There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)

Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson highlighted events over the past six months.  T-Rex takes another stroll around the globe discussing regional policy, specific state policy, and ongoing challenges.  Secretary Tillerson then takes questions from the media at the conclusion of his remarks.
Very informative. Very well worth watching (T-Rex Begins at 03:40):

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[*Note* We’ll capture and share transcript as soon as possible.]
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Almost no-one has watched Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor, John Boehner AND republican leadership of the House Freedom Caucus admit they intentionally hide their support for amnesty and immigration reform because they know the electorate doesn’t support it.  Yet it’s right there on camera: video showing exactly that. –SEE HERE–
The video is highly controlled by PBS and Frontline (legal), and in my opinion tightly controlled because PBS fully understands what would happen if the story of republicans in that video reached the larger awareness of U.S. voters. –The Last Hour is Critical–
There is only one political party in Washington DC.  There are two wings, but only one political and ideological apparatus.  An accurate frame of reference for watching this border wall video released today from Paul Ryan is only possible with the understanding from that FrontLine video in 2014.  What you see below is 100% political manipulation:

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House Speaker Paul Ryan is attempting to pull off the Alex Castellanos strategy through the utilization of political policy; it’s a strategy the UniParty uses effectively.
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At 1:45am on July 28th 2017, Republican Senator John McCain together with Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted against the ObamaCare repeal in the Senate; ensuring the failing ObamaCare health care takeover and economic drag continues.
This should not come as a surprise.  McCain has a legacy of voting against the American people to the benefit of his corrupt legislative corporate handlers.  Yet, the vote was still blood-boiling in ramification and consequence.
Additionally, it should be noted for an accurate record that Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller delayed his own roll call vote, skipped his name when called, until he was able to see that McCain cast the vote against America.
When Heller was safe – as in: able to hide his malicious intent and vote “aye” at the conclusion of the roll- he gave the appearance of support.  A very typical albeit Machiavellian maneuver, customarily subtle and historically utilized by Senator Ted Cruz with few paying attention.
Senator McCain’s vote holds much larger ramifications than just the continuance of ObamaCare.  Inherent within the retention is a reality that any tax reform, tax cuts to benefit the middle-class, will also necessarily be diminished.
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When President Trump made his initial remarks reflecting disappointment in Attorney General Jeff Sessions it was initially unnerving.  The subsequent fallout from the public criticism has united the NeverTrump crowd, Cruzbots and professionally GOPe, to defend the honor of the much beloved former Senator.   The opportunity to bash Trump is simply an ancillary benefit.
Conversely, the MAGA community has largely portrayed the rift as if the Presidential critique was part of a larger strategy between the President and Attorney General. If we wait long enough some mysterious master plan is eventually to be discovered.
However, the subsequent POTUS tweets and comments do not indicate any joint strategy at all.  What they do actually show is a genuine disappointment and frustration with the focus of Jeff Sessions; and the cabinet member’s apparent unwillingness to confront the corruption within the DOJ and by extension the larger DC swamp.
It is not accidental the frustration and disappointment surface as the various opposition groups to the Trump presidency begin to target the entire Trump family.   Despite some opinion to the contrary, Donald Trump does have a nuclear trigger point; target his family and you’ll find it quick.  Just ask anyone who has known him for any substantive amount of time.
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Earlier in the year President Trump established a commission to review U.S. election integrity.  Earlier today the first meeting of that Commission on Providing Election Integrity took place.
The meeting video is below which begins with remarks by Vice-President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. (A Transcript follows):

[Transcript] 11:28 A.M. EDT – THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, good morning. Please be seated. On behalf of the First Family, welcome to the White House. And welcome to the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
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There was a widely read Chicago Tribune op-ed written a few days ago outlining an approach to dissolve the entire state and apportion the geography to Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa. –SEE HERE–  It was written tongue-in-cheek, but with an uncomfortable level of reality behind it.

Illinois has been struggling with its finances for a long, long time.

The Illinois long-term labor pension liabilities are ridiculous in the extreme.  However, things just went from bad to jaw-droppingly, gobsmackingly, unbelievably worse.

 

According to the latest financial media reports, Standard and Poors Global Ratings agency has positioned Illinois bonds to drop below “investment” grade; that would make Illinois the first state in the nation to achieve “junk bond” status.

(Via ABC) Illinois is on track to become the first U.S. state to have its credit rating downgraded to “junk” status, which would deepen its multibillion-dollar deficit and cost taxpayers more for years to come.

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After Democrats announced they wanted nothing to do with the Obamacare reform efforts, the Democrat leadership and their water-carrying media counterparts cried foul because they feel they were not consulted on a current Senate bill to reform Obamacare.  Go figure.

The original (’09/’10) ObamaCare bill was 2,700 pages and most of the toxic takeover construct was intentionally and ambiguously deferred to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius where she added an initial 74,000 pages of regulatory and compliance rules and procedures. [Those HHS regulations now total 673,448+ pages and growing.]

Today, the Senate releases their version of a bill to reform the collapsing Obamacare construct.  It is only 142 pages (full pdf below), and essentially tracks along the three-stage repeal and replace road map previously outlined by HHS Secretary Tom Price.

Despite their pearl-clutching pontifications, all of the whining politicians and media-gnats can read the bill in a few hours.  Here’s the TOP-LINE basics:

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The UniParty is sly, I would say professionally and expertly so, and before readers feel the need to point out the obvious – when it comes to legislation, yes, I am professionally cynical.

The reason is simple, having trained ourselves to see when the pea is never under the shell, the legislative conversations that really matter are always behind a Potemkin Village called K-Street.

You have to know the unwritten legislative rules of the UniParty as they have been evidenced for almost 15 years to understand the ruse.

♦ First, the reason a vote, any vote, is “announced”, and just doesn’t take place, is because it provides the controlled opposition time to frame their anti-(fill_in_the-blank) talking points.  This is by design.  When a legislative vote is “announced” it is a dog-whistle call out to the institutional lobbyists that the legislation will be rail-roaded and ultimately fail.

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“Every child has the right to fulfill their potential, and, if we do our jobs, then we will never have to tell young, striving Americans to defer their dreams for another day or for another decade. “ ~ President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Congress to work with him on extending school choice programs nationwide to benefit millions of students, including low-income African-American and Hispanic children.  Full Event Video:

[Transcript] 10:42 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT:  This is very exciting.  So yesterday I said that our spending bill was a win for the American people, which is exactly what it was — an amazing day.  And this is what winning for young children and kids from all over the country looks like.

The opportunity scholarship program that we’re funding allows families in the inner city of our nation’s capital to leave failing public schools and attend a private school, making an extraordinary difference in these incredible young lives.  You’re so lucky.  (Laughter.)  Great.  You’re happy about it?  Huh?  (Applause.)  That’s great.

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