The background here is interesting.  Late last night, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan called for an unusual hearing on a federal holiday to hear the arguments of 14 states who are seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Elon Musk and the Dept of Govt Efficiency (DOGE).

It’s interesting because Judge Chutkan called for the hearing today just 45 minutes after Trump’s U.S Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to intervene on the matter of judicial TRO’s issued against President Trump’s Title II authority.  Last night in another case, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris filed an “APPLICATION TO VACATE THE ORDER ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND REQUEST FOR AN IMMEDIATE ADMINISTRATIVE STAY” with the Supreme Court. [pdf HERE] 45 minutes later Chutkan called for today’s TRO hearing.

District Judge Chutkan refused to issue the TRO today, saying she would take up the matter later.

(Via Politico) – […] the judge said granting the temporary restraining order sought as part of a lawsuit brought by Democratic attorneys general required much clearer evidence that DOGE’s actions were causing grave, permanent damage. Instead, she said, states had relied primarily on news reports that speculated about the risks of Musk and DOGE’s actions, some of which she said could potentially be remedied in further litigation.

“I’m not seeing it so far. … It’s sort of like a prophylactic TRO and that’s not allowed,” Chutkan said, adding that she hoped to issue a ruling within 24 hours. “The courts can’t act based on media reports. We can’t do that.” 

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On Sunday, when CBS’s Margaret Brennan shockingly claimed that “free speech” was the cause of the German holocaust and rise in Naziism, a stunned Secretary of State Marco Rubio simply replied, “I have to fundamentally disagree with you, Margaret.”  The reaction from American observers toward the interview, and in particular Vice-President JD Vance, was much less diplomatic. “This is a crazy exchange,” Vance said.

However, a few hours later the background context for Brennan’s position surfaced, when CBS 60 Minutes broadcast a defense of German laws that make it illegal to say something that can be construed as “insulting.”  The CBS segment is naturally alarming to people who will not accept definitions of approved speech determined by government officials; especially for most Americans who have experienced the extreme online control operations by govt interests around the COVID-19 fiasco.  Watch (prompted):

This is the mindset that JD Vance encountered following his honest remarks to the Munich Security Conference.  The Vice-President outlined in his remarks that Europe was devolving into a totalitarian state, destroying democracy and using the power of government against the freewill and liberty of the European people.

Vance was pointing out the big picture of liberty, freedom and the value of democracy.  After citing examples of oppressive EU action that included the nullification of the Romanian election, Vice-President Vance noted in his comments, “there is no security if you are afraid of the voices of your own people,” he said.  Continuing, “if you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing the American people can do to assist you.”  The EU collective, and specifically the German political leadership immediately decried the brutally honest remarks.

There is a particular irony in Germany saying that controversial speech is not protected speech, arresting people for what the state considers online antagonism, and then decrying Vice-President Vance for calling them out.  The need for control is a reaction to fear (inherent insecurity), and the actions by the German government are extreme.  However, for Germany this is particularly ironic.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio will need to maintain a lot of energy to operate foreign policy advancement at the “optimal resolution” speed of President Donald Trump.

Rubio departed Israel for his visit to Saudi Arabia where two major topics are on the agenda. The U.S. Secretary was welcomed by Saudi Foreign Minster Faisal bin Farhan and is scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On the agenda today is what to do about Gaza, tomorrow the discussion changes direction to address Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia has expressed opposition to the Trump plan for the temporary relocation of Gaza Palestinians while a complete restructuring, revitalization and rebuilding of the region takes place. However, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have not proposed an alternative to the Trump plan.

Saudi Arabia (MbS), Egypt (al-SiSi) and Jordan (King Abdullah II) have balked at the idea of Israeli Prime Mister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan temporarily host Palestinian refugees; a plan suggested by President Trump. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan do not want more Palestinians to worry about.

Ultimately, Secretary Rubio is in Saudi Arabia to ask Crown Prince MbS directly, if not the Trump plan – then what? What solution can be proposed by the Arabs that creates long lasting stability, peace and the opportunity for residents in Gaza to live without terrorism, Hamas, chaos and war?

♦ Tomorrow the agenda switches to discuss the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict. Secretary Rubio will be joined by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. The Russian delegation includes Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Oddly, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the region; however, according to most public reporting he is not expected to participate in the U.S-Russia negotiations. I would not be surprised if something in the background is triggered by President Trump that pulls-in Zelenskyy while the Ukraine President is in Saudi Arabia.

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The Trump administration is experiencing an unprecedented move by federal judges who are overstepping their constitutional limits and ordering Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs) against President Trump.  The judicial activism is in support of ongoing Lawfare operations within the deepest ranks of the administrative state.

Remember, Lawfare in its purest form is not designed to win the final legal battle. Instead, it is a construct to use the law to create obstacles that will eventually fall under higher judicial review; but the larger intent is to impede the presidency, stall the inevitable, and maintain morale for the political activists and their media support systems.  Lawfare is a political construct intended to manipulate public opinion.

In the Dellinger v Bessent case, where President Trump has fired Hampton Dellinger at Treasury, a three-judge District of Columbia, Circuit Court, have intervened and maintained a TRO against President Trump blocking him from removing Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel, at the Treasury Dept. [CASE pdf HERE]

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C. issued a temporary restraining order on February 12, restoring Dellinger to his position pending a further, preliminary order.  The District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the administration’s appeal in a 2-1 decision on Saturday, saying it was premature, given that Jackson’s order was only temporary.

Judge Florence Pan and Judge J Michelle Childs, both activist robed women, ruled to maintain the TRO and deny injunctive appellate relief.  Judge Gregory Katsas dissented from the Lawfare decision saying while TRO’s are not usually appealable, in this instance the TRO violates the Article II constitutional power of the President to conduct his official duties.  [Dissent Outlined Below]  Katsas would have granted the government’s stay.

Regardless of the DC Circuit Court decision, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris has now filed an “APPLICATION TO VACATE THE ORDER ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND REQUEST FOR AN IMMEDIATE ADMINISTRATIVE STAY” with the Supreme Court. [pdf HERE] The application by Acting SG Harris relies heavily on the dissenting opinion of Judge Katsas.

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Earlier today, President Donald Trump held an impromptu press conference after departing Air Force 1 returning from Daytona International Speedway.  President Trump took several questions about ongoing discussions with Ukraine, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

President Trump repeats what he asked both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “do you want peace.” It is the core question that determines the direction for optimal solutions.  WATCH:

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Earlier today, President Donald Trump attended the Daytona International Speedway for the start of the NASCAR year, the Daytona 500 race.

The crowd was roaring approval as President Trump’s Air Force-1 did a flyby, and then President Trump joined the drivers in the pit area.  Following pictures and handshakes President Trump took a lap around the track as the crowd cheered.  Awesome stuff.

FLORIDA – […] This weekend, the President’s motorcade drove straight onto the track in Florida and traveled a short distance in front of the NASCAR fans packed into the stands before it entered a secure area. He later returned onto the track, with his motorcade doing two laps before the race started, where he spoke to the drivers over the radio.

As Trump stood for the national anthem, he made a brief appearance on the jumbotron that was met with a massive cheer by the thousands of fans in the stadium, ready for The Great American Race. And as liberal NASCAR fans complained on social media that Trump was getting too much camera time, he told Fox that the first few weeks of his second term is a sign of things to come.

‘I think it’s fantastic, it’s great for the country,’ Trump said about the race. ‘Our country is doing well again, we have spirit all over the world. We brought it back and it’s been less than four weeks, so you’ll see what we do in a little period of time. It’s only going to get better. This is very exciting.‘ (more)

Videos Below:

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“Peace is not a noun, it’s a verb. Peace takes action, not words.” That is a message carried by Secretary of State Marco Rubio today during his interview with CBS Margaret Brennan that pertains to both the Israel -v- Hamas conflict and the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.

Brennan used the interview to push the MSM narrative that JD Vance was lecturing European leaders at the Munich Security Conference.  Rubio defended the remarks by Vice President Vance and told Ms. Brennan that certain uncomfortable truths need to be said regardless of the reception to them. The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to “Face the Nation.” We want to begin today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Jerusalem on the second leg of his trip through Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Secretary, I know it’s the evening hours there, and you’ve had a long day. We appreciate your time. You’ve got quite a busy schedule. You met earlier with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he’s lock step with the Trump administration, but he can’t share details on, quote, “when the gates of hell will be open…if all our hostages are not released.” Did he tell you he wants to keep talks going to get to phase two of this hostage deal?

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think we share a common goal. We want to see every hostage released. Frankly, I think, and the President has said this, we want to see them out as soon as we possibly can. And- and certainly, you know, the world has watched these images of people, and it’s just heartbreaking to remember that some of them have been now almost two years there. It’s a horrifying situation. So we coordinate and work very close with them. We share the goal that every hostage needs to come home, every single one, without delay. Obviously, the- there are details of how we’re pursuing that and coordinating that we’re not going to share publicly because we don’t want to endanger the hostages and we don’t want to endanger this process. But suffice it to say that if it was up to us, every one of these hostages would be home right now, and we want it to happen as soon as possible.

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When reviewing the production, it is important to remember – when Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to an assembly in English, his audience is not in the room in Munich. Zelenskyy is speaking to America, through the scripted remarks.

When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to Europe, he speaks Ukrainian.  When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to America, he speaks English. This production pattern is consistent.

President Zelenskyy spoke to the Munich Security Conference after speaking to President Trump, after speaking to Secretary Rubio and after Vice-President JD Vance stunned the European audience by calling out their weak and fearful framework of democracy.  All of that is in the background of his remarks.

Acting as if he were a NATO member, he’s not, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy tells the European audience they need to plan for the U.S. to pull-back from NATO, and the European Union needs to assemble a collective “European Army.”   If Europe puts an army together, not a NATO army, but an independent European army, then the French, Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Italians etc., can send their soldiers into Ukraine to join the fight against Russia.  Yeah, good luck with that.  WATCH:

The audience wasn’t exactly enthusiastic at the suggestion.

“The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the time has come for the creation of a European army. ‘Our army alone is not enough, we need your support,’ he said, adding that the ‘old days’, when the US supported Europe ‘just because it always had’, are over. He told attendees he would not take Nato membership for Ukraine off the table and insisted that no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without the involvement of Kyiv and Europe.”

Zelensky also told the European leaders at the Munich Security Conference that Russia, Belarus and North Korea are planning a full scale, nuclear invasion of Europe. He urged Europe to take preemptive action.  The full video is below:

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As expected, initial direct talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are being planned to take place in Saudi Arabia.  Saudi King Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) will be the key emissary to coordinate the agenda.

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 15, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Building on the Feb. 12 phone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a communication channel to address accumulated issues in Russian-American relations,” a readout from the Russian Foreign Ministry read.

“This is aimed at removing the unilateral barriers inherited from the previous administration that hinder mutually beneficial trade, economic, and investment cooperation.”

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Quickly, just for clarity. Narrative engineers from Reuters News Agency are kicking up dust about Elon Musk firing a dozen members of the U.S. Digital Services Office.  However, what Reuters does not say is that the “USDS” is the agency vehicle that was renamed “DOGE” during the Trump Executive Order [SEE HERE].

That’s right, Musk fired the preexisting staff within his own agency.

(Reuters) – Elon Musk’s DOGE team has sent termination notices to more than a dozen staffers at the U.S. Digital Services Office, a group of federal IT workers, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday citing two people familiar with the matter.

Musk’s DOGE has swept through federal agencies in recent weeks searching for spending cuts as part of Trump’s goal to overhaul and shrink the U.S. government. (link)

Now see Section Three DOGE Structure (emphasis mine): “Sec. 3.  DOGE Structure.  (a)  Reorganization and Renaming of the United States Digital Service.  The United States Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the United States DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established in the Executive Office of the President.” [Source]

The media are ridiculous.

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