Vice-President Mike Pence traveled to Canada today as an emissary of the Trump administration to support Canadian passage of the USMCA trade agreement.
According to Reuters media reports the vice-president was focused on the importance of a strong North American economic alliance, and how a united tri-lateral agreement can form a geopolitical hedge against influence from communist China and socialist ideologies in Cuba and Venezuela. Justin from Canada expressed his perspectives over diminished women’s rights, U.S. abortion laws, the important contributions of a transgender workforce, climate change and the NBA championship playoffs…. Yes, really:
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Meanwhile in Mexico: “The Senate, controlled by Lopez Obrador’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and its allies, should approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) once it has passed through congressional committee, the president said.” (link)
Compare and contrast…
The Canadian window is short, if they don’t ratify the USMCA trade pact by the end of June, the Canadian parliament will go into legislative recess until after the general elections October 21st, 2019. Justin and Chrystia demand to be courted…
Meanwhile in Mexico:
[…] The Mexican Senate is not currently in session, but the government said special periods would be held to pass USMCA.
Lopez Obrador said he was “optimistic” the trade deal, which U.S. President Donald Trump had pushed for, would be approved in the U.S. Congress. The Mexican president said he did not expect major difficulties to arise in its U.S. passage. (link)
It will be interesting to watch what happens.
Factually and ideologically, throughout the entire trade discussion, the Trudeau administration has put anti-Trump politics ahead of the Canadian economy. The economic stagnation in Canada is a direct result.
On-one-hand Princess Freeland and Prince Sparkle Socks need to get their economy back on track; however, that means proceeding with ratification of the USMCA which is against their ideological interests.
On-the-other-hand Freeland and Trudeau do not want to support President Trump in any manner or form. The hatred of Trump is palpable and visible. Their hatred of Trump, and public pronouncements therein, is also part of their re-election strategy. They want to run for re-election using the “orange-man-bad” resistance approach.
However, with the scale of investment withdrawal from Canada if they don’t ratify the USMCA Trudeau won’t have much of an economy left to manage…. And that becomes a problem for Justin/Freeland and their ideological best friend Nancy Pelosi.
After all the 2017 and 2018 shenanigans pulled by Freeland and Trudeau; and specifically after their G7 stunt last year; President Trump is essentially done with them – I doubt President Trump would even take a call from Justin from Canada. And forget about USTR Robert Lighthizer…. he’s a thousand times more angry than Trump.
The U.S. relationship with Canada is fundamentally fractured, destroyed, unrecoverable, so long as Trudeau/Freeland are present and pushing their elitist, globalist, multinational agenda. The relationship is so bad, if a hostile nation was to threaten Canada, it would take some convincing to get President Trump to express any intent to defend.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to give Trump a win. Trudeau and Freeland don’t want to give Trump a win. However, if Trudeau and Freeland don’t quickly ratify the USMCA they’re screwed come October (elections). As a result, ratification in Canada will put Pelosi in a pressured pickle…. and would likely lead to the U.S. House taking up similar ratification.
Amid all the chaos, there’s an apex predator who thrives in the fray. His world-leading economy is firing on twenty-trillion cylinders…. and he’s lining up tankers of boost.
The U.S. economy is expanding at a rate more than double all other nations; the U.S. unemployment rate is 3.6%, half all other nations; U.S. inflation is barely above one percent, and average U.S. wage rate growth is 3.4 percent and climbing.
Today is a very good day. Despite the professional punditry and their doomsayer predictions of Trump tariffs driving up costs for consumers, exactly the opposite is happening.
Despite large growth in the Main Street USA economy; and despite large wage gains by U.S. blue-collar workers; inflation remains low and mysteriously detached from the Fed monetary policy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. inflation was much weaker than initially thought in the first quarter amid a sharp slowdown in domestic demand, which could cast doubts on the Federal Reserve’s view that the benign price pressures were largely because of temporary factors.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding the volatile food and energy components increased at a 1.0% rate last quarter, the government said. The so-called core PCE price index, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, was previously reported to have risen at a 1.3% pace.
The increase last quarter was the smallest in four years and pushed inflation further below the Fed’s 2% target. (read more)
They just don’t get it. For over three years CTH has been explaining how President Trump’s maganomic policy will reverse three decades of stagnant Main Street economic growth. Today the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) once again confirms our earlier predictions, and releases the data showing inflation is essentially nonexistent.
Since the mid-to-late 1980’s the U.S. economy split into two divergent economic engines. One traditional engine powered by Main Street, and a second engine powered by Wall Street. For thirty-plus years the distance between those engines was growing as federal monetary policy provided low interest rate support for investment, but the end destination for the investment was NOT in the U.S. [Hence, globalism]
For more than 30 years monetary policy has been driven by Wall Street influence. FED interest rates made borrowing cheap, but the money -the actual investment itself- flowed out of the United States. The end product from the investment, steered by multinationals, created products overseas. Within this flow of capital there was no benefit to Main Street.
President Trump’s America-First policy has reversed the dynamic. As a result of his focus and demand, the end product(s) from capital investment are now here in the U.S.A.
The MOUSE is money or investment. The CHEESE is end products, manufactured stuff.
Rather than beg the Wall Street investment mouse to change direction in the manufacturing maze, president Trump has simply moved the cheese to Main Street. The mouse’s travel changed accordingly.
The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 0.7 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter (table 4). The PCE price index increased 0.4 percent, compared with an increase of 1.5 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 1.0 percent, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent. (link)
As companies reevaluate the best place for investment (highest return), and they see that Trump’s policies (corp taxes, tariffs, material and labor costs) focus on greatest benefit being inside the U.S, then companies return to Main Street. This is what has been happening since Trump took office; and it continues through today.
The prices of highly consumable goods (food, fuel, energy) is kept low by Trump policies that increase energy production and return a genuine supply-side dynamic to domestic production prices. [The battle with Big AG]
Meanwhile multinationals, and some foreign governments, fight to keep their footing abroad (original investment) by keeping down the price of durable goods manufactured overseas. This is done by increase productivity, adjusted supply chains and retention incentives afforded by the benefiting nation. This is done to offset Trump tariffs which are designed to influence a shift in the manufacturing process.
The end result of both production dynamics, domestic and abroad, is low inflation.
This price dynamic is happening at the location of output, internally to the operations that are determining the output price, based on their determination of what U.S. market prices will absorb.
Key Point – The pricing is NOT a result of decision-making on new investment; and therefore the pricing dynamic is not able to be impacted or influenced by FED monetary policy.
Only when the majority of manufacturing investment fully returns to the U.S. will FED policy have any significant bearing on manufacturing prices. This is the parity point where Main Street’s economic engine is recoupled to inflation.
There was 30 years of distance in the FED disconnect, and it will take more than a few years for the recoupling of Main Street to FED monetary policy.
DECEMBER 2016 – […] Additionally, inflation on durable goods will be insignificant – even as international trade agreements are renegotiated. Why? Simply because the originating nations of those products are going to go through the same type of economic detachment described above.
Those global manufacturing economies will first respond to any increases in export costs (tariffs etc.), by driving their own productivity higher as an initial offset, in the same manner American workers went through in the past two decades. The manufacturing enterprise and the financial sector remain focused on the pricing.
♦ Inflation on imported durable goods sold in America, while necessary, will ultimately be minimal during this initial period; and expand more significantly as time progresses and off-shored manufacturing finds less and less ways to be productive. Over time, durable good prices will increase – but it will come much later.
♦ Inflation on domestic consumable goods ‘may‘ indeed rise at a faster pace. However, it can be expected that U.S. wage rates will respond faster, naturally faster, than any monetary policy because inflation on fast-turn consumable goods become re-coupled to the ability of wage rates to afford them.
The fiscal policy impact lag, caused by the distance between federal monetary action and the domestic Main Street economy, will now work in our favor. That is, in favor of the middle-class.
Within the aforementioned distance between “X” and “Y”, a result of three decades traveled by two divergent economic engines, is our new economic dimension….
Chopper pressers are the best pressers. President Trump delivers remarks to the media and holds an impromptu press conference prior to departing the White House for a trip to Colorado. [Video and Transcript below]
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[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. We just had news that Turkey released a prisoner that we were trying to get, and they released him a little while ago into home custody and will be released from home custody to the United States pretty soon. And I just want to thank President Erdoğan. We dealt with that, and he was — it was great.
They released this prisoner, hostage — whatever you want to call him. He’s at home custody, in Turkey. He’ll be released fairly soon, so that’s good news. I guess, probably, you know about that.
Other than that, I think things are going very well. The economy is doing fantastically well, beyond any expectation. Unemployment numbers are just about the best in the history of our country. Employment numbers are the best. We have close to 160 million people working today, which is more than we’ve ever had before.
I’m going out to Colorado today to give the commencement address for the Air Force, which is actually very exciting for me. It’s an amazing place. These are great people. So I look forward to doing that.
Any questions?
Q What did you make of Mueller’s statement yesterday?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it was the same as the report. There wasn’t much change. It was, to me, the same as the report. And there’s no obstruction. You see what we’re saying. There’s no obstruction, there’s no collusion, there’s no nothing. It’s nothing but a witch hunt. This is a witch hunt by the media and the Democrats. They’re partners.
And it keeps going. I thought it was finished when the report was released, but it goes on. And, to me, it was the same, frankly, as the report. And he said, basically, it was the same as the report.
Q Do you still think Robert Mueller behaved honorably?
THE PRESIDENT: I think he’s totally conflicted. Because, as you know, he wanted to be the FBI Director, and I said no. As you know, I had a business dispute with him. After he left the FBI, we had a business dispute. Not a nice one. He wasn’t happy with what I did, and I don’t blame him. But I had to do it because that was the right thing to do. But I had a business dispute.
And he loves Comey. You look at the relationship with those two. So whether it’s love or deep like, but he was conflicted.
Look, Robert Mueller should’ve never been chosen because he wanted the FBI job and he didn’t get it. And the next day, he was picked as Special Counsel. So you tell somebody, “I’m sorry, you can’t have the job.” And then, after you say that, he’s going to make a ruling on you? It doesn’t work that way. Plus, we had a business dispute. Plus, his relationship with Comey was extraordinary.
Now, one other thing I’ll say: Why didn’t he investigate Strzok, and Page, and McCabe, and Comey and all the lies, and Brennan and the lies, and Clapper and the lies to Congress, and all of the things that happened to start this investigation? Why didn’t Comey come clean? Why didn’t Comey come clean and say the things that he knows are fact? Why didn’t Mueller investigate Comey, his best friend or his very good friend? And there are so many other things.
Here’s a question. This is a study of Russia. Why didn’t they invest the insurance policy? In other words, should Hillary Clinton lose, we’ve got an insurance policy. Guess what? What we’re in right now is the insurance policy.
Q Do you think he behaved dishonorably?
THE PRESIDENT: I think he is a total conflicted person. I think Mueller is a true Never Trumper. He’s somebody that dislikes Donald Trump. He’s somebody that didn’t get a job that he requested that he wanted very badly, and then he was appointed. And despite that — and despite $40 million, 18 Trump haters, including people that worked for Hillary Clinton and some of the worst human beings on Earth — they got nothing. It’s pretty amazing.
Q Do you believe that Russia helped you get elected?
THE PRESIDENT: No, Russia did not help me get elected.
Q That’s what it said (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: You know who got me elected? You know who got me elected? I got me elected. Russia didn’t help me at all. Russia, if anything, I think, helped the other side. What you ought to ask is this: Do you think the media helped Hillary Clinton get elected? She didn’t make it, but you take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and the media. You take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and Russia. She had more to do, in the campaign, with Russia than I did. I had nothing to do.
And, by the way, that’s one other thing. If you look, this was all about Russia, Russia, Russia. They don’t talk about Russia anymore because it turned out to be a hoax. It was all a hoax. And then they say, “Gee, he fought back. Isn’t that terrible? He fought back.” Of course, I fight back. Because it was a false accusation — a totally false accusation. And it’s a disgrace. And it’s a very — it’s a very sad period for this country.
And I think, in the end, I will consider what’s happening now to be one of my greatest achievements: exposing this corruption.
Q Do you think they’re going to impeach you?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t see how they can. Because they’re possibly allowed, although I can’t imagine the courts allowing it. I’ve never gone into it. I never thought that would even be possible to be using that word. To me, it’s a dirty word — the word “impeach.” It’s a dirty, filthy, disgusting word. And it had nothing to do with me.
So I don’t think so, because there was no crime. You know, it’s “high crimes and…” not “with” or “or.” It’s “high crimes and misdemeanors.” There was no high crime and there was no misdemeanor. So how do you impeach based on that?
And it came out that there was nothing to do with Russia. The whole thing is a scam. It’s one of — it’s a giant presidential harassment. And, honestly, I hope it goes down as one of my greatest achievements because I’ve exposed corruption — I’ve exposed corruption like nobody knew existed.
Q China says it’s going to restrict (inaudible) and rare earth elements if your trade strategy (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: I think we’re doing very well with China.
Come here, I want to shake your hand. Come here. You’ve treated me fairly. Thank you. Thank you.
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. I want to answer a real reporter’s question. We’re going to answer a real reporter’s question, okay?
China would love to make a deal with us. We had a deal, and they broke the deal. I think, if they had to do again, they wouldn’t have done what they did. We’re taking in billions of dollars in tariffs. China is subsidizing products. So the United States taxpayer is paying for very little of it. And if you look at inflation and if you look at pricing, it’s gone up very little.
The tariffs are having a devastating effect on China. People are fleeing the country with their companies. These companies are leaving for Vietnam, other parts of Asia, and they’re even coming to the United States because then there’s no tariff.
I think we’re doing very well with China. We’ll see what happens. But I can tell you China very much wants to make a deal because the companies are leaving China to avoid the tariff. China is becoming a very weakened nation, just as Iran has become a very weakened nation. And Iran wants to make a deal also.
Q Will you see Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage in the UK?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Will you see Boris or Mr. Farage?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I may. Nigel Farage is a friend of mine. Boris is a friend of mine. They’re two very good guys. Very interesting people. Nigel has had a big victory; he’s picked up 32 percent of the vote, starting from nothing. And I think they’re big powers over there. I think they’ve done a good job.
Q Would you support either of them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I like them. I mean, they’re friends of mine, but I haven’t thought about supporting them. Maybe it’s not my business to support people. But I have a lot of respect for both of those men.
Q On the USS McCain, do you think it’s fair to the sailors of the John McCain that they were banned from hearing you speak simply because they (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t involved. I would not have done that. I was very angry with John McCain because he killed healthcare. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape, or form. I think John McCain had a lot to getting President Bush — a lot to do with it — to go into the Middle East, which was a catastrophe.
To me, John McCain — I wasn’t a fan. But I would never do a thing like that. Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, okay? And they were well meaning, I will say. I didn’t know anything about it. I would never have done that.
Q Do you owe the sailors of the McCain an apology?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. I heard sailors all went on. We had a tremendous group of sailors from various ships. It was a beautiful day. But the McCain thing, I knew nothing about.
Q What are you doing to (inaudible) foreign adversaries from interfering in 2020?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think I’ve been much tougher on elections than President Obama. President Obama was told, in 2016, just before the election in September, that Russia may try and interfere with the election. He did nothing. And the reason he did nothing is he thought Hillary was going to win.
We are doing a lot, and we’re trying to do paper ballots, as a back-up system, as much as possible. Because going to good, old-fashioned paper, in this modern age, is the best way to do it.
Q (Inaudible) talks with President Putin? What does the U.S. gain from that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we want to have a relationship with Russia and China and everybody. And I’ve said that for a long time. Getting along with Russia, getting along with China is a good thing if we can do it on fair terms or our terms.
Q (Inaudible) with Venezuela?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Venezuela — we’re just on watch. We’ll see what happens. I’d love to see them work out their problems. I understand there are a lot of talks going on. But I’m all for the people of Venezuela. You know that probably better than anyone.
Steve, go ahead.
Q In Israel, Netanyahu has been failing to form a coalition. Are you worried about that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s too bad what happened in Israel. It looked like a total win for Netanyahu, who’s a great guy. He’s a great guy. And now they’re back in the debate stage and they’re back in the election stage. That is too bad, because they don’t need this. I mean, they’ve got enough turmoil over there. It’s a tough place. I feel very badly about that.
It looks like they’re talking, but more likely they’ll have to go back into election mode. That’s too bad.
Q The Mueller report said Russia was trying to help you and hurt Hillary Clinton. Was Mueller wrong about that?
THE PRESIDENT: I believe that Russia would rather have Hillary Clinton as President of the United States than Donald Trump. The reason is: Nobody has been tougher on Russia than me. Whether it’s our energy policy, which was not hers; whether it’s the pipelines, as you know, in Europe, going all over the place that I’ve been bitterly complaining about; whether it’s Ukraine; whether it’s a whole host of things — there has nobody ever been more tough or difficult for Russia than Donald Trump.
Now, I have to tell you this: I put sanctions on Russia at a level that nobody has seen before. Nobody even wants to write about it.
With all of that, I want to get along with Russia, and I want to get along with China, and I want to get along with Europe. I want to get along with everybody, if it’s possible. I even want to get along with Iran, and Iran wants to talk. And if they want to talk, I’m available. Thank you.
Q (Inaudible) what you hope to do?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to be staying at Doonbeg, in Ireland because it’s convenient and it’s a great place. But it’s convenient. We’ll be meeting with a lot of the Irish officials, and it’ll be an overnight stay. And I look forward to that.
Q What will you be discussing with the Taoiseach?
THE PRESIDENT: A lot of the things that you (inaudible).
Q Mr. President, do you think the White House should apologize for (inaudible) John McCain?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I can’t because I didn’t know anything about it. I don’t know who did it. We’ll probably be able to find out who did it. They thought they were doing me a favor because they know I am not a fan of John McCain. John McCain killed healthcare for the Republican Party and he killed healthcare for the nation. I disagree with John McCain on the way he handled the vets, because I said you got get to Choice. He was never able to get Choice. I got Choice. I disagreed with John McCain on the Middle East. He helped force Bush to make a very bad decision and go into the Middle East.
So, I wasn’t a fan of John McCain and I never will be. But certainly, I couldn’t care less whether or not there’s a boat named after his father.
Q Robert Mueller did not say “no obstruction.” He said he did not feel he could charge with you a crime because (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: There were no charges. None. If you look at — if you look at Bill Clinton, that very nice gentleman who’s been so much on my side, as you know, his special prosecutor — it was guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. So many guiltys. With me, there was no guilty. Number one, there was no crime. And number two, I fought back. And I’ll tell you —
Q (Inaudible) said he couldn’t say “no crime.”
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Well, here was no collusion. There was no collusion. Read volume one. There was no collusion.
Q (Inaudible.) He said he could not say there was no crime. He could not clear you.
THE PRESIDENT: That means you’re innocent. That means you’re innocent.
Q He said he couldn’t say you were innocent.
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me — then he should’ve said “you’re guilty.”
Q But he said he couldn’t do that because that would be unfair. (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: That’s wrong. That’s wrong. No. Because he said it — he said it differently the first time. So he said, essentially, “You’re innocent.” I’m innocent of all charges. And, you know, the thing that nobody brings up: There was no crime. They’re saying “he’s obstructing something” and there was no crime. And nobody brings it up.
Also, someday, you ought to read a thing called Article 2. Read Article 2, which gives the President powers that you wouldn’t believe. But I don’t even have to rely on Article 2. There was no crime. There was no obstruction. There was no collusion. There was no nothing. And this is from a group of people that hate me. If they only found anything, they would’ve had it. And he knows that better than anybody.
Q He did not say that you were innocent. He said he did not —
THE PRESIDENT: There was no crime, there was no charge because he had no information.
Q Do you agree with Louisiana’s ban on abortion at six weeks? Is that a good law?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to have a statement about it. And I’m also going to have, probably today, a major statement on the border. This is a big league statement. But we are going to do something very dramatic on the border, because people are coming into our country — the Democrats will not give us laws. They will not change laws. They will not meet. They will not do anything. They want to have open borders. They want to have crime. They want to have drugs pouring into our country. They want to have human trafficking. I’m going to be making a statement probably tomorrow but maybe today.
Q Are you closing the border?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not closing the border. I’m doing something else.
We’re going to be having a major statement on the border sometime later today or tomorrow.
Q What’s the (inaudible) of it?
THE PRESIDENT: It will be a statement having to do with the border and having to do with people illegally coming over the border. And it will be my biggest statement, so far, on the border. We have brought something to the light of the people. They see now it’s a national emergency, and most people agree. The Democrats agree too, but they won’t give us the legislation you need to fix it.
Right now, when you catch somebody, you have to release them. They won’t give us the legislation. Whether it’s chain migration or whether it’s lottery, they won’t give us any. And the asylum procedures are ridiculous. No place in the world has what we have in terms of ridiculous immigration laws.
So I will be making a major statement — I would say my biggest statement — on the border, probably today or tomorrow.
Steve Bannon is in Paris, France as the nationalist wins in the EU parliamentary election results fill the headlines. Additionally, Bannon gives his opinion on the strategic importance of President Trump’s recent state visit to Japan.
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“Economic security is national security“… I would emphasize the strategy within the multi-layered geopolitical economic reset is all President Trump. The restoration of a sovereign U.S. economy, and the increases in Main Street American wealth, is Donald Trump’s primary agenda item. The President listens to advisers on a variety of economic and trade matters, but the America-First policy strategy is all his.
Excellent video of President Trump and First Lady Melania returning to the White House following a three-day state visit in Japan. The video is even better if you play “Ride of the Valkyries” in the background:
Despite the professional doomsayer predictions from the professional financial class of Wall Street investment punditry, Main Street is upbeat and consumer confidence is strong.
Tariff-Man Winning
“Consumer Confidence posted another gain in May and is now back to levels seen last Fall when the Index was hovering near 18-year highs,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The increase in the Present Situation Index was driven primarily by employment gains.
Consumers expect the economy to continue growing at a solid pace in the short-term, and despite weak retail sales in April, these high levels of confidence suggest no significant pullback in consumer spending in the months ahead.” (more)
Never is the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street more visible than in the predictions -vs- reality for the growing/strengthening American middle-class.
The professional financial punditry can’t explain it. Flummoxed academics run around bumping into walls amid economic numbers that continue to defy expectations. All caused by a simple return to common sense ‘America First’ MAGAnomics.
Low unemployment (3.6%); wages growing (+3.2%); inflation stable (1.6%). These measures all have a cumulative impact on paycheck-to-paycheck Americans. Prices for durable goods are stable and wage growth is exceeding inflation. That means more disposable income in the middle-class…DUH. Which, when combined with the increased pay from lower middle-class tax rates, is exactly the intended outcome of MAGAnomics.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Consumer confidence jumped in May as households grew more upbeat about the labor market, suggesting the economy remained on solid ground despite signs that activity was slowing after being temporarily boosted by exports and a build-up of inventories.
The surge in confidence reported by the Conference Board on Tuesday came despite an escalation in tensions in the 10-month trade war between the United States and China, which sparked a sharp sell-off on Wall Street. It mirrors strength exhibited by another sentiment surveys in the middle of this month. (more)
A carefully redacted footnote within a report by FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer has always appeared to be a clue to a domestic surveillance program. Now details behind the redactions tell a concerning story.
A brief refresher is needed for those new to the story. In April 2017 Judge Collyer wrote a highly critical FISA Court opinion following discoveries by Director Admiral Rogers of government contractors accessing the NSA database, and extracting illegal search results from the electronic records of every American.
The scale of abuse was incredible [SEE HERE] and the surveillance issues had been covered up for years. Collyer cited the Obama administration as having “an institutional lack of candor” in their responses to her and the FISA court. The judge focused her criticism after a review of the period 2012 through April 2016.
Using the non-compliant admissions by NSA Director Mike Rogers and the results of the compliance audit, Judge Collyer used the period of November 2015 through April 2016 to gauge the scale of abuse at 85 percent. Eighty-five percent of all database search queries were unlawful, and she extended her analysis to say:
“while the government reports it is unable to provide a reliable estimate of [these non lawful searches] since 2012, there is no apparent reason to believe the November 2015 [to] April 2016 period coincided with an unusually high error rate”.
Also this very important:
“many of these non-compliant queries involved the use of the same identifiers over different date ranges.”
Eight-five percent of all use/extraction of the NSA database was unlawful; and they were searching many of the same Americans (“identifier”), repeatedly, over different dates. This means specific Americans were being targeted, tracked and monitored… unlawfully.
Within the 99-page opinion from Judge Rosemary Collyer she noted none of this FISA-702 database abuse was accidental. In a key footnote on page 87: Collyer outlined the years of unlawful violations was the result of “deliberate decisionmaking“:
This specific footnote, is key to peeling back the onion.
Note the phrase: “([redacted] access to FBI systems was the subject of an interagency memorandum of understanding entered into [redacted])”. This sentence exposes an internal decision; withheld from congress and the FISA court by the Obama administration; and outlines a process for access and distribution of surveillance data. Note: “no notice of this practice was given to the FISC until 2016“.
We feel confident we’ve now found the source of the “memorandum of understanding” that lies at the heart of the issue [Raw Doc Guidelines].
In March 2012 the Obama administration through Attorney General Eric Holder made changes to the exploitation of intelligence databases as noted in this Wall Street Journal article later in the year:
(December 2012 – WSJ) Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime.
Not everyone was on board. “This is a sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public,” Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, argued in the meeting, according to people familiar with the discussions.
A week later, the attorney general signed the changes into effect.
The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.
Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited. Data about Americans “reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information” may be permanently retained.
The changes also allow databases of U.S. civilian information to be given to foreign governments for analysis of their own. In effect, U.S. and foreign governments would be using the information to look for clues that people might commit future crimes. (more)
The 2012 changes, instituted by Eric Holder, permitted files of specific Americans to be generated under the auspices of potential terror threats. The NSA databases could be exploited by the National Counterterrorism Center to extract content that would be contained within these files on targeted Americans.
Keep in mind this is early 2012, John Brennan is Deputy National Security Advisor and Asst. to President Obama for Homeland Security.
When Attorney General Eric Holder empowered the National Counterterrorism Center with this new authority, the office assigned to the data-collection was the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC). The founder of the TTIC was John Brennan:
On 1 May 2003, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) opened its doors. Led by its first Director, John Brennan, TTIC filled its ranks with approximately three dozen detailees from across the US Government (USG) and was mandated to integrate CT capabilities and missions across the government. (link)
Also note the date of this DOJ Memorandum is March 2012:
Under the new rules issued in March, the National Counterterrorism Center, known as NCTC, can obtain almost any database the government collects that it says is “reasonably believed” to contain “terrorism information.” (link)
The March 2012 date is right before the IRS scandal hit the headlines.
The IRS targeting scandal is where the term “Secret Research Project” originated as a description from the Obama team. It involved the U.S. Department of Justice under Eric Holder and the FBI under Robert Mueller. It never made sense why Eric Holder requested over 1 million tax records via CD ROM, until overlaying the timeline of the FISA abuse:
The IRS sent the FBI “21 disks constituting a 1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The transaction occurred in October 2010 (link)
Why disks? Why send a stack of DISKS to the DOJ and FBI when there’s a pre-existing financial crimes unit within the IRS. All of the evidence within this sketchy operation came directly to the surface in spring 2012.
Here’s how it looks:
♦ In 2010 Eric Holder asked the IRS to send him the records of 501(c) non profit groups and individuals representing conservative voters. [LINK] Lois Lerner sent the DOJ 1.1 million pages of 501(c)(4) tax filing data. Including a very specific set of “33 Schedule B attachment files”. The Schedule B’s were specific to Large Conservative 501(c)(4) groups operating and organized to oppose the agenda of President Obama. The Schedule B’s include the donor lists of specific people and sub-groups attached to the 501(c)(4).
The IRS sent the FBI “21 disks constituting a 1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The transaction occurred in October 2010 (link)
♦ In 2012 Eric Holder authorizes the use of government databases to search records of Americans and assemble “files” on potential targets. [Link] “The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior.”
♦ In the period of 2012 through April 2016, According to FISA Judge Rosemary Collyer, there were tens of thousands of illegal (“non-compliant”) search queries of the NSA database targeting Americans. The search results were unlawfully “extracted” to unknown entities. Eighty-five out of every hundred searches were illegal (85% non-compliant rate).
Consider purposeful actions, as a political targeting operation, by weaponizing the systems of government. Steps:
Fourth use the files to leverage/destroy your opposition.
We now have evidence of the first three steps; and my hunch is if we apply hindsight a lot of unusual activity will now make sense. We have been living inside the fourth step for a few years. We noticed the consequences… but we only had suspicions, until now.
Fusion GPS was not hired to research Trump, the intelligence community was already doing surveillance and spy operations. The intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to give them a plausible justification for already existing surveillance and spy operations.
Fusion-GPS gave the Obama administration the justification they needed for a FISA warrant with the Steele Dossier. Ultimately that’s why the Steele Dossier is so important; without it, the DOJ and FBI are naked with their surveillance and database abuse.
At 12:15pm on January 20th, 2017, Obama’s outgoing National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote a memo-to-self. Many people have called this her “CYA” memo, from the position that Susan Rice was protecting herself from consequences if the scheme against President Trump was discovered. Here’s the email:
On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.
President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book“.
The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.
From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.
[Redacted Classified Section of Unknown length]
The President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would.
Tokyo Japan is 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern timezone. As a result, much of the diplomatic activity for the final day of the state visit happens in the late night hours.
Today is the final day of the official visit which included the first state visit hosted by the Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to celebrate the new imperial era of “Reiwa”.
The visit has been a resounding success for Japan and the United States of America.
Today, the President and First Lady will honor the military. Specifically and purposefully the President will showcase the strategic U.S-Japan military alliance, and deliver remarks to commemorate Memorial Day. At the conclusion of events the President and First Lady will bid farewell to our good friends in Japan.
9:15am (Tokyo) / 8:15pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a Farewell Call with Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, Tokyo, Japan
9:35am (Tokyo) / 8:35pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart the Palace Hotel en route to the Hardy Barracks Landing Zone, Tokyo, Japan
9:45am (Tokyo) / 8:45pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at the Hardy Barracks Landing Zone, Tokyo, Japan
9:55am (Tokyo) / 8:55pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Hardy Barracks Landing Zone en route to JS Kaga Landing Zone, Tokyo, Japan [JS Kaga (DDH-184) is a helicopter carrier (officially classified by Japan as a helicopter destroyer) and the second constructed ship in the Izumo class of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF)]
10:20am (Tokyo) / 9:20pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at JS Kaga Landing Zone, JS Kaga
10:20am (Tokyo) / 9:20pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY visit JS Kaga with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, JS Kaga
10:45am (Tokyo) / 9:45pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart JS Kaga Landing Zone en route to USS WASP Landing Zone
10:55am (Tokyo) / 9:55pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at USS WASP Landing Zone, USS WASP [USS Wasp (LHD-1) is a United States Navy multipurpose amphibious assault ship, and the lead ship of her class.]
11:00am (Tokyo) / 10:00pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a Memorial Day address to the troops aboard USS WASP, USS WASP [Likely Broadcast Live]
12:05pm (Tokyo) / 11:05pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart USS WASP Landing Zone en route to Haneda Airport, USS WASP
12:20pm (Tokyo) / 11:20pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan
12:30pm (Tokyo) / 11:30pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Tokyo, Japan, en route to Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Japan
2:15pm (Tuesday, U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Joint Base Andrews, Joint Base Andrews
2:25pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Joint Base Andrews en route to the White House, Joint Base Andrews
2:35pm (U.S. EDT) THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at the White House, South Lawn
~ Japan State Visit Concluded ~
I will say without reservation, the bond between both nations has grown closer than ever before in our history. President Trump and Prime Minister Abe have also expressed a very visible geopolitical and strategic economic alliance.
The nature of the Trump-Abe engagement over the past several days extends far beyond trade and regional politics. Through deliberate and open messaging each nation has affirmed the principles of sovereign respect, the value of freedom, and a purposeful Indo-Pacific alliance. The entire region was paying close attention. This is big stuff.
This was a very consequential visit for the region.
Without directly noting the purpose of confronting communist China, the joint-alliance message was very clear. Remarkable things will begin happening as a result of this purposeful strategy; and by extension the Southeast Asia region of allies will benefit.
This commitment to joint values, including trade and commerce, will enhance the scale of respectful influence; and a successful outcome will produce prosperity in Japan and in the United States.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
On-one-hand Princess Freeland and Prince Sparkle Socks need to get their economy back on track; however, that means proceeding with ratification of the USMCA which is against their ideological interests.
Centinel2012 