Towson consultant, USAID official plead
guilty in bribery scheme involving $550M
Posted By: earlybird, 5/18/2025 11:40:28 AM
A former U.S. Agency for International Development official admitted in federal court this week that he accepted bribes from a Towson-based consultant and other contractors to steer agency decisions on $552.5 million’s worth of government contracts. Roderick Watson, who worked as a contracting officer for USAID, admitted to manipulating the federal agency’s procurement process for over a dozen contracts while accepting a stream of bribes in a decadelong conspiracy, according to court filings unsealed Wednesday. Watson and Walter Barnes III, the founder of the Towson-based consulting firm that won many of those contracts, both pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
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This is madness. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sends a twitter message as if he’s ordering coffee from the guy down the street, telling NATO members not to forget to send him his $40 billion in “budgetary support.”
Budgetary support means we pay for the operational cost of Ukraine government, including govt payrolls, pensions, healthcare services, welfare and social services for the people in Ukraine.)snip)
The crazy thing is, unless Trump stops it, our congress will give it to him. And even if Trump tries to stop it, congress will demand the payment as part of their appropriations process.
As if we don’t have important priorities here at home
A State Department official has been fired after an undercover investigation led to the discovery of his radical views and agenda.
Former State Department visa specialist Arslan Akhtar admitted to investigative journalists with the Okeefe Media Group that he doesn’t like white Americans, he despises Israelis, he looks down on certain U.S. immigrants, he supports illegal aliens, and he wants to see famous Trump supporter Elon Musk lynched.(snip)In the undercover video above, Akhtar admitted that he doesn’t like white Americans because they’re so culturally dominant.
“When they talk to you, they talk to you like you’re lower than them,” he said. “It’s a culture of hatred, a culture of dominance.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been going after anti-ICE rioters in Oregon, filing criminal charges against several Antifa militants accused of committing criminal acts during violent organized direct actions targeting the ICE facility in Portland. The criminal charges range from disobeying orders to assault on federal police officers, which is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
At least four Rose City Antifa affiliates have been charged by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon. Sources told The Post Millennial that additional individuals would be federally charged in the coming days/ Deni Jungic Wolf, 19, of Portland, formerly Denis Jungic, has been charged
According to direct reporting from the Minnesota Star Tribune, after his arrest Vance Boelter who went on a murdering rampage targeting key political officials told the FBI that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hired him to kill U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
MINNESOTA – In a rambling, conspiratorial letter addressed to the FBI, alleged assassin Vance Boelter claimed Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to kill U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could run for the U.S. Senate, according to two people familiar with the contents of the letter.
The letter is the clearest evidence yet of Boelter’s mindset after the targeted violence against Minnesota politicians last week. It is incoherent,
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson unloaded on her Supreme Court colleagues Friday in a series of sharp dissents, castigating what she called a "pure textualism" approach to interpreting laws, which she said had become a pretext for securing their desired outcomes, and implying the conservative justices have strayed from their oath by showing favoritism to "moneyed interests."
The attack on the court's conservative majority by the junior justice and member of the liberal wing is notably pointed and aggressive but stopped short of getting personal. It laid bare the stark divisions on the court and pent-up frustration in the minority over what Jackson described as inconsistent and unfair application of precedent
Zohran Mamdani has barely ever held a job, admitted he’s a nepo baby and has no experience in local government, The Post has learned.
New York City Mayor candidate Mamdani – who has lived most of his life in subsidized housing – failed in his attempts to be a rapper, musician and managing previous political campaigns.
An analysis of the 33-year-old’s work history shows he has been employed for only approximately three years in the time between graduating college in 2014 and being elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020.
During his time on Capitol Hill, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has garnered a reputation for helping Democrats advance their preferred narratives and policies. So, it wasn’t exactly shocking when the Tarheel State’s senior senator gifted his leftist colleagues a talking point to defend the childish antics of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
(snip)
I Tillis said he considers Padilla to be “a friend,” and that “his emotions were at a 10 because some of the things that he’s seen occurring in terms of ICE detention, ICE raids.” The North Carolina Republican added that he “agrees and disagrees” with his Democrat colleague “on some of the policy,”(snip) He then gently criticized Padilla’s actions.
While it is a strong win, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to fully stay the lower court order was not unexpected. The temporary restraining order issued by District Judge Charles Breyer was obviously political and legally weak, very weak.
The Ninth CCA simply affirmed that a violent crisis was afoot in California; federal officials and buildings were under attack; the local police and state government did nothing to stop it; so President Trump took legally authorized action to intervene, and took control of the national guard. [SEE RULING HERE]
Consider the final day of the G7 Summit in Canada that President Trump smartly avoided.
The G7 is supposed to be the assembly of seven leaders from Japan, Canada, Italy, Germany, France, the UK and USA. Essentially, an economic forum with some of the world’s most influential nations. However, instead of this focus, here’s the picture of who was invited to the G7 in Canada – the group President Trump avoided by leaving early.Does it make sense? A G7 assembly with a final day invitation list that brought Australia, Mexico, Ukraine, South Korea, South Africa, India, the United Nations and the World Bank into it. Why? Because President
The Trump administration is attempting to deport Salvadoran national Alexander Alfredo Palacios Guevara, a convicted murderer and Surenos gang member with two attempted murder convictions, who was shielded from removal by a Biden-era Convention Against Torture (CAT) deferral. Guevara was briefly released by ICE due to the CAT protection but was re-arrested due to public safety concerns. The Department of Homeland Security is now exploring sending him to a third country, pending a Supreme Court decision on a recent Boston federal judge's ruling against such removals.
Here’s a story you won’t see the mainstream media cover, ever: the white African farmers once demonized and stripped of their land and livelihoods under Robert Mugabe’s Marxist dictatorship in Zimbabwe didn’t just vanish into thin air. These fighters packed up, crossed the border, and rebuilt. And guess what? They’re doing amazing.
If you don’t recall, back in the early 2000s, Zimbabwe’s government kicked off a so-called “land reform” plan that drove white farmers off their land, often violently, and handed them over to Black Zimbabweans. Roughly, about four thousand white farmers were forced out, and many were attacked or killed. It got so bad that now, years later, Zimbabwe is
The U.S. Supreme Court took a major step in helping dismantle the federal government’s stranglehold on public policy on Wednesday. In an 8-0 decision, the court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not defend itself against a lawsuit from Oklahoma and Utah in its rubber-stamp home court, the D.C. Circuit.
The case arose from the EPA’s 2023 decision to deny the state implementation plans (snip) submitted by 21 states in order to comply with the 2015 “good neighbor” revision to the Clean Air Act, (snip),the thrust of the Supreme Court appeal has to do with the venue at which the case could be heard.
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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson unloaded on her Supreme Court colleagues Friday in a series of sharp dissents, castigating what she called a "pure textualism" approach to interpreting laws, which she said had become a pretext for securing their desired outcomes, and implying the conservative justices have strayed from their oath by showing favoritism to "moneyed interests."
The attack on the court's conservative majority by the junior justice and member of the liberal wing is notably pointed and aggressive but stopped short of getting personal. It laid bare the stark divisions on the court and pent-up frustration in the minority over what Jackson described as inconsistent and unfair application of precedent
Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said Friday on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” that the Trump administration’s blocking Congress from ICE facilities heightened suspicions that there was “something going on that should not be going on.”
Meeks said, “This is my concern about this administration. He has continuously tried to go around Congress and block Congress from doing its constitutionally responsible duties. We are and have oversight and should be let into these facilities without notice. Because if you have notice, then they can try to, you know, fix something up that’s not actual. The way that you find out what actually is taking place,
She might be the She-Wolf of Wall Street.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) raked in between $7.8 and $42.5 million in 2024 — meaning her estimated net worth with venture capitalist hubby Paul Pelosi could now top out at $413 million, new financial disclosures showed.
The staggering sum is an eye-popping jump from 2023, when financial disclosures showed the couple’s net worth topping out at a possible $370 million.
Pelosi’s exact net worth is not known because lawmakers are only required to disclose ranges.
Market research firm Quiver Quantitative, which estimates a single figure based on daily stock values it tracks, placed the pair’s 2024 worth at $257 million
Washington State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad won the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) second open vice chair position Friday after members voted to redo the election amid significant inner turmoil over David Hogg’s role within the party. Conrad won the spot with almost 56 percent of the vote over DNC member Kalyn Free in a runoff election that took place from Wednesday to Friday. Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass had initially been eliminated from contention for the seat in the first round of voting after no candidate received a majority of DNC members’ votes. Conrad finished the first round
Can the Left Ever Stop Its Craziness?
17 replies
California Senator Alex Padilla recently crashed a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He deliberately wore no identification. He gave no advance warning that he would disrupt her briefing.
Instead, Padilla barged forward to the podium, shouting about the deportation of illegal aliens.
Immediately, Padilla got his media moment wish -- once Secret Service agents, who had no idea who Padilla was, forcibly removed him. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., recently attempted a pseudo-filibuster, speaking nonstop for 25 hours straight -- not to delay legislation, but to fixate on President Donald Trump.
Have you wondered why the story of the Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter has suddenly vanished from the news? Now we have a pretty good idea why.
Boelter, who murdered State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband while also shooting State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, unleashed terror that sparked a massive manhunt before his capture late Sunday. Initial media coverage was rife with speculation, with left-leaning outlets eager to cast Boelter as a MAGA Republican, hastily blaming the GOP and even President Donald Trump for inciting his shooting spree.
Yet the letter found in Boelter’s abandoned vehicle tells a radically different story
Florida AG held in contempt for not following
liberal judge’s order to block immigration laws 17 replies
liberal judge’s order to block immigration laws 17 replies
An Obama judge on Tuesday held Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in civil contempt of court for not following her orders.
In early April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-day restraining order blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new law, signed in February, making it a state crime for illegal aliens to enter his state. [Tweet, video]
Williams issued the temporary restraining order (TRO) in response to a suit filed by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, according to Fox News.
After discovering that the Florida Highway Patrol had, despite her TRO, arrested over a dozen people, including a citizen, using the new law,
Shortly after sunrise, Iran launched a barrage of 20-30 missiles in three waves, according to Israel’s Army Radio. Sirens were sounded in the north, and then throughout the entire country. Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defenses; the missile that hit the port city of Haifa, where Arabs and Jews live side-by-side, was the only one that caused injuries on the ground.
It turns out that one of the damaged buildings was the Al-Jreena Mosque, one of the most important Muslim houses of worship in the city.
Muslim clerics, or imams, were in the mosque, presumably ahead of weekly juma’ah services held on Fridays.
Zohran Mamdani has barely ever held a job, admitted he’s a nepo baby and has no experience in local government, The Post has learned.
New York City Mayor candidate Mamdani – who has lived most of his life in subsidized housing – failed in his attempts to be a rapper, musician and managing previous political campaigns.
An analysis of the 33-year-old’s work history shows he has been employed for only approximately three years in the time between graduating college in 2014 and being elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020.
In a fearless and practical move to shore up immigration enforcement, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has pitched a novel concept to the Trump administration: a 39‑square‑mile detention site in the Everglades, slyly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Situated on the abandoned Dade‑Collier airport—as part of the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area—this remote facility would capitalize on Florida’s natural defenses.
ICE currently holds around 53,000 migrants in facilities funded for just 41,500 beds, according to WLRN.
This “Alligator Alcatraz” could house up to 1,000 criminal illegal entrants, built in as little as 30–60 days — a swift addition to national security infrastructure.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Tennessee’s law prohibiting so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors was a victory for common sense, but has sent the left into a tailspin. It’s hard to believe anyone could defend such barbarism toward children, but this is the Democratic Party of today. And one of the worst offenders was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
In her typical fashion, Warren took to social media to decry the ruling, claiming, “Trans kids suffer when they don’t get medically necessary care. This is a brazen political decision by the Supreme Court. My heart is with trans kids and their loved ones.
A sprawling 2,560-bed facility in the high desert town of California City (Kern County) is poised to become the largest migrant detention center in California under a new agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private prison contractor CoreCivic.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the federal government entered into a six-month contract with CoreCivic, with $10 million in “initial funding.” The facility operated as a state prison until March 2024, when California ended its lease as part of an initiative to eliminate the use of private prisons. The move comes amid a national push by the Trump administration to expand ICE detention capacity from 41,500 to 100,000 beds nationwide.
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More USAID illegal activity...Barnes ad previously been suspended by USAID. Changed company name, but still signing as Chairman. From another article, Barnes's company contracted for work in Ukraine.