President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a celebration of military mothers at the White House earlier today [Video and Transcript].

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[Transcript] East Room – 4:30 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Thank you very much. And thank you for being here. And, Melania, you did a beautiful job in organizing this incredible celebration of America’s military mothers. That’s good. I had a great mother — Mary. I loved my mother. I miss my mother.
Military moms are the backbone of America. I know it is still two days away, but I wish everybody right now a very Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, everybody. (Applause.) Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you.
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The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.

The indictment outlines how the freighter was used to transport coal from North Korea to China and Russia and back-haul heavy equipment from Chinese ports into the DPRK. However, the transport network changed with the timing of increased sanctions on the DPRK.  Simply, the ship was routed to avoid being caught for violating sanctions.
The indictment also outlines how Chinese entities in Hong Kong assisted with routing the vessel to avoid maritime surveillance. There’s an aspect here that overlays a prior set of CTH discussions surrounding U.S. Navy training for a potential U.S. maritime blockade.
You might remember November 2017 CTH discussions about U.S. vessels conducting training exercises in/around shipping lanes. In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan.
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Earlier today President Trump presented the commander-in-chief trophy to the U.S. Army team during a Rose Garden event.

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President Donald Trump calls in to Fox Business with Trish Regan to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, the problems at the U.S. southern border and the Mueller probe.

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China, Russia and Cuba are financing and supporting the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.  Russian and Chinese military equipment was previously shipped into the country and military members from Cuba are fighting on the ground.
In response to the violence and presence of the Cuban military, President Trump is now threatening a full and complete embargo of Cuba by the U.S.

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Perhaps the weaponization of the NSA database was the biggest research project we ever took on.  That said, CTH prudence requires a lack of commentary.  For a background on this story see the [“SIDE NOTE“] previously presented HERE.  “The candle is not worth the flame.”

(WASHINGTON DC) The National Security Agency has recommended that the White House abandon a U.S. surveillance program that collects information about Americans’ phone calls and text messages, saying the logistical and legal burdens of keeping it outweigh its intelligence benefits, according to people familiar with the matter.

The recommendation against seeking the renewal of the once-secret spying program amounts to an about-face by the agency, which had long argued in public and to congressional overseers that the program was vital to the task of finding and disrupting terrorism plots against the U.S.

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President Donald Trump meets with military leadership at the White House prior to a dinner event.  During the briefing session President Trump took some questions from media about the security incident at Mar-a-Lago and a new demand from congress to review his income tax returns.  [Video Below – Transcript will follow]

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President Donald Trump participates in the posthumous Medal of Honor ceremony for Staff Sergeant Travis W. Atkins, United States Army.  Atkins’ initial award, the Distinguished Service Cross, was upgraded to the Medal of Honor after a Defense Department review. His son, Trevor, and parents will represent him at a White House ceremony.  Anticipated start time 4:00pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added

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THE UNITED STATES AND OUR GLOBAL PARTNERS HAVE LIBERATED ALL ISIS-CONTROLLED TERRITORY

“American and coalition forces have had one military victory after another over the last two years against ISIS, including the retaking of both Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. We’ve liberated more than 20,000 square miles of territory.”  ~President Donald J. Trump

[White House] LIBERATING ALL ISIS-CONTROLLED TERRITORY: The territory once held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is now 100 percent liberated.
Upon taking office, President Donald J. Trump empowered our commanders in the field and enabled our allies and partners on the ground to take the fight to ISIS.
The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, including the United States, Iraqi Security Forces, and partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces, have liberated all of the territory previously held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
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As of today the geographical ISIS caliphate, the open control over territory, has ended.  There is no longer a geographic land mass under the control and ownership of the extremist ISIS group known as ISIS.  All their territory has been removed.
An review of multiple DoD, State and Media reports essentially boils down to ISIS returning to an insurgency, a loosely connected ideological terror group without control over any specific area.
Interestingly, the foreign fighters who traveled to Syria to fight for ISIS were reported as the last ones to give up the caliphate fight.  Presumably because they would be unable to assimilate into the local communities, those foreign fighters were the last to be eliminated.

BAGHOUZ, Syria — The caliphate has crumbled, and the final offensive is over. While the official announcement hasn’t yet been made – Fox News has been told that this village, the last ISIS stronghold, is liberated.

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