I post the direct statements from President Trump on the calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin because if you read the background, both before and after the Israel strike operation, you can clearly see the strategy. [Check Dates]

President Trump is doing what modern U.S officials never did, showing respect to the aligned nuclear powers and positioning any action for the least amount of geopolitical collateral damage.  President Trump knows one of the key geopolitical influences upon Iran is the Russian Federation.

You do not have to be pro or anti-Trump to understand how executive level respect and diplomacy works. This is why the leadership of the Russian Federation respect Trump (firm but thoughtful), even if they are in opposition to his positions.

Remember the statements yesterday in Canada, at the G7, specifically about the Russian sanctions.  These statements above should be read with the context of before and after the strikes in Iran began; then overlay the statements yesterday about the sanctions.  There is a very clear message conveyed.

President Trump does not want a targeted problem to escalate into a regional geopolitical conflict.  So, he takes proactive and ongoing steps to ensure containment.  This is the part that French President Macron (doofus) cannot intellectually conceptualize; hence, President Trump’s curt remarks.

Even before the Israeli operation against Iran began, President Trump draws safe proactive perimeters that all traditional agents of governmental influence can understand.

Like you, I completely do not want expanded conflict that could potentially draw the U.S. into something far more dangerous.  However, I also don’t see that as a likely outcome.  President Trump is in the support position to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons from Iran; let him work without our dark imaginings injecting something that does not exist.

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Hopefully these are the political stunts that will force the reluctant hand of Attorney General Pam Bondi to intervene.  Criminal arrests and federal prosecutions of politicians pulling these stunts are needed.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander locked arms with an illegal alien as immigrations officials were removing the target for deportation.  Lander purposefully interfered in a federal apprehension of a criminal alien, and should be prosecuted.

The media are selectively showing a portion of the video after Lander is handcuffed by police.  However, in the earlier segment below you can clearly see Mr Lander intentionally locking arms with the target in an effort to stop ICE enforcement from taking custody.  WATCH:

.@bradlander just arrested at immigration court pic.twitter.com/nDqEK1Lzcw

— Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross) June 17, 2025

Judicial warrants are not required to apprehend and deport illegal aliens.

NEW YORK — New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was handcuffed and detained by federal agents Tuesday afternoon while escorting migrants from immigration hearings in Lower Manhattan.

Footage and video of the hectic incident is firing up the third-place candidate’s suddenly energetic campaign, as he shows himself taking on an issue that’s central to President Donald Trump’s political agenda.

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I cannot give all the particulars to backstop my perspective, however, Vice President JD Vance has traditional training and perspective on leadership within massive organizations, enhanced by his military service. Essentially, ‘never compromise your leadership‘.

Vice President JD Vance would not publish the following message on social media, without previously approving the entire statement through President Donald Trump. If Vance did not discuss this with Trump, Vance would stay quiet. That said, here is the message from JD Vance:

“Look, I’m seeing this from the inside, and am admittedly biased towards our president (and my friend), but there’s a lot of crazy stuff on social media, so I wanted to address some things directly on the Iran issue:

First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways–the easy way or the “other” way.

Second, I’ve seen a lot of confusion over the issue of “civilian nuclear power” and “uranium enrichment.” These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they’ve enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose. They’ve been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is hardly a rightwing organization.

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With the unusual conflicting information coming from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, about the lower confidence level in Iran’s weaponized nuclear weapons program; and contrast against the weird video she recently posted about Japan and the use of nuclear weapons; and considering that CIA Director John Ratcliffe has remained completely silent (although not surprising for him) about the Iranian nuclear program; there is the potential for this otherwise ordinary senate hearing to deliver some surprises.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard is the only administration official who has said publicly she did not think Iran was trying to develop a nuclear weapon.  President Trump dismissed a question about the intelligence conflict last night, saying “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to getting one.”

As DNI, Gabbard has made some strong moves over the past three months in support of President Donald Trump, including the interception of an impeachment construct within the National Intelligence Council inside the CIA, and the beginning deconstruction of the Obama era Intel Community Inspector General (ICIG) construct.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director Ratcliffe will testify together in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee at 10:30am today. It will be interesting to see if the subject of Iran and Israel is brought up by the Senators.  [Livestream Links Below]  WATCH: The senate just changed the hearing to “closed” status.

FUBAR!

I was hoping we would see Ratcliffe and Gabbard questioned together about the same issue.

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After departing the G7 in Canada, President Trump held a press availability aboard Airforce One at approximately 1:00am.  President Trump and Secretary Rubio were returning to the White House early to address issues of concern in the Iran-Israel conflict.   WATCH (prompted):

The president’s entire national security apparatus are assembled in the White House today (Tuesday) as the principals review events from the situation room.

Jennifer Jacobs (Bloomberg) provides a solid recap of the AF1 presser. “Trump wants “a real end” to the nuclear problem with Iran and this morning will find him in the White House Situation Room, monitoring developments in Middle East, he told us during his midnight departure from Canada.

“I didn’t say I was looking for a ceasefire,” he said on AF1. He said he wants “a real end,” with Iran “giving up entirely” on nukes.

The Israelis aren’t slowing up their barrage on Iran, he predicted. “You’re going to find out over the next two days. You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far.”

Asked his thinking on calling for Tehran to evacuate, he told me he wants “people to be safe.”

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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[Source]

Tehran, the capital and largest city of Iran, has a population of around 9.8 million in the city as of 2025, and 16.8 million in the metropolitan area.  Evacuation would be a hot mess.

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Sometimes a media report from “sources familiar with the matter” does actually track with the way President Trump’s doctrine is seen.  This is one of those times.

According to Axios, White House officials have directly relayed to mid-east friends that President Trump has no intention of using U.S. military resources to target Iran, unless the Iranian regime does something stupid like target Americans.

It is easy to imagine this type of relay was made by President Trump to Saudi Arabia (MbS), Qatar (Muslim Brotherhood) and/or Jordan (King Abdullah II), with the full intention of the message reaching Iranian govt officials.

[AXIOS] The big picture: The U.S. has helped Israel intercept missiles, but made clear Israel is acting alone in attacking Iran. The U.S. message is that if Iran attacks Americans in response, it will be crossing a red line.

The intrigue: The U.S. sent a similar message to the same countries about an hour between Israel launched the war last Thursday, telling them the U.S. would not participate.

In both cases, the U.S. seemed to expect the countries to pass that message to Iran to discourage any retaliation against U.S. forces or interests in the region.

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U.S. President Trump and U.K Prime Minister Starmer finished signing the details of the U.S-U.K trade agreement on heavy industry, aerospace, car tariffs and automobile trade.   Both Trump and Starmer delivered remarks to the assembled press pool prior to answering questions.

The media were full of questions for President Trump about the latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict.  President Trump noted he needs to conclude the commitments on his schedule before he can engage in Iranian negotiations.

The British media, maintaining their longstanding history against the Russian Federation, are worried that President Trump might like Russia and or even agree with Russian perspectives.  To the British press this possibility gives them the vapors.  President Trump tries to intercept the U.K fainting by reminding the Brits the goal is to “stop death” at a rate of 5,000 young lives per week.  WATCH:

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