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China is rapidly building an airstrip on an artificial island in disputed South China Sea waters, recent satellite pictures show, potentially ramping up tensions with several Southeast Asian neighbours. Fiery Cross in the Spratly Islands was little more than a reef when China began land reclamation works to turn it into an island in late 2014.

Friday morning, Mike Huckabee's spokesman announced that he will have a special “announcement” on tonight’s edition of Special Report:@GovMikeHuckabee to reporters in DC: "If you watch @SpecialReport with @BretBaier tonight I'll make an announcement about my 2016 decision" Special Report with Bret Baier airs at 6 p.m. ET on Fox News

Cameras placed along Texas' 1,200-mile border with Mexico have captured the stream of illegal immigrants sneaking into the country on a daily basis. The network of more than 1,000 motion detectors, similar to those used to film wildlife, have been placed strategically in areas that have not been secured - where Mexican citizens can cross and evade capture with ease. They helped border guards apprehend nearly 30,000 suspects and led to 88,400 pounds of drugs being seized in 2014 as part of Operation Drawbridge. The system has also had a significant impact on Mexican cartels and their ability to smuggle...

Losing your job comes with an extra sting if you live in Belarus. Citizens of the eastern European country are now being forced to pay penalties if they find themselves out of work for too long. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree this month that sets fines for unemployed people, and puts them at risk of temporary detention. Lukashenko has ruled the country of nine million since 1994, and is considered by many to be Europe's last dictator. Under the new law, people who haven't worked for at least six months -- and therefore haven't paid taxes - must...

VIDEO: Students are ‘Ready for Hillary’ just because she’s a woman Hillary Clinton supporters at the University of Washington were asked why they supported the former Secretary of State. Answers ranged from “she’s a woman," to “because it’s time we have a female president." It seems many students at the University of Washington can’t think of any reason why they should vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 — other than her gender. Campus Reform headed to Seattle, Wash., and asked several college students if they were “ready for Hillary” and why they would vote for her.

The video of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager taking steady aim and repeatedly shooting the fleeing Walter Scott in the back is rather shocking and disturbing. It shows the horrible consequence of Slager completely following through on his decision to resort to deadly force when, after a foot chase and fierce physical fight, Scott looked to be turning the officer’s own taser against him. Some who have analyzed the incident and video closely know that the details are somewhat different than the authorities and media would have people know. http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/04/12/game-changer-or-paradigm-shift-walter-scott-shooting-enhanced-video-shows-officer-slager-with-taser-darts/comment-page-1/ The moment of decision looks to have happened so...

Hillary Clinton wants to meet “everyday Americans” so badly, she drove right past many waiting in front of her event in Iowa. In the now-viral clip of reporters chasing after Clinton’s “Scooby” van, the Clinton camp drove to the back entrance, surprising both reporters and many of her supporters waiting to get a glimpse of the candidate. “I think what you don’t see in that clip, which is one of the most surprising things is there were actually a ton of people waiting for her at the front of that college,” said Financial Times reporter Megan Murphy. “There were elderly...

Woo hoo!! Our 2nd quarter FReepathon is well underway!! Please get your donations in early so we can wrap this baby up within 30 days. We need your continuing support to keep FR on the air. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who enjoy and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No one trying to control us. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks....

Explanation: Galactic or open star clusters are young. These swarms of stars are born together near the plane of the Milky Way, but their numbers steadily dwindle as cluster members are ejected by galactic tides and gravitational interactions. In fact, this bright open cluster, known as M46, is around 300 million years young. It still contains a few hundred stars within a span of 30 light-years or so. Located about 5,000 light-years away toward the constellation Puppis, M46 also seems to contain contradictions to its youthful status. In this pretty starscape, the colorful, circular patch above and right of the...

President Obama’s executive actions on immigration will be tested on Friday when a federal appeals court considers whether to lift an order blocking the actions to allow millions of immigrants without legal status to remain in the United States. Lawyers from the federal government and 26 states opposed to Obama’s immigration policies will make oral arguments in front of a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the most conservative circuit in the country. ADVERTISEMENT The administration is seeking an emergency stay lifting a Texas judge’s order freezing Obama’s November executive actions, which could...

So far, of the declared candidates for president, the only one who voted for the Iraq War is the Democrat. I recently made that observation on Twitter and the response was instructive. I will refrain from reprinting the more piquant language from Hillary Clinton's supporters, but one common theme was that I am a fool. Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio weren't in the Senate for the Iraq war vote, many shrieked. Well, exactly. In case you haven't been paying attention, you might be interested to know that the Iraq War was not popular, especially among Democrats. If...

<p>Rick Perry says he won't make the same mistakes he made in New Hampshire four years ago if he chooses to make another run for the Republican presidential nomination.</p> <p>"Coming here and spending the time in New Hampshire is invaluable, and I didn't realize that in '11," the former Texas governor told a handful of voters Friday at the Waterhouse Country Store in Windham.</p>

GRANTS PASS -- A man who owns a gold-mining claim on federal land in southwestern Oregon asked for help defending it after U.S. authorities ordered him to stop work, but he is now telling his armed supporters to back off. Rick Barclay said Thursday that he hoped to prevent his fight with federal regulators from turning into the kind of high-profile standoff at a Nevada ranch last year. He initially called in a local chapter of constitutional activists known as the Oath Keepers because he thought the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would seize the equipment on his mining claim...

<p>The International Association of Machinists on Friday withdrew its petition for a vote next week on whether Boeing Co. workers want union representation, saying too much misinformation and outside political interference has created a “toxic” and potentially violent atmosphere that can’t be overcome in just a few days.</p>

There has been no want of “writing on the wall” about the upcoming cases on marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas could not help but remark on the point that a majority of his colleagues had already, and gracelessly, signaled their “intended resolution of that question.” And yet, writers and lawyers on both sides continue to expend their genius in writing briefs for the Court, clinging to the possibility that the words they set down may yet tip the balance. But as the arguments pour forth, the curious asymmetry is that only one side is offering substantive arguments. Justice Kennedy has maintained...

Radical activists in the gay community have put pedal to the metal to force gay acceptance from Christians -- making not only their position but also their tactics anti-Christian. They are deliberately targeting the Christian wedding industry -- the cakemakers, the caterers, the quaint bed-and-breakfast owners, and the like. They are headhunting Christians who refuse their business on moral grounds by slapping them with lawsuits or "human rights" complaints. Fascists would appreciate these tactics. Everyone witnessed the national shaming and death threats that came to Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, because the owners declined to cater a gay "wedding" --...

Major contributors like the Koch brothers and Tom Steyer would get a break on gift taxes to secretive non-profit groups. The House on Wednesday with little fanfare passed legislation that would protect major donors like the Koch brothers and Tom Steyer from having to pay gift taxes on huge donations to secret money political groups. The legislation, which now heads to the Senate, is seen by fundraising operatives as removing one of the few remaining potential obstacles to unfettered big-money spending by nonprofit groups registered under a section of the Tax Code — 501(c) — that allows them to shield...

Flying a kamikaze drone armed with explosives from the back of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft, and directing it right into the insurgent’s fighting hole. The Marines tested a small unmanned aircraft known as the Switchblade recently at Twentynine Palms, Calif., flying it directly at targets from both the ground and the back of the Osprey, a long-range aircraft that has rotors like a helicopter, but can fly like a plane once they rotate forward. They were “inert,” with no explosives on board, but the mission went off without a hitch, said Col. James Adams, commanding officer of Marine Aviation Weapons...

As reported On July 16 2015, country singer Tim McGraw along with Billy Currington will headline a fundraiser for gun control group Sandy Hook Promise in Connecticut. Sandy Hook Promise is a vehicle through which various relatives of Sandy Hook victims have joined to push gun control until it passes. Newtown father Mark Bearden joined the group pledging to “dedicate the rest of his life” to pursuing gun control. McGraw says he supports the Sandy Hook Promise, “Sandy Hook Promise teaches that we can do something to protect our children from gun violence“ and as AmmoLand Shooting Sports News has...

Presidents are inevitably shaped by the circumstances in which they campaign for -- and come into -- office. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt called for "bold, persistent experimentation" and followed through once in office. Had Roosevelt run in another year, or had there been no Great Depression, he would have campaigned and governed differently. The same can be said, to varying degrees, of the presidents who won open-seat contests since, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, the two George Bushes and Barack Obama, and of those who unseated incumbents, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. The Republicans who have announced their candidacies...