Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
In overall cabinet confirmation progress, today Pam Bondi was confirmed (54-46) by the full senate. Attorney General Pam Bondi is now in place at the DOJ. [link]
Director of National Intelligence nominee, Tulsi Gabbard, and Health and Human Service Secretary, RFK Jr have advanced by a straight party line vote in their respective committees and now head to the full senate vote as controlled by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Tulsi Gabbard advanced from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) during a closed-door 9-8 vote, with all the committee’s Democrat members voting against her. [Source] Similarly, in a completely partisan vote, the Senate Finance Committee advanced Robert F Kennedy’s nomination 14-13 with every Democrat voting against him. [Source]
For FBI Director nominee, Kash Patel, the Senate Judiciary Committee has internal rules that permit the Democrats to delay the committee vote for a week. Judiciary Committee Chair Senate Chuck Grassley expects Kash Patel to receive the committee vote next week.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley said in a statement Tuesday his committee plans to take a final vote on FBI director nominee Kash Patel as early as next week.
The committee has a business meeting scheduled for Thursday to consider Patel’s nomination. Under committee rules, Democrats can delay the full committee vote for one more week, at which point senators are expected to advance the nominee along party lines to the full Senate for confirmation.
Senate Judiciary Democrats on Tuesday asked Grassley for another hearing to question Patel on several matters, including the recent personnel shakeup at the FBI. Grassley denied their request. (read more)
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
lol… Don’t you just love it when exactly what you knew would happen, starts to happen – SEE PREDICTION HERE.
This is, quite simply, a super-blast of Trumpian fuel that will overwhelm the DC outrage machine’s capacity to keep up. Exhausted media heads will explode as the machine’s narrative engineers struggle -against all odds- to keep the system operating…. “Stop the Hammering“.. lol
WASHINGTON DC – The United States Postal Service announced Tuesday night that it is temporarily suspending accepting packages sent from China and Hong Kong until further notice.
The suspension is effective immediately, the USPS said. Letters and flats are not included in the suspension, it said.
The postal service did not provide a reason for the suspension or say how long it expects it to last.
Earlier Tuesday, Beijing announced it would counter President Trump’s new 10% tariff on Chinese goods with retaliatory tariffs of its own. China said starting next Monday it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products along with a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S.
Mr. Trump’s tariff increase also eliminated a duty-free exemption for low-value packages coming from China. The “de minimis” exemption allows goods valued at $800 or below to come into the United States without paying duties or certain taxes. (read more)
Remember when President Trump established the “External Revenue Service?” … It’s all connected and sequential.
Almost everyone will miss, in part because outcomes appear in a sequence that few care to follow, but buried in the Trump tariff Executive Order {SEE HERE} you will discover something. As the unofficial Deep State strategist, and the self-appointed misfit explainer of stuff, lol, we will explain:
So, Canada and Mexico get 25% tariffs, but China only 10%. Why? The secret is in that subsection “(h)” when it talks about de minimis treatment. Essentially, what President Trump is doing is levying a much more massive import tax, and possible confiscation impact on the core source of fentanyl (and other illegal) substances.
Approximately a billion packages are estimated to enter the USA under the cover of the de minimis exemption. This is where the enforcement mechanism of the “External Revenue Service” combines with the tariff approach and the “state of emergency.” President Trump imposed the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a nearly 50-year law that gives the president sweeping power to impose sanctions after declaring an emergency.
Now the billion packages, mostly from China, Mexico and Canada are going to be subjected to review and interception.
The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.
Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty.
It was reported last year that the U.S. was on track to receive a billion packages through the de minimis loophole that aren’t taxed and don’t have customs slips saying what they are. Making matters worse, illegal items are slipping through the cracks, including, knockoffs, unsafe items and even chemicals used to make fentanyl. The worst abuser that exploits this de minimis loophole is, by far, China.
President Trump can require a customs and duty declaration stating what is in every package and subsequently collect tariffs and duties.
Put it all together and President Trump is executing an Emergency Act executive order, plus the imposition of a tariff review, and simultaneous interception of de minimis packages previously unchecked as the enforcement mechanism. All executed by the External Revenue Service.
President Trump has got them surrounded, and the scope of it has the media so overwhelmed they cannot quite put it together.
Almost too much winning….
…. Almost!
Today, “no rush“…. This guy cracks me up.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he is in “no rush” to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping despite expectations they would meet the same day, as trade tensions increase after both countries imposed tariffs early in the morning.
“We’ll speak to him at the appropriate time. I’m in no rush,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office less than a day after both countries exchanged new trade curbs. The leaders of the world’s largest economies were unable to reach an agreement to stave off Trump’s threat to impose 10 percent duties on Chinese imports before midnight Monday, even after Trump opted to delay 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada. (link)
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
President Trump signs several executive orders February 4th, and holds a lengthy press conference to discuss details of ongoing operations by the administration.
Within the XO’s President Trump targeted several sub silos within the United Nations pulling the U.S. out of UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council) and UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). [Executive Order Here] Additionally, the XO extracts the United States from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“The Secretary shall inform the UN Secretary General and the leadership of UNRWA and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that the United States will not fund UNRWA or the UNHRC and that the United States will not satisfy any claims to pay 2025 assessments or prior arrears by these organizations.” [source]
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The blitz upon the silos of corruption continues, as President Trump also notes in the event he is killed or assassinated by adversaries, he has left instructions to “decimate” the nation responsible for the assassination.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a press conference following a bilateral meeting in the White House. The anticipated start time for the presser and remarks is approximately 5:30pm EST. Livestream Links Below:
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was again asked about the USAID review pause and the likely impact to the matrix of NGO’s and financial dependents, including the families of DC politicians, if funding is not quickly restarted. WATCH:
WASHINGTON DC – […] Some of these anticipated layoffs have already begun. According to an email obtained by POLITICO, early last week development group Credence Management Solutions sent formal emails to contractors in its global health bureau laying off around 400 employees.
The CEO of DT Global, one of the world’s leading development contractors, reportedly told employees last week that 2,000 to 3,000 positions would likely be eliminated in the sector the first week of February. Both Credence Management Solutions and DT Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A director at a leading USAID contractor who spoke with POLITICO said that more than two-thirds of their company would be furloughed by the end of the week, describing the future of the sector as “bleak at best.”
“This is starting to look like an industry crash,” a different person in the aid sector said.
In addition to companies facing crisis, individuals who work in foreign aid in Washington say the job market is about to be oversaturated with thousands of newly unemployed people with no clear path forward. One person who spoke with POLITICO had been due to begin a job in the foreign aid space but had their offer rescinded because the job no longer exists. (read more)
Glenn Greenwald and Mike Benz discuss USAID in theoretical principle and real-world practice.
Greenwald asks, ‘why do these USAID officials seem so entitled’?
The answer to the tone of the officials goes back to the past 20-years of a mindset that has permeated U.S. government.
After the Patriot Act was created in October 2001, DHS was created to monitor American behavior; the TSA was then created to scan American travelers, and the FBI was enhanced with resources to conduct surveillance despite Fourth Amendment protections within our Constitution. All of this was done under the larger dynamic of preserving the “continuity of government.”
Instead of the U.S. Govt protecting U.S. citizens from foreign threats, the Patriot Act changed the mission of government to protect itself from potential citizen threats.
By the time the 2016 election arrived, We the People had already been defined by the Patriot Act as a threat to government.
If we the people did not select the right kind of candidate, approved by the continuity system, then our selection would be rejected by all of the operators of that administrative system. Following the outcome of the 2016 election, that’s what happened. The system activated to repel the threat President Trump represented. Worse yet, supporters of the threat were defined, isolated, marginalized, attacked, deplatformed and removed from every system they could control.
Every move by the U.S. federal government, from 2016 to now, has been contrast against the backdrop of a newer awakening and more visible understanding of how that Patriot Act inflection point changed our relationship with government.
We the People are the threat, and those who control the DC power centers that determine the continuity of government will not accept any modification or diminishment of their mission.
This sentiment of being more important is how the DC operatives justify their conduct in very real terms, including through application of law.
This outlook is also why the people who operate these systems are very visible with their conduct and do not have any reservations about showing their omnipotent mindset.
From their perspective, they are doing what they do, running government how they run government, maintaining the continuity the system was designed to protect. We The People are what they consider futile and irrelevant voices, and ironically when we speak against them, we are attacking “their democracy.”
This is the same mindset that weaponized liberty and freedom. Remember the examples from COVID? During COVID your demand for freedom was considered a threat. Your unwavering support of liberty made you “selfish” in the eyes of those who believe they control society.
If you did not wear a mask you were putting people at risk, the larger society and government in general was being challenged.
If you did not take the “vaccine”, you were putting the nation at danger.
In essence your liberty was defined as selfish, and our freedom was considered a “threat” to the order of government.
In a way you were threatening the “continuity of government” through your non-compliance.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
Get ready for a key geopolitical battle; the fight to end the Marshall Plan.
Since the end of World War II, the USA has permitted a system of one-way trade rules that allowed Europe to rebuild on the backs of the American economy. A series of trade tariffs against U.S. goods was imposed to raise funds for the reconstruction. Those tariffs never ended; the Marshall Plan continues through today.
Additionally, as a measure to allow the EU to focus internally, the USA provided most of the national security protection for the entire region and the American taxpayer funded U.S. military operations throughout Europe so the EU could spend defense money on their rebuilding. Again, that never really ended; and the USA maintains the largest majority of NATO military spending.
President Trump has stated his intention to reset both dynamics. To lower the USA footprint within NATO, demand every NATO member meet its financial obligations, and to reset the trade and tariff system to create equity and reciprocity; thereby effectively ending the Marshall Plan.
The aggregate European Union does not like this Trump trade agenda, nor are they willing to spend more on their own defense. Today, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a press briefing where she spoke about the looming negotiations with President Trump, and stated the EU will never permit financial, economic or military equity. The EU will fight any effort to stop the Marshall Plan. WATCH:
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There are trillions at stake.
It is always, always, about the economics of the thing.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 4, 2025 | Sundance
Big Panda has a problem, and his name is President Donald Trump.
CTH went (proactively) directly into the heart of the Chinese Potemkin Village, much like my trip to Russia, to specifically see what the reality is on the ground in the region of all Beijing influence. Where the East meets the West you will find a hot mess of propaganda, kept in place by widespread geopolitical pretending.
Never was that reality clearer, than in the example of the retaliatory tariffs announced in response to President Trump’s trade tariffs.
(Via AP) – China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. The tariffs would take effect next Monday. {link}
First, tariffs on energy products are pure propaganda. Coal, LNG and crude oil are fungible. In the case of China the energy products arrive from a global market, there is no identifiable way to tariff American energy products. This is not like Canada where the Candian energy products are entirely dependent on pipelines into the USA, and therefore unavoidably easy to tariff by Trump.
Chairman Xi gets most of the Chinese imported energy resources from Russia, specifically Coal, LNG and Crude Oil. So, this subset of tariffs against American energy products is pure propaganda, essentially moot.
You know who buys USA-made “large-engine cars” (Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Ford Raptors) in China? People well connected to the Chinese Communist Party, that’s who. If you are not a member of the elite ruling class in China, you do not buy large-engine cars. So, what exactly is the intent on this one? The target is a domestic internal political apparatus, in combination with narrative creation that Beijing believes will create the biggest splash headlines in the West. That’s it. Again, pure political propaganda.
♦ What are the two exports from the USA that Beijing cares about? Food and Tech, that’s it. Period.
China cannot feed itself, and despite all the western nonsense, China has no intellectual capacity to create technological systems. That’s why Big Panda steals IP from the west.
The belt and road initiative is the insurance policy by Beijing to ensure food and technology products, both raw materials and support for their manufacturing base. That’s why they started the Belt and Road, and that’s why it is vital for them. China cannot feed itself and China does not innovate because they are a society of compliance, not innovation or entrepreneurship.
President Trump is well aware why China has invested so heavily in USA farmland. China doesn’t have enough. President Trump is also well aware why Beijing steals IP from all U.S. companies that do business there. China doesn’t innovate.
On this dynamic of trade, China needs access to the USA consumer base, and China needs our food. President Trump is trying to break the need for Chinese manufacturing and source product supply, and President Trump is going to break the dependency of U.S. Ag on exports to China. Chairman Xi knows this.
The approach you see now from Chairman Xi and the dragon hiding behind his panda mask, is to create the illusion through U.S. media that the U.S. economy would be impacted by retaliatory tariffs. In essence, Chairman Xi is counting on the Wall Street multinationals and U.S. media to stir up a narrative against President Trump’s trade confrontation with Beijing. That’s what this is. That is all this is.
If you want to see what industrial sectors President Trump is trying to bring back to the USA, just check the sectors of our import reliance.
“It’s almost like [Beijing] telling American companies, what your government is doing is bad, you need to tell the government that if you add more tariffs or hurt U.S.-China relations at the end of the day it’ll backfire on American companies,” Chen said.
President Trump has all the leverage in the world, real world leverage on actionable stuff.
The only leverage China has is propaganda against Trump, nothing of material consequence at all. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America