As the sun rises on a new Trump-era geopolitical chapter, Washington confronts a defining choice: Will America view the People’s Republic of China and its regnant Communist Party through the rose-colored lens of transaction and diplomacy, or will it soberly recognize Beijing as America’s foremost geopolitical adversary in a multigenerational cold war? (RELATED: Trump’s Post-Globalist ‘Flexible Realism’) We should stop treating China with kid gloves ... and start treating it as the existential challenge to the American republic and the American way of life that it demonstrably is. The stakes could not be higher, and the answer ought to be simple. We should stop treating China with kid gloves — as a spirited economic or diplomatic competitor — and start treating it as the existential challenge to the American republic and the American way of life that it demonstrably is. (RELATED: Can Trump’s New National Security Strategy Effectively Counter China?) In June, federal prosecutors in Michigan charged multiple Chinese nationals with conspiring to smuggle dangerous biological pathogens into the United States for use in American university research laboratories. The case centered on Fusarium graminearum, a fungus widely classified as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” because of its ability to ravage crops and cause serious harm to humans and livestock. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants received funding from the Chinese government and brought the pathogen into the U.S. for ostensible “lab work” at the University of Michigan. As if the University of Michigan needed to use smugglers to acquire research materials. (RELATED: DOJ Cracking Down on CCP Espionage) This should have triggered alarm bells for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear: Chinese researchers allegedly attempted to slip biological threats past U.S. borders under the guise of legitimate scholarship. The implications are chilling. In a world still scarred by the devastating COVID pandemic — which, lest... No hoodwinking or hornswoggling here. Support independent journalism and get unlimited access to quality commentary. Subscribe Already a subscriber? Login here

from ZeeeMedia: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream: The seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker was an extraordinarily shocking move by the Trump administration.  Will it be followed by the seizure of more oil tankers?  This is a question that the press really needs to be asking right now.  If a U.S. blockade stops the […]

30-year-old Salvadoran illegal alien Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was released from an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania, hours after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had been "holding him illegally" for nearly four months.

This truly is one of the most beautiful times of the year

Enough is enough

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Australia’s new social media age law, which blocks anyone under 16 from using major platforms and therefore introduces online ID for all, has already become the subject of a constitutional challenge in the country’s High Court. Reddit has filed a case arguing that the legislation undermines both privacy and freedom of expression online. The California-based platform confirmed on Friday that it is contesting the Social Media Minimum Age (SMMA) law. We obtained a copy of the filing for you here. The company said that while it agrees on the need to protect younger users, the government’s chosen method is overly invasive. In a statement, Reddit said the law “carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet” and imposes “intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors.” Under the SMMA law, which began this week, global platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit must delete accounts belonging to Australians under 16. Those that fail to comply can face penalties of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars, roughly 33 million US dollars. Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s “eSafety” Commissioner, has started enforcing the new policy by sending formal notices to ten companies requiring details on how many underage profiles they have already removed. Her office plans to request updates every six months to measure compliance. She previously said she expected some social media companies to wait for enforcement action or fines before taking legal steps against the law. In its application, Reddit seeks “a declaration that the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (Cth) (Amendment Act) is invalid” and an order restraining the Minister from designating Reddit as an age-restricted service. The company makes clear that the consequences are sweeping: the Act “prohibits all Australians under the age of 16 from engaging in any political communication on an ‘age-restricted social media platform’ to the extent that such communication requires an account.” Reddit argues that the law imposes a “direct and substantial, or alternatively deep and wide” burden on political speech, noting the obvious reality that “the mode that is affected is an extremely important one in Australia in 2025” given that “there are many subreddits dedicated to discussion of Australian political matters” and that elected representatives “frequently” use the platform to engage with constituents. The platform also highlights the Minister’s explicit intention to capture Reddit under the new law, pointing to the Second Reading Speech where “the government expects that this broader definition will capture services that are commonly accepted to be social media, which will, at a minimum, include … Reddit.” The eSafety Commissioner, it notes, has similarly concluded that “Reddit is an ‘age-restricted social media platform’.” Yet Reddit contends the Act is internally inconsistent and ineffective. The only requirement imposed on platforms is to “take reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users having accounts,” but crucially, “the Amendment Act does not impose any obligation on providers to restrict access to content on the site that is accessible without an account.” In Reddit’s case, this is decisive: “almost all of the content on the site is accessible without an account.” As a result, the filing argues, the law “will not provide significant protection from online harm for persons under the age of 16.” The company even insists the Act may worsen the situation it claims to solve. According to the filing, “a person under the age of 16 can be more easily protected from online harm if they have an account, being the very thing that is prohibited.” Reddit also attacks the statute on proportionality grounds, arguing there exists an “obvious and compelling alternative” in a law limited to services where “the substantial proportion of the functionality is accessible only with an account,” unlike Reddit, where content remains broadly visible to the public. Even if the Court upholds the Act, Reddit argues it should not be classified as an age-restricted social platform in the first place. The statutory test requires that “the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of the service is to enable online social interaction between 2 or more end-users.” Reddit insists this does not describe its service, and that the term “social” is doing meaningful work. The company stresses that “it is not the sole or a significant purpose of Reddit to enable persons to interact ‘in a social manner’,” noting that “in most cases the identity of a user on Reddit is not even known to other users.” Rather than fostering personal relationships, Reddit “facilitates knowledge sharing from one user to other users,” which it argues is materially different from platforms built around friendship networks, personal profiles, or events. Even the chat feature does not change this conclusion, Reddit says, because it “is not intended to facilitate what would ordinarily be described as ‘social’ messaging” and in any case “cannot properly be characterized as a ‘significant’ purpose of Reddit.” The High Court will hold a preliminary session in February to decide how and when Reddit’s challenge will be heard. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Reddit Fights Australia’s New Online ID Law appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Thursday's Final Word

Missouri State Highway PatrolRobert Eugene Brashers’ mugshot For 34 years, a brutal crime haunted the city of Austin, Texas. The so-called Austin yogurt shop murders occured in December 1991, when an unknown assailant murdered four teenage girls at an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt” outlet before setting the store on fire. But despite the brutality of the crime, the killer was not identified until 2025. Then, DNA evidence linked the murders to a man named Robert Eugene Brashers. A violent criminal with a long rap sheet, Brashers was convicted of multiple crimes before he died by suicide in 1999. Yet the full breadth of his crimes was not fully understood until recent years. In addition to the Austin yogurt shop murders, DNA evidence also connected to Brashers to a number of other unsolved rapes and homicides which occurred across the South. So who was Robert Eugene Brashers? This is the full story of the murderer and rapist whose terrible crimes went undiscovered for far too long. The First Documented Crime Of Robert Eugene Brashers Robert Eugene Brashers was born on March 13, 1958, in Newport News, Virginia. Not much is known about his childhood, but the Austin American-Stateman reported that he was known as “intelligent, manipulative, and skilled with tools and weapons.” But what is known is that Brasher’s first documented crime occured in 1985. That November, Brashers met 24-year-old Michelle Wilkerson at a bar in Fort Pierce, Florida. According to reporting at the time, the two left the bar together and drank several more beers. But when Brasher made a sexual advance, Wilkerson rejected him. Then, when she tried to leave, he shot her in the head and neck with his .25 caliber automatic pistol. Missouri State Highway PatrolA suspect composite sketch from 1998 connected to a crime committed by Robert Eugene Brashers. Incredibly, Wilkerson not only survived but remained conscious. She was able to flee and hide until Brashers gave up looking for her, at which point Wilkerson sought help. She was able to offer a description of her attacker to the police — including his car, the color of his shirt, and his type of cigarettes — and detectives were able to almost immediately track Brashers down. A year later, Robert Eugene Brashers was found guilty of the assault and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. However, he was released from prison for good behavior on May 4, 1989. And he would soon go on to attack others. Robert Eugene Brashers’ Life Of Crime — And His 1999 Suicide Over the next ten years, Robert Eugene Brashers was arrested multiple times for a variety of crimes. According to Greenville Online, he was next arrested in February 1992 for having a stolen pistol and a stolen vehicle. Brashers also had a police scanner, a police jacket, “burglary tools,” and a fake Tennessee license, and was subsequently sent back to prison until 1997. Once again a free man, Brashers returned to a life of crime. He was arrested again on April 12, 1998 while trying to break into the house of a woman for whom he’d done handiwork in Paragould, Arkansas. Though Brashers had cut the phone lines, and was arrested with a video camera and “other tools” he was released shortly after being taken into custody. At the same time, Brashers’ family had started to notice a startling change in his behavior. According to his daughter Deborah, who had been born in the summer of 1991, her grandmother often told her mother “you let the devil in when you met this man.” And after Brashers returned from prison in 1998, Deborah recalled to KFVS 12 that her father started “acting crazy.” In one chilling incident, Deborah remembered her father making an audio recording of himself as he cut himself with a knife. Deborah BrashersRobert Eugene Brashers with his family in an undated photograph. “Never screamed,” she recalled. “Never yelled. Never showed an ounce of pain. [Of] anything in the tape whatsoever.” Then, on Jan. 13, 1999, Robert Eugene Brasher’s life of crime came to an end. After stealing a car, he drove his family to a Super 8 motel in Kennett, Missouri. When police were notified about the stolen vehicle, they came to investigate. Brashers, armed with a gun, eventually agreed to release his family. But he would not emerge from the motel room, and, four hours later, he shot himself in the head. Brashers was alive for six more days, but he died of his injuries on Jan. 19, 1999. As it would turn out, Robert Eugene Brashers’ crimes were far more extensive than authorities realized when he was alive. Advances in DNA technology would connect Brasheres to a number of brutal rapes and murders, including the unsolved Austin yogurt shop murders of 1991. The Main Suspect In The Austin Yogurt Shop Murders In 2018, Robert Eugene Brasher’s body was exhumed for DNA testing. Advances in DNA technology were then able to connect Brashers to a number of crimes which stretched back to 1990. That October, the Missouri State Highway Patrol announced Brashers had raped and murdered Sherri Scherer and her 12-year-old daughter Megan in Portageville, Missouri. DNA evidence also connected him to the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Memphis, Tennessee, and the 1990 rape and murder of Genevieve Zitricki in Greenville, South Carolina. Then, in September 2025, investigators were able to connect Brashers to the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, a shocking quadruple homicide. HBOThe four young victims of the Austin yogurt shop murders. On December 6 of that year, four teenage girls — 17-year-old Jennifer Harbison, her sister 15-year-old Sarah Harbison, 17-year-old Eliza Thomas, and 13-year-old Amy Ayers — were brutally murdered at an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt Shop” in Austin, Texas. Some of the girls had also been sexually assaulted, and their nude, bound bodies were found in a back room of the shop, which their killer had set on fire. The Austin yogurt shop murders became one of the most agonizing cold cases in Austin’s history, and though two men were arrested — and even convicted — for the crimes, they were both later released. Then, decades later, investigators were able to connect Rogert Eugene Brashers to the brutal crime through his DNA. When Brashers’ daughter, Deborah Brashers, was asked about this revelation, she told Austin radio station KXAN: “My first thought was I was born in 1991 August — where was he at then?” Deborah also said she thinks her father will be tied to even more crimes in the future – and she was right. As recently as October 2025, investigators announced they were looking into a connection between Brashers and a homicide in Kentucky, in which a woman was raped and shot. “I held my father on a pedestal for a very long time because I did not think he was an evil person,” Deborah remarked. “I just thought he had mental health issues and he couldn’t deal with it anymore. I never knew that he had psychotic issues that he dealt with that we didn’t know about.” Indeed, Robert Eugene Brashers seemingly lived a chilling double life until his 1999 suicide. And if it weren’t for advances in DNA technology, the true extent of his crimes might have remained forever unknown. After reading about the serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, discover the macabre story of infamous killer Ed Gein. Then, learn about the most infamous American serial killers. The post The Chilling Story Of Serial Killer Robert Eugene Brashers, The Main Suspect In The 1991 Austin Yogurt Shop Murders appeared first on All That's Interesting.