Pro-war memes, Z symbols and blue and yellow flags: Russian influencers at war

Dasha smirks at the camera and says in a baby voice: “Hi, I missed you all.” It is 11 March, a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, and the blond 19-year-old Moscow-based influencer with 126,000 Instagram followers is posting to her stories. “I wasn’t on social media for over a week and I want to talk about my news and the news of the world,” she says.

After taking a weekend trip to a friend’s dacha in the countryside, Dasha posts videos of her friends laughing, making pancakes or playing party games. The atmosphere is warm, the alcohol flowing. The next tile shows Dasha looking solemnly at her phone. “I was constantly watching the news to understand what was going on in the world and one thought wouldn’t escape my mind …” she writes. Next tile: “Maybe I should leave Russia?” in bold red letters. In smaller black text underneath, she elaborates: “At least for a little bit of time, until the situation calms down and we have a better understanding.” There is a question box for followers to answer: “What do you think about this?”

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Why Is the Biden Administration Determined to Help Terrorist Iran Get a Bomb?

Why would any administration in its right mind permit an official state sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to have nuclear weapons, as well as billions of dollars that will assuredly not be used for a “GI Bill for returning members of the Revolutionary Guard”?

Just this week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Iran, a “sponsor of terrorism.”

Don’t bother asking Joe.

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The Most Important Political Film Ever Made

Hollywood has always loved political movies. And there have been lots of good ones over the years. But not very many important ones. Dinesh D’Souza, the preeminent conservative filmmaker, has made many very important movies. But his next movie may be the most important political movie of all time. In fact, it may be the most important movie of all time. And if taken seriously by those in power, it very well may save America.

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‘Do you want to watch The Mandalorian or extra Brian Stelter?’ Axed CNN+ staffer ridicules flop streamer’s ‘dregs’ content

A CNN+ worker has branded his own network’s shows ‘the dregs’ of the network – as media reporter Brian Stelter raised eyebrows by questioning whether it was really a flop.

On Friday – a day after the three week-old streamer was axed after wasting $300 million – one disgruntled former CNN+ employee told Fox News the venture was always ill-conceived.

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DeSantis: Bill to End Disney Autonomy a Rejection of ‘Woke Garbage in Our Society‘

Friday on FNC’s ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) discussed his state government’s decision to eliminate Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, which gave the multinational corporation the ability to self-govern.

The Florida Republican governor said the repeal of the powers came as a response to his constituents rejecting “woke garbage in our society.”

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Advocates want a feminist spending review as feds insist no social-program cuts

The Liberal government is insisting that the goal of an upcoming federal spending review is not to slash social programs, while gender-equality advocates want to make sure it is done with women and marginalized people in mind.

The federal government’s latest budget released earlier this month announced the launch of a spending review of its programs and policies

The review is meant to find savings of $6 billion over five years and $3 billion annually by 2026.

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Thieves ransack Ohio Louis Vuitton store of $140,000 of designer goods in just minutes

A horde of thieves stole ‘every item on the showroom floor’ of a Louis Vuitton store in Ohio on Wednesday, making off with more than $140,000 in merchandise in just minutes.

Shortly after 3 pm, eight to 10 people clad in ski masks and gloves were dropped off at the entrance to the Kenwood Towne Centre in Kenwood, Ohio, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

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Washington Post: A Chinese lab identified COVID in December 2019 but the government kept it quiet

The Washington Post editorial board has a detailed story about a laboratory in Guangzhou, China which was one of the first in the country to genetically sequence COVID-19. The lab had been sent a sample from a hospitalized patient in Wuhan who had some kind of lung infection. A researcher at the lab saw the sequencing results and recognized it as a variant of SARS on December 26, 2019.

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Mychailo Wynnyckyj: Pope Francis has wronged Ukraine. May God help us all

KYIV, Ukraine — I was baptized a Ukrainian Catholic. My wife and I were married in a Ukrainian Catholic Church in Kyiv, and our children were all baptized in this faith as well. Our church has a Patriarch (i.e. a separate hierarchy from Roman Catholics), but we recognize the spiritual supremacy of the Pope. In Ukraine, the Ukrainian Catholic Church follows the Julian calendar which means Easter will be celebrated on Sunday.

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WARMINGTON: Tolerating drug use on TTC ensures violence remains a risk

There is a metal box placed on the wall of the bathrooms that most wouldn’t even notice.

Intravenous drug users, though, know what it’s for.

Even the shiny new $824-million Union Station transit hub subtly offers a hint of the problem authorities have no answer for. Drug use is common on TTC and GO properties. When you have that you will also have crime, overdoses, unstable behaviour and, of course, danger.

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After fending off Russian troops in Kyiv, these Ukrainian special forces members are processing horrors and appealing for weapons

As Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, members of a Ukrainian special forces unit deployed to defend the strategic Hostomel airport outside Kyiv were stunned by what they saw as dawn broke: some 30 Russian attack helicopters coming over the horizon, speeding toward the airport.

An added surprise was that the helicopters were moving on their own toward Hostomel, without supporting ground forces or barrages of long-range missile fire to weaken the Ukrainian defences. It was as if they expected no resistance at all.

Go incognito

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Ex-Guantanamo detainee sues Canada over 14-year ordeal of detention and torture

A former Guantanamo detainee, whose story of detention and torture was featured in a best-selling memoir and Hollywood film, is going to court to try to force the Canadian government to reveal its role in his ordeal.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who lived briefly in Montreal, has launched a $30-million lawsuit against the federal government. He alleges Canadian officials made false claims about him that were then relied upon by his Mauritanian, Jordanian and American interrogators during his more than 14 years of imprisonment without charge.

HMA

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John Ivison: Why Canada has been slow to bring out the big guns for Ukraine

On any given day, I’m open to the idea that I’m wrong on any given subject. But not on Canada’s over-cautious response to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.

Being sanctioned by Vladimir Putin’s bandit regime confirmed my conviction that far too often, sober second thought in official Ottawa has been used as an excuse for delay and inaction.

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Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ groups and sex workers say online hate bill makes them hateful

Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ groups and sex workers criticize online hate bill

OTTAWA – Members of the LGBTQ community, Indigenous people and racialized groups fear a proposed law tackling online harm could disproportionately curtail their online freedoms and even make them police targets, responses to a government consultation have warned.

The documents, revealed through an access to information request, contain warnings that federal plans to curb online hate speech could lead to marginalized groups, including sex workers, being unfairly monitored and targeted by the police.

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