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Sunday May 25th – Open Thread

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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Susan Rice is Very Upset That President Trump Doesn’t Review the Intelligence Community Presidential Daily Brief

As we often remind ourselves, maintaining a leftist ideology is contingent upon pretending not to know things, and that applies even when you are discussing the opposition not doing something that you yourself never did.

During a recent podcast interview, President Obama’s former National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, takes the pretending to stratospheric levels needed in order to retain Obama-level pretending.  The criticism she rails against is so hilariously hypocritical I find myself wondering if anyone ever were to call her out, could she even respond.

Susan Rice complains about President Trump having a relationship with the duplicitous “Qataris,” who she proclaims are terribly nefarious and dastardly, and no President should have a relationship with Qatar.  Laughably, it was Susan Rice herself who constructed the “CIA Finding Memo” for President Obama to sign, which authorized sending Surface to Air missiles to Qatar, which would then be transferred by CIA Director Leon Panetta to Libya.  It was Susan Rice herself organizing covert operations inside our government using the horribly nefarious Qataris she now says are terrible.

That’s only one background reality amid more than a dozen points of gaslighting hypocrisy I could point out from this interview.  However, for the sake of recent headlines, the part where Susan Rice complains about President Trump not trusting or using the CIA’s Presidential Daily Brief is almost too funny {prompted below}.  President Obama famously didn’t put any value on the PDB and didn’t even want it, sending it to almost two-dozen staff so he didn’t have to bother with it.   Methinks Mrs Rice doth protest too much. WATCH:

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We shall skip the entire Benghazi was the result of a YouTube fiasco, that Susan Rice was so well known for, and put it beside the infamous January 5, 2017, Susan Rice memo published on 1/20/17 pretending that President Obama didn’t know or authorize the FBI Russiagate operation.  lolol

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Virginia Police Release Bodycam Footage of Former Afghan Military Interpreter Opening Fire on Police

As the story is told, Jamal Wali, 36, was allegedly brought to the US in 2014 after working as an interpreter for the US forces in Afghanistan.  He was pulled over for a routine violation in Fairfax, Virginia.

The obviously unstable Mr Wali shouted profanities at the police, professed his hatred for the United States and regret for not supporting the Taliban, and then eventually ended up opening fire on the police officers present.  The shooting happened earlier this month, and the Virginia police released the bodycam footage earlier today.

There is something profoundly wrong with our immigration system when this level of instability is intentionally brought to the USA from a war zone in Afghanistan.   The two police officers were wounded, Mr Wali was killed in the exchange.  Video below:

(Via Fox News) – Officials released bodycam footage showing the chaotic moments leading up to a deadly officer-involved shooting in Fairfax, Virginia, in April. In a press release accompanying the footage, the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) called the incident an “attempted murder.”

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DNI Tulsi Gabbard and NSA Marco Rubio, a Powerful Combination

I have been requested to update and revisit my outline from summer 2024 when I discussed the potential for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), a position now occupied by DNI Tulsi Gabbard.  As a new White House strategy begins to surface, perhaps revisiting what is possible will provide a perspective not often discussed.

Confronting a weaponized Intelligence Community is of great interest, because it is a component battle against the main tools of the Fourth Branch of Government.  The IC influence is in every policy related to Trump’s domestic and foreign agenda. Taking control and neutering the capabilities of the IC and CIA specifically, is an important undertaking.

Again, as I originally noted in 2024, “This is going to be a little odd, because factually almost no one knows what the position of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is about.”  Sometimes you have to wait until people reach a point of frustration, when they turn around and say, “Hey, about that thing”…

The ODNI was created as an outcome of the 9-11 Commission recommendations.  In the era shortly after 9/11, the DC national security apparatus was constructed to preserve continuity of government and simultaneously view all Americans as potential threats.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) were created specifically for this purpose.

Washington DC created the modern national security apparatus immediately and hurriedly after 9/11/01.  DHS came along in 2002, and within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 the ODNI was formed. 

When Barack Obama and Eric Holder arrived a few years later, those newly formed institutions were viewed as opportunities to create a very specific national security apparatus that would focus almost exclusively against their political opposition.

Here is the weird part.  The ODNI was formed in 2004, with the intent for the office to be the pivot point of a national security radar.   The DNI was intended to provide information to domestic agencies about foreign terror networks that would prevent something like 9-11 from happening again.  However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has never, not for one day, operated on this intent.   This is why they are such a critical position from my perspective.

The office was new, not established yet as a functioning silo, when Barack Obama and Eric Holder arrived in 2009.  They quickly dispatched an idiot, James Clapper, into the operation so they could weaponize around the office’s fulcrum point.

Prior to the DNI office existing, the CIA radar would sweep externally and then report to the Office of the President. The DNI was intended to take external radar sweep (CIA) and make it a full 360° circle, adding a sweep inside the USA that would be handled by the Dept of Homeland Security.

The DHS sweep and the CIA sweep would then be combined into a central collection hub called the ODNI.  Everyone with responsibility for “national security” could access the ODNI material. Essentially, and presumably, post 9-11 nothing like jihadists practicing flying airplanes would be missed again – at least that was the intent.

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President Trump Delivers Keynote Address at West Point Graduation Ceremony

President Donald J Trump delivers the keynote address for the Army Academy’s Class of 2025 at the United States Army Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony.  WATCH:

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May 24th – 2025 Presidential Politics – Trump Administration Day 125

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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Saturday May 24th – Open Thread

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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DNI Tulsi Gabbard Takes Operational Control of the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB)

Interestingly, just a few days before Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, took control of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) away from the CIA, Gabbard also made a move that is just as consequential and directly related.

It is pretty clear now the NIC was in the middle of a domestic Intelligence Community operation against the Trump administration when Tulsi Gabbard intercepted it (we hope with support from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, but we are not sure).  {GO DEEP} It is clear from the comments by SoS/NSA Rubio, that several media outlets were poised and awaiting leaks from the NIC in anticipation of fulfilling their role to advance the operation. [SEE HERE] DNI Gabbard essentially quashed their plan.

However, I was not aware that it was pushed into the public sphere where DNI Gabbard had taken control of the Presidential Daily Brief simultaneous to her confrontation with the NIC operation. [NYT LINK, Archive]  I am writing this update to inform and also ensure the CTH library has a reference point for future discussions.  Please familiarize yourself with the citations above as well as two very important outlines.

#1 – The unrealized power of the DNI and the possibilities for Trump’s appointed Director of National Intelligence, if a particular process was followed {GO DEEP}. #2 – The actual purpose of the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), as well as the modern weaponization of it by the CIA. {GO DEEP}.   Those two citations are important context to understand a very visible dynamic taking place.

On the same day that DNI Tulsi Gabbard took control of the PDB away from the CIA, DNI Gabbard also removed the National Intelligence Council from the CIA.  This is very good news and highlights both President Trump and DNI Gabbard understanding the unrealized potential power of the DNI that we have discussed on these pages.

Confronting a weaponized Intelligence Community is a key facet of interest for us because it is a core component battle against the main tools of the Fourth Branch of Government.  The IC influence is in every policy related to Trump’s domestic and foreign agenda. Taking control and neutering the capabilities of the IC and CIA specifically, is a key undertaking.

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Secretary Marco Rubio Eliminates More than 100 People from National Security Council – “Marco vs The Deep State”

The National Security Council is a ¹cushy job inside the White House filled with bureaucratic analysts and people who are in place in an attempt to steer policy.  Many of those detailed to the NSC represent the interests of the Silo agency from which they originate.

The National Security Council contains approximately 350 full-time employees.  The National Security Advisor, now Marco Rubio, is in charge of the NSC.  Secretary Marco Rubio just fired more than 100 of them.  A few quotes from Axios are beautiful, and telling:

[…] “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision,” Rubio told Axios in a statement. “The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.” [link]

WASHINGTON DC – The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

[…] An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

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President Trump Holds a White House Event to Fast Track Expanded Nuclear Power Capability – Video with Press Questions

President Trump signed executive orders today targeting nuclear energy.  President Trump announced a host of regulatory reforms within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) aiming to generate new investment and new nuclear plants being built.  The supportive Energy Department officials are particularly focused on developing small modular reactors as opposed to large-scale legacy reactors.

In addition to calling for a bureaucratic overhaul at the NRC, the executive orders also encourage the departments of Energy and Defense to build reactors on federal land to power data centers and military bases, speed up the process for testing new reactor technology and boost domestic supply chains for nuclear fuels.  This directive comes after Congress passed legislation directing the NRC to modernize its operations and speed up the licensing process.

The Question-and-Answer session begins at 15:12 of the video. WATCH:

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Executive Orders HEREHEREHERE

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