President Trump has announced Jay Bhattacharya as nominee to serve as Director of the National Institutes for Health (NIH), and Jim O’Neill to serve as Deputy HHS Secretary to Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a famous critic of the NIH and the COVID-19 policy they put forth. Bhattacharya has advocated for a major shakeup of the NIH and accused former NIH leaders Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of suppressing scientific debate and research during the pandemic.

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To support Robert F Kennedy Jr, President Trump has also announced the nomination of Jim O’Neill to serve as Deputy HHS Secretary.  O’Neill comes from the stable of Peter Thiel a billionaire ally of RFK Jr and Elon Musk.  O’Neill was CEO of the Thiel Foundation.

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The President Trump transition team has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to start the process of transferring control of the federal government.  The landing teams from each of the cabinets will now begin to engage with their exiting counterparts.

There were many articles written about the delays in signing the agreements.  However, President Trump waited until he has his cabinet fully assembled before signing the first part that permits the landing teams to engage.  The second part with government provided offices and technology is NOT being accepted.

President Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, announced the Trump transition team has refused to sign an MOU with the Government Services Administration (GSA), and will not be using cell phones, computers, offices or “any technology” provided by the GSA.  This is a smart move to avoid the Deep State surveillance situation that was faced in the first term.

In the first Trump administration, the GSA had wiretaps, office bugs, and gave all the electronic communication information from the Trump transition to the FBI, IC and later Robert Mueller. In essence, the GSA spied on the Trump team, then gave all the data to the operatives who were in place to target them.  The Trump team is not making this mistake again.

The Trump transition team is also not going to use the office space provided by the GSA and will instead have their own offices and security systems in place to coordinate the transition to power.

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The New York Times is admitting something they previously pretended did not exist, Mitch McConnell is ready to fight Donald Trump.  You guys have watched this battle before, and you guys know that John Thune is the exact same ideological construct as his mentor, Mitch McConnell.  We do not need to pretend here.

An additional aspect to watch closely.  We know the Intelligence Community, the “Six Ways from Sunday” group, are going to do whatever is needed in order to protect their equity interests from the return of President Trump.  Again, no pretending is needed.

Currently, as Senate Majority Leader, John Thune elevates to the intelligence “oversight” group known as the Gang of Eight.  Four members of the Gang of Eight (Go8) come out of the Senate, and four from the House.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are three of the four from the Senate.  However, we still do not know who will join Thune from the GOP side. Who will be the Republican SSCI Chairman?

Internally, Susan Collins is now Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Mitch McConnell is now Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, a specifically taken position to retain control of Senate rules (think Cloture, Filibuster and importantly, Recess Appointments via Senate schedule).

With Thune on the Gang of Eight, Collins as Appropriations (spending), and McConnell in charge of ‘rules’, who joins Thune on the Gang of Eight?

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As the story is told, the unwillingness of President-Elect Trump and his transition team to comply with the rules of the bureaucracy in DC this time, has led to the Administrative State refusing to comply with any transition of power, specifically as it relates to Robert F Kennedy Jr and the healthcare transition team.

If President-Elect Trump would just adhere to the DC transition rules, then the DC bureaucrats who run the Executive Branch might be more willing to comply with requests.  However, unless and until President Trump accepts the administrative state’s power over him, they are at loggerheads.

Given the “trillions at stake” in the Health and Human Services system, we can only imagine the internal dynamic and pressure from lobbyists to keep their equity stakes as long as possible.

WASHINGTON DC – Advisers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reached out to the Health and Human Services Department multiple times after Donald Trump tapped him to lead the massive agency, hoping to jumpstart coordination before his takeover in late January. They were rebuffed.

Kennedy’s inability to communicate with the agency he may soon manage, confirmed by an administration official with knowledge of the episodes granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations, is just one consequence of the president-elect’s continued foot-dragging on signing the standard trio of ethics and transparency agreements with the federal government — something his team pledged to do shortly after the election.

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With around 50 days remaining to stir up as much trouble as possible, and with around 50 days of strategic activity left in order to Trump-proof the UE coalition of the NATO alliance, the U.K and France are in “classified” discussions about sending their troops into Ukraine before President Trump takes office.

It should be remembered that President Barack Obama did not want to intervene in Libya, circa 2011.  That was a decision made by The U.S. State Department and CIA, pushed by Hillary Clinton, Samantha Power and Director Leon Panetta, and ultimately, militarily, executed by NATO Commander Admiral James Stavridis.  And yes, Libya was not a threat to NATO…. but it happened anyway.

The U.K recently signed a mutual defense agreement with Moldova, promising to come to their aid if conflict with Russia escalated into the country.  Now we see reports of the U.K traveling to France to create a two-party coalition within the larger NATO assembly, intended to send military troops into Ukraine.

Is an attack against allied troops analogous with an attack against a NATO member?  Before you answer that question, remind yourself of the justification for the reference Libya intervention, the infamous “Responsibility To Protect” or R2P.  Now, using that framework, revisit the question.  I digress.

Le Monde – […] As the conflict in Ukraine enters a new phase of escalation, discussions over sending Western troops and private defense companies to Ukraine have been revived, Le Monde has learned from corroborating sources. These are sensitive discussions, most of which are classified – relaunched in light of a potential American withdrawal of support for Kyiv once Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025.

The debate about sending troops to Ukraine, which French President Emmanuel Macron initiated at a meeting between Kyiv’s allies in Paris in February, was strongly opposed by some European countries, led by Germany. However, it was relaunched in recent weeks thanks to the visit to France of the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, for the November 11th commemorations. “Discussions are underway between the UK and France on defense cooperation, particularly with a view to creating a hard core of allies in Europe, focused on Ukraine and wider European security,” confided a British military source to Le Monde. (read more)

Almost all modern “western” wars are bankers’ wars.  To understand the activity, it is worth paying attention to who is the benefactor and who is the beneficiary in the Corporate/Government relationship.

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Having been a former prosecutor and former lead staff on the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Devin Nunes, Kash Patel is a favorite of Steve Bannon and many folks in the MAGA community to be the next FBI Director.

In this interview Kash Patel outlines his perspectives on the challenges President Trump will face from the embeds within Main Justice, FBI, HPSCI, SSCI and the larger Intelligence Community.  Patel outlines the importance of the legislative branch in the process of supporting the objective of the executive branch to confront corruption.  WATCH:

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Appearing on CNN, Senate Intelligence Committee member James Lankford outlines the critical importance of the Intelligence Community heroes, and the important role the IC plays in the retention of their national security interests.

Senator Lankford looks forward to asking Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard about her travels and contacts with foreign leaders, as well as her advocacy for positions (Edward Snowden) that are relevant to her outlook on national security.  Additionally, Lankford is emphatic that Main Justice should be free from any political influence, regardless of who is president. WATCH:

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There are a lot of interesting discussions and interviews amid the political chatter today.  It’s often difficult to filter which ones actually matter in the big picture.  This is one of those interviews’ worth watching.

Incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, brother-in-law to nominated U.S. Surgeon General Janette Nesheiwat and husband to former DNI policy chief Julia Nesheiwat, appears on Fox News to discuss his priorities for the national security system under President Donald Trump.

Within the interview Waltz makes sure the collective NATO “west” get the unity message about U.S-Ukraine policy: “Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz says in the interview. “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong. We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”  WATCH:

Mike Waltz is married to Julia Nesheiwat, the sister of Surgeon General nominee Janette Nesheiwat.

Julia, who -like all other people who work in DC silos- has never taken a married name.  Julia Nesheiwat was born in Carmel, New York, in 1975 to Jordanian Christian immigrants and raised in Umatilla, Florida. She has a BA from Stetson University, an MA from Georgetown, and a PhD from Tokyo Tech.

Julia Nesheiwat became a military intelligence officer. She received the Bronze Star Medal during Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq. She departed the military as captain.  Julia Nesheiwat served in several U.S. administrations. Under George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, she held senior national security and economic policy positions. Her most notable role was as Trump’s 10th Homeland Security Advisor from 2020 to 2021. Her Bush administration posts included State Department seniority and Office of the Director of National Intelligence Policy Chief.

Suffice to say their bedroom conversations are likely Intel Community shop talk.

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Sometimes the issues go deeper into the core of DC than just the pretense games of Republicans -vs- Democrats.  Every once in a while, you see a specifically nuanced topic arise that tracks to the core of DC.  Intelligence nominations are one such topic.

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff, appears on NBC Meet the Press to discuss the nominations made by President Trump.  Adam Schiff is the newly elected incoming senator from California and likely also heading to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Intelligence Community, the “Six Ways from Sunday” group, run every aspect of Washington DC.  Almost every politician, representative, staffer and even lobbyist, are dependent on the approval of the Intelligence Community to exist.  The IC is the proverbial eye of Sauron with full access to every facet of life in DC, including communications, emails, phone calls, text messages, all of it.  The IC operate from Penthouse Suites in the fourth branch of government.

You will notice that former Gang of Eight member Adam Schiff has disparaging commentary for every one of President Trump’s nominees, except current Gang of Eight member, Senator Marco Rubio.  The alignment is not only about UniParty, in this example the alignment is the code of Omerta that exists within the IC “oversight” group.  WATCH:

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Germany is the largest economy in the E.U. However, due to a confluence of horrible events, most of them self-created as an outcome of ridiculous energy production decisions, the German industrial economy has been contracting since 2022.

Into this downward spiral of negative economic events within Germany, now comes the problem of President Trump eager to eliminate the Marshal Plan of one-way tariffs and start dealing with the trade inequities.  The German industrial manufacturing companies who make up the majority of the economic output are concerned, very concerned.

Within the discussion suddenly something appears that all Western financial pundits have yet to accept. Leo Barincou, a senior economist at Oxford Economics in Paris says:

[…] limited tariffs on selected products, such as cars, chemicals and agricultural products, may not be too much of a problem, Barincou says. A rising dollar, and hence a falling value of the euro, would offset some of the harm caused by the tariffs. “At a macro level, the impact would be limited,” he says. (read more)

Yep, here we go again.

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