Posted originally on CTH on June 13, 2025 | Sundance
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.
The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices. Watson is alleged to have received bribes valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme. (read more)
COMMENT: The next moron in charge of nato… Rutte… with a psycho propaganda quote: “invest now, or learn Russian later”
Let’s rephrase this with a counter slogan “let’s learn Russian now, let’s listen to Russia and de-escalate, let’s not betray Russia anymore, let’s not waste our money in a bottomless nato money pit based on western lies, and let’s enjoy wealth and freedom later”.
RB
REPLY: While the Democrats embrace alien criminals just because Trump wants to deport them, in Europe, it is NATO and the EU which does everything to undermine Trump and any possible peace in Ukraine. This all brings to mind Smedley D. Butler’s “War Is a Racket” which captures the essence, power, and enduring relevance of war and also civil unrest when it always comes down to money. Butler’s brutally honest book was written in 1935 by one of the most decorated Marines in U.S. history. After a 34-year career fighting in nearly every major U.S. conflict from the Spanish-American War through the “Banana Wars,” Butler reached a shocking conclusion.
Butler came to see that war is not primarily fought for democracy, freedom, or national defense. Instead, it is a carefully orchestrated “racket” – a criminal enterprise designed to generate enormous profits for a select few at the expense of the many. Butler’s critique carried immense weight precisely because of who he was. As a Major General, two-time Medal of Honor recipient, and commander of major expeditions, he had seen the inner workings of war from the highest levels. He couldn’t be dismissed as a naive pacifist.
The “Racket” had three phases, which he identified as:
Lobbying for War: Powerful business interests (bankers, arms manufacturers, industrialists, resource extractors) pressure governments into conflicts that will protect or expand their markets and investments overseas.
Profiteering During War: The same interests make obscene profits selling weapons, munitions, ships, loans, and supplies to the government (funded by taxpayer dollars). Soldiers pay with their lives; civilians pay with blood, suffering, and taxes.
Profiteering After War: These interests often control the post-war settlement, securing lucrative concessions, resource rights, and loan arrangements from defeated nations (reparations), further enriching themselves while saddling populations with debt.The Costs are Borne by Others: The young men who fight and die, the families who lose loved ones, the taxpayers who foot the astronomical bill, and the societies left shattered bear all the real costs. The profits are privatized; the losses are socialized.
Butler pulls no punches, as they say. His language is direct, vivid, and often scathing. He uses stark figures to expose the grotesque disparity between war profits and human cost. (“Out of war nations acquire additional territory… the newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the self-same few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war.”)
Butler’s first-hand experience draws powerful examples from his own service in Cuba, the Philippines, China, Central America, and the Caribbean, showing how U.S. interventions directly benefited specific corporations (e.g., United Fruit, sugar interests, banks).
The critique of the Military-Industrial Complex (a term Eisenhower popularized later) is central. The dynamics Butler described – corporate influence on foreign policy, war profiteering, the manipulation of patriotism, the human cost vs. private gain – remain potent issues. They still dominate this proxy war against Russia, as Boris Johnson openly stated that Britain is at war with Russia.
Naturally, anyone who speaks the truth will have critics who argue for the continued carnage and bloodshed. Critics of Butler argue that he reduces complex geopolitical events to solely economic motives. While he powerfully exposes a crucial driver often overlooked, factors such as ideology, nationalism, genuine security threats, and diplomatic failures also play significant roles in wars. There is always an economic element. When everyone is fat and happy, there is no war.
Butler’s proposed solution was that the only way to stop the racket was to make war unprofitable. When young men are conscripted to die, wealth should be conscripted to pay for the war. Limit wartime profits to a small, fixed percentage. He also argued for restricting military deployment. Only allow the military to defend U.S. soil. No more expeditions to protect corporate investments abroad. “Take the profit out of war.”
Only those registered for frontline service should be allowed to vote on whether to go to war. Not those who profit from war.
It remains a foundational text for understanding the critique of the Military-Industrial Complex, corporate influence on foreign policy, and the inherent injustice of war profiteering. It forces readers to question the official narratives of war and consider the powerful economic interests that often lurk beneath the surface. While perhaps not the only factor in wars, Butler highlights a factor that is frequently overlooked or downplayed. Mainstream media beats the war drums, and they too profit from sensationalizing war to get readership. The Spanish-American War was created by Pulitzer and Hearst competing for readership, creating biased yellow journalism.
In short, “War Is a Racket” is a short, essential, and provocative read. It’s a powerful dose of uncomfortable truth from a man who knew war intimately. Its message is as relevant and disturbing today as it was in 1935. It’s less a book to agree with on every point, and more one to grapple with and be challenged by.
I, for one, will strongly object to ANY federal funds going to California to rebuild LA. Let Newsom raise taxes in California even more to pay for his protection of non-Americans. He forgot that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. He has rejected that and all responsibility to enforce the law simply because he disagrees with whatever any Republican says – he just has to take the opposite, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. It would be nice to expel California from the United States and let it take in all illegal immigrants who cannot possibly have a legitimate job without citizenship or a Greencard. He supports illegal aliens against Americans – plain and simple. He is violating the civil rights of Americans and for that he could even be criminally charged.
The segregation of the South refused to honor the Constitution. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the Department of Justice (DOJ) powerful tools: filing lawsuits against states, cities, businesses, and school districts; withholding federal funds; and sending federal marshals to protect activists and enforce court orders. The Supreme Court consistently upheld the constitutionality of these laws, especially their use of the Commerce Clause (e.g., Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S., Katzenbach v. McClung for the CRA ’64) and the enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (e.g., South Carolina v. Katzenbach). This judicial backing was essential.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 demolished the legal framework of segregation in public spaces, schools, and employment. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 smashed the political system built on Black disenfranchisement. Together, backed by federal enforcement, court rulings, and sustained activism, these laws broke the legal backbone of Jim Crow segregation in the American South, transforming the region and the nation. However, the fight for true racial equality continues.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a significant U.S. law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting, aiming to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, and has been amended several times to strengthen its protections against discriminatory practices. The Supreme Court just ruled for straight woman who claims she was subjected to reverse discrimination.
What Newsom is doing in California could land him in prison for a very long time. He is engaging in REVERSE DISCRIMINATION against American citizens when illegal aliens are NOT entitled to voting rights any more than I can vote in London just because I got in and refused to leave. Newsom has violated his oath of office, and this is what Democrats do just to win at all costs anymore, for they feel they MUST oppose whatever Trump does, no matter what..
Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Switzerland-based Credit Suisse Services AG pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by enabling ultra-wealthy Americans to hide assets in offshore accounts. The agency admitted to hiding over $4 billion from the IRS in at least 475 offshore accounts between 2010 and 2021.
As reported by the DOJ: “Credit Suisse Services AG entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in connection with U.S. Accounts booked at Credit Suisse AG Singapore. Under the NPA, Credit Suisse Services AG agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in ongoing investigations and to pay significant monetary penalties for maintaining accounts in Singapore on behalf of U.S. taxpayers who were using offshore accounts to evade U.S. taxes and reporting requirements.”
Credit Suisse openly helped clients conceal assets from the IRS and took measures to ensure that the tax authority would not target their clients’ funds. The agency concealed income, falsified records, fabricated fake donations, and serviced over $1 billion in accounts out of compliance with US regulations.
The practice has become commonplace. The Singapore branch was found guilty of the precise crime in 2023 in a $2.6 billion scheme that ran between 2014 and 2023, but the agency received a mere slap on the wrist. The bank continued to serve undeclared accounts. The agency is receiving a slap on the wrist once more as it is required to pay $510.6 million in penalties, restitution, forfeiture, and fines. This is basically the cost of doing business, and potentially an advertisement for Credit Suisse.
This is the game. Big institutions are protected while smaller players are thrown in prison. If the average American failed to file their taxes, or misses a deadline for that matter, the government penalizes them by seizing up to 100% of the unpaid tax. If the amount unpaid exceeds $65,000, the US government will revoke your passport. If the US government deems that someone intentionally evaded taxes, as is the case with Credit Suisse, they send them to prison for up to five years, with the average sentence for knowingly evading taxes being 16 months. Credit Suisse may have paid the fine, but the bankers involved will face zero repercussions. The banks always claim ignorance, the regulators balance fines with cover-ups, and the press accepts the payout as punishment.
“In the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, American and Allied forces stormed a 50-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France, winning a crucial victory that turned the tide of World War II and changed the course of history. The largest amphibious invasion in history—Operation Overlord—was achieved through meticulous planning, utilizing 13,000 aircraft and gliders, 23,400 paratroopers, 5,000 ships and landing craft, and roughly 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops.
By nightfall, the valiance and intrepidity of the Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and merchant mariners had carried the day, establishing beachheads on all five of the landing beaches – Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, and Juno. This victory, though, was achieved at great cost. More than 9,000 Allied service members were killed or wounded that day, to ensure that freedom would once again prevail over the European continent.
On the 81st anniversary of D-day, we pause to pay homage to the warfighters whose indescribable valor, fierce determination, and unwavering patriotism delivered this pivotal victory for the global cause of freedom. The monumental victory forged on land, at sea, and in the skies of Normandy led to the liberation of Europe, the defeat of the evil Nazi regime, and the preservation of democracy.
We are grateful for those young men who answered their nations’ calls and faced the carnage of war in order to defeat tyranny—and we are eternally indebted to the souls who gave their lives in this noble struggle. It is our solemn obligation to remember their heroic stories, honor their sacrifices, and ensure that the freedom for which they died for may never again be in peril.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Normandy, France, marking the 81st anniversary of D-Day. He’s attending events at the Normandy American Cemetery and Utah Beach, along with leaders from NATO and other countries. Hegseth is also speaking at a NATO defense meeting in Brussels, where he’s stressing the need for member nations to invest 5% of their GDP in defense.
Posted originally on Jun 1, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
REPLY: You know the real scary thing, they never see how a single incident leads to a catastrophic war. The assassination of the archduke in 1914, or the attack on Pearl Harbor, was precisely what Zelensky was instructed to do by NATO and the EU. If Trump does not get the hell out of NATO ASAP, he had better not respond to an Article 5 call, for that is the false flag I was warning about. They got Zelesnky to take out bombers that were never used in Ukraine, so it was not a question of self-defence? This was aggression.
Trump should make a statement that the US will no longer broker any peace deal with Ukraine UNTIL they remove Zelensky with a verified election.This man is evil and he is destroying Ukraine and cares nothing about the Ukrainian people. This was indeed Russia’s Pearl Harbor.
Posted originally on Jun 1, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Not sure why the “””Elite””” cannot see this …. this 91 year old has no problem ….. but then maybe growing up in WWII Europe helps …
Opa ’91
REPLY: Maybe people do not seem to pay attention to such events or brush them off. They did that with WWI and WWII. World War I (1914-1918) unfolded through a complex series of events, driven by alliances, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism. Sound familiar?
1. The Spark: Assassination & Escalation (1914)
June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, in Sarajevo.
July Crisis: Austria-Hungary (backed by Germany) issues an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia partially complies, but Austria declares war (July 28).
German advance stalls at the First Battle of the Marne (Sept. 1914). Both sides dug trenches, leading to a deadlocked front from Switzerland to the North Sea. Russia invaded East Prussia but was crushed at Tannenberg (Aug. 1914). Austria-Hungary struggles against Russia and Serbia. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers (Oct. 1914), opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and Gallipoli. Japan seized German colonies in Asia.
TODAY’s attack was for NATO, not Ukraine. These nuclear bombers were not deployed in Ukraine. Thus, it was by no means self-defense. This was like the assassination that started WWI or Hitler crossing the border into Poland for WWII. This was an EU act of War, and there is no way that when history is written, we will see this as an act of Ukraine without direction or help.
Posted originally on May 30, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Hi Marty:
Long time no see, hope you’re doing well. I’m forwarding a short article to you. The one virologist who’s been right about Covid from the get go is Geert Vanden Bossche. He was world renowned until he went against the narrative. For over a year he’s been predicting a highly lethal Covid variant that would attack highly vaccinated countries. I read at Zerohedge last week that they call this strain “razor blade throat”. Maybe this ties in with your disease cycle in 2026. Looking forward to seeing you in the fall.
Atb,
Chris
REPLY: In all the studies I have run through the computer, no matter how I rephrase the inquiry, it always returns the same answer – Migration & War = Deadly Disease Cycle. I have input all the major plagues into the computer database from ancient times. The last “plague” that we were all taught in history class was the famous Spanish Flu of WWI: A Perfect Storm. WWI directly facilitated the virus’s global spread, intensity, and lethality. An estimated 50-100 million people died from the Spanish Flu – far more than the roughly 20 million military and civilian deaths from WWI itself.
A simple correlation of wars and migrations to disease demonstrates beyond opinion that these events have always been a major killer in wars (e.g., more soldiers died from disease than battle in many conflicts prior to the 20th century). Recent conflicts (e.g., Syrian Civil War, Yemeni Civil War) have seen the collapse of healthcare systems and the resurgence of diseases like cholera, polio, and measles. War is a powerful engine for disease spread. WWI provided the specific conditions – massive global troop movements, unprecedented crowding, malnutrition, shattered healthcare, and censorship – that turned the 1918 influenza virus into the deadliest pandemic in modern history. The connection between war and infectious disease is undeniable and devastating.
Emperor Lucius Verus’s campaign in the East, specifically against the Parthian Empire, for which this coin celebrated his victory, was directly linked to bringing the Antonine Plague (also known as the Plague of Galen) back to the Roman Empire around 165-166 CE.
Ancient historians like Cassius Dio and Ammianus Marcellinus specifically state that the plague broke out during the siege of the Mesopotamian city of Seleucia (near modern Baghdad, Iraq) in late 165 or early 166 CE. The plague rapidly infected the Roman legions. When Verus and his victorious army returned to the Roman Empire in 166 CE, they brought the plague with them.
The plague spread like wildfire throughout the Roman provinces and reached Rome itself. It raged for years (possibly decades, with recurrences), becoming one of the deadliest pandemics in antiquity. Estimates suggest it killed millions, including a significant portion of the Roman army and population. It’s widely believed to have contributed to the weakening of the Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (who also eventually died from it in 180 CE).
Creating WWIII on top of this gain-of-function COVID-19 disease, will be the devastating impact that our computer is projecting heading into 2029, which will probably be Phase I, with Phase II heading into 2032, but the final Phase will
COVID-19 does not appear to be an intentional biological weapon. It was most likely a gain-of-function creation that leaked out. Back in 1546, De Contagione (treatise on syphilis) was written more than 300 years before the germ theory of disease emerged. In that work, Girolamo Fracastoro wrote: “There will come yet other new and unusual ailments in the course of time. And this disease will pass away, but later it will be born again and be seen by our descendants.”
Not only is 2032 the 6th Wave of 51.6-year groups, totaling 309.6 years, but there is also a fractal of 6 waves of 309.6 years, which encompasses 1857.6-year groups. At the end of the last 309.6-year wave in 1722.4, there was also the Great Plague of Marseille (1720-1722), which was the single most devastating plague event during this timeframe. There was also the famous Smallpox, which was a constant, major killer, with the Boston Epidemic (1721-1722) being a historically significant event due to the inoculation controversy, similar to how we now have the vaccinated being more vulnerable as we advance.
The period 1700-1725 was dominated by the Great Northern War and the War of the Spanish Succession. These were massive, multi-theater conflicts involving most of the major European powers and their colonies. They fundamentally altered the European balance of power, marking the dramatic rise of Russia under Peter the Great and Great Britain as major powers, while significantly weakening Sweden and exhausting France. Russia ultimately won that attempt to conquer it, marking the end of the 309.6-year wave. Typhus & “Camp Fever” were the diseases that were spread by lice in crowded, unsanitary conditions that were major killers in armies and among displaced populations during the frequent wars of the period, like the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and the later War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748).
Going back to the previous wave that peaked at 1413.76, the population saw a virtual decline of 50% due to the Black Plague, also spread by war following the Mongol invasion of Crimea. They catapulted dead bodies into the Italian fort, and they fled, taking the plague back to Europe. Yes, I have said there remains the risk of a 50% decline in population as the Sixth Wave of the Economic Confidence Model concludes. This is historically standard. This is traditionally the combination of war and disease. The Black Plague or Death was the half-way point in this 1857.6 year wave.
Trump is being played like a fiddle. I do not know who in his camp is feeding him the Neocon agenda. I am screaming as loud as I can for the USA to stay out and let Europe exterminate itself and the EU. It will not win, and we have to stand back and let it happen. If we do not, China and Russia will join forces because they know this is NOT a war with Ukraine, they are an expendable proxy of NATO, as are Poland and Romania. This war will exacerbate the disease cycle, as it has always done throughout history.
This gain-of-function disease, COVID-19, may be the new Black Plague. I believe that those who will be the most vulnerable will be those who have been vaccinated. That’s just my opinion – not the computer. The computer has not identified the actual disease agent. Our politicians are IGNORANT of history, and if they ever bothered to look, disease ALWAYS spreads with migration. Just open a history book, and they might read that overwhelmingly, the historical consensus is that disease was the primary killer of Indigenous peoples in the Americas following European contact, responsible for a vastly greater number of deaths than warfare. Pre-contact population estimates for the Americas range widely (40-100+ million), but post-contact decline was catastrophic. Scholars generally agree that 80-95% of the Indigenous population died within the first 100-150 years after sustained European contact due to disease. This represents one of the most devastating demographic catastrophes in human history due to migration, and Europeans brought diseases unfamiliar to the American Indigenous population.
———- Forwarded message ——— From: geert vanden bossche from geert’s Substack <gvdb@substack.com> Date: Thu, May 29, 2025 at 7:26 AM Subject: Nobody seeing the drama unfolding right before our eyes?
I’m sure at least some of you have become aware of new COVID-19 (C-19) outbreaks in several Asian countries (Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Japan).
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for moreNobody seeing the drama unfolding right before our eyes?geert vanden bosscheMay 29READ IN APPI’m sure at least some of you have become aware of new COVID-19 (C-19) outbreaks in several Asian countries (Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Japan). But even in Australia, NB. 1.8.1 is now spreading, and it has already made landfall in the US as well. These outbreaks are continuing to rise rapidly and at least Taiwan has been reporting a sustained increase in severe and fatal cases too.While critics are rightfully concerned about the many direct side effects of the C-19 vaccines, few are aware of the threat posed by the large-scale and out-of-control gain-of-function experiment that has been triggered by irrational human intervention in highly C-19 vaccinated populations. After psychotic infection-prevention measures and insane C-19 mass vaccination drove viral escape from anti-SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) immunity, making the virus more infectious, ongoing vaccine breakthrough infections now appear to be evolving in a way that facilitates immune deficiency against SC-2 altogether, thereby facilitating increased viral virulence of newly emerging, highly transmissible SC-2 lineages. As I always said: This is not going to have a happy ending (in highly C-19 vaccinated populations).Thanks for reading geert’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Pledge your supportgeert’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell geert’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.Pledge your support
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 