Communist China isn’t hiding its ambitions. Beijing wants to displace the United States as the world’s leading power. It flies spy balloons over our country, runs influence operations, steals technology, pressures neighbors, menaces Taiwan, and builds missiles and ships meant to drive America out of the Western Pacific.The Pentagon’s newly released National Defense Strategy puts the People’s Republic of China at the center of the threat picture. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth frames the task in blunt terms: “peace through strength,” including a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific so that China can’t “dominate us or our allies.”China won’t ‘take over the world’ in some comic-book way. But it will keep testing the seams of American power — and it will keep exploiting our habits of denial and delay.That doesn’t mean the United States and China are “destined for war.” China’s weaknesses cut against that. It lacks the kind of soft power that makes alliances easy and coercion unnecessary. Outside its borders, China inspires far more fear than admiration. Demographic collapse also looms. The one-child policy left China facing an aging population and a shrinking workforce.None of that makes Beijing harmless. A declining regime can still lash out. It can still intimidate neighbors, manipulate markets, and exploit American openness. It can also run influence operations in plain sight — through front companies, academic partnerships, lobbying, investment vehicles, and the slow capture of key choke points in tech and infrastructure.That calls for something Washington too often refuses to do: enforce rules like a serious country.Start with basic counterintelligence hygiene. Aggressively investigate covert foreign influence. Enforce FARA. Protect sensitive research. Tighten screening around critical supply chains. Treat strategic industries like strategic industries. Strip Chinese “paper Americans” of their citizenship and deport them.This is where internal discipline matters as much as external posture. A national strategy collapses when parts of the bureaucracy slow-walk it, freelance against it, or treat it like optional guidance.Consider the recent ouster of Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater. She was in charge of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division until last month. But she butted heads repeatedly with Attorney General Pam Bondi. Their disagreements slid into insubordination. Slater allegedly lied to Bondi on national security matters that appeared to help China.RELATED: Iran, China, and Trump’s ‘art of the squeal’ White House via X Account/Anadolu via Getty ImagesFor example, Slater opposed the Hewlett-Packard Enterprise acquisition of Juniper Networks, which national security experts say is essential to combat Chinese tech dominance. Blocking the deal would have hurt U.S. industry and helped Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Happily, the administration overruled her and approved the deal.Washington can’t run a serious China policy with internal sabotage, bureaucratic drift, or officials acting like they answer to a different set of priorities.The same standard applies to national security decisions in the tech arena. If competition with Huawei and China’s tech ecosystem matters — and it does — then Washington should evaluate mergers, procurement, and infrastructure policy through that lens, not just through abstract theories divorced from geopolitical reality. America needs to win the next generation of networks, not regulate itself into strategic dependence.China won’t “take over the world” in some comic-book way. But it will keep testing the seams of American power — and it will keep exploiting our habits of denial and delay.Peace through strength isn’t a slogan. It’s a posture: defend critical systems, enforce the law, remove vulnerabilities, and stop treating strategic competition like a seminar topic. The first step is simple and unglamorous: clean up our own house, then face Beijing with the seriousness the moment demands.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) has refused to hand over an illegal immigrant with over 30 prior arrests to ICE.The suspect, Abdul Jalloh, is an illegal alien from Sierra Leone with at least 30 arrests on violent charges.“She is now saying that she will not turn over a guy who [allegedly] murdered a woman at a bus stop, stabbing her to death. Okay? Will not turn him over to ICE because they need a warrant. Can I ask you — and this is an honest question — why, why, for the love of Pete, are the Democrats so intent on protecting murderers, rapists?” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck comments.“The police knew who this guy was because they had arrested him so many times. He had been arrested like 40 times. One of them was for rape, and they let him out on the streets — returned him to the streets — because they want to protect him and his rights,” Glenn says.Glenn admits that he doesn’t “understand.”“Immigration policy can be really, really complicated. Border enforcement: complicated, okay? Work visas, asylum laws, all of that stuff. But in this case, it is not complicated at all. A woman standing at a bus stop, a normal American moment, waiting for the day to begin, waiting for a bus, and she’s stabbed to death,” he says.“And this isn’t somebody who just slipped through the cracks one time. A guy who had been arrested again and again and again. … Assault, rape, and now [suspected] murder, stabbing,” he continues.“Can I ask you: If it is not the government’s job to protect, what is their job?” Glenn asks. “Because they weren’t protecting you or this woman or anybody in Virginia. They weren’t protecting any American by putting him back on the street.”“Now, here’s the question that every single American should be asking, and I mean this honestly: What possible justification exists for keeping somebody like this in our communities?” he asks. “Can you give me one single explanation that is logical, that is not evil, quite honestly?”Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

As the joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes continue hammering away at Iran, some in the media are offering sympathetic portrayals of the bloodthirsty regime leaders, especially the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Among the worst examples was a post from the Economist that referred to the U.S. as the "Great Satan" and appeared to praise Khamenei for his perseverance.'Stop glorifying a doomsday terrorist nut job that murdered, raped, and tortured hundreds of thousands.'"Increasingly, over the course of three decades, Ali Khamenei knew that he was personally in the Great Satan's sights," the outlet's post reads. "This did not daunt him. He felt, always, that he had divine right on his side."Many online took exception to that framing and let the outlet know in no uncertain terms."And just like that, I'll never read another Economist article ever again. Referring to America as the Great Satan and praising the brutal dictator in the same headline. Honestly impressive garbage," journalist Walter Curt responded."What in the f**k! Let's ignore the innocent people he killed in over a dozen countries using his proxy terrorists over the last 30 years, yes, he's the victim," another added. "We live in the dumbest of times.""Stop glorifying a doomsday terrorist nut job that murdered, raped, and tortured hundreds of thousands, including children, to stay in power. He lived like a scared rat, and died like one," another user said."In related news, The Economist is hiring a new social media intern ...," writer Steve McGuire joked.Although official death statistics from the crackdown on protests are unreliable, some believe tens of thousands might have been killed by the Irani regime for opposing their rule. RELATED: 'I might have forced Israel's hand': Trump denies being pressured by Netanyahu into war Others replied with brevity and clarity."What the actual f**k is this s**t?" Mike Cote of NRO replied."The economist d**k riding the ayatollah, i have read it all," another user said.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The pair of legends will team for more than a dozen shows. The post John Fogerty Expands 2026 Tour, Adding Dates With Steve Winwood appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

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Federal authorities indicted two men accused of plotting to bomb a protest in New York City in an alleged ISIS-inspired attack Saturday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Monday. Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, both of Pennsylvania, were indicted.