[American Thinker] If you spend any time online (particularly after Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show), you’ll find memes saying that blacks built America, a black woman wrote Shakespeare’s work, and black Africans built Western civilization. I’m not convinced.
To put it bluntly, has black Africa ever given the world anything of consequence since humans originated there? Has black Africa ever had a civilization worthy of comparison to the great civilizations we’re all familiar with? Is there a reason why Africa has the lowest IQs on the planet? That almost every country in Africa is poor while the continent has a majority of the world’s gold, cobalt, diamonds, and platinum? Is it any coincidence that 8 of the 10 most violent countries in the world are either in Africa or are majority black? Ditto for wars? Is it any coincidence that black Americans are 600% more likely to commit murder than whites?
We’ve been told that white racism is the driver behind all of that. If that were true, we would expect black Africa before Europeans arrived to be a thriving continent bustling with advanced civilizations. But is that the case?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mikhail Zakharov
[REGNUM] The ruble continues to strengthen. On Friday, February 21, the Bank of Russia set the official dollar exchange rate at ₽88.51 — for the first time since September 2024, the American currency fell below 90 rubles. At the same time, in over-the-counter trading on Thursday, February 20, the dollar sank below 88 rubles. The euro also showed a new minimum since August last year — the Central Bank set it at ₽92.48.
At the end of December, the rate was more than ₽100 per dollar. Since the beginning of the year, the Russian national currency has grown by 13% against the dollar and has become the most successful in emerging markets.
Not only the ruble, but also the Moscow Exchange index is doing well: on February 20, it rose above 3,300 points for the first time since the end of May last year. Since the beginning of 2025, the index has also shown good dynamics - at the beginning of January, it was balancing between the 2,800 and 2,900 points marks.
It is obvious that big politics played a role in strengthening the Russian currency. First of all, we are talking about the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the USA, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, as well as the negotiations of the delegations of the two countries in Saudi Arabia - their results were highly appreciated in both Moscow and Washington.
However, there are also other, purely economic reasons, notes Alexander Losev, CEO of Sputnik Capital Management, in an interview with IA Regnum.
According to him, the rouble is being helped by the stabilisation of liquidity – the fact that exporters have been given the opportunity to conduct transactions with currency, including yuan, as well as the approaching tax week. During this period, Losev explains, exporters will convert foreign currency earnings into rubles to pay taxes to the Russian budget, which supports the value of the national currency. Simply put, there is more currency in the country, so it becomes cheaper.
In addition, the source of IA Regnum adds that the ruble has been undervalued recently, considering that Russia has a positive balance of both trade and payments.
The strengthening of the ruble can help reduce inflation, as well as reduce the cost of servicing foreign debt and prices of imported goods. Consumers may have already noticed the latter: for example, the cost of the iPhone 15 (iPhones are often used when monitoring prices for equipment) in Russia has fallen to a record low due to the dollar exchange rate - the base model costs an average of 60 thousand rubles, although before the new year the smartphone cost more than 70 thousand.
According to Alexander Losev, the strengthening of the ruble is a positive factor for the country's economy.
“Firstly, the disinflationary process is launched, and inflation is a very serious problem in the economy for us,” says the expert. “Secondly, the opportunity arises to purchase equipment for reindustrialization.”
At the same time, the strengthening of the ruble threatens major losses for exporters, who are already facing problems due to sanctions restrictions, believes Nikolai Dudchenko, an analyst at the financial group Finam.
MONEY AND SANCTIONS
According to Alexander Losev's forecasts, the national currency will continue to strengthen as long as additional currency comes to the market. Much will also depend on the geopolitical situation, including whether sanctions against Russia are lifted (at least partially).
As for the development of the situation on the Russian stock market, it is tied to geopolitics and the policy of the Central Bank.
"The monetary policy (MP) is still very, very strict, the dividend yield of Russian stocks is lower than deposit rates," notes the interlocutor of the IA Regnum" Two conditions must come together: a softening of the MP by the Central Bank and an improvement in the geopolitical situation, so that the Russian stock market begins a trend growth."
For now, anti-Russian restrictions remain in force. Moreover, the European Union has already approved the next, 16th package of anti-Russian sanctions.
Of course, they will not have a fundamental impact on Russia’s foreign trade and the country’s economy, but they remain a visible reminder: the West has not yet lifted restrictions – it is only introducing new ones.
THERE IS NO NEED TO RUSH TO THE EXCHANGE OFFICE
In any case, while the ruble remains strong, some Russians have already gone to exchange offices to buy cheaper dollars. And this is despite the fact that in some exchange offices the exchange rate is significantly higher than the official one.
Such actions do not make financial sense, notes Igor Balynin, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, in a conversation with IA Regnum.
Exchange rates, he explains, are extremely dynamic, and it is extremely difficult to make money on them, especially if we are talking about a toxic currency, which the dollar has now become. Moreover, says Balynin, small fluctuations in currencies cannot even become a factor in potential earnings: banks have a spread (fixed difference) between the rates of sale and purchase of foreign currency, as well as commissions for making exchange transactions.
"Accordingly, even deviations of 10-20% will not allow you to not only earn, but even break even. Now it is best to put your available funds into bank deposits," the agency's interlocutor advises.
He also shared his own calculations with Regnum News Agency : Russians who invested in dollars in November 2024 have already lost more than 170 thousand rubles (based on the average bank deposit size), with more than 138 thousand rubles of that being losses on exchange rate differences, and the rest being lost income for 3 months (if in November the money had been placed on a deposit/savings account instead of buying dollars).
“I think, looking at this data, it becomes clear why you shouldn’t run to the exchange offices,” says Balynin.
Links to searchable databases for corporate donations to BLM and LGBT+ groups can be accessed at the link. They’ve done good work.
[Federalist] American corporations and their government regulators serve radical left-wing interests rather than the common good.
It has become clear that Crooked Hillary Clinton ...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do... ’s infamous pejorative, her "basket of deplorables," was merely a first-rate projection. The real deplorables have all along been sheltered by her ilk, the Deep State, and its corporate partners; and the Trump Administration is only just starting to shine a light on their malfeasance.
For the past few weeks, the nascent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has begun to uncover how the Left has transformed federal agencies and institutions into tools for political patronage. Elon Musk and his team’s most prominent discovery so far, at least in the public imagination, is the odious behavior of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency that exists ostensibly to project "soft power" abroad but that, in actuality, spends billions of taxpayer dollars each year to sustain a large network of subversive, left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
This NGO Archipelago serves, among other things, to advance the Left’s ideological agenda extra-legislatively and to afford its constituents stable employment and a degree of material comfort, neither of which they would in a well-ordered society be likely to obtain.
Government agencies like USAID are not the only benefactors of the NGO Archipelago. Indeed, it is possible that they are not even its most prominent benefactors. Both private and corporate philanthropy are essential to its functioning, and it is with an eye toward the latter that we must next turn our attention.
Some organizations have already begun to do the legwork. The Claremont Institute’s BLM Funding Database details nearly $100 billion of the more than $300 billion corporations pledged to the Black Lives Matter movement. And, more recently, the Project to Expose Corporate Activism (PECA) published a database that describes with granularity the LGBT giving and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives of nearly 1,600 companies, including all Fortune 500s and many federal contractors.
Significantly, PECA’s database elucidates the colossal scale of the LGBT activist network, which is just one facet of the Archipelago. The network is comprised of more than 2,500 individual causes, and according to one PECA researcher, the combined assets and revenues of the fifty wealthiest LGBT causes rival those of conservative causes across all issues.
DOGE generated headlines when it uncovered shocking examples of grift, such as spending on sex changes in Guatemala and DEI in Serbia. Just as USAID spends taxpayer money to advance the pet projects of the international Left, corporate America diverts shareholder wealth to advance equally if not more radical causes. (While many of the causes in the LGBT database appear relatively benign at first glance, closer examination reveals that the vast majority support "transing" minors and normalizing unhealthy behavior, among other things.)
It is difficult to reduce PECA’s database to a shortlist of worst offenders. However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... the following examples provide a representative sampling of what’s contained within:
Details at the link.
Therefore, to target only one of the pillars supporting the NGO Archipelago would be a mistake. In addition to DOGE’s important efforts, the Right must take significant action against corporations, including their DEI outfits and identity-based resource groups. Furthermore, the SEC should revoke all rules pertaining to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement. Though unfettered capitalism is not the be-all and end-all for human flourishing, at this moment, social and environmental regulations serve radical left-wing interests rather than the common good.
Lastly, greater scrutiny should be paid when determining which NGOs are granted official recognition, including tax exemptions and other benefits. Much of what constitutes philanthropy today little resembles philanthropy of the past or charity as understood by the public. The time is ripe for reform; those interested should take advantage of DOGE’s findings and PECA’s data to make their case.
[Real Clear Politics] VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: They call it the "MAGA Revolution." It is not a revolution, it is a counter-revolution. There's a big difference.
This is a restoration, let's use the word restoration.
We don't know or appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama administration and then the third more radical term of Obama using or employing the waxen effigy of Joe Biden.
The revolution that we've experienced was cultural, economic, political, and social. It was very similar to the French Revolution under Robespierre. Remember what they tried to do, they changed the days of the week, they renamed things, they tore down statues, they went after the church. Does this sound familiar?
In this revolution we've experienced, everything was up for sale and everything was negotiable.
We invented a third gender and rammed it down people's throats. We tore down statues. We said 1776 was no longer the foundational date, it was 1619. We changed the very mechanism by which we vote -- we went from 70% of the electorate voting on election day to 70% of the electorate, not doing that either through mail-in or early voting. That was a radical change that had no discussion. It was done by fiat. It was incredible.
We looked at girls' sports and destroyed it. We said that transgender biological males who were now transgender females could compete. They won over 600 medals they took away from hardworking female athletes. We had drag shows among young children.
It was an effort to change the entire constitution, we forget that. They were trying to bring in Puerto Rico as a state and Washington DC to get 4 instant senators.
They were proud. They said that they were going to pack the Supreme Court, hadn't been done, hadn't been tried since 1937 and it was an object of disgrace ever since, but they were proud to try it again.
[TheBlaze] When Donald Trump won the election last November, like many conservatives, Liz Wheeler feared that we’d see political violence in the streets — the same kind of Democrat-funded violence that fueled the Summer of Rage in 2020.
Surprisingly, the streets were quiet following Trump’s victory.
But it wasn’t because some on the left didn’t want to fund political violence. They simply couldn’t.
“Kamala Harris drained the war chest of the Democrat operatives; she spent all of the DNC's money, and they simply didn't have any money left to pay these people, who are not grassroots activists. …They're paid Democrat operatives,” says Liz.
Plan B, as we’ve all seen, is to wage lawfare.
“As President Trump issues executive order after executive order, reclaiming his rightful role as chief executive of the United States, the left is trying to stop him” by “filing lawsuit after lawsuit, getting judges who have been captured by the radical left and now serve as nothing more than activists on a bench to issue nationwide injunctions,” Liz explains.
“The question of the day is who is behind this effort to stop President Trump.”
His name, Liz says, is Norman Eisen. He’s an attorney and a former United States ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Most importantly, though, “he’s a Democrat operative” who is “buddies with the architects and the lawyers that staged the electioneering of the 2020 presidential election,” says Liz.
“Norm’s group is the one behind the lawsuits which are leading to the nationwide injunctions against President Trump's executive orders.”
To get the scoop on Norm Eisen and his mastermind plotting to thwart the Trump administration, Liz invites legal scholar Dr. John Eastman and journalist and veteran White House correspondent Fred Lucas on “The Liz Wheeler Show.”
According to Dr. Eastman, these nationwide injunctions issued by lower-court judges are illegal.
“The lower courts are courts of limited jurisdiction,” he says. They're limited by both “geography” — that is, districts — and by “the key provision in Article III, the judicial article, of our Constitution,” which says “that they can only address cases or controversies.”
“So they can't decide and impose obligations on people that are not parties to the case before them,” Dr. Eastman explains, adding that what these lower courts are doing right now in regard to President Trump is so outrageous, it’s bound to be addressed by the Supreme Court soon.
And Norm Eisen is behind it.
Fred Lucas says that Eisen “has a large web of dark-money nonprofits that are engaged in lawfare largely targeted at Trump.”
“His coalition is actually part of a larger coalition that's being run by Marc Elias called Civil Service Strong, which is largely focused on defending the deep-state employees,” says Lucas.
A peek into Eisen’s past puts the puzzle pieces in place. Not only was he “part of the team that impeached President Trump in 2019,” but he was also “part of the Obama White House,” where he served first as ethics czar and then ambassador to the Czech Republic. Prior to that, “he was one of the founding members of [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] … the same organization that last year tried to get Trump kicked off the ballot in various states,” including Colorado.
To learn more about Norm Eisen’s shady history and his diabolic plan to undermine President Trump’s agenda, watch the episode above.
From the Facebook page of Clarice Feldman
Since day one, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that since 10/7, we’ve witnessed so many miracles, it’s hard to count.
Some of these miracles are easy to recognize, like how well the beeper operation went down or how successful we were at intercepting or detonating those hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles fired at us from Iran. Twice.
Other miracles were harder to recognize.
And then we have last night.
Last night was a miracle the caliber of the splitting of the sea.
I am talking an open miracle that could and should have ended very differently.
Do not ask me for my source and if that means you don’t believe what I’m about to say, so be it. You can keep scrolling. But if you know my work, you know I’m very careful with what I share so if I’m sharing this, trust me, it’s based on a reliable source.
Last night, a young lady noticed a suspicious object on a bus in the center of Israel. She reported it to the driver who pulled into a station, got everyone off the bus, at which point, the bus blew up and was completely destroyed.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Not even close.
Over the hours that followed, an additional four bombs were discovered on busses, some of them exploded, others were taken apart before exploding. Some malfunctioned.
According to my source, and this was news to me, a whopping 15 busses were supposed to explode this morning. According to reports, the terrorist set the timer for 9 PM instead of 9 AM.
So is that the worst of it? Not even close.
In addition to the 15 busses, 5 suicide bombers were set to detonate bombs on the lightrail at the same time, all in the center of Israel.
So is that the worst? Nope. That’s the good part.
Where did this attack originate? Gaza? Nope. Judea and Samaria. In other words, these terrorists came from within Israel.
And here’s the kicker, and again, I am not telling you where I heard this, all of the above was intended to be nothing more than the distraction, much like the incoming rockets on 10/7. Just a distraction for the real invasion.
My source says that as those busses and terrorists blew up, massive security and emergency forces were supposed to rush to the scene at which point, there would be a massive breach of the security fence and many terrorists from Judea and Samaria would invade Israel and carry out a 10/7 2.0. Only this time it wouldn’t be from Gaza so it would be an invasion into basically every major city in Israel.
For the third time, this is not information that is publicly available. I can’t share a link and I won’t share a source. Believe me or don’t. Up to you.
It is worth pointing out that for decades, we did not have any bus explosions in Israel. We do this deal and release terrorists, some of whom were the architects behind the bus bombings during the intifada, and all of a sudden, we’re back to busses blowing up.
I can’t imagine anyone believing that that’s a coincidence.
All of this was supposed to go down during rush hour and would have caused hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis deaths.
Even if the rest isn’t true, multiple busses blowing up like this bus during rush hour? Can’t even imagine.
Yesterday morning was one of the hardest days in Israel’s history. Perhaps the hardest. We all felt hopeless, every last one of us.
When we are in pain, God is in pain with us.
I don’t know about you, but yesterday morning, as I saw the coffins of the Bibas angels, I looked up to Hashem and asked why. Why would he cause us so much pain or allow Hamas to do this to us??
I told myself that we’ll be ok but wasn’t sure if that was true. Was God even watching over us any more? Has He abandoned us? Did He turn His back on us?
Then, as the hostages were being delivered, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the Israeli skies, a sign from the times of Noah, that God won’t ever destroy the world or let it be destroyed. A rainbow, according to Jewish scripture, is God’s way of telling us, “Don’t worry. I got your back.”
Still, though, I was just so sad and so angry.
And then the news started to hit my feeds.
A bus exploded. No injuries.
Hmm, “How does that happen?” I asked myself.
Then another bus exploded. No injuries. And a third. No injuries.
I already felt God’s presence again. I could breathe again.
And the news kept coming in. More bombs discovered. More intel. This was supposed to be the biggest attack since 10/7, maybe even bigger.
Totally thwarted.
By who? The IDF? Nope.
Shabak? Nope.
Mossad? Nope.
This was a massive attack prevented 100% by God Himself. And a very vigilant young lady who noticed the suspicious object.
Whatever Hamas planned or didn’t plan for this morning, I would not be writing these words if their plan had come to fruition. But God had other plans and after all the pain God’s children endured yesterday, He felt we needed to be reminded of His presence. He felt we needed to be reminded that He has our back, now and always. He was right. We did need it.
This event might go down in history as one of the biggest miracles the Jewish people experienced since biblical times.
“There are two ways to live life. One is that nothing is a miracle. The other is that everything is a miracle.”
Some will explain how the Iron Dome works and therefore conclude that it’s not a miracle. The same for David’s Sling and the Arrow system.
Some will explain how all of those rockets and drones not intercepted by Israel fell in empty spaces. They might not believe that that too was a miracle.
The beepers? The walkie talkies? Getting Nasrallah? Haniyeh? Deif? They’ll attribute all of that to Israel’s intelligence.
But this? What happened last night? Israel had nothing to do with it. If you don’t see this event as a miracle, there is only one explanation. You don’t want to see it as a miracle.
Open your eyes. Clean your lenses. Hashem is here with us in our pain and each day that passes, we are one day closer to Him finally revealing Himself to us, explaining why any of this had to happen, and ultimately bringing mashiach.
For now, I just wanted to recognize Hashem’s greatness and on behalf of the hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis who should be dead right now, just say thank you.
הודו לה השם כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו
Give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת, שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוּב
Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who rewards good deeds, who rewards me for every good thing.
We say that blessing when we are saved from tragedy. Today, the Jewish nation was saved from tragedy.
[MAIL] For years, thousands of Americans who suffered debilitating side effects after getting the Covid vaccine were told there was no evidence the shot was linked.
Some were branded antivaxxers, others told their symptoms were imagined or related to other conditions, like long Covid.
But that changed this week.
On Wednesday, a team from Yale University known for their rigorous work revealed the mRNA shots can cause a previously unknown condition known as 'post-vaccination syndrome.'
The syndrome appears to cause brain fog, dizziness, tinnitus, extreme fatigue and biological changes to patients' immune systems.
Dr Akiko Iwasaki, the lead researcher behind the paper, told DailyMail.com she understands her findings could be seen as controversial. But she wants patients to know her team will keep studying to bring them 'better transparency and safer vaccines.'
#7
There were many abuses of power and privilege during the pandemic. Those who took advantage of the public should pay. Not with money, with their freedom.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as 
