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Mystery as Gone With The Wind-style plantation that’s one of south’s oldest antebellum homes is destroyed by huge blaze

One of the oldest Antebellum-era plantations in the country was destroyed after a massive fire ripped through the historic mansion and completely engulfed it in flames.

The massive inferno erupted at Louisiana‘s historic Nottoway Plantation House shortly after 2pm Thursday.

A giant orange wall of fire consumed the 166-year-old home, which was located along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The blaze, which started in the south wing of the building, devoured the upper portion of the rotunda and sent a plume of thick smoke into the sky. 

Officials claim the inferno quickly spread to the main house and left behind a trail of destruction. Footage from the property shows charred and collapsed remnants of the once beautiful house. 

The plantation’s northern wing and back wall were completely destroyed, with only the chimneys remaining on each side. The façade and upper balcony had also collapsed. 

Although authorities note it is too soon to determine the full extent of the damage, the mansion’s owner, Louisiana attorney Dan Dyess, said in a written statement that the fire had led to a ‘total loss’ after all the time and money he invested in the building.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Iberville Parish government officials said. No injuries were reported. 

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Federal judge strikes down workplace protections for transgender workers

A federal judge in Texas struck down guidance from a government agency specifying protections against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday determined that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued guidance to employers against deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, and barring employees from wearing dress code-compliant clothing according to their gender identity because they may constitute forms of workplace harassment.

Kacsmaryk said the guidance is “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

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New Montana Law Blocks the State From Buying Private Data To Skirt the Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not long—only 54 words, in total. But its core premise can be summed up with a simple phrase: Come back with a warrant.

The Fourth Amendment protects people “against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Any law enforcement operative hoping to search or seize your “persons, houses, papers, [or] effects” must get a warrant, showing “probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

But in recent years, as Americans began storing larger portions of their personal information online, governments started buying this data, circumventing the Fourth Amendment’s guarantees of protection. This week, Montana became the first state to restrict the practice.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Carpenter v. United States that the government cannot search a suspect’s cell phone without a warrant.

“A person does not surrender all Fourth Amendment protection by venturing into the public sphere,” including by storing personal information on their phone, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “Although such records are generated for commercial purposes,” that does not “negate” one’s “anticipation of privacy.”

But in the years since, governments have gotten around that pesky constitutional prohibition by simply buying people’s data, with the public’s money.

Companies have access to reams of information about their users, and they often sell that data—anonymized—to firms called data brokers, who then bundle it and sell it to other companies, like advertisers. “A large portion of data brokerage is used for identity verification or fraud prevention,” Paul Boutin wrote in Newsweek. “Much of it is used for traditional marketing.”

But governments got in on the action, too. Federal agencies like the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent millions of dollars buying access to data that would otherwise require a warrant. In 2022, the Associated Press reported that police departments across the country had purchased and used “an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants, that gives them the power to follow people’s movements months back in time.”

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Sanctuary State California Protected Illegal Alien Now Accused of Murdering His 6-Year-Old Son

An illegal alien accused of murdering his 6-year-old son last week had been shielded from federal immigration enforcement thanks to California’s sanctuary state policy backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and elected state Democrats.

Briant Reyes Estrada, a 27-year-old illegal alien, has been arrested by the Paso Robles Police Department and charged with second-degree murder and willful harm to a child in connection with the death of his 6-year-old son.

According to police, on May 10, Reyes Estrada allegedly left his young son in his vehicle in the Paso Robles Inn parking lot for several hours. Reyes Estrada found his son, who sustained life-threatening heat-related injuries, and took him to Twin Cities Hospital where he died.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow has since revealed that Reyes Estrada should never have been in the United States and, even more, would have been turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency weeks ago if not for California’s sanctuary state policy.

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Coinbase Customers’ Personal Data Stolen in Hack, Stock Drops

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was recently targeted in a hacking incident that led to the personal data of thousands of customers being stolen, the company said in a May 15 statement.

According to a March 31 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Coinbase had 9.7 million monthly transaction users (MTU) by the end of that month.

Since the company claims that less than 1 percent of MTUs have been impacted by the hack, the number of affected individuals could be around 97,000.

Hackers got access to names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, last four digits of Social Security numbers, masked bank account numbers and identifiers, government ID images such as driver’s licenses and passports, and account data such as balance snapshots and transaction history.

Hackers did not get access to login credentials or 2FA codes, private keys, customer funds and the ability to move these funds, Coinbase Prime accounts, Coinbase or Coinbase customer hot or cold wallets.

Following the revelation, Coinbase shares crashed by 7.2 percent on Thursday.

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NIH Could Be Directed To STUDY ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

Legislation has been introduced to direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the psychological and social roots of ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’.

Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson has presented the Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) Research Act of 2025, intended to shed light on what has been a serious cultural affliction. 

Described as an “intense, irrational hysteria” triggered by the mere mention of President Trump, TDS has become a catch-all for the unhinged reactions of his critics— whether it comes in the form of spittle-flecked blue hair rants, protest effigies, or social media meltdowns.

Co-sponsored by Alabama Rep. Barry Moore, the research will look to explain why leftists lose their collective minds at the sight of a red hat.

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SHOCKING DISCOVERY: Human Remains Found Just a ‘Stone’s Throw’ from Taylor Swift’s Lavish Beachside Mansion

Human remains were discovered just a ‘stone’s throw’ from pop megastar Taylor Swift’s sprawling oceanfront compound, according to the New York Post.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Westerly Police responded to a call about possible human remains in the elite Watch Hill neighborhood—a gated oceanside enclave known for its multimillion-dollar mansions, celebrity residents, and ironclad privacy.

“Upon arrival, officers located what appeared to be a human leg bone,” Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella told The Post.

The grim find was recovered and transferred to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office for further analysis. So far, the identity of the remains is unknown.

More from The Post:

“It was probably a couple football fields away from Taylor Swift’s house and the Ocean House,” Taylor Day, a local resident who was driving by just as authorities descended on the scene, told NBC10.

“I would definitely disagree with that,” Day said. “I think finding a leg is very suspicious.”

“I saw three police cars—one undercover—two looked like Westerly town police officers, and there was a medical examiner pulling in behind me,” Day added as she described the scene.

“It kind of alarmed me, and it was just something very out of the ordinary for Westerly.”

Swift wrote “Last Great American Dynasty” about the history of her 11,000-square-foot mansion, nicknamed “Holiday House” — and about local residents grumbling over her purchase of the $17.75 million property.

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From Schumer’s ‘Whirlwind’ Threat To Comey’s ‘8647,’ Assassination Prep Is The Left’s MO

Former FBI Director James Comey appeared to call for the assassination of President Donald Trump in a social media post Thursday, but his outburst is just one in a long line of far-left lunatics whose extreme rhetoric has laid the groundwork for violence — and assassination attempts — against conservative political figures.

The social media featured a seashell arrangement of the numbers “8647” — a clear reference to the numbers “86” meaning “to get rid of,” and “47,” the presidency number of Trump’s second term in office.

The Trump administration said it was taking the threat seriously, and the dopey former FBI chief then 1) claimed that he stumbled across the message on the beach instead of make the formation himself, which is almost certainly untrue, and 2) that he genuinely had no idea that ’86’ is associated with violence — again, hard to believe.

As Ed Martin, former acting U.S. attorney for D.C., put it: “From Schumer Whirlwind to Comey 86 you get Butler or worse … their plan is killing: they are a clear and present danger.”

In 2020, then-Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., threatened Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, should Roe v. Wade be overturned.

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind,
and you will pay the price,” Schumer bleated to a crowd of angry people in 2020.

By May of 2022, more than a month before the official decision came down, someone leaked a draft of the would-be Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that would overturn Roe.

And sure enough, by early June, there was someone apparently willing to heed Schumer’s call. A California man admitted he traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Kavanaugh’s Montgomery County, Maryland, home “with the intent to kill the Supreme Court Justice.” Thankfully, he never had the chance.

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Trump Energy Chief Invokes Emergency Powers To Boost Fossil Fuel Use in Blackout-Plagued Puerto Rico

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is invoking emergency powers to empower Puerto Rico to boost fossil fuel power generation in the wake of a recent island-wide blackout and ahead of the summer, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Wright issued two orders Friday afternoon: The first directs the government-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to increase electric power production on the island to maintain grid reliability while the second orders the agency to immediately clear overgrown vegetation that presents risk of shortages and fire. Both orders invoked emergency powers conferred on the energy secretary under the Federal Power Act.

In addition, as part of the announcement, the Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office will conduct a review of $365 million in funding the Biden administration granted to third party organizations and companies in December to develop new solar power installations across the island.

Wright’s actions Friday represent an abrupt recalibration of how the federal government will address Puerto Rico’s ongoing power generation crisis, shifting from a focus on boosting green energy like solar power to expanding existing fossil fuel infrastructure. And it comes just a month after after Puerto Rico suffered a devastating blackout that impacted 1.4 million residents and left hundreds of thousands without water, the Associated Press reported.

That blackout was the second of its kind in less than four months on the island and underscored the power supply issues Puerto Rico has faced for the better part of a decade. Both blackouts are particularly alarming considering they occurred outside of the peak summer demand season.

“Access to energy is essential for all modern life, yet the current energy emergency jeopardizes Puerto Ricans’ access to basic necessities,” Wright said in a statement. “This system is unsustainable, and our fellow citizens should not be forced to suffer the constant instability and dangerous consequences of an unreliable power grid.”

“With President Trump’s leadership, we are prioritizing immediate and comprehensive actions that will mitigate the greatest threats to the grid and benefit a vastly larger portion of the population, including critical facilities like hospitals and community centers,” he continued.

The Department of Energy said Wright’s actions were taken in coordination with the Puerto Rican energy industry and power experts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The actions received support from Puerto Rico’s governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R.) and energy czar Josue Colon-Ortiz.

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America’s Next Top Migrant: White House Denies Noem Backing DHS Citizenship Game Show

The White House has denied a report that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is backing a proposal for a reality TV series that pits immigrants against each other for the grand prize: a fast-track to U.S. citizenship.

According to a 35-page pitch obtained by DailyMail.com, the Department of Homeland Security has been in contact with reality TV producer Rob Worsoff – known for Duck Dynasty and Millionaire Matchmaker – on a show called The American. The show would take a dozen pre-vetted immigrants on a cross-country journey aboard a train, competing in “cultural” challenges like assembling a Model T Ford in Detroit, rolling logs in Wisconsin, and digging clams in Maine.

Contestants would be greeted in New York City at Ellis Island by “a famous, naturalized American who was also born in another country,” the pitch reads, with names like Sofia Vergara, Ryan Reynolds, and Mila Kunis floated as possible hosts. Each contestant would receive a personalized baseball glove before hitting the rails aboard “The Citizen Ship.”

“Along the way, we will be reminded what it means to be American – through the eyes of the people who want it most,” Worsoff’s pitch says.

There’d be elimination rounds, dramatic town halls, and viewer voting tallied by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff – yes, actual DHS employees, according to the proposal. The live finale would see the train stop in Washington, D.C., with the winner sworn in on Capitol Hill as Thunderbird jets roar overhead. “There won’t be a dry eye within 10 miles!” the pitch promises.

Game show prizes? Think red-white-and-blue Americana: 1 million American Airlines points, a $10,000 Starbucks gift card, or a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s top spokesperson, confirmed the department had a call with Worsoff last week. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said. Though she claimed Noem “is yet to be briefed,” DailyMail.com reports Noem supports the show and wants to move forward.

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