Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was asked for his first impression of President Donald Trump at the conclusion of their first meeting.  You could hear a pin drop as the White House press pool listens to the respect delivered.  WATCH:

.

Regarding the politics of the Japanese military aspect to the reply.  It is the legacy of assassinated Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was a close and dear friend of President Trump, that set Japan on the path to rebuilding their military and independent national security.  PM Abe was crossing the country to talk about the need for a newly built military that would provide American defense forces the ability to draw down.  PM Ishiba is continuing that legacy initiative.

RIP Shinzo Abe. He is greatly missed.

(more…)

If you thought the USAID revelations were alarming sunlight, just wait until you see the apoplectic fits of rage about to come out from the Democrats, the DNC affiliated community activist groups, and the professional leftists who all rely upon the financial mechanism of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

According to a Politico article (also funded by USAID money), written with stunning amount of anger and apoplexy itself, Elon Musk’s DOGE team has just entered the CFPB to do a review and audit.  This one is going to be beyond bananas.

Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, tell Ma, to fire up the coffee pot, we are in for a delicious treat.  There’s no way for the DC outrage machine to handle this dose of Trumpian nitrous oxide directly into the intake manifold.  The machine will explode.

BACKGROUND FIRST – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) was originally created by congress (Elizabeth Warren lead) as a quasi-constitutional watchdog agency to reach into the banking and financial system, under the guise of oversight, and extract money by fining entities for CFPB defined regulatory and/or compliance violations

Essentially, the CFPB is a congressionally authorized far-left extortion scheme in the banking sector.  The CFPB levies fines; the fines generate income; however, unlike traditional fines that go to the U.S. treasury, the CFBP fines are then redistributed to left-wing organizations to help fund their political activism.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren as an outcome of the Dodd-Frank legislation. Within the CFPB Warren tried to set up the head of the agency, the Director, in a manner that that he/she would operate without oversight. Unfortunately, her dictatorial-fiat-design collapsed when challenged in court.  Backstory #1 – Backstory #2

A federal court found the CFPB Director position held too much power and deemed it unconstitutional. The court decision noted that giving the President power to fire the Director would fix the constitutional problem.  This issue was argued extensively after President Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney as interim Director.  Elizabeth Warren declaring the CFPB Director could not be fired by the executive.  The legal battle worked its way to the Supreme Court.

(more…)

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a press conference in the White House at the conclusion of their bilateral meeting.  Livestream Links Below:

.

(more…)

This is a big one, and well worth the November vote all by itself.

President Trump has announced his intention to Make Straws Great Again, by signing an executive order reversing the insufferable paper straw dictate from the Biden era.

[SOURCE]

As the story was told, there is a certain percentage of Americans who like the paper straw mandate; however, I never met anyone from that tribe.

(more…)

The sub-heading tells the story. It is essentially, a predictable outcome, a conversation we began here several months ago.

...”At the Education Department, the [DOGE] team has turned to artificial intelligence to hunt for potential spending cuts — part of a broader plan to deploy the technology across the federal government.”… (link)

The tone of the Washington Post article is about Musk and DOGE potentially violating privacy rules by extracting data held within the U.S. Dept of Education. However, if you take out the narrative engineering political part, what you are left with is the core issue we have discussed. The tech team approach is to pull the govt data into their AI model and use the modeling to evaluate efficiency.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The DOGE team is using AI software accessed through Microsoft’s cloud computing service Azure to pore over every dollar of money the department disburses, from contracts to grants to work trip expenses, one of the people said. Lower-level department staffers were directed by agency leadership to let Musk’s teams access the sensitive financial data, the person said.

The use of AI inside the Education Department, which has not previously been reported, shows how Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which includes former employees from his tech empire, is tapping the favorite tool of Silicon Valley as part of its mission to drastically slash the size and functions of the federal government. {READ MORE}

I’m sure there is some value in this process. In fact, I am certain that utilization of enhanced algorithmic AI software to streamline government data systems does hold merit. However, that’s not the big picture issue that concerns CTH. {GO DEEP}

(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.

(more…)

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 †

.

(more…)

U.S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears for an interview with Bloomberg, to set the record straight.  Bessent says Elon Musk and his DOGE government efficiency team are not “tinkering” with any federal payment data. He says the group does important work, and two of the DOGE analysts are Treasury Dept employees.

Secretary Bessent also talks about the strength of the US dollar, President Donald Trump’s agenda and meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and more.  The remarks about DOGE are at the front of the interview. WATCH:

.

(more…)

Former USAID Administrator Samantha Power, the architect of the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine (R2P) traveled to CBS HQ in New York for a late-night television appearance with Stephen Colbert.   The purpose of Power’s appearance was to defend the institutional interests of her former agency, as USAID comes under scrutiny for ridiculous spending and manipulation of foreign and domestic politics.

Mrs. Power does her very best Sally Stuthers impersonation as she claims the only purpose of USAID is to facilitate charity and life-saving public health in “underserved nations” around the world.  Colbert never asked her, if true – then why spend time in healthy Hungary and well-fed Europe? I digress.

Similarly, if the mission of USAID is as Mrs. Power described, then why was she never describing that ‘humanitarian relief’ type of activity in all of her self-promotion videos that she distributed during her travel.  I am going to post a short example below the Colbert video so you can watch it, listen to what Power says in her own words about her objective, and then contrast that against the USAID mission as she proclaims on Late Night television.

.

Below is USAID Administrator Samantha Power traveling Europe talking about her priority mission on behalf of USAID.  Contrast her remarks on Colbert with her actual remarks during her travels.  Notice her emphasis on “building media,” how many starving children in the Sudan are fed by building out a media influence system in Europe?

(more…)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is following an excellent political strategy to position for 2028, and We The People are likely to benefit from it.

Rubio, Vance and DeSantis will be the financially backed lineup competing for the 2028 Trump endorsement.  DeSantis will use his Florida platform to run alongside every MAGA initiative and be first to execute the priorities of the Trump administration – all good.  From Rubio’s perspective, he’s in a big spotlight and capable of using his influence to rebrand the MAGA opinion strongly in his direction – again, really good.  JD Vance holds the top spot for the ’28 endorsement as long as he continues to be the firm right hand of the one that matters, President Donald J Trump.

None of the three require any endorsement for financial support, all of the background billionaire players have checkbooks fattening as we speak to deliver the needed funding.  However, all of the three require the endorsement for success in the ’28 campaign.  This dynamic ensures some really awesome results will flow from all three positioning leaders in the next few years.

The era of Trump’s influence is the determinative factor, in the real life “Apprentice.” – We benefit. All good.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces publicly he will not attend the woke G20 summit this year for all the right reasons.

[SOURCE]

The decision is great MAGA policy, and the decision is great MAGA politics.

I anticipate we will see more of this fortuitous benefit to the era of Trump.

(more…)