CIA Director John Ratcliffe gets a lot of flak for his general invisibility during the Trump administration.  Historically, the entire CIA apparatus has held dual missions, one domestic (hidden) and one foreign (opaque).

There is no reasonable person who would hold confidence in the fidelity of the CIA regarding their influence agenda on domestic politics.  However, it does seem clear that CIA Director Ratcliffe has been trying to eliminate the mechanisms within the CIA who have operated that influence campaign.

Shifting the assembly of the Presidential Daily Briefing to the ODNI, the real assembly – not the optics therein, is one facet. Taking the National Intelligence Council (ie. the Ciaramella, Gurganus, NIC) intelligence manipulation system out of the CIA and under the ODNI is another visible facet.  Additionally, substantively moving CIA operations away from the State Dept., and refocusing the majority of operations back toward the Pentagon is another example.

In the briefing with President Trump on the Iran rescue operations, Director Ratcliffe notes the removal of politics from CIA operations is ongoing.  WATCH:

Restructuring a covert institution is a daunting task, made particularly difficult given the cornerstones of the institution were founded as a domestic influence operation.   It may well be said the objective is impossible; indeed, there is slight chance of success given the background we all know too well.

That said, at least on the visible face of what can be seen within an agency whose legislative mandate includes the demand that all activity remain hidden from public review, Ratcliffe does seem to be making an earnest effort to restrain the control mechanisms.

(more…)

What I find interesting, within the inside baseball aspect of this political endorsement, is that Steve Hilton never even discussed getting a President Trump endorsement with him.  If the remarks Hilton made to Politico are correct, there was never a discussion of the race with President Trump.

Either President Trump was just independently interested in the California primary contest, or someone put the primary into the conversational surrounding of President Trump.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell. Gavin Newscum and the Democrats have done an absolutely horrendous job. People are fleeing, crime is increasing, and Taxes are the highest of any State in the Country, maybe the World. Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so! With Federal help, and a Great Governor, like Steve Hilton, California can be better than ever before! Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT. He will be a GREAT Governor and, importantly, WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!”

~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

(more…)

Former Commander of CENTCOM, General Frank McKenzie, appears on CBS to give his analysis of ongoing Operation Epic Fury, along with the successful rescue of the F-15 crew. WATCH:

[Transcript] – ED O’KEEFE: We’re joined now by the former head of U.S. Central Command, retired General Frank McKenzie. General, Happy Easter.

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: And the same to you, Ed.

ED O’KEEFE: So it took just under 48 hours to find the missing weapons systems officer. After the jet they were in went down in a remote and mountainous area of southwestern Iran, the weapons officer was hiding in a mountainous crevice. We’re told by a senior administration official, what’s your assessment of how the search and rescue operation went?

GEN. MCKENZIE: So I think I’d draw two lessons from it, Ed. First of all, the excellence of the joint force, our ability to rapidly pivot, to look for a downed air crewman. We train for this endlessly. It’s a part of every time we send air crew over enemy territory, we have detailed, elaborate plans to go get them. It’s a very basic part of who we are as American fighting men and women. So that plan swung into action. I think it was executed pretty effectively. As always, you’ve got somebody on the ground, may be injured. They got to get to a position where they can hide until you can get to them. All that seemed to work out very well. And you know, we did, in fact, lose a couple of aircraft in that in that mission. But I would just tell you, it takes a year to build an aircraft. It takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind. You take the aircraft trade any day in a situation like this. The other lesson, I think, is a hard lesson for Iran. First of all, they were not able to find the missing air crewman. Second, you know, they put out a broad appeal to their people to turn him in reward, asking for all kinds of leads, that does not appear to have been successful. And that would- I think that’s maybe a sign of disaffection, don’t know, but you can’t, you can’t be happy with that if you’re a senior leader in Tehran this morning.

(more…)

Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst shares details from a conversation he had with President Donald Trump surrounding negotiations to end armed conflict.

According to Yingst, President Trump is optimistic for a diplomatic settlement and a negotiated deal as early as tomorrow.  However, if the deal is not made, the infrastructure within Iran will be systematically destroyed – as noted in a recent Truth Social Post:

[SOURCE]

Watch Trey Yingst explain the full details via Fox News.

.

(more…)

There are approximately 45,000 U.S. troops on NATO bases within Germany.  NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte is scheduled to arrive in Washington DC on Wednesday, following remarks by President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio about possible changes in the U.S. relationship with NATO.

Simultaneous to this, the German government has now enhanced their conscription laws with a requirement for all males aged 17 to 45 to request permission for travel out of Germany if their exit will be longer than 3 months.

As part of a rather unusual Russian invasion deterrence, Germany is trying to hit a new target of between 255,000 and 270,ooo active and trained military troops by 2030.  The new conscription targets seemingly underpin a travel permit system for German men.

GERMANY – Germany has implemented a significant reform to its military conscription law effective in 2026, mandating that nearly all men aged 17 to 45 must obtain approval from the Bundeswehr before leaving the country for more than three months. This change, part of the Wehrdienst-Modernisierungsgesetz, expands the previous restrictions beyond crisis periods, applying continuously regardless of Germany’s security situation.

The reform aims to bolster the Bundeswehr’s personnel from about 184,000 to between 255,000 and 270,000 by 2035 by reintroducing mandatory conscription examinations for young men. However, the implementation details—such as the approval process and possible exceptions—remain unclear, creating uncertainty among affected individuals. The Bundeswehr is actively working to clarify these procedures and reduce bureaucratic hurdles but has not yet specified consequences for those who depart without permission.

(more…)

You would have to read dozens of energy industry reports to get the information provided here in this exceptionally well-done news segment.

Sky News economics and data editor Ed Conway presents a fantastic look at how the issue with the Strait of Hormuz has impacted the global distribution of energy, oil, LNG and Kerosene (jet fuel), with particular emphasis on the vulnerabilities of the “modern industrialized western nations.”

Conway never points the finger to the “net zero” carbon goals of Europe, the U.K and Australia. However, he shows the outcome of their dependence on production and refining by other non-participating nations. The timelines clearly show, as the Green Energy policies were pushed the vulnerability inherent within any supply shock begins to get worse. This is a very well-presented data-driven analysis that is worth watching.

The last two-minutes also shred the claims by EU and British leadership, and highlights how Europe and the U.K are now dependent on the United States to meet their energy needs. WATCH:

.

(more…)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the termination of lawful permanent resident status for Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, identified as Qasem Soleimani’s niece, and her daughter. Both were subsequently detained and are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Marco Rubio – “Last night, the niece and grand niece of deceased Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani were arrested by federal agents following Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s termination of their lawful permanent resident (LPR) status.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.

While living in the United States, she promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the “Great Satan,” and voiced her unflinching support for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization.

Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account.

In addition to the termination of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter’s LPR status, Afshar’s husband has also been barred from entering the United States.

(more…)

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appears on Bloomberg News to discuss the US March jobs report and oil market supply disruptions related to the military action in Iran against the impact of oil prices on the US economy.

Director Hassett notes the continued goal of the Trump MAGAnomic plan is to build momentum, keep driving domestic investment and the short-term impact from Iran should mitigate quickly.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

ActBlue is to the Democrat party fundraising machine as WinRed is to the Republican side of the equation.

In a rather stunning outline by the New York Times [SEE HERE] the progressive outlet is reporting of serious concerns within the leadership of ActBlue related to their willfully blind reception of foreign sources of money to fund Democrat candidates.

The remarkable aspect is not just that ActBlue takes foreign funds, but rather the New York Times revealing internal legal discussions about it.  According to the Times reporting, the Eric Holder law firm Covington & Burling, the primary legal mechanism for the ActBlue/DNC machinery, lies at the heart of the matter.

(NYT) […] The firm concluded that ActBlue’s chief executive had given a potentially misleading response to congressional Republican investigators in a 2023 letter explaining how the organization vetted donations to ensure that they were not illegally coming from foreign citizens.

The letter from the chief executive, Regina Wallace-Jones, said ActBlue carried out “multilayered” screenings of contributions that helped “root out” those from overseas. In fact, the law firm found, some of the steps she had described were not always followed.

“This presents a substantial risk for ActBlue,” the law firm, Covington & Burling, wrote in one of two memos expressing legal concerns. One memo raised the specter of a criminal investigation if prosecutors believed that ActBlue had tried to conceal facts about its efforts to prevent foreign contributions. (source)

To really appreciate the scheme that seems to be outlined by the internal documents, it is worth remembering that James O’Keefe previously did some boots on the ground research into ActBlue [SEE HERE – 2023] and found that multiple, perhaps thousands, of “donor” names and addresses were assigned to contributions the donors said they never made.

(more…)

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has released the March employment report [DATA HERE] reflecting gains of 186,000 private sector jobs, with another 8,000 federal government jobs eliminated.  Net gain 178,000 jobs.

Forecasters had anticipated around 63,000 net jobs gained: the actual result triples expectations.

[BLS Report – Table B]

This is a challenging time to use data to estimate overall employment strength, mainly due to the repatriation efforts underway that are removing illegal alien workers from the labor force.

As deportation efforts continue against the black-market workforce, in combination with targeting efforts toward fraudulent ‘mismatched’ social security records used to gain unlawful -albeit visible- market employment, it becomes challenging to quantify net realized job gains.

The overall goal is to remove the illegal alien workers, reestablish organic job market pressures to increase wages and pull American workers from the sidelines back into the labor market.  Removing illegal workers drives up real wages, that should (re)incentivize the labor market.   As these efforts continue, we are seeing wide variances, upward and downward swings, depending on the collection timing.

One of the positive aspects during this employment cycle is the reduction in the overall federal labor force.  Overall, in the past year, President Trump has removed 271,000 federal jobs more than reversing all of the govt jobs added during Joe Biden’s term in office.  This trend should continue.

(more…)