Hundreds of masked members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front march through parts of Washington, DC, ahead of Independence Day festivities planned for the evening.
The group posts on social media that it arrived in the capital with about 400 members, and Reuters photographers report seeing hundreds of people dressed in Patriot Front outfits traveling on DC Metro trains.
Videos posted on various social media platforms and shared on Patriot Front’s own Telegram channel show the group marching to drummers near the US Capitol building while wearing khaki pants and caps, blue shirts, white face coverings and sunglasses. Many were carrying the group’s flag, Confederate flags, and variations of the American flag, at times chanting “Reclaim America.”
Around midday, they boarded Metro trains and exited at New Carrollton, Maryland, in Washington’s northeast suburbs.
The Patriot Front, known for its uniforms, face masks and flash mob-style demonstrations, formed in 2017 after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, at which they infamously chanted, “Jews will not replace us,” breaking off from the Vanguard America white supremacist group that was at the center of that protest, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A manifesto on the Patriot Front website says, “Democracy has failed this once great nation,” and a “hard reset” is needed to “return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers,” identifying them as European settlers.
#1
You can tell by the fact that these guys haven't been 'unmasked' that they are simply a bunch of federal agents trying too hard to justify Biden's anti-domestic terrorism by normal every day citizens who are the farthest thing from it.
1) a fed operation 2) an SPLC plant 3) a bunch of idiots
They have no interest in defending them & are happy to see them go down. In contrast, Kamala Harris personally promoted a bail fund for antifa rioters.…
[KhaamaPress] The Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... has confirmed 1,502 Ebola cases, including 473 deaths, in an outbreak involving the Bundibugyo virus, Rooters reported on July 3, citing government data. The cases have been recorded in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, where health teams are trying to contain transmission in areas affected by insecurity, poor infrastructure and population movement.
The latest government figures show a continued rise in cases since the outbreak was declared in mid-May. The World Health Organization’s most recent public update, based on DRC data as of July 1, listed 1,460 confirmed cases and 452 deaths, while Rooters reported higher government figures two days later, reflecting how quickly the outbreak data is changing.
Ituri remains the centre of the outbreak. In its July 1 update, the WHO said the province accounted for 1,333 confirmed cases and 380 deaths, far more than North Kivu or South Kivu. The agency said 36 health zones had reported cases, with recent transmission still active in more than half of them.
Congolese health authorities, supported by the WHO and other partners, have expanded surveillance, contact tracing, laboratory testing, treatment capacity and community outreach. The WHO said more than 10,000 contacts had been identified for follow-up in Ituri and North Kivu, an important step in breaking chains of transmission.
Testing remains one of the major challenges. Rooters reported that 10 laboratories are now able to test for Bundibugyo virus using three types of tests, but unreliable electricity, poor roads and insecurity continue to delay results in some areas. Health experts say faster testing is critical because delays can slow isolation, treatment and contact tracing.
Efforts to find treatment options are also under way. The WHO announced on July 2 that patient enrolment had begun in a clinical trial in the DRC to evaluate potential treatments for Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus. The strain currently has no approved vaccine or specific treatment, although supportive care, including rehydration and treatment of symptoms, can improve survival.
Ebola is a severe viral disease that spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials, according to health authorities. Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, while some severe cases may involve internal or external bleeding. People are not considered infectious before symptoms appear.
The outbreak has regional implications. The WHO said the DRC and Uganda confirmed outbreaks in May, while Uganda had reported 20 confirmed cases and two deaths as of July 2. One case linked to the DRC had also been reported in La Belle France, the agency said.
The DRC has faced repeated Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified near the Ebola River in 1976. Health officials say rapid case detection, treatment, safe burials, contact tracing and public trust remain essential to limiting the spread of the current outbreak.
On this wonderful occasion of the 250th birthday of the United States of America, we celebrate our history, our heroes, our flag, our freedom, our unyielding spirit, and the promise of even more greatness that lies ahead.
We share a tradition of winning. This is what makes our country unique. We are winners.
This is what it means to be an American. And we knew how to win right from the start.
On the morning of April 19, 1775, hundreds of British soldiers in their bright red coats marched out of Boston to put down the colonial rebellion and arrest the rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
The British moved in tight, disciplined columns, shoulder to shoulder, with drums beating and flags flying, just as they had been trained to do so well.
But along their 20-mile route were hundreds of farmers, blacksmiths, and shopkeepers, ordinary men with rifles who fired on their oppressors from behind stone walls and trees, before melting back into the countryside.
The soldiers’ red coats made perfect targets. Their strict discipline and perfect formation became a death sentence against the unyielding spirit of resourceful and determined men defending their liberty.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War and the dawn of the first light of American freedom that forever stands as a beacon of hope to the world.
But along their 20-mile route were hundreds of farmers, blacksmiths, and shopkeepers, ordinary men with rifles who fired on their oppressors from behind stone walls and trees, before melting back into the countryside.
The soldiers’ red coats made perfect targets. Their strict discipline and perfect formation became a death sentence against the unyielding spirit of resourceful and determined men defending their liberty.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War and the dawn of the first light of American freedom that forever stands as a beacon of hope to the world.
Then came the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, when brother fought brother in the bloodiest conflict in our history, the fight to abolish slavery.
You would never have heard of Abraham Lincoln if he had negotiated a deal and avoided the war, but it was not to be.
Our young nation faced its greatest test and emerged as a more perfect union.
Through courage, sacrifice and the unshakeable belief that all men are created equal, the United States was forged into one indivisible nation under God.
Our bountiful nation was built by generations of brave patriots who gave everything they had for our freedom and prosperity. They sacrificed their lives in battle; they laid the railroads and highways; they built the skyscrapers; they won two world wars; they dreamed big dreams; and they achieved the impossible, time and again.
In a spirit of generosity and with an expectation of cohesion, generations of Americans welcomed people from all corners of the globe to join them.
We all had winning and cohesion in common — but this is a warning: We must not lose the cohesion.
For the sake of America and the whole world, we must be strong, powerful and honest. We must have fair elections and a free and fair press, which we don’t have right now.
We are one family and one nation. We salute the same beautiful flag. We share the same glorious freedoms. And whenever our way of life has been threatened, we have responded.
We are Americans. We never give in, we never give up, and our country is only going to get better than ever before.
Like many I've been reading older printed and trusted history books this 250 Birthday.
In my case I have a few books published between 1890-> <- 1900, covering the 1776 era US history.
Came across a really neat item covering the July 1776, colonists destroying a very large 4,000 pound statue of English King George III on a horse, in Bowling Green.
It was pulled down and hauled away because the Lead parts were then melted down and produced over 42,000+ musket balls for the US Revolution.
[WLKY] Three days after Sen. Mitch McConnell was rushed to the hospital, the Chinese government says his wife, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, met with one of China's top officials in Beijing.
According to a news release posted by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America, Chao met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing on June 17, just three days after McConnell was hospitalized.
The statement did not say whether Chao's visit was connected to any official U.S. government business, but it did say both leaders were committed to strengthening relations between the two countries.
Ms Chao is no leader. She was one, once upon a time, but nowadays she’s just a private citizen. And engaging in private diplomacy, which is forbidden.
Han said both leaders "agreed on a new vision of a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability, providing important strategic guidance for future bilateral relations."
Chao served as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 2017 to 2021 and previously served as the Secretary of Labor under former President George W. Bush.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2026 2:38 Comments ||
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#2
Smells like commies being commies to me.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/05/2026 2:39 Comments ||
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#3
Losing a valued source can be devastating. Han Zheng wanted a FACECOM update. Turtle's estimated departure date, John Robert's status on upcoming Birthright Citizenship, status of Narco investigations in the US and Canada, China's NYC 24th province update, where to send last payment, .... all vitally important issues.
#5
So Mitch & Wife have strong upper level ties with the CCP leaders.
Interesting to note.
She was born in Taipei, Taiwan and arrived here on a freighter at age 8. (questionable Dual-Citizenship status?) Elaine Chao US Citizenship started at age 19.
After Harvard, she went into working Banks (upper level mgt.) and then moved to working the Federal Gov at DC Swamp higher levels.
#12
Since the Turtle is now effectively useless as an agent for Chinese interests, is she selling her own value to protect continued patronage, or just to confirm she will keep all his misbehavior under wraps in return for a regular pension each month?
#16
When Mitch is out of the picture she will no longer have direct access to all that Senate Majority Leader type intel. This might be a good time for her to just stay in China.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/05/2026 18:53 Comments ||
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#17
#12, I'd hazard a guess that she'll get a nice pension from the CCP.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/05/2026 18:55 Comments ||
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[SeattleRed] Downtown Seattle now leads the nation in empty office space, with nearly 37% of it vacant, and even The Seattle Times admits the city is staring down years of "zombie" towers nobody wants.
The numbers come from real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, cited in a new Seattle Times report published Saturday. Since 2020, downtown office properties have shed $15 billion in value, a 46% collapse, and they are now generating $128 million less in property taxes each year, according to King County assessor data. The 44-floor U.S. Bank Center at Fifth Avenue and Pike Street sits nearly half empty and is trading at fire-sale prices. Veteran developer Martin Selig has defaulted on major chunks of his portfolio.
This is not a normal downturn, and the paper’s own reporting explains why. After the Great Recession, downtown vacancy peakedat 21% and the market recovered in five years. Seattle blew past that mark long ago and kept climbing.
Eight years of empty space, if demand ever returns
The Times calculates that even if office demand snapped back to prepandemic levels tomorrow, it would take eight more years to fill the space already sitting empty. Nobody in the industry expects that kind of comeback.
The Times concedes that companies are fleeing to Bellevue, where the 25% vacancy rate sits near the 23% national average, but insists the tech pullback is the real culprit rather than Seattle’s taxes, antibusiness rhetoric, and public safety failures. Employers keep saying otherwise.
Seattle Red reported in April that Seattle posted the worst office vacancy rate of any major U.S. market, and the Downtown Seattle Association has tied the collapse directly to a billion dollars in new city employer taxes. A near-tripling in the share of Washington employers planning to leave the state followed the Democrats’ tax spree, including the new 9.9% income tax.Homeowners get stuck with the tab
That $128 million property tax hole does not vanish with all of this.
King County assessor data shows downtown skyscrapers lost $3.7 billion in value in a single year. That tax burden merely shifts onto renters, homeowners, and small businesses, the exact people City Hall claims its taxes protect. Mayor Katie Wilson’s answer may be a vacancy tax on the empty buildings her city’s policies helped empty. But those zombie towers are not the disease. They are the symptom of bad policies.
#3
Nearly 1 in 4 Washington employers is now weighing a move out of state, and the number has nearly tripled in just 16 months, according to new data from the Association of Washington Business (AWB) that the group’s president is already calling a “911 emergency” for the state’s economy.
Increased recent taxes? Not the sole reason for business flight, just the last straw. Bad governmental management, lefty soft on crime attitudes, radical groups tearing up and looting the place for too many years. Homelessness. See Portland for another example.
#4
Need to clear out the space for new tenants. There’s over a million blossoming voters due east waiting to move in. As king county goes so goes WA. And OR, etc. only 4 major metros to control the left coast.
#6
2nd order of effect. Most of down town Seattle is owned as a land grant and the the Colleges get paid for the land rent. Looks like WSU and UW are going to have some financial issues....
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/05/2026 19:46 Comments ||
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#7
An interesting article, 746. Thank you for finding it for us.
A very interesting point, 49 Pan. And at a time when so many colleges and universities are struggling financially, too. Schadenfreude is not a pretty thing, but there it is.
[KhaamaPress] German Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended Berlin’s plans to sharply increase defence spending on Friday, saying Germany is carrying out one of the largest military buildups in its postwar history after U.S. President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... renewed criticism of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... allies over burden-sharing.
Speaking in Berlin while hosting leaders from the Baltic states ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Merz said Germany would double its defence budget within four years as part of a wider effort to strengthen its armed forces and European security.
"Germany is doubling its defence budget within four years. This is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities. In this respect, we have no reason to shy away from anyone," Merz told news hounds, according to Rooters.
Merz said Germany would present its position "with all due modesty," while recognizing its responsibility as the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s largest member state. His comments came after Trump criticized NATO allies on his Truth Social platform, describing the U.S. defence role in the alliance as "one-sided" and saying Germany had spent "much lower" amounts on defence between 2014 and 2025 than the United States and some other allies.
The exchange comes as NATO leaders prepare to meet in Ankara on July 7 and 8, with defence spending, support for Ukraine and the alliance’s long-term deterrence strategy expected to dominate the agenda.
Merz said Germany would reach the NATO benchmark of spending 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defence by 2029, several years ahead of the 2035 deadline agreed by alliance leaders at last year’s summit in The Hague.
At that summit, NATO members committed to investing 5% of GDP annually by 2035. Under the agreement, at least 3.5% is to be allocated to core defence needs, while up to 1.5% may count toward broader security-related spending such as infrastructure, cyber defence, civil preparedness and defence industry capacity, according to NATO’s official declaration.
Germany’s military expansion is part of a broader European effort to increase defence capabilities following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Several NATO members, especially Poland and the Baltic states, have already moved faster than many Western European allies in raising defence spending as a share of national output.
Rooters reported separately that NATO leaders, including Trump, are expected to reaffirm their commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, the alliance’s mutual defence clause, in the summit declaration. The text, approved by NATO ambassadors, still requires final approval by leaders at the summit.
Trump has repeatedly urged European allies to spend more on defence, arguing that the United States has carried a disproportionate share of NATO’s security burden. His criticism has raised concern among some European governments about Washington’s long-term commitment to the alliance, even as NATO members continue to raise military spending in response to growing security threats.
#1
The discussion of defense spending, while valuable, leaves open the issue of how many young Western European men are willing to fight for their countries.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/05/2026 11:51 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] A Turkish court jails comedian Deniz Goktas pending trial on Friday for insulting President Tayyip Erdogan and religious values, days after prosecutors opened an investigation into remarks he made on stage.
Goktas is accused of insulting religious values during a stand-up performance in Istanbul on June 1, in which he made references to Erdogan, the Quran and jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The performance quickly went viral online, and attracted more than nine million views on YouTube as of Friday, with clips spreading widely across X, Instagram and other social media platforms.
Goktas has denied the charges, saying his jokes were not an insult against religious values or the Quran. He’s also said that his description of Erdogan as a “dictator” was a political definition and not an insult.
Worse and worse — the man needs to read 1984.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/05/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1855 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[NYP] NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji ditched America’s 250th anniversary, jetting off this week for an Islamic "spiritual wellness" retreat on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca ahead of the patriotic celebration, The Post has learned.
The Dallas-raised, Dubai-educated, Syrian-American artist — who has a long history of bashing the US — was spotted at Newark International Airport on Monday, boarding an eight-hour flight to Palma, Mallorca’s capital city in the Western Mediterranean.
She was heading to a sold-out retreat run by The Women’s Sanctuary. The 29-year-old illustrator and ceramist is the for-profit’s "artist in residence" and among the gathering’s hosts.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An armed separatist group in Indonesia shot and killed an American pilot on Thursday and burned down his plane.
Nicholas F. Goselin, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT AMA, was killed shortly after he landed at the Ipdeheik airstrip in Balinggama village of the Yahukimo regency in the mountainous province of Papua Highlands.
The West Papua National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement,
..founded in 1963, they’re your standard ethnic nationalist separatists — not even Communist. They hate Indonesia and America — that’s it…
soon took credit for the attack in a video showing rebels armed with guns and axes raising the Morning Star flag - a symbol of Papuan independence.
A decades-old insurgency in impoverished Papua between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. The rebels have especially targeted foreign pilots.
They rebels claimed pilots have been ferrying Indonesian troops into the area, and asserted that Goselin's death sent 'a message.'
The following day, Wirya Artadiguna, a military spokesperson in Papua, confirmed the separatist group had carried out the attack and said the body of the American pilot had been recovered and evacuated.
Indonesia's civil aviation authority has said there were no security concerns raised when Goselin first brought the plane in to land, but soon contact was lost with the airstrip.
The passengers, all of whom were locals, were unharmed in the attack, authorities said.
The military is seeking the perpetrators, he said, adding that all passengers on the flight are safe and have returned home.
In a statement, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the aircraft violated their ban on civilian flights in areas the separatist group considers its operational zones.
He said the American pilot was killed because the aircraft continued operating despite the group´s warning. The claims could not be independently verified.
Sambom then called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to open international negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict in Papua, which separatists say has resulted in civilian deaths and mass displacement.
'The shooting of the American pilot is the result of the failure of the Indonesian, U.S. and Dutch governments, as well as the United Nations, to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua, which has persisted for 64 years,' he said in a statement.
He also urged the United Nations to facilitate talks involving the Indonesian government, the TPNPB and Papuan representatives, and warned that the group would target other civilian aircraft it believes are assisting military operations in the region.
'We are prepared to fire upon any civilian aircraft across the land of Papua that assists Indonesian military forces in transporting troops or military logistics,' Sambom said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka 
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
