The Justice Department has announced that a USAID official named Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, and three corporate executives, Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland; Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, and Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, have pleaded guilty to a decade long scam involving bribery using USAID funds and awarded government contracts.

Roderick Watson took bribes and directed over $550 million to the three USAID contractors.  [SEE DETAILS HERE]

DOJ – […] According to court documents, beginning in 2013, Watson, while a USAID contracting officer, agreed with Britt to receive bribes in exchange for using Watson’s influence to award contracts to Apprio. As a certified small business under the SBA 8(a) contracting program, which helps socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, Apprio could access lucrative federal contracting opportunities through set-asides and sole-source contracts exclusively available to eligible contractors without a competitive bid process.

Vistant was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the contracts awarded through Watson’s influence. After Apprio graduated from the SBA 8(a) program and it was no longer eligible to be a prime contractor for new contracts with USAID under this program, the scheme shifted so that Vistant became the prime contractor and Apprio became the subcontractor on USAID contracts awarded through Watson’s influence between 2018 and 2022.

During the scheme, Britt and Barnes paid bribes to Watson that were often concealed by passing them through Young, who was the president of another subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant. Britt and Barnes also regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives.

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Last night U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued a ridiculous temporary restraining order (TRO) removing President Trump’s control of the California National Guard [SEE RULING HERE]. Charles Breyer is the 83-year-old younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

What made the TRO ruling transparently ridiculous was: (A) the state of California never requested a TRO; and (B) the citations Breyer used to underpin his decision were all left-wing media reports about the events.  The facts, his facts, underpinning his judicial opinion, were wrong.

Those who follow judicial writing will note that using media reports as citations inside judicial decisions is a common attribute of Lawfare operations. Factually, it seemed unlikely District Judge Breyer even wrote his own ruling; it reads like something from Norm Eisen or Mary McCord.

This morning, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Breyer’s order just hours after he issued it [SEE RULING HERE].

The appellate intervention retains the power of President Trump as commander in chief over the California national guard. The appeals court set a Tuesday hearing on the full context of the matter, thereby ensuring Trump’s deployment will remain in place at least into next week.

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According to most information flowing from the region, a second wave attack from Israel us underway (or just completed).  The first wave targeting was the Iranian military leadership and nuclear scientists, the second wave hitting the nuclear installations.

We could tell from the initial targeting, the IDF were not targeting hardened installations, they were targeting people who run them where they live in the middle of the night.  This appears to be confirmed by ground reporting of residences being the target with highly strategic Mossad agents on the ground doing major intelligence activity to identify the targets.  It appears Israel was very successful (but still really early).

That approach also establishes the baseline for internal Iranian political opposition to push for regime change.

The second wave of Israeli targeting then goes directly at the nuclear installations.  This approach also makes sense.  First round takes out the brain power, second round takes out their hardened facilities (much more difficult to eliminate).

As the operation proceeds, we now turn focus to the U.S. interests, and this is where we use hindsight to last Sunday’s Camp David meeting.

Secretary of State / National Security Advisor Marco Rubio emphasizes Israel is acting “unilaterally,” without USA support.  President Trump proactively and strategically emphasizes his preferred approach of “diplomacy.”

Some will doubt, but I would draw your attention to Trump’s relay of the call with Vladimir Putin last week. Obviously, President Trump understood Israel was on the cusp of taking some ‘unilateral’ action, albeit with a likelihood of a heads-up to USA of approximate timing (Sunday Camp David as a proactive ‘get us prepped’ agenda).

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Tehran is 7.5 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

As was widely expected, overnight in Tehran, Israel has begun a series of what it calls “preemptive strikes” against Iran. Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported repeated explosions could be heard in Tehran.

VIA CNN – Israel has launched what it is calling a “preemptive strike” against Iran and declared a state of emergency, according to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Katz said in a statement.

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv following the announcement.

The U.S. did not provide any assistance or have any involvement in the Israeli strike, a U.S. official told ABC News. (read more)

Sirens were sounded in Israel as the nation prepares for long-planned counter attacks from Iran to begin.  Three hours before the Israeli strikes began, President Trump released a statement saying, “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran. They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Iran had previously vowed to strike at both Israeli and USA targets if they were attacked.  The attack is taking place around 3:00-4:00am local time on Friday the 13th in Tehran.   The National Day of Rage in the USA is scheduled for Saturday, June 14th.  The anti-Israel protesters will now likely align with the anti-deportation protesters and things could get dramatic in the USA.

There are reports of approximately a dozen sites inside Iran being targeted.  Everything is very fluid at the moment.

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Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and public policy analyst who is a professor at Columbia University. Mr Sachs has been against the Ukraine-Russia conflict from the outset and provides a voice to those who are tired of the constant global conflict.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
0:47 Why Is Ukraine So Central to the Deep State’s Plan?
4:51 The West’s Obsession With Weakening Russia
9:11 The Origins of the West’s Hatred of Russia
23:49 How the Deep State Used Bill Clinton to Usher in NATO Expansion
31:37 What’s Stopping Trump From Making Peace Between Ukraine and Russia?

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U.S. Secretary of State / National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, and Director of National Intelligence ODNI Tulsi Gabbard continue making background moves well worth noticing.

♦ Secretary Marco Rubio has moved forward with instructions to fire all overseas USAID staff.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered U.S. embassies around the world Tuesday to move ahead with a directive to fire all remaining staffers with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said the State Department will take over USAID’s foreign assistance programs by Monday.

A federal judge had temporarily blocked an executive order by President Donald Trump for mass firings at multiple federal agencies, including the State Department, and plaintiffs say Rubio’s reorganization plan appears to violate that court injunction.

The Trump administration says the plan was already underway when the president issued the order, so there’s no possible violation. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has yet to make a determination. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that Rubio’s directive “wasn’t a surprise.”

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President Trump announces that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have successfully concluded three-days of topline trade negotiations with their Chinese counterparts.

President Trump and Chairman Xi will now evaluate the successfully negotiated details and institute the topline strategy as part of the overall future trade agreement. According to the Truth Social post, there will be a 55% tariff on Chinese imports and a 10% tariff on U.S. goods to China.

[SOURCE]

At a 55% tariff rate against Chinese finished-goods imports, there will be ZERO inflationary pressure to the U.S. consumer.

None. Zero. Zippo. Zilch.

I will explain why below.

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This is actually a very surprising development.  The World Bank (WB) is a heavily controlled multinational exploit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Economic Forum assembly (WEF).  This could be looked upon as the WTO/WEF taking a knee as they finally accept Godzilla Trump is not going to relent.  Remember, the Build Back Better agenda was a construct from the WEF/WTO.

Looking a little more deeply at the people behind the latest shift in tone and paying close attention to the wording they are using, there’s an inference the World Bank is telling Europe to stop being intransigent or they will lose U.S. military support.  A very unusual shift in WB tone.

In my first review opinion, as the legal arbitration system for trade complaints, the WB are trying to mitigate President Trump’s full-frontal assault on the global trade imbalance that brings the global trade wealth back to the USA.

NEW YORK POST […] – Top economists at the international institution, which helps finance low and middle-income countries, acknowledged that many nations do not provide reciprocal trade access to the US.

“This [situation] could not be sustained indefinitely,” the World Bank’s chief economist, Indermit Gill, said during a news briefing, the Washington Post reported.

[Gill] contended that Trump’s actions were merely a response to uneven trade access between other countries and the US.

Other experts at the World Bank concurred with that assessment and indicated that Europe, Japan and China should all take steps to reduce trade barriers on the US, while calling for an across-the-board rollback on tariffs on all sides. (more)

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Tucker Carlson traveled to France in order to interview Telegram Founder and CEO Pavel Durov who remains in French detention as he awaits the judicial system to release him.  Telegram is used as a messaging ap by over a billion users worldwide.  Pavel Durov was accused of noncompliance with EU judicial demands and arrested during a holiday last year.  He remains under quasi-detention confinement.

Many people have increasingly expressed annoyance at the change in Tucker Carlson’s interview style.  The increased interruptions, wandering rambling that takes the point off subject, inappropriate -borderline annoying- laughter at the wrong moments, and increasing Hannityesque behavior has been a sidebar topic of conversation. However, this is the first interview in which I can say these distracting interview traits have become unbearable.

I really wanted to hear from Durov, but I could not survive the inappropriate timing of the interruptions, and increasingly odd mannerisms from Mr Carlson.  From a mental strength, stability and intellectual perspective, Carlson is way over his head trying to interview Durov. Perhaps that explains the performative and seemingly odd behavior of Tucker in this interview.  It gets worse as it progresses.  See for yourself.  WATCH:

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Pavel Durov is a very deliberate man with an exceptionally stable disposition.  He is one of the most important people in the world of information, communication and the free exchange of ideas.  Yeah, I’m a little frustrated with this missed opportunity to go into important considerations in the world of information sharing.

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At sporadic times of inconsequential normalcy, on the streets of Russia you will see two distinct types of people asked for identification, Asians and middle eastern males. When asked why, the average, ordinary grey-person in Russia going about their business, ambivalently has no idea.

Russia is a massive country.

To the southeast they are bordered by China, Mongolia and Asia, they even have a small border with North Korea. To the southwest they have the “stans,” most notably Kazakhstan; this region is the source of most domestic terrorists who attack inside Russia. To the West they have Ukraine and the EU nations.

From the standpoint of Russia, they have Asians on their East, Arabs on their South and EU supported Nazis on their Western flank. Keep in mind, despite the breakup of the Soviet Union the muscle memory from World War II is still very much a part of their social compact.

Consider Arlington Cemetary for scale. If you were to build a cemetery just from the battle of Leningrad (now St Petersburg) it would be bigger than Washington DC. If you were to build an Arlington type cemetery for all the Russians killed in World War II, the 27 million gravesites would envelop a landmass bigger than Washington DC and the state of Virginia combined.  These realities underpin Russian perspectives.

CTH shared previously that Russia is drawn into an alignment with China not by desire, but rather by necessity.  Most ordinary Russians do not like China, and they would prefer not to purchase Chinese industrial or manufactured goods.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is well aware of this, and I believe U.S. President Donald Trump is aware also.

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