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The following is adapted from a speech delivered on April 25, 2025, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Kansas City, Missouri. Vice President J.D. Vance’s first major assignment from Donald Trump was to join a bunch of European leaders who thought of themselves as our close allies—and to read them the riot act. This happened at the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Instead of discussing armaments and armies, Vance said: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental...

The US president no longer cares about the near-term political consequences of his actions, says the former senior official in an interview in Washington. Few people know the inside of U.S. Republican administrations as well as John Bolton, who has worked on foreign policy in every one of them since the days of Ronald Reagan. Under George W. Bush, he served as ambassador to the UN, and in Donald Trump’s first term, he served as National Security Adviser for 18 months—“a record for that administration,” he recalls with a laugh. The relationship didn’t end well: Bolton, like many other senior...

Links to video: https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/erik-prince-the-future-of-dynamic-warfare/ Or https://youtu.be/WPMgzm_9K50?si=sAiO_dDDrcHs847h

Senior diplomat Barbara Leaf says she received 'positive messages' on fighting terror from Ahmed al-Sharaa; new leaders say they wish to contribute to 'regional peace' A senior US diplomat told Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday that Washington was scrapping a reward for his arrest, and welcomed “positive messages” from their talks including a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The country’s...

This film was made to sell to high school media departments who purchased it to show to their juniors and seniors. Students in public high schools were being exposed to the concept of propaganda, especially given the context of World War II and the early Cold War. At this time there was an emphasis on educating citizens, including school children, about the role of propaganda. Would anyone make a film like this to run in schools involving media fake media or not?

The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) supplied to Ukraine by the US has been “completely ineffective” on the battlefield due to persistent Russian jamming. This is according to a classified Ukrainian weapons assessment seen by The Washington Post, exposing more flaws in some of America’s most sophisticated weapon systems. According to the report, Kyiv had to pause or scale back its use of some US-supplied weapons because of targeting issues caused by Moscow’s electronic warfare (EW) capabilities. One source said the HIMARS sometimes misses its target by more than 50 feet (15 meters). Apart from the Lockheed Martin missiles,...

On the battlefields of Ukraine, the future of war is quickly becoming its present. Thousands of drones fill the skies. These drones and their operators are using artificial intelligence systems to avoid obstacles and identify potential targets. AI models are also helping Ukraine predict where to strike. Thanks to these systems, Ukrainian soldiers are taking out tanks and downing planes with devastating effectiveness. Russian units find themselves under constant observation, and their communications lines are prone to enemy disruption—as are Ukraine’s. Both states are racing to develop even more advanced technologies that can counter relentless attacks and overcome their adversary’s...

Percentage of children born out of wedlock in France from 1994 to 2022: https://www.statista.com/statistics/957229/births-out-of-wedlock-france/

The US has lifted its long-standing ban on weapons supplies and training to Ukraine's Azov brigade, whose origins were mired in controversy over alleged links to far-right groups. A state department spokesman told the BBC a vetting process "found no evidence of gross violations of human rights" by the brigade. The Azov brigade, now a unit within Ukraine's National Guard, hailed the move, saying Russia's "lies... received a devastating blow". Moscow condemned the decision, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the US was "even prepared to flirt with neo-Nazis" to suppress Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made false...

Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American. Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages. That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier’s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired — “just shot him...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia's defense minister reshuffle was a further indication of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desperation to sustain" his invasion of Ukraine, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday. Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defense minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilize the defense budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.

I just got back from Ukraine, where I was visiting some friends. Everything we have heard about what’s happening in Ukraine is a lie. The reality is darker, bleaker, and unequivocally hopeless. There is no such thing as Ukraine "winning" this war. - By their estimates, they have lost over one million of their sons, fathers and husbands; an entire generation is gone. - Even in the Southwest, where the anti-Russian sentiment is long-standing, citizens are reluctant or straight-up scared to publicly criticize Zelensky; they will go to jail. - In every village and town, the streets, shops, and restaurants...

When U.S. news outlets' lucrative peddling of Chinese propaganda was exposed in 2019 and 2020, it was a scandal. Human rights groups condemned the practice, and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal swore off Chinese Communist Party money. In the years since, however, a number of major U.S. newspapers and magazines have kept at it—accepting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for publishing content by China Daily, a state-owned English-language paper. China Daily's Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show that between October 2020 and October 2023, the CCP mouthpiece paid...

Russia has made an explosive claim about NATO's involvement in the Ukraine war. Moscow claimed that NATO troops, disguised as mercenaries, are operating in Ukraine. The claim has been made by the chief of the main operational directorate of the Russian general staff, Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy. He said that NATO troops control multiple launch rocket systems and air defences in Ukraine. The startling statement comes as the Ukrainian army is unable to defend its territory. In the latest blow, the Ukrainian military lost control over Avdiivka. Watch this report to learn more.

Gonzalo Lira is an American citizen who’s been tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky. Biden officials approve of this, because they’d like to apply the same standard here. The media agree. Here’s a statement from Gonzalo Lira’s…

Six weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory. The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution. Malta drafted the resolution, which calls for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza Strip and urges the release of all hostages held by Hamas. The US and the UK, two potentially veto-wielding powers, abstained on the resolution on the grounds that although they...

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has significantly expanded the pool of Ukrainian women who are required to register for possible military conscription in the event of a major war.

Queering Jesus: How It's Going Mainstream at Progressive Churches and Top Divinity Schools By John Murawski, RealClearInvestigations United Methodist Insight Vignettes from progressive Christianity today: A Presbyterian church goes viral online for marking the Transgender Day of Visibility with a public prayer to the “God of Pronouns.” The congregants of the church, First Presbyterian of Iowa City, pay obeisance to “the God of Trans Being,” giving due glory to “the Great They/Them.” The United Methodist Church boasts the first drag queen in the world to become a certified candidate for ordination. This traveling minister, who describes drag ministry as a...

The use and possession of marijuana is illegal under U.S. federal law, but in recent years a growing number of states have legalized the drug for medical or recreational purposes. The changing legal landscape has coincided with a dramatic increase in public support for legalization, which a majority of Americans now favor. Here are seven facts about Americans’ views of and experiences with marijuana, based on Pew Research Center surveys and other sources.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is warning that a Republican proposal to cap government spending could slash medical services for veterans and slow benefits payments. The statement outlining potential consequences of funding cuts was released by the department Friday as the messaging battle heats up ahead of an expected vote in the House this week on a GOP plan to raise the amount of money the nation can borrow to pay its bills in exchange for steep spending cuts.