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The FBI has arrested a suspect in the investigation into pipe bombs planted near the Republican and Democratic national party headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. The FBI has arrested a Virginia man accused of laying pipe bombs near the Capitol on the eve of the January 6, 2021 […] The post Suspect Arrested in J6 Attempted Pipe Bombing appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

NATO ups its support for Ukraine as the United States pursues peace talks, the Trump administration freezes asylum and visa reviews from 19 countries, and a watchdog exposes billions of taxpayer dollars in fraud under Biden-era diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. It’s Thursday, December 4, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire: NATO Wants A Say On Ukraine Topline: The United States continues to facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine while other NATO countries rally support for Kiev. NATO wants to be more involved in the discussions on Ukraine than it has been recently. Almost every foreign minister for NATO met in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss that and the broader approach to Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was notably absent from the meeting — the first time in over two decades that the U.S. secretary of State had missed a gathering like this. Though that didn’t deeply concern many officials because Rubio has built up a lot of trust among NATO allies.  Rutte digs in: The United States has been trying to find an end to the war that both sides can live with. But NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has made plans to keep funding Ukraine through 2026 and maybe longer if necessary. “We have to make sure that whilst [peace talks] take place and we are not sure when they will end, that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going, to fight back against the Russians, but also in the strongest possible position when peace talks really get to a point where they sit at the table,” Rutte said on Wednesday. Some members of the NATO alliance have poured money into a program to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine to the tune of about $1 billion a month. Moscow talks: The Kremlin said Tuesday that it couldn’t find a compromise it could agree with after U.S. officials met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow said that some of the American proposals have been good — likely in reference to the early framework that received so much pushback from Ukraine and the rest of Europe. Moscow seems to be dead set on territorial gains over what it has control of already, however. Putin has repeatedly signaled that he wants all of the Donbas region, which he does not have full control over. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Trump’s Immigration Moves After National Guard Shooting Topline: The Trump administration halts more immigration following the D.C. shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan migrant. Trump has already halted the processing of asylum applications and put a pause on visas, but there is a lot more being done. The Trump administration has directed U.S. citizenship and immigration services to look at 19 countries that it says are of concern as potential hotbeds of terrorism. Those countries include Afghanistan and several others in the Middle East, in Africa, and in South Asia. The Trump administration wants USCIS, the agency that vets immigration applications, to scrutinize individuals who are applying or have been accepted to some programs. What this looks like in practice is the administration halting all processing of any legal immigration applications from individuals from these 19 countries. For those who have been accepted to become green card recipients or citizens already, swearing in ceremonies have been put on pause as the Trump administration more thoroughly vets them. National Guard shooting: The Department of Homeland Security now says this individual was barely vetted. Interestingly, when the United States left Afghanistan during the botched withdrawal from the country, the alleged shooter had no criminal background check. Nor did he have a biometrics check, cyber background check, or financial background check. Nor was he the only one who came through this way. There were about 77,000 others admitted into the country through what’s called Operation Allies Welcome. This lax vetting has already been pointed out before. A government watchdog came out months after the withdrawal and said the vetting was poor and minimal at the time. In some known cases, individuals were “vetted,” let into the country through this program, and then only after were their links to terrorism discovered. The SBA Program Spending Taxpayer Money On DEI Topline: New investigations from Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute have revealed just how much taxpayer money has been funneled through federal DEI initiatives – sparking more allegations of widespread fraud and corruption under the Biden administration that still needs to be rooted out. Morning Wire spoke with Seamus Bruner, director of research at the Government Accountability Institute, about what’s being called the “DEI Industrial Complex.” (This interview has been edited for clarity.) Morning Wire: Your team has done extensive research on what’s being called the “DEI Industrial Complex.” We’ve had our own investigative reporter, Luke Rosiak, digging into this and revealing some pretty alarming findings. First, what kinds of potential abuses are we seeing related to DEI in the federal government? Bruner: This our latest exposé, and we give Luke a great shout out in it. He’s done amazing work on this Small Business Administration program. It’s called 8(a). Kind of an unwieldy title, but the devil is in the details with this. It’s a multi-billion dollar pass through scheme that rewards minority contractors or people who are “disadvantaged,” which has a very loose definition. I mean, perhaps even just not having access to internet when you’re way up in your mountain cabin in Yosemite or wherever could qualify you. But you have these firms that set up, Native American firms or any other sort of minority group — Native Americans have been pretty blessed by this program to the tune of billions of dollars. And it turns out that they’re not disadvantaged at all. The shareholders wear Rolex watches and are very wealthy. Well, in turn, this allows them to partner with real big firms like the Boston Consulting Group or McKinsey & Company or firms that are not at all disadvantaged, and they receive no bid contracts under this program. And for anybody who knows anything about a no bid contract, it’s about as corrupt as it can be. Morning Wire: Right. Why are we just now learning about this corruption? Bruner: The program has been around for decades, but only under the Biden administration did the quotas triple. It really exploded just in the last several years. There was a USAID program, the contracting officials at USAID were taking bribes, over $1 million in bribes. We’ve also seen a $100 million contract. The minority contractor got 65% of that $100 million. So, well over $50 million. They only did a small fraction of the work. Morning Wire: Do you think the DEI movement in particular really ratcheted this up – is that the culprit here in terms of the scale that we’re seeing now? Bruner: Yeah, absolutely. President Trump, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and Treasury Secretary Bessent deserve credit. They really kicked off the investigations into this. The problem is that even though the Trump administration has declared war on DEI in the federal government, this isn’t necessarily called a “DEI program.” We’re seeing this across all kinds of sectors, especially in education. They’re getting rid of the word “DEI” and they’re using new words – “disadvantaged” or what have you. And the problem is, that there are “disadvantaged” people in America and we do want to support them and help them. But when you are giving multi-billion dollar conglomerates contracts under the banner of being “disadvantaged,” it hurts everybody.

Republican Governor Henry McMaster moved to end race-based government contracting in South Carolina and called for lawmakers to take action to codify his executive actions.  McMaster signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for state agencies to stop awarding contracts based on race. Under current state law, each state agency is required to propose a budget that awards 10% of spending to minority-owned businesses.  “Today, I have ordered state agencies to halt all future spending, procurement or contract decisions that are based on race. The state laws requiring these quotas and racial set-asides are unconstitutional and discriminatory. Business with state government should be awarded based on merit and value to the taxpayer,” McMaster wrote on X. “Senate President Alexander and House Speaker Smith have agreed to lead the effort to repeal these laws when the General Assembly returns next month.” South Carolina’s Department of Transportation is also required to hand out a minimum of 5% of its awards for certain contracts to minority-owned businesses.  In his executive order, McMaster said that the state laws mandating race-based contracting “call for unlawful racial discrimination” and that they are policies that “rest on the false assumption that the solution to perceived historical wrongs is to racially discriminate against individuals in the present.”  McMaster also said that the policies may violate President Donald Trump’s executive actions taking aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.  50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. South Carolina Senate President Thomas Alexander and House Speaker Murrell Smith, both Republicans, said they would move in January to codify the governor’s actions.  “We are a nation and a state dedicated to the principle that ‘all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator,’ as reflected in the Constitution’s requirement of equal protection of the laws,” Alexander said. “When existing laws no longer align with that constitutional command, it is our duty to correct them. I am confident my colleagues in the Senate share my belief that state government must reflect equality under the law in all its endeavors and ensure our statutes fully comply with the Constitution.” South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman praised McMaster’s action and called for the state legislature to pass a “full DEI ban.” Amid Trump’s war on DEI at the federal level, some lawmakers have turned to the state level to challenge programs that favor minority businesses. In October, Texas suspended a statewide program that prioritized non-white male businesses in state contracting.  This was done through the Historically Underutilized Businesses, which received about 11% of state spending total. The total awards given to the businesses are over $4 billion, including $1.45 billion for women-owned businesses and $1.6 billion for Hispanic-owned businesses.

(Reuters) — Amazon is planning to end its long-standing tie-up with the U.S. Postal Service as the e-commerce giant prepares to expand its nationwide delivery network, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The online retailer has long been the top customer for USPS, providing more than $6 billion in annual revenue in 2025, the report said. Losing its business would be a major blow to the independent government agency that has been hit by an 80% decline in first-class mail volume since 1997. For Amazon, building out its delivery network would bolster its standing in a parcel industry where it is already a major player thanks to its sprawling warehouse network and a largely non-union workforce that has allowed it to control costs. Last year, Amazon Logistics handled 6.3 billion parcels, just behind the 6.9 billion handled by USPS, according to Pitney Bowes’ parcel shipping index. The company is expected to overtake USPS in parcels by 2028, the data showed, a milestone it could hit sooner if the tie-up ends. The retailer plans to pull the billions of packages it sends through USPS by the end of 2026, although the plans are not final and could change, the Washington Post report said. AMAZON’S DELIVERY NETWORK EXPANSION The company has already pledged more than $4 billion in April to expand its U.S. rural delivery network by the end of next year. “Amazon has been building its distribution capabilities for several years and now has minimal reliance on other logistics companies,” said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria, adding that the company was in a position to be “almost entirely self-reliant.” 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. Still, the expansion of the delivery network will require more resources at a time when Amazon is pouring tens of billions of dollars on data centers to stay competitive in the artificial intelligence race. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Amazon said it wants to reach an agreement with USPS, while the agency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TOUGH TALKS The plans to end the tie-up follow talks between Amazon and USPS over “negotiated service agreements” — contracts that lock in rates and speed deliveries for the agency’s biggest customers — which largely ended without a new deal, the report said. Those agreements have largely favored big companies over individual retailers and small businesses, but Postmaster General David Steiner, appointed earlier this year, has said he wants to democratize them by opening them up to smaller-scale customers, the report added. He plans to run a reverse auction early next year, offering access to postal facilities to the highest bidder rather than directly to Amazon, a proposal that largely ended the talks that had been under way since February, the report said. Steiner met virtually with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on November 14, according to the report. USPS, which posted a $9.5 billion loss last year as electronic communications erode mail volumes and private rivals expand their footprint, has also drawn the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump said in February he was considering merging USPS — which he called “a tremendous loser for this country” — with the Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law. “USPS needs Amazon a lot more than Amazon needs USPS,” said New York-based ecommerce analyst Juozas Kaziukenas. “Amazon has all the cards in their hands in this case.” (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Arnav Mishra, Helen Reid and Ruchika Khanna; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Leroy Leo)

Formed in Marseille, France, in 2014, the group began as a collaboration between guitarist Florent Salfati and drummer Nicolas Exposito. The two musicians sought to create a sound that combined the intensity of metalcore with the melodic sensibilities of alternative rock and post-hardcore. Over time, their ambition and dedication led to the development of a distinct style that emphasized both aggressive precision and heartfelt emotion, setting them apart in the European heavy music scene. The band’s early years were defined by grassroots effort and relentless touring. Landmvrks began performing in local clubs around Marseille, steadily building a loyal following through The post Complete List Of Landmvrks Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

There is a certain intensity surrounding Chris Brown’s rise, shaped by natural talent that emerged long before the industry ever took notice. His early life in Virginia placed him in an environment where singing and dancing became the outlets that pushed him toward a music career. That talent eventually brought him to the attention of Hitmission Records, which introduced him to the team that helped guide him through his first steps toward a recording contract. His move into the national spotlight came quickly after he signed with Jive Records, beginning the career that would make him one of the defining The post Complete List Of Chris Brown Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Young griffon vultures are set to be reintroduced to the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, around 100 years after they went extinct there. The reintroduction is part of a grand vision for “Europe’s Yellowstone,” a national park based in the Carpathians that would boast robust populations of wildlife unrivalled by any ecosystem on the continent. It […] The post 100 Years After Vultures Disappeared from These Mts, Their Return Completes ‘Europe’s Yellowstone’ appeared first on Good News Network.