Last week President Trump announced secondary tariffs of 25% against any nation who purchases oil from Venezuela.  The approach was in response to the Venezuelan government refusing repatriation of their criminal gang members and organized narcotraffickers.

India operates the world’s largest oil refining company Reliance Industries, and facing the possibility of 25% tariffs against India, Reliance has cancelled oil purchases from Venezuela.

NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) – India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, will halt Venezuelan oil imports after the United States announced a 25% tariff on nations buying crude from the South American nation, three sources said on Wednesday.

The Indian conglomerate, which last year obtained approval from U.S. authorities to purchase oil from the sanctioned producer, imports an average of 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude every month, according to LSEG data.

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Despite our already outlining each of these details the New York Times is now confirming, do not overlook the geopolitical consequences that will surface as a result of their publication.

The New York Times published two articles {HERE and HERE} revealing: 1) that U.S. military boots are on the ground in Ukraine. (2) The U.S. military is actively involved in the ongoing targeting of strikes into Russia. (3) The CIA is operating in Ukraine and conducting targeted strikes into the Russian Federation mainland.

New York Times – […] [F]or nearly three years before Mr. Trump’s return to power, the United States and Ukraine were joined in an extraordinary partnership of intelligence, strategy, planning and technology whose evolution and inner workings have been known only to a small circle of American and allied officials.

[…] The idea behind the partnership was that America’s close cooperation with Ukraine would compensate for Russia’s vast advantages in manpower and weaponry. To guide the Ukrainians as they deployed their ever-more-sophisticated arsenal, the Americans created an operation called Task Force Dragon.

The secret center of the partnership was at the U.S. Army garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany. Each morning, U.S. and Ukrainian military officers set targeting priorities — Russian units, pieces of equipment or infrastructure. American and coalition intelligence officers searched satellite imagery, radio emissions and intercepted communications to find Russian positions. Task Force Dragon then gave the Ukrainians the coordinates so they could shoot at them.

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Marine Le Pen in France, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Imran Khan in Pakistan, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Donald Trump in America, Calin Georgescu in Romania.  These are the latest populist candidates targeted by Lawfare in “democratic” nations and blocked from office.  Amid the group, only President Trump defeated the globalist alignment against him.

Marine Le Pen and 24 other officials were accused to paying staff for the National Rally party with EU commission funds intended to pay European Union parliamentary aides, a claimed violation of the European Union regulations.  Le Pen was a representative to the EU and is currently the leading candidate in France.

Marine Le Pen and her co-defendants were not accused of personally benefiting from the EU financial process and denied any wrongdoing as it related to paying staff and parliamentary aides.  However, a French court ruled she did pay for party staff with the wrong funds and her punishment is 2 years of house arrest and a five-year ban from office.

REUTERS – […] The court sentenced Le Pen to two years’ imprisonment under house arrest, but it was the political ramifications of ineligibility that dealt the biggest blow to her foreseeable political future.

Le Pen and 24 other officials from the National Rally were accused of having used money intended for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.

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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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FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino both overlook key issues.  I’ll explain after a review of this update from Deputy FBI Director Bongino (as shared on his Twitter Account):

“In the best interests of openness and transparency I’ll be posting regular information updates on this account.

-The Director and I are working through many of the transparency issues. We are focused on getting this done the right way, and as quickly and efficiently as possible. Many of these cases involve victims, both young and old, who we will not allow to be re-victimized by a rushed and sloppy effort.

-We are engaging with all of our personnel on transparency, while simultaneously dealing with a number of serious threats to the Homeland, our children, our economy, and our infrastructure. We absolutely cannot afford to miss any threats in those spaces. Multi-tasking isn’t an option here.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin recently (3/27/25) visited the Commander and Crew of the latest Russian nuclear submarine, the Arkhangelsk.

The Arkhangelsk is a Project 885M Yasen-M ship, the latest fourth-generation multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying any sea-launched missiles and effectively hitting targets both at sea and on land. The submarine was completed and delivered to the Russian Navy on December 27, 2024. “Its crew has recently completed its basic training and is now ready to carry out its duties at sea.”

President Putin’s full remarks are HERE.

♦ Could you share your assessment of the latest developments and how the special military operation has been unfolding?

Vladimir Putin: “Of course, I can.

To put it briefly, we are gradually moving towards achieving all the objectives we set for ourselves at the start of the operation. Some would have liked these advances to happen at a quicker pace, but we have gathered steady momentum and have been confidently advancing our positions. But I would like to frame this question in a different way.

What I want to say is that we were not the ones who started or launched hostilities. It all started in the wake of the 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine. Western countries supported it, and this was how hostilities broke out in southeastern Ukraine.

We tried to resolve these issues by peaceful means for eight years. Taking Crimea and its people, as well as the people of Sevastopol under our wing was something we had to do. And we went to great lengths and were unrelenting in our efforts to resolve all matters concerning Donbass and Lugansk by peaceful means.”

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President Donald Trump holds an impromptu presser aboard Air Force One en route back to Washington DC.  Most of the conversation centers around the upcoming “Liberty Day” tariffs, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

According to National Economic Council Chairman Kevin Hassett, our President now has all the assembled data from the full review and analysis of the combined research of the MAGAnomic agencies within the White House.  The analysis combines both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to determine exactly what costs are put upon the U.S. export companies for goods that arrive in various countries.

All of those combined costs, by country, will determine the reciprocal amount of the tariff levied by President Trump.  The announcement of tariff rates will likely come this week, with President Trump previously saying April 2nd and April 3rd being the beginning of the implementation dates.

President Trump also puts context on the headline quotes promoted by NBC news and Kirsten Welker about his consideration toward Vladimir Putin. A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONTEXT!  President Trump simply noted that while President Putin doesn’t like Zelenskyy, and factually calls him illegitimate, Trump needs Putin to accept Zelenskyy in order to have the other chair at the peace table filled. That’s it. Pragmatic toward peace! WATCH:

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President Trump notes that after his warning of secondary tariffs against any nation who imports oil from Venezuela, Chinese ships pulled up anchor and left Venezuelan ports empty.  Additionally, regarding Zelenskyy, President Trump notes the Ukraine President is going to face “a lot of trouble” if he backs out of the previously agreed minerals deal.

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This is one of the examples of narrative engineering that is simply infuriating.  NBC has driven dozens of articles, pundit claims and discussion segments from their “transcription” of a recorded phone interview with President Trump.  However, no actual audio of the interview is presented.

President Trump weaves through interviews in his answers, providing context, tone, inflection and detail for each point of a conversation he is answering.  It is the context that surrounds the “quote” that becomes important when understanding what the president says.

In this segment on NBC Meet the Press, and the follow ups that appear on NBC Nightly News, notice how they do not provide the actual recorded interview, only the quotes, which Kirsten Welker then interprets for the audience.  This narrative engineering is the worst form of information manipulation.  WATCH:

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Where’s the audio, Kirsten?

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Jeffrey Goldberg appearing on Meet the Press, says he has met and spoken to Mike Waltz and that Waltz’s ongoing denials to that end are “simply not true.”   Goldberg notes his phone number was in Waltz’s phone simply because his phone number was in Waltz’s phone.

According to Jeffrey Goldberg, despite Waltz’s numerous denials, the National Security Advisor and journalist do know each other.  WATCH:

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