America can no longer claim to be an independent nation when our manufacturing base is under foreign ownership or foreign control. After all, ownership equals control, and control equals sovereignty. We lose our sovereignty as a nation when foreign companies buy our land, factories, and companies.

How so? Because the more Chinese and other foreign companies establish ownership of American assets, plants and factories, the more they have the right to demand how our US economy is run, because how it is run affects them, too.

So since GE’s appliance business (not the entire company) is now under foreign ownership and therefore foreign control, what options are left for patriotic American consumers who want to keep profits, jobs, and tax revenue within the borders of the United States?

Whirlpool just happens to be the only remaining major American-owned appliance company in the United States, and we need to support them with our consumer dollars when we shop for appliances.

"No one is suggesting that Putin is contemplating a nuclear launch against a NATO country, but it's not clear how tethered to reality Putin is," Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy told reporters Monday. "And it should make us nervous that many of his submarines are starting to get dangerously close to the US and our allies."

Murphy made the comments while arguing that the US Navy needs to pursue an aggressive plan to replace aging submarines, which can thwart rival countries from gathering intelligence and maintain the security of global shipping lanes.

In recent years, Putin's navy has pursued a more aggressive strategy than even during the Cold War, Murphy said. "Russian submarines have been pushing out to the very precipice of NATO-ally waters," he said. "We have seen Russian boats coming closer to the US and to our European partner ports than ever before, in immensely provocative ways — in ways that were rare even during the days of the Cold War."

The two companies joined together to create Motiva Enterprises LLC in 1998, a 50-50 joint venture that operated three refineries on the US Gulf Coast. But Shell and Saudi Aramco have seen their interests head in different directions. "It is now time for the partners to pursue their independent downstream goals," said Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, a senior vice president of Saudi Aramco’s downstream unit.

The breakup will allow Saudi Aramco to take over the Port Arthur refinery and 26 distribution terminals, and Aramco will also hold onto the Motiva brand name. Shell will take over the other two refineries, Convent and Norco, both located in Louisiana. Shell said that it would operate the two refineries as one plant with a combined throughput of 500,000 barrels per day.

He was arrested by special forces in Anderlecht, a suburb to the southwest of Brussels, according to RTL. Laachraoui was caught on security cameras Tuesday morning arriving with suicide bombers Khalid and Brahim El Bakraoui at the Zaventem Airport in Brussels. He walked around the airport with them as the three pushed baggage carts, and then left after setting an explosive that failed to detonate.

The El Bakraoui brothers conducted twin suicide bombings, and a total of 34 people were murdered in their attack as well as in an additional bombing an hour later at the Maalbeek metro station located right near the EU headquarters. Around 200 other victims were wounded. Laachraoui is thought to have been the bomb maker for the assault on Brussels.

Belgium is currently observing three days of national mourning. The US on Wednesday issued travel warnings on Europe, advising that terror groups are planning more attacks in the near future according to intelligence information.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stressed there is no "specific, credible intelligence" pointing to a similar plot in America, but he said the Transportation Security Administration would deploy additional security at major airports and rail stations in different cities. Officials also reviewed additional security measures for travelers from Belgium, among more than three dozen countries whose citizens generally don't need a visa to enter the US.

The State Department warned Americans about potential risks to travel in Europe. "Terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants and transportation," it said in a statement. Officials advised US citizens to "exercise vigilance" in public places or on mass transportation and to take "particular caution" during religious events or large events.

The attacks in the Belgian capital underscored the growing threat posed by the Islamic State group on both sides of the Atlantic. The bombs in Brussels' airport and subway locked down the European Union's capital just a few months after attacks shocked Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said the threat of copycat or lone-wolf attackers may get worse as the Islamic State faces increased military pressure by the US-led air campaign in Iraq and Syria. "In terms of targets, this may be one of the most dangerous phases," Schiff told The Associated Press shortly after being briefed on the attacks. "ISIS is facing pressure on the battlefield and they are suffering defeats. To enhance their prestige … they feel the need to lash out at Western targets."

They create a complicated regulatory framework, which only large companies with their Human Resources departments can comply with. This drives small competitors out of business, destroys competition and encourages monopolies, forcing the consumer to pay a higher price for poorer quality goods and services.

There are four key institutions of the EU: the European Commission, European Parliament, European Council and the Court of Justice of the EU. Each institution supposedly represents separate interests. The Commission represents the EU, the Parliament represents the people, the Council represents the Governments of each Member State and the Court interprets the law. However, these institutions do not do this in practice, as they all represent large multinationals and an integrationist agenda, as the intention is to create a federal United States of Europe. This new country already has a flag, a Parliament, an anthem, Presidents, currency, a legal system, legal status and a navy - to name just a few.

The EU Commission is the guardian of the treaties and enforces EU law. More importantly, this means it is the Government of Europe which has the sole right to propose the laws which increasingly encroach on our lives here in Britain.

The Commission is made up of 28 unelected commissioners, who cannot be held to account. Each commissioner has a specific policy area in which to create laws. The Commission has a President (currently Jean-Claude Juncker); unlike the other 27 commissioners he is personally elected by the European Parliament, however his was the only name on the ballot paper, not exactly democratic. The Commission is advised by the Directorate General, which along with the Commission is heavily lobbied. Once the Commission proposes an EU law, this proposal is taken to the Parliament.

Secondly, the Parliament is made up of 751 MEPs who are elected by the people in EU Member States every five years in elections. This is not a Parliament in any real sense, as they have no right to propose laws. Instead it is a façade, created to make the EU look democratic, rather than give the public a choice over those who makes their laws. The Parliament does vote and can make amendments on laws proposed by the Commission, but the Commission must accept any of the amendments proposed for the changes to become effective, showing where the power lies.

The EU is a highly undemocratic organization ratcheting more and more power with every passing day. It is impervious to public opinion. The people who matter in the law-making process are unelected and therefore unaccountable.

Palestinians also see the city - which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims - as their future capital, and any final peace deal between the peoples would have to include an agreement on sovereignty. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican US presidential nomination, despite previously risking the wrath of conservative foreign policy voters by suggesting he would be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

But on Monday, shortly before addressing the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby in Washington, he told CNN: "There's nobody more pro-Israel than I am. We have to protect Israel. Israel is so important to us." And, asked whether he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Trump replied: "Yes, I would." "The fact is I would like to see it moved, I would like to see it in Jerusalem," he said.

Speaking ahead of a major address on foreign policy later Monday in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Trump said he advocates a light footprint in the world. In spite of unrest abroad, especially in the Middle East, Trump said the United States must look inward and steer its resources toward rebuilding domestic infrastructure.

"I do think it’s a different world today, and I don’t think we should be nation-building anymore," Trump said. "I think it’s proven not to work, and we have a different country than we did then. We have $19 trillion in debt. We’re sitting, probably, on a bubble. And it’s a bubble that if it breaks, it’s going to be very nasty. I just think we have to rebuild our country."

He added: "I watched as we built schools in Iraq and they’re blown up. We build another one, we get blown up. We rebuild it three times and yet we can’t build a school in Brooklyn. We have no money for education because we can’t build in our own country."

In an attempt to “preserve history”, two exact replicas of the 50 foot arch that stood at the entrance to the temple will be erected in April 2016 in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London. Needless to say, a lot of people are quite disturbed by this. In ancient times, child sacrifice and bisexual orgies were common practices at the altars of Baal, and now we are putting up a monument of worship to this false god in the heart of our most important city.

Of course most non-religious Americans don’t understand who Baal was, nor do they really care. But the truth is that many of the elements of ancient Baal worship are being mirrored in our society in 2016. With all of the preceding in mind, could it be possible that we are actually erecting a temple for the Antichrist in New York City next month?

If you are not religious, I know that all of this must sound very strange. But there are occultists that take this stuff deadly seriously, and nothing this large gets space in either Times Square or Trafalgar Square by accident. There are very powerful people out there that made this happen, and perhaps someone should ask them what their intentions are.

"Let me express my condolences, both on behalf of the German government and on my behalf personally," Merkel said. Merkel said she had spoken to Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel to offered Germany's solidarity, and that her cabinet would meet tomorrow morning to discuss "in depth" the response to the Brussels attacks. She added that she was in constant contact with her security forces.

The chancellor also struck a defiant note against the attackers. "The murderers of Brussels are terrorists who have no regard for the precepts of humanity," the chancellor said. "The murder scene of Brussels reminds us above all that the perpetrators are enemies of all the values for which Europe stands today, and which we as members of the European Union believe in - and, particularly on this day, with great pride - the values of freedom, democracy, and peaceful co-existence as self-confident citizens."

"Our strength is in our unity, and that is how our free societies will prove themselves stronger than terrorism," she added. Germany's federal police reported that they had increased security on the borders with Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as at airports and railway stations following Tuesday's attacks in Brussels.