Congratulations America, We Have Reached Peak Graham


Posted originally on the CTH on February 11, 2025 | Sundance

Senator Lindsey Graham (U-DC) was asked for his thoughts and perspectives about USAID today during a press conference.

Senator Lindsey Graham is senior senator in charge of the upper chamber oversight of foreign government influence operations via the “150 account” that supports the goals and objectives of the State Dept.

Senator Lindsey Graham culminates his entire political career in one brief segment of pretending not to know.

We can officially say this moment achieves ‘peak Graham.’  The part where Graham tells former USAID Director Samantha Power to “quit texting me” is epic.  WATCH: 

It is said that in 1860 literary master Ralph Waldo Emerson found a stargate, entered and traveled to this day in history.  Upon return, he wrote:

“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”

Every face tells a story:

President Trump and Elon Musk Hold Stunning Press Availability During Executive Order Signing


Posted originally on the CTH on February 11, 2025 | Sundance

Earlier today President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Dept of Government Efficiency, held a press conference in the oval office to answer questions about the ongoing DOGE review of government.

Elon Musk outlines examples of how the various government agencies spend money without any standard accounting principles that facilitate audits and reviews.  In material fact the system of government that Elon Musk and President Trump outline, appears fully designed to generate fraud.

In essence, “waste, fraud and abuse” within government, is a feature of how the government systems are organized, not a flaw. WATCH:

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It is amazing how the media reporters present the structure of their questions to support the waste, fraud and abusive systems within the administration of government as it is outlined.  We do not dislike the media enough.

President Trump and King Abdullah of Jordan Hold a Press Availability in the Oval Office


Posted originally on the CTH on February 11, 2025 | Sundance

President Donald Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan are having bilateral meetings today on the Israel v Hamas war and the subsequent issue with displaced Palestinians.

During the first press availability in the oval office, both President Trump and King Abdullah delivered remarks about the regional challenges, approaches and overall perspectives on the issues.  As expected, both President Trump and King Abdullah noted they await the plan from Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi who has been tasked with taking the lead on developing a peaceful solution and broader long-term plan for regional stability.

Jordan doesn’t want to take more Palestinian refugees, though King Abdullah did say he was going to take 2,000 sick children for care in the kingdom of Jordan.

President Trump has given Hamas a deadline of Saturday at noon to release all the remaining hostages or, “there will be hell to pay.”  President Trump is willing to take part in rebuilding Gaza in the aftermath of the chaos and rubble as soon as Hamas is removed from the issue.

After President Trump Talk with President Putin, Russia Releases U.S. Prisoner Marc Fogel


Posted originally on the CTH on February 11, 2025 | Sundance

It’s good that Fogel is returning, and the gesture of his release is an act of good faith between the Russian government of Vladimir Putin and the U.S. government of Donald Trump.

However, that said, Marc Fogel was not arrested and detained for some arbitrary reason. The American teacher was arrested, tried and convicted for taking marijuana into Russia.  The Russian government doesn’t recognize medicinal marijuana, and they do not play around with illegal drugs or classified narcotics. It’s a big issue and considered a serious crime with severe penalties.

President Trump on Tuesday secured the release of an American imprisoned in Russia as part of a deal with the Kremlin negotiated by Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.  Mr Witkoff flew to Moscow Sunday for discussions with Russian officials.

New York Times –  […] Mike Waltz, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said in a statement that Mr. Witkoff, at the president’s direction, had brought Mr. Fogel out of Russia on his plane as part of an exchange. But he did not provide any details about whether the United States or an ally had released someone in return or what other steps the administration had taken to win Mr. Fogel’s release.

“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisers negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” Mr. Waltz said.

[…] the deal, in discussion for several days, is a gesture of good will for both sides, aimed at smoothing the path to talks over the war in Ukraine and potentially improving relations between Russia and the United States. (more)

All is good.

Killing stops soon.

Peace and stability returning.

JD Vance Delivers Keynote Address at European AI Summit in Paris


Posted originally on the CTH on February 11, 2025 | Sundance 

If you have followed the arc of Tech, Peter Thiel recruiting JD Vance, the creation of Palantir, the funding of Vance’s senatorial run, and eventually the roadmap to connect Vance to Trump, this is a video speech you absolutely must not miss. JD Vance was sent to the AI Summit for a reason.

JD Vance talks at the AI summit in Paris, France, about his core mission, his core purpose inside current political influence. This is the very origin of his legacy, unfolding in real time. Vice-President JD Vance talks about Artificial Intelligence, the future and the Trump administration position.

Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders against heavily regulating U.S. tech companies and said excessive efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence could stymie its growth, during an AI summit in Paris Tuesday that marks his first foreign trip since taking office. WATCH:

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Do you feel more or less confident about the future, having watched these remarks?

Tom Homan Confirms FBI Likely Tipped-Off California Criminal Aliens to Avoid Deportation Sweep


Posted originally on the CTH on February 10, 2025 | Sundance

Yesterday, Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pointed a finger at the FBI for leaking the details of an ICE deportation sweep to the Los Angeles Times in order to tip-off criminal illegal aliens.  Today, Tom Homan says, “Kristi Noem was correct, some of the information they are receiving leads to the FBI.”

During an interview tonight with Sean Hannity, Border Czar Homan also said the Acting Deputy AG is going to pursue criminal charges against the FBI leaker.  WATCH:

The leak led DHS Secretary Noem to say, “The FBI is so corrupt.”

President Trump Holds XO Presser in Oval Office – Full Video


Posted originally on the CTH on February 10, 2025 | Sundance

President Trump held an Executive Order (XO) press conference in the oval office today and took questions from the assembled press pool.  Included in the executive orders was the reversal of the plastic straw ban, no more paper straws.  The President also implemented a 25% tariff rate on imported steel.  The import tariff rate for aluminum increases from 10% to 25%.

At 09:00 of the video, President Trump reads prepared remarks on the implementation of the steel tariffs. At approximately 15:00 of the video, President Trump begins taking questions from the media.  The full video of the event is below:

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(Via NBC) – President Donald Trump signed an order Monday that imposes a 25% tariff on all steel imports to the United States.

“This is a big deal,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “The beginning of making America rich again.”

[…] Canada is the largest supplier of steel to the U.S., followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam.

Trump has floated the idea of reciprocal, tit-for-tat tariffs. According to analysts with the Capital Economics consultancy, such a scenario would, in essence, see Trump taking a more “measured” approach to trade negotiations if the threat of an across-the-board tariff, which Trump has previously mooted, is eliminated. (read more)

DNI Nominee Tulsi Gabbard Clears Cloture Vote Hurdle – Likely Full Senate Vote Wednesday


February 10, 2025 | Sundance

Nominee for the position of the Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI), Tulsi Gabbard, has passed the Senate cloture vote (52-46) ending debate on her confirmation.  McConnell and Murkowski voted “yea.”  The full senate is likely to take the final confirmation vote on Wednesday, and the traditional outcome should follow the same result as the vote to affirm cloture.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Having secured the support of 52 Senate Republicans, Gabbard, one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees, is on track to be confirmed as the nation’s top intelligence official in the coming days. Forty six Democrats in the chamber voted against Gabbard. Two senators were absent from the vote. (read more)

By the end of this week things could start to get very interesting on the Intelligence Community (IC) front.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is the newest office in the IC system. It was created as an outcome of the Patriot Act and the office represents the pivot point of all IC information flows.

The CIA information is supposed to enter the DNI silo from outside the USA, and the FBI information enters the DNI silo from inside the USA.  The combined information is then assembled and becomes part of the National Security Information (NSI) that is available to the Dept of Homeland Security.

As we have outlined, the Obama/Holder administration weaponized these information streams and the silos that control the outcomes.  The DNI became an information laundry permitting the CIA (John Brennan) to conduct domestic political operations, while the FBI partnered with their “sister agency” (CIA) and ran political targeting operations against Obama’s opposition.

Attorney General Eric Holder then created the Dept of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD), filled it with legal ideologues (Weissmann, McCord, Eisen et al), and that sub-silo of the DOJ then proceeded to take the weaponized CIA/FBI information and target Americans (and some foreign adversaries).

Political attack narratives were created from within the DOJ-NSD using false pretenses like the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) and the domestic surveillance of political targets proceeded through the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act/Court (FISA/FISC).  Meanwhile the FBI counterintelligence division ran cover operations for Hillary Clinton and other aligned political entities.

To ensure DOJ-NSD targeting operations were without review, the DOJ Inspector General was barred from having any oversight within the DOJ-NSD, under the justification of “national security.”  From inception (’09) the DOJ-NSD was without any oversight, until President Trump changed the rules in 2017.

All of the Trump targeting operations originated from within the DOJ-NSD, including the surveillance of candidate Donald Trump through the use of the Title-1 surveillance warrant gained against CIA asset Carter Page.  Nat Sec Advisor Michael Flynn was targeted using the pretense of FARA.

Throughout the Obama terms, the DNI (James Clapper) was presumably willfully blind to the activity.  Clapper was a useful doofus, so it was not difficult.  This is the background for the current status of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Just as we now see receipts for the USAID silo as the front for CIA activity, so too was/is the ODNI the front for domestic intelligence operations by the same CIA operators.  The CIA is behind it all.

For many years the CIA had to be careful about domestic activity, always working to cloak their internal operations. However, once the ODNI office was created, they now had a legally authorized door that permitted them to expand their operations without fear of scrutiny, under the justification of “national security.”

Here is where I posit a note to moderate expectations of sunlight from the IC silos of the DNI (Gabbard) and CIA (Ratcliffe).

♦ Be really cautious about expecting any sunlight, review or inquiry to penetrate the CIA silo.

I’ve studied the construct of these IC silos for years, and I have yet to find a process (only one way) that gets any information from within the CIA dark place extracted against their will.

The CIA silo was constructed to be an information filter. Information goes in, but only one method (Presidential Daily Brief) exists for information to come out.   The President authorizes directed activity within the CIA through the use of “finding memoranda,” but the CIA operates all other activity without oversight.

The CIA gets instructions via presidential finding memos, which they act upon and keep in locked files, but the CIA never discloses any information unwillingly.  The CIA is a complete dark hole, with an entrance but no exit.

It is a very unique silo. No oversight (by design), no accountability (by design), no method of financial accounting (by design), and only one physical person (no delegation of authority) with power to engage over the entire agency.

It’s very complicated.

When you understand this dynamic, I mean really understand this dynamic, then you might understand why I suspect that Sheldon Snook’s wife, Mary McCord, is a career CIA operative. This likely reality also explains why Chief Justice John Roberts was in a dilemma with the Dobbs decision leak and subsequent investigative discovery by U.S. Marshals.  The result of that investigation, Roberts’ declaration, makes sense if this connection to the CIA is accurate.

Final note.  I am of the opinion that George H.W. Bush was the organizer of the current (modern era) CIA operational rules, processes, business model and activities.  All of the research into a host of political events, seems to circle back to GHW Bush in some manner or method.  The placement of Bush as VP to Ronald Reagan is akin to the placement of Pence as the VP to Donald Trump T-1.

The fingerprints of covert CIA activity, what I would call political tradecraft, are all over the prior term of President Trump (see graphic below). There’s zero doubt -at least in my mind- the impeachment effort was a domestic CIA operation.

I suspect, again just my speculation, that in T-2 the Office of the President is exploring the CIA silo with the well-publicized request for JFK/MLK files to be released.  I don’t think the “full” files will ever be released; however, I am cautiously optimistic the people around Trump are not really using this approach to get the files. I am hopeful they are testing the CIA membrane to gauge the opacity.

Boomerang Coming: Anti-Trump Federal Judge Rules FBI Must Provide Mar-a-Lago “Classified Documents” Material to FOIA Lawsuit


Posted originally on the CTH on February 10, 2025 | Sundance

Leftist journalist Jason Leopold filed a FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ/FBI a few years ago, seeking the documents and background material assembled by the DOJ, FBI and Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.  With the Mar-a-Lago case against Trump dismissed by a Florida judge, and effectively dropped by Special Counsel Jack Smith.  The justification for withholding the responsive material is no longer valid.

This has resulted in anti-Trump U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, now ruling that anti-Trump journalist Jason Leopold should be given the FOIA documents by the FBI and DOJ. [Ruling pdf here].  Essentially, Howell is saying, angrily, that with President Trump immune from criminal liability (SCOTUS immunity decision), the only public recourse for accountability is sunlight from within the evidence the FBI assembled.

Here is where it gets interesting.

The DOJ/FBI Special Counsel, previously said to the Florida court they would not reveal the content of the information because it was “classified” under “national security” grounds.  You might remember President Trump’s legal position was to make the content public because Trump said there was no classified material.

To reconcile the issue, during discovery phase Florida Judge Cannon appointed a Special Master to review the “classified” documents.  The FBI and Jack Smith balked at the demand and filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit to keep the Trump defense from reviewing what Jack Smith said were “documents marked classified.”  Smith didn’t want the documents made public or revealed to President Trump, so the DOJ/FBI position was that the documents were too sensitive (TSCI) with “national security” implications.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government position that any documents defined as “classified” by the executive branch (now Biden) that claimed, “national security,” should not be disclosed to the defendant, Trump.  The court of appeals essentially determined that all definitions by the executive branch, are not questionable by the judicial branch.

The bottom line was that President Trump’s legal team were never able to ascertain exactly what the “documents marked classified” actually were.  That aspect of the case was pure Lawfare, and actually quite silly.

The DOJ was saying Trump had “documents with classification markings.”  Trump saying, “no I didn’t have classified documents, but if true what where they?”  And the DOJ saying, “we can’t tell you, that’s classified.”  It was silly and never reconciled in part because the case was dismissed.

Well…. now Judge Beryl Howell is telling the DOJ/FBI to produce the “documents with classification markings,” and all surrounding information therein, to Jason Leopold, because Trump bad and the information will make the public hate him, or something [SEE Court Order].  But again, no-one knows what these “documents with classification markings” actually were…. Except, well, maybe us.  We have well-based circumstantially supported suspicions. {see here}

Will the Trump DOJ (now Pam Bondi) and the Trump FBI (likely Kash Patel) release the files and material to Jason Leopold, as demanded by Judge Howell?

I think there’s a strong possibility they will, which then begs the question:

….If the documents were of such critical national security value, then why would the “documents with classification markings” be released under the auspices of a simple FOIA claim?

lolol…  See the stupidity of it?

The “Documents with classification markings” were of such devastating content, such that the DOJ protected them from visibility even by a security cleared special master; and then fought the release of the documents to the Trump defense – who was charged with defending Trump against the accusation that surrounded them; where the DOJ even fought the release of the “documents with classification markings” all the way to the 11th CCA to keep them hidden; well, then how the heck do those documents get released by a simple Freedom of Information Act request by a journalist?

Judge Beryl Howell never attempts to reconcile that issue in her order.

Sometimes Lawfare can be a little funny when it is argued by leftists, in courts controlled by leftists, with leftist judges, with inherent hypocrisy that surrounds the concept of leftist Lawfare.  I would love to see Eric A Dubelier Esq write about this (lol).

Bottom line, I have a strong suspicion this order, intended to create an anti-Trump narrative, is going to boomerang once the public see the “Documents with classification markings.”

Let’s see what happens.

[Politico Story Here]

Zelenskyy Says if Ukraine Holds Elections, They Will Lose the War to Russia


Posted originally on the CTH on February 10, 2025 | Sundance

I have long said the only thing President Trump needs to do is to tell Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he needs to hold an election to showcase his public support for his position.  After that, Trump can do nothing except wait for the result and the winner of the election to come to him.  Then, engage with Putin on a resolution to the conflict.

Would Zelenskyy win the election?  I don’t think so, but who knows.  Today a video surfaces where Zelenskyy was directly asked why he has cancelled all Ukraine elections, and would he restart them now.  Zelenskyy said no, he would not hold elections because holding an election would mean a pause in the warfighting and that would be a win for Russia.

(MSM) – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that if martial law is suspended until the end of the war so that elections can be held, Ukraine will lose its army, which the Russians will exploit. Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with the UK broadcaster ITV News

Quote: “In regard to elections, everything is clear. More than anything we all want the war to end and for us to have elections. However, as long as the war continues, our population is against elections, all people are against it.”

“What do elections entail today? As of now – I’m absolutely not afraid of them – but what will happen? We need to end martial law or suspend martial law. If we suspend martial law we will lose the army. And in principle, the Russians will be happy. The question of combat capability, morale – that’s what we’ll lose. And legally, you can’t hold an army – it’s a fact.

People will come back home and will have every right to return home. And morally, even those who will not come home morally that’s it – it’s a pause. And Russia certainly will exploit this for counterattack.” (more)

That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.

In order to save democracy in Ukraine, they must eliminate elections in Ukraine.