Two quick juxtapositions to contemplate:

Just accepting things as they are presented to be, without laying opinion on the table.

♦ Mr. Elon Musk is saying he spent $44 billion to purchase a platform without any prior knowledge the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was operating on the backbone of the communication platform he was purchasing.

Additionally, all due diligence that may have been conducted before the biggest expenditure in the history of social media networks, did not reveal this intelligence community operation, to him, until after the sale was complete.

Everything thereafter is based on this predicate.

♦ Mr. Ron DeSantis is saying he had no idea the apparatus of political constructs was creating a presidential campaign process over a period of two years that would require his ultimate approval and participation, during the period when he genuinely claimed to be running for reelection to be the 2022 Florida Governor.

Everything thereafter is based on this predicate.

Whether you believe these assertions to be true or not is entirely up to you.

However, with these two points in mind, what does that say about the current state of our national pretense?

Expand the discussion. I am very interested in how intellectually honest people view these assertions. (more…)

Tucker Carlson has interviewed Twitter CEO Elon Musk and will broadcast the interview on Monday at 8:00pm ET.

If Carlson had the accurate and full context of the background situation, he would be able to ask the right questions. It appears Mr. Carlson does have the key issues well understood.  This should be a good interview.

In this preview segment {Direct Rumble Link Here}, Musk admits his mind was blown when he discovered the extent of the full government access to everything that was happening on Twitter.  He essentially confirms two key elements.  First, our long-held framework of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, is accurate.  Second, Musk had no idea when he bought it.

There has been an ongoing debate about whether Elon Musk was aware of the U.S. government and intelligence community control over Twitter prior to the purchase; with many people saying there is no way that Musk could not know given the scale of the money involved, $42 billion and the due diligence that generally follows such transactions.

However, in this interview Musk states he had no idea how much operational control and influence the government and intelligence apparatus held over the platform prior to the purchase.

Readers here are so far ahead of the curve on this story, it’s kind of cool, funny, and yet frustrating at the same time.  Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop is all a wild conspiracy theory born from the oddly wired brain of some dude in the corner of the internet; until suddenly it’s not.

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Posted without commentary, because we have already kicked up a shitstorm in republican circles this weekend….

[Direct Rumble Link] More Soon, ENJOY:

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped harm earlier today after a man holding what appeared to be two pipe bombs threw one near Kishida.  Remarkable video from the event showed citizens and police apprehending the suspect after one of the devices was thrown.  [Japan TV Story Here]

(Via Politico) – WAKAYAMA, Japan — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unharmed Saturday after someone threw an explosive device in his direction while he was campaigning at a fishing port in western Japan, officials said. Police wrestled a suspect to the ground as screaming bystanders scrambled to get away and smoke filled the air.

Although no one was hurt, and Kishida continued campaigning Saturday, the chaotic scene was reminiscent of the assassination nine months ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which also came on a campaign tour and continues to reverberate in Japanese politics. Kishida was visiting Saikazaki port in Wakayama prefecture to support his ruling party’s candidate in a local election, and the explosion occurred just before he was to begin his speech.

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Given the nature of the club plan, we can probably expect to see the field thin much faster as it gets closer to Ron DeSantis launch date.

The South Carolina folks (Haley and Scott) will remain, and Asa Hutchinson is likely to hang out as the club player for Iowa, but pulling the other noise away from DeSantis will be a priority.  Also, no one will enter the contest after DeSantis.

With Trump surging, Team RdS needs every part of their 20% to remain as the floor.  The Big Club handlers can’t afford the optics of Ron DeSantis polling dropping further because it will make his pre-planned entry look weak and more transparent.   As such, Youngkin taps out before he reaches the ring.

(Via New York Times) –  Virginia’s governor is putting the presidential hoopla on ice.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican whose surprising election in a blue-trending state set off instant talk of a presidential run, has tapped the brakes on 2024, telling advisers and donors that his sole focus is on Virginia’s legislative elections in the fall.

[…] “Listen, I didn’t write a book, and I’m not in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina.” Instead, he said, he is putting his full focus on November’s statewide Virginia election, when all 140 seats in both chambers of the General Assembly are on the ballot. A decision to enter the 2024 campaign in November would be historically late, well past the first Republican debate in August.

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I am a reasonably intelligent person, generally of mild and polite disposition; perhaps blessed by the grace of a loving God and brutally practical outlook therein, and with the acuity to look at things from a slightly less complicated perspective.

I have watched, viewed, read and consumed the Potemkin Village discussion across a broad spectrum of platforms for several weeks.  I have watched the news, read the headlines, researched the general promotions from a wide variety of sources and personalities.  Heck, yesterday, I even forced myself to watch a painful podcast [LINK], which included the insufferable pontifications of Buck Sexton and Clay Travis as they discussed the Trump -vs- DeSantis popular genre of domestic 2024 politics.

The world is full of small voices shouting the exact same shiny things in unison.  However, one thing is abundantly clear… everyone in conservative and republican politics is consumed by the 2024 puppet show and focused, to the exclusion of all other intelligent review, on the Potemkin Village of federal political constructs.

Let me be clear….  Nothing, not one single thing….  about candidates, debates, endorsements, media support, branding, imaging, leadership, effectiveness, policy, polling, communications, digital outreach, social media platforms, rallies or love of country matters in the 2024 election.  None of it matters.  The outcome of the 2024 presidential contest will be determined by ONLY ONE THING….

….ENVELOPES!

That’s it.

That’s the sum total of what matters.

Envelopes containing ballots.

Red envelopes -vs- Blue envelopes, and who can gather the most envelopes.   That’s it folks.  That’s the only thing that matters.

When Team Obama watch their opposition deciding on who is the best person to reach the “independent”, “middle”, or “swing voters”… as if voters really mattered, the David Axelrod’s, Marc Elias’s, David Plouffe and Barack Obama’s of the world laugh.  I mean straight up hysterically belly laugh.

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There is a scene in the movie Jaws when the town is arguing about a shark that is eating people and the best way to deal with it. Suddenly, from the back of the room there is the ear-piercing sound of fingernails being dragged slowly down a chalkboard.  As the sound travels, the room grimaces and then goes quiet….

Consider this my version of Quint’s approach…

The second most asked question when talking about national political corruption is the question, “who’s they?”   We often hear the opaque term “they”, but no one seems to give accurate context to it, so I will.

However, before getting to that point, allow me to begin with the end in mind.

If you want to know the most important thing you can do to save Our Republic, then first – get right with God.  Get right with the purpose of the mission, before you even think about packing a bag to begin the effort.  You ain’t got to be perfect, far from it, scruffy and messy works well; but you have got to be dead-plumb raw in admitting and accepting your fallible disposition. In many ways this is what “living your best life” is all about.  As eloquently shared:

…”There is nothing more powerful in the universe than being connected and aligned with power of infinite truth, infinite strength, infinite well-being, infinite love, infinite joy, and all the other positive emotional feelings and desires that we humans desire.”

If you want to harness that power for your own life and purpose, get right.

Now, having read the responses to the previous question, it’s obvious we have a lot of new friends here.  As I dive into sharing the details of our current national political construct, a baseline about party politics is needed.

If you think “Republicans” are the solution, then you don’t understand the construct of the ‘Big Club.’

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Making the announcement on the Rupert Murdoch network (Fox News), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces he will not be seeking to enter the GOP nomination contest for 2024.  He did not give any endorsement [Video Below].

Pompeo becomes the second GOPe potential candidate to withdraw rather than suffer the brutal humiliation of political irrelevance. Previously former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced the 2024 GOPe race would have to take place without him.   CTH begins our official elimination process.

[ Latest Rupert Murdoch Polling LINK – pg 15]

We are prepared.  We are positioned.  We are fortified.  The rebellion is assembled, both visible and underground.

2024 is MAGA burning the ships behind us.  💀 This one is for all the marbles. This is not a place where tepid half-measures and gentlemanly pastels will suffice.  Get right with God, put on the armor, absorb the focus of fighting like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s ark, and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

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President Trump departs New York today heading to Indianapolis, Indiana, to deliver remarks at the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention.  The speech will be livestreamed via Rumble on both the Trump campaign channel and RSBN.  Anticipated Start time 4:00 to 4:30pm ET, livestream links below.

Trump Campaign Rumble Livestream – RSBN Rumble Livestream Link

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Always keep in mind that retails sales from the Dept of Commerce [DATA HERE pdf] are always calculated in dollars.  Inflation can artificially skewer retail sales if prices increase, and yet consumer purchases decline at a rate lower than the increase in price.  Fewer units sold at higher prices can give the false impression of increased sales.

During an inflationary environment, when prices increase yet retail sales drop, there are substantially fewer units being purchased.  Overall purchases at stores, restaurants and online declined a seasonally adjusted 1% in March from the prior month.

During the time measured gasoline was less expensive, so that led the drop in fuel sales; however, drops in dept stores (-2.5%), General Merchandise (-3.0%), electronics (-2.1%), and building supplies (-2.1%), shows another broad-based pullback of Main Street consumer spending. (pdf here)

These outcomes are in general alignment with what many people have shared via regional ground reports.  Grocery store sales are flat despite major increases in grocery store prices (+10 to +20%).  People are buying fewer grocery store units and making their food budget stretch as far as possible.

Durable goods are not considered essential, and sales of cars, electronics and department store products are much lower.

I am actually a little (pleasantly) surprised to see restaurant sales holding (+0.1%), despite the massive increase in fresh food costs.   I thought people would eat out less, but the total decline in restaurant foot traffic seems to be in the single digits.  I guess people can afford it more than I anticipated.

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