I enjoy Kevin ‘Sid‘ Hassett very much.  He was awesome in Trump’s first term as an economic advisor, and he’s even better in term two as the Director of the National Economic Council (NEC).

When the people who controlled Joe Biden lost the 2024 election, they were angry.  They wanted to leave President Trump with as big a mess as possible and all actions were taken to create chaos that Trump would have to deal with.  Intellectually honest people noticed.

Part of their chaos operation was to drive up the cost of food, intentionally create inflation that Trump would have to handle.  The “bird flu” issue was part of the plan.  After the 2020 election the U.S. Dept of Agriculture ordered millions of chickens to be killed.  Simple quarantine process was dismissed in favor of a ridiculous slaughter.

During a CBS interview today, Margaret Brennan asked Kevin Hassett what the Trump administration was going to do about food inflation, and specifically the astronomical cost of eggs.  Hassett outlined the plan by first reminding Brennan that regarding spread, chickens don’t fly; ducks and geese do.  I almost spit out my coffee.  I enjoy Kevin Hassett.  Video and Transcript Below:

“Sid“

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We want to turn now to the economy and inflation, which, compared to last January, ticked up about 3% last week. Kevin Hassett is the director of the National Economic Council, and he joins us now. Good morning to you, Director.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Good morning, Margaret, good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I don’t have to tell you, but the rest of the country saw their egg prices at the grocery store go up. We’re now at a record high due to that bird flu outbreak, but also labor costs, and that’s contributing to food costs overall. When will the administration get that outbreak under control?

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For the past two weeks, the Snow Mexicans have been booing the USA national anthem when played in Canada during sporting events.  While we hold no animosity toward Canadians, last night the Team USA hockey team beat them 3-1 on the Snow Mexicans home turf.

After Canada again booed the USA national anthem again last night, the game began with three fights in the first nine seconds: Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel, then Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett and finally J.T. Miller and Colton Parayko.

USA Today – […] The negative reactions to “The Star-Spangled Banner” came even after the Bell Centre public address announcer asked fans to show respect for the anthems.

Canadian sports fans have been booing the U.S. national anthem since U.S. President Donald Trump made threats regarding import tariffs earlier in February. The Trump administration paused the threat for 30 days for Canada, as well as Mexico, to be hit with 25% tariffs, but the concern over the economic impact remains. (link)

With the win last night, team USA clinched a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game on Thursday in Boston.  Canada could fill the other spot if it beats Finland in regulation on Monday or with an overtime win if Sweden doesn’t beat the U.S. in regulation.

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“Peace is not a noun, it’s a verb. Peace takes action, not words.” That is a message carried by Secretary of State Marco Rubio today during his interview with CBS Margaret Brennan that pertains to both the Israel -v- Hamas conflict and the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.

Brennan used the interview to push the MSM narrative that JD Vance was lecturing European leaders at the Munich Security Conference.  Rubio defended the remarks by Vice President Vance and told Ms. Brennan that certain uncomfortable truths need to be said regardless of the reception to them. The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to “Face the Nation.” We want to begin today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Jerusalem on the second leg of his trip through Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Secretary, I know it’s the evening hours there, and you’ve had a long day. We appreciate your time. You’ve got quite a busy schedule. You met earlier with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he’s lock step with the Trump administration, but he can’t share details on, quote, “when the gates of hell will be open…if all our hostages are not released.” Did he tell you he wants to keep talks going to get to phase two of this hostage deal?

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think we share a common goal. We want to see every hostage released. Frankly, I think, and the President has said this, we want to see them out as soon as we possibly can. And- and certainly, you know, the world has watched these images of people, and it’s just heartbreaking to remember that some of them have been now almost two years there. It’s a horrifying situation. So we coordinate and work very close with them. We share the goal that every hostage needs to come home, every single one, without delay. Obviously, the- there are details of how we’re pursuing that and coordinating that we’re not going to share publicly because we don’t want to endanger the hostages and we don’t want to endanger this process. But suffice it to say that if it was up to us, every one of these hostages would be home right now, and we want it to happen as soon as possible.

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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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When reviewing the production, it is important to remember – when Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to an assembly in English, his audience is not in the room in Munich. Zelenskyy is speaking to America, through the scripted remarks.

When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to Europe, he speaks Ukrainian.  When Zelenskyy is scripted to speak to America, he speaks English. This production pattern is consistent.

President Zelenskyy spoke to the Munich Security Conference after speaking to President Trump, after speaking to Secretary Rubio and after Vice-President JD Vance stunned the European audience by calling out their weak and fearful framework of democracy.  All of that is in the background of his remarks.

Acting as if he were a NATO member, he’s not, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy tells the European audience they need to plan for the U.S. to pull-back from NATO, and the European Union needs to assemble a collective “European Army.”   If Europe puts an army together, not a NATO army, but an independent European army, then the French, Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Italians etc., can send their soldiers into Ukraine to join the fight against Russia.  Yeah, good luck with that.  WATCH:

The audience wasn’t exactly enthusiastic at the suggestion.

“The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the time has come for the creation of a European army. ‘Our army alone is not enough, we need your support,’ he said, adding that the ‘old days’, when the US supported Europe ‘just because it always had’, are over. He told attendees he would not take Nato membership for Ukraine off the table and insisted that no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without the involvement of Kyiv and Europe.”

Zelensky also told the European leaders at the Munich Security Conference that Russia, Belarus and North Korea are planning a full scale, nuclear invasion of Europe. He urged Europe to take preemptive action.  The full video is below:

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As expected, initial direct talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are being planned to take place in Saudi Arabia.  Saudi King Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) will be the key emissary to coordinate the agenda.

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 15, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Building on the Feb. 12 phone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a communication channel to address accumulated issues in Russian-American relations,” a readout from the Russian Foreign Ministry read.

“This is aimed at removing the unilateral barriers inherited from the previous administration that hinder mutually beneficial trade, economic, and investment cooperation.”

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Quickly, just for clarity. Narrative engineers from Reuters News Agency are kicking up dust about Elon Musk firing a dozen members of the U.S. Digital Services Office.  However, what Reuters does not say is that the “USDS” is the agency vehicle that was renamed “DOGE” during the Trump Executive Order [SEE HERE].

That’s right, Musk fired the preexisting staff within his own agency.

(Reuters) – Elon Musk’s DOGE team has sent termination notices to more than a dozen staffers at the U.S. Digital Services Office, a group of federal IT workers, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday citing two people familiar with the matter.

Musk’s DOGE has swept through federal agencies in recent weeks searching for spending cuts as part of Trump’s goal to overhaul and shrink the U.S. government. (link)

Now see Section Three DOGE Structure (emphasis mine): “Sec. 3.  DOGE Structure.  (a)  Reorganization and Renaming of the United States Digital Service.  The United States Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the United States DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established in the Executive Office of the President.” [Source]

The media are ridiculous.

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This is a good compare and contrast scenario.  Yesterday Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump delegation.  [SEE HERE] The bitterness, tension and anger in the room was palpable; this was a hostile meeting and the Ukranian team acted like they were meeting with enemies.

When you understand how corrupt the Ukraine officials are, and when you accept that President Trump is ending the funding to their family bank accounts, the Ukraine anger toward the Trump administration is understandable.  The Ukranian government officials hate President Trump with a passion.

Compare yesterday’s meeting to what you see below.  The U.S. congressional delegation (CODEL) to the Munich Security Conference consists of key Republicans (DeceptiCons) and corrupt Democrats who fund the Ukraine money laundry.  A process that includes kick-backs of the proceeds to the bank accounts of the Republicans and Democrats present.   Watch the greeting:

This is why our senators were too busy to get Kash Patel confirmed over the 3 day weekend.

They had much more important business in Munich sucking up to the little dictator and welfare queen Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/nkaC4K88JM

— Patriot Lady (@angelwoman501) February 15, 2025

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse even tells Zelenskyy, “You’re among friends here.”

Watch again without sound.  Expand full screen if on laptop. Notice how Adam Schiff (at the end of the table) is looking at the cameras, then playing it smart because he can see the optics are not good.  All of these congressional delegation members receive kickbacks as part of their indulgence package, many sit on the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Senators include: Chris Murphy, Roger Wicker, Sheldon Whitehouse, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Thom Tillis, Chris Van Hollen, Joni Ernst, Elissa Slotkin, Adam Schiff, and one more I cannot quite make out, possibly Peter Welch.

Every one of these senators are working against the Trump administration, openly or under cover. Every one!

Roger Wicker was Pete Hegseth’s legislative confirmation guide and the republican Senator who went bananas yesterday when Secretary Hegseth said Ukraine would not gain NATO membership.  You will easily remember Joni Ernst immediate opposition to Hegseth also.

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I’ve been a little quiet on the Lawfare challenges to the DOGE mission in part because we’ve been sending CTH research files up through the silo to the legal eagles who need it.  Additionally, few -if any- of the outside legal filings against the administration are going to survive judicial review.

Quite simply, most of what the public is witnessing, almost entirely driven by funded media outlets, is simple Lawfare.  Remember, “Lawfare” in its purest form is not a legitimate legal challenge; it is a construct to create optics, frame narratives and fundraise for desperate leftists.

The underpinning of Lawfare is not designed to withstand legal scrutiny; it is a ruse, simply narrative and public opinion shaping. That’s it.

Interestingly a familiar name surfaced last night when District Judge John Bates essentially destroyed three of the legal challenges against Musk and DOGE when he determined that DOGE was acting as an “agency of government” appointed by President Trump.  Executive agencies have the ability to detail their employees to other agencies to conduct review and audits at the request of the executive, Trump.

“For the reasons explained above, on the record as it currently stands and with limited briefing on the issue, the case law defining agencies indicates that plaintiffs have not shown a substantial likelihood that [DOGE] is not an agency. If that is so, [DOGE] may detail its employees to other agencies consistent with the Economy Act,” Judge Bates wrote.

This ruling opens up the Labor Department, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to review by the DOGE employees.

This gets interesting because Judge John Bates was a previous presiding judge of the FISA court and has spoken at length about supporting the FISA-702 process.  Judge Bates has defended the FBI/DOJ/Contractor use of the NSA database.

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