A curious feature of American life is the belief that putting a man on the moon in 1969 was not merely a thing we did, but a thing that defined who we are. The moon landing became the fixed point in a national narrative of progress, the ultimate rebuttal to any subsequent doubt. If we can put a man on the moon, the refrain went, we can do any lesser thing. It was a statement of faith in a particular kind of American power, the fusion of technological genius and free-enterprise grit that could, it seemed, bend the arc of history. The phrase has since acquired a certain nostalgic patina, a relic from an era when the country could still muster that kind of singular, massive effort.

Now, the proposition is being tested.

The question of whether China will beat the United States back to the lunar surface is, on one level, a technical one, a ledger of rocket tests and budget allocations. Yet to frame it this way is to miss the point. The competition is not about launch windows or payload capacities but about the story America tells itself. A Chinese flag planted in the regolith of the lunar south pole before an American one would do more than mark a geopolitical achievement; it would be a blow to perceptions of American exceptionalism. The old refrain would hang in the air, suddenly hollow.

We are witnessing the formation of two distinct camps, exporting earthly rivalries to space.

The American effort, named Artemis after Apollo’s twin sister, is a program freighted with legacy and ambition. It relies on the Space Launch System, a behemoth of a rocket that flew a successful uncrewed test in 2022, but also shed foam insulation on its way up, a disquieting echo of the Columbia disaster. For the actual landing, NASA has outsourced the task to SpaceX, whose Starship is a fully reusable silver ship promising fantastically to deliver, not just astronauts, but the entire infrastructure of a settlement. It is a characteristically American bet on the power of the private sector, a leap of faith that has yet to achieve, as of mid-2025, a successful orbital flight. The official timeline for an American return has slipped from 2024 to 2026, and now, in the quiet admissions of internal reviews, to 2027, at the earliest.

China, meanwhile, proceeds with the calm of a nation that confidently measures progress in five-year plans. Its program lacks a poetic name but possesses an observable momentum. The hardware has a familiar, almost classical design: a Long March 10 rocket, a crew capsule named Mengzhou (“Dream Vessel”), and a lander called Lanyue (“Embracing the Moon”). The architecture is a direct echo of Apollo: a two-part lander with a command module in orbit. It is a repetition of a proven method, not a reinvention of it. While NASA contends with the uncertainties of Starship, China has been methodically hitting its marks. In August 2025, engineers successfully test-fired the first stage of its new rocket and simulated a lunar landing by hanging a 26-ton prototype from a crane. Its stated goal is to land taikonauts on the moon before 2030. At the current pace, they are likely to succeed.

This divergence in approach is telling. The United States is trying to innovate its way back to the moon, to do something bigger and more sustainable than before. China is simply trying to get there. One could argue this reflects a difference in governance models: the chaotic, brilliant, and often inconsistent engine of America versus the focused, centralized will of the Chinese state. While NASA’s budget is subject to the whims of Congress and shifting presidential priorities, a cycle of grand announcements and quiet cancellations that has plagued the agency for decades, China’s space program is integrated with its national and military ambitions, backed by pockets of undisclosed depth.

RELATED: China built a solar-powered back door into millions of American homes

Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe / Contributor via Getty Images

The geopolitical stakes extend beyond mere prestige. Both nations are aiming for the lunar south pole, where permanently shadowed craters are believed to hold vast quantities of water ice, the key resource for any sustained presence on the moon. The United States has attempted to shape the norms of this new frontier through the Artemis Accords, a set of principles for peaceful lunar exploration signed by over 35 nations. China and Russia are conspicuously absent, instead promoting their own coalition around an International Lunar Research Station. We are witnessing the formation of two distinct camps, exporting earthly rivalries to space. The nation that arrives first will not own the territory (the 1967 Outer Space Treaty forbids it), but it will enjoy the advantage of being there, setting precedents and controlling the most valuable real estate.

There are those who see a silver lining in this scenario. A Chinese landing could serve as a “Sputnik moment,” shocking the United States out of its complacency and galvanizing a new era of investment and innovation. It’s also possible that being second, but arriving with the revolutionary capability of Starship, could prove to be the more significant achievement in the long run. History may judge the establishment of a true lunar outpost as more important than the planting of the next flag.

Yet, the symbolism of that first footprint remains potent. For over half a century, the moon has belonged, in the popular imagination, to America. It was our “can-do” spirit made manifest. To see another nation achieve what we have struggled to repeat would be to confront a fundamental shift in the global order. It would suggest that the future is no longer a chiefly American enterprise. The race to the moon was never just about the moon. It was, and is, about the terrestrial anxieties and ambitions of the nations doing the racing. As we watch the trajectories of these two great powers, it is difficult to avoid the sense that we are witnessing not just the dawn of a new space age, but the twilight of an old one.

​Moon, Tech, China, Us 

Lisa Cook’s financial house is on fire. Naturally, there is a Michigan angle to the story. Because there’s always a Michigan angle to the story.

Cook, a governor with the Federal Reserve Bank, has a bank loan on a “secondary” home in Massachusetts, which the Trump administration alleges she rents out full-time. A judge might call that mortgage fraud.

There cannot be two sets of rules: one for the elites who scam their way into favorable financial terms and another for the rest of us.

Cook also owns a condo in Atlanta, which she claims is her primary residence on banking and government documents. The Trump administration alleges there is evidence that she rents that one out, too. And that also could be mortgage fraud.

But Cook also has a third home in Ann Arbor, which she also lists as her primary residence on banking and government papers. Lisa must be living in Ann Arbor in the tidy brick house with a columned portico on Jackson Avenue, right?

RELATED: Trump fires Biden Fed governor for possible ‘criminal conduct’ — but Lisa Cook is desperate to cling to power

– YouTube

I stopped by the house last week. The glass in the storm door was filthy with neglect. A metal lockbox — the kind used by realtors — hung on the door knob. From the porch, I could see a figure sitting at the dining room table. When I knocked, the door slightly cracked open, only to reveal a white man partially visible behind the filthy glass.

“I’m a reporter,” I told the figure, who did not undo the chain. “I was wondering if Lisa Cook lives here. Or do you rent?”

“No, we’re just renters here.” He made it clear he didn’t feel comfortable with a reporter on the deteriorating porch. “You’ll have to talk to the owner.”

“OK,” I said. “Is it you just living here?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Just renting?” I asked again.

“No comment.”

“I’m sorry?”

It was difficult to hear. The traffic was crackling like an old transistor radio. There was a bus stop nearby.

“You’ll have to talk to the owner of the house.”

And with that, the interview was over. The chain rattled. The door closed, and someone pulled the curtains tight.

It’s hard to believe Cook got confused over her mortgage paperwork. Cook is a financial sophisticate, a member of the board of governors of the world’s most powerful central bank. A bank that sets interest rates that influence the cost of financing a home, mind you.

All three mortgages were taken out by Cook in 2021, all within a timespan of two months, three weeks, and four days. In her 2025 government ethics filings, Cook claimed two of the properties are her primary residences and the Massachusetts dwelling is an income property.

That’s cheating. Trump fired her last week for “cause,” and two criminal referrals against Cook have been referred to the Department of Justice. For her part, Cook is suing over her firing.

Trump is accused of attacking a prominent black woman who refuses to lower interest rates as Trump has demanded.

Perhaps.

As far as my motivations go, I simply try to hold the powerful to account. When it comes to questions of residency and real estate, you may have seen me on the porches of two Detroit mayors, a current mayoral candidate, a county executive, a county commissioner, a supreme court justice, a circuit court judge, a district court judge, a member of Congress, a fire commissioner, a prominent minister, and a major political party treasurer, just to name but a dozen. These people were black, white, male, and female. Doesn’t matter to me.

We cannot have two sets of rules: one for the elites who scam their way into favorable financial terms and another for the rest of us who endure audits, foreclosures, and repossession.

Cook has three basic questions to answer:

Was she renting the properties when she was supposed to be sleeping at them?Did she claim rental income on her tax forms?And where does she actually live?

Because it sure the heck ain’t Ann Arbor.

Editor’s note: A version of article appeared originally in the Michigan Enjoyer.

​Politics, Charlie leduff, Lisa cook, Fed governor, Federal reserve, Ann arbor, Trump, Doj, Donald trump, Mortgage fraud 

When investigative journalist Gina Keating first dove into the Raven 23 case, she found something incredibly unexpected.

Under the Obama administration, the government — whom she initially trusted to do its job — alongside Hillary Clinton attempted to imprison a group of four American veterans by any means necessary in order to help guarantee that Iraq elect the president the American government wanted.

“You write, ‘Thanks to Wikileaks, we know that behind the scenes, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder pushed for convictions because of political pressure from a corrupt Iraqi government that they wanted to make appear legitimate,” Blaze media co-founder Glenn Beck reads to investigative journalist Gina Keating from her own book, “Raven 23.”

The official story went that Blackwater employees Dustin Heard, Paul Slough, Nick Slatten, and Evan Liberty fired “unprovoked” into a crowd of civilians in Nisour Square, Baghdad. But the story was a lie.

“We didn’t know for sure that that’s what was going on until Christin Slough’s attorney, Dave Harrison, checked Wikileaks and found those emails between Hillary Clinton and, I think his name is Harold Koh, who was her chief legal counsel,” Keating tells Glenn.

“And it was literally the day after … the dismissal of the case was made public in Iraq. It was, I think, January 2 or 3. She immediately emailed him and said, ‘How can we make this case come back?’” she says.

“And that’s literally it. … So she did that, and then Joe Biden goes to Iraq about two weeks later and guarantees the Iraqis that, you know, they’re going to get justice. … The second most powerful man in the world is going on TV and saying essentially that you’re guilty and you got away with it,” she continues.

Through Keating’s investigation, she found that those four former servicemen had actually been fired on by insurgents and had engaged according to the rules of war — despite the government’s refusal to acknowledge the truth in favor of its own agenda.

“So, essentially,” Keating says, “American domestic policy and criminal justice is being decided by Nouri al-Maliki and the desire to have him as the prime minister of Iraq.”

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​Video, Camera phone, Sharing, Upload, Video phone, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Hillary clinton, Raven 23, The obama administration, Barack obama, Joe biden, Vice president joe biden, Paul slough 

A man who was caught taking photos of children in a movie theater bathroom was discovered to be a middle school teacher, according to Virginia police.

Colonial Heights Police said they were called to the Regal Cinemas at Southpark Mall on July 22 on a report that a man was taking the photos of children. Shaun Jason Adams, 49, was arrested for child pornography after police viewed material on his phone.

Court documents said they messaged each other about sexually abusing children in their care.

Police said they found a “thread of sexually explicit messages about children” from the data on the phone, and that information led to the arrest of 33-year-old Richard Franklin Troshak III of Chesterfield County.

“Once, of course, we look at a phone, you start leading to where people have sent messages, sent pictures, and those are the ones that led to the other investigation,” said Gray Collins, attorney for the commonwealth of Colonial Heights.

Court documents said they messaged each other about sexually abusing children in their care.

Adams faces 25 counts of felony manufacturing of child pornography and five felony counts of indecent liberties with a child, while Troshak faces eight counts of felony manufacturing of child pornography and two felony counts of indecent liberties with a child.

Both Adams and Troshak worked for Chesterfield County Schools, the former for Elizabeth Davis Middle School and the latter for the Chesterfield Early Childhood Learning Academy.

Police said Troshak was arrested at the learning academy without incident.

Chesterfield Superintendent Dr. John Murray said he immediately ordered both to be terminated from the district.

The investigation also found that both men had previously worked at the Tuckaway day care. At least one message referenced abuse at the day care.

RELATED: Missing 12-year-old was killed by alligators — and records show horrific prior conviction against his mother

Petersburg Police Deputy Chief Emanuel Chambliss said a third investigation has opened up where Adams lived.

“If they recognize the teacher involved and suspect he might be involved in any activity here in the city, please contact us,” he said.

WRIC-TV reported that Troshak has been named the “Overall CCPS Beginning Teacher of the Year” just months before his arrest. The learning academy’s principal and assistant principal were placed on administrative leave, according to WRIC.

Collins went on to say that many times, victims and witnesses don’t want to come forward in these kinds of cases.

“Even if you don’t want to come forward in court, we still need to hear your story so we can make sure that this doesn’t happened again to other people,” he continued.

“We’ve done initial meetings with parents without the children present so we can go over the facts of what we’ve heard, what we know, and then they can make a more informed decision if they want to actually try to keep going forward with the charges,” Collins added.

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​Child sex abuse materials, Chesterfield teacher abuse, Troshak and adams, Crime, Day care child sex abuse 

Donald Trump’s base has reached a clear conclusion: The entire importation of white-collar workers from India was a scam. It replaced American workers, fueled outsourcing to India, and boosted its economy at the expense of our own.

The labor market is so weak that even legal visa programs should be suspended under Trump’s 212(f) authority. Yet the H-1B and L visa pipelines remain open, and worse, the Trump Justice Department is defending one of Obama’s most lawless expansions: the H-4 spousal work program.

Defending Obama’s H-4 visa scheme undermines both the law and the American workforce.

Save Jobs USA, representing American workers, has sued the government for continuing Obama’s program that grants work permits to H-1B spouses on H-4 visas. Congress authorized the H-4 visa, but it never authorized work permits. Obama simply created them in 2015 by executive fiat.

Because the program is untethered from statutory limits, it has no cap. While the U.S. still issues around 120,000 H-1B visas each year — including under Trump — hundreds of thousands of spouses now work illegally in the same industries, displacing Americans. Most are funneled into the tech sector, overwhelmingly from India.

This lawsuit has been winding through the courts for nearly a decade. It began after Southern California Edison fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders. Both district and appellate courts in D.C. sided with the government. Now, as the case reaches the Supreme Court, Trump’s Justice Department filed a brief — signed off by Pam Bondi — arguing that plaintiffs lack standing to sue.

“Petitioner did not identify a single member who is ‘suffering immediate or threatened injury’ that is fairly traceable to the 2015 rule,” government lawyers wrote last month.

Even if one debates the technicalities of standing, why would Bondi waste resources defending a program that is plainly illegal and harmful to American workers — the opposite of what Trump promised in 2015?

A broader failure on foreign labor

Seven months into the new administration, the broader picture looks grim. The White House has failed to slow worker visa programs outside of narrow national security concerns. Trump has not invoked his 212(f) authority to halt needless foreign labor. Instead, he has floated the idea of importing 600,000 Chinese students — an economic and national security risk rolled into one.

This is the worst possible time to flood the market with foreign workers. The economy has averaged just 35,000 new jobs a month, the weakest pace since the Great Recession. Entry-level job listings are down 15% while applications are up 30%. The class of 2024 is still struggling: 41% underemployed, 58% still searching.

Tech companies, meanwhile, continue layoffs by the tens of thousands this year even as they lobby for more H-1Bs:

Intel: 21,000Panasonic: 10,000Meta: 3,600Hewlett-Packard: 2,000Hewlett Packard Enterprise: 2,500IBM: 8,000PayPal: 2,500Dell: 12,500TCS: 12,000

Why would they seek more visas in the middle of layoffs? Because nearly half of H-1Bs go to outsourcing and staffing firms, which feed India’s tech industry while hollowing out our own. Each expansion of the visa pipeline means more outsourcing, not more prosperity for Americans.

RELATED: American universities should be for Americans

Blaze Media illustration

The corporate capture

The deeper problem is the growing partnership between this administration and multinational tech giants. The government even owns a 10% equity stake in Intel. Palantir, which holds sensitive defense and health databases, has been allowed to staff up with foreign workers who now handle American taxpayers’ critical data.

Against this backdrop, Bondi’s defense of Obama’s illegal spousal work program looks less like a legal technicality and more like a political signal: This administration is drifting from Trump’s 2015 America First promises and closer to the “America Last” priorities of multinational corporations.

Back to 2015’s warning

The case against foreign workers is even stronger now than when Trump rode down that golden escalator a decade ago. The economy is weaker, the job market tighter, and the outsourcing racket more blatant. Defending Obama’s H-4 visa scheme undermines both the law and the American workforce.

The administration needs to remember what brought Trump to power in the first place. Stop importing foreign labor. Shut down lawless programs. Put American workers first.

​Opinion & analysis, H-1b visas, H-4 visas, Legal immigration, Ban, Immigration, Outsourcing, Jobs, Technology, Big tech, Donald trump, Pam bondi, Lawsuit, Save jobs usa, Barack obama, India, Intel, Panasonic, Meta, Hewlett packard enterprise, Ibm, Paypal, Dell, Tcs, Southern california edison, Scam