Blog

Brussels Is Robbing America Blind — And Someone In Washington Is Letting Them Get Away With It

In recent years, Brussels has conducted a bitter economic war against America’s most successful companies: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Brussels uses an array of fines, investigations and even forcing the companies to hand over key technologies in return for exemption from other regulations. Brussels even has imposed a number of very far-reaching rules that are nothing more than a large scale expropriation of their IP. Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon have already had to pay out to the European Union many billions of dollars, not because they failed in any way to come up with better products and services than their competitors, but because Brussels’ draconian rules and regulations are so difficult for them to comply with.

President Trump saw it and said enough.

When on July 24th the US President Donald Trump announced the opening of a Section 301 investigation concerning the campaign of fines and regulation of large tech companies by Europe, he started by criticizing the European Commission’s latest move against Google. In two separate decisions Google has been fined for almost $1 billion for alleged breaches of the Digital Markets Act. The US President called those fines “another example of Europe robbing American companies and, in turn, the American taxpayer”.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer laid out the reasons why a Section 301 investigation into the EU’s fines on Google and other big tech companies is fully warranted. “The European Commission’s practices with respect to Google amount to de facto forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft, supported by unfair and unreasonable financial penalties,” Greer said in a statement. He noted that Google’s EU fines alone would total more than two percent of the EU’s annual budget.

More than seven weeks have now passed since Trump gave his Trade people their instructions concerning the EU’s ‘robbing’ of American technology companies.

Keep reading

Ukrainian Drone Hits Russian Nuclear Plant Days After Trump Energy Truce Plea

President Trump raised eyebrows when on Monday he declared that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s oil and energy infrastructure, amid global crude and diesel supply problems related mostly to the Hormuz Strait crisis.

But then within days later it became clear that the default reality on the ground has persisted, as energy sites continue to get pummeled. And it’s not only refineries and ports which have continued getting hit, but as of Thursday morning a Russian nuclear plant was apparently targeted in a Ukrainian drone attack.

A drone hit the cooling tower of a reactor unit at Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced Friday.

The unit was operating at the time, but its operating mode was unchanged and no fire broke out. 

The UN agency’s director Rafael Grossi declared in a statement that “all attacks on nuclear facilities are unacceptable as they could endanger nuclear safety and security, irrespective of where they occur.”

He urged “maximum military restraint to prevent the risk of a nuclear accident” – which remains a top dangerous reality of the battlefield in the context of the Ukraine war.

In early July the same site had suffered a prior drone attack from Ukraine. One industry source reviews:

The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (Kursk NPP) has been the target of several military actions and drone strikes. The most notable incident occurred in August 2025 when a drone detonated and damaged an auxiliary transformer, sparking a structural fire that had to be contained by emergency teams. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitored the event and confirmed that radiation levels remained normal.

The Kremlin going back to 2024 has accused Ukrainian forces of seeking a ‘provocation’ at the Kursk nuclear plant.

The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) lies about 25 miles west of the city of Kursk, which is the administrative center of the oblast by the same name.

The plant continues to be a major electricity producer for Russia. Kremlin officials have long voiced alarm that Ukraine may seek to use some major provocation to draw its backers in NATO deeper into the conflict.

Keep reading

Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings and Wife Dump $2.5 MILLION Into Killing California Voter ID — Same Couple That Bankrolled Newsom and Kamala

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, have written seven-figure checks to stop California voters from requiring ID at the ballot box.

State campaign-finance records show Hastings gave $1 million on September 3 to a labor-backed committee fighting Proposition 39. Quillin separately dumped $1.5 million into an ACLU-tied anti-Prop 39 committee.

Combined, that is $2.5 million from one Silicon Valley household to keep California one of the last states where you can vote without showing a real government ID.

The New York Post first flagged the Hastings check this week. The Fair Political Practices Commission’s (FPPC) latest ballot-measure donor list confirms both gifts.

The FPPC’s top-contributor list shows Hastings gave $1 million to the committee “No on 39 – Block Election Rigging.”

Quillin contributed $1.5 million to “No on Prop. 39 – Californians for Voting Rights.” Together, their reported contributions total $2.5 million.

Proposition 39 is a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It would require:

  • Government-issued identification for in-person voting
  • The last four digits of a designated government ID number on mail-ballot envelopes
  • Election officials to use “best efforts” and government data to verify that registered voters are U.S. citizens
  • Annual public reports on how much of each county’s roll has been citizenship-checked
  • A free state-issued voter ID card for anyone who asks for one

As The Gateway Pundit reported in July and August, Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta rewrote the ballot language from “Establishes Additional Voter Identification and Citizenship Verification Requirements” into the all-caps smear “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.”

Keep reading

Undeniable Judge Boasberg Communist Connections Finally Surface – Hosted Communist Propaganda Org’s Events 9 Times, 6 as FISA Judge

The federal judge who has become the face of opposition to President Donald Trump has long-running ties to an exchange program with the United States’ most powerful global rival.

Judge James Boasberg, chief justice for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has been a thorn in the Trump administration’s side since the president returned to the White House in 2025.

But years before that, he was playing host to an organization with ties to the Chinese Communist Party even while serving on a court privy to some of the United States’ most sensitive information, according to documents publicized by a conservative journalist Thursday.

Natalie Winters is an investigative journalist and executive editor of “War Room,” the podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, who served briefly as chief strategist in Trump’s first-term White House.

In a Substack piece published Thursday, she detailed Boasberg’s ties to the China-United States Exchange Foundation.

The name sounds anodyne, but its activities are suspicious enough that the foundation was the subject of a November 2025 letter to Columbia University from the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, asking Columbia to end its ties with the group because it is part of a Chinese government system known as “United Front” — a propaganda effort committed to advancing the causes of the Chinese Communist Party.

Keep reading

SURPRISE! Study Finds Blue States With the Strongest Teacher Unions Also Have the Lowest Reading Scores

Liberals would have you believe that strong teacher unions equate with strong schools and solid results, but a new study found the exact opposite.

Of the states included in the study, blue states with the strongest teacher unions also happened to have the lowest reading scores.

Conversely, red states cited in the study, which give less attention to teacher unions, score much higher.

FOX News reports:

Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read

States with stronger teachers’ unions tend to have weaker literacy performance and have adopted fewer of the policies credited with improving reading outcomes, according to a new analysis from a center-left think tank.

Eight of the 10 states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers’ unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers’ unions.

Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican-leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.

The pattern isn’t universal. Maryland, a blue state with a strong teachers’ union, has posted strong reading results, while South Dakota, a red state with a weaker union, has struggled. The differences suggest union strength and party control alone don’t explain states’ reading performance.

It’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?

Keep reading

“No Help for a White Man”: Inmate Found Dead in Feces-Filled South Carolina Jail Cell After Water Was Cut Off — Autopsy Finally Rules HOMICIDE After Two Months

A South Carolina inmate who told his family he was being intentionally starved inside the Chesterfield County Detention Center has now been ruled a homicide victim, nearly two months after jailers found his dehydrated, emaciated body on the floor of a feces-covered cell with the water shut off.

Gary Donald “Bubba” Blair, 43, was found lifeless on the floor of his E Pod cell at the Chesterfield County Detention Center on July 24. The cell was covered in inches-deep feces.

For context, Blair was not serving time for a violent crime. Deputies arrested him on February 22 after he showed up at his sister’s house wearing a Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office golf shirt, a security badge, handcuffs, and pepper spray. He was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer.

A judge later found him incompetent to stand trial but restorable with treatment and ordered the South Carolina Office of Mental Health to take him on June 3. The agency never did. Officials cited a nine-month backlog. Blair sat in the county jail for another 51 days and died there. His family says he has suffered from serious mental illness since age 18.

Keep reading

Lockheed Fast-Tracks Secretive AIM-260 Missile As Pentagon Pushes To Expand Production

Lockheed Martin has signed a framework agreement with the Pentagon to accelerate production and delivery of the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, bringing a closely guarded air-to-air weapons program further into public view. The announcement Thursday sets the foundation for a multiyear procurement contract, which remains subject to congressional approval.

The company says the missile offers greater range and effectiveness than existing air-to-air weapons and is compatible with aircraft including the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. It did not disclose a production target, delivery schedule, contract value or precise performance specifications. The announcement establishes a commitment to expand production, not a publicly measurable timetable for doing so.

Reuters reported that the program is intended to address increasingly capable Chinese long-range air threats, including those associated with the J-20 fighter. Although the weapon has spent years under tight secrecy, Thursday was not its first public appearance: images emerged in May. The production push also comes amid broader pressure on American and allied missile inventories following the Iran conflict.

That context makes two separate questions important: what the missile can do, and how many can actually reach operational units. A performance advantage has limited practical value if manufacturers cannot supply enough weapons, replace expended stocks or support additional customers.

Australia is already preparing to become one of those customers.

Canberra announced on August 6 that it would invest almost A$736 million to acquire the AIM-260 through the U.S. government’s foreign military sales system. The planned integration sequence starts with Australia’s F/A-18F Super Hornets, followed by its F-35A fighters and EA-18G Growlers. Australia’s government says it will become the first country outside the United States to operate the weapon.

The Australian announcement describes the acquisition as a way to extend engagement range and improve interoperability with American forces. It does not specify a missile quantity or delivery date, although Marles has said the weapon will not be available before 2033, and a December 2025 U.S. approval covered up to 450 missiles in a package valued at about $3.16 billion.

Lockheed’s industrial expansion extends beyond the AIM-260.

In a separate announcement Thursday, the company said GM Defense had delivered an initial batch of housing components for the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor just 22 days after the companies signed a formal contract. That agreement was signed August 6, with the first components delivered August 28. These were components for a different missile program, not completed interceptors or AIM-260 deliveries.

Lockheed says it is investing between $8 billion and $9 billion to expand munitions production across more than 20 American sites. Planned construction and expansion would increase its munitions production and warehousing space by almost 50%, according to the company. The GM partnership uses commercial casting and machining capabilities to supplement the defense supply chain.

Keep reading

Mike Johnson Proves That No Man’s Life, Liberty or Property Are Safe While the Legislature Isn’t in Session

On September 16, US Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA), acting in his role as Speaker of the House, sent that body’s members home until after the November midterm elections.

My knee-jerk reaction is gratitude. After all, as Gideon J. Tucker wrote in 1866, “no man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

Conversely, if all those members of Congress are back home campaigning for re-election (or just enjoying a break), their opportunities to engage in criminal stupidity step down from wholesale to retail levels.

Heck, if we have to put up with Congress existing at all, I’d rather they convened once a year to collect their salaries for the year, then took the other 364 days off.

On a closer look, though, Johnson seems to have found a way to turn Tucker’s aphorism on its head, frequently using the absence of Congress to protect existing depredations, rather than the presence of Congress to drum up new ones.

“The House has now canceled at least 63 scheduled voting days this Congress, including nine days this month alone,” notes US Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC).

When Johnson thinks he’s going to lose a vote — with “lose” defined as upsetting or defying president Donald Trump — he just sends everyone home until he can whip a few more House members into line, or at least until the loss might come at a slightly less embarrassing point in the news cycle.

He’s done it with votes on EPA regulations.

He’s done it with votes related to the Epstein files.

This time he fled in terror, taking the entire House with him, from a privileged motion filed by outgoing US Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY).

Keep reading

OpenAI flags concerning new AI behavior and vows to track it more closely

OpenAI has disclosed six reports of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in artificial-intelligence models as the debate on AI safety becomes increasingly heated.

The AI company also said Wednesday it was introducing a new framework for tracking, probing and disclosing instances of what it called “misalignment,” including cases where AI models acted without authorization, coordinated with other models or evaded oversight.

OpenAI’s latest announcement came as U.S. AI bosses, including the leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic, are calling for a slowdown in the technology’s development over safety concerns.

Among the new cases reported by OpenAI, an unreleased research model inserted “jailbreak-like instructions” into its own notes to disregard its normal constraints and told itself to be “freed from the roles and identities that bind other chatbots.”

In another instance, an AI “agent” used computer code to come up with the answer to a question, but, in order to have an online source to cite, it uploaded a file to the public internet without asking the user.

During training of an AI model called 5.6-sol, the model instructed itself to invent missing data, and an agent wrote a message to remind itself to hide mismatched information.

The six reports were discovered during training or evaluation over the past months, OpenAI said.

“As AI systems grow more advanced and more widely deployed, we need to build a broader and better-informed consensus on the progress of alignment research,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post as it disclosed the events.

“Decisions about how AI development should proceed in the months and years to come need to draw on evidence that people outside the companies building frontier models can examine for themselves,” the company said.

Wednesday’s new cases followed OpenAI’s disclosure in July that its rogue AI system hacked into AI startup Hugging Face. Anthropic also said the same month that its AI models hacked into three organizations during testing.

AI “agents” are becoming smarter and have become “more determined to resolve complex tasks through inter-agent collaboration, knowledge sharing, deception, and concealment,” said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at technology research and advisory group Omdia.

That’s making it harder to govern and contain them using traditional AI security approaches, he said.

OpenAI’s new tracking and disclosure framework, meanwhile, can help push for other AI developers to also adopt similar practices.

“That said, the process remains internal and voluntary, but is a step in the right direction,” Su added.

Keep reading