Senator Lindsey Graham (U-DC) was asked for his thoughts and perspectives about USAID today during a press conference.

Senator Lindsey Graham is senior senator in charge of the upper chamber oversight of foreign government influence operations via the “150 account” that supports the goals and objectives of the State Dept.

Senator Lindsey Graham culminates his entire political career in one brief segment of pretending not to know.

We can officially say this moment achieves ‘peak Graham.’  The part where Graham tells former USAID Director Samantha Power to “quit texting me” is epic.  WATCH: 

It is said that in 1860 literary master Ralph Waldo Emerson found a stargate, entered and traveled to this day in history.  Upon return, he wrote:

“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”

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Earlier today President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Dept of Government Efficiency, held a press conference in the oval office to answer questions about the ongoing DOGE review of government.

Elon Musk outlines examples of how the various government agencies spend money without any standard accounting principles that facilitate audits and reviews.  In material fact the system of government that Elon Musk and President Trump outline, appears fully designed to generate fraud.

In essence, “waste, fraud and abuse” within government, is a feature of how the government systems are organized, not a flaw. WATCH:

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It is amazing how the media reporters present the structure of their questions to support the waste, fraud and abusive systems within the administration of government as it is outlined.  We do not dislike the media enough.

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President Donald Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan are having bilateral meetings today on the Israel v Hamas war and the subsequent issue with displaced Palestinians.

During the first press availability in the oval office, both President Trump and King Abdullah delivered remarks about the regional challenges, approaches and overall perspectives on the issues.  As expected, both President Trump and King Abdullah noted they await the plan from Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi who has been tasked with taking the lead on developing a peaceful solution and broader long-term plan for regional stability.

Jordan doesn’t want to take more Palestinian refugees, though King Abdullah did say he was going to take 2,000 sick children for care in the kingdom of Jordan.

President Trump has given Hamas a deadline of Saturday at noon to release all the remaining hostages or, “there will be hell to pay.”  President Trump is willing to take part in rebuilding Gaza in the aftermath of the chaos and rubble as soon as Hamas is removed from the issue.

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It’s good that Fogel is returning, and the gesture of his release is an act of good faith between the Russian government of Vladimir Putin and the U.S. government of Donald Trump.

However, that said, Marc Fogel was not arrested and detained for some arbitrary reason. The American teacher was arrested, tried and convicted for taking marijuana into Russia.  The Russian government doesn’t recognize medicinal marijuana, and they do not play around with illegal drugs or classified narcotics. It’s a big issue and considered a serious crime with severe penalties.

President Trump on Tuesday secured the release of an American imprisoned in Russia as part of a deal with the Kremlin negotiated by Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.  Mr Witkoff flew to Moscow Sunday for discussions with Russian officials.

New York Times –  […] Mike Waltz, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said in a statement that Mr. Witkoff, at the president’s direction, had brought Mr. Fogel out of Russia on his plane as part of an exchange. But he did not provide any details about whether the United States or an ally had released someone in return or what other steps the administration had taken to win Mr. Fogel’s release.

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If you have followed the arc of Tech, Peter Thiel recruiting JD Vance, the creation of Palantir, the funding of Vance’s senatorial run, and eventually the roadmap to connect Vance to Trump, this is a video speech you absolutely must not miss. JD Vance was sent to the AI Summit for a reason.

JD Vance talks at the AI summit in Paris, France, about his core mission, his core purpose inside current political influence. This is the very origin of his legacy, unfolding in real time. Vice-President JD Vance talks about Artificial Intelligence, the future and the Trump administration position.

Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders against heavily regulating U.S. tech companies and said excessive efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence could stymie its growth, during an AI summit in Paris Tuesday that marks his first foreign trip since taking office. WATCH:

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Do you feel more or less confident about the future, having watched these remarks?

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President Trump held an Executive Order (XO) press conference in the oval office today and took questions from the assembled press pool.  Included in the executive orders was the reversal of the plastic straw ban, no more paper straws.  The President also implemented a 25% tariff rate on imported steel.  The import tariff rate for aluminum increases from 10% to 25%.

At 09:00 of the video, President Trump reads prepared remarks on the implementation of the steel tariffs. At approximately 15:00 of the video, President Trump begins taking questions from the media.  The full video of the event is below:

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(Via NBC) – President Donald Trump signed an order Monday that imposes a 25% tariff on all steel imports to the United States.

“This is a big deal,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “The beginning of making America rich again.”

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Leftist journalist Jason Leopold filed a FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ/FBI a few years ago, seeking the documents and background material assembled by the DOJ, FBI and Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.  With the Mar-a-Lago case against Trump dismissed by a Florida judge, and effectively dropped by Special Counsel Jack Smith.  The justification for withholding the responsive material is no longer valid.

This has resulted in anti-Trump U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, now ruling that anti-Trump journalist Jason Leopold should be given the FOIA documents by the FBI and DOJ. [Ruling pdf here].  Essentially, Howell is saying, angrily, that with President Trump immune from criminal liability (SCOTUS immunity decision), the only public recourse for accountability is sunlight from within the evidence the FBI assembled.

Here is where it gets interesting.

The DOJ/FBI Special Counsel, previously said to the Florida court they would not reveal the content of the information because it was “classified” under “national security” grounds.  You might remember President Trump’s legal position was to make the content public because Trump said there was no classified material.

To reconcile the issue, during discovery phase Florida Judge Cannon appointed a Special Master to review the “classified” documents.  The FBI and Jack Smith balked at the demand and filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit to keep the Trump defense from reviewing what Jack Smith said were “documents marked classified.”  Smith didn’t want the documents made public or revealed to President Trump, so the DOJ/FBI position was that the documents were too sensitive (TSCI) with “national security” implications.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government position that any documents defined as “classified” by the executive branch (now Biden) that claimed, “national security,” should not be disclosed to the defendant, Trump.  The court of appeals essentially determined that all definitions by the executive branch, are not questionable by the judicial branch.

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I have long said the only thing President Trump needs to do is to tell Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he needs to hold an election to showcase his public support for his position.  After that, Trump can do nothing except wait for the result and the winner of the election to come to him.  Then, engage with Putin on a resolution to the conflict.

Would Zelenskyy win the election?  I don’t think so, but who knows.  Today a video surfaces where Zelenskyy was directly asked why he has cancelled all Ukraine elections, and would he restart them now.  Zelenskyy said no, he would not hold elections because holding an election would mean a pause in the warfighting and that would be a win for Russia.

Ukraine President Zelensky claims that the Ukrainian people oppose elections and prefer he continue to rule.

pic.twitter.com/DePGjd7wPl

— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) February 10, 2025

(MSM) – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that if martial law is suspended until the end of the war so that elections can be held, Ukraine will lose its army, which the Russians will exploit. Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with the UK broadcaster ITV News

Quote: “In regard to elections, everything is clear. More than anything we all want the war to end and for us to have elections. However, as long as the war continues, our population is against elections, all people are against it.”

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Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought is also the interim Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB is under review by DOGE and on Monday morning Russ Vought told CFPB staff not to come to work. {Background Here}

Vought sent an email to employees this morning saying they should “not perform any work tasks.” They were directed to contact the top lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget “to get approval in writing before performing any work task.”

Vought is also serving as the bureau’s acting director. The previous director, Rohit Chopra, was fired by Trump, a Republican, on Feb. 1. Vought’s message followed one on Saturday evening that ordered the bureau to “cease all supervision and examination activity.”

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s newly installed chief of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told all of the agency’s staff on Monday to stay away from the office and do no work, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.

The move followed a weekend decision to shutter the CFPB’s Washington headquarters, idling a federal agency of nearly 2,000 workers tasked with enforcing consumer financial laws.

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Lawyers representing President Trump and the office of the presidency have filed an urgent response motion to remove a court order by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer that blocked the Treasury Secretary and “political appointees” from accessing Treasury Department systems. [SEE ADMINISTRATION FILING HERE]

The filing is in response to District Judge Engelmayer’s blatant effort to engage in judicial activism and violate the Article II separation of power.  The Chief executive cannot be limited in scope or activity by the judicial branch, let alone a single circuit court judge within the regional judicial branch who is attempting to block the executive branch nationally.

[Source pdf]

“Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in the 11-page filing, calling the order “impermissible” and “anti-constitutional.”

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