillance systems, suicide drones, and “possibly” JF-17s, claiming it could give Khartoum an edge over the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

He added that Islamabad is discussing a $4 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. In September, the two nations signed a mutual defense pact “soon after Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas negotiators in Qatar.” 

Pakistan has also floated an “arms-for-debt” component of around $2 billion, Masood said, while warning signs of regional rivalries loom over Sudan, where backers diverge.

During a flash war with India last year, Islamabad showcased the battlefield performance of Chinese-made aircraft.

The battle involved more than 100 fighter jets, with Pakistan claiming it shot down five Indian aircraft, including three French-made Rafales. At the same time, US officials later confirmed that at least two Indian jets were lost, before a US-brokered ceasefire took hold.

The battle was described by analyst Pepe Escobar as “the largest and most high-tech air battle of the young 21st century,” arguing that the clash produced no real winners and ultimately served the interests of outside powers rather than either side.

Islamabad’s defence diplomacy is driving new interest in the JF-17 fighter jet following Pakistan-India clashes.

So what is the JF-17 Thunder, what can it do, and why are so many countries showing interest? https://t.co/3XTrlJgtZX pic.twitter.com/SUMPxR8KrJ

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 10, 2026

According to an earlier report by Reuters, two Pakistani sources said “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in talks to convert about $2 billion of Saudi loans into a JF-17 fighter jet deal,” and one added, “The jets were the primary option among others under discussion.”

Efforts by the Trump administration to push more Venezuelan oil onto the global market, with the goal of lowering prices, are creating concern in West Texas, where producers say cheaper oil threatens drilling, jobs and local business activity, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

Oil prices have fallen since last spring, recently dipping below $60 a barrel — a level at which many operators can keep pumping but often avoid starting new wells. President Trump believes exerting greater control over Venezuela’s oil industry could drive prices down to $50 a barrel, The Wall Street Journal has reported. At the same time, tariffs have raised costs for materials such as chemicals and steel tubing, according to Midland oil executives.

In the Permian Basin, the heart of U.S. fracking, drilling activity has slowed. “We’re definitely not drilling right now,” said Taylor Sell, chief executive of Element Petroleum.

The number of active rigs in the region is down 14% over the past year, according to Enverus. Companies have delayed new wells, cut staff and reduced worker hours. Kyle Patterson, engineering manager at Buckeye, said the company laid off about 10% of its workforce. “You can’t just sit around and wait for the market to come back,” he said.

The Journal writes that local industry leaders worry that prolonged low prices will increase U.S. dependence on imports. “It has really cast a shadow over the Permian,” said Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

Some producers say they oppose relying on Venezuelan oil. “We are on a gold mine; we can produce enough oil to supply ourselves,” said Bubba Dobson, a Midland-based business representative who has seen his pay decline as drilling demand weakens.

The slowdown is affecting the wider economy. Hotel occupancy in the region fell 5.6% between November 2024 and November 2025, according to CoStar. As drilling activity declines, spending at local businesses has softened.

Veteran producer Paul Kenworthy said low prices have forced him to pause some projects, adding, “This is a boom-and-bust business.”

While some residents support the administration’s broader policies, frustration is growing among business owners. “We thought he was going to help the economy here in West Texas,” said restaurant co-owner Nemecio Torres, whose revenue dropped about 30% last year.

Others say the downturn may deepen. “It’ll be a year until we really start feeling the pain,” said Pat Dennis, who sells oilfield tools.

In Odessa, where oil paychecks once dominated local commerce, store manager Ruby Ramirez said business has slowed sharply. “It’s an oil-field town,” she said. “The oil field’s not the oil field anymore.”

Authored by Monica Showalter via American Thinker,

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its faithful enforcement of U.S. immigration law, whining loudly that his city was being unfairly targeted because it was run by Democrats while other cities had higher numbers of illegal aliens. He was scored for it, of course, and just found new way to embarrass his city.

According to the Washington Examiner’s editorial page:

During his press conference announcing a suit brought by Minneapolis against the Department of Homeland Security, Mayor Jacob Frey questioned why thousands of immigration enforcement personnel, including agents from both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, have been sent to his jurisdiction. 

If the goal was immigration enforcement, if the goal were simply to look for people that are undocumented, Minneapolis and St. Paul would not be the place where you would go,” Frey reasoned. “There are countless more people that are undocumented in Florida and Texas and Utah. Why are they in these much smaller cities in the middle of the Midwest?”

“The answer is very clear,” Frey continued, answering his own question, “It is politics. Florida and Texas and Utah are Republican states. The reason that Minnesota and Minneapolis are being targeted is because you’ve got a Democratic governor, a Democratic attorney general, and you got Democratic mayors.”

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FREY suggests ICE actions in his city aren’t about stopping murder and crime:

“We are willing to work with people when it’s about murder and when it’s about crime, but the truth is that this ain’t about that.”

“Why is the largest scale immigration… pic.twitter.com/Ko91Cn1uJH

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 14, 2026

He seemed to think that was a bad thing.

But based on this plaintive howl, he seemed to think his state was paying some kind of price for federal immigration enforcement, instead of seeing a valuable service performed, which is what the feds are paid to do, as if his state wasn’t benefiting from it.

The Examiner pointed out that actually, Frey let the cat out of the bag about the real Democrat agenda, which was amnesty for every illegal once Democrats regain power, and every amnestied illegal a new Democrat voter. So Frey was actually admitting that his voter base was being taken away.

The Examiner also pointed out that the problem was completely preventable, in that Minnesota was a sanctuary state, meaning federal officials had to surge the area to round up illegals, which came in all varieties, while red states with illegals cooperated with federal authorities and got their enforcement done without riots and screaming.

The biggest embarrassment he exposed his city to was the embarrassing reality that these red states were creating jobs that were drawing illegals to work. Minnesota, on the other hand was not creating many jobs, yet it was still drawing large numbers of illegals.  Other than government jobs, Minnesota is creating very few real jobs (11,300 in fiscal 2024), signaling that illegals come there for the generous welfare benefits and fraud opportunities. They’re not coming for the jobs.

That’s an entirely different migrant he’s attracting, the welfare sponges who never get off welfare, some of whom use their state cash to finance terrorism abroad. U.S. taxpayers pick up the tab, but only Frey and his fellow Democrats get any benefit.

Small wonder, then, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump announced this week a freeze on visas from countries where disproportionate numbers of migrants come to collect welfare. 

Every one of these welfare recipients, when eventually given citizenship, votes Democrat. What they don’t do is get off welfare. 

Frey, though, has now come crying that the gig is up on his welfare magnet model. Now he will have to try to create non-government jobs. He doesn’t have anything else going for his state based on its economic picture.

Average temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic, including Washington, DC, have trended above the 30-year normal in recent weeks (pressuring NatGas futures) following an Arctic plunge in early December, but a second cold blast of the season is expected to arrive by the end of the week, bringing the risk of winter precipitation by late weekend that could extend into early next week.

“Not one, not two, not three, but four or five plunges of polar air will probably hit the United States through the end of the month. The third, fourth, and fifth episodes currently look to bring the most severe cold,” meteorologist Ben Noll wrote on X.

Not one, not two, not three, but four or five plunges of polar air will probably hit the United States through the end of the month 🥶

The third, fourth and fifth episodes currently look to bring the most severe cold. pic.twitter.com/8G6YocYRnb

— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) January 15, 2026

With the incoming cold blast comes the risk of snow for parts of the East Coast. AccuWeather meteorologists say a shifting jet stream will bring a narrow band of snow from southern Georgia to the Mid-Atlantic states and into the Northeast by late weekend.

Meteorologists and weather observers on X have begun posting models …

GFS forecasting a classic Bastardi wave. This is a known phenomena that it snows where I used to live and I wave at it as it goes by to my southeast. The central Pennsylvania snow hole continues. pic.twitter.com/PBrTdrUQ4B

— The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) January 15, 2026

SNOW is becoming more likely across the Southeast on Sunday! 👀 pic.twitter.com/NcTVtMFPqS

— Max Velocity (@MaxVelocityWX) January 15, 2026

Areas from the Florida Panhandle to the Carolinas could see some snow on Sunday, but the odds for more than an inch aren’t high.

Warm grounds and marginally cold air temperatures will work against a big event.

Still, any snow in this region is noteworthy, so keep watching! pic.twitter.com/xkOO4pBBf4

— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) January 15, 2026

Still in the game. There will be two chances for snow around Baltimore this weekend. Snow showers on Saturday could produce a coating of snow in some areas. Then there’s the coastal storm on Sunday. The trend on that storm is NW. Models are split on getting the snow into… pic.twitter.com/r3keHoClMb

— Tony Pann (@TonyPannWBAL) January 15, 2026

Note that the Lower 48 has reached the low point of the winter season, which continues through the end of the month.