Microsoft tries to thread the needle of transparency by telling its consuming audience as much about governmental collection of data as possible. Toward that end Microsoft releases a biannual transparency report.

Within the latest transparency release Microsoft reports in the first half of 2016 they received a massive increase in FISA orders; primarily from U.S. governmental agencies.

• “For the latest Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) data reported, Microsoft received 1,000-1,499 FISA orders seeking content disclosures affecting 12,000-12,499 accounts, compared to the 0-499 FISA orders seeking disclosure of content impacting 17,500-17,999 accounts reported for the previous period.

We received 0-499 National Security Letters in the latest reporting period, which remains unchanged from the previous period.” (link)

Why would there be such a significant spike in FISA orders during the first six months of 2016?

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To say we consider Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a man with a unique skill-set for this defined moment in U.S. economic history would be an understatement of epic proportions. Ross is one of the most consequential and dynamic forces within the President Trump administration.

That said, Secretary Ross also knows the real economic adversary is not necessarily external to our border. The bought-and-paid-for UniParty congress has been under the influence of the globalist-minded U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the myriad of K-Street lobbyists, for almost two decades.

Today, Wilbur “Wilburine” Ross fires a shot across the bow of the U.S. Economic Swamp Defenders:

Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade.

Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification letter in compliance with the Trade Promotion Act. But, under President Trump’s leadership, I have no doubt that we will be successful in rebalancing American trade in favor of American workers and businesses.

There are, as you know, trillions of dollars at stake. The American electorate have no reference points for the battles that lie ahead within budgets and trade principals.  The Trump administration will necessarily direct attention to the real source of political power and influence, the DC financial system. (more…)

The Afghan Ministry of Defense said Friday that 36 ISIS fighters and no civilians were killed when the U.S. dropped a massive bomb on a militant tunnel complex the day before.

(Via AP) A strike by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military killed 36 Islamic State group militants and left no civilian casualties, hitting a tunnel complex in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Friday.

The massive bomb terrified villagers 20 miles away across the border in Pakistan with a blast they described as earsplitting.

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A report surfaces today that Facebook has shut down 30,000 user accounts from France. The French election is in 10 days and given the nature of Facebook’s political activity in shaping national elections many are seeing a connection.

[…] In a blog post, Facebook said it was acting against 30,000 fake accounts in France. It said its priority was to remove suspect accounts with high volumes of posting activity and the biggest audiences. –link–

Facebook was first used as a political tool during the Egyptian uprising in 2010. It was the introduction and coordinated use of social media which led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and the installation of Mohammed Morsi. Additionally, WikiLeaks earlier released evidence showing the CIA was previously used in the 2012 French election to shape the outcome.

A week before the WikiLeaks release highlighting the CIA’s prior involvement, CNN was pushing a narrative that the Russians were attempting to interfere in the psychology of the French election. The WikiLeaks release in combination with the CNN story showed two interested entities fighting for influence. The U.S. State Dept. through CNN and Russia through WikiLeaks – Outlined Here –

Why would they do this? Well, those of you who have followed the historic research on the State Department might well remember the “Rivkin Project“. The globalist agents, multinational interests, are simply not willing to concede another loss in their decades long approach toward eliminating nationalist sentiment.

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Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, the sacrifices we have made during Lent culminate in our internalization of the great offering of Christ’s life. If we have been diligent in our Lenten preparations, Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us. It becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so each year, we find that we give ourselves over to Christ just a little more through this time of penance and reflection. 

The Easter Triduum, the marking of the days of Jesus’ passion and resurrection, the  most important time of the church year, begins with the evening Mass of Holy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes on Easter Sunday evening. After preparing during the days of Lent, we celebrate these holiest of days in the Church year. (more…)

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.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

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 †

BREAKING: North Korea's vice foreign minister tells the AP it will conduct next nuclear test whenever supreme headquarters sees fit.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2017

It is important to ignore the loud and panicked voices.  Very deliberate and serious people are dealing with complex issues.  Ignore 99% of what you see/hear in media.

There are very capable people who have a life of experience in dealing with all elements of international leadership.  We have excellent and capable leadership in the U.S. both visible and non-visible.

President Trump and Secretary Tillerson have smartly invested in relationship building around the N-Korean issues. Do not buy into the MSM fear mongering, or worry yourself with dark imaginings.

On March 14th Judge Andrew Napolitano said:

“Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA. He didn’t use the CIA. He didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database. So by simply having two people go to them saying, ‘President Obama needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump, conversations involving president-elect Trump,’ he’s able to get it, and there’s no American fingerprints on this.”

~ Judge Andrew Napolitano

On March 20th Fox News suspended Napolitano for making those remarks.  The British government and British intelligence community was furious at Napolitano and Fox News.  At the time Rupert Murdoch was attempting to purchase SkyNews, which might have aided in the severity of his response to Napolitano.

However, today CNN is confirming much of the construct for what Napolitano was previously saying:  (more…)