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Social media channels and private messaging groups are being used in Russia to recruit a new brigade of mercenaries to fight in Ukraine alongside the army, the BBC has learned. The BBC has spoken to a serving mercenary and a former fighter with close links to one of Russia's leading mercenary organisations, who have shared details of the recruitment campaign. The serving mercenary said many veterans of the secretive Wagner organisation were contacted on a private Telegram group a few weeks before the start of the war. They were invited to a "picnic in Ukraine", with references to tasting "Salo",...

Do we really need any more evidence that the Biden Administration is a complete failure? Who you gonna believe—Jen Psaki or the your lying’ eyes looking at the gasoline pump? I’m tempted to wonder whether Biden can even make it to this November, let alone November 2024. And then it hits me—he has the world’s greatest political insurance policy: Kamala Harris. The ghost of Spiro Agnew smiles.

From time to time on this blog I have had occasion to note the extent to which many of the seemingly “smartest” people in our society time and again fall hook, line and sinker for the most preposterous mass hysterias. When it really counts, the people who have risen to the very top ranks of our social hierarchies prove to have no critical thinking capabilities whatsoever. For some entertaining reading about various self-made billionaires, former cabinet secretaries, and the like, making utter fools of themselves, you might try my posts from February 9, 2017 (“Watch Out For Rule By The...

How many Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine? It’s tough to know. We have Ukrainian sources saying their land has become a killing field for Russian forces, with at least 11,000 killed since the start of the war. It is true that the Russian offensive has become stuck in the mud. Tanks are running out of gas. That 40-mile Russian convoy outside of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has yet to move. What’s going on? Other estimates of the Russian war dead are in the 4,000-6,000 range which is probably a tad more accurate. Still, that’s more Russians killed...

Ms. Haley endorsed Ms. Mace on Feb. 7. Ms. Arrington announced her primary challenge on Feb. 8. Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Arrington on Feb. 9. Ms. Haley is no Trump foe. Most of her endorsements have gone to Trump-favored candidates. She endorsed on Thursday the re-election of Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, and cut a fund-raising video with Herschel Walker, the former football star recruited by Mr. Trump to run for the Senate in Georgia. She pointedly has not endorsed Mr. Rice for re-election. Mr. Dawson, the former state party chairman, said Ms. Haley’s campaigning for Mr. Rice in...

...On Friday, Horgan said he hoped any potential protesters coming to Victoria would instead redirect their efforts to "positive outcomes." "I would just say to those people, goodness me, get a hobby," said Horgan. "Find something else to do with your time." "Ninety-four per cent of adults in British Columbia are vaccinated, so we are spending an awful lot of time with a small group of people who seem to have nothing better to do with their time besides drive around in circles honking their horns," he said.

The nation has been effectively ruined by the policies of Biden’s band of incompetents; every cabinet member is a disaster, promoted for their previous record of failure. How does one sanely describe what has happened to the United States since Joe Biden was inaugurated? The nation has been effectively ruined by the policies of Biden’s band of incompetents; every cabinet member is a disaster, promoted for their previous record of failure. Not one of them is qualified for the jobs they’ve been given. They were each chosen for precisely the wrong reason – their race, gender or leftist/green activism. Consider...

The conflict in Ukraine is rapidly becoming a showcase of sorts for foreign infantry weapons, especially various shoulder-fired anti-aircraft and anti-armor systems, as you can read more about here. Subsequent discussions about these military aid shipments have largely overshadowed Ukrainian forces' use of domestically developed weapons, many of which are relatively obscure outside of the country. This includes a rifle known commonly as the Malyuk, a so-called "bullpup" design that is being heavily used by Ukrainian special operations forces units, among others. Malyuk, a Ukrainian word that is translated as "baby" or "youngster" in English, is actually the name given...

February of 2022 was the third highest February for gun sales since the National Instant background Check System (NICS) started in 1998. It was the fourth-highest number of NICS checks done during the month of February. Only 46 percent of the National Instant background Check System checks were for carry permits and carry permit rechecks in February of 2022. In February of 2021, the carry permits and permit rechecks were about 60 percent of total NICS checks.Lines are from 2021. Bars are in 2022. The change seems related to the implementation of a reformed FOID card system in Illinois. Public...

It adds insult to injury that we not only have to suffer from leftists' stupid decisions, but also will never, ever hear an apology for their bad effects. The Ukraine crisis is providing another great benefit to Biden: now it's okay to talk about inflation. Do you remember the scene in one of the early Seinfeld episodes when Jerry tries to get a dry cleaner to admit that they made a mistake in shrinking a shirt to "hand puppet" size? That's the feeling you get when you witness the press flacks of the Biden regime smarmily try to palm off...

The West made a mistake by promising Ukraine NATO membership, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said. “I am ready to admit that we made a number of mistakes and that we lost the possibility of Russia’s rapprochement with the West," he said in an interview with LCI TV channel."There are moments that we could do better, there are things that we proposed and then could not implement, such as, for example, the promise that Ukraine and Georgia will become part of NATO.""I think it's a mistake to make promises that you...

Reflecting on last week’s Ash Wednesday Masses it is possible to observe an unusual and puzzling sight. On this day, almost every priest looks out into a congregation that is barely recognizable. To be sure there are many familiar faces of those who regularly attend. But almost half (!) or more of the congregation is populated by faces unknown. Have tour busses unloaded their riders from distant lands? Is this the holiday season where many are here visiting family? No, this is Ash Wednesday, a most peculiar day. Even days before, the phones start ringing and rather urgent voices on...

What's the story on this new twist to the war in Ukraine? On Thursday, March 9, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs stated that there was biological research taking place in the Ukraine. Then, in a follow-up question by Sen. Marco Rubio, she stated emphatically that if any biological material from that lab were used in an act of biological warfare, it would surely come from Russia. While there is a distinction between biological research and biological warfare research, the very fact that the answer and follow-up question alluded to using material from that lab in a biological...

Top officials in Bowser's administration disclosed in a June 16 email thread that the mayor wanted to requisition $3 million from the American Rescue Plan stimulus package for the city's "streetscapes & beautification" account for use toward the BLM Plaza project in the 2022 fiscal year, which runs October 2021 through September 2022. "In the coming months, an additional $3 million investment will create a more cohesive public space around the monument by reconstructing nearby sidewalks, installing commemorative works, and adding new benches, lighting, signage, and street trees," Bowser said in the press release. A prominent Boston-based BLM leader with...

March 13th 2022 Saturday of the first week of Lent Holy Cross Catholic church, Plano, Texas Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: violet First readingDeuteronomy 26:16-19 ©You will be a people consecrated to the LordMoses said to the people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ‘You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And...

Talks to 'revive the Iran nuclear deal' paused Friday after Russia upended negotiations with a sudden demand for a decrease in sanctions. Russia, which is serving as a negotiator on behalf of Iran, brought talks to a standstill this week by tying the outcome of the talks to sanctions Moscow is facing. The top EU negotiator offered no timeline for when the talks, which have been taking place in Vienna, would restart. The Obama administration brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. The accord reduced sanctions against Iran in exchange for the country reducing its stockpile of enriched...

I was cancelled from giving a speech at a conference at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies, because of an article I wrote published by American Thinker criticizing some major Montessori organizations for supporting the social justice movement and implementing its positions. In the cancellation letter I received, I was told that they have plans to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion training for all their instructors every year, and have asked their instructors to integrate those principles into their content area. The following is the reply I sent to them: It is clear that I was discriminated against for...

As European Union leaders wrapped their two-day summit in Versailles, France, on Friday, they did so without reaching consensus on one key issue: 'when' to end the bloc’s outsize energy dependence on Russia. ....after two days of intense discussions regarding both the future of Ukraine and to bloc’s own dependence on Russia, leaders failed to settle on a firm date as to when. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the bloc commit to 2027 as a firm deadline for ending the imports. Instead, members slow-walked the decision even further, asking Brussels on Friday to put forward a proposal...

"Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." "And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning,...

Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner slammed the administration for trying to pin record-high inflation on Vladimir Putin saying President Biden needs to “own it.” The President has desperately tried to wash his hands of the inflation crisis and has found a very convenient excuse in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Rick Santelli, considered by some to be the ‘Father of the Tea Party,’ also shredded President Biden for trying to politicize the inflation crisis. “Nothing, Joe, nothing has been more politicized than inflation,” Santelli railed. “Just let’s harken back to all the things we’ve been through. First it was transitory,...