A U.S. based company called "Law Enforcement Training, Inc." has been selling millions of dollars worth of "no hesitation" targets to the Department of Homeland Security. These targets are used to train DHS employees to shoot American citizens and they depict pregnant women, old men, children and even young moms with guns. The purpose of the targets, according to the company that sells them, is to "eliminate any hesitation" that U.S. government employees might normally feel in shooting to kill pregnant women, children and old men. (I'm not making this up. The government's plan to murder Americans is now right out in the open...)

This plan was openly talked about by Obama's mentor - This plan was openly talked about by one of President Obama's mentors, in fact, a key member of the "Weatherman" group of communist-leaning terrorists. Bill Ayers and his cohorts planned a communist takeover of America followed by the rounding up of resistance forces who would then be "re-educated" or terminated. This is all spelled out in great detail in this video interview of Larry Grathwohl, an undercover operative working for federal law enforcement agencies. He infiltrated the Weathermen organization and learned what they really wanted to accomplish. Watch his testimony in this video: Well, what is going to happen to those people we can't re-educate? That are die-hard capitalists? And the reply was that they'd have to be eliminated. And when I pursued this further, they estimated that they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these re-education centers. And when I say eliminate, I mean kill.

"[A large amount of] ammunition has been solicited by the DHS. Within the next 4 years, they expect to acquire 200,000 million rounds of .223 rifle bullets. For training snipers, DHS have ordered two types of .308 caliber rounds – blanks and 168 grain hollow point boat tail ammunition. This new purchase adds to the 1.8 billion rounds of ammunition they have solicited for months in preparation for...something." (Susanne Posel)

The Great Northern Prepper : Disturbing Trend in our Military: Viewing citizens as threats

A US senator says assassination drone strikes have killed around 4,700 people, including civilians, a number that exceeds some independent estimates of the toll.

"We've killed 4,700," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of drone use, AFP reported on Wednesday. "Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaeda," Graham added. US officials refuse to publicly discuss any details of the covert program and the death toll from drone strikes remains a mystery. A report by the Washington-based New America Foundation has said that there have been 350 US drone strikes since 2004, most of them during President Obama's terms in office. The foundation has put the death toll between 1,963 and 3,293, with 261 to 305 civilians killed. According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,627 and 3,457 people have been killed by US drones in Pakistan since 2004, including between 475 and nearly 900 civilians.

Russia Today: Sen. Lindsey Graham says US drones have killed nearly 5,000 people
John Glaser: 4,700 Dead: Lindsey Graham Divulges Drone Kill Numbers

Remember that big, ballyhooed mortgage settlement of early last year? The one where homeowners got $25 billion of relief (well actually only around $5 billion in cold cash, but why bother with pesky details?) The one made possible by Eric Schneiderman abandoning his fellow state attorneys general to grasp the brass ring of a do-just-about-nothing Residential Mortgage-Backed Task Force? The one that would make banks clean up their act and stop using robosigned documents and deal more fairly with borrowers? Specifically, that agreement provided for strict limits on one practice, dual tracking, and the creation of a new one, single point of contact. Both relate to mortgage modifications. Dual tracking is when a bank starts and continues to advance the foreclosure process at the same time a borrower is being considered for a modification. That play out badly for a lot of borrowers during HAMP mods, when they would receive foreclosure notices, get understandably freaked out, since they had a modification application in with their servicer, and would typically be told to ignore the foreclosure mortgages. That was bad, and perhaps deliberately duplicitous advice, since many people lost their homes that way.

(starting at 6:43 into video)

■ Former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted “crap” in its justifications for invading Iraq. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill – who sat on the National Security Council – also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11. Top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change even before Bush took office. And in 2000, Cheney said a Bush administration might “have to take military action to forcibly remove Saddam from power.” And see this.
■ Cheney made Iraqi’s oil fields a national security priority before 9/11. And the Sunday Herald reported: “Five months before September 11, the US advocated using force against Iraq … to secure control of its oil.” (remember that Alan Greenspan, John McCain, George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, a high-level National Security Council officer and others all say that the Iraq war was really about oil.)

Indeed, neoconservatives planned regime change in Iraq – and throughout the Middle East and North Africa – 20 years ago.

On Monday, 18 February 2013, a military exercise with participation of 19 European, Arab, and African nations began in Mauritania. Among the participating nations are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO/OTAN. The initiative for the exercise was taken among growing concerns about a possible spill over of the war in neighboring Mali into Mauritania. The exercise raises concerns about the possibility that Mauritania will fall victim to the recent years French / NATO pivot in Central and Northern Africa. According to a high-ranking Mauritanian military source, Colonel Tayeb Ould Ibrahim, the 19 nations military exercise will benefit the country by improving the performance of the Mauritanian army. Mauritania has over the last months witnessed increased activities by Salafist organizations and militants with ties to Al Qaeda.

A British academic has stumbled upon a 500-year-old "most wanted" notice for the arrest of Niccolo Machiavelli, the infamous Renaissance political operator who wrote The Prince. - Prof Stephen Milner from Manchester University discovered the historic document by accident while researching town criers and the proclamations they read out in archives in Florence. The 1513 proclamation, which called for the arrest of Machiavelli, eventually led to his downfall and death. "When I saw it I knew exactly what it was and it was pretty exciting," said Prof Milner. "When you realise this document marked the fall from grace of one the world's most influential political writers, it's quite a feeling. "The Prince is a seminal work, with a lasting influence on political thought and culture. The term 'Machiavellian' and the naming of the Devil as 'Old Nick' all derive from this single work, but the circumstances of its composition have often been overlooked." When the Medici family returned to power in Florence in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in the city's chancery because of his association with the head of a rival faction. His name was then linked with a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici. They issued the proclamation found by Prof Milner for his arrest.

At least 31 people have been killed in a massive car bomb blast that's hit the Syrian capital Damascus, with the explosion happening on a square where pro-government rallies are usually staged. - RT Arabic reported that 30 people died in the blast, and over 50 were wounded. SANA news agency reported that the car bombing occurred in a densely-populated area, at the intersection of major streets, and resulted in "multiple" casualties and injuries among civilians and school students. Al-Ikhbariya TV station showed footage of what appeared to be at least four dead bodies on the ground and cars on fire. “It was huge, everything in the shop turned upside down,” one local resident told AP on condition of anonymity. Police failed to identify the precise cause of the explosion. However, they indicated that the casualties included four children, according to AP. Security forces also noted that the blast happened at a security checkpoint between the Russian Embassy and the central headquarters of the ruling Baath Party of President Bashar Assad.

SANA: Sixteen Civilians Martyred, 208 Others Injured so far in Terrorist Bombing in al-Thawra Street in Damascus
The Daily Star (Lebanon): Syria rebels threaten to fire on Lebanon's Hezbollah
Christof Lehmann: Massive Blast Near Baath Party Headquarters kills Scores, FSA threatens Hezbollah

A political analyst says the European satellite provider Eutelsat is a tool used by Tel Aviv in its fight against Iranian media, Press TV reports. - “When we look at who is attacking Press TV, Hispan TV and other Iranian channels, when you try to find out exactly who is behind this, you realize that it is Israel which is behind this attack on Iranian media,” Hamid Reza Emadi said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday. He went on to say that the reason behind the Israeli regime’s attack on Iranian media is the coverage of the situation in the Gaza Strip by Iranian channels, especially Press TV which “managed to show the truth on the ground.” “I will tell you why. [The reason for the ban is] the situation in the Gaza Strip in the past several years, [including] the siege and the two wars that Press TV covered in the Gaza Strip; Press TV managed to tell the world exactly what was happening there,” Emadi added.

■ The Obama administration is utilizing unsubstantiated charges of Chinese government cyber-attacks to escalate its threats against China. The past two days have seen allegations of hacking into US corporate and government web sites, hyped by the US media without any examination of their validity, employed to disorient the American public and justify an expansion of the Obama administration’s drive to isolate China and prepare for an eventual military attack. The accusations of hacking against China will also be used to justify increased domestic surveillance of computer and Internet communications, as well as an expanded use of cyber warfare methods internationally. ■ Efforts to increase government control of the Internet and surveillance of Internet communications are being stepped up. Just last week, Rep. Rogers of Michigan and Democratic Senator Dutch Ruppersberger of California reintroduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The bill died in the Senate last year in the midst of protests over provisions allowing the government to spy on emails and other Internet-based communications.

Stephen Lendman: CISPA Is Back - It shouldn't surprise. The 2011 Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) never really went away. It ducked and covered for another day. It's more about destroying personal freedom than online security. It gives government and corporate supporters unlimited power to access personal/privileged information online. Civil liberty protections are ignored.

PressTV: US launches cyber war against Iran, Russia and China
Russia Today: Anonymous thrown into China-US cyberwar scandal
Activist Post: Obama's looming cyberwar with China

Caracas has slammed Washington over a “new and offensive meddling” from the United States in the internal affairs of Venezuela. - The Venezuelan government commented Wednesday on statements made a day earlier by US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, who spoke about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s possible “unavailability” and how a “transition” should take place in the country. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said, “The statements made by this US government spokesperson are perfectly in line with the discourse from Venezuela’s destabilizing and corrupt right wing, which once again shows that bourgeoisie’s subservience to the imperial interests.” On February 19, Nuland said that new election must be called in Venezuela if the president is unable to serve.