Earlier today President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Dept of Government Efficiency, held a press conference in the oval office to answer questions about the ongoing DOGE review of government.

Elon Musk outlines examples of how the various government agencies spend money without any standard accounting principles that facilitate audits and reviews.  In material fact the system of government that Elon Musk and President Trump outline, appears fully designed to generate fraud.

In essence, “waste, fraud and abuse” within government, is a feature of how the government systems are organized, not a flaw. WATCH:

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It is amazing how the media reporters present the structure of their questions to support the waste, fraud and abusive systems within the administration of government as it is outlined.  We do not dislike the media enough.

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President Donald Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan are having bilateral meetings today on the Israel v Hamas war and the subsequent issue with displaced Palestinians.

During the first press availability in the oval office, both President Trump and King Abdullah delivered remarks about the regional challenges, approaches and overall perspectives on the issues.  As expected, both President Trump and King Abdullah noted they await the plan from Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi who has been tasked with taking the lead on developing a peaceful solution and broader long-term plan for regional stability.

Jordan doesn’t want to take more Palestinian refugees, though King Abdullah did say he was going to take 2,000 sick children for care in the kingdom of Jordan.

President Trump has given Hamas a deadline of Saturday at noon to release all the remaining hostages or, “there will be hell to pay.”  President Trump is willing to take part in rebuilding Gaza in the aftermath of the chaos and rubble as soon as Hamas is removed from the issue.

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It’s good that Fogel is returning, and the gesture of his release is an act of good faith between the Russian government of Vladimir Putin and the U.S. government of Donald Trump.

However, that said, Marc Fogel was not arrested and detained for some arbitrary reason. The American teacher was arrested, tried and convicted for taking marijuana into Russia.  The Russian government doesn’t recognize medicinal marijuana, and they do not play around with illegal drugs or classified narcotics. It’s a big issue and considered a serious crime with severe penalties.

President Trump on Tuesday secured the release of an American imprisoned in Russia as part of a deal with the Kremlin negotiated by Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.  Mr Witkoff flew to Moscow Sunday for discussions with Russian officials.

New York Times –  […] Mike Waltz, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said in a statement that Mr. Witkoff, at the president’s direction, had brought Mr. Fogel out of Russia on his plane as part of an exchange. But he did not provide any details about whether the United States or an ally had released someone in return or what other steps the administration had taken to win Mr. Fogel’s release.

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If you have followed the arc of Tech, Peter Thiel recruiting JD Vance, the creation of Palantir, the funding of Vance’s senatorial run, and eventually the roadmap to connect Vance to Trump, this is a video speech you absolutely must not miss. JD Vance was sent to the AI Summit for a reason.

JD Vance talks at the AI summit in Paris, France, about his core mission, his core purpose inside current political influence. This is the very origin of his legacy, unfolding in real time. Vice-President JD Vance talks about Artificial Intelligence, the future and the Trump administration position.

Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders against heavily regulating U.S. tech companies and said excessive efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence could stymie its growth, during an AI summit in Paris Tuesday that marks his first foreign trip since taking office. WATCH:

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Do you feel more or less confident about the future, having watched these remarks?

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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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Yesterday, Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pointed a finger at the FBI for leaking the details of an ICE deportation sweep to the Los Angeles Times in order to tip-off criminal illegal aliens.  Today, Tom Homan says, “Kristi Noem was correct, some of the information they are receiving leads to the FBI.”

During an interview tonight with Sean Hannity, Border Czar Homan also said the Acting Deputy AG is going to pursue criminal charges against the FBI leaker.  WATCH:

🚨BREAKING: Tom Homan confirms the ICE operation leak appears to have originated from the FBI, says there’s now a criminal investigation.

The FBI agents responsible for this need to be tried for treason. pic.twitter.com/npIHTLtwA3

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 11, 2025

The leak led DHS Secretary Noem to say, “The FBI is so corrupt.”

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Nominee for the position of the Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI), Tulsi Gabbard, has passed the Senate cloture vote (52-46) ending debate on her confirmation.  McConnell and Murkowski voted “yea.”  The full senate is likely to take the final confirmation vote on Wednesday, and the traditional outcome should follow the same result as the vote to affirm cloture.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Having secured the support of 52 Senate Republicans, Gabbard, one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees, is on track to be confirmed as the nation’s top intelligence official in the coming days. Forty six Democrats in the chamber voted against Gabbard. Two senators were absent from the vote. (read more)

By the end of this week things could start to get very interesting on the Intelligence Community (IC) front.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is the newest office in the IC system. It was created as an outcome of the Patriot Act and the office represents the pivot point of all IC information flows.

The CIA information is supposed to enter the DNI silo from outside the USA, and the FBI information enters the DNI silo from inside the USA.  The combined information is then assembled and becomes part of the National Security Information (NSI) that is available to the Dept of Homeland Security.

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President Trump held an Executive Order (XO) press conference in the oval office today and took questions from the assembled press pool.  Included in the executive orders was the reversal of the plastic straw ban, no more paper straws.  The President also implemented a 25% tariff rate on imported steel.  The import tariff rate for aluminum increases from 10% to 25%.

At 09:00 of the video, President Trump reads prepared remarks on the implementation of the steel tariffs. At approximately 15:00 of the video, President Trump begins taking questions from the media.  The full video of the event is below:

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(Via NBC) – President Donald Trump signed an order Monday that imposes a 25% tariff on all steel imports to the United States.

“This is a big deal,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “The beginning of making America rich again.”

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Leftist journalist Jason Leopold filed a FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ/FBI a few years ago, seeking the documents and background material assembled by the DOJ, FBI and Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.  With the Mar-a-Lago case against Trump dismissed by a Florida judge, and effectively dropped by Special Counsel Jack Smith.  The justification for withholding the responsive material is no longer valid.

This has resulted in anti-Trump U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, now ruling that anti-Trump journalist Jason Leopold should be given the FOIA documents by the FBI and DOJ. [Ruling pdf here].  Essentially, Howell is saying, angrily, that with President Trump immune from criminal liability (SCOTUS immunity decision), the only public recourse for accountability is sunlight from within the evidence the FBI assembled.

Here is where it gets interesting.

The DOJ/FBI Special Counsel, previously said to the Florida court they would not reveal the content of the information because it was “classified” under “national security” grounds.  You might remember President Trump’s legal position was to make the content public because Trump said there was no classified material.

To reconcile the issue, during discovery phase Florida Judge Cannon appointed a Special Master to review the “classified” documents.  The FBI and Jack Smith balked at the demand and filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit to keep the Trump defense from reviewing what Jack Smith said were “documents marked classified.”  Smith didn’t want the documents made public or revealed to President Trump, so the DOJ/FBI position was that the documents were too sensitive (TSCI) with “national security” implications.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government position that any documents defined as “classified” by the executive branch (now Biden) that claimed, “national security,” should not be disclosed to the defendant, Trump.  The court of appeals essentially determined that all definitions by the executive branch, are not questionable by the judicial branch.

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