This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
.
Primary elections are held today in New Jersey, South Dakota, Iowa, New Mexico, Montana and California. The results are likely from all states except California who will spend a few days figuring out exactly how many mail in ballots are needed in order to declare the Democrat winner.
If you have an interest in any of the primary races, feel free to drop your thoughts and opinions into the comments section along with your review of the races that matter to your region.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The U.S. Senate as a whole and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee specifically, have lost millions of dollars wealth for themselves and their families as a result of Rubio eliminating USAID. As a consequence, while they cannot publicly showcase that specific motive for opposition, the committee as a whole is not happy about losing a substantial portion of their stakeholder interests.
The families of all the senate committee members exist inside the think tanks, NGOs, political orgs, PACs and lobbyist companies for various foreign governments. Just like Q-Anon advocate ¹Mike Flynn recently taking a job that pays him $100,000/month to lobby for the Republic of Srpska (aka ‘Serb Republic’, for advice, counsel and introductions), so too all the family members of the senate leverage their DC connections to foreign governments for personal gain.
Thus, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now being questioned by the very Senators he has defunded. WATCH (prompted):
¹Yes, Michael Flynn signed an agreement within the Trump administration not to lobby for foreign governments; but that was only a paper promise. That’s one of the reasons why it is more than a little silly for people to mention Flynn’s name as a potential DNI nomination.
Thune defers to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, who, obviously, wants maximum control returned to the Central Intelligence Agency, and it is a little funny; visibly funny. Because in the background -much to the angst of the SSCI- people are starting to realize how this dysfunctional Intelligence Community apparatus actually works.
With Marco Rubio as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, and John Ratcliffe as Director of the Central Intelligence agency, and Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence, the SSCI has started to lose control over their analyst-centric institutional control mechanisms.
What most Americans don’t yet fully grasp is how ridiculously stupid most of the Intelligence Community actually is. For two decades, particularly when Team Obama was in charge, the IC qualification that mattered was political ideology. The IC became a massive network of analysts, who had no functional ability to interpret reality on the ground – regardless of where the intelligence was coming from.
As a consequence, the IC got almost everything wrong as they chased outcomes borne from the brain trust of leadership within the Senate, within the CIA, and within U.S. Dept of State. Instead of looking at things as they are, the IC always looked at things from the prism of how they wanted it to be. The analysis of the issue flowed from that perspective – regardless of the capability of the Govt institution to create that outcome.
Rubio, Ratcliffe and Gabbard started taking apart that nest of bureaucratic analytical thinking – and focusing on policy that doesn’t come from the Senate. When you take that approach, the Senate loses control. SSCI Chairman Tom Cotton is asked about Acting DNI Pulte and hilariously says: “I have no observations on the matter.” WATCH:
.
There are a blue-zillion important events and storylines happening today; however, John 15:17: “This is my command: Love each other.” A prioritization is needed.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard shares a moment of pause and thankfulness, as together with her husband Abraham Williams she arrives at the hospital to begin surgical treatment for his bone cancer.
“We are getting ready to head to the hospital for my husband’s surgery and just wanted to say thank you so much to all of who have shared messages, prayers and well wishes for Abraham. We are humbled and so grateful to be surrounded by aloha during this really tough time.” (source)
Heavenly Father, we have need for You today. Please provide Your healing power and grace upon Abraham Williams, the husband of Tulsi Gabbard.
Lord of mercy guide those who will now tend the affliction. We accept Your works through those You guide and love powerfully, completely and unconditionally. Our first, last and final healing is always found in You.
We come to You today with our prayers for both Abraham and Tulsi, and we know You hear our prayers just as You understand our faith. We ask for Your comforting embrace of Abraham, Tulsi and those they love.
Father of strength, lift the heart of Tulsi Gabbard and fill her with fortitude, courage and the sense of safety. God that holds the stars, we ask for Your healing and grace to cover Abraham; every affliction; every wound; every trepidation and consequence. Thank You for Your mighty power that works through all things.
We reach out to You knowing through every struggle Your glory is in command. We ask that You pull our prayers close and extend Your healing power. In Jesus’ name. ~Amen.
President Trump has announced Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, via a Truth Social post earlier today:
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “I am appointing the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Chairman of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, William J. Pulte, to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence. William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago. During this period, he will remain Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Chairman of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. Congratulations to Director Pulte!” ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP
In the context of what has taken place in the past 16 months, from CTH perspective an ‘acting’ position in this specific role is essentially a placeholder position. Pulte placed as acting DNI, perhaps (my guess) in lieu of a permanent appointment that cannot yet be made due to other factors.
Deputy DNI Aaron Lucas remains in place. Within the construct of the DNI office, Lucas remaining as Deputy actually facilitates the installation of a placeholder that would otherwise not be possible because legislative regulations and preferences on the DNI post are specifically designed to favor only nominations with background experience in military intelligence and/or long-term intelligence status. {See 50 U.S. Code § 3026}
When congress created the ODNI they outlined: “under ordinary circumstances, it is desirable” that either the director or the principal deputy director of national intelligence be an active-duty commissioned officer in the armed forces or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. {Go Deep} Also remember, President Trump (T1) was the first administration to elevate the DNI to a cabinet level position. Biden retained that status.
This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu representing Israel, and President Donald Trump representing the United States, apparently had a testy telephone call about ongoing Israeli strikes against Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.
Iran, essentially IRGC control officers who now control the government, had previously said their terms for negotiation required Israel to stop strikes into Lebanon against their allies in Hezbollah. However, under the cover of that term, Hezbollah restarted rocket attacks from Lebanon against Israel. Yesterday, Israel began counter-attack operations against Hezbollah, which led to Iran saying the terms of the negotiation were now violated, and they would stop discussions with the USA.
[NOTE – This overall dynamic is very similar to Saudi Arabia coming under fire about a month ago, and their anger toward the USA for essentially saying Saudi had to accept the attacks so that diplomatic talks could continue. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salmon rejected the expectation and challenged President Trump with Saudi allied base cooperation.]
Apparently, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu had a strong discussion, some have leaked a very angered and open exchange, about Netanyahu launching strikes into Lebanon again.
On social media, it looks like this. Netanyahu put’s the Israel position via X:
[source]
President Trump responds to Netanyahu’s intentions with a phone call and then a follow-up on his Truth Social Account: