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USA Today:
Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a

The Guardian:

Two decades ago, U.S. air and ground forces invaded Iraq in what

In the months leading to the 2003 invasion, then-Defense Secretary

Rumsfeld's prediction would prove hopelessly optimistic. In the days and

"They basically planned for a best-case scenario, where the Iraqi people

Associated Press:

PressTV:  Mass shootings in the United States accounted for most extremism-related  deaths in the country last year, according to a report, with white  supremacists responsible for more than 80 percent of murders.  In a report released on Wednesday, a New York-based group labeled 25  murders in 2022 as "extremist-related," with 18 of those "committed in  whole or part for ideological motives."  “All the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing  extremists of various kinds,” the report stated, adding that Americans  are living in an "age of extremist mass killings".  “White supremacists commit the greatest number of domestic  extremist-related murders in most years, but in 2022 the percentage was  unusually high: 21 of the 25 murders were linked to white supremacists.”  Two mass shootings - one in May in Buffalo, New York, wherein a white  supremacist fatally shot 10 Black people, and another in November in  Colorado Springs wherein five people were killed at a nightclub -  accounted for most of the extremist-related murders of 2022, the report  noted.  It further stated that the group has "identified 62 extremist-connected  mass killing incidents since 1970, with 46 of them being ideologically  motivated", adding that "more than half (26, or 57 percent) of the  ideological mass killings have occurred within the past 12 years".  “Of particular concern in recent years are shootings inspired by the  white supremacist “accelerationist” propaganda urging such attacks," the  report added.  According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks shootings  in the US, a total of 647 mass shootings were recorded in 2022, killing  44,287 people.  The US is the only country with more civilian guns than the population –  120 guns for every one hundred Americans – as per the Small Arms Survey  (SAS), according to a Swiss research project.  In a country of 331.9 million people, there are 393 million firearms.  According to a study by the International Journal of Comparative and  Applied Criminal Justice, mass shootings in the US account for 73  percent of all incidents and 62 percent of all fatalities in developed  countries, more likely involving “foreign-born perpetrators, ideological  motives, fame-seeking motives, schools, open spaces, and handguns”.  Despite President Joe Biden raising concerns about the alarming rise in  white supremacy in the country, observers say his administration has  failed to curb the surge in white supremacist crimes and color-based  discrimination.  A 2020 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said white  supremacist hate groups in the US increased by 55 percent during the  tenure of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, who is known for  institutionalizing white supremacy in the US.  The report said since the turn of the millennium, American racists "have  fretted over what they fear will be the loss of their place of  dominance in society.”

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Russia Today:  Americans are losing confidence that Ukraine is winning its conflict  with Russia, a new Rasmussen Reports poll has shown. The latest figures  indicate that more than one-third of US voters who were confident of a  Ukrainian victory in December no longer expect Kiev to prevail.  The poll, which was conducted last week and released on Friday, found  that 46% of likely US voters believe the Russia-Ukraine conflict has  become a stalemate. Those Americans who believe that one side or the  other is winning are about evenly divided, with 21% in Ukraine’s camp  and 19% saying Russia has the upper hand.  Just two months ago, a Rasmussen poll asking the same questions showed  that 32% of Americans believed Ukraine was winning the conflict. And  just as around one-third of voters who were confident in December that  Ukraine would prevail no longer expect a victory for Kiev, the  percentage of respondents who see Russian forces winning has increased  by about the same proportion.  Rasmussen’s findings dovetail with recent polling showing that public  support for US aid to Ukraine has dropped sharply. For example, an  Associated Press-NORC poll conducted in late January showed that less  than half of US adults (48%) still agreed with sending weapons to Kiev.  Just 26% said Washington should continue to play a “major role” in the  conflict.  Middle-aged voters are most likely to say that President Joe Biden’s  administration is doing “too much” to help Ukraine, Rasmussen said.  Washington has already allocated $113 billion of military and economic  aid for Ukraine since Russia began its offensive against Kiev a year  ago. During his visit to Kiev earlier this week, Biden vowed  “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s defense, pledging to continue backing  the former Soviet republic “as long as it takes.”  The US and its NATO allies also have declared that Ukraine will win, and  must win, to preserve the “rules-based international order.” However,  critics of US foreign policy have argued that Ukraine’s battlefield  successes have been greatly exaggerated, and US Chairman of the Joint  Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said last week that the conflict will need  to end in a negotiated settlement because neither side can likely  achieve victory on the battlefield.

Yesterday, February 24, marked the one year anniversary of Russia  invading Ukraine.  

There's so much we've learned in the past year since this war started.  So much.  

1) We've learned that the west in unison has condemned and supported  economic sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, unlike the US  when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.  

2) We've learned that westerners and their racist double standards along  with their imperialist and colonialist terrorist attitudes still exist  for Black and Brown peoples around the world, but not for blue-eyed and  blonde-haired Europeans.  

3) We've learned that the western media also possesses this same racist  double standard along with their imperialist and colonialist terrorist  attitudes for Black and Brown peoples around the world.  

4) We've learned that even the Ukrainians who were fleeing their own  country, prevented others, specifically, African immigrants, from doing  the same due to Euro racist and disparate treatment.  

5) We've learned that the US has spent nearly $80 billion of taxpayer  money supporting Ukraine, militarily, financially and in terms of  humanitarian aid, but has provided Black and Brown nations with none of  these aid packages when confronted by a colonialist or imperialist  country.

Russia Today: The Mormon Church and its investment manager will pay $5 million in  fines to the US government after stashing billions of dollars’ worth of  assets in shell companies, obfuscating their ownership.  The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday  that it had charged Ensign Peak Advisors for the firm’s handling of  investments on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (LDS Church) – colloquially known as the Mormon Church. The company  failed to correctly report the equities that it placed in 13 shell  entities, according to the allegations.  The violations took place between 1997 and 2019, the commission said,  adding that the portfolio had grown to around $32 billion by 2018.  Acting with the knowledge of the church leadership, Ensign Peak “went to  great lengths to avoid disclosing the church’s investments, depriving  the commission and the investing public of accurate market information,”  said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  The Utah-headquartered Mormon Church said in a statement that the firm  “received and relied upon legal counsel” to structure the investments  the way it did, and was guided by a wish to maintain the privacy of its  client. Ensign Peak was spun off from the investment division of the  church in 1997 as a non-profit.  The parties agreed to settle the case with a $4 million fine paid by the  investment manager and a $1 million penalty paid by the parent  organization.  The church stressed that it ordered changes to reporting as soon as the  SEC raised concerns in 2019, and said that it cooperated fully with the  investigation. It added that it has “diversified reserves, including  stocks, bonds, commercial and residential real estate, and agricultural  properties,” which are managed “solely to support the church’s mission.”  The SEC investigation was spurred by a November 2019 whistleblower  complaint to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to the  Washington Post. A report claimed that the church had accumulated $100  billion in accounts meant for charitable purposes.  The whistleblower, a former senior portfolio manager at Ensign Peak,  alleged that the significant sums indicated that the church leadership  was misleading its followers and possibly violating federal tax rules.  Charitable organizations are not required to pay taxes on their income  in the US.

In this video, we discuss how Australia, in cities like Queensland, is  moving toward a CIA/police state. We talk about the Wieambilla event in  December, that led to new surveillance and reporting against citizenry  of all kinds, including: conspiracy theorists, religious, social or  political extremists, sovereign citizens, as well as people with  ideologies relating to capitalism, communism, socialism or Marxism.  Finally, we offer our own commentary on how this is going to be the new  norm in western countries and how this is already happening in the US.