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…)

#NeverTrump Brent Bozell takes on #NeverTrump Jeff Flake.

“On behalf of my late father and my family, I am denouncing Senator Jeff Flake and his new book, dishonestly titled, Conscience of a Conservative.
Since entering the Senate in 2013, Jeff Flake has, time and again, proven he is part of the indulgent hypocrisy in Washington. While he waxes poetically about conservative principles, his Conservative Review Liberty score is an abysmal 53%, also known as: “F”. In 2013, I watched first-hand as Flake refused to sign a letter pledging to defund ObamaCare, among his many betrayals to conservatism. Jeff Flake is neither a conservative nor does he have a conscience.
As every conservative leader knows, my father, L. Brent Bozell, Jr., ghost-wrote Conscience of a Conservative for Barry Goldwater. While the Goldwater Institute may own the rights to the book’s title, neither the organization nor Senator Flake have the right to unjustifiably trade on my father’s work. Conscience of a Conservative is the greatest selling polemic in history, and Senator Flake is trading on its reputation to shamelessly promote himself and disguise his own conservative deficiencies. My father would be appalled to see this fraud as the author of the so-called “sequel,” which it most certainly is not.
The media need to know, when reporting on Senator Flake and his “book,” that the author is a deceiver out for personal and financial gain.  I also call on my conservative brethren to denounce this impostor, who dishonorably claims to speak for conservatism, in the strongest possible terms.”   ~ Brent Bozell
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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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Forgive the epic level of cynicism this media reporting elicits. However, it just strikes as far too convenient that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is anticipated to reveal ‘new leak investigations’ after several weeks of people asking why ‘no leak investigations‘?

Two weeks ago Sessions’ defenders were claiming a monumental investigation into leaking was only days away. Those days came and went. The announcement goal posts were moved to last Friday. Again, nothing.  Now the triple-dog swear promise for this Friday. “Major Crackdown”, uh huh… Here’s hoping.

(Via Fox) Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to announce a major crackdown on leakers this week, in the latest sign the administration is pushing to run a tighter ship as John Kelly seizes the reins as White House chief of staff.

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson responds to criticism from inside the U.S. State Department –EXAMPLE HERE– stemming from the professional career bureaucrats who cannot accept a change in objectives within the Depart of State.

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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:

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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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General John Kelly begins his official duty as White House Chief-of-Staff today with a swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office and full cabinet meeting.

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This is actually a funny video, Mick Mulvaney did great.
Bubble Boy Tapper’s furrowed brow begins deepening when he asks OMB Director Mick Mulvaney if President Trump really means he’s willing to remove the congressional ObamaCare subsidy and Mulvaney responds with a simple: ‘Yep, sure does; and I just happened to talk to him yesterday about this’…
Bubble People never know what to do when ordinary people they are questioning embrace the ugly and and say “yes, bring it on”.  Oh, the indecency….  “Fireworks”!

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