Following a massive victory in the Texas republican primary race, defeating incumbent Senator John Cornyn, Texas AG Ken Paxton speaks to an enthusiastic audience of supporters in his home state.
In the other half of the video, beginning at 10:39, defeated Texas Senator John Cornyn delivers his concession speech. WATCH:
.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press to promote his character and principled superiority to all other congressional representatives, the professional political narcissist, Thomas Massie, pledges to create as much turmoil as possible in his final seven months. Video and Transcript Below:
{TRANSCRIPT} – KRISTEN WELKER: And joining me now is Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Congressman Massie, welcome back to Meet the Press.
REP. THOMAS MASSIE: Thanks, Kristen.
KRISTEN WELKER: Thank you so much for being here. I do wanna get to your race in just a moment, but I have to start with that developing news on Iran, President Trump posting on Saturday that an agreement with Iran has, quote, “largely been negotiated.” It’s unclear what exactly has been agreed to, whether any deal would directly address the issue of the nuclear program, which of course is at the center of the war with Iran. So far no final deal has been announced, but, Congressman, would you support a short-term deal with Iran?
REP. THOMAS MASSIE: Well, I was the author of the first War Powers Resolution to get us out of Iran. My constituents are hurting. Gas is almost $5 a gallon. Diesel’s almost $6 a gallon. And the farmers here in Kentucky can’t afford the fertilizer to put on their fields, so heck yes, I would support it. We don’t know what the terms of it are, but if Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz are crashing out last night, I’d say it’s probably a pretty good deal.
Republicans in both the House and Senate are quickly moving to stop the DOJ/IRS settlement with President Trump that establishes a $1.776 billion victim’s compensation fund for those targeted by corrupt government conduct.
The move in the Senate is particularly Machiavellian considering they recently established a $500,000 system of penalties for government conduct after they found out the Jack Smith investigation had subpoenaed their private phone records.
Buried on page 217 of the 2025 Senate Continuing Resolution Bill [TEXT HERE], Republican Senators inserted legislation to “retroactively” pay themselves $500,000 each for every line of communication, telephone record, email or other electronic communication, subpoenaed by the Jack Smith Special Counsel during the Arctic Frost investigation. The targeting of Republican senators was too much for the Republican Senators to bear.
Now consider:
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Republicans have canceled plans to begin voting this week on a budget reconciliation package that would provide approximately $70 billion to fund immigration enforcement operations through 2029 amid a furious disagreement within their conference over the Trump administration’s proposal to establish a $1.8 billion compensation fund for MAGA allies.
Senate Republicans emerging from a lengthy meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said they expect to leave Washington for the Memorial Day recess without voting on the budget reconciliation package that has stalled over disagreements among Republicans over how to put guardrails on the so-called anti-weaponization fund. (more)
A grandmother silently praying outside an abortion clinic encounters the full weight of the Dept of Justice and FBI costing her tens of thousands of dollars to defend herself. Hundreds of conservatives have been targeted by a politicized and weaponized IRS. Dozens of Trump officials were targeted, prosecuted and spent millions of dollars during their judicial defense – many going bankrupt. Thousands of people who peacefully attended the January 6, 2021, protest were targeted by the FBI and had to hire lawyers. Thousands more received ridiculous subpoenas and investigative inquiries that required them to pay lawyers who provided legal responses.
Yet, only when the weaponization targets a Republican Senator personally does the issue warrant compensation. Think about it.
There is an increased public discussion about the race to build datacenters in the USA that are part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race for superiority. There are multiple facets within the discussion and some things to consider that might not be at the forefront, yet.
Overall, there is a global race to build the best AI system that is not dissimilar to the nuclear arms race. Arguably the use of AI as a weapon is one possibility; while the second aspect surrounds strategic economic power.
The USA is poised very favorably in this AI race due to the advanced tech industry in America and recent national security moves made by President Trump in the tech sector surrounding strategic critical minerals and domestic chip production. However, no one is quite sure where China is in their AI development and last year’s explosive revelation around China’s “Deepseek” model shocked the U.S. tech industry due to its advanced intelligence prowess.
With China and the USA both in this AI race, and the need for massive investment in datacenters to do the processing needed for an artificial intelligence brain of such significant capacity, there is a sense of urgency in the tech industry that is surfacing around the country. Simultaneously, with datacenters becoming more controversial, suddenly the geopolitical intelligence operations enter the picture.
Currently, it is well accepted inside the tech industry that part of China’s strategy against the USA in this AI race is to slow down American system development. As a consequence, it is beginning to surface that Beijing may be funding voices inside the USA to rally against the building of datacenters. Essentially, China funding voices, real or artificially boosted influence operations, to amplify domestic opposition to the datacenters.
Anytime the intelligence operations become part of a domestic issue that has national security implications, things get opaque, cloudy and muddy pretty quick. Is datacenter opposition organic – actual citizens and communities pushing back against the development in their towns and/or cities or is the opposition to the datacenters a form of foreign influence operation?
Today, at 2:00pm FBI Director Kash Patel and Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance Cole will join other federal law enforcement officials to testify on the president’s 2027 budget request before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. Democrats are poised to push a narrative about Kash Patel’s personal habits driven by an Atlantic article accusing him of drunkenness and misbehavior.
While the focus of the appropriations testimony is the budget request, undoubtedly much of the questioning will surround ongoing matters and priorities of the FBI and DEA. Recent events in Mexico related to indictments of government officials involved in drug trafficking may also be the subject of inquiry. Could be interesting. Testimony begins at 2:00pm ET.
.
The South Carolina House voted last night to open the door for redistricting in a special session a week from now. The measure still has to pass the South Carolina Senate; however, with the Indiana outcome at the forefront of their political future, the redistricting is more than likely.
As a consequence, South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn is potentially going to lose his gerrymandered seat in congress. Given Clyburn’s stature as one of the key architects of the DNC ballot harvesting and election counting fraud via the AME Church network, Democrats are apoplectic.
South Carolina’s primary elections are less than a month away. But the recent Indiana example of what happens to Republican led state legislatures who refuse to take bold action looms large over the Palmetto state. I would expect a redistricting effort will take place.
In order to deal with a UniParty congress that is always seeking to disrupt his policies and frame processes against his office, President Trump recently notified the House and Senate the hostilities against Iran had ended and negotiations were underway.
In doing so, President Trump changed the dynamic and the Iranian regime now views President Trump as legally less empowered to trigger military strikes against the regime. To counteract that issue, President Trump either needs congress to authorize further military action against Iran, or a triggering action that would justify such renewed strikes. Iran attacking a ‘humanitarian effort” is one such triggering action.
Via Truth Social – “Countries from all over the World, almost all of which are not involved in the Middle Eastern dispute going on so visibly, and violently, for all to see, have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz, on something which they have absolutely nothing to do with — They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders!
For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business. Again, these are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East. I have told my Representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and everything else.
This process, Project Freedom, will begin Monday morning, Middle East time. I am fully aware that my Representatives are having very positive discussions with the Country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all. The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong — They are victims of circumstance.
This is a Humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran. Many of these Ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for largescale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner. I think it would go a long way in showing Goodwill on behalf of all of those who have been fighting so strenuously over the last number of months. If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~ DONALD J. TRUMP
This afternoon, King Charles III will become the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1991. Livestream Links Below
.
Today is not a good day for the Canadian trade team.
It started with Quebec’s new Premier in Washington DC meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer {citation} in order to talk trade {SEE TIMELINE} saying on Twitter, “Quebec wants a renewal of the [USMCA] to ensure a stable and predictable framework for our economic exchanges.” However, Mrs. Christine Fréchette (pictured left) then bragged about having strategic discussions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. {citation}
For those who might not know, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a parasitic Wall Street and K-Street lobbying organization that has been locked out of trade influence since President Trump took office in 2017. It was the U.S. CoC who sold out our manufacturing base, paid-off prior administrations and wrote the actual trade language in almost every trade deal that destroyed U.S. manufacturing.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying organization who focuses on the bottom-line profits of U.S. multinational corporations, and they don’t care what happens domestically to American jobs, American manufacturing and American wages. The CoC is the organization who created the rust belt and destroyed our manufacturing base under the guise of promoting a “service driven economy.”
If Canada want’s a successful trade negotiation with the USA, the Chamber of Commerce is the last organization they should be strategizing with.
Then comes Prime Minister Mark Carney who not only steps on a rake, but he also publicly insults President Trump and the entire U.S. trade team by saying every country in the world privately tells him they regret making a trade agreement with President Trump. ¹{Citation at 28:10 of Video}
I’m going to post the entire video of Prime Minister Mark Carney discussing USMCA (Canada calls CUSMA) trade negotiations because the tone deafness of it is off the charts. That includes the Canadian Prime Minister saying that Section 232 national security reviews are a violation of the U.S-Canada trade agreement. Carney believes any independent U.S. trade position that negates trade with any Canadian sector is a violation of trade rules, yet he is afraid to sue over Sec 232 because he doesn’t want to discover the flaw in his mindset.
There is still no warrant requirement in the newest version of the FISA(702) reauthorization bill as proposed [SEE HERE]. The new modifications are only nine pages, and I would recommend all interested parties to review the language.
The House proposal is for a three-year extension of 702 with a new structural compliance report process that requires the FBI to submit a monthly report to the Civil Liberties Protection Officer (CLPO) within the office of the Director of National Intelligence. Essentially, the ODNI becomes the compliance auditor for how the FBI uses the process.
The CLPO reviews the names and summaries of intents that have been searched through the use of FISA (702) as submitted -monthly- by the FBI. If there are any violations or concerns the CLPO notifies the Intelligence Community Inspector General for investigation. Both the CLPO and the ICIG report to the ODNI (Tulsi Gabbard, currently).
“The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community shall investigate each query referred … to determine whether the query constitutes a violation of laws, rules, or regulations or an abuse of authority.” It’s another layer of compliance review intended to stop search abuses within the database that is held and maintained by the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command.
Here’s the issue with that part: The FBI can only submit the names that were searched if they are aware of them. Meaning, the FBI doesn’t maintain the audit trail, so the FBI only knows who was searched using 702 based on the FBI ‘searcher‘ reporting their search.
This compliance process doesn’t address unlawful database searches that are not reported because they are unknown to the FBI compiling the report.
The NSA and Cyber Command would still need to be monitoring and auditing the searching of the NSA database; and those searches may, or may not, be done by FBI officials who are filling out reports telling the DNI of their activity.
If a non-FBI person is abusing the database; or if an FBI agent simply doesn’t report his search; that/those search(es) would not show up on the monthly report to be delivered to the CLPO. Hence, how would the Civil Liberties Protection Officer even know?
That layer of compliance just doesn’t make sense.