If it was a Democrat sponsored bill, the media would be highlighting the bipartisan nature of the vote.  However, because it is a Republican sponsored bill, the media immediately say the stand alone measure to support Israel is dead upon arrival in the Senate.

Joe Biden has said he will veto the House version of the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not entertain the bill due to the pay-go funding mechanism (removal of $14.3 billion in IRS funding) and the fact it is not a package bill that includes support for Ukraine.   Biden wants his $106 billion bill with funds for Israel, Ukraine, Hamas (via USAID), Taiwan and support for arriving migrants.  Chuck Schumer is working with Mitch McConnell to put the combined package together.

Twelve Democrats supported the $14.3 billion House bill, and two Republicans voted against it (MTGreene and Massie). The vote was 226-196 for passage.

WASHINGTON – […] While aid to Israel is something both parties strongly agree with, Democratic support for the legislation broke down after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) added a provision in the bill that would cut $14.3 billion in funding from the Internal Revenue Service to offset the cost of the aid to Israel — prompting Democratic leaders to encourage party members to vote against it.

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During yesterday’s Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took the opportunity to confront the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI with the recent history of their activity.

As noted by Senator Paul, the past several years exhibits clear and irrefutable evidence of the DHS and FBI working collaboratively to conduct surveillance on American citizens, while simultaneously violating the first amendment by coordinating with big tech social media companies on censorship.  WATCH:

Everything Rand Paul says in that statement is factually correct.  However, highlighting just how the game of pretending is conducted in DC, at the end of hearing Senator Rand Paul -joined by Senator Lindsey Graham- voted to approve Jack Lew as Joe Biden’s ambassador to Israel.   Quite a shift in ideological priority considering that Jack Lew was the primary cover-up official responsible for protecting Obama from exposure to the IRS targeting operation against conservatives.

Additionally, prior to his job as Treasury Secretary, and prior to his position as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, and prior to him being Obama’s Budget Director (comical considering Obama never had a budget) Jack Lew served as State Department Director under Hillary Clinton.    It was Lew’s influence that shaped and positioned the failed Obama/Clinton foreign policy toward the Middle East.   Specifically, toward Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya during their upheaval, the Arab Spring.   How did that work out for our interests?

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Y’all know I have this weird affliction. It’s like a brain itch. I remember weird details.  Anyway, the long-convoluted story winds around former CIA Director George Tenet eventually getting a summer one-on-one with George “Dubya” Bush, after several months of being blocked by National Security Advisor Condi Rice.

In essence, the short version is, Tenet informed Dubya in the summer of ’01 of intel chatter about airplanes and terror threats.  Dubya asked for specifics, and Tenet is quoted as saying, “the gaps in our intelligence are real.” {citation either in Condi’s book, Rove’s book or Dubya’s book – I’ll find it} However, for the sake of this outline, watch what FBI Director Christopher Wray says today, in response to Senator Rick Scott. [PROMPTED – 3 minutes]

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Director Wray notes the FBI threat metric dropped during the Trump administration and has now increased during the Biden administration.  Then, in response to the follow up [5:40], Wray notes the FBI is not tracking “currently operating” terror cells or foreign terror cells in the United States.  WTF?   Then comes the money quote, “the gaps in our intelligence are real, and that’s something we have concerns about.”

I’m not saying the FBI is not tracking currently operating foreign terror cells located in the USA, FBI Director Christopher Wray is.

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Just to put a fine point on the motives of the intelligence operation that took place in Dagestan, Russia, at the Makhachkala airport {Go Deep}, today we see Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying, Putin is Hamas.

The arc and motive of the narrative is transparently obvious.  The Makhachkala Airport operation was the affirmational seed, created by Ukraine operative Ponomaryov – in coordination with CIA and the State Dept. – for the necessary narrative.

As the story is told, Vladimir Putin is in ideological alignment with Hamas…. Therefore, support for Israel against Hamas is synonymous with support for Ukraine against Russia…. Therefore, funding for the Israeli War is synonymous with funding for Ukraine…. Therefore, the financial mechanism to fund Israel cannot be separated from the financial mechanism to support Ukraine.

See how that works?

Watch Secretary of State Anthony Blinken make the connection today (prompted):

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“We see these things as being very much joined, which is one of the reasons why our joint request is a joint request”… 

Once you see the strings on the marionettes, you can never return to that moment in the performance when you did not see them….

The producers think we cannot see them!

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The only people who deny financial corruption in Ukraine are those who benefit from it.  That group includes U.S. politicians who gleefully send billions of taxpayer funds into the country of Ukraine while capturing returns in the process.

U.S. advisors and consultants, along with private sector contractors and multinational corporations like Blackrock, are all beneficiaries of the vast sums of money being dumped into Ukraine. We all know this.  So, on one hand it is simple to see why the Ukraine government officials would use the same opportunity to enrich themselves

After all, U.S. taxpayers are not only buying bombs, missiles and bullets with the money sent to Ukraine, we are also paying the salaries and pensions of the same government officials who are skimming the proceeds.  The corruption is everywhere, and every entity is participating in the graft, in one form or another.

Zelenskyy’s wife goes shopping in Paris during the war.  Where exactly do politicians think she is getting the money to spend on glitzy holiday vacations?  Everybody knows exactly what is going on.  The glaringly obvious theft is a large part of the contention the American people have with this insufferable effort to fund Ukraine.

During a lengthy Time Magazine article, one of the close and key advisors to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the corrupt stealing of US funds is widespread.   In addition to the theft, the overall tone of the Time Magazine article paints the war effort in Ukraine, what we have always called ‘World War Reddit’ for its mostly theatrical value, as a lost cause.  This is not surprising; however, for Time Mag to make such an admission, that does indicate a narrative shift in the overall effort.

TIME – […] Since the start of the invasion, Ukraine has refused to release official counts of dead and wounded. But according to U.S. and European estimates, the toll has long surpassed 100,000 on each side of the war. It has eroded the ranks of Ukraine’s armed forces so badly that draft offices have been forced to call up ever older personnel, raising the average age of a soldier in Ukraine to around 43 years. “They’re grown men now, and they aren’t that healthy to begin with,” says the close aide to Zelensky. “This is Ukraine. Not Scandinavia.”

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Within the budget process there are two different facets. Congress is charged by the Constitution with making decisions about how to spend public money. Those spending decisions are split into two parts: authorization and appropriations.  In the recent political era the “authorization” process has essentially been nulled; no one ever asks if the program (Ukraine, Israel, FBI, etc.) should be funded. 

“Authorization” is done by Congress via legislation that “can establish, continue, or modify an agency, program, or activity for a fixed or indefinite period of time,” per the Congressional Research Service. In other words, authorization is Congress saying that money can be spent on a given item — not that it necessarily will be spent on that item.

“Appropriations” are done by Congress via legislation that authorizes agencies to make payments from the federal Treasury (i.e. it allows them to spend the money that had previously been authorized). Appropriations bills are ordinarily passed each year, but in recent years it has been common for Congress to fund the government “on autopilot” via continuing resolutions that simply allow agencies to continue spending the same amount of money they were spending under the previous funding bill.

Matt Gaetz has been trying to change this dynamic because the external recipients of the appropriation spending, the lobbyists, are the ones driving the continuation of the CR approach. The lobbyists pay congress via campaign donations. Those donations come from congressional appropriation. The CR process maintains the largesse.

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Sometimes I just sit and shake my head.  Why these guys keep appearing with Sean Hannity is beyond my understanding.  That said, the platform and host is the first warning sign, the content of the interview is another.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who is a significant upgrade from Speaker Kevin McCarthy, sits down for an extensive discussion on current political events where Sean Hannity can tell Johnson his role and responsibility as Speaker. WATCH:

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During a recess from the ridiculous Lawfare drama in New York City today, President Trump delivered brief remarks on Representative Mike Johnson becoming the new Speaker of the House.  Mike Johnson was on President Trump’s impeachment defense team.  WATCH:

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Mike Johnson is a big upgrade from Kevin McCarthy.  Johnson has a solid and stable disposition, is very grounded toward finding optimal solutions and was /is a strong ally and defender of President Trump and the MAGA movement.  Johnson arrived with the Trump ’16 wave, and he has earned the space to see if he can deliver great outcomes.

When compared to the alternatives, Speaker Johnson is a big step in the right direction.   Matt Gaetz delivered an exceptional outcome, albeit likely with a little 🙏 divine luck for the assist.

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Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson won the vote and has become Speaker of the House of Representatives.  This is a huge shift in momentum for the MAGA base, for common sense pragmatic voters, and for the overall direction of our national body politic.

Speaker Johnson delivered a humble, gracious and fantastic speech after the vote.  WATCH:

WASHINGTON DC – The fourth-term Louisianan sailed to victory with 220 votes, more than the 215 he needed to be elected speaker on the House floor. The final vote on the first ballot was 220-209.

Johnson’s win marked a stunning turnaround after more than three weeks of chaotic limbo in the House following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the demise of three other failed speaker candidates. He did not lose a single GOP vote from lawmakers who were present; Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is in Israel and did not attend the balloting.

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This is deep weeds inside baseball, but boy howdy does it tell a story. Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA, FL) goes through the details of yesterday’s House republican conference assembly as they select a Speaker nominee.

What Gaetz reveals in detail is how Kevin McCarthy has been working the conference to undermine any other Speaker candidate so that McCarthy would be renominated as the only possible alternative. The insight and details are really interesting. This is a must watch.

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