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The reality star shared a variety of throwback pics with her late grandma.

The reality star shared a variety of throwback pics with her late grandma.

Taiwan's President Ratchets Anti-China Rhetoric In Party Speech: Must Resist 'Red Terror' Of Beijing

President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday that Taiwan must renew efforts to protect its democracy and never become part of China. He urged members of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to oppose the "red terror" coming ‌from Beijing.

The ruling DPP champions Taiwan's separate ​identity from China, and is working to combat what Lai called China's "legal warfare".

via Bloomberg

"I also expect comrades within ‌the party to stand on the front lines, unite as one, and jointly oppose the ​threat posed by China's 'red terror' ‌to Taiwanese society," Lai added, speaking in Taiwanese, rather than the main language of government, Mandarin.

"We must work together ‌to protect our democratic and free way of life, and absolutely never allow 'democratic Taiwan' to turn back and become 'China's Taiwan'," he said.

"Regardless of ethnic group, regardless of who came earlier or later, anyone who identifies with Taiwan is a master of ‌the country. Taiwan's future must be decided jointly by the 23 million people of Taiwan," he said.

One establishment US publication has held up a prime example of Beijing's "legal warfare" against an autonomous Taiwan in the following:

On March 12, China’s legislature adopted the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress (Chinese; English translation), a sweeping new statute that codifies Beijing’s approach toward China’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. Substantively, the law enshrines a decades-long shift towards aggressive assimilationist policies. Structurally, it reflects a deepening merger of Party ideology and state law that is becoming increasingly prevalent under Xi Jinping.

This new law is the culmination of a policy trajectory that has been building for over a decade, dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference. Under Xi, Beijing is steering away from the post-1949 legal framework of nominal ethnic autonomy (albeit under tight Party control) imported from the Soviet Union. In its place, officials have steadily been pivoting towards what scholars have termed “second-generation ethnic policies”—an aggressive assimilationist approach that emphasizes a common Chinese national identity over accommodation of ethnic differences. Provincial and municipal authorities across China have enacted a wave of local “ethnic unity and progress” regulations in recent years, such as those in Xinjiang (2015) or Inner Mongolia (2021). The new national legislation elevates this approach to the level of a national statute governing all of China.

The new law’s core concept is captured in the term zhulao – to “forge” or “cast” metal – and its instruction that “forging the communal consciousness of the Chinese nation” is core to the Party’s ethnic policies.  As James Leibold has pointed out, this phrasing reflects a hardening of Beijing’s political line under Xi Jinping – explicitly written into the Party’s Charter at the 19th Party Congress in 2017 – aimed at “melting” subnational and ethnic identities into a shared collective one.

Meanwhile, on a global stage Beijing has continued to present itself as the only peace guarantor and as a force for stability and is seeking 'Taiwan's willing participation' - at a moment the Middle East is on fire largely as a result of American policy and quickness to result to force and surprise attacks.

President Donald Trump suggests the United States might not come to Taiwan’s aid if China attacks, arguing that Taiwan “took” America’s advanced semiconductor business and should therefore pay more for its own protection. — @atrupar (July 2023)pic.twitter.com/WNMUZe6IUf

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) July 19, 2026

And yet, President Trump has of late publicly touted his personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping as "amazing". Planned weapons deal with Taiwan have been indefinitely put on hold as Washington tries to repair relations with Beijing.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/19/2026 - 19:50

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Judge Strikes Down Race-Based Provision In Biden-Era Internet Access Grant Program

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge ruled on July 15 that a race-based provision of the Digital Equity Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 to close digital gaps, was unconstitutional.

A judge's gavel rests on top of a desk in a courtroom in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 3, 2009. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Digital Equity Act was part of Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which appropriated $2.75 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish grant programs to expand high-speed internet access for minority groups and communities in rural areas.

After taking office for a second term last year, President Donald Trump halted the competitive grant program authorized under the Digital Equity Act, saying it was unconstitutional because it allocated federal funding based on race.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a recipient of the competitive grant program, later filed a lawsuit in October 2025 seeking to reinstate the program.

In a 35-page order, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled that the Digital Equity Act's provision authorizing the use of race in awarding federal funds was unconstitutional, citing the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling that struck down race-based preferences in higher education admissions.

Bates said that while the Digital Equity Act aims to address the digital divide among minority groups and other covered populations, the Supreme Court precedent showed that remedying general social disparities alone does not justify the use of race in government action.

"Addressing that gap is a laudable goal, but the Supreme Court has admonished that ameliorating general societal inequalities - as opposed to specific instances of past discrimination - 'does not constitute a compelling interest that justifies race-based state action,'" the judge stated.

"Otherwise, Congress could deploy racial classifications when confronted with any situation of an uneven resource distribution."

Bates said the grant program could be reinstated without the race-based provision, and the government had committed to restoring it upon a judicial determination that the provision was unconstitutional.

Trump welcomed the ruling in a Truth Social post, calling it a "big win" for the American people.

"The so-called 'Digital Equity Act,' a Biden DEI law, was ruled exactly what I said it was last year - A RACIST and UNCONSTITUTIONAL giveaway that never should have become Law," he wrote.

The decision to end the Digital Equity Act comes amid the Trump administration's efforts to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from federal agencies and government initiatives.

Trump stated in a Jan. 20, 2025, executive order that the previous administration had forced "illegal and immoral discrimination programs" across virtually "all aspects of the federal government" through DEI initiatives.

Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, credited the National Digital Inclusion Alliance with helping to secure the program's restoration.

"Yesterday's ruling on the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is, on balance, a victory," Mitchell said in a statement. "The only real question now is how quickly NTIA moves to actually implement it."

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance did not return a request for comment by publication time.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/19/2026 - 18:40

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