Tag Archives: Big Government

Apr 20 2026

Sunday Talks – U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz Discusses Ongoing Objectives with Current Status of Iran


Posted originally on CTH on April 19, 2026 | Sundance |

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz appears on CBS Face the Nation to discuss the difficulty of negotiating with Iran, a regime based on fanatical religious zealotry and control.  The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Imtiaz Tyab reporting from Dubai. We turn now to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, who joins us this morning from New York. Welcome back to Face The Nation, ambassador.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Thank you, good to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the President said Iran broke the ceasefire, but he is still offering them a deal. Is this a presentation of terms, or should we expect an actual, prolonged negotiation?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, I think this will be a continuation of the terms that the vice president offered a week ago. And look, we have to take a step back here in that – President Trump, the US Navy is controlling what is coming out of the straits. We’ve had the highest level engagement in the history of the Iranian regime, with the vice president leading. We have historic ceasefire talks going on between the Israelis and the Lebanese. The markets are up. Oil prices are relatively stable. The Iranian economy is devastated, and they’ve never been, I can tell you here at the United Nations, they’ve never been more diplomatically isolated. So Iran does not have the cards, and we are confident they will come to the table and finally give up their obsession with having a nuclear weapon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Iran has not yet announced that it’s sending a delegation to Islamabad. I know there’s this back and forth all morning long about whether the vice president would be leading it or not. CBS, as you just heard, is reporting he will be but why is it important that he be there in person? Is it because Iran has refused to send anyone with decision making authority, unless he is there?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, you’ve seen the chaos, I mean that you just pointed to on the Iranian side. The last 48 hours, you have their foreign minister announcing that they’re going to stop attacking shipping. Then you have the IRGC saying that they will and then doing so, as President Trump pointed out, an absolute violation. So the Iranian side is in a bit of chaos. This is absolutely due to the devastating strikes on their leadership. But I think the vice president leading shows the level of engagement from the US side that we are absolutely serious. And I for one, thank God for future generations that we are arresting a problem before it’s too late. We’re not waiting until the US has no options —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well —

MIKE WALTZ: and Iran has some kind of breakout, which would lead to a nuclear breakout all over the Middle East.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me follow up on what you just said, though, because that’s important, the Iranian side is in chaos. So how do you know you’re negotiating with the right person? It’s been reported, The Institute for the Study of War says that the IRGC Commander General the Vahidi has secured control over the negotiations and the military within the past 48 hours. Does that mean Foreign Minister Araghchi is not the person to be sitting across the table from? Who’s in charge?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, look – again the Iranian regime, we’ve put them in chaos, but at the same time, we are never going to take an approach of trust. Any deal that comes out of this will have to absolutely be verifiable and be enforceable. I can tell you, from sitting in my seat at the UN we’ve been in extensive discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, which would have ostensibly a key role in ensuring Iran lives up to any deal that it signs to, this – signs up to, there is no trust on this side. There is verified and enforceable provisions that are that are on the table from the US to ensure they never have a nuke.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, that’s important in terms of enforcement. Does that mean if you actually get to a negotiated deal, and the UN’s nuclear watchdog would be very much in those details of going in and perhaps securing that enriched uranium. Does this mean you’re going to put a deal for approval before the United Nations? Is it going to be codified like that?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, I’ll tell you, there are dozens and dozens of resolutions over the years, not just the United States, the entire world, saying Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

MIKE WALTZ: We had snap back provisions that are in place now for global sanctions and that Iran cannot enrich so anything that would would change those resolutions would then need to come back before but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s see if the Iranians actually sign up to a very reasonable offer that is sitting on the table from the United States —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah —

MIKE WALTZ: which is an off ramp from them, and also will ensure the region, the United States, Europe and the world, is never threatened by a regime with its hand on a nuclear button.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so, but back to the point of who’s in charge. President Trump says he hopes they take the deal, that was the post this morning. But on Friday afternoon, he spoke to my colleague, Weijia Jiang, and he gave us an incredibly optimistic read. He said Iran had quote, agreed to everything, including to stop enriching uranium forever and to stop backs – backing all proxy groups like Hezbollah. He made it sound like it’s all been sorted out. So which is it? Was there an agreement with certain parts of the Iranian government, but now there are others in charge, or was he just, you know, I don’t know, speculating about something he hopes comes true?

MIKE WALTZ: Margaret, anybody who has dealt with the Iranians will tell you it is often two steps forward, three steps back. They’re incredibly slippery. They can’t be trusted. They cheated over the years, which is one of the reasons that President Trump withdrew us from the JCPOA. They were hiding sites. They were hiding capabilities, and this is why he made the bold decision —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yep —

MIKE WALTZ: last year in operation midnight hammer, to just end it once and for all. And again, we have to take the perspective that we’re not waiting. We’re not trusting. We are reducing their capabilities. Their military is in shambles. Their missile program is in shambles, and now, hopefully diplomatically, they will do it the easy way, rather than the hard way, of finally giving up on this illegal ambition.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress this past week, Iran has thousands of missiles and one way attack drones that can still threaten the United States. So there’s still a threat in certain ways. General Caine said on Thursday, the US is going to pursue Iranian flagged vessels or any vessel providing support, including those carrying Iranian oil. Beijing is the top customer. Are you going to start boarding vessels headed to to China? When do these operations begin?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, I’m not going to give – get into operational timelines, but I’ll tell you all options are on the table. The President is prepared to escalate, to de-escalate, he means it. When he said nothing that benefits Iran is coming out of the strait. And then on top of that, Secretary Bessent announced operation economic fury, where we are prepared to put secondary sanctions on banks who are transacting in illegal Iranian oil dollars. So we are truly putting maximum pressure on every aspect of the Iranian economy, and at some point they are going to see some level of common sense and pragmatism and say enough is enough with this nuclear obsession.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that the first step before you go back to combat? Because President Trump was talking about bombing power plants. Are the sanctions and the seizing of vessels —

MIKE WALTZ: Well, we’ve taken —

MARGARET BRENNAN: step one?

Mike Waltz: Well we’ve taken, you know, again, I’m not going to publicly sequence the steps, but the blockade was, was a tremendous step and has been tremendously effective, with dozens of ships turned around. Others that are already out on the water, our Pacific Command is prepared to interdict. We’re going after the banks. We’re going after this shadow fleet, one of which was run by a relative of Khamenei. So we are taking a number of steps. We’re even looking – our acting attorney general has made it very clear, he is going to start aggressively prosecuting, our threat finance unit is going —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah —

MIKE WALTZ: after their illegal dollars. So this is a whole of government, full on press. I hope we don’t have to go back to a military option but President Trump’s made it very clear. And by the way, bridges, power plants that are run by the IRGC, which runs the entire military, are absolute legitimate military targets, not only now, but have been historically. That is a false, fake and ridiculous notion that this is some type of war crime.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll talk about that, and we’ll see if that happens. But Germany and other allies have said they will help the United States with that navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, eventually, once combat ends, but they said they need cover. They need an international mandate at the United Nations. Will Russia and China get on board? Are you trying to do that at the UN?

MIKE WALTZ: Well, as our Gulf Arab allies made it very clear at the UN, I guess that would be nice to have after the conflict, but they need help and are ready to take action now, particularly Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, we had a historic resolution to the UN with 135 —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah —

MIKE WALTZ: nations condemning Iran for its attacks on civilian infrastructure, on resorts, civilian airports, ports, shipping. That was truly tremendous. It’s disappointing the Russians and Chinese chose to side with Iran rather than our Gulf Arab allies —

(CROSSTALK BEGINS)

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you still lifted sanctions on Russia.

(CROSSTALK ENDS)

MIKE WALTZ: and freedom of navigation, but you’re going to see – yeah, you’re going to see continued action this coming week. The entire world is united that you – that a country cannot hold an international waterway and cannot hold the world’s economies hostage because it has a conflict with another country. You don’t see that in the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bering Strait, the Straits of Malacca, or any other international waterway. Iran is absolutely in the wrong here from a legal, diplomatic and economic standpoint.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about Lebanon. President Trump posted Friday that quote, Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are prohibited from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough. How is the US prohibiting ally Israel from bombing in Lebanon? And what is the United States doing to confiscate weapons from Hezbollah like, how are you helping the Lebanese military do that?

MIKE WALTZ: Well to answer your last question, first, the US contributed over $250 million to the Lebanese Armed Forces. This is a tremendous historic opportunity for Lebanon, the Lebanese government led by President Aoun, a former general, the head of the Lebanese Armed Forces, to take their country back. Finally, with Iran on its back foot and militarily devastated, with Syria —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yep.

MIKE WALTZ: in a much better place, with the fall of the Assad regime and the effective diplomacy that we’ve had there, and from the pager and beeper operation to now, Hezbollah has never been in a worse place. This is a true moment, and it was a real honor for me to be at the opening of the —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

MIKE WALTZ: first Israel – Israel Lebanon talks, first ever —

MARGARET BRENNAN: How are you going to prohibit Israel from bombing?

MIKE WALTZ: in modern history. So, we have – look, but Maragaret, we have diplomacy on the march in a number of places —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Uh-huh.

MIKE WALTZ: Backed, of course, by military strength —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.

MIKE WALTZ: but we have to take a moment to understand the magnitude of what’s going on.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Ambassador Waltz, we will be watching to see what happens in the coming days. Thank you for your time. This morning, Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.

{END TRANSCRIPT}

Apr 20 2026

President Trump Angered by Ongoing Military Fire from IRGC into Strait of Hormuz


Posted originally on CTH on April 19, 2026 | Sundance | 104 Comments

In a series of messages from his Truth Social account, President Trump notes IRGC officials continue to fire weapons into the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to disrupt commercial shipping lanes.

The leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are in a zero-sum status.  Any change to the power structure of the country will likely mean the end to their power, life and status.  The IRGC will not accept any terms and consistently portray themselves as martyrs for the regime.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and shipping is creating a serious economic problem for the regime in Tehran, and the IRGC is trying to stop the situation of commercial vessel transit for anyone except Iran.  (VIA Politico) – “Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement calling the blockade a violation of the ceasefire and said Iran would prevent “any conditional and limited reopening” of the strait.”

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing. In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be “the tough guy!” We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!” ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them. The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop. The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

Apr 19 2026

AAG Todd Blanche Moves diGenova and DeLorenz to South Florida Group Assisting USAO Jason Reding Quiñones


Posted originally on CTH on April 19, 2026 | sundance 

A formal announcement is likely tomorrow; however, leading information now affirms Acting AG Todd Blanche is moving Joe DiGenova and Christopher-James DeLorenz into positions in South Florida to assist U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones in ongoing investigation of the Donald Trump targeting.  The venue puts any grand jury information in the court orbit of Judge Aileen Cannon.

Before getting into the substance, the alignment here is critical to understand.  Judge Cannon saw firsthand exactly what the Lawfare constructs consist of when she had the Jack Smith operation in her court during the Mar-a-Lago documents case.  Judge Cannon knows the context of weaponized justice and saw the techniques through first-hand experience.  This cannot be emphasized enough.

There are a lot of people who want to see some form of accountability finally delivered for the decade-long corrupt Lawfare operation that took place against Donald Trump before he took office (Spygate), during his administration (Russiagate, Mueller, Impeachment), after he left office took office (Jack Smith and Mar-a-Lago) and even through today (Judicial Intervention).  Many of those voices have concerns about 81-year-old Joe diGenova, so let me address that first by pointing out how the issues that frame the criticism are also a valuable asset.

Joe diGenova has a very rare current perspective; he completely sees the timeline of Trump targeting for what it is.  This is immensely valuable because not enough people understand the complex continuum enough to stand back and see the bigger picture.  diGenova sees the bigger picture.

diGenova can see the 2015/2016 FBI contractor political spying operation (Spygate) and how it connects to the later Fusion GPS/Clinton construct of Russiagate. More importantly, diGenova sees the connective tissue -the actual characters- flowing from Spygate, through Russiagate, into the Mueller investigation, then into the impeachment effort and then into the Jack Smith operation.  Seeing the big picture is the first step.

Now, critics point out that diGenova is a creature of DC. Yes, that is true. However, that’s also an asset given that he understands just how difficult it is to navigate through all of these ridiculous DC interests.  diGenova is also a character, boisterous perhaps intemperate and easy to Alinsky (isolate, ridicule, marginalize). So what? It doesn’t matter who is involved in this effort, they are going to be Alinsky’d by the Lawfare operatives on the other side.

Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing see the big picture and have a skillset to tell the story.  They can assist brilliantly and direct the telling of the story by connecting the lead prosecutors to the background script of how everything unfolded over the past decade.  If Quiñones is researching a “conspiracy” case, it is the primary job of the investigative researchers to connect each of the evidence dots to the larger conspiracy.  Sounds perfect for diGenova.

diGenova can put the prior weaponization into a timeline and from that timeline extract the step-by-step evidence that proves it.  This timeline of targeting and how it is all connected has been missing in every investigative review up to now.  That’s the value of diGenova.

This doesn’t mean diGenova is in the courtroom per se’, but rather he’s the one explaining the sequencing of witnesses for a grand jury and how the questioning of one might relate to the questioning of another.

Christopher-James DeLorenz has the skillset of knowing Judge Aileen Cannon and the internal machinery of a modern Main Justice.   Put them together and the lead prosecutor in Florida has a formidable team putting the details onto the table in front of him/her.

This could have been done in DC years ago by the House Select Subcommittee on Weaponization; however, they did not have the skillset nor the operational strength to push through the DC politics as a group.  Former Representative Dan Bishop is a current U.S. Attorney in North Carolina, and he said it wasn’t fear that screwed up the subcommittee effort as it was republican political leadership stopping the subcommittee from aggressively investigating the whole matter, the big picture.

There are rumors that Blanche has assigned diGenova because President Trump is frustrated with Main Justice on this issue.  I don’t know if that is true, but jumping ju-ju-bones – could you blame Trump?

Remember, former AG Jeff Sessions ridiculously recused himself putting Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein responsible for all of the time during the Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann targeting.  President Trump wanted to declassify records directly related to his targeting, but Rod Rosenstein kept telling White House lawyers that if Trump released anything Mueller would view that as “interference or obstruction.”

Even the memo written by Devin Nunes was considered ‘obstruction’ by the Mueller team, and that was simply Nunes sending Trey Gowdy and John Ratcliffe to read the Carter Page FISA warrant and write down their opinion of it.  Remember that stupid battle with the DOJ/FBI and IC?

Then came Bill Barr who told President Trump not to declassify and release any information, or he would be interfering with Robert Mueller then ridiculously John Durham.  Over and over again President Trump was told he could not declassify and release documents or he would be guilty of some form of obstruction.

To be fair, with the context of the impeachment evidence now at the forefront, it is obvious the end goal of the Mueller operation was to provoke Trump into doing something that could be classified as “obstruction” which would then kick-off an impeachment.  That was the purpose of all Mueller and Weissmann’s effort.

The day after Mueller’s embarrassing testimony to congress, the Ukraine-centric impeachment effort was triggered.  All of the tools and Lawfare operatives (McCord, Atkinson et al) were in position for an impeachment, regardless of what the angle was.

After years of wanting information released and being legally advised not to do it, the FBI then raided Mar-a-Lago to ensure no documents were ever released.

This is one long continuum of targeting, and I do believe Joe diGenova is one of the people who “gets it.”  Whether all the evidence rises to the level of unlawful activity is yet unknown. Personally, I think there is enough substantive evidence to prove criminal conduct in court – and I am willing to work my ass off to assist helping to identify, locate and retrieve it. Which brings me to an important final point.

I’m saying this to all of the “Twitter Experts”.  All of the researchers and who understand the material at a granular level, need to quit bitching about ‘nothing being done’ and start putting their energy into helping people in the Trump administration understand it and find it.

Instead of predicting failure, help Joe diGenova (or whomever) by telling him each part of the material that they know about.  Once he is officially appointed to the role of assistant or advisor in this endeavor, diGenova will have a .gov email address.  Send him the details.

If we listened to those who told us it was futile trying to get detailed information from two branches and seven isolation silos on the background of the fraudulent 2019 impeachment effort, we would never have seen the corrupt IC IG Atkinson material and transcripts to prove it.  We now have that evidence because we figured out how to get it.

Considering the date today:

...”A man may do an immense deal of good, if he does not care who gets the credit for doing it.”….

I absolutely hope Joe diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Christopher-James DeLorenz and U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones succeed.  I do everything in my power to support their efforts, and I will pray with intensity for their safety and success every single day.

Apr 18 2026

Solid Overview of President Trump’s Consequence from the Promethean Action PAC


Posted originally on CTH on April 17, 2026 | Sundance

Mike Steger from the Promethean group presents thoughtful analysis of the change President Trump is bringing to a new era in geopolitical alignment.   This is an interesting and insightful review.

As noted by Mr Steger:

“From direct negotiations between the United States and Iran for the first time in nearly half a century… to coordinated diplomatic and military movement across the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond… the old geopolitical order is being replaced in real time. This is not chaos. This is strategy.”

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 The global shift begins
1:20 The strategy behind the Iran deal
3:05 Blockade pressure and economic impact
5:10 Diplomacy with teeth: Islamabad talks
7:20 Iran moves closer to a deal
9:00 Nations aligning: Pakistan, India, China
11:15 A global reset in motion
13:10 The long game: from Riyadh to today
15:20 The new Middle East framework
17:10 Europe’s decline and the old order fading
18:50 What this moment really means

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Po

Apr 18 2026

Miami Prosecutor Moved from Brennan Conspiracy Investigation


Posted originally on CTH on April 17, 2026 | Sundance

According to multiple media reports Maria Medetis Long has moved away from the investigative case surrounding John Brennan.

CNN was the first to report the move, and the anonymous sourcing indicates the information likely comes from notification sent by the prosecuting attorney to the witnesses and targets of the Florida-based grand jury.

(VIA CNN) – The Justice Department has removed the career Miami federal prosecutor leading the investigation into John Brennan, after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against the former CIA director and prominent critic of President Donald Trump, according to people briefed on the matter.

Maria Medetis Long on Friday notified attorneys representing people involved in the case that she was no longer handling the investigation, the people familiar with the matter said. She has led the politically sensitive probe for months amid demands from Trump to prosecute Brennan and other critics.

The investigation into Brennan is focused on one of the president’s longest standing political grievances — the 2017 intelligence assessment that found ​Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help him. (read more)

The fraudulent and politically manipulated Intelligence Community Assessment touches on the Ciaramella information recently released.  Ciaramella participated in both the construct of the ICA in early 2017 and then became the anonymous CIA whistleblower in 2019.

There is no indication the move of Maria Medetis Long is related to the recent discoveries; however, there is a certain continuity of conspiracy noted in the timeline that connects CIA Director John Brennan and CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella.

We shall wait to see what else surfaces.

(ABC) – Asked about the move, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “as a matter of routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can most effectively allocate resources. It is completely healthy and normal to change members of legal teams.” (more)

Apr 18 2026

Blockade Successful – Deal Reached – Strait Open – Oil Prices Plummet


Posted originally on CTH on April 17, 2026 | Sundance

In a series of posts on Truth Social, President Trump has announced that a deconfliction deal with Iran has been agreed.

It appears the blockade was successful in finally convincing Iran they had very few options.  Additionally, as we all well understand here, the blockade was halting oil shipments to China. It is very likely that Beijing was also putting pressure on Iran to reach a deal.

[SOURCE]

“THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ IS COMPLETELY OPEN AND READY FOR BUSINESS AND FULL PASSAGE, BUT THE NAVAL BLOCKADE WILL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE. THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!” ~ PRESIDENT DONALD J.TRUMP

“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear “Dust,” created by our great B2 Bombers – No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form. This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you!” ~ President DJT

“Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!” ~ President DJT

“Thank you to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar for your great bravery and help!” President DONALD J. TRUMP

“Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines! Thank you!” President DJT

“Again! This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon, but we will, MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN!”

“Thank you to Pakistan and its Great Prime Minister and Field Marshall, two fantastic people!!!” President DONALD J. TRUMP

“A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!” DJT

“Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!” ~President DONALD J. TRUMP

With the fighting ending and the conflict over, suddenly the U.K and France come running to assist.

[SOURCE]

Apr 18 2026

Late Night House FISA Shenanigans Results in a Two-Week Extension, But No Agreement on Reauthorization Bill


Posted originally on CTH on April 17, 2026 | Sundance

Late last night (midnight) the House members were called back to session in order to vote on a procedural rule to facilitate a negotiated FISA(702) extension.  The advancement vote failed to pass the House (200-220) collapsing the bill, which is not a bad outcome all things considered.

House Republican leaders posted a compromise FISA amendment just before 11 p.m., and then called the House members to vote.  The Amendment would have extended FISA (702) for five years and did include language that would have strengthened criminal penalties for misuse of the program, and some language that would have required warrants under certain circumstances.

However, there is strong opposition in the House to a FISA(702) extension that doesn’t contain a full warrant requirement when the FISA search targets, directly or indirectly, an American citizen. A rather eclectic group of Republicans including: Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Andy Harris (Md.), Darin LaHood (Ill.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), Zach Nunn (Iowa), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Scott Perry (Pa.), John Rose (Tenn.), Keith Self (Texas), Mike Turner (Ohio) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) voted against the bill.

Leftists are voting against anything Trump supports, though there are some democrats who are consistent in their efforts to stop FISA (702) for many years.  You can tell from the Republicans who opposed last night’s bill, that there is also a wide divergence of opinion on the issue.

My personal opinion is that most of the legislature, both parties, don’t have any honest understanding of how FISA (702) is used, has been used, and will likely continue to be used. While this effort at reauthorization may have failed, it’s not really a bad thing and more time for lawmakers to get educated on the core issue is always a good thing.

The root of the issue is the Fourth Amendment and ultimately the process that FISA (702) touches on, which is electronic surveillance.

The use of FISA (702) against a U.S. citizen has only been tested in one court case and that case wasn’t a great example {SEE HERE}. Only one case has ever pushed into the sphere of challenging this unconstitutional exploitation. A 2025 decision in the U.S. v. Hasbajrami case in Brooklyn, New York, where Eastern District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall identified the misuse of FISA-702 “backdoor searches” regarding defendant, Agron Hasbajrami.

Politico has tried to make the FISA (702) reauthorization an issue of division between President Trump -who supports it- and Tulsi Gabbard who supports Trump’s decision. {LINK}

DNI Tulsi Gabbard appears to have just as many reservations as us about allowing the government to search an electronic database that contains our private papers and effects without a warrant.  It is simply a Fourth Amendment concern.

At the same time, President Trump is told FISA (702) surveillance is critical for DHS, deportations, domestic terrorism intercepts and foreign intelligence use that relates to U.S. military application.  All of which is likely true because the core of the FISA (702) search issue is warrantless real-time surveillance.

The collection of data, the database itself, as well as the search functioning therein, is part of the toolbox for FISA-702 surveillance.

The historic problem is not that “authorities granted under FISA-702” were/are used to conduct surveillance; but rather the search of the NSA collection database was done, illegally and frequently, for non-authorized reasons.

The capability to conduct those search queries is maintained by justifying the need for FISA-702.

The historic searches and domestic surveillance were done by exploiting the NSA database, for a reason and purpose that is not authorized and has nothing to do with FISA-702. THAT’S THE PROBLEM.

The existence of the U.S. citizen data itself creates the opportunity to search it. The legal justification to search that database is done under the auspices of FISA-702; however, that’s not the issue. The issue is that searches of the NSA database are done by government officials and government contractors for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with FISA-702.

As a consequence, it’s the collection that creates the problem. Not the legal process for searching it. As long as the database exists there will be unlawful intrusions into it for domestic and/or political surveillance.

If FISA-702 did not exist, the quasi-constitutional justification for the wholesale collection of U.S. citizen metadata no longer exists. It really is that simple.

There is ZERO justification for the capture of U.S. citizen data by the government. The capture itself violates the Fourth Amendment. The only way the government can justify the capture of U.S. Citizen data is if there is some quasi-constitutional or national security reason for it.

Take away “702”, and the data collection collapses; ANY “incidental” search of the database then loses any plausible legal justification. 702 is the camel’s nose under the tent.

If you remove FISA (702) from the toolbox you remove the legal authority to search the database when any American citizen data is involved.

It appears the House has given themselves two more weeks to continue trying to find a solution.

Apr 17 2026

President Trump Impromptu Presser Departing the White House


Posted originally on CTH on April 16, 2026 | Sundance

President Trump pauses to answer the screeching press pool as he departs the White House.  Against the backdrop of a tenuous agreement with Iran that may lead to another round of negotiations, and against the background of a successful naval blockade, President Trump outlines the current status with the conflict.

President Trump also spoke about his discussions with Lebanon and Israel earlier today and there is a likely White House meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Joseph Aoun being scheduled [See Truth Social]. WATCH:

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[SOURCE]

Apr 17 2026

DNI Tulsi Gabbard Outlines Reason for Criminal Referral of Trump Impeachment Collaborators


Posted originally on CTH on April 16, 2026 | Sundance 

Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, appears for an interview with Katie Pavlich to outline the importance of bringing all of the information about the Intelligence Community targeting of President Trump to the public.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and We the People want to see accountability for the Machiavellian conduct.  The intelligence community targeted President Trump and people within the CIA ran an operation to remove him.  These people have names and titles that have remained hidden, DNI Tulsi Gabbard is putting those names, specific names into the public psyche so we can have a full understanding of what took place.

Now, for many here this may seem like information we have all known about; however, Gabbard is providing the receipts, the actual evidence, of how these IC operations took place.  WATCH:

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DNI Gabbard is showing how specific people within government weaponized their positions to conduct some of the most insidious schemes in modern U.S. history.  The criminality of those schemes is for others in Main Justice to determine, but the evidence of those schemes is clear.

I am thankful that people are now starting to use the new information to review past timelines. [SEE HERE] What they will discover is that Michael Atkinson’s work with Mary McCord and the Lawfare network are not isolated events. This is a continuum of targeting against Donald Trump using all of the intelligence levers at their disposal.

Michael Atkinson and Eric Ciaramella are the current names, but beside them sits Mary McCord, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Barry Berke, Dan Goldman, Benjamin Wittes and many others from the Lawfare community.  They intersect with various high level government officials in Main Justice, the FBI, the CIA, NSA and various intelligence agencies.

This is the nest of Deep State and Tulsi Gabbard is exposing it.

Apr 16 2026

Barbara Boyd Recaps the Geopolitical Shifts and Domestic Obstruction Operations


Posted originally on CTH on April 15, 2026 | Sundance 

Promethean Action’s Barbara Boyd does a video recap of interconnected current events centered around Iran, President Trump’s seismic geopolitical shifts, and European, Nato and British intransigence. Meanwhile a U.S. Intelligence Community guardian is leading the fight against domestic intelligence opposition.  WATCH:

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Link to Scott Bessent announcement HERE.