Last Week Today Episode 203 Show Notes for Monday, June 24th, 2025
The Fragile Ceasefire Between Israel and Iraq, Canada’s “Public Service Revolution,” Mark Carney’s Plan for Military Spending, Open Banking Initiatives, Vaxx Deaths in Japan & 1943 Communist Directive
The “Fragile” Ceasefire Between Israel and Iraq
As outlined in posts like the June 24th, 2025 Al Jazeera story, “Updates: Trump warns Israel not to attack Iran as fragile ceasefire holds,” the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, brokered by US. President Donald Trump, continues to hold despite violations on both sides.
The ceasefire followed US airstrikes on June 21st targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, aimed at crippling Tehran’s nuclear program, which both Israel and the US claimed were nearing weapons-grade capability and Israel considered as justification for its initial attacks on Iran.
But the strike, codenamed “Operation Midnight Hammer,” failed to destroy core components, setting back Iran’s program by only months at best, according to US intelligence assessments.
As noted in the June 24th, 2025 BBC post, “What we know about Iran's attack on US base in Qatar,” the US attack led to Iranian retaliation with a “limited” missile strike on a US military base in Qatar, which doesn’t seem to have killed anyone or caused any real damage, prompting Trump to almost immediately propose a phased ceasefire to de-escalate the conflict.
For more on the current situation, check out the June 24th, 2025 Mark Dice on Bitchute post, “OVER ALREADY OR HEAD FAKE? - HERE'S WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING.”
The very frustrated US president has publicly criticized both nations, particularly Israel, for continuing hostilities, urging them to “calm down.”
The US air strike, while enabling the ceasefire by weakening Iran’s position, also emboldened Israel to intensify pre-ceasefire airstrikes, complicating compliance.
The lack of resolution following the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities plus the lack of casualties in the follow-on Iranian attack on the US military base in Qatar suggested that the attacks were simply posturing, more for show than anything else.
A number of legacy outlets, including the June 23rd, 2025 Reuter post, “No Iranian missiles hit US base in Qatar, U.S. official tells Reuters,” and the June 25th, 2025 CNN post, “Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say,” have noted the curious lack of damage from both attacks.
For more of the legacy media’s perspective on what’s going on, check out the June 19th, 2025 Al Jazeera English on YouTube post, “Israel’s planned to attack Iran for years, so why now? | Start Here.”
The ceasefire’s fragility reflects deep mistrust between Israel and Iran, longstanding regional rivals.
Trump’s diplomatic push, mediated through Qatar, secured tentative agreement, but the lack of clear terms and ongoing skirmishes—coupled with Iran’s relocation of enriched uranium and ongoing Israeli provocations, including the assassination of Iranian scientists involved in their civilian nuclear program, threatens regional stability.
While oil prices dropped and markets rallied, signaling hope, the ceasefire’s survival hinges on both sides halting retaliatory actions, a prospect dimmed by their mutual accusations and unresolved nuclear tensions.
Then there’s the expected economic fallout.
As noted in the June 18th, 2025 Infowars post, “ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE! Top Economist Warns Trump’s Plan To Attack Iran Will Destroy MAGA Recovery Plan By Triggering Massive Recession & Depression,” the cost of war could be very, very high.
No wonder the US president is so concerned over the situation. For more on his state of mind, check out the June 24th, 2025 CTV News on YouTube post, “Trump drops f-bomb over Iran-Israel conflict.”
Also in the News this Week
Canada’s “Public Service Revolution”
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Mark Carney Liberals are making changes to how Canada’s government works.
But those changes might not be for the better.
For example, the June 23rd, 2025 Policy Options post, “Carney’s quiet public service revolution” notes Liberal party efforts to reform the Federal bureaucracy:
Prime Minister Mark Carney isn’t pitching a sweeping public service overhaul — but his government is nudging changes to how Ottawa works.
The passage of his signature major projects bill, a wave of senior leadership moves, and a new risk policy all point to a system being quietly rewired to deliver — and faster.
The post goes on to note:
“I think Carney has some things he needs to get done — and he’ll do what he has to do to change things in order to make that happen,” said one senior official not authorized to speak publicly.
“But the changes are a consequence of the desire to get things done, not of some grand theory of government or public service reform.”
The Policy Options post also references Bill C-5, which they call “a blueprint for doing government differently. It aims to build in new wiring for execution, forcing bureaucrats to focus on delivery, not just compliance.”
For more on Bill C-5, check out the June 20th, 2025 CITY News on YouTube post, “Bill C-5 passes, with Conservative support.” The CITY News post notes that the bill was designed to “remove federal interprovincial trade barriers, and fast-track major nation-building projects.”
Freedom Forum looked at Bill C-5 in our June 22nd, 2025 Roasting the Press segment “Bill C-5 Propaganda,” but drew different conclusions.
We noted that Bill C-5 contains “a gigantic “get out of jail free pass,’” which allows the government to ignore existing Federal and provincial legislation in multiple areas as they see fit and without consequence in order to accomplish government mandated goals.
Maybe that’s the “sweeping public service overhaul” the Carney Liberals are working toward.
The CBC, always an apologist for the ruling government, argues that the new rules embedded in Bill C-5 insure that “no one group” gets a veto over Federal initiatives.
Check out the June 20th, 2025 CBC News on YouTube post, “'No one group has a veto': Conservative deputy leader on pipeline, C-5 objections | Power & Politics.”
The Carney Liberals key tool to accomplish their ambitious goals is the new Federal government risk and compliance policy outlined in the June 12th, 2025 Government of Canada press release, “The risk and compliance process.”
According to the Policy Options:
The new policy (the risk and compliance process), in the works long before the Carney government took over, replaces the 20-year-old management accountability framework (MAF) as the central tool for tracking how departments manage risk, performance, and compliance.
Critics long argued MAF had become overly bureaucratic and backward-looking, adding to the reporting burden while doing little to improve outcomes.
Policy Options calls this change “a significant shift: from asking whether targets were met to managing the risks that could prevent meeting them — while still following the rules,” but forgets to mention that, under Bill C-5, many of those rules can now be bypassed and avoided on the whims of senior bureaucrats.
Foreign commentators are more aware of Canada’s “creepy authoritarianism' than most Canadian commentators. For more, check out the February 22nd, 2022 Sky News Australia on YouTube post, “Canada is ‘more authoritarian’ than Russia right now.”
Bill C-5 isn’t the only recent bill which overrides longstanding checks and balances specifically intended to prevent government overreach.
The June 8th, 2025 Roasting the Press segment, “Ottawa’s New Bill C-2 is a Propaganda Goldmine of Government Overreach,” notes that Bill C-2, tabled on June 3rd by the Carney Liberals, allows for a whole series of new and “terrifying, totalitarian” government restrictions on our freedoms in its effort to fulfill its stated goal of securing Canada’s borders.
There are many other examples of government overreach and arbitrariness available over the last few years from multiple sources for those willing to look.
Recent Freedom Forum examples include the June 20th, 2025 Freedom Forum post, “Ronald Greene vs the Animal Rights Welfare Police,” and the May 23rd, 2025 post, “The Universal Ostrich Farm Case.”
Some, including the author of the June 6th, 2025 National Post editorial [2Capture19], “Peter Foster: Mark Carney, man of destiny, wants to revolutionize society. It won't be pleasant” say “what Carney ultimately wants is a technocratic dictatorship justified by climate alarmism.”
A few more stories, such as the June 20th, 2025 Northern Perspective on YouTube post, “Conservatives COMPLETELY GUT Bill C-5's Sections That Allowed Ministers To IGNORE LAWS!,” there’s been some pull-back on the components of the bill allowing unilateral actions.
Here’s hoping.
Mark Carney’s Plan for Military Spending
According to the June 19th, 2025 Policy Options post, “How Mark Carney is turning military spending into a force for economic renewal,” the Canadian prime minister is “reimagining and recasting “military spending as economic statecraft.”
There’s certainly nothing wrong with thinking about the obvious civilian applications and profit to be made from all the toys the military will have access to first, but it’s not the only track of Carneys plans to “Rebuild, rearm and reinvest” in Canada.
Since becoming PM in 2025, Carney has steered Canada’s foreign policy toward what he categorizes as a pragmatic, multilateral approach, responding to a volatile global landscape marked by US isolationism, Middle East tensions, and shifting alliances by rebuilding traditional partnerships and emphasizing new partnerships to compete and counterbalance US influence.
He’s also promised to spend more money. For more on the situation, check out the June 245th, 2024 CBC News on YouTube post, “Can Canada spend $150B a year on defense? | Power & Politics.”
The latest example of this approach is the June 23rd, 2025 security and defense pact Carney has signed with the European Union (EU) in Brussels.
As outlined in the June 24th, 2025 Defence News post, “Canada, EU sign defense pact that could enable joint weapons work,” the EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership involves cooperation on cyber, maritime, and space security, paving the way for joint weapon procurement between EU allies.
It’s a part of the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 proposal, a European Parliament project to mobilize €800 billion in capital for defense spending by EU members.
But ten EU member states haven’t ratified the ReArm Europe deal, including France, Italy, and Poland, and no one is really sure where the funding for the proposal is going to come from.
The agreement signed between Canada and the EU also provides access to the EU’s €150 billion Safe defense fund, a loan mechanism dedicated to joint procurement between EU partners.
This might be the real reason for the ruling Liberal party to sign on to the deal. They’ve got a lot of pricy campaign promises to fund between now and fall, when the budget is expected to be presented.
As outlined in the June 19th, 2025 Ottawa Citizen post [2BCapture5], “Budget watchdog raises questions about Carney's defense spending promises,” no one is really sure how the planned military spending is going to be paid for.
For more on Carney’s plans, check out the June 25th, 2025 CTV News post, “Prime Minister Carney on increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP on defense by 2035.”
Open Banking
Also in the news this week, legislation to implement open banking moving forward at ‘earliest opportunity,’ according to the June 18th, 2025 Canadian Press post, “Legislation to implement open banking moving forward at ‘earliest opportunity’.”
According to the post:
Open banking could let Canadians with multiple accounts across different banks see their entire financial picture on one convenient dashboard. It also could help renters build their credit scores just by paying their rent on time every month.”
It’s entirely different from central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which governments worldwide are also working on. CBDC’s could also let Canadians, “with multiple accounts across different banks see their entire financial picture on one convenient dashboard. It also could help renters build their credit scores just by paying their rent on time every month.”
The Liberal government said in the 2024 fall economic statement that it’s looking at early 2026 for implementation of open banking.
The only real differences between “open banking” and Central bank digital currencies seems to be the top down imposition of one compared to the market driven implementation of the other.
For more on this story, check out the May 23rd, 2025 PAYMERIX on YouTube post, “What’s Really Changing in Payments? (Open Banking & Crypto Explained).”
Vaxx Deaths in Japan
Independent news outlet, Vigilant Fox has released a bombshell report tracking eighteen million Japanese citizens and their reactions to the Covi-19 vaccine they received during the great pandemic of 2020 – 2022.
As outlined in the June 17th, 2025 The Vigilant Fox post, “Japan Releases Bombshell Vax vs. Unvax Data on 18 Million People,” the conclusions of the study are quite frightening but mostly expected. The more doses you get, the more likely you are to die and the faster you’re likely to die.
The initial study came out via Japanese journalist Masako Ganaha who published the Japanese language report on “X” on June 15th, 2025. The follow-up video includes commentary from Kazuhiro Haraguchi, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, Dr. Yasufumi Murakami, who co-authored the paper and his colleagues on the Information Disclosure Request Team.
According to Dr. Murakami, there was no noticeable spike in deaths among the unvaccinated. But for the vaccinated, it was a different story.
Murakami and his team found that, “the peak in death did not occur immediately after vaccination but (instead) occurs three to four months after the injections.” The trend held across the board: as the number of doses increased, the peak of death consistently moved closer to the time of the last injection.
1943 Communist Directive
Finally tonight, here’s the June 21st, 2025 Mongo Minds on Bitchute post, “1943 Communist Directive.”
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