Tag Archives: ODNI Clapper

Aug 30 2018

No Further Evidence Needed: Hate-Filled McCain Family Does Not Invite Sarah Palin to Attend Funeral…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 29, 2018 by

Despite having numerous opportunities over the past several years to criticize her former back-stabbing, war-mongering, deception and former running mate, Sarah Palin always refused to be critical of the pontificating pus goblin known as Senator John McCain.

To highlight the severity of the self-interest, elitist superiority and bitter hatred carried in the heart of the entire McCain clan, Sarah Palin was not invited to attend his funeral service.

Barack Obama, Joe Biden and George Bush will deliver remarks.

WASHINGTON DC – Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has reportedly not been invited to attend funeral services for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), her onetime running mate.

NBC News reported Wednesday that Palin had not been invited. A source within the Palin family told NBC News that “out of respect to Senator McCain and his family we have nothing to add at this point.”  (read more)

Will Rogers never met John McCain! ~SD

 

Aug 30 2018

Attributing All-Powerful Ability to CIA is not Warranted


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Aug 30, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You seem to be the only reliable source one these machinations of Russiagate. There are those who say that the neoconservatives used Ukranian politicians financed by Washington to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine and to put in office a government hostile to Russia. The intent was to use Ukraine, a Russian province for more than three centuries, to create problems for Russia that would absorb Russia’s attention and return a free hand to Washington and Israel in the Middle East. The neocons rejected the Crimeans actually voted to reunite with Russia when they were ethnic Russians. It seems they spin conspiracies to further Russiagate. Can you shed any light?

Thank you so much

EN

ukraine-ethnic-divide-data

ANSWER: Let me explain something. I have many friends in Ukraine. I had personal friends on the barricades. Here is a photo of a Russian soldier we published before there was an acknowledgment that there were Russian soldiers in Eastern Ukraine. It was taken by a friend who asked if they were there to protect them and asked if they could take a picture. I cropped out my friend.

I had many people on the ground. The revolution was the people against Yanukovich. He was really from the East and could not even speak proper Ukrainian. He and his sons were oligarchs and they were shaking down businesses. The people rose up against the corruption – plain and simple.

The CIA and European powers ENETERED to hand pick who they wanted to lead the nation. The people were told that if they rose up again, they would not be supported by the West.

The CIA and neocon could not create that revolution. They took advantage of it, but they could not create it. The language map shows clearly that Donetsk and Crimea were predominantly Russian. All these conspiracy theorists twist things around and do not accept that sometimes things happen on their own. We are witnessing massive demonstrations now in Romania for the very same reasons. These are not CIA plots. The people are rising up against government corruption everywhere. Even in China, Xi came to power to cleanse China of corruption. I had a friend in Donetsk who reported to me when Russian tanks came down the street.

Not everything is a CIA plot. These people give WAY TOO MUCH credit to people who lack that sort of all-powerful status. They have insulted the Ukrainian people who they regard as mindless fools incapable of standing up for their rights. There were snipers on the roofs killing people on the barricades. There has never been any prosecution of such people.

Aug 29 2018

Jim Jordan Discusses Bruce Ohr Testimony….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 28, 2018 by

House Judiciary Committee Representative Jim Jordan appears on Fox News with Lou Dobbs to discuss the testimony of DOJ Official Bruce Ohr.

Aug 29 2018

Bruce Ohr Testifies To Closed-Door Joint Session of Congress (Oversight and Judiciary)…


RE-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 28, 2018 by

Today DOJ Official Bruce Ohr is testifying in a closed-door session to a joint House Oversight and Judiciary Committee.  The republican representatives asking questions were selected by Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Democrats are relying on staff.

According to Kyle Cheney (Politico) Bruce Ohr has four lawyers with him, personal lawyers and lawyers representing the interests of the DOJ.  Initial indications are Ohr has provided testimony that directly conflicts with Fusion-GPS Glenn Simpson, and prior testimony from witness Lisa Page to the joint committee.

Aug 28 2018

EU Considering Requiring a Broadcaster License to have YouTube Channel


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Aug 28, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

While in the US some people have discovered that running a YouTube Channel can get you in trouble with the law. One many found himself in Georgia with being charged with running a business without a license even though he was not selling anything just offering his opinion. Of course, there are two licensing options provided by YouTube for content uploaded to its service and suggest an additional third option for users wanting more flexibility for their content and their rules and regulations.

The world of information is changing rapidly. There is now radio and TV stations available on the internet expanding the availability of audiovisual content overall. But such broadcasters are regulated and require a license. The traditional reasons for requiring regulation/intervention in broadcast, cable system and satellite system markets, was the scarcity of frequencies, diversity, and localism. With the advent of the internet, certainly scarcity of available frequencies does not apply. These reasons are still used to justify governments’ intervention in media markets which were never supposed to be about stopping free speech.

Moreover, media convergence has certainly blurred traditional distinctions between media providers in the various mediums now available. Print media now also offers on-demand videos and other audiovisual content on their websites blurring the old traditional distinction between print, radio, and TV. Likewise, TV broadcasters and radio stations also publish newspaper-like content on their websites. There is the growing problem that regulation seems to have been left in the Dark Ages.

Regulators still operate under the license regimes and impose their ownership limits to prevent monopolies. They also impose behavioral restraints and they have rules governing things that they must carry. Naturally, channel position privileges are also decided by regulators. Rupert Murdock had to be approved to buy media companies in the USA. The FCC once upon a time had the Fairness Doctrine, but abandoning that has produced Fake News where broadcasters no longer have to provide a balance to both sides. This has ushered in the age of Propaganda.

These regulations have been deemed as NECESSARY yet remain highly disputed among scholars. Such intervention into media has always been dancing on the edge of infringements of First Amendment rights of Free Speech. However, with the new age of the internet, the old interventionist tools really no longer apply as markets converge. Therein lies the problem. Regulators are feeling that they have lost power and politicians have been using the whole Russian conspiracy as a justification to expand regulation that may completely kill free speech.

The jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is limited to broadcast, cable and satellite – not the internet or print media. It lacks the power to regulate the audiovisual media industry as a whole. With the rise of the internet, people can create their own broadcast companies like InfoWars. I have reported that the new European regulations are actually having an impact globally. Alex Jones’ InfoWars has been banned by Apple’s decision to remove five podcasts by Jones and his Infowars website. Other companies have rushed to join including Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify. The general reason is Jones’s podcasts are viewed as “hate content” which can subject them to heavy fines in Europe.

In the USA, the FCC has been weakened with its ability to regulate. It can no longer prevent the emergence of a new market structure in audiovisual media. On December 11, 2007, the European Union adopted an overhauled regulatory framework on audiovisual media, which entered into force on December 19, 2007. The new framework sharply contrasts the FCC’s approach. Not only does the European Union regulate ALL audiovisual media providers, regardless of whether they use airwaves or the internet to convey their content, but it ALSO regulates on-demand offers of audiovisual content. Now the EU has imposed regulation of on-demand offers and that actually opens the door for member states to regulate services like YouTube or Tudou (The China clone in Shanghai). It is the European Union’s intention to cover only mass media which impacts on a significant proportion of the public, or so they say.

Barack Obama’ used the internet to win the election publishing his speeches on YouTube. They have alleged that the Russians helped Trump get elected also by using the internet. The internet has created the ability to have a broadcaster-like service and this is driving the local regulators in Europe absolutely insane. They do not have a First Amendment so if the speech content is against what they want to see in the public, they can just shut it down constitutionally applying hate-speech being their favorite label. This actually forced these internet companies to shut-down InfoWars. They fines and damages can be completely insane in Europe.

Germany has already taken steps that the FCC and the EU are looking at very closely. The German regulator says Twitch and YouTube streams are considered broadcasts, must apply for a broadcasting license. Germany has already taken that step requiring a radio broadcast license for Twitch. Germany under Merkel is deeply concerned about her negative press. They are starting to regulate and shut down free speech under the pretend of hate speech to protect the public. Germany is deliberately applying regulations that define a broadcaster to YouTube channels. The fee they want runs €1,000 to €10,000 or even more depending upon the viewership. The politicians did not make a new law, it is the regulator applying it and they suddenly discovered that a YouTube Channel is like a TV station. So everyone is watching to see if they get away with it.

The EU’s regulation on the internet has been a smashing success and it has forced changes in the USA. The EU can impose regulations to impose must-carry obligations for local channels on worldwide operating TV gateways on the internet or block them from Europe. What has been emerging in Europe is already becoming a major impediment to new forms of audiovisual media and to new ways of producing and conveying content. It is forcing people outside of Europe to comply with foreign laws or face huge fines that would be ruinous in Europe.

The FCC, as well as the Supreme Court, are still locked into the old reasons for regulation. The European Union’s approach seems to intentionally force convergence to their desires upon the entire world. They are deliberately trying to fundamentally change the way broadcast-like services are provided. Already, there are whispers in Brussels that to even have a YouTube Channel will require more than a YouTube license from them. The thinking in Brussels is turning to consider a YouTube Channel to have a broadcaster license. Meanwhile, the FCC sits quietly waiting for Brussels to make the first move. Our sources are deep on this issue. We shall see how far they rise to the surface. We are looking at the most direct assault upon the free speech which is all part of the cycle when governments are fighting to keep power.

If every country adopts this same policy of Germany, they will succeed in completely eliminating free speech which seems to be the real objective here. If someone wanted to do a YouTube Channel in the EU and had to pay €10,000 annually to 28 members, that would be €280,000 per year. That should shut down just about any independent voices. Yet once again, the fact that Germany gets to do this demonstrates why the EU is a failure when any state can act arbitrarily.

Categories: Corruption, Press, Regulation
Aug 27 2018

John McCain Dies at 81


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Aug 26, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

John S. McCain has died at 81. Of course, the media calls him a war hero which make others angry. But still, it is not an appropriate time to criticize the man. Condolences are appropriate for his family who survive him. It is never easy to lose a family member. What rises to the surface for them is all the memories. They will miss him.

Aug 27 2018

Retreat We Much: Attorney for Michael Cohen Now Reverses Claims on Trump Knowledge of any Russian Event…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 26, 2018 by

After the Michael Cohen guilty plea. his attorney Lanny Davis began pitching a claim that the longtime Trump loyalist/lawyer had information Trump knew of the Russian hacking of Democratic emails ahead of time.

Davis said: “I believe that Mr. Cohen has direct knowledge that would be of interest to Mr. Mueller that suggests -I’m not sure it proves- that Mr. Trump was aware of Russian government agents hacking illegally, committing computer crimes, to the detriment of the candidate who he was running against, Hillary Clinton.”  And the media ate it up, and put Davis on just about every possible TV show imaginable.

However, in an interview with the Washington Post this weekend, Mr Davis not only walked back that claim, he entirely retreated from it:

(Via Washington Post) An attorney for Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, is backing away from confident assertions he made that Cohen has information to share with investigators that shows Trump knew in 2016 of Russian efforts to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Lanny Davis, a spokesman and attorney for Cohen, said in an interview this weekend that he is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump’s awareness of the Russian efforts.

[…] asked Saturday how confident he was that Trump knew about the hacking before it became public, Davis said: “I am not sure. There’s a possibility that is the case. But I am not sure.”  […] “I was giving an instinct that he might have something to say of interest to the special counsel” about hacking, Davis said. In retrospect, he said, “I am just not sure.”  (more)

This follows on the heels of Mr. Davis also walking back his prior claim that candidate Trump knew of the Trump Tower meeting.  During a CNN interview Lanny Davis told Anderson Cooper, per his client, candidate Donald Trump had no knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting between Don Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskaya.

And Davis has also stated that all of the claims within the Clinton-Steele dossier about Michael Cohen are also 100% false.  “Thirteen references to Mr. Cohen are false in the dossier, and he has never been to Prague in his life,” Davis told Bloomberg news.

So, there we have it.  Lanny Davis is saying the dossier is false; Trump never knew about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russian lobbyists; and his client, Michael Cohen, has no knowledge of anything to do with Donald Trump and Russians.

:::poof::: …gone. Just like that!

But why is uber-partisan Democrat Lanny Davis now deconstructing the entire ‘Muh Russia’ conspiracy theory?  Why is Clinton acolyte Lanny Davis now single-handily dismantling two years of narratives promoted by the left-wing media?

Well, the answer to those questions is likely found in the outlet now helping to systematically retreat from years of false-reporting; The Washington Post.

There never has been any truth to the vast ‘Muh Russia’ conspiracy, you know that; all research proves that; it is a fundamentally made-up narrative initiated to support the deployment of the scheme team insurance policy.  Eventually it was always going to end up hitting a dead end.  However, the Washington Post is also the outlet for the aggregate U.S. intelligence apparatus, and particularly the CIA, FBI and DOJ-NSD.  Essentially WaPo is their PR and Narrative Engineering firm.

Before giving Lanny Davis any credit for magnanimous honesty, think about what the remaining inside elements of the scheme team need (in combination with the risk matrix of those now on the outside).

Impeachment was the end-objective of the insurance policy. Lanny Davis is now the pivot man to take the impeachment ball from Robert Mueller (Muh Russia) and pass-it-off to the Southern District of New York under the auspices of ‘campaign finance violations‘.

With the DOJ Inspector General FISA and Spygate investigation ongoing -likely nearing completion, and quite possibly bringing unwanted sunlight upon the entire scheme architecture- the impeachment crowd need a way to draw focus away from the risky IG sunlight outcome and still maintain morale amid the resistance movement.

Lanny Davis becomes the tool for the entire shift.

Watch…

The sun is setting on the ‘Muh Russia’ narrative.  There was no obstruction.  Both failing narratives no longer provide any benefit for the 2018 mid-term elections.  Democrats need a valid reason to keep impeachment hopes alive; hence the visible shift toward campaign finance laws…. and terribly immoral Trump etc.

Lanny Davis is the pivot-man.

Remember, this is the Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, MSNBC primary audience; and the democrat party standard voter:

Aug 27 2018

Sunday Talks: Maria Bartiromo Interviews Darrell Issa on Multiple Subjects…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 26, 2018 by

The overwhelming majority of Sunday political talk-show discussion focuses around the death of UniParty Senator John McCain, etc.  There is little value there, and grandma’s rule always applies.

However, Representative Darrell Issa appeared on Sunday Morning with Maria Bartiromo for a discussion on multiple subjects including the DOJ, Robert Mueller, North Korea and ongoing trade reset initiatives with China.

Aug 26 2018

Paul Wood: “I have spoken to one intelligence source who says Mueller is examining ‘electronic records’ that would place Cohen in Prague.”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree house on August 25, 2018 by

It is an inarguable fact that ideologues within the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation used their official positions to conduct a political operation against the candidacy of President Trump. It is also an inarguable fact that DOJ/FBI contractors were exploiting the NSA/FBI database for opposition research as evidenced in the FISA 702(16)(17) abuses admitted by the DOJ and outlined in a FISA ruling by presiding FISA Judge Rosemary Collyer.  There is currently an Office of Inspector General investigation by Michael Horowitz into FISA abuse to discover the scale of the corrupt use.

Major HatTip @JohnWHuber – Today in the Spectator U.K. another sketchy journalist with deep ties to the intelligence apparatus, and specific ties to leaks from former CIA Director John Brennan, outlines that Robert Mueller has “electronic records” showing Michael Cohen travel to Prague:

[…]  The more important question is whether Cohen has even been to Prague. Steele’s dossier claims he did go, in 2016, to meet Russian hackers and Russian intelligence officers. Cohen was asked by The Atlantic magazine about this claim, and about Russia. He responded: ‘I’m telling you emphatically that I’ve not been to Prague, I’ve never been to [the] Czech [Republic], I’ve not been to Russia.’ If my ‘eyewitness’ to the Moscow meeting is telling the truth, then perhaps Cohen was, in the same breath, being misleading about Prague, too — and the whole Russia ‘conspiracy’ starts to unravel. I have spoken to one intelligence source who says Mueller is examining ‘electronic records’ that would place Cohen in Prague. (link)

Michael Cohen has never been to Prague; even Cohen’s anti-Trump lawyer Lanny Davis admits the Cohen claims inside the Steele dossier are nonsense.  CNN, again another anti-Trump voice, confirmed in January Cohen was never in Prague as the dossier claimed.  Quite simply, Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen has never been to Prague.

However, the Paul Wood source, likely Brennan, is claiming there are “electronic records” that would place a Michael Cohen in Prague.  Accepting this claim as possibly true, this actually confirms our initial research into this issue.  The intelligence apparatus, either in the U.S. or connected to Brennan’s international CIA objectives (U.K and Australia), extracted electronic FISA records mistakenly identifying the wrong Michael Cohen.

The issue is two-fold.  (#1) the mistake is inside the Steele Dossier: meaning the intelligence community was feeding Steele information and vice-versa; and (#2) by extension this shows an official IC conspiracy attached to the use of the dossier.

The Cohen-travel-mistake almost certainly links the use of FBI and NSA database searches to the intelligence laundry scheme between the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and the Christopher Steele Dossier….. washed through the DOJ (Bruce Ohr) and passed on to the FBI (Peter Strzok); and then reconstituted for a FISA surveillance application:

The FISA-702(16)(17) abuses lie at the heart of the initial opposition research being conducted against all of Clinton’s opponents.  Indeed, as outlined by FISA Judge Collyer, from November 2015 through May 2016 eighty-five percent of the thousands of search queries were unlawful violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act:

85% of all FISA search queries were in violation.  85%  !!!

The intelligence mistake of Michael Cohen traveling to Prague, is a fingerprint connecting the FBI/DOJ/IC FISA(702)(16)(17) database searches to the Intelligence Community, Fusion-GPS, contractors, and the Steele dossier.

This Cohen-travel-mistake then becomes a risk.  As such there would be a very strong motive for similarly aligned political entities within the U.S. intelligence apparatus to cloud the connection.

Thus the origin of the July 31st, 2016, FBI Counterintelligence Operation against candidate Trump began as an unofficial outcome of an unofficial CIA referral (John Brennan) connected to unofficial contacts with political and intelligence people within the U.K and Australia.  An unofficial and Machiavellian construct.

After Donald Trump won the election, all of the aligned intelligence entities -including Obama officials therein- were now at risk.  Hence “the insurance policy”. The issues extend beyond the unlawful activity of the DOJ and FBI; however, one of the trails of their collective activity ended up inside the Steele Dossier with the false fact surrounding Michael Cohen in Prague.

Paul Wood isn’t the first person to claim Robert Mueller has records. In April of this year, McLatchy, leaking from Mueller’s team, also claimed “electronic record” evidence:

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election. (read more)

It is almost certain that CIA Director John Brennan was the source for the most recent U.K. statement about Mueller having electronic records claiming Michael-Cohen-Travel.  This is pertinent because in a recent interview with Rachel Maddow the former CIA Director made some remarkable admissions.

As noted by Jeff at Marketswork:

Now we come to the segment where I believe Brennan may have slipped badly – and exposed some potentially illegal tactics (19:18 mark):

BRENNAN: When I left office on January 20th of 2017, I had unresolved questions in my mind about whether or not any of those U.S. persons were working in support of the Russian efforts.

MADDOW: And those were referred, those concerns about specific U.S. persons referred to the FBI.

BRENNAN: We call it incidental collection in terms of CIA’s foreign intelligence collection authorities. Any time we would incidentally collect information on a U.S. person, we would hand that over to the FBI because they have the legal authority to do it. We would not pursue that type of investigative, you know, sort of leads. We would give it to the FBI.

So, we were picking things up that was of great relevance to the FBI, and we wanted to make sure that they were there – so they could piece it together with whatever they were collecting domestically here.

That’s not how incidental collection is supposed to work. And the collection doesn’t sound incidental.

FISA Title I and III provisions relate to the conduct of electronic surveillance and physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes of persons, facilities, or property inside the United States.

Section 702 permits the government to target for surveillance foreign persons located outside the United States for the purpose of acquiring foreign intelligence information. To carry out monitoring under Section 702, the government chooses targets, which cannot be individuals known to be US persons.

The law specifies that a “significant” purpose of the monitoring must be to obtain “foreign intelligence information”. Again, U.S. Citizens cannot be the primary target.

Targeting procedures are designed to ensure that only foreign persons located outside the U.S. are targeted for foreign intelligence collection purposes. Minimization procedures are intended to protect any U.S. person information that is incidentally acquired in the course of Section 702 collection.

There are many loopholes to the entire process. The FBI can query acquired Section 702 data. And they can do so using U.S. person inquiries – without a warrant. But U.S. persons are not supposed to be a target of the initial Section 702 collection.

Here’s why Brennan probably chose the surveillance route he did.

Unlike Title I and Title III FISA surveillance, Section 702 collection is not subject to individual formal FISA Court approvals. Due to frequency of collection, instead of issuing individual court orders, the FISC approves annual certifications submitted by the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.

What Brennan discussed sounds eerily similar to what Devin Nunes uncovered in March 2017:

Devin Nunes– “I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition. I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show the President-elect and his team were at least monitored and disseminated out in intelligence, in what appears to be raw—well I shouldn’t say raw—but intelligence reporting channels.

Details about persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting. From what I know right now, it looks like incidental collection. We don’t know exactly how that was picked up but we’re trying to get to the bottom of it. This is normal incidental collection. It was normal foreign surveillance.

I think the NSA’s going to comply. I am concerned – we don’t know whether or not the FBI is going to comply.”

Aug 26 2018

President Trump Tweets Optimistic Outlook for U.S./Mexico Bilateral Trade Deal – Jesus Seade and Robert Lighthizer are Key…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on August 25, 2018 by

Earlier today U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted an optimistic outlook toward the framework for a U.S./Mexico trade deal.  Not unanticipated:

We continue to remind everyone to focus on U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer and AMLO’s guy, Jesus Seade; everyone else is multinational corporate media chaff and countermeasures.

“We are already looking at all the issues. We might close this, not in a matter of hours, but these days. We still have next week,” Jesus Seade, designated chief negotiator of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters.

It is important to note that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has twice asked Jesus Seade to remain AFTER hours when all other trade officials have concluded discussions. Closed-door conversations between Lighthizer and Seade; and no-one else. [Refer back to the two Trump baselines again]

Now, clear the MSM fog from all perspectives; and instead look directly at the discussion framework expressed by Jesus Seade, AMLO’s guy:

[…] Asked by reporters outside the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington if Canada would then join the talks, [Seade] said: “I don’t see any reason why they have to come after we finish. It’s up to (U.S. Trade Representative Robert) Lighthizer to organize his time.”

The Mexican delegation — and sources familiar with the closed-door negotiations — have said previously Canada would return to the table as soon as the other two resolved their bilateral issues — maybe even this week. Seade’s comments seemed to indicate otherwise. (LINK)

Previously:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mexico and the United States are close to resolving remaining bilateral issues in the revamp of the NAFTA trade deal, officials said.

[…] “We are already looking at all the issues. We might close this, not in a matter of hours, but these days. We still have next week,” Jesus Seade, designated chief negotiator of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters.

“We shouldn’t rush, but we’re already close,” Seade added as he left the Washington offices of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer following the latest talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Since restarting last month, the talks have focused on settling differences between Mexico and the United States that go to the heart of U.S. President Donald Trump’s complaint that NAFTA has hollowed out U.S. manufacturing to Mexico’s benefit. (read more)

Always draw references from what you know to be empirically true.  President Trump will not accept the NAFTA fatal flaw.  NAFTA is not currently a trade bloc.  NAFTA is currently an internal agreement of terms-for-commerce between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.  Because it is not a trade bloc, NAFTA is bad.

The U.S. is the host (market), and Mexico/Canada are the parasites exploiting free-movement and economic access to that host.  Without new NAFTA rules; making it an actual trade bloc, where Canada and Mexico can only engage with 3rd parties based on the NAFTA group rules; there is no value in NAFTA.

That’s why Trump has essentially sidelined any 3-way discussion, and is engaged in bilateral trade talks.  In addition to hiding the ‘fatal flaw’ U.S. financial and corporate media are willfully blind and intentionally obtuse on this key point.

All indications, look at it from a 30,000/ft level, are that Lighthizer has explained this to Seade.  President Trump wants to see the Mexican economy gain stability and strength; and he is willing to afford time and economic value toward AMLO to achieve economic strength and more broad-based economic stability; however, team Trump will NOT allow the current exploitation to continue. Period.

Therefore, Mexico has an incredible opportunity…. but only ONE opportunity…. THIS opportunity…. to take advantage of the offer.  If they politicize the deal; if they mislead, scheme, or attempt to covertly structure a trade relationship that undermines the basic offer…. POTUS Trump, regardless of opinion or political pressure, will deliver an economic backlash of the size and scale never seen.  Mexico has one opportunity.

After the terms are finalized, Mexico will likely have a time-frame where POTUS will permit the slow withdrawal of the ‘fatal flaw’ issue, while simultaneously supporting Mexico’s own internal growth in manufacturing and economic independence.

This is also the goal of AMLO, who wants to see Mexico gain economic independence from the manipulation of the multinational corporations, Wall Street and vulture economics driven by Chinese interests; and this outlook builds the framework of the Win/Win.

It will take time for Mexico to withdraw from prior corrupt agreements with multinational corporations who have invested in exploitative enterprise and bribed corrupt Mexican officials.   President Trump is EXACTLY the guy AMLO needs to help guide him through a complex business and economic process of extracting his country from the tentacles of economic exploitation.

Canada is an entirely different kettle-of-fish.  Expect no magnanimous Trump approach toward Canada. Hence Jesus Seade said: “I don’t see any reason why they [Canada] have to come after we finish. It’s up to (U.S. Trade Representative Robert) Lighthizer to organize his time.”

By politicizing their economic interests, Justin and Chrystia have made themselves an economic adversary.  Battle-hardened Trump, who is impervious to political pressure on trade/economics, will not relent.  He simply doesn’t care.

In July 2017, after a speech by former President Obama to the Montreal Board of Trade, Obama instructed Trudeau on how to best weaponize his economic policy to join the anti-Trump resistance. [Conversation pictured above]

President Trump isn’t stupid; he is an apex predator when it comes to the issues of trade, commerce and economics.  Trump knew the scheme, he knew the meeting, he knew the likely direction that Trudeau and Chrystia would take after receiving these instructions. And, in typically predictable form, Justin from Canada followed the left-wing plan and began working against any NAFTA renegotiation.

Justin and Chrystia intentionally planned to undermine any change and scuttle the negotiations.  Hence the demands for gender issues and climate change within NAFTA.

The Canadians made a choice.

No-one forced them to make this choice.

There are no sympathies deserved.