With the flood of ominous nuclear headlines saturating international and Western media this weekend, particularly regarding Iran, why not one more – but in a different theatre?

Former Russian president and deputy head of the country’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has once again decided to play ‘bad cop’ (to Putin’s ‘good cop’ who says he remains open to negotiations) and issue a nuclear warning directed at Ukraine.

Responding to a topic of discussion that came up during President Putin’s attendance at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Medvedev on Saturday warned that “possible attempts by the enemy to create and use a so-called dirty bomb” would meet a “proportional” response from Moscow.

Continuing the thought, he threatened: “With what? With a clean bomb: Tactical nuclear weapons. We have enough of them.”

He said in the statement posted to Telegram, “I will keep silent about the consequences for future life and the environment. But the sick perverts in Kiev with their twisted imagination should have a good idea of it. Let them take a walk in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and watch those colorful TV series.”

The series referenced appears to be the HBO miniseries which is simply called Chernobyl.

Putin himself had actually addressed the same scenario too over the weekend, per state media translation:

“Our response will be very harsh and, most likely, catastrophic for both the neo-Nazi regime and, unfortunately, for Ukraine itself. I hope that they will never come to that,” he told the St. Petersburg audience of media and national security officials.

For all the threatening talk, there’s at yet been no evidence of such a Ukrainian dirty bomb plot. But understandably it’s something the Kremlin and Russian people are deeply concerned about, given the June 1st ‘Operation Spider’s Web’ attack showed Ukrainian capabilities to strike deep within Russia, and cause serious damage.

Throughout the war there have also been tit-for-tat sabotage attacks in Ukrainian cites, Russian cities, as well as things like arson attacks in Europe and the Baltics.

‘All of Ukraine is ours’, says Putin as he threatens nuclear strike https://t.co/IBB8EddhAq

— LBC News (@LBCNews) June 22, 2025

Alarmingly, the world is suddenly in 2025 witnessing an avalanche of nuclear discourse given the showdown over Iran’s nuclear program, also given Washington’s decision to bomb uranium enrichment facilities hard. Tehran has vowed to continue pursing a nuclear energy program, which it has long maintained is for peaceful domestic energy consumption. 

Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times,

Africa, a continent rich in resources and resilience, is a mostly silent battleground in a geopolitical contest. While global attention fixates on the Middle East, Ukraine, or Taiwan, China, under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is reshaping Africa’s future through loans, infrastructure, and control of critical minerals. This isn’t just Africa’s story—it’s a test case for a global model that trades sovereignty for dependency. Democratic nations must counter with partnerships that prioritize African agency, learning from past mistakes to avoid repeating them.

To understand China’s grip, we must revisit Africa’s scarred past. European colonial powers plundered resources and drew arbitrary borders, leaving deep wounds. Post-independence in the 1960s, Cold War rivalries destabilized Africa. The U.S. backed dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Siad Barre in Somalia to counter Soviet influence, undermining democracy. Debt crises in the 1970s and 1980s, worsened by International Monetary Fund austerity, stifled growth. From the 1980s to 2000s, Western aid dwindled as conflicts like Rwanda’s genocide raged, sidelining Africa. This vacuum enabled China’s rise, starting with the 2000 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), offering loans without Western-style conditions.

Exploiting this neglect, China, under CCP direction, launched a strategic offensive. Its state-owned banks have extended $170 billion in loans since 2000. In Kenya, they funded the $3.6 billion Nairobi-Mombasa Railway; in Ethiopia, the $4.5 billion Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway. Zambia’s $2 billion Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Project, 85 percent Chinese-funded, led to a 2020 debt default. The CCP’s playbook includes loans, contracts for Chinese firms using Chinese labor, access to resources, surveillance-enabled digital infrastructure, and elite capture through lucrative deals for political allies. In Uganda, Huawei aided government surveillance of opposition figures. In Addis Ababa, the Chinese-built African Union headquarters sent data to Shanghai servers nightly from 2012 to 2017.

Africa’s critical minerals are central to this strategy. The DRC produces 80 percent of global cobalt, with Chinese firms controlling 72 percent of its mines, like Tenke Fungurume. Zimbabwe’s lithium powers China’s battery production. Copper from Zambia and the DRC supports renewables. Manganese from South Africa and Ghana, 58 percent Chinese-imported, is vital for steel. Rare earths from the DRC and Tanzania underpin tech and defense. China, controlling 60 percent of global mineral production and 85 percent of processing, locks in supply chains for EVs, solar panels, and military technology. In 2020, Chinese media threatened to cut rare earth exports to U.S. defense contractors, a tactic repeated in recent trade tensions, highlighting global dependency.

China’s narrative—“we were colonized too, we understand your struggle”—resonates with African leaders wary of Western hypocrisy. Beijing leverages its history of resisting foreign domination to build trust, offering no-strings loans, unlike Western demands for reforms. In Zimbabwe, sanctioned by the West, President Mnangagwa praises China’s $2.7 billion investments in mining and energy as “non-intrusive.” Ethiopia’s late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi lauded China’s model, securing $7 billion for railways and dams. Yet, this narrative masks costs that Africans increasingly challenge.

Africans are not passive, actively resisting China’s grip. In the DRC, workers at Tenke Fungurume protest low wages and hazardous conditions, demanding fair labor. Similarly, Kenyan activists, led by Okoa Mombasa, sue over Huawei’s “safe city” surveillance infringing privacy. Meanwhile, Zambia’s President Hichilema renegotiates $6 billion in Chinese debts, prioritizing transparency. Ghana’s 2017 crackdown deported 4,500 Chinese illegal gold miners. Nigeria’s tech startups, like Paystack, and Ethiopia’s women-led textile firms, supported by UNIDO, push for local economic control, demanding leaders prioritize citizens over foreign interests.

As Africa resists, the free world responds with renewed urgency. The Trump administration is shifting U.S. strategy toward investment-led, trade-driven growth, launching commercial diplomacy missions to connect U.S. firms with Africa’s $435 billion import market and $180 billion digital economy, projected to reach $700 billion by 2050. The G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) pledges $600 billion by 2027, including the U.S.-backed Lobito Corridor railway ($2 billion) linking Angola, Zambia, and the DRC to secure critical minerals like cobalt.

The U.S. Development Finance Corporation funds South Africa’s $400 million Redstone Solar project, while the EU’s Global Gateway supports Kenya’s $1.5 billion Menengai geothermal plant. Power Africa delivers millions of electricity connections. The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) has trained 22,000 youth, and the EU’s $22.7 billion package targets transport and education. The EllaLink optic cable counters Chinese digital infrastructure. These initiatives signal progress, but African leaders have learned to demand tangible benefits to ensure mutual prosperity.

As the free world and African leaders navigate this contest, the stakes extend beyond resources. Africa’s minerals fuel global economies, but its vibrant societies and people deserve our consideration. If China’s CCP-led model of debt, surveillance, and resource control continues spreading to Latin America or Eastern Europe, national sovereignty falters. To counter the CCP’s model, nations of the free world need to also consider lessons from the Cold War, like the results of long-term backing of really bad autocrats for temporary expediency.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Authored by John O’Connor via American Greatness,

June 17, 2025, the recent 53rd anniversary of the Watergate break-in, should remind us of the scandal’s scurrilous aftermath. What was promised to be a new millennium of aggressive, yet punctilious, journalism turned out to be a continuation of the Washington Post‘s reckless, essentially untruthful, Watergate reporting, clearly biased in favor of Democrats.

While Republicans in the wake of Watergate vowed to be beyond reproach, like Caesar’s wife, they were indeed generally rectitudinous but yet continued the same stupidity that ruined the Nixon administration. Because neither side addressed these failures, they persist today.

We have written extensively about the Post‘s fraud during Watergate, but not enough about the Nixon Administration’s idiocy in dealing with what should have been nothing more than an embarrassing dustup.

While the FBI was diligently investigating the Watergate burglary and the Post was sleuthing (however conspiratorially with the DNC), the White House reacted by rigorously keeping itself in the dark. The occupants of the Oval Office assumed that someone within their associated group had done something wrong, but were afraid to pinpoint exactly what it was and who did it.

The White House inner circle could not have been more wrong-footed in its own deliberately restrained inquiry. For instance, it immediately assumed it should go into cover-up mode without knowing what it was covering up. It unwisely chose White House counsel John Dean to be its hub, even though Dean had no relevant experience, and any modest inquiry would have cast a suspicious eye toward him. To be fair, the entire group assumed from the outset that all involved must keep quiet, including among themselves.

One avenue of knowledge the White House, through Dean, shut off was G. Gordon Liddy, the burglary supervisor who, seemingly heroically, refused to talk for six years. But more harmful was the CRP lawyers’ decision not to provide legal representation for wiretap monitor Alfred Baldwin, III. In so doing, the reputedly savvy Republicans lost the opportunity to determine what he was listening to and what burglary team leader James McCord had said and done in Baldwin’s presence. So two key witnesses, who could have provided exculpatory information absolving higher officials, were lost to the Oval Office.

The Nixon Administration would have learned what Democrats later suppressed: that the project was aimed at listening to out-of-town Democrats talking to young ladies about their upcoming tawdry assignations. They would have gained clues that this may well have been a CIA operation run by infiltrating agents, the “retired” CIA agent James McCord working as his cover for the campaign (“CRP”), and White House consultant and “retired” CIA agent Howard Hunt.

The key pieces of evidence—girls, Democrat customers, and the CIA—never got on the White House radar, mainly because of the Oval Office group’s default setting of churlish opacity. They were hiding the truth from themselves.

Later that fall, it became known to the administration’s prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office that burglary defendant Howard Hunt was planning a “CIA defense” for his criminal trial. He believed the burglaries were legitimate CIA operations made legal due to presidential authority, as facilitated by John Dean, the White House counsel. If the DOJ saw that this defense essentially exculpated their ultimate bosses in the White House and communicated it as such up the chain, this would and should have been a source of jubilation in the Oval Office. Combined with Baldwin’s knowledge of the girly-talk overhearings, Hunt would have shown first that the burglary was not a supposed campaign operation and second that it was not aimed at DNC bigwigs like Chairman Larry O’Brien or another political target. In short, this defense would have shown this to have been a CIA operation, not a campaign initiative. Game, set, and match for Nixon, clearly a victim.

Hunt’s testimony would have been sensational and exculpatory. But, seemingly reflexively, the United States Attorneys fought the defense as phony. And advised by a compromised John Dean, who did know what had happened, the hunkered-down White never discussed the possibility of exculpation and may not have learned of Hunt’s plans. Acting Attorney General Henry Peterson, who did talk to Nixon, never got the clue, and the sneaky John Dean urged Hunt to plead guilty, likely to cover his tracks. It may well have been that Peterson’s lack of support for Hunt’s defense was rooted in Dean’s opposition, representing, seemingly, the interests of the White House. So, the prosecution fought Hunt, rather than embracing him, until Hunt, under Dean’s pressure, pleaded guilty.

At the criminal trial of G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord, the government was stymied by an intervening DNC lawyer who scuttled Baldwin’s testimony that he was listening to “explicitly intimate” conversations, which to most would have suggested prostitution. However, had the Republican lawyers not abandoned him following the burglary, they could have learned his story and widely disseminated that story outside of the courtroom.

The final major act of abject stupidity occurred in April 1973, as the Nixon administration was reeling from the defection of John Dean and Jeb Magruder, the latter falsely implicating John Mitchell. It was then that Nixon dismissed his close associates, John Ehrlichman and H. R. Haldeman, as well as the belatedly suspected Dean. In what should go down as one of the most self-destructive political acts in our history, Nixon then forced the resignation of loyal Attorney General Richard Kleindienst over Kleindienst’s strenuous and wise objections. His “clean Gene” replacement, Elliott Richardson, to gain confirmation by the Senate, agreed willingly to appoint a special prosecutor, which he did with the naming of Harvard professor Archibald Cox, a loyal Kennedy family camp follower. The special prosecutor thereafter became a legal hammer, and every fact became a Nixon nail. Cox’s office ignored a raft of exculpatory evidence noted above, which would only have diverted them from their mission. Thereafter, all evidence of CIA involvement, which became quite abundant, was seen as confounding its anti-Nixon mission and never acknowledged.

Now to the media.

The Washington Post team knew immediately upon the arrests that the burglary was focused on the desk of the secretary arranging the trysts, and indeed, burglar Eugenio Martinez had possessed her desk key at the time of his arrest, almost getting shot by the arresting officer when he tried to rid himself of it. The paper knew from Democrat lawyers representing Baldwin of the girls and the CIA implications, which the Republican lawyers had unwittingly squandered. They had learned of Hunt’s CIA defense; they eventually realized that McCord was a CIA plant; and they had reason to doubt Magruder’s implication of Mitchell. However, the golden opportunity for fraudulent reporting, counterintuitively, came from their confidential gold-plated source, Deep Throat, who was later revealed to be the head of the FBI’s Watergate investigation, Deputy Director of the FBI W. Mark Felt.

On October 9, 1972, at an all-night garage meeting, Felt told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward of a hypothetical scenario in which the burglary was part of a “dirty tricks” program run out of the Oval Office. If true, this would implicate Nixon and give a campaign motive for the burglary and wiretapping. Felt wanted a grand jury to determine if this hypothesis was proven to be a fact.

Alas, the burglary was never proven to be part of the low-level, childish pranks of Donald Segretti’s Dirty Tricks program, but the Washington Post never disclosed to the country that it was continuing to misleadingly report otherwise.

There are, to be sure, many other instances of fraud committed by the Washington Post, including concealment of CIA death threats to avoid exposure (which Felt had leaked to Woodward, but Woodward never published). Please recall a frantic Deep Throat warning that “Everyone’s life is in danger!”, specifically noting the CIA’s fear of exposure.

It should not surprise us that the clueless Republicans have, since Watergate, just as in that scandal, made these same mistakes.

Republicans allowed, for instance, the Patrick Fitzgerald Special Counsel investigation of “Plame Affair” leaks, leading to the conviction of vice-presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby, almost ensnaring President Bush’s advisor Karl Rove. This empty, entrapping investigation had no predicate crime, and the non-criminal leaker had been identified before the special counsel appointment. But President George W. Bush’s team never figured this out.

Later, in “Russiagate,” the legacy media ignored and distorted overwhelming evidence that “Russian Collusion” was a dirty trick of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the innocent but clueless Trump team did not figure it out. And, once again, dim Republicans allowed a special counsel investigation run by Democrats.

In an interesting postscript, after leaving office, Trump desperately wanted to review and have access to crucial “Russian Collusion” documents that would prove Clinton’s Russian Collusion hoax and his sickening entrapment by James Comey. But the Biden Administration craftily withdrew Trump’s security clearance so that Trump could not review his own presidential documents. Rather than suing to gain access, Trump withheld various classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, falling into the criminal trap set for him. Only the overcharging by overzealous Special Counsel Jack Smith allowed a sufficient delay in the case, which eventually led to its dismissal due to Smith’s improper appointment. Once again, clueless Republicans had been entrapped by wily Democrats and their complicit media.

However, the good news is that this era of over five decades of canards may finally be coming to a close, as media dishonesty is being so starkly depicted regarding the cover-up of Joe Biden’s dangerous incompetence. Exposed as partisan liars and not the principled truth-tellers of Watergate lore, an improved media may be the felicitous result. But let’s not hold our collective breath just yet.

Remember when the US government essentially admitted to the existence of aliens and almost no one noticed?  Launched in 2023, congressional hearings on government encounters with potential otherworldly phenomenon brought a series of witness testimonies into public focus that confirmed long time “conspiracy theories” that humans are not alone in the universe.  Intel and military officials presented information under oath that the government had indeed encountered what they call “UAPs” (UFOs) and others claimed that non-human biological entities had been discovered along with recovered aircraft.

But, the world was still reeling from pandemic hysteria, the US was on the brink of a possible civil war between conservatives and crazed leftists, the Ukraine war was fomenting a potential world war between NATO and Russia, and America was being led by a puppet president with a brain made of broccoli.  Everyone was rather distracted.

The sudden admission of the existence of interplanetary intelligence made most people rightfully suspicious.  Why was the government, which withheld evidence from the public for decades, so interested in releasing that information now?  Was the talk of UAPs and aliens really just a distraction from Joe Biden’s deteriorating mental acuity?  What is the world supposed to do with this revelation?  Most people have bills to pay; will the aliens help pay our bills?

In a political and social vacuum the concept of life from other planets with the ability to travel vast interstellar distances to Earth is mind boggling.  However, the timing is odd and the government has yet to produce any tangible pieces of evidence of recovered craft or little green men.  What we have seen is video evidence, once kept under wraps, of military encounters with strange objects doing things that no human technology is supposed to be capable of.

The Department of Defense has revealed new video footage of another aircraft encounter.  They describe the object as a massive “disc-shaped UAP” with an abnormal heat signature weaving through the clouds and changing directions in a way that cannot be explained.

Investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp say the video was recorded by government personnel over the Afghan-Pakistan border in November 2020.  The video was released by the DoD this week.

The raw thermal imagery, along with two additional enhanced clips produced by the U.S. government, show the unidentified craft abruptly changing direction – all without any visible signs of propulsion. 

‘This is the first time in history that military filmed footage of a disc-shaped UAP, designated as such by the military, has been captured on camera and released to the public,’ Corbell told DailyMail. ‘It has implications that are huge.’  The object was spotted during a reconnaissance mission by a high-altitude Air Force platform.

The footage is reminiscent of what many now refer to as the “Tic Tac UFO” incident in 2004.  Videos released by the Pentagon show U.S. Naval aviators sent to intercept a bizarre flying object that “took off like a bullet fired from a gun.” It was dubbed the “Tic Tac” UFO due to its shape and color, which resembled the popular breath mint. However, this breath mint was 45 feet across. It was detected by the Navy dozens of times in Nov. 2004.

The event was buried by the US government and was not mentioned again until 2017 in an expose by the New York Times on a previously unknown UFO program. 

Top Gun pilot David Fravor was sent to investigate the object. The commander of the “Black Aces” Strike Fighter Squadron 41 sped through the skies in his F-18 and could not believe what he saw. Years later, his opinion hasn’t changed. 

“It’s not a bird. It’s not a weather balloon. It had no wings, it had no rotors, there was no wash…The four of us will to this day tell you that we have no idea what we saw, as far as where it was from or what it was, but it had incredible performance characteristics that were well beyond brand new Super Hornets right out of the factory, which were the jets we were flying.”

Fravor also noted that his aircraft radar was receiving jamming cues from the object. 

Theories will abound on why top secret details on UAPs are being unveiled so abruptly, but encounters with possible alien life only bring the greater human condition to the forefront.  It’s hard to care about beings from other worlds until the numerous problems of our own world are confronted and solved.  This is why these shocking admissions are receiving limited interest from the masses today.  

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins launched a facility in South Texas on Wednesday that will release millions of sterile flies to fight the threat of flesh-eating parasites that are infecting cattle in Mexico and could reach the U.S. border soon, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a June 18 statement.

The parasite, New World screwworm (NWS), is a “devastating pest that causes serious and often deadly damage to livestock, wildlife, pets, and in rare cases, humans,” the USDA said. Some U.S. agriculture and cattle industry officials are worried that if the migration isn’t checked, the NWS flies could reach the border by the end of summer.

According to the agency, NWS females lay eggs on wounds or orifices of warm-blooded animals. Once the eggs hatch into larvae, they burrow into the wound and feed off the flesh. As more maggots hatch and feed, the wound becomes deeper and larger. Eventually, it becomes so severe that the host animal dies.

A single female NWS fly can lay up to 3,000 eggs over its lifespan. As such, a large infestation poses considerable risks to farmers raising cows, sheep, and other animals.

In the 1950s, a strategy called sterile insect technique (SIT) was developed, which was used to eradicate NWS from the United States, Mexico, and Central America, the USDA said in an April 2025 document. SIT used gamma radiation to turn NWS pupae into sterile male flies.

When the male flies are released en masse, they mate with wild female flies who end up laying unfertilized eggs, eventually leading to the eradication of these pests.

“While NWS has been eradicated from the United States for decades, recent detections in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border, led to the immediate suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border on May 11, 2025,” said the USDA statement.

The facility launched by the agriculture secretary is an $8.5 million sterile NWS fly dispersal site located at Moore Air Base in South Texas.

The United States currently can procure 100 million flies per week from a sterile fly production facility in Panama. The USDA has invested $21 million in a production facility in Mexico that, when operational, will provide another 60-100 million flies weekly. Combined, at least 160 million flies per week are expected to be available for disbursal through the Moore Air Base facility.

In addition, the USDA is also looking at installing a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base to complement the new dispersal facility.

“The United States has defeated NWS before, and we will do it again,” said Rollins. “We do not take lightly the threat NWS poses to our livestock industry, our economy, and our food supply chain.

“The United States government will use all resources at its disposal to push back NWS, and today’s announcement of a domestic strategy to bolster our border defenses is just the beginning. We have the proven tools, strong domestic and international partnerships, and the grit needed to win this battle.”

Countering NWS Infestation

In a June 18 statement, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) announced “strong support” for USDA’s plan to construct an NWS sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base.

“To form an effective barrier along the U.S. southern border, we need upwards of 300 million sterile flies per week. During the height of screwworm eradication efforts in the 1960s, the United States released 400 to 500 million sterile flies per week,” it said.

Moon Air Base is an ideal location for the production of sterile flies since its proximity to the border “make it easy for sterile flies to quickly be deployed to the areas of the U.S. most at risk.”

In a June 19 post on social media platform X, Mexico’s agriculture secretary, Julio Berdegue, said the actions taken by the United States to strengthen the fight against NWS are a “positive step that, in several ways, will strengthen joint Mexico-U.S. efforts.”

He expressed hope that Mexico can “resume the export of our cattle as soon as possible.”

The economic fallout of not countering the spread of NWS infections can be massive.

According to a January 2025 USDA document, a 1976 outbreak of NWS resulted in 1,488,256 cattle and 332,600 sheep and goats getting infested with these pests in Texas alone.

If a similar scale outbreak were to occur in Texas at present, producers in the state could lose $732 million a year, with the Texas economy suffering a loss of $1.8 billion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Officials in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington issued statements after the U.S. military operation…

Three major U.S. cities indicated they’re on heightened alert following U.S. military airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

In an announcement on Saturday night, President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S. military carried out bombing missions targeting three facilities, prompting threats from Iranian officials.

“We’re tracking the situation unfolding in Iran,” the New York City Police Department stated in a post on X on Saturday evening.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners. We’ll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC.”

Soon after that, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington issued a similar statement about the Iran–U.S. situation and said it would increase police presence at religious institutions. The law enforcement agency added that there are no known threats to the nation’s capital city.

“The Metropolitan Police Department is closely monitoring the events in Iran,” the statement said.

“We are actively coordinating with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to share information and monitor intelligence in order to help safeguard residents, businesses, and visitors in the District of Columbia.”

Across the Potomac River from Washington, Virginia’s Fairfax County Police Department said in a statement Sunday that “out of an abundance of caution, you may see an increased police presence at certain locations, including religious institutions and public gathering areas” in response to “recent international events.”

Also on Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X that her city is “monitoring any threats to public safety” that may arise.

“There are no known credible threats at this time and out of an abundance of caution, LAPD is stepping up patrols near places of worship, community gathering spaces and other sensitive sites,” Bass wrote in a Saturday evening statement, referring to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“We will remain vigilant in protecting our communities.”

Outside the United States, the State Department has ordered non-essential personnel and the families of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon to leave as concerns mount about Iranian retaliation.

In a notice issued on Sunday, the department said it had taken the step “due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”

The notice made no mention of any potential evacuation flights or other assistance for private Americans wanting to leave Lebanon but said they should try to use existing commercial services to depart. The United States has already organized several evacuations of American citizens from Israel and is advising American citizens in Iran on how to leave the country.

After the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, Iran launched multiple barrages of missiles at U.S. bases in the Middle East, doing minor damage and causing minor injuries to American troops.

Hours after the Saturday night bombing, Trump administration officials signaled a willingness to renew talks with Iran and avoid a prolonged war in the Middle East. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters late Saturday that United States isn’t seeking regime change in Iran, while Vice President JD Vance said during a Sunday interview that the Trump administration doesn’t want “boots on the ground” in Iran.

Before the U.S. bombing mission, Iran and Israel had engaged in a weeklong aerial conflict, with both sides firing missiles at one another, after Israel struck a host of military and strategic sites in Iran a day after a 60-day negotiating period set in April by Trump expired. Israel has said that it is seeking to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, which both U.S. and Israeli officials say was intended to produce nuclear weapons.

Tesla launched its long-awaited self-driving Robotaxi service in Austin on Sunday, providing a select group of enthusiasts with early access to livestreamed rides. The debut advances the electric-vehicle maker’s ambition to dominate the autonomous ride-hailing market.

Tesla employees accompanied riders as a safety precaution during initial runs. Prominent Tesla enthusiast Farzad Mesbahi described the ride as “super smooth” and “drama free.” Another tester, Chuck Cook, expressed amazement at the vehicle’s ability to execute a three-point turn and back into a parking space with precision.

Second ride instant reaction. pic.twitter.com/qKqMZFp7Ui

— Farzad (@farzyness) June 22, 2025

First Robotaxi Rides https://t.co/K6mbCJpQEQ

— Chuck Cook (@chazman) June 22, 2025

The company’s artificial intelligence division, overseeing the project, emphasized the Robotaxi’s scalability, noting it requires no costly specialized equipment or extensive mapping. “It just works,” Tesla told Business Insider. Chief Executive Elon Musk set a flat $4.20 fare for early rides and outlined plans to expand to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

EXCLUSIVE: First Tesla Robotaxi Rides Ever! https://t.co/FrQ69b2QKO

— Ale𝕏andra Merz 🇺🇲 (@TeslaBoomerMama) June 22, 2025

Musk, who in April forecast the Robotaxi service would “move the financial needle in a significant way” by mid-2025, faces competition from Alphabet’s Waymo. The autonomous ride-hailing pioneer operates driverless services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, with Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., slated for 2026.

Getting dropped off in the RoboTaxi!

Incredible first ride @Tesla_AI pic.twitter.com/AMxUBOxDJw

— Zack (@BLKMDL3) June 22, 2025

The launch has drawn concern from some Texas lawmakers. Democrat state lawmakers last week urged Tesla to delay the debut until a new autonomous vehicle law takes effect in September, citing public safety and trust. 

Getting in a Tesla Robotaxi. pic.twitter.com/ibByy7bMg3

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 22, 2025

Musk appeared pleasedwith the launch, lauding both Tesla’s software and chip design teams.

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

California Gov. Gavin Newsom suffered a legal rebuke Thursday night in his increasingly combative feud with President Trump, but the pair’s repeated sparring over immigration arrests and the Los Angeles riots is proving a net political win for Newsom – at least in the short term.

A federal appeals court late Thursday indefinitely blocked Newsom’s effort to reclaim control of the National Guard troops activated by the president in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles related to immigration arrests and deportations.

The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump appeared to have acted within his authority when he directed 4,000 California National Guard to help contain the riots. The judges – two appointed by Trump and one by President Biden – determined that Trump had wide latitude to determine that the protests and related violence were interfering with the execution of federal immigration law.

While the judges acknowledged there are limits to presidents’ ability to deploy the National Guard, they found that in this case there was enough evidence of civil unrest and danger to federal officials to justify the actions.

“Affording the president that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the president lawfully exercised his statutory authority” which authorizes federalization of the National Guard when “the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,” the panel concluded.

Newsom responded to the ruling with an X.post pledging that “this fight doesn’t end here.”

“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claims that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and doesn’t have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom wrote in the post. “The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens.”

The appeals court decision was just the latest skirmish in the years-long legal and political conflict between Trump and Newsom. The hostilities began in Trump’s first term and reignited just days after Trump regained the White House last November, when California’s governor declared himself a leader of the resistance. Newsom briefly toned down the rhetoric in January during the devastating and deadly L.A. fires when he was forced to ask Trump for $40 billion to rebuild.

Since then, Newsom has declared himself a likely 2028 presidential candidate and abandoned any attempt to mollify Trump. Since the beginning of the unrest in Los Angeles, Newsom’s official social media account has become a full-time trolling operation. His press office has called Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic policy adviser and chief architect of his immigration policy, “Voldemort,” while depicting him as a gargoyle, using profanity, and mocking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Newsom has also taken the fight to Trump’s home turf, inviting prominent MAGA guests on his podcast and penning an op-ed for Fox News. In that piece, which ran this week, Newsom argued that the country is facing a “perilous moment” and accused Trump of “trying to destroy our democracy” by turning the country’s military against American families.

“The deployment of federal soldiers in L.A. doesn’t protect our communities – it traumatizes them,” he wrote. “This is not public safety. This is tyranny.”

The president has likewise ramped up his rhetoric against Newsom, whom he calls “Governor New-scum,” using the governor and the state’s progressive policies as political pinatas to please his MAGA base.

On Wednesday night Trump suggested he’s not inclined to sign off on a bill giving California the $40 billion in wildfire damage relief Newsom has been waiting for since January after a week and a half of Newsom’s attacks on Trump.

When a reporter asked if Trump’s recent “dust-ups” with Newsom would impact additional wildfire relief, Trump first hammered Newsom as “incompetent” when it comes to mitigating fire risk and adequately preparing for it.

Trump then shifted to their personal animosity, suggesting the sour relations could interfere with his willingness release the funds to California. “Hatred is never a good thing in politics,” the president said. “When you don’t like somebody – you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money when you’re on top.”

Trump’s statement appearing to make wildfire rebuilding funding personal gave Newsom yet another opening for an attack. 

“Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone,” Newsom responded.

The increasing vitriol over the ICE arrests and riot response gave Newsom a ready platform to attack Trump. Only a major foreign intervention – a possible U.S. war with Iran – managed to push Newsom out of the headlines – but only for a few days.

As CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out, Google searches for Newsom’s and Trump’s name together have gone up 9,700%, “an all-time high” based on data amassed by the search engine since 2005.

“Donald Trump was able to make a name for himself through “The Apprentice,” through all of his business ventures,” Enten added. “He is now making a name for Gavin Newsom, who seems to relish the fight.”

In response to Newsom’s numerous attacks on Trump during the Los Angeles riots, the Kalshi betting odds on his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee surged while his odds of becoming president also climbed. Those betting odds showed Newsom ahead of many possible Democratic contenders at 12%, followed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and former Treasury Secretary Pete Buttigieg, both at 10%, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 6%.

Garry South, a veteran Democratic operative who ran former Gov. Gray Davis’ successful campaigns, says the reason for the rise in Newsom’s stock is no secret.

“It’s clear that Newsom has made a hero of himself among Democrats by standing up to Trump and his Gestapo tactics,” South told RealClearPolitics “I mean, he did try to play nice, or at least respectfully with Trump at first, but look where it got him. Trump invaded his state like it was a hostile foreign country, and Democrats are out there salivating to try to find somebody that will stand up to Trump and the MAGA forces.”

Newsom’s willingness to take the fight to Trump is a “net positive for his chances to be his party’s nominee,” according to Rob Stutzman, a GOP political consultant who served as deputy chief of staff to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“It’s TBD in my opinion for his chances of winning the White House,” Stutzman cautioned. “It’s worth noting that Newsom’s focus of criticism has been the deployment of the Marines and federalizing the National Guard much more than ICE.”

Republicans continue to tout polls showing strong support for Trump’s record so far on aggressive immigration enforcement. Still, Trump blasted Fox News this week over a poll showing Americans split on his handling of immigration issues and the southern border. The poll found a majority, 53%, approve of Trump’s handling of border security, while 46% disapprove.

Steve Maviglio, a veteran Democratic consultant asserts that Newsom’s moment in the spotlight lambasting Trump and his administration over immigration this month could be short-lived. Voters in California and elsewhere will be more interested in evaluating his overall record in handling problems such as crime and homelessness across the state, not to mention the slow rebuilding of Los Angeles after the fires, Maviglio said.

“It might be his 15 minutes [of fame] because that type of encounter will be difficult to sustain,” Maviglio told RCP. “Meanwhile, he has to deal with multi-billion-dollar deficits, fire recovery and soaring gas prices without a federal helping hand.”

“That will be a tough tight-rope to walk next year,” he added.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the U.S. for striking its nuclear facilities and warned it will hold the White House “fully responsible.” The statement serves as both a diplomatic protest and a preemptive justification for Tehran’s potential retaliation.

As of Sunday, the spectrum of Iranian response options remains wide: regional proxy attacks, missile or drone strikes on U.S. bases, restricting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and disruptive cyber operations. Most concerning from a homeland security perspective is Iran’s ability to activate sleeper cells or sympathizer networks inside the U.S. 

A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Asra Nomani, who has covered the ongoing Marxist NGO color revolution against President Trump, warned in the overnight: “Watch America’s streets. The Woke Army will take the Islamic Republic of Iran’s war to America’s streets.” 

Summary of Nomani’s warning:

• The Woke Army will serve as a proxy for the government of Iran, attempting to unleash mayhem to bring the war to America. Already just hours before U.S. bombs dropped in Iran, they rallied in Philadelphia: “US and Israel Out of Iran.”

• Their mayhem will be led by the 1,500 Socialist and Islamist sympathizer groups that I’ve identified through our @DPearlProject database, waging a war on America and Israel since Oct. 7: socialists @codepink @pslnational @answercoalition @PeoplesForumNYC funded by Neville Roy Singham, pushing propaganda for China and Islamists @CAIRNational @NationalSJP @AMPalestine @WOLPalestine .

• They will align with the 500 groups that have led anti-Trump, anti-Tesla, anti-Elon protests since President Trump’s election: @IndivisibleTeam @ACLU @SierraClub @UUSC @DNC 50501 etc.

• They will brand themselves as “anti-war” but they are not anti-war. The socialists and Islamists in the Woke Army are pro-China, pro-Hamas, pro-Islamic Republic of Iran, anti-American, anti-Israel. The Dems are predictably anti-Trump.

Nomani said that the next round of color revolutions on the streets should start “immediately.” 

Watch America’s streets. The Woke Army will take the Islamic Republic of Iran’s war to America’s streets.

The Woke Army will serve as a proxy for the government of Iran, attempting to unleash mayhem to bring the war to America. Already just hours before U.S. bombs dropped in… pic.twitter.com/e9oIok8WTc

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) June 22, 2025

She pointed out a coordinated sequence of actions that unfolded across the Woke Army late last night:

• 9:40 PM ET: Islamist advocacy group CAIR issued a public condemnation of the U.S. operation, aligning rhetorically with the Iranian regime.

• 10:00 PM ET: President Trump addressed the nation, confirming the strikes.

• 10:18 PM ET: Socialist-linked ANSWER Coalition called for mass street protests at 2 PM Sunday, signaling rapid mobilization intent.

Nomani continued:

• Remember these three words in everything that I share: malign foreign influence.

• Many of these organizations in the Woke Army are proxies for foreign interests seeking to unleash political violence and mayhem in America.

• CAIR is doing the dirty work of donors in Qatar and Turkey and other agents of the Muslim Brotherhood. Will those countries keep American safe as they fund CAIR to undermine America?

• Answer Coalition is fomenting chaos for China and donor Neville Roy Singham.

• The rest of the Woke Army is coalescing its forces as we speak for asymmetrical warfare in America’s streets and the capitals of the world.

9:40 pm Islamist @CAIRNational issues a press release condemning America’s actions in Iran.

10 p.m. President @realDonaldTrump addresses the nation.

10:18 pm Socialist @answercoalition summons foot soldiers to the streets for anti-America protests on Sunday 2 PM.

Remember… pic.twitter.com/sjEWq5w0jf

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) June 22, 2025

Let’s only hope that FBI Director Kash Patel’s investigation into these rogue Marxist NGOs pivots from anti-ICE riots to what has been described in Nomani’s report. House Republicans should do the same… 

These developments underscore mounting concerns over potential malign foreign influence operating through dark money-funded Marxist-aligned NGOs. These groups—very active throughout the spring and early summer—have attempted to spark a color revolution against President Trump, with Los Angeles anti-ICE riots serving as the initial flashpoint. The broader effort, including the failed “No Kings” mobilization, appears to have stalled. However, according to reporting by Asra Nomani, these same organizations are now repositioning themselves under the banner of the anti-war movement, seeking to rebrand their objectives while maintaining the same strategic mission: to sow domestic instability, accelerate societal fragmentation, undermine capitalism, and weaken U.S. national cohesion.

“Two Tracks of Soros-Backed Protest Funding, Same Destabilizing Goal,” X user DataRepublican notes… 

🧨 Two Tracks of Soros-Backed Protest Funding, Same Destabilizing Goal

There are two different Soros protest funding pipelines, and they serve complementary purposes in the broader Open Society playbook:

🔹 Track 1: Arabella Advisors

This is the polished, PR-friendly side.… https://t.co/lmT4yh2YEO pic.twitter.com/ZTxKKAZKQv

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) June 22, 2025

.   .   .  

As expected, futures opened for trading amid a risk off tone, with oil, gold, the dollar and other safe havens ripping, but there is hardly any sense of panic, as investors remain calm with Iran so far showing no signs of retaliation to this weekend’s US attacks. 

While emini S&P futures opened about 60 points, or 1% lower, at 6pm ET, they have since trimmed the loss in half, and at last check were back to just shy of 6,000, and about 2% below all time highs.

A similar kneejerk reaction was observed in oil which surged in early Monday trading, with some trading models indicated WTI contracts would open around $79/bbl – which it did – but then quickly retraced gains by half, rising $3 to $76…

… which is also well below the implied price assuming the Polymarket odds of a straits of Hormuz closure are accurate at 35% (assuming a fair value for oil of $60, and a worst case scenario of $120 at full closure), oil should be trading around $80.

Brent’s prompt spread, the closely-watched difference between its two nearest contracts, widened to as much as $1.99 a barrel in backwardation, from $1.53 on Friday. That’s a bullish pattern indicating concern about tight prompt supplies.

Turning to FX, the Swiss franc is the only major currency which is holding its own against the US dollar in early action, with the yen – which supposedly was on its way to becoming a new “flight to safety” in the (don’t laugh) world where the US was no longer exceptional, tumbling and reminding everyone that Japan with its mingblowing 400% in consolidated debt/GDP is the biggest basket case of all, and the yen will be trading at 1000 first before it goes back to 100 (and that’s only after the BOJ pulls a Maduro and chops off a number of zeros from the currency).

As for fiat alternatives, we once again are seeing mirror reactions, with gold spiking and ramping onward to all time highs…

… while the high beta “digital gold” – which as always was the only asset class open during the weekend’s peak stress moments when panicans dumped it in droves as they always do – slumped as it always does when there is geopolitical turmoil, confirming yet again that bitcoin and the crypto space in general has a long way to go before it becomes a true safe asset. 

“The market will closely watch Iran’s response — particularly whether it will move to disrupt Middle Eastern oil flows, directly or indirectly through its regional proxies,” said Muyu Xu, a senior crude analyst at Kpler Ltd. “If Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, even for one day, oil can temporarily hit $120 or even $150.”

Iran’s parliament has called for the closure of the strait, according to state-run TV. Such a move, however, could not proceed without the explicit approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Besides the straits, Tehran could opt to target crude infrastructure in rival suppliers in the Middle East, such as fellow OPEC+ producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq or the United Arab Emirates. Both Riyadh and Baghdad expressed concern following the US attack. Iran could also orchestrate attacks on ships on the other side of the Arabian peninsula in the Red Sea, encouraging Yemen-based Houthi rebels to harass vessels. After the US attacks, the group threatened retaliation.

If the hostilities escalate, Tehran’s own oil-producing capabilities could be targeted, including the key export hub at Kharg Island. Such a move, however, could send crude prices soaring, an outcome that Washington might want to avoid. So far, Kharg Island has been spared, with satellite imagery pointing to a drive by Iran to expedite its exports of oil, and Polymarket showing negligible odds of an attack.

Some good news: odds that Kharg island oil terminals will be hit have not budged, and are substantially lower vs a month ago pic.twitter.com/uOMQrSQ58a

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 22, 2025

Among the wider market fallout, Bloomberg notes that fuels also strengthened on Monday with Diesel futures gained as much as 7.8% to hit the highest price since July 2024, outpacing the move in crude.