The ever-donor-aligned Republican National Committee has announced the first 2024 GOP presidential debate will take place in Paul Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin. The debate will be organized by Rupert Murdoch (Fox News) and livestreamed in partnership and sponsorship with Rumble and the Young America’s Foundation, a group led by GOPe favorite and former Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker.  [Ronna Announcement Here]

Yeah…. sketchy.  All of it.   Rupert Murdoch, Paul Ryan, Bret Baier, Martha McCallum and Scott Walker… Gee, what could go wrong?

(Via Fox News) – “I am excited to announce that our first debate in Milwaukee will be in partnership with Fox News, Young America’s Foundation, and Rumble,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement first shared with Fox News on Wednesday.

The chairwoman, asked during an interview on News’ “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday morning, if there will be one or two debate stages, said “we’ll put the criteria out soon. We don’t know how many candidates there’s going to be so that will dictate whether there’s one or two stages. Right now I don’t see there being two stages but I could be wrong on that. The field’s forming later than usual.”

[…] The debate will be televised exclusively on Fox News, and Rumble is the live-streaming partner.

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If you find yourself asking, ‘what the heck is Senator Tim Scott even exploring’, you are likely not alone.  But running for the GOPe nomination in 2024 isn’t really about winning the GOPe nomination in 2024; it’s more about fulfilling the requests of the Sea Island big club billionaires who guide and shape GOPe politics, nothing more.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this effort, because CTH already predicted the purpose, intent and timing of this moment {GO DEEP}.  Anyone with a generally solid understanding of GOPe nominations and the timing of South Carolina in the primary can see the big club play. [Tim Scott link]

Nikki Haley and Tim Scott intended to help the Sea Island billionaire confab to stop Donald Trump and create the path for Ron DeSantis.  It’s a tag-team splitter ploy, nothing more.  That’s why President Trump proactively moved to mitigate the big club move and embraced SC Senator Lindsey Graham and the organization Graham has in the Palmetto state.

Simultaneously, as the billionaire donor class construct their own blank line ballot spacing for the 2024 election [SEE HERE], both Scott and Haley can be considered options for the dark money group behind ‘No Labels’.  Essentially No Labels is a billionaire created financial vehicle to pay off a non-Trump candidate and influence 2024.

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In the BIG PICTURE a local New York City District Attorney has created a criminal case, structured on a federal crime, that the federal government has stated was not a crime.  This is the Rubicon that has been crossed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In essence this is extreme Lawfare in action.

In response to the jurisdictional issue; in addition to the substantive political construct of the case; the largest mechanism within congress, the House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed officials from the District Attorney’s office to answer questions about the construct of the case.  A return-fire lawfare response.

In reaction to the federal response and inquiry, DA Alvin Bragg filed a lawsuit against the House Judiciary Committee [Filing Review HERE].  District Attorney Bragg also asked for intervention against the subpoena, an injunction against the authority of the House oversight, that was immediately DENIED by the court.  Alvin Bragg really doesn’t want the House to investigate his case.

Appearing on Fox News to outline the House response, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan explains the issues at hand {Direct Rumble Link} – WATCH:

Jim Jordan is correct in the unprecedented action from Bragg, that preceded the unprecedented action from congress. This is a battle of Lawfare operations with significant long-term consequences for the entire justice system.  The political motives for the New York, Atlanta (GA) and Washington DC cases are transparent.

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Yesterday White House Spokesman for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, asked media not to report on the leaked classified intelligence that has been showing up on various social media platforms.  The classified intel was designated NOFORN, meaning the containment silo forbids sharing with any non-U.S. citizen; ergo the leaks came from inside our own Intelligence Community silos.

BBC is now reporting on part of the NOFORN leak as it pertains to Ukraine.  According to the classified intelligence, active U.K and U.S. military personnel are conducting the war effort inside Ukraine.  Congress has not authorized any active U.S. military involvement.  The White House has previously denied any active U.S. military involvement.

That said, we always suspected the U.S. military was operating inside Ukraine and the Pentagon and White House were just lying about it.  BBC is confirming that exact scenario with U.S. Special Forces operators inside Ukraine.

(VIA BBC) – The UK is among a number of countries with military special forces operating inside Ukraine, according to one of dozens of documents leaked online.

It confirms what has been the subject of quiet speculation for over a year.

The leaked files, some marked “top secret”, paint a detailed picture of the war in Ukraine, including sensitive details of Ukraine’s preparations for a spring counter-offensive.  The US government says it is investigating the source of the leak.

According to the document, dated 23 March, the UK has the largest contingent of special forces in Ukraine (50), followed by fellow Nato states Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1).

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A few days after the terror attack of 9-11-01, someone in media asked George W. Bush what Americans can do to help.  Dubya’s response drew instant criticism, because he asked people to go shopping… but in the big picture, President Bush knew what could happen if the economic freeze continued.

When it comes to politics and economic outlooks, trust your instincts.  The economics of the ‘thing’ is always the reason the ‘thing’ exists or does not exist.

When you are looking at economic news, always remind yourself… the people producing the news have a vested interest in maintaining a very specific outlook.  The motive behind what Dubya said in September of 2001, pertains every bit as much today.  Economic outcomes can topple entire governments.

Remember, this current ‘supply-side energy policy driven inflation‘, a purposeful effort to shrink the economy and yet tenuously maintain control, has never happened before.  The people behind the Build Back Better agenda are, in reality, experimenting with a theory. DATA…

(ISM) – The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI contracted for the fifth straight month in March registering 46.3, the lowest level since May 2020. Any reading below 50.0 indicates contraction.  The employment index declined by 2.2 percent to a level of 46.9.

Most of the impediments to manufacturing growth — such as shortages and lockdowns — have subsided, said Tim Fiore, chair of the ISM’s manufacturing survey committee, with the exception of pricing. ISM’s pricing index fell below 50 in March but at 49.2 remains higher than pre-pandemic levels.

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French President Emmanuel Macron was in the Netherlands today speaking to an audience in the Hague about his vision for the future of Europe.  A remarkably disassociated speech was the outcome.

Speaking of the importance of innovation to maintain economic competitiveness, on his right-hand Macron cheers for capitalism as an outcome of competition from the only venue it exists, the nation state.  Yet on his left hand, Macron proclaims the importance of ‘globalism’ and economic socialism, which is the anthesis of creating innovation.

Economic nationalism is the only way competition between nation states succeeds. Innovation is born from competition, and without the nation state there is no baseline to maintain capitalism.  Globalism creates socialism, equity as the baseline for distribution of innovative outcomes.  Capitalism and socialism cannot coexist if innovation and competition is the goal.  The pillars which form the baseline for Macron’s view of a new Europe, collapse in his contradictory worldview.  Prompted to 10:55, WATCH:

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Macron’s solution to the problem of innovation lacking in ‘globalist‘ economic models, is to force citizens to produce and innovate.  This is what he means by “reforms” in the competitive agenda.  Forced innovation, is the worldview of totalitarians.   Capitalism relies on freedom, not coercion.

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Effective today, the U.S. National COVID-19 Emergency is officially over!   [Details on House Resolution 7 Here]

Led by Republicans in the House and supported by a veto-proof majority in the overall legislative branch, Joe Biden was forced today to officially end the national COVID-19 emergency.  [White House Link]

It passed the House by a vote of 229 – 197, February 1, 2023. It passed the Senate by a vote of 68 – 23, March 29, 2023. And was presented to the White House on April 5th for signature. Biden had no options.  Federal emergency power is stripped, this will help states counter mail-in ballots.

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As team Ron DeSantis prepares for the national launch of a 2024 presidential bid, one of the campaign’s primary areas of concern is the need to create optics representing support and momentum.

As noted by comments delivered to the Washington Post by DeSantis PAC organizers:

[…] DeSantis allies are acutely aware of Trump’s still-strong influence and appeal in the Republican Party. A senior member of Never Back Down has said the group will be heavily involved in building crowds for DeSantis, in part because of Trump’s fixation on crowd size and the expectation that a front-runner candidate draws big audiences, according to a person familiar with the comments.

“If you’re DeSantis, you have to desperately avoid the small room with Jeb Bush asking attendees to please clap,” the person said, referencing a viral moment from Bush’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016. (read more)

The last several weeks have been very rough for team DeSantis as noted by Politico:

[…] On the same day Trump was indicted in an alleged hush money scheme, the Florida governor was posing with puppies at a pet adoption event as his aides instructed reporters to leave.

“This is deja vu all over again,” said Terry Sullivan, who ran Marco Rubio’s 2016 campaign for president. “Trump dominates media coverage, making it impossible for his competitors to get any coverage or forward traction.”

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The United States Treasury Dept is planning to send officials to key parts of the globe to act as enforcers for western sanctions against Russia. Essentially, it’s a blackmail and extortion tour, where Liz Rosenberg and Brian Nelson will visit non-compliant nations and central Western banking hubs to threaten foreign nations against continued noncompliance.

Whether any nation complies with the pressure campaign threats is still unknown. However, against the backdrop of various geopolitical alliances now cleaving the global economy, and with a larger network of non-western nations now forming their own trade partnerships without regard for Washington DC opinion, the effort to draw “with us” or “against us” lines could backfire.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top sanctions officials from the U.S. Treasury Department plan special international trips this month to pressure firms and countries still doing business with Russia to cut off financial ties because of the war on Ukraine.

The message is that those working with Russia’s government must decide:

1. Continue to provide Moscow with material support or

2. Keep doing business with countries that represent 50 percent of the global economy.

Those are the choices to be laid out, senior Treasury officials told reporters on a call Friday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the travel plans.

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If you overlay the U.S. intelligence leaks as a potential excuse for the U.S. not getting deeper into the never-ending Ukraine conflict we support, then the comments by Emmanuel Macron about the EU not wanting to get involved with U.S. interests in Taiwan make more sense.

On his flight back from Beijing, French President Macron told traveling media, Europe needs to reduce dependency on the United States.  Remarkably, this is what President Donald Trump has been saying for years as part of his overall EU and NATO policy. However, this could also be an indication of a strategic Taiwan pivot by the U.S. as shared from the Foggy Bottom diplomats who love their French connections.

(Via Politico) – Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.

Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”

He said “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” while flying from Beijing to Guangzhou, in southern China, aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One.

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