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International Longshoremen's Association EVP Dennis Daggett Releases Statement Following Meeting Wi

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    International Longshoremen’s Association EVP Dennis Daggett Releases Statement Following Meeting With President Trump

    December 14, 2024 | Sundance | 20 Comments

    As noted yesterday, President Trump has announced his full support for the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) trade union position in defense of their members. [SEE HERE]

    Today, ILA Executive Vice-President Dennis Daggett releases a statement following his meeting with President Donald Trump.

    To many people this confrontation over foreign ownership of critical port infrastructure seems detached and complicated when contrast against efficiency, lower prices for transportation and, essentially, a vital national interest. However, in the bigger picture President Trump has been consistent with a position that U.S. companies and labor organizations must look out for American interests first and foremost.

    The chase for price, cost and Total Cost of Production (TCP) has led to our nation losing jobs, losing wealth, losing manufacturing capability and ultimately losing control over our own vital interests. The prior chase for less costly goods was a road paved with intentions that ultimately created negative outcomes for the American people (ex. The Rustbelt).

    President Trump represents a new era of political leadership where the priority of the American economic system must be balanced with pragmatic economic principles extending beyond the singular issue of price. This is best understood in the phrase “economic security is national security.”

    Decades of traveling down the path of lower product prices has led to this well-known destination, a service driven economy. President Trump represents a moment in our economic lifecycle where we finally revisit the consequences of this path.

    Yes, a “service driven economy” it is sustainable in the short-term and provides benefits to both companies and consumers in lower priced goods. However, we eventually realize the absence of vital products creates a dependency model that can have major negative consequences.

    The shortage of products following the COVID-19 pandemic should have taught us lessons about the dangers within our dependency supply chain. Alas, we escaped the worst outcome due to some quick thinking and reorganization of the limited production capabilities that remain in our national control.

    The larger MAGA movement understands that we must ensure America-First is applicable to all aspects of our economic supply chain, and that includes both manufacturing capability and unilateral control of the transportation system therein.

    We have discussed these issues on these pages for decades, and quite frankly I am thrilled to see a public debate now taking place thanks to President Trump and key figures within labor and logistics.

    Within the role of organized labor, the leadership must turn away from the corrupting influence always made possible with enhanced power.

    A transformative President Trump represents a very unique and altruistic support arm of government, a servant leader. Now the issue of altruism must also manifest in the intents and obligations of union leadership.  Altruism, moral behavior that benefits our great American economic enterprise, is the core element of a partnership that can change the direction of our economic priority for generations.

    Make America Great Again!

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Entry #5,426

President Trump Supports Dockworker Position Against Automation

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    President Trump Supports Dockworker Position Against Automation

    December 13, 2024 | Sundance | 3 Comments

    The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) have until January 15 to agree on a new contract. This is the result of a temporary deal reached in October.

    President Trump announced his support for the workers’ position following a meeting with Harold Daggett, the president of ILA, and Dennis Daggett, the union’s executive vice president.

    [Source]

    “I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen,” Trump said on Truth Social.

    Notice how the media always present the verbiage of the dockworker’s employers as “employers’ group USMX,” without actually noting the employers’ group are the port owners, multinational shipping conglomerates and as a consequence, foreign countries.

    In material fact, most critical ports in the USA are owned by foreign entities.  As a result, the ILA are pushing back against the ideological, political and financial interests of mostly foreign entities (USMX).

    On the demand side of the equation the ILA wants to eliminate the threat posed by automation.  Many voices say this is a ridiculous demand; after all, when you combine artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and remote access capabilities, it is clearly predictable that a time will come when 80% of the ILA jobs can be replaced by remote controlled operational systems.

    In China, many industrial ports are already fully automated and operated remotely by people using what look like gaming consols, robotics and computer screens.

     

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    This brings me to the main point that most overlook.

    In Asia and Europe, port automation is happening rapidly.  However, in Asia and Europe they have rules and regulations against foreign ownership of their ports.  In Europe, Asia and particularly China, ports are considered critical national security infrastructure by the politicians who represent the people.  In the USA our politicians represent the multinational corporations and as a result we have sold the majority of our ports to Saudis, Qataris, Europeans and Chinese owners.

    If Chinese ports are automated in China, they are operated by Chinese owners.  If American ports are automated in the USA, they are operated by Chinese owners.  It doesn’t take a genius to see the problem.

    Fast forward to 2035, all of our critical ILA members have given up and gone to work for Wal Mart in the face of overwhelming opposition against them by a short-sighted American electorate.  The children of the dockworkers are now addicted to prescription narcotics, and the docks are automated by German industrial machinery, facilitated by Chinese technology that was purchased by Chinese owners. The machinery is operated remotely by Chinese, Indian and Pakistani workers getting $5/hr.

    After seamless integration, China decides to take New Zealand as the latest strategic notch in their Belt and Road initiative.  Wait, wha… the American politicians shout, “this cannot stand.”  But it does, because if the USA tries to make a move against it, the docks in the USA are brought to a halt by China.

    Sound crazy?

    ‘Crazy’ was 9-years ago when CTH was warning about a weaponized FBI operating like the Russian FSB.  ‘Crazy’ was our warning that a DC-based intelligence apparatus was conducting surveillance of a presidential nominee.  ‘Crazy’ was our alarms ten years ago that various interests of the DoS and DHS were deep inside the mechanisms of social media, controlling the content of private conversations.  THAT was then considered “crazy.”

    What we are talking about now against the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and remote automation, is not crazy; it’s predictable reality if the efforts of the ILA fail.

    Now do you see why I support them.

    [READ HERE to Understand Picture Below]

    .

    We have a dragon rider who not only understands the stakes.  He’s also smart enough to ride the dragon while wearing an invisible suit.  That invisible suit is why we call him the “blue-collar billionaire.”

    Just because Silicon Valley has shifted to replace wingtips with sneakers, doesn’t mean the outcome changes.  And yeah, the Technocrats may keep using class warfare in the effort to make me hate Harold Daggett, while we pretend not to notice the designer labels on their T-shirt.

    Perhaps the best compromise would be a two-issue dynamic:

    ♦ First, all foreign ownership, influence and control over USA ports must be eliminated.

    ♦ Second, 100% of all equipment, machinery, hardware and software, used in every aspect of the port automation process, must be manufactured inside the United States of America.

    Put those two qualifiers into the port contract negotiations as expressed by ILA President Harold Daggett, and watch what happens.

    [Support CTH Here]

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Entry #5,425

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Laments Horror of Next Four Years Accountable to the Voters

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    Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Laments Horror of Next Four Years Accountable to the Voters

    December 13, 2024 | Sundance | 2 Comments

    The “No Labels” group is the modern spin on the term “UniParty.”  These are the professionally political minds that see everything good about a singular ideological perspective in Washington DC that grows the administrative state and lives in a stratum far above the sheeple voters.

    Perhaps the most transparently obvious part of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski holding this mindset, is the moment at 4:26 when she talks about being responsible to the voters, “what’s this all about,” Murkowski notes with contempt.

    “I think we are getting a little bit of a preview now, of what it means to be allegiant to party,” Murkowski continues.  Where “allegiant to party” actually means accountable to the voters’ expectations.

    How is this supposed to help the institutional operation of Washington DC, if the politicians are suddenly accountable to the voters, instead of the bureaucracy that provides the political influence and affluence. Murkowski is genuinely puzzled by this new era of political expectation represented by President Donald Trump. WATCH (prompted):

    .

    What Murkowski fails to understand is that President Trump is not a cause of her republican party failure, President Trump is our response to her republican party failure.  President Trump represents our weapon, her last chance, her choice.

    “Get in line” accurately interpreted means do what needs to be done to support the vessel, President Trump, that we have overwhelmingly elected to address our issues.  No apologies, get in line -get right- is exactly correct.

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Entry #5,424

White Christmas owl

https://itschristmasnow.com/en/blog/unveiling-symbolism-of-white-christmas-owls

 

"There's something enchanting about a white Christmas owl, perched atop a leafless tree on a frosty winter night. As the snowflakes fall gently around it, this majestic creature captivates our imagination with its mysterious symbolism. The white owl, a symbol of wisdom and spirituality in countless cultures around the world, has become an intriguing icon of the holiday season."

"In this article, we delve into the mesmerizing world of white Christmas owls, uncovering the hidden meanings behind their presence and shedding light on the magic they bring to our wintry celebrations."

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Entry #5,423

Christmas Treats, Appetizers, and Party Food

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    Christmas Treats, Appetizers, and Party Food

    December 10, 2024 | Menagerie | 54 Comments

    ^^^Nope, not my table, but isn’t it beautiful?

    How about a thread for party food and treats? Lots of people are entertaining in these last days running up to Christmas. Sometimes in our family we just have a night or two where we serve appetizers or favorite party treats, even if it is just a few of us here. Most of this is copied from last year. I took a look at it, expecting to juggle it around a bit, but I’d forgotten how much time I put into this one last year, with some really special (to me) recipes and ideas. I love all of these, as does my family, and I hope you will as well.

    I shared this recipe last year for venison meatballs.

    Of course you can use beef, but it isn’t nearly as good. I never have recipes, except for breads or cakes, so just have fun with this.

    Saute an onion and several large cloves of garlic, finely chopped, in olive oil or butter until onions begin to be translucent. Add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and seasonings you like to taste. I use three onion seasoning by Epicure.

    Mix a pound and a half of ground venison with a half pound ground pork, an egg, bread crumbs or almond meal, and the onion mixture. Shape into small balls and bake at 375 until brown, which should take around 25 minutes, but check on them to be sure. Every oven is different. Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

    Here’s the link to a recipe for mini corn muffins with a cheddar filling. Being a Southern gal, I absolutely refuse to put sugar in my cornbread, so I’ll be leaving that ingredient out, but that’s an argument for another day. These would go very well with the meatballs.

    Here’s a recipe shared with me by Treeper maryfrommarin. It’s from the cookbook Keeping the Feast, which is organized around the church’s liturgical feasts. It’s a collection of recipes from the women of St. Thomas Church, Episcopal, Abingdon, Virginia. I chose this recipe because when I was growing up, no southern hostess ever had a party or luncheon without these.

    Miss Annie White’s Cheese Biscuits

    1/2 pound cheese

    1/2 pound butter

    1/2 pound flour (about two cups)

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon red pepper

    1 egg white

    75 whole pecans

    Grind cheese. Cream cheese and butter. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Work well. Roll thin and cut with a small biscuit cutter. Brush with egg white and place one whole pecan on top of each biscuit. Bake on cookie sheet at 425 until light brown, about 7 minutes.

    Yield: approximately 75.

    On to sweeter things.

    I am sharing some lengthier (and fancier) recipes below. I have copies of the pages from some old cookbooks, so I no longer even know where they came from, and I can’t credit the original authors. I tried to google these two recipes, and come up with similar things, but they just don’t look as good, or I’d just link them.

     

    First, have you ever heard of a Croquembouche Christmas tree? I hadn’t either, and while this looks so elegant and beautiful, if you read the directions, it seems quite doable. It’s made from individual cream puffs around a white foam core, put together with melted white chocolate. I have kept this recipe for years, but I haven’t made it yet. Too good to get rid of though!

    Since I’m typing this out, with the help of pictures provided by my favorite Pud, Ad rem, I am not including the recipe for pastry cream and making the cream puffs, you can google those. If I make it, I plan to just buy cream puffs, and start from there. I seriously doubt my guys would know, or care.

    Ingredients and supplies:

    white foam cone, white parchment paper or clear plastic wrap, six large white chocolate bars, shortening, white and silver edible glitter, cream puffs, serving tray.

    Wrap the cone with white parchment paper and secure with straight pins, or wrap with clear plastic wrap. Place on large serving platter. Melt 6 cups white chocolate bars and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon shortening in saucepan over low heat.

    Beginning at the base of the cone, dip puffs into melted chocolate and position them side by side, forming a ring. Continue layers, stacking each successive ring up the tree. You may need to reheat the chocolate.

    Drizzle remaining chocolate over the tree and add edible silver and white glitter. Chill up to two hours before serving.

    Next, we have a pine cone Christmas cake. This one is really cool, and delicious. I have made it, and if you’d  like a very special dessert that just makes your table, this one is it! Practice on those pinecone petals! There’s a technique to learn.

    This one is by Rose Levy Berenbaum. There are some videos out there, I didn’t have time to go through them. The only one I watched didn’t have the recipe on it, it was part of an old news clip. You may find one though.

    Ingredients:

    18 oz unsalted butter

    1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

    10 eggs

    2 cups sugar

    1/3 cup unbleached flour

    1/4 cup brandy

    Frosting: use your favorite dark chocolate frosting here. I’m too lazy to type the steps on this one, but the recipe has chopped nuts soaked in orange liqueur or cognac folded in, if you’d like to add that.

    Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Separate the eggs into large bowls. Beat yolks lightly, gradually add sugar. Beat until fluffy, then stir into chocolate mixture, mixing well, and a beat in brandy and flour.

    Clean beaters and mix egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in about 1/4 of them to the cake mix. Then gradually add the rest, gently folding in. Do not over stir it and deflate the egg whites.

    Grease two 9×13 cake pans, line with parchment, and grease and flour parchment. Pour batter evenly into pans and smooth with spatula. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake puffs up and springs back when gently pressed. Let cake cool a few minutes on racks before unmolding, peeling off paper, and cooling on racks.

    Use butcher’s paper to make two identical pinecone oval shapes, and cut out the cakes. Crumble the cake scraps and add them and nuts if desired to the frosting. Spread a generous third of the frosting on one cake layer, top with the second, then frost the sides and top with remaining frosting.

    To make pinecone petals:

    Tape a sheet of parchment paper to counter. Set out a small metal spatula or table knife. Chop 8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate coarsely and melt in double boiler to temp of 120 on candy thermometer. Stir vigorously to cool the chocolate slightly and keep over hot water as you work. I did the melting in two batches to keep it from setting.

    Dab the spatula into chocolate and press down slightly on parchment, pressing down and drawing the spatula toward you into a petal shape, thinner on one end, about 1” x 3/4”. They won’t all be exactly the same size and shape, and that’s okay. Keep making petals until you’ve used all the chocolate. You need lots, and it takes awhile to make them all.

    To place the petals, start at the base, using tweezers to keep from melting the chocolate. Stagger the rows like shingles on a house. If you like, place pine nuts under some of the petals.

    The only problem with this cake is that it will break your heart when you have to cut it!

    On the Thanksgiving recipe post last year I had numerous requests for a favorite cookie recipe in our family. As I said, I got this from my Aunt Gay, but it was not her original recipe. They are called chocolate buttersweets, and I used to find the recipe, which we modified, on Pillsbury’s site, but they’ve removed the link. Here’s the original recipe.

    We always use pecans, and I do not add the coconut. I’ve had dozens of people, and that’s not an exaggeration, tell me over the years that they don’t like cream cheese, or pecans, or whatever. No one has ever been able to stop eating these, even when they say they don’t like those ingredients.

    And here’s a tip for the time and cooking challenged. These are still really good if you use Pillsbury sugar cookies, make the filling, and top with chocolate almond bark. I put a lot more filling on the cookie than shown. I add unsweetened chocolate into the almond bark. The darker, the better on the chocolate topping. And I don’t just drizzle on chocolate, I cover the cookie. Not pretty, but wow, so good.

    The recipe says to fill the cookies while warm, but actually I chill the filling and use a cookie scoop to top cold cookies. Often I make the cookies days ahead, then when I am ready, I put them out on a double layer of waxed paper, fill, and then top.

    I usually make hundreds of these a year, so it gets to be an assembly line for me, and usually I wrangle family help. Make twice, nope, three or four times what you think you want. And like I said at Thanksgiving, don’t trust family to deliver someone else’s cookie box. Not ever gonna happen, not with these cookies.

    Also, I promised Aunt Gay’s Chex Mix. She called it nuts and bolts. This is a buttery mix, so if you like your mix drier, reduce the butter and spices proportionately. The big challenge for me on this is getting the spice to stay mixed with the butter. I’ve tried everything. Any tips?

    Mix together 4 sticks melted butter (I changed from margarine), 1 tablespoon each onion salt, celery salt, and garlic salt, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Pour the above mixture over:

    1/2 box Wheat Chex, 1/2 box Corn Chex, 1/2 box Rice Chex, 1/3 box Cheerios, 1/2 bag of pretzel sticks, 3-4 cups of nuts. I use pecan halves and cashews. You have to keep stirring the butter mixture as you are pouring. I use a big throwaway roasting pan for this. It’s a great gift!

    Bake 2 hours at 250*, stirring every 15 minutes. Nowadays I smoke mine at 250.

    This is my own wassail recipe. It makes a small crockpot full, and the non wassail fans inhaled it, and fought over the last drops! I plan to double it for Christmas. Which means I’ll double the spices too.

    Clear American Pineapple Orange Sparkling Juice, 17 Fl Oz Bottle
    Single serving bottle of apple juice
    Quart of cranberry juice (unsweetened)
    Agave nectar to taste
    Cranberries (whole, added about a cup)
    Two cinnamon sticks
    1 tablespoon allspice berries
    3 star anise

    Combine in crockpot and heat on low 3-4 hours. I also plan to add pineapple or orange slices at Christmas. You can use the sweetener of your choice, of course. This was festive and delicious. I also like to add cognac.

    I hope you find joy in your preparations and celebrations. Pause and remember the real reasons we have such a joy filled season of anticipation.

     

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Entry #5,422

The True and Visible Mission of DOGE – What to Expect

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    The True and Visible Mission of DOGE – What to Expect

    December 6, 2024 | Sundance | 295 Comments

    I have been waiting for someone to outline what the Dept of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is all about.  Unfortunately, perhaps due to the history of the matter, it appears few understand. So, with that in mind, and accepting the operators of DOGE may not have a fulsome comprehension of the dynamic, here is what it means.

    The last Federal Budget that passed through “regular order” was for Fiscal Year 2008, signed by President George W Bush in September of 2007.  Every budget since has been outside regular order; a series of continuing resolutions, omnibus spending packages and short-term funding mechanisms.  {CITATION}

    That is correct.  In the past 17 years, all federal spending has been ‘short-term’ or ‘stop-gap’ spending measures, generally known as “Continuing Resolutions,” where the govt (House and Senate) continue to perpetually resolve to fund the government.  The CRs as they are known, punt the spending debate by accepting a baseline of prior spending and tweaking around the edges.

    The key takeaway to begin thinking about DOGE is to understand that REGULAR ORDER has not been used since Fiscal Year 2008.

    Title III of the Congressional Budget Act outlines a legal timeline that each President and Congress must follow {SEE HERE}.  Prior to 2007, Continuing Resolutions were only used to resolve short term arguments about spending priorities.

    ♦ BACKGROUND – The President is required by law to submit his budget by the first Monday in February.  Yes, even when an election takes place and a President doesn’t assume office until January 20th, the first Monday in February is still the legal requirement for the new White House budget proposal.

    The Presidents’ budget is then submitted to The House of Representatives, where two weeks later the Congressional Budget Office, reviews the budget and issues an opinion as to the cost of the budget.   No later than six weeks after the President submits his budget all House committees send the House Appropriations Committee their spending proposals [April 15].

    Through May and June, each budgetary appropriations bill from the House is sent to the Senate.  The Senate receives the House appropriations bills, then reviews through the Senate Appropriations Committee (Thune just picked Susan Collins as Chair).  The Senate proposes their spending priorities based on the House bill because the House has constitutional authority to originate all spending [June 15].  The House and Senate budgets are “reconciled” using parliamentary procedures [June 30] and then sent to the President for signature.

    The fiscal year begins October 1st.

    That’s the regular order process.

    Again, regular order has not been followed since Fiscal Year 2008, signed by George W Bush in September of 2007.

    ♦ The Problem – When congress doesn’t follow regular order they end up with a series of “continuing resolutions” (CRs) where spending is decided on a short-term basis because they don’t have an agreed budget.  The problem with CRs is what’s called “baseline budgeting” where all prior spending is the baseline for the continuation of spending proposals.  The baseline accepts all previous spending priorities, then adds to them with the new spending needs.

    Baseline Budgeting means congress keeps spending on all historic programs regardless of merit or benefit.  All the prior spending just continues, and new spending is added.  That means when an omnibus spending package is created (instead of individual appropriations bills), all the previous government waste is baked into the cake, and the funds are spent again – regardless of need.

    EXAMPLE – If congress funds a trillion-dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and then doesn’t follow regular order in the next year, the TARP funds spent become part of the baseline of spending.  The trillion-dollar TARP can be spent again, and again, and again, as each subsequent year of CRs continues unfolding.

    Now, imagine what exists within the system of federal spending when most of the expenditures of the past 18 years are never filtered out.  Eighteen years of smaller, albeit not insignificant, amounts of money continually piled on top of each other.  Imagine what lays underneath all those layers and layers of unreviewed spending.  That’s where we are.

    To be fair, the House of Representatives under Republicans did pass almost all of their individual spending bills this past year and sent them to the Senate.  However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just ignored the bills, put them on a shelf and awaited the govt funding problem to surface so that another CR debate could take place.

    Now, you might ask yourself how this ridiculous system can be stopped or put into check.  Well, the mechanism to shut down this nonsense is in the power of a Presidential Veto.

    A President can veto a federal budget that he/she feels spends too much money and subsequently send that budget back to congress.  This is where politics comes into play because essentially if the funding runs out the Presidential veto is shutting down the government.

    Again, this has been our reality for the past 18-years as congress blames the President and the President blames congress.  Each of them playing a game of political chicken, daring the other to be blamed by the public for financial Armageddon.   Example Below:

    .

    Again, regular order has not been followed since Fiscal Year 2008, signed by George W Bush in September of 2007.  It’s been CR politics ever since.

    ♦ Now, along comes President Trump in term #2 which begins January 20, 2025.

    As you start to think about DOGE, remember, in the background of the transition, using OMB Budget Director Russ Vought, the first Trump budget has been organized and will be submitted to the House of Representatives by the required legal day of February 1, 2025.

    In part, it is transparently obvious why House Speaker Mike Johnson has been visiting Mar-a-Lago so much.  There is strategic budget planning afoot.

    A Republican President Donald Trump is going to submit a “regular order” budget to a Republican controlled House.

    The now Republican controlled Senate (John Thune) will be responsible for accepting each of the House Appropriations bills and responding accordingly to create a federal budget for Fiscal Year 2026.

    I highly suspect President Trump is not going to accept another failed budget and yet another CR from a Republican House and Republican Senate.

    The problem Trump faces is the Republicans will not want to be responsible for cutting out 18 years of fat from the spending process.  The democrats will wield the politics of these cuts in order to achieve electoral victory in the 2026 midterms….

    …. Enter, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and DOGE.

    That looming regular order budget, and/or the looming veto if it is not followed, is the visible purpose of DOGE.

    In essence, Elon Musk is assembling DOGE as the weapon needed to hold a UniParty congress accountable to deliver a regular order budget.

    Yes, hundreds upon hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, can be cut out of the budget if “regular order” is followed. Each committee in congress will have to submit their spending proposal to the House Budget and Appropriations Committee, while Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are reviewing each of those proposals and putting them on BLAST!

    DOGE may start reinforcing rules within the federal government as controlled by the Executive Branch.  However, DOGE isn’t going to be going into federal agencies per se’, to cut their spending.  DOGE can just wait for the Fiscal Year 2026 spending proposals those agencies are legally required to submit congress to come to them, then review and BLAST any of the fat.

    Through this process, the Executive Branch is not in constitutional conflict with the Legislative Branch.  Congress can accept and submit any spending proposal they want, but DOGE can outline it happening in real time and pour sunlight on to it.  This is why DOGE and a Republican Congress working together is more effective.

    When you understand what I have outlined above, then what follows below from Representative Tim Burchett makes more sense.  WATCH:

     

    Burchett is saying that congress will never cut that 18-years of CR fat out of the spending bills, no matter what they say.  That 18-years of CR fat is huge. Think of the scale of 18-years of layers of spending as a result of baseline budgets and CRs.

    What Burchett is not fully absorbing, is how a VETO from President Trump is now framed against the visibility of the political BLAST that Musk can provide.

    Can you see it now?

    Last point. Perhaps, just perhaps, one of the people with strong familiarity of this issue, Matt Gaetz, is going to be a key player.

    Maybe there was a reason no one else wrote this.

    Love to all

    ~ Sundance

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Entry #5,421

The Talk of "Preemptive Pardons"

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    The Talk of “Preemptive Pardons”

    December 5, 2024 | Sundance | 24 Comments

    Anytime the professional leftists lose anything, they immediately become victims.  Whether defeated in the battle of ideas (retreat to safe spaces), defeated in the field of pop culture, or even defeated linguistically through debate (words are violence).  Whenever the professional left loses, they immediately become victims.  It’s what they do.

    The professional political left, newest version from the Chicago spawn of Dohrn/Ayers, has been waging full combat Lawfare via a weaponized government for the past 16 years.  However, Obama/Plouffe were defeated, “their kind” rose again and won the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.

    What we see in this “preemptive pardon” narrative, is a repeat of the victim narrative.  This time the White House discussion boils down to ‘Lawfare agents must be protected from any retaliation for their action’.  Pardons presumably provide the mechanism to protect the victims.  In the big picture of ideology, this is a continuation of the same mindset.

    Politico started the narrative with an outline {SEE HERE} saying the White House was having an internal debate as to whether Joe Biden should preemptively issue pardons to members of the J6 committee, members who constructed false impeachment accusations, members within the DOJ who fabricated political cases using the Special Counsel process, or generally people on the political left who supported/facilitated all the aforementioned false attack fronts.

    As the narrative is told, all those who supported the attacks against President-Elect Trump and his allies, now need to be protected from “retribution.”  Inherent in the argument, and within the use of pardons, is the baseline that some form of illegal activity was taking place.  Heck, if it wasn’t unlawful conduct, then no pardon would be needed.  This is the political catch-22 created by the preemptive pardon narrative.

    Various congressional people, DOJ insiders, White House liaisons, State Dept officials and underling staff are all possible recipients if Joe Biden decides to take this unprecedented approach.  However, if you look at the expressed approach indicated by President Trump and the assembly of cabinet members who would be in place to carry out such “retribution,” you will not find any indication of intent.  Quite the opposite is true.

    President Trump does not appear to be in alignment with any approach that would lead to legal indictments, arrests, charges or other legal accountability measures.  Beyond the public release of hidden, perhaps classified information that might put sunlight on the previous activity by those who weaponized their offices, there is nothing.  Sunlight on prior events, while moving forward to restore functioning law and order, appears to be the most likely approach.

    WASHINGTON DC – […] The White House officials, however, are carefully weighing the extraordinary step of handing out blanket pardons to those who’ve committed no crimes, both because it could suggest impropriety, only fueling Trump’s criticisms, and because those offered preemptive pardons may reject them.

    The deliberations touch on pardoning those currently in office, elected and appointed, as well as former officials who’ve angered Trump and his loyalists.

    Those who could face exposure include such members of Congress’ Jan. 6 Committee as Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Trump has previously said Cheney “should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” Also mentioned by Biden’s aides for a pardon is Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became a lightning rod for criticism from the right during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The West Wing deliberations have been organized by White House counsel Ed Siskel but include a range of other aides, including chief of staff Jeff Zients. The president himself, who was intensely focused on his son’s pardon, has not been brought into the broad. (Read more)

    In addition to their professional victim approach, the one constant with the Marxist left is their use of projection.  They weaponized government, so they anticipate the target of their weaponization efforts, Donald Trump, will return fire in kind.  Again, I highly doubt it.

    All outward indications are that President Trump wants to create a legacy presidency for the Gen-Z generation (Barron), similar to what was created by Ronald Reagan for the Gen-X generation.  Selecting Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff is the strongest indication of this intent.

    The appointments to White House legal counsel positions and Main Justice legal offices by President Donald Trump all appear to have one common denominator, to protect the President.  I strongly doubt there will be any effort beyond that.

    ♦BIG PICTURE – Once you understand what President Trump is assembling (the phalanx) and once you accept the mission of the DC system to defend itself by isolating a weak spot in the mechanism, then everything from the assembly of the cabinet to the process being discussed makes sense.

    Within a phalanx, if one shield drops the entire construct is compromised. The strongest shields need to surround the core with ferocity.

    The recent Supreme Court decision affirmed the President of the United States as the unitary, plenary power that controls every mechanism of the Executive Branch of government, and as long as the President is acting within his “official duty” he holds absolute power and absolute immunity.

    Think of each cabinet member as a shield in this political phalanx that surrounds the weapon, President Trump.

    Yes, the phalanx is by construct an offensive fortification used to advance upon the enemy. However, the strength of the phalanx is its ability to be impervious to attack from 360°.

    The phalanx advances, inch by inch against a larger fortification. In the transition team assembly, this is what President Trump is putting together.

    Hegseth is a key component of the phalanx, the fortification process that puts President Trump at the center of the cabinet. Each component of the cabinet protecting the center.

    The phalanx is the mechanism to carry the weapon that is President Donald Trump. The DC UniParty is looking for a weakness in the phalanx like a wolf circling a porcupine.

    President Donald Trump has turned his focus to the “war fighters,” the men and women who carry out the mission objective of the Defense Department. The nomination of Pete Hegseth represents the confrontation of a power struggle that has been decades in coming.

    The self-serving Senators are trying to block Hegseth, while maintaining a position of pretending support for President Trump. The DeceptiCon republicans in the Senate are in full circling mode, looking for a weakness to exploit.

    The schemes of the conniving Republican Senators are transparently visible in the efforts of Senator Joni Ernst, who is circling the phalanx President Trump is creating – while simultaneously inserting herself into the DOGE mission.

    Ernst is doing Mitch’s work, under the instructions from Thune and Mitch. See Ernst with clear eyes.

    One does not become unattached to corrupt intent.

    CLEAR EYES!

     

    .

    I did not think President-elect Trump had the accurate laser vision for the task.

    I was getting concerned.

    Then I saw this…

    Then I saw the *very specific* wording of this…

    The McGinley move makes a lot of sense. DOGE and the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) are going to be joined at the hip. They are going to have to navigate the Impoundment Control Act, challenging the system that places limits on a president’s ability to unilaterally withhold funding.

    Inside that legal battle, deciding what DOGE can do without legislative approval, the OMB is going to be the execution part. McGinley will be the legal liaison focused on what technical approaches DOGE/OMB can execute. In essence, can they stop funding XXXX, thereby eliminating it?

    That said, that’s not the important part.

    The language President Trump is using to describe the role of David A. Warrington, the switched White House Counsel, is something entirely new.

    Donald Trump says: “to serve as Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President. Dave will lead the Office of White House Counsel and serve as the top attorney in the White House.”

    Normally the White House Counsel does not represent the interests of the President, the WHC represents the interests of the office.

    I would appear to me, at least as I review the details, that President Trump is now fully aware how his Presidential interests can sometimes conflict with the interests of the White House Counsel, and he is making a move to ensure that conflict doesn’t happen.

    An example of the conflict I have explained repeatedly in the “declassification of information.”

    Not kidding, it is almost as if someone very close to President Trump read something I previously outlined, because it came with a serious warning borne out of years of frustration.

    …[…] “In Term-1 the IC message to the WH Counsel was that if Donald Trump declassified any documents, they would use the DOJ (special counsel weapon) to attack the office of the president for “obstructing justice.” The WHC was fraught with fear over what would happen and demanded that POTUS Trump stop trying to declassify information/documents the IC didn’t support.”

    The way President Trump is now portraying the role of the White House Counsel is to represent his interests first and foremost, then represent the interests of the office. In a few subtle, and not so subtle ways, this makes sense.

    We can tell by the nominations to AG, DAG and DAG-NSD, that Main Justice is already positioned to defend and protect President Donald Trump. The people in charge of the silo are all loyalty-first people, aligned in the interests of President Trump.

    It would appear that President Trump is now bringing that same outlook into the White House. The White House Counsel aligning in common purpose, with the specific purpose of executing the intentions of President Donald J Trump.

    I’m glad to see this approach, because as I have repeatedly affirmed, ONLY PRESIDENT TRUMP (the person) can confront the Silo system in Washington DC.

    That’s why the phalanx makes sense.

     

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Entry #5,420

Recipe for Perfect Pancakes

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    Recipe for Perfect Pancakes

    December 3, 2024 | Sundance | 64 Comments

    Making good pancakes is one of the easiest processes; however, you need just the right ingredients.  Consider this recipe next time:

    2 large eggs

    1 1/4 cups whole milk

    4 tablespoons melted butter

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    1 3/4 cups flour

    2 teaspoons baking powder

    1 tablespoon sugar

    .

    Hopefully you guys are all making a little money.

    I’ve been talking about this since JD Vance was selected as the Vice President nominee.

    Don’t let the Technocrats be the only ones benefitting.

    .

    This is transparently predictable.

    Palantir benefits from DOGE.  That’s the financial mechanism to enhance the portfolio of the Technocrats.

    Palantir provides the AI technology that enhances Facial Recognition software.  The “Real ID” requirement establishes the database.  Palantir provides the tech that takes the capture (facial image) and uses AI to scour the database, delivering a return.

    Just as J6 targets were quickly identified using Palantir tech, so too will deportation efforts will be streamlined immensely.

    Palantir will be the preferred surveillance tool used for a myriad of purposes.

    ♦ When the AI search and filter capability is merged with facial recognition, “Real ID”, and ultimately the NSA metadata; then adding fractal computing power and imagine the search results.  My concern is it’s only a matter of time before an Obama-type administration take power again.  What will that merged system look like if weaponized?

    Palantir agreed to cooperate with the FBI and launched facial recognition AI on behalf of their federal contract with the FBI into the events of J6 attendees. The FBI arrests followed.  Palantir’s access to the DHS/TSA database, as granted by the FBI for use in their J6 targeting operation, can be looked upon as a beta test for how artificial intelligence could scour the national biometric database and deliver results.

    Three key points:

    (1) Palantir doesn’t have access to the full NSA metadata library yet. Concerningly that’s another part where Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and JD Vance can come into play in (’28).

    (2) Palantir (AI surveillance) is beta tested with various sub-silos (like FBI), under auspices of various legal authorities (like J6).

    (3) Palantir’s product, combined with Real ID and biometrics, can also be used to identify and locate illegal criminal aliens.  Thus, the Tom Homan Deportation Operation benefits from incredible targeting efficiency.  But will DHS stop using it when the deportation program concludes?

    As long as these systems are operating for good, then I look at the financial windfall to the technocrat group as no issue.  However, if those systems are weaponized for a process of targeting that violates the basic elements of our constitutional protection, then we have a problem.

    “Politically Exposed Persons” outside the Big Club should be cautious.

    Eyes wide open.

    Love to all,

    ~ Sundance

    [Support CTH HERE]

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Entry #5,419

Truth Tellers -vs- Truth Managers: POTUS Declassification Examples

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    Truth Tellers -vs- Truth Managers: POTUS Declassification Examples

    December 2, 2024 | Sundance | 119 Comments

    Laying the groundwork for uncomfortable discussions is never easy. However, sometimes the best approach is to cite examples and then expand. Here’s two factual examples.

    ♦ EXAMPLE FACT #1 – In December 2017, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes asked the White House, specifically President Trump, to declassify the “Nunes Memo.” President Trump did not declassify the memo because President Trump was told by the concentric lawyers within the office that he should not. So, he didn’t.

    [We eventually did see the memo, albeit with negotiated redactions, because Nunes (and Kash Patel) played by the Silo rules and entered a period of negotiations with the Intelligence Community. Nunes leveraged reauthorization of FISA-702 authority, predicated on declassifying his memo. We The People subsequently saw the memo, but we were screwed by the FISA reauthorization.]

    ♦ EXAMPLE FACT #2 – In January 2020, as he exited the White House, President Trump, using his office, played by the Silo rules and asked for the Russiagate documents to be made public. They never were.

    This is such a great example of “Truth Management.”

    Y’all are probably familiar with this declassification letter written by Mark Meadows. But what you didn’t see before is how it was designed to fail.

    This approach is following the DC rules of the Intelligence Community (IC) Silos.

    Mark Meadows, a Truth Manager, intentionally – with purpose and intent – followed this approach because he knew it would fail.

    Meadows didn’t make a mistake; he was not mistaken in his approach; he didn’t make an error. This is purposeful.

    In January 2020, breathing a sigh of relief, the people around President Donald Trump, were managing his exit and defending the system as they exited power.

    They requested the IC Silos to release information, knowing full well the information would never be released.

    The only way this information would be guaranteed to be released to the public, is if President Trump took those file boxes personally into the Brady Room, and using his full plenary power and authority, gave them to the media and said, “I hereby designate under my official act power, that this information is of priority to the American people.”…. and literally handed it to the media.

    Giving the information to the Silo operators and saying please release this; a process that follows the rules of the IC system that is designed to protect itself; only ensures it will never reach sunlight.

    Meadows and everyone else around this moment, knew this to be true. They knew this would fail.

    Understanding these two examples is the first step in understanding how the DC Silo system works.

    ♦ In research projects about detailed granular events attached to corruption in Washington DC, eventually you reach a point where you have identified the specific people involved.

    That’s when things get sketchy.

    When doing these research projects, you discover that certain DC “insiders,” media people and current/former silo staff, names most of you know very well, are also aware of the information you are discovering.

    The “insiders” are generally positioned in such a manner as most of the information-aware public consider them “Truth Tellers.”

    Alternative media now gives the Truth Tellers a larger influence voice. This is where it gets interesting.

    When you have nailed down the story with direct, irrefutable evidence against the bad actors, you start to notice a pattern emerge about how the Truth Teller media types consistently stay away from certain names.

    If you do this long enough, and find the same outcome frequently enough, you realize most of these “Truth Tellers” are not that at all; they are, instead, Truth Managers.

    The DC Truth Managers are willfully blind to the activity of certain people they have identified as what can only be reasonably assumed to be CIA operators.

    Having spent thousands of hours on this subject, no other reasonable explanation make sense.  There are bad actors in DC that I can only believe are “CIA operators.” Why? Because earnestly after years of doing this, I cannot think of any other reason why they would be protected.

    Why is CIA operative Nellie Ohr openly discussed, yet the stronger and more important name, Mary McCord, purposefully avoided.  I have reached the conclusion that Mary McCord is factually a CIA operator.  Nothing else makes sense.

    ♦ Be careful about assigning the label “Truth Teller” toward any alternative media DC insider who is a “reformed journalist” or “former staff member” of the machine.

    There are well known voices from inside the system, that exit the corporate media world, and enter the alternative media world, only to carry on the same purpose.

    I see the information managers frequently now and identify them easily by who they *do not* talk about.

    Truth Tellers have no vested financial interest in the information, or control thereof; Truth Managers always do.

    When a current or former information manager comes across a story of corruption that involves a “CIA designated bad actor,” they never discuss that person in their information reveal. They continue the protection.

    A good rule of thumb is never to think of anyone from inside the DC information system, regardless of their disposition, as a Truth Teller.

    Every Information Manager was matriculated, and are compromised, by the system around them that is entirely based on corrupt activity.

    Hang around a one-legged tribe long enough, and inherently you begin limping.

    • Truth Teller Examples: Patel Durov, Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and Matt Taibbi.  Pavel Durov (arrested in France) now lives in Dubai. Glenn Greenwald now lives in Brazil. Edward Snowden now lives in Russia.

    • Truth Manager Examples: John Solomon, Sean Hannity, Sara Carter, Catherine Herridge, Steve Bannon, Kash Patel, Glenn Beck, Jack Posobiec, Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin and the entire Fox News lineup.  There are many more, but the financial aspect runs consistent.

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had to agree to stop being a Truth Teller and become a Truth Manager in order to be released from prison.  As he readily admits, part of the agreement was to give the Western Intelligence Community first right of review for any information WikiLeaks would release.  This shifts Julian Assange from Truth telling to Truth managing.  In this unique case, I don’t fault him a bit.

    ♦ In our larger discussion of information, how does Information Management surface:

    Let me give you a great example using this video shared yesterday.

    Listen carefully to what Kash Patel says at the 01:23 moment about the “Russiagate report” that was written, and how the “ICA” (Intelligence Community Assessment) was constructed with fraudulent information from the CIA.

    As Patel notes, “Gina buried it.” That’s Gina Haspel, the Trump CIA Director who replaced Mike Pompeo.

     

    Now, you might think that Patel is a Truth Teller in this segment but stand back and think about it with fresh eyes, non-pretending eyes.

    Patel knows, because he (with others) created a report that highlights a fraudulent CIA operation. A report that was absorbed by the CIA and buried.

    Put another way, Patel is talking about a body that he knows is buried. Ergo, people might say, “Patel knows where the body is buried,” right?

    But ask yourself, with the known stakes to the nation as an outcome of horrific fraud, why didn’t this self-identified “#2 in the Intelligence Community” bring this information forward regardless of outcome?

    Is Patel a “Truth Teller,” or is he a “Truth Manager,” obeying the Silo rules out of self-interest?

    New Eyes – Use them.

    What is the difference between Edward Snowden and Kash Patel?

    One is a Truth Teller the other is a “buy my books” Truth Manager.

    Of course, Kash Patel defenders will justify by saying he was just waiting to release the information he alluded to, until he was in a better position.  So, his plan to reveal the truth was to: (1) hope Trump won the election, (2) hope he would be appointed to an administration position, and then (3) hope to be able to reach into the CIA silo and somehow retrieve his work product.  Please. Just stop.

    As a “confirmed”, not “acting” FBI Director, Kash Patel *could* declassify information or documents that is the exclusive equity of the FBI Silo, but only the FBI Silo.

    If there was a joint silo operation, he cannot.

    If the information was from a source outside the FBI silo, he cannot.

    If the information is not 100% exclusive to the FBI silo, he cannot.

    Modify your outlook accordingly.

    ♦ The “continuing central power” that Patel talks about already exists.

    This is part of the problem with people who come from inside the system; and it is a problem for those who cannot spend thousands of hours understanding it.

    The IC Silo rules, are followed by people who matriculate surrounded by the IC Silo rules.

    The “central power” needed to fracture the system is the physical person of the President of the United States.

    The President is, well, Snowden-proof. The President, not the office, the actual physical person, is the power of the system. The epicenter of the system where the atom splits, is the physical President.

    Acting in his “official duty,” the President of the United States can take a document (any document) and walk into the Brady Room, hand it to a journalist and that document is automatically declassified.

    He doesn’t need a stamp on it. He doesn’t need anyone else’s approval or permission. He, the physical person, the President, can simply say, “I view this in my official capacity as President of the United States to be a vital interest to the American public,” and hand it to anyone he chooses. That’s the central power.

    Knowing this, knowing the factual reality of it, is exactly why the concentric circles around the President, intentionally and forcefully stop him from doing it. The silo system self-protects.

    If it can be done this way, then why wasn’t it done this way?

    Kash Patel, Devin Nunes, Ric Grenell, John Ratcliffe etcetera. all know this to be true. So why wasn’t it done?

    Go ask Edward Snowden.

    ♦ Impeachment is the political backstop that protects the IC Silo business model.

    Impeachment origins are amorphous by definition.

    Declassify something the IC Silo operators don’t like, and it’s a national security breach worthy of impeachment.

    These are the warnings to President Trump built into the Silo rules.   This is why the White House Counsel is so important. This is why the Nunes Memo was never declassified.  This is why President Trump relied on Mark Meadows, which ultimately culminated in an FBI retrieval operation in Mar-a-Lago.

    See the political backstop?

    Wait, are you saying there’s no point in declassifying then?

    No. Exactly the opposite.

    Strike now. The House is still in GOP hands.

    Force the Legislative Branch to impeach President Trump in the first year as the only way to stop him.

    Draw out the enemy. However, don’t YOU be so naïve that you do not take the time to understand exactly, in granular detail, what will be needed to do the actual declassifying.

    If the Legislative Branch prioritizes retention of the system and takes down Trump via impeachment, JD Vance has to be willing to continue it… And so on, and so on…

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Entry #5,418
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