'Very harmful'

TRUMP ANNOUNCES 'TOTAL' BLOCKADE OF OIL TANKERS IN & OUT OF VENEZUELA ... DONALD TRUMP: Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has pledged to toss “New Age notions” in America’s Chaplain Corps and make the military body “great again.”  

“In recent decades, its role has been degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism,” Hegseth said of the Chaplain Corps in video message released Tuesday night.  

“Chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” Hegseth said, adding “faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care.”  

Across all branches of the U.S. military, there are estimated to be 3,000 to 4,000 military chaplains.  

The Chaplain Corps was established in 1775 at the request of George Washington, who at the time was serving as general of the Continental Army. Washington established the corps to meet the spiritual needs of the men.  

“For about 200 years, the chaplain corps continued its role as the spiritual leader of our service members, serving our men and women in times of hardship and ministering to their souls, but sadly, as part of the ongoing war on warriors, in recent decades, its role has been degraded,” Hegseth said.  

The Secretary of War points to the U.S. Army Spiritual Fitness Guide as a critical example of the ways secularism has influenced the Chaplain Corps.  

The 112-page document mentions “God” only once, does not mention “Jesus” or “virtue,” but does mention “feelings” 11 times and “spiritual” over 350 times.  

“The guide relies on New Age notions, saying that the soldier’s spirit consists of consciousness, creativity and connection,” Hegseth said.  

“The guide itself reports that around 82% of the military are religious, yet ironically, it alienates our war fighters of faith by pushing secular humanism. In short, it’s unacceptable and unserious, so we’re tossing it,” he continued.  

Hegseth has signed a directive to eliminate the use of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. The secretary also announced that military is simplifying the U.S. Military’s Faith and Belief Coding System, which is used to track religions and spiritual preferences within the military.  

The system currently has over 200 faith and belief codes, according to Hegseth, who added that the majority of the military uses only six of the codes, and 11 are not used at all.  

A new system will be streamlined, Hegseth said, and moved “to a new list of religious affiliation codes so that our chaplains can actually use it to minister better to the flock.”  

Tuesday announcement is the first of similar reforms to come, according to the secretary.  

“There will be a top-down cultural shift putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as mental and physical health,” Hegseth said.  

Being a chaplain in the U.S. military is a “high and sacred calling, but this only works if our shepherds are actually given the freedom to boldly guide and care for their flock,” he said.  

“We are going to make the Chaplain Corps great again,” Hegseth pledged, adding, “Merry Christmas.”  

The post Military Is Tossing ‘New Age Notions’ and Will Make Chaplain Corps ‘Great Again,’ Hegseth Announces appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump's nominee for religious freedom ambassador has languished without a confirmation hearing for eight months while Christians are persecuted around the globe and antisemitism is on the rise.

The post Why Trump Needs His Religious Freedom Ambassador appeared first on Breitbart.

Just a few years after the U.S. government wasted $630 million on a failed plan to stop the constant flow of toxic waste and raw sewage that gushes in from Mexico, the Trump administration is celebrating a new project it guarantees will finally solve the problem though it seems too good to be true. The new initiative, disclosed this week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), is called Minute 333 and is being hailed as a “historic new agreement between the United States and Mexico” that will “permanently end the decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis.” The project relies heavily on Mexico and does not obligate any additional U.S. taxpayer funding, raising serious doubts about its potential to succeed despite the EPA’s claims that it is a historic milestone toward implementing 100% solution to the Tijuana River sewage crisis that contaminates California beaches with high levels of fecal bacteria that pose serious health risks and negatively impact marine life.

Hundreds of billions of gallons of trash, toxic sewage and unmanaged stormwater have flooded into the U.S. from Mexico for years and Americans have paid exorbitant sums to clean it up. The government refers to it as transboundary flow and it contains a combination of treated wastewater, untreated wastewater, and stormwater. Around 50 million gallons of mostly raw sewage flows into the Pacific Ocean from the San Antonio de los Buenos Creek in Tijuana, Mexico not far from the California border, according to the EPA. Northward currents carry the discharge up the coast to the U.S. causing marine transboundary flows, the agency confirms. During wet-weather events an average of 109 million gallons per day flow into the Pacific Ocean via the Tijuana River. The contaminated water includes raw sewage, trash from Tijuana’s famously polluted urban area and eroded soil from the canyons and upstream of the Tijuana River. The contaminated flows create significant negative impacts to water quality, public health, and the environment.

This has been going on for decades and the U.S. has paid handsomely to mitigate the mess though it has barely put a dent on controlling the damage. The constant stream of pollutants has taken a huge toll, including negatively impacting public health and beach water quality as well as threats to wildlife and U.S. government activities. The untreated wastewater contains harmful pathogens that pose risks to human health, the EPA disclosed long ago. Sediment, trash, and polluted wastewater hurt aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and degrades the marine and estuarian habitats that wildlife rely on to thrive. The pollution has also made U.S. Military and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel quite sick. A few years ago a national news outlet visited the region and published a troubling piece that includes a detailed list of the contaminants in the Tijuana River water; “fecal coliforms, drug-resistant bacteria, benzene, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium medical waste, and DDT, which has been banned for years in the United States.”

No one can blame the Trump administration for celebrating a proposed project to finally stop Mexico’s trash and sewage from seeping into the U.S., but some of the details are likely to ignite skepticism. For starters, Minute 333 was born out of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and his Mexican counterpart, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, in Mexico City over the summer. The MOU says Mexico will seek funding to initiate the construction of a mechanism to divert treated effluent entering the Tijuana River to an upstream site, initiate engineering and financial feasibility of installing an ocean outfall in Tijuana and construct and maintain the sediment basin at Matadero Canyon before the upcoming rainy season. Also known as Smuggler’s Gulch, Matadero Canyon is the U.S.-Mexico border area near San Diego and Tijuana well known for illegal crossings and wastewater pollution. The commissioner of Mexico’s IBWC says the project reiterates her country’s commitments to resolve the border sanitation problem pursuant to the provisions of the 1944 Water Treaty. That means it has taken eight decades for Mexico to keep its end of the deal if in fact Minute 333 goes as planned.

The post After $630 Mil Plan Fails to Stop Flow of Waste, Sewage from Tijuana U.S. Solution Relies on Mexico appeared first on Judicial Watch.

The question is: Did Brown University acquiesce under pressure from far-left human rights groups to disable their CCTV systems, in advance of the mass shooting on campus? [SOURCE – AUGUST 19, 2025] As originally reported in August 2025 {SOURCE}, a group of far-left human rights advocate sent a letter to 150 U.S. colleges and universities […]

The post Brown University Received a Letter from 34 Human Rights Groups in August Requesting They Disable Their CCTV System appeared first on The Last Refuge.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC) Brendan Carr testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday, December 17.

The post Watch Live: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Testifies Before Senate appeared first on Breitbart.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird told Newsmax on Wednesday she is taking legal action against Roblox for what she calls a failure to provide even the most basic protections for children on its popular gaming platform, despite marketing itself as a safe space for kids.

'Absolutely a case of willful ignorance'

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is one step closer to having U.S. senators feel the burden of a government shutdown.

Last week, the Senate Rules Committee unanimously advanced the senator’s resolution to withhold senators’ pay during a government shutdown. 

Kennedy’s resolution would require that the paychecks of senators be withheld by the secretary of the Senate during the course of a shutdown to be released only when the period of the government shutdown ends. The legislation would take effect after the November 2026 general election.

The bill comes after Americans endured the longest government shutdown in U.S. history this past year, which dragged on for more than 40 days. During that time, thousands of federal workers were furloughed, and essential federal personnel were forced to come to work with the anxiety of not knowing if they would be compensated on a regular schedule.

The more than monthlong lapse in federal funding disrupted thousands of flights and led to the closure of national parks and the Smithsonian museums. The airline Delta alone expects to take a $200 million loss to its profits this year because of the government shutdown.

By law, furloughed federal workers receive back pay following a government shutdown. 

“If the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history taught us anything, it’s that senators don’t deserve a dime from the American taxpayer until they do their jobs. When federal workers, our troops, and border agents don’t get paid during a government shutdown, U.S. Senators shouldn’t be any different,” Kennedy said in a statement, adding, “This unanimous Rules Committee vote to withhold senators’ paychecks during shutdowns is a major win for common sense. Passing my resolution is the right thing to do—pure and simple—and the Senate ought to move it across the finish line quickly.”

The Louisiana lawmaker has represented the Pelican State in the Senate since 2017. He was previously Louisiana’s state treasurer from 2000 to 2017, and the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue from 1996 to 1999. 

This year Kennedy had also introduced two bills, the No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act and the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, designed to prevent lawmakers in both chambers of Congress from receiving compensation just like other employees of the federal government.

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., who chairs the House Administration Committee, introduced a House version of the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act that would have facilitated the withholding of member pay during a shutdown.

“If service members, men and women of federal law enforcement, and other essential employees are working without pay during the Schumer shutdown, members of Congress should not be paid either,” Steil said in a statement at the time.

Kennedy also said in a comment, “I don’t see missing paychecks or empty dinner plates as leverage or bargaining chips. My bills ensure Congress feels the same pain as the folks we’re failing to pay—our troops, air traffic controllers, and federal workers. If we can’t do our jobs and fund the government, we don’t deserve a paycheck—plain and simple.” 

The post Kennedy’s Bill Withholding Senator Pay During Shutdown Advances appeared first on The Daily Signal.

CNN used the Brown University shooting to promote inflated Gun Violence Archive statistics, despite longstanding evidence the data is misleading and unreliable.

The post CNN Recycles Discredited Anti-Gun Data After Brown University Shooting appeared first on The Truth About Guns.

'Pay the guys with the guns first'

Nick Reiner was acting strangely at a Hollywood party on Saturday, hours before the deaths of his parents, according to new reports. Nick Reiner, who was arrested Sunday for the […]

The post Nick Reiner Had a Bizarre Interaction with a Famous Comedian the Night Before His Parents' Murder: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.

President Donald Trump said that costs for the new White House ballroom project could total $400 million, a figure double the $200 million price tag that was originally announced. Trump reportedly mentioned the project...

Four Republicans broke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday and signed on to a Democrat-led petition that will force a House vole on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions.