There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)

(Via DOJ) Attorney General Jeff Sessions today issued the following statement on the swearing in of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Wray:

“Moments ago I had the honor of swearing in Chris Wray as our new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Chris has the experience and the strength of character that the American people want in an FBI Director and I congratulate him for being overwhelmingly confirmed to that post and look forward to working with him every day to keep America safe.
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During a televised press conference White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller was answering questions about the newly proposed RAISE Act.  A reporter from CNN named Jim Acosta, who always advocates for maximum camera time, thought he could engineer a narrative of self-promotion through the use of the Statue of Liberty.
After inferring an inscription on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty was part of our founding documents, it wasn’t, an epic fail followed:

The Statue of Liberty had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with immigration.  The Emma Lazarus poem that Acosta refers to was affixed to the pedestal as an ex post facto inscription in 1903.  Even the New York Times knows the correct origin:

“The only immigrants mentioned at the dedication in 1886 were the “illustrious descendants of the French nobility” who fought on behalf of the United States against Britain during the American Revolution.”

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Dangerous/Sketchy – An Inspector General investigation into a military recruitment program for non-Americans with foreign language skills has resulted in a dangerous level of foreign infiltration by potential terrorists.  Some of the dangerous recruits, potentially terrorists, are now “missing” and “unaccounted for”.

“The program has been replete with problems, to include foreign infiltration.”

(Via Fox News) Defense Department investigators have discovered “potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for.

After more than a year of investigation, the Pentagon’s inspector general recently issued a report – its contents still classified but its existence disclosed here for the first time – identifying serious problems with Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), a DOD program that provides immigrants and non-immigrant aliens with an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for military service.

Defense Department officials said the program is still active but acknowledged that new applications have been suspended.
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Earlier today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered a six month update on international policy and ongoing engagements.  At the conclusion of the statement he also took questions.  Video is HERE and HERE is the transcript:

[Via State Department]  SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, good afternoon, all. And if you’re inquiring about the young assistant with me, I decided maybe if I start naming people to office when they’re eight or nine years old they’ll be of age by the time we can get them through the process. (Laughter.)
But first let me acknowledge and thank Spokeswoman Heather Nauert for the job she’s been doing. I know it’s a – this is a tough transition to make for anyone, and particularly a unique transition to make for her. But Heather’s doing a superb job, from what I can tell. I don’t get to watch her much, but I get feedback from the folks back home who do watch. And Heather, I appreciate everything you’re doing. Thank you so much.
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There’s another “explosive” and “exclusive” article from the latest chaf and countermeasures unit, Sara Carter, reporting Ben Rhodes as a “subject of interest” for the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into ‘unethical’ and possibly ‘illegal’ unmasking.
Understandably all discussion, and likely a large segment of Sean Hannity’s TV show, will focus on the intended target of the newly drawn attention. However, what’s more interesting to those who look into the deep swamp is the identification of Carter’s sources: ie. who’s feeding her?

“according to congressional sources who spoke with Circa.”

Track down who those people are – and you’ll identify the motives therein. And I can guarantee you it has nothing to do with bringing justice upon the ‘unethical‘ and potentially ‘illegal‘ activity.
Remember, the staffers -writ large- for the House Intelligence Committee are people like the Awan Brothers crew.  Generally speaking the entire congressional staff, including the staffers with security clearances inside Intelligence Committees etc., are sympathetic to the interests of the Swamp, it’s simply a self-interest aspect.
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Almost no-one has watched Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor, John Boehner AND republican leadership of the House Freedom Caucus admit they intentionally hide their support for amnesty and immigration reform because they know the electorate doesn’t support it.  Yet it’s right there on camera: video showing exactly that. –SEE HERE–
The video is highly controlled by PBS and Frontline (legal), and in my opinion tightly controlled because PBS fully understands what would happen if the story of republicans in that video reached the larger awareness of U.S. voters. –The Last Hour is Critical–
There is only one political party in Washington DC.  There are two wings, but only one political and ideological apparatus.  An accurate frame of reference for watching this border wall video released today from Paul Ryan is only possible with the understanding from that FrontLine video in 2014.  What you see below is 100% political manipulation:

.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is attempting to pull off the Alex Castellanos strategy through the utilization of political policy; it’s a strategy the UniParty uses effectively.
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CTH doesn’t know enough about General John Kelly (specifically) to be overly concerned about his political influence as Chief-of-Staff.
However, CTH does know how the Administrative State operates, and therein everyone should watch closely and cautiously.
If the President becomes isolated from his base of support, and consequently removed from his campaign promises, John Kelly will be the cause.
The administrative state, facilitated by both Republicans and Democrat wings of the UniParty, have a descending list of priorities.  At the top of that list are: •continuance of the Multinational Corporate financial system, •crony capitalistic trade deals, •control over multinational banking systems, and •a porous U.S. border to include massive migration.
To facilitate and retain these priorities the President must be marginalized. To gain that marginalization the Deep State agenda is to isolate the existential threat that is Trump. One of the key indicators on John Kelly will be if the “physical structure” of the Southern Security Border Wall is abandoned.  That’s a tripwire to watch.

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Well, the headline attention on Venezuela’s collapsing democracy provides the tripwire trigger to go deeper into the South America crisis and how it is not rising up organically without geopolitical and ideological connection.  Always remember, in the battle for U.S. sovereignty, there are multiple facets connected to larger and more consequential issues.

Washington – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, which authorizes sanctions against current or former officials of the Government of Venezuela and others undermining democracy in Venezuela. (more)

♦Venezuela’s democracy is collapsing. ♦Argentina and other South American nations have been engaged by the Trump administration for over six months. ♦President Trump signed pro-active executive orders. ♦Mexico’s economy and political apparatus is infected with corruption. ♦NAFTA is on the cusp of renegotiation. ♦Candidate, now President Trump, proposed a Southern security “Wall”. ♦Believe me, these things are not disconnected, and they are not NEW concerns.

To really absorb some of these geopolitical issues we must analyze specific 2014 events through the reality of prior, more consequential, events.  We must look into the way-back machine. To that end we have read the entirety of:
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A press conference is scheduled for 5:00pm PDT / 8:00pm EDT by the Mayor of Los Angeles and U.S. IOC officials. It appears a deal has been reached for the U.S. to host the 2028 Olympics and the 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris.

(Via USA Today) Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics after the city reached a deal with the International Olympic Committee.

The deal will allow Paris to host the 2024 Games, which had been expected. In waiting four years to host the Games, the Los Angeles Organizing Committee will receive funds from the IOC “in view of the longer planning period” and to support youth sports programs in the city, according to a news release. (more)

Earlier in July President Trump said on Twitter he was “working hard” to bring the Games to Los Angeles, and he met in the Oval Office with Thomas Bach, the president of the I.O.C., to pledge his “full support” at the time.

You might also remember in 2009 former President Barack Obama tried to get the Olympics for Chicago (2016) and even personally traveled to Copenhagen – HE FAILED.
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