Making the announcement Thursday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced Arkansas Republican Representative Rick Crawford would be the new Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).

As chair of HPSCI the position automatically elevates Rick Crawford onto the Gang of Eight, the legislative group that holds information within the legislative branch at the same level of information as the President.  Crawford now joins Mike Johnson, Tom Cotton and John Thune as the four republicans on the intelligence Gang of Eight.

Because of both the power and sensitivity of the HPSCI Chair position, the appointment comes directly from the Speaker of the House with no other member input.  Crawford is Johnson’s personal selection.

Additionally, Johnson announced the following members are added to the House intel committee: Ben Cline (Va.), Pat Fallon (Texas), Greg Steube (Fla.), Claudia Tenney (N.Y.) and Ann Wagner (Mo.).  Overall, a larger MAGA alignment on this very key intelligence committee.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The sea change on the panel is already triggering intense backlash from some Republicans on the committee and across the conference, who worry it’s a warning sign about the House’s willingness to stay independent of Trump. That’s to say nothing of Democrats, who fear the return of the partisan warfare that wracked the panel during Trump’s first term.

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Sometimes DC is a fishbowl, and they don’t realize the background of what we know, when they are speaking.  Testimony today is a case study of one bubble within that fishbowl.

Former House Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff organized the first impeachment effort against President Donald Trump.  Schiff is now a Senator.  Schiff’s former lead staff in the impeachment investigation was Mary McCord.

Today, during the question session for AG Pam Bondi’s nomination, Adam Schiff asked Mary McCord about whether AG Bondi should recuse herself from investigating Adam Schiff and Mary McCord. It’s a little funny if you understand the background.

I prompted the video to the part at 01:36:14 when Schiff asks McCord, and Mrs. McCord responds with “yes, Pam Bondi should recuse.” WATCH:

Mary McCord says Pam Bondi must recuse herself from any investigative outcome related to the first impeachment effort. Who was the lead staff working for Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler on the first impeachment effort? Mary McCord.

Now, triggering that first impeachment effort… Who worked with ICIG Michael Atkinson to change the CIA whistleblower regulations permitting an anonymous complaint? Yep, that would be the same Mary McCord.

In essence, the woman who organized, structured, led and coordinated the first impeachment effort, says Pam Bondi must recuse herself from investigating the organization, structure, leadership and coordination of the first impeachment effort.

You just cannot make this stuff up.

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Not a surprising appointment all things considered.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to replace Senator Marco Rubio, pending Rubio’s resignation from his Senate seat which will follow his confirmation.

This will provide an opportunity to position DeSantis loyalist, his Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier, as Florida Attorney General to replace Moody. This also positions congressman Byron Donalds to run for Florida Governor, supporting the MAGA coalition.

Moody will take up a pro-DeSantis position in the Senate in preparation for a head-to-head contest between Ron DeSantis and JD Vance in 2028 for the GOP presidential nomination. As senator, Ashley Moody will be unlikely to challenge any of the Trump agenda and will likely support it given the stakes for Ron. All in all, a predictable outcome.

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The alligator emojis will be happy, so too will the MAGA coalition.

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Russell Vought, President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today at 1:00pm.

Russel Vought is on track to repeat his role as OMB director, which he helmed at the end of Trump’s first term. If confirmed, he’ll lead the office that oversees the implementation of the president’s vision across the executive branch, including the development and execution of the federal budget.

Vought was also a key author of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The Senate will go bananas over this point of contention. Vought penned a section that touches on the executive office of the president. Livestream Links Below.

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Today at 10:00am EST, CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe will appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to answer questions about his nomination.  Ratcliffe has numerous allies in the Intelligence Community including Chairman Tom Cotton and Vice-Chair Mark Warner. Resistance level, very low.

John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as the director of national intelligence for President Trump in the first term, is now tasked with leading the second most prestigious and capable intelligence agencies in the world. As CIA Director Mr. Ratcliffe would have an influential position on matters of national intelligence and would likely not lie to President Trump unless it was necessary to retain the integrity of the silo he leads. Livestream Links Below:

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Appearing on the increasingly insufferable former news channel, both Senator Mullin and Senator Hegseth now see an increasingly optimistic future for Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth’s hearing clearly showcased a worn-out playbook of resistance being deployed by the Democrats in the Senate.  Their foot stomping was childish and is increasingly positioning the Democrat Party as irrelevant in the larger picture of U.S politics.  Perhaps we are finally beyond the end of an error.  We can hope.

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In the larger dynamic of American government, which more people now thankfully see as a grand pantomime, and while Mullin and Cotton are on the right side -at least optically- of the Hegseth nomination, their alignment with a perspective that government provides some larger value in the lives of Americans is still grossly out of place.

The mechanisms, systems and institutions of U.S. government, must be severely unmeshed from defining and influencing permitted activity by the American people.  The bureaucracy must be destroyed, if we are to have any reemergence of liberty.  This is a core issue now visible in the eyes of an awakened majority.

While I am thankful that Markwayne Mullin and Tom Cotton support the removal of the Marxism mindset from the military, that is only one facet of the larger governmental outlook that needs to be confronted.

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Aligning with the concept of using tariffs to fund government operations, President Trump has announced his intention to create the External Revenue Service.  It appears to be a collection and enforcement mechanism to gather income from tariffs, duties and other sources that will pay for access to the U.S. consumer market.

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One of the issues the External Revenue Service will likely address is the de minimis loophole.

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.

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There were three Senate committee confirmation hearings scheduled for today, two of them have been cancelled due to the FBI not providing the committees with background reports.  Considering the way DC operates, and considering the Senate operators wanted to totally focus on Pete Hegseth as their first scalp, the clearing of the decks to focus exclusively on Hegseth is not coincidental.

The Political War Now Begins!

The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to conduct a confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth today at 9:30am ET.  Livestream Links are Below:

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Confirming earlier reports, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) member, Senator James Lankford, appears on Meet the Press to confirm that Tulsi Gabbard’s change in position on FISA-702 now gains his supportive vote.  Senator Lankford will support Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence.  (WATCH – prompted 1:03):

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Senator Lankford flat out lies in his response when he says, “702 has nothing to do with American citizens.” That is a lie.  The very element “702” only pertains to an American citizen, no one else.   Foreign persons do not have constitutional protections, only American citizens do.  The FISA-702 statute is specifically designated for Americans who are “inadvertently captured” during foreign intelligence intercepts.

[Also, notice how every Sunday interview begins with a media demand that California be financially supported by congress.  They never did that for Western North Carolina.]

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Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss current events and political intents for the Trump-Vance administration.

Starting with a pledge to make sure an efficient FEMA responds to the needs of California fire victims, Vance then moves on to discuss the border objective on day #1, the deportation agenda and the measures the Trump administration will take to shut down the open southern border.

Vance then moves to discussing the economic agenda and onto the objectives of the Trump administration to pardon January 6th detainees.  For those J6 protestors who committed “acts of violence,” there will be no sympathy.  However, for those who are incarcerated simply for walking through the Capitol building, pardons will be considered.  WATCH:

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