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<p>The Caribbean Basin is very important to U.S. interests. At its closest, the region sits 50 miles from the U.S. mainland. We are the leading investor in the region, and $35.3 billion of trade flows between us each year. The Caribbean Basin is also important to our broader geopolitical interests. The U.S. has seven key military bases across the region; eight of the Caribbean Basin’s 30 countries formally recognize Taiwan, the highest share of any region in the world. However, while we have been distracted by other things, China has been making significant inroads into the Caribbean, where it is eager to displace American economic and military influence.</p>

The Department of Justice responded to media organizations who reported on Tuesday that the DOJ had concluded its investigation into allegations of voter fraud and had found no evidence, saying that claim was incorrect. “Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that the Department has concluded its investigation of election fraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud in the election,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement. “That is not what the Associated Press reported nor what the Attorney General stated. The Department will continue to receive and vigorously pursue all specific and credible allegations of fraud as expeditiously...

Dozens of schools play tricks to meet requirements to stay in the FBS, like fake ticket sales to meet attendance guidelines. The teams they hurt are often from the same state, as fan bases are divided and conferences outside of the Power 5 are bloated with weakness. That's not a statement about their academics or their team spirit; it's about their ability to compete financially with teams that are literally out of their league. Remove the teams that don't belong, and the remaining conferences will be much stronger. In the past, I've written about how to realign conferences to give...

I learned from Don Boudreaux this morning that Walter Williams died either this morning or last night. For those of you who don’t know, he was a long-time economics professor at George Mason University. I’ll have more to say later but I want to give one appreciation. Walter liked smoking and he also hated the TSA. Some years ago, the combination of no-smoking regs on planes and intrusive groping by the TSA caused him to vow never to fly by commercial airline again. When he received offers to give speeches that were far enough away that driving was infeasible, he...

LikeTweet+1Published: Tue, Dec 1st 2020 @ 10:50 am EST by Leon KolankiewiczSadly, in 2020 life is imitating art in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.Art: In the Paramount Network’s hit contemporary Western series Yellowstone, set in western Montana’s rugged Rocky Mountains, Kevin Costner plays grizzled old cattle rancher and crusty patriarch John Dutton. For generations, Dutton and his forebears running the vast family ranch named “Yellowstone,” have had to contend with bone-chilling winter temperatures, blizzards, disease outbreaks, broken fences, snarling and sneaky predators, cattle rustlers, rowdy cowboys, aggrieved Indian neighbors, and environmental regulators. Now, in the 21st...

Attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood are scheduled to give a press conference today at 2:00 pm EST in Atlanta, Georgia

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is reaching out for help for the beleaguered restaurant and bar industry, the same industry facing restrictions from his state-imposed mitigations. “I want to urge the Congress to step up and include in the stimulus package support for restaurants and bars that have been so hard hit by the virus,” said Pritzker Tuesday at his daily COVID-19 briefing.

The idea is to strictly control the basic means of voting, the ballot. These several simple steps/rules could possibly cut 99% of all voter fraud so the dimocrats would never go for it. It could be implemented by EO for Federal Elections. And there is enough leeway to allow states to conduct their elections according to the constitution. 1. Ballots for Presidential elections are printed at the mint with each ballot being numbered, printed on the same paper used for our currency, having anti-counterfeit measures printed in. Each ballot is a controlled item. 2. Blank ballots are shipped to each...

With toilets in short supply, ordure can harm streams and wildlife. An entrepreneur has a nifty solution Supported by SEJ About this content Grant Stringer Wed 2 Dec 2020 05.15 EST 55 For 20 years, Richard Lechleitner had a grueling task at Mt Rainier national park: digging human waste out of backcountry toilets and carrying it down the mountains. Staff at the park in Washington state grappled with an influx of visitors hiking far from roads, along with thousands of climbers attempting to reach the active volcano’s 14,000-foot summit each year. People heeded the call of nature on Mt. Rainier’s...

(2:55 p.m. EST) -- Cruise lines could return to Cuba as early as next year with the change of administration in the U.S. "Cuba was a very important part of our itineraries," said Tom McAlpin, president and CEO of Virgin Voyages, speaking at the International Cruise Summit in Madrid. "We hope that, with the new administration, that will open up again. It was very good for our industry, and we look forward to being back in Cuba." McAlpin stated that Cuba would be an ideal close-to-home destination for cruises based out of Florida. "In the short run, before there is...

"Hiking anyone? I am looking for a friend to go hiking with. I am a moderate hiker, 68 years of age and I would love some company," Lisa Thorborg wrote A California woman who was fatally stabbed along a nature trail near her home posted a message online weeks earlier looking for someone to hike with. Lisa Thorborg, 68, was hiking Carlsbad’s Hosp Grove West Trail between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Nov. 23 when she was attacked. A passerby found the former physical therapist’s body on the trail around 11:20 a.m., Carlsbad police say. Thorborg, who had moved to...

On Monday, Vice reported that the New Yorker suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin because he exposed himself on a company Zoom call. While the infamous "incident" has sparked conversations about appropriate conduct during virtual meetings, the indiscretion is also extremely relevant to the debate regarding social media regulation and Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934.Revealing one's self in a work setting can invariably lead to lawsuits. And if lawsuits are filed, Toobin, rather than Zoom, should be liable. Zoom likely had no knowledge of the incident until it was reported, nor did Zoom have anything to do with his...

<p>OMFG, my cousin got these for her kids for Christmas. All the Karen's on her Facebook were gushing about how politically correct the doll was wearing a mask. Are we in the Soviet Union or what? Dept of Elf Magic? Unreal.</p>

A rocky few weeks for Malik Beasley is only getting worse. The 24-year-old Minnesota Timberwolves guard - who was charged with felony threats of violence and fifth-degree drug possession on Oct. 30 - was seen out and about with Larsa Pippen, the ex-wife of former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen. A Nov. 23 photo of Beasley and Pippen, 46, holding hands in Miami was a surprise to Beasley’s wife, Instagram model Montana Yao. Yao, who has a child with Beasley, was “blindsided” by the image. She is also facing charges stemming from the late October arrest alongside Beasley. Pippen divorced...

The Balkanization of college campuses. When he wryly observed that “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act,” Orwell may well have had academia in mind, where challenging prevailing ideology can have a calamitous effect on one’s reputation and career—something especially true of faculty. In 1978, the significant Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case brought the term “diversity” into the lexicon of higher education Although the Court found that the medical school at the University of California at Davis had used an unconstitutional quota system in denying Alan Bakke admission, Justice Lewis Powell...

The Chenango County Board of Elections said Tuesday they discovered 55 early votes which were not counted. That's according to the county's Democratic Party commissioner. Out of those 55 votes, only 44 are countable because the other 11 voters were not registered.(20% of voters

Believe it or not, finding Foster’s beer in Australia – what international drinkers think of as the country’s beer of choice – isn’t easy. In its proverbial homeland, the Southern Cross-spangled cans elude shop shelves and, in 2015, just 10 venues across the entire country poured it on tap. But the brand that promoted Australia’s laidback drinking culture to the world has decided to relaunch locally, upping production in Melbourne by 300% in the coming months. The brewer Carlton and United Breweries, now owned by Japanese behemoth Asahi, will target hip-pocket nerves, going after low-cost competitors. Thirty cans of Foster’s...

GAZA - The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees paid the salaries of 30,000 Palestinian staff across the Middle East for last month, but a funding shortfall may still hinder payment in December, officials said on Wednesday. UNRWA finds itself in limbo after the U.S. election - President Donald Trump ended all U.S. payments, but while Palestinians hope President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will at least partially resume payments, that could take months. The agency said last month it had run out of money to pay salaries after two years of funding cuts by the United States and other donors, including...

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Suspected members of an insurgent jihadist group slaughtered 20 Christians in villages in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between Nov. 20 and Nov. 25, area sources said. The Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are suspected in the attacks on villages in North Kivu Province, said a local clergyman who lost his family in an assault on Mayitike village, about 20 miles northwest of Beni town, on Nov. 20. “They tried to force some of our Christians to convert to Islam,” the clergyman, whose name is withheld for security...

While the Biden campaign was announcing a slate of radicals sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood to stack its foreign policy desk if it ever takes over the government, a very different sort of trip was underway in the middle east that clarified how wrong and dangerous they were. In an event that would have been inconceivable under Barack Obama, the Shillman Fellows of Reservists on Duty, an organization founded by Israeli military veterans that tours college campuses to speak about the realities of fighting terrorism, were on their way to Dubai. Dubai, as part of the United Arab Emirates, had...