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The South China Sea remains a flashpoint of escalating tensions as China intensifies its aggressive maritime activities, targeting nations like the Philippines CNS Admiral Dinesh Tripathi during his customary briefing of media before Navy Day last week expressed concern about Chinese maritime activities in the South China Sea, all of which China claims. Two countries it especially targets in SCS are Taiwan and the Philippines in whose waters it has indulged in offensive naval actions. It signed a defence agreement with the US in 1951; last month it signed an intelligence and technology agreement facilitating satellite intelligence and access to...

Senator Joe Manchin just walked onto the Senate floor as the deciding vote to DENY Democrats' left-wing selection for the National Labor Relations Board, Lauren McFerran. This now means Republicans could gain a majority on the NLRB when Trump takes office. ... The GOP can now confirm two nominees to the board. If this happens, Republicans will have a one-seat majority ... This was made possible by JD Vance RUSHING to D.C. all the way from Mar-a-Lago today to vote against Lauren McFerran .. He got on a plane to Washington specifically to be in the Senate for this vote."...

Lawsuit would target DA Alvin Bragg and the medical examiner's office.. Marine veteran Daniel Penny's defense team is eyeing a malicious prosecution lawsuit against District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others behind the charges, turning the tables after the lengthy high-profile case concluded with an acquittal. "Just like Danny said in his interview, it was like they wanted to try and get him on something," Penny's defense attorney Steven Raiser said Wednesday, reacting to the acquittal on "Fox & Friends." "They knew they weren't going to be able to get him, so they had to get rid of that top count...

West Point said the discrepancy on Hegseth's relationship with the school was because of an "administrative error" but that a further review confirmed that he was accepted into West Point in 1999, but did not attend the university. Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday called for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to conduct an internal investigation into allegations that it repeatedly lied to a member of the press about Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. A reporter at ProPublica claimed that an official at the school told them on the record twice that Hegseth was never accepted into...

The joy of Germany's Syrian refugees rejoicing the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government this weekend has quickly died down as leading lawmakers began calling for them to be deported back to their war-torn homeland. Hours after Syrians jubilantly took to the streets in several German cities on Sunday, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel declared anyone celebrating 'a free Syria evidently no longer has a reason to flee'. 'He should return to Syria immediately,' she said bluntly in a public statement shared on social networks. On Monday, prominent conservative lawmaker Jens Spahn told...

Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name him the news magazine’s “Person of the Year.” Now, the honor will be bestowed on him twice. Time will name Trump as this year’s choice on Thursday, recognizing the president-elect as the individual or group deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs “for good or for ill.” To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month. Time...

West Point has acknowledged it inaccurately informed a media outlet that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, did not get accepted into the institution more than two decades ago. Earlier Wednesday, Hegseth posted on social media that ProPublica “is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999” without any additional information. He accompanied that with a picture of his acceptance letter into the institution. Hegseth did not attend West Point but rather Princeton University, graduating in 2003. A ProPublica editor subsequently acknowledged in response to...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Kamala Harris's loss in the U.S. presidential election was a setback for women's progress — and cited several recent incidents that he said suggest women's rights are under attack by "regressive" and "reactionary" political forces. In an address to an Ottawa gala for Equal Voice, an organization that works to get more women elected to public office, Trudeau said politicians who are hostile to women's rights — particularly a woman's right to choose abortion — are "winning too often, unfortunately." He said feminists like himself have to be "lucid" about the challenges ahead....

12-year-old boy murdered, two people moderately injured, and two lightly injured as terrorist opens fire on a bus near the Al-Khader Junction, before fleeing the scene. Security forces are searching for him. ================================================================== A 12-year-old boy was murdered on Wednesday evening, shortly before midnight, when a terrorist fired at a bus near the Al-Khader Junction in Gush Etzion. The teen was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead after prolonged resuscitation efforts. Four other people suffered injuries in the attack and were evacuated to hospitals for treatment. The terrorist fled the scene and IDF troops are...

A Virginia real estate broker faces the prospect of losing his license and paying a hefty fine because of a Facebook post about a Bible verse about homosexuality. On Feb. 13, 2015, Staunton-based broker Wilson Fauber reposted the Rev. Franklin Graham’s post citing a verse in the Bible and added commentary from his own perspective as a pastor. After 44 years in the business with a clear record, Fauber learned that the National Association of Realtors received an ethics complaint about him earlier this year. The “real basis of that complaint was from 2015, when I posted Leviticus 18:22,” he...

Ontario premier spoke after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canada's premiers Wednesday Premier Doug Ford says Ontario could cut off energy to the U.S. if president-elect Donald Trump makes good on a threat to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods. Ford told reporters at Queen's Park that federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will put together a list of items upon which Canada could impose retaliatory tariffs and so will Ontario government. "We will go to the full extent depending how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going...

In the wake of the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump that occurred on Sept. 15, a Secret Service agent who spotted the gunman and immediately fired at him was lauded for his quick reaction. “The agent’s hyper-vigilance and the detail’s swift action was textbook,” Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe said at a press conference later that week. While Trump’s agent may have reacted swiftly, he may not have been the best aim. According to the House Task Force investigating the Trump assassination attempts, the agent was as close as five feet away from alleged gunman Ryan Routh, and...

Dr. Tara Gustilo, a former department chair at Hennepin Healthcare, says she was demoted because of her criticism of Black Lives Matter and critical race theory.. In a significant development, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Dr. Tara Gustilo against Hennepin Healthcare System (HHS). The decision, announced this Monday, sends the case back to the lower courts, marking a victory for Gustilo. Gustilo, a Filipino-American and former chair of the Obstetrics-Gynecology (OBGYN) Department at HHS, filed the lawsuit in 2021. The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), representing Gustilo, argues...

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that President-elect Donald Trump was “putting on a reality TV show for his MAGA base” with his cabinet nominations. Host Nicolle Wallace said, “Why is Pete Hegseth, who seems like a capable news anchor, but why is he this cause now with all of the baggage that has been revealed that we know from reports? He did not disclose to Donald Trump. Why do you think Trump and his allies are digging in and pressuring someone like Senator Joni Ernst to confirm him?”

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ The Deterrent! A U.S. Marine with Marine Air Control Squadron 4, Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing fires an M240B machine gun during a live-fire exercise at Central Training Area, Okinawa, Japan, Nov. 18, 2024. MACS-4 conducted the live-fire training to improve their proficiency with crew-served weapon systems and enhance force protection capabilities in an expeditionary advanced base operations environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ryan Sotodavila) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members...

Greens in Dearborn have submitted a proposal to the Green Party of Michigan to establish a state caucus for Arab and Muslim Americans. Dearborn is home to the largest Muslim population in the country proportional to its size, and gave the party’s recent presidential ticket one of its strongest showings nationwide. “Establishing a caucus within the Green Party dedicated to representing the Arab and Muslim American communities will provide a platform for advocacy on issues specific to these communities, including civil rights, anti-discrimination efforts, fair immigration policies, and peace-oriented foreign policy,” states the proposal by the Dearborn Greens, published in...

The economy would crash, the markets would be in open revolt, and he would swiftly be evicted from office by the IMF, and replaced by some “grown-ups.” When Argentina elected its chainsaw-wielding, libertarian President Javier Milei a year ago, the economic and political establishment confidently predicted he would only last a few weeks. And yet, not only has Milei managed to stay in power, all the evidence suggests that he is turning Argentina around. The real question now is this: will stagnant and moribund western countries pay attention? With inflation running at 25 percent a month, with the largest IMF...

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Wednesday officially endorsed New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.). President-elect Donald Trump nominated Stefanik for the post last month, which would require her to resign her House seat, but she still needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley held the post in Trump's first term. Fetterman said that he always planned to confirm Stefanik, but appeared even more confident after the pair had a discussion on Capitol Hill. Trump's nominees have been meeting with senators this month to...

Here are just a few of the ways Chris Wray turned the FBI into a political weapon: - Censoring the Hunter Biden laptop. - Buried information about the Biden's foreign business dealings. - Unconstitutional raid of Mar-a-Lago. - Sending raids after pro-life activists. - Locking peaceful J6 protesters in jail. - Treating parents at school board meetings as terrorists. - Spying on Catholic masses. - Concocted a false flag plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. - Concealed the manifesto of the Nashville shooter. Good riddance. ... it's pretty sad that we find ourselves longing for the good old days when the...

President-elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate FBI Director Christopher Wray's impending resignation, calling it a "great day for America," and saying it would pave the way for necessary reform of the embattled agency. "The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice," Trump wrote. "I just don't know what happened to him. We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans." The incoming president then listed his grievances against Wray, including the...