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Taiwan’s China-friendly Nationalist Party has elected its first female leader after ousting her as its presidential candidate ahead of January elections that were won by pro-independence rivals. The Kuomintang had ditched Hung Hsiu-chu as her abrasive style and strongly pro-China positions were seen as alienating voters. The veteran legislator and former teacher was elected as leader over three other candidates Saturday and likely faces a difficult time rebuilding the party after its January electoral defeat. […] Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Hung from Beijing, saying he hoped the two parties would continue to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to the official...

Scotland’s leader says she doesn’t want to use a possible British vote to leave the European Union as leverage to achieve independence. But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon concedes that Scots’ secessionist spirits would be inflamed if English voters forced them out of the EU. Sturgeon spoke Sunday on the second day of her Scottish National Party’s spring conference, which is focused on strengthening nationalist control of Scotland’s Parliament in a May 5 election. […] Sunday’s published poll data suggested that Scottish voters appear much more enthusiastic than their English neighbors about staying inside the 28-nation bloc, with 50 percent planning...

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression. When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed...

China's PLA forces carry out landing drills near Taiwan outpost days after elections PUBLISHED : Thursday, 21 January, 2016, 8:22pm UPDATED : Thursday, 21 January, 2016, 8:28pm The People's Liberation Army based in the Fujian provincial city of Xiamen - 10km opposite one of self-ruled Taiwan's outposts - has carried out live-fire exercises and landing drills just days after the pro-independence opposition party won elections in Taiwan. Military experts said the drills were aimed at sending a "political warning" to Taiwan's president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of Democratic Progressive Party, that Beijing would never give up using "non-peaceful means" to solve...

MADISON, Wis. - While the left and the right staked out their positions on the Badger State's condition, Gov. Scott Walker's 2016 edition of the State of the State address was replete with the kind of core conservative ideas that had gotten lost in the din of his failed presidential campaign. "For too long, government programs have entrapped individuals...into extended dependency," the Republican governor said Tuesday in laying out his executive blueprint, which promises to be somewhat muted by election-year inertia. "Our reforms help people get the training they need to get back up on their feet." While the diminishing...

15 families have arrived on the tiny island of Bute, off the West of Scotland Scottish minister Humza Yousaf said their arrival was a 'proud day', adding: 'I would like to extend the warmest of welcomes on behalf of the people of Scotland, and wish them all the best as they start their new lives here.' For her part, Home Secretary Theresa May tried to reassure locals by saying all arrivals would be screened to ensure they did not pose a security threat, amid fears that some would-be terrorists who have travelled to Britain posing as refugees. Indeed, in September,...

We always knew they were coming back. After INDEPENDENCE DAY redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

Trump did not need 2acquire wealth & power, owes nothing to anyone. Candidates owe their backers"

Depending  on whom you believe, 25,000 or 50,000 Poles rallied in Warsaw on the anniversary of Polish independence, denouncing the EU.  AFP, via the  UK Telegraph, reports: Tens of thousands of protesters poured into Warsaw's streets on Wednesday for a demonstration organised by the far right, marching under the slogan "Poland for the Polish" and burning an EU flag. which marked the anniversary of Poland's return to independence after the First World War, while organisers put the numbers at 50,000. "God, honour, homeland," chanted the protesters as they marched under a sea of red-and-white Polish flags. Demonstrators trampled and...

As Hispanic Heritage Month draws to a close, it is worth remembering the contributions that Hispanics have made to American independence. “Many Americans of Hispanic origin have received deserved praise,” Alejandro Chafuen of the Atlas Society writes in Forbes. “A major public Washington, D.C. square and statue is dedicated to David G. Farragut (1801-1870), a Hispanic American.” “Farragut was the son of Jordi Farragut (1755-1817), born in Minorca, Spain. David Farragut became the first U.S. admiral. He is remembered for a great many things, including his call of ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ at the Battle of Mobile Bay,...

src="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Come_And_Take_It_Mural.jpg" Sara Seely DeWitt and her daughter Evaline made the flag, back then referred to as the Old Cannon Flag, now called the Come and Take It flag. Depicted on a white cloth was a cannon with a lone star above it, and the words "come and take it" beneath the cannon. It was Texas' first battle flag, and first lone star flag and was flown at the Battle of Gonzales called the Lexington of Texas. The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between...

If you can't work for yourself and afford health insurance, something is seriously messed up. By financial independence, I don't mean an inherited trust fund--I mean earning an independent living as a self-employed person. Sure, it's nice if you chose the right parents and inherited a fortune. But even without the inherited fortune, financial independence via self-employment has always been an integral part of the American Dream. Indeed, it could be argued that financial independence is the American Dream because it gives us the freedom to say Take This Job And Shove It (Johnny Paycheck). This chart shows the self-employed as a percentage of those with jobs (all nonfarm...

Commemorating the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel ahead of India's 69th Independence Day, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said India has stood as a beacon for the world. - John Kerry AFP photo Washington - Commemorating the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel ahead of India's 69th Independence Day, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said India has stood as a beacon for the world. "Since 1947, India has stood as a beacon for the world, as an economic power that prides innovation, as a resilient...

Al Jazeera’s digital media platform AJ+ posted a Fourth of July-themed video mocking Americans as fat, cheese-eating, gun-toting, pill-popping, racist porn watchers. While some on social media applauded the creation, others slammed the Qatar-owned network for using the holiday “to dump” on America. Social media users got particularly riled up by the criticism coming from the channel owned by Qatar — a country where stoning is a legal punishment under Shariah law, women have second class legal status, writers can be imprisoned for criticizing the emir and abuse of foreign laborers has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups. The...

As Obama’s term as President is slowly nearing its end, more and more of who the man is, and what he truly stands for, is beginning to seep out. For instance, President Obama released his 4th of July weekly address for 2015 with one key ingredient missing: God. Unlike his weekly addresses during the previous two years, where the President concluded his speeches with “God Bless You All” (2014) and “So, God bless You All. And may God bless The United States of America” (2013), Obama left out any mention of God in his recent address. Instead, this year, he...

Okay My pet peeve of mine on this day is everybody I know on Facebook, including those that are Conservative (very few of them), say "Happy 4th of July." To me, in the simple sense, 'July 4th' is merely another day on the calender: the fourth day of the month of July. It is what happened on this day 239 years ago that I celebrate. Some very brave men drafted an article declaring their independence from the largest military power in the world in 1776. The Founders of this nation had the idea that a government should be comprised of...

'When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." -- Proverbs 29:2 Don't get me wrong. We'll be barbecuing tomorrow and greatly enjoying the fellowship of family and friends. We'll be lighting off a few celebratory firecrackers, as John Adams suggested we should do. We'll go to the local fireworks display and commemorate our national liberty and independence with our fellow citizens. But, on this particular Independence Day, something important is missing. I can't help but mourn, as traitors, cowards, wicked men, and oath-breakers run amok in American halls of power....

LIBERTY! The American Revolution is a dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation. The George Foster Peabody award-winning series brings the people, events and ideas of the revolution to life through military reenactments and dramatic recreations performed by a distinguished cast. _________________________ EPISODE 1: "The Reluctant Revolutionaries" 1763-1774In 1763, the capitol city of America is London, George Washington is lobbying for a post in the British army, and no one thinks of Boston harbor when they hear talk of tea parties. In a dozen...

"The Fourth of July celebrates that monumental moment when a new nation was announced to the world, calling for immigrants. The new nation promised a new system of government based on a Constitution, and the land a resources to prosper in that new found freedom. The population of the Colonies was about 2.5 million in 1776. The call of freedom was heard worldwide and people arrived from all over." the full article is here

This weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July, high holiday of American civic religion and universal occasion for cookouts, stars-and-stripes bikinis, and raucous displays of unbridled patriotism. More than 200 years ago, however, there was no such unanimity on the subject of the American Revolution. Though our popular history tends to avoid such off-message details, about 15 percent of white American colonists during the Revolutionary War were loyalists, and perhaps more surprisingly, close to half were effectively neutral.