President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence participate in the traditional presentation of the Shamrock Bowl to celebrate the festivities of St. Patrick and the warm relationship between the U.S. and Ireland.

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Earlier in the day President Trump also attended a bipartisan DC luncheon to celebrate the friendship. (see below)

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[Transcript] 12:25 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Father, very much. It’s a great honor to be here. This is my third one. It’s happening so fast. Who would have thought? The first I remember, the second I remember very well, and this is third. So, time flies.

But, Madam Speaker, I want to thank you very much for that — those lovely remarks. And congratulations on the Irish grandchildren. (Laughter.) That’s pretty good.

Also, I want to thank our Vice President, Mike Pence, who’s with us today. (Applause.) To all of the distinguished members of Congress, of which we actually have many, and our many wonderful Irish friends, as we begin our celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

This afternoon, we’re delighted to join all in welcoming Taoiseach, who I’ve gotten to know very well. My friend. We discussed a lot of things that were of great interest to all of us just a little while ago in the Oval Office. In particular, we talked about Brexit, a — something that’s turning out to be a little more complex than they thought it would be. But it will all work out. Everything does. One way or the other, it’s going to work out. But you had a very interesting view on it, and I appreciate your letting me know what’s going on over there. Very, very tough situation.

I also want to thank Ireland’s Ambassador, Daniel Mulhall. Thank you very much, Daniel. I appreciate it. And the entire Irish delegation for being with us today.

The United States and Ireland are bound together by ties of both kinship and friendship. It’s really a great friendship. It’s a friendship like rarely does any country have with another. Our citizens share an abiding love of faith, family, and freedom. Today, our relationship is as strong and resilient as the great Irish people are strong and resilient.

Since America’s founding, men and women of Irish descent have strengthened our nation beyond measure. In every war since the American Revolution, Irish Americans have fought with distinction to win our independence, to preserve our union, and defend our way of life. And nobody has done it like the Irish. They do it with flair. They do it with brilliance. They’ve moved our hearts with timeless works of art, literature, and music.

Irish Americans have also answered the call to serve our nation at the highest levels of government. And you look at the United States Supreme Court, you look in the halls of Congress, and throughout my administration: A lot of Irish. They’re all over the place. Right, Mike? (Laughter.) As an example, Mike, you have your sister, Annie, here today. Where is Annie? Annie, very nice to have you. That’s very good. (Applause.) And you’re serious Irish. That’s what I’m hearing. (Laughter.) Anyway, nice to have you, Annie. Thank you.

Many members of Congress in the room also trace their roots to Ireland, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Kevin, thank you very much. What a good job you’re doing. How’s he doing, Nancy? Okay? (Laughter.) Huh? You have a little advantage. She has a little advantage, but that’s okay. But he’s doing okay. (Laughter.) Good. Thank you, Kevin, very much.

Senator Pat Leahy. Patrick, thank you very much. Appreciate it. And co-chairs of the Friends of Ireland Caucus, Richie Neal and Peter King. Richie, thank you very much. Where’s Peter? Where is Peter? Peter, thank you very much. We see each other here and lots of other places. And you’re doing a great job. Thank you very much, Peter.

REPRESENTATIVE KING: (Inaudible) from Queens.

THE PRESIDENT: And from Queens, too. (Laughter.) On top of everything, from Queens.

This afternoon, we’re also proudly joined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and —

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER HOYER: Right here.

THE PRESIDENT: Steny, thank you very much. Steny, stand up. Come on, Steny. You’ve worked hard. (Laughter and applause). Come on, stand up, Steny. (Applause.) Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Steny.

And Congressman Eliot Engel. Thank you very much. Thanks, Eliot. I appreciate it very much. They really have worked very hard on a lot of issues and some pertaining specifically to Ireland. And we appreciate it very much. Thank you, Eliot.

Since the 7th [17th] century, St. Patrick’s Day has honored the legacy of Ireland’s patron saint, a man of profound humility and faith, whose selfless service is an inspiration to us all.

On St. Patrick’s Day 1937, President Roosevelt noted that, “In times of plenty and in times of famine, Ireland, and the descendants of Ireland, have been faithful to the heritage of St. Patrick.” That’s right.

Today, we reaffirm our enduring gratitude for the profound contributions, extraordinary service, and unyielding spirit of the Irish people. As the United States and Ireland grow ever closer in friendship and partnership — and we are, indeed, growing closer. We’re doing trade deals, we’re doing things that we, frankly, have not done to this extent before. May we find inspiration in the example of those who came before. May we draw new strength from the noble example of Saint Patrick. And may we all be blessed by the luck of the Irish. That’s a good thing, “the luck of the Irish.”

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you again for joining us. You had a very long and good trip. And we really appreciate that you’re here. And please give our warmest and best regards to all of the great and wonderful people of Ireland. Thank you very much. Please. (Applause.) Thank you, Leo. Thank you very much.

END

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham challenges Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to amend his Mueller report resolution and permit adding the appointment of a Special Counsel to look into the numerous 2016 election abuses by the DOJ and FBI.

Chuck Schumer says ‘go spit‘.  Graham stands back up and says: ‘thank you‘ but he shall endeavor to investigate the issues with, or without, Democrat support.

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Toyota made a huge announcement today [SEE HERE] that’s a direct outcome of the NAFTA replacement USMCA trade deal; and the new 75% rule of origin within the Auto sector.

The Toyota announcement is a total of $13 billion investment and includes expanded component part production in: Alabama ($288 million), Kentucky ($238 million), Missouri ($62 million), Tennessee ($50 million) and West Virginia ($111 million).   Additionally, Toyota will open a new assembly plant in Huntsville, Alabama ($1.5 billion) and serious investments in several other areas. [Details Here]

The guiding decision here relates specifically to the construct of the USMCA (NAFTA replacement).   Toyota was previously focused on multi-billion-dollar investments in Canada as they exploited the NAFTA loophole and procured component parts from Asia for North American assembly and shipment into the U.S. Market.  However, when they renegotiated NAFTA and created the USMCA President Trump and USTR Lighthizer closed closed the loophole.

The new USMCA agreement requires that 75% of automobile parts must be made in North America; and 45% must come from plants with minimum labor costs ($16/hr); or face tariffs to access the U.S. market with the finished good.  As a result Toyota has to either pay a tariff to continue importing Asian component parts, or move the higher-wage component manufacturing directly into the U.S.

Obviously, Toyota chose the latter. They made the best decision for their financial plan; and the right decision for the U.S.   This outcome is exactly how tariff and countervailing duty applications are supposed to work to protect U.S. workers and manufacturing.

With the increased Steel and Aluminum manufacturing coming on-line, also a result of well-placed countervailing duties, the raw material for the Toyota component group is now available in the U.S. to make the parts 100% Made in the USA.

How’d ya like them apples.

Oddly enough we predicted these moves in August 2018 right after we learned of the USMCA details.  At the 30,000 ft level, the USMCA deal positioned Mexico and Canada to retain the current multinational investments, but slowly work through a process to withdraw any advanced manufacturing investment. Through a series of sector-by-sector standards on origination the USMCA deal puts the decision-making on the companies while simultaneously closing the fatal NAFTA loophole.

The USMCA agreement makes an economic manufacturing partnership between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.  For assembly products like Autos third party component providers will have to produce the actual parts and origination material within North America.

U.S.T.R. Lighthizer put the details forward:  ♦The NAFTA Loophole closure is explained inSummary Form HERE; with emphasis on the Auto-Sector.  The key is a 75% part origination level for auto-assembly; and a 40-45% level for parts with a minimum $16/hr wage rate.  The final auto-sector source-origination rate (75%) was higher than anyone thought possible during the lengthy negotiations.

Keep in mind Toyota is not the first Auto manufacturer to respond with increased U.S. investment.  Prior to the USMCA German auto-maker BMW began building a $2 billion assembly plant in Mexico.  Under the old NAFTA plan most of BMW’s core parts were coming from the EU (steel/aluminum casting components, engines, transmissions etc.) and/or Asia (electronics, upholstery etc).

However, under the USMCA the Mexico BMW assembly plant has to source 75% of the total component parts from the U.S, Canada and Mexico; with 45% of those parts from facilities paying $16/hr.

The result was BMW needing to quickly modify their supply chain, build auto parts in the U.S. and Mexico, or they would end up paying a tariff on the assembled final product.

Like Toyota, BMW made the financial decision to open a new engine and transmission manufacturing plant in South Carolina…. exactly as Trump and Lighthizer planned.

And don’t forget Fiat Chrysler made a similar announcement in February: “The automaker says it will hire 6,500 workers and invest $4.5 billion by adding a new assembly plant in Detroit and boosting production at five existing factories.” (more)

Earlier today President Trump welcomed Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to the White House and held a mini press conference in the Oval Office.

The more important lead story of this article is buried within the outcome story of ICE agents using a private license plate database to capture illegal aliens. First the headline story:

WASHINGTON – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been using over the past year a vast license plate database to identify the location of vehicles associated with immigrants who do not have legal status, according to documents released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

More than 9,000 ICE agents have been given access to the controversial database, which contains hundreds of millions of license plate scans from across the U.S., according to the documents obtained by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act request. ICE employees are able to use the database to obtain information on where individuals have been and when they were there, with data going back as far as five years.

“With access to this database, ICE can pinpoint the exact location of drivers going about their daily lives,” Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU, told The Hill. Cagle pointed out that ICE can use the database to identify detailed information on anyone — not just individuals wanted for deportation.

“ICE is not prohibited under this program from tracking the locations of citizens,” he said.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. (more)

If you continue reading the story you come across this:

[…] “Unrestricted law-enforcement access to massive private-sector databases housing location information on hundreds of millions of Americans is clearly an idea the Framers hadn’t considered,” Wyden said.

ICE entered into a contract with Thomson Reuters at the end of 2017 for access to the license-plate reader database, which is run by a company called Vigilant Solutions. The documents released by the ACLU reveal details about how the agency has used the database since entering into that contract. (cont.)

Keep in mind, what we are talking about here is a private sector tracking database; something that might trigger long-time CTH readers to remember from several years past (2013-2014).  As an outcropping of an unrelated story, we went deep, very deep, into the assembly of a nationwide private database as it was being constructed.

Use a private-sector database to track down people for missed property tax payments; or use the database to track lawful gun owners; or use the database to stop a traveler from entering an airport until they pay an unpaid parking fine, and hey, no biggie.   But start using that private database to arrest illegal aliens…. and Whoa, now the ACLU says we’ve got a problem.

Hey, at least now they are admitting the database exists.  Considering how strongly everyone denied it was being established six years ago, well, that’s progress I guess.

What we are talking about here are private companies, actually four specific companies, that invested multi-millions in creating a proprietary network that allowed them to build a database.  Later, once that database was established, they become federal contractors and/or sell access to that database to federal contractors.

To say I found myself on the wrong side of the people assembling the process, when I was warning about them, well, would be akin to saying the Miami Dade School Police were an amicable bunch of Ward Cleaver-type chaps during our 2013 MDPSD investigation.

They ain’t.  I digress…

Once they established the database the private companies then become federal contractors or sell access to the database to federal contractors.  Who runs airport security? Who runs the toll booths? Who runs just about every governmental process in the day life of civic engagement?  Yup – govt. contractors.

I wrote about this, and tried to warn about this, at the time (Patriots Day 2014):

As I have spent quite a bit of time researching this issue I’ve realized all of the data is essentially “vendor driven”. Meaning that 3rd parties are buying/selling (contracting) information about YOU to/from the government as a service for revenue enhancement.

The APLR system is essentially a tool in this type of service.

Let’s say you are behind on a civil fee, or local tax, or maybe you just have outstanding parking tickets……. – the 3rd party (contracts with the govt) to harvest the information, then they mine government data bases and compile a hub of information.

The vendor then becomes the extension of government collection.

You come walking out of the grocery store and find your car has a “wheel boot” which disables your ability to drive. Under the wiper is a ticket with the number to call to have the boot removed – when you call the number you find out that you must first pay “the fee or municipal tax you are in default” to get the boot removed.

The data base is proprietary to the vendor. The government entity just allows the vendor to mine their existing data network to create a hub of centralized connected data about you. The vendor gets a fee and/or percentage of payment recovery.

Where is it going …. ? Everywhere.

You go to check in at an airport (now considered a federal building) and find out your travel is suspended until you pay the municipal parking ticket from 2 years ago in Chicago that you totally forgot about (you live in Dallas).

However, the clerk smiles and says “you can pay for it right here if you like, just give me your credit card and we can take care of it for you”….

The private business (airline collector) gets a cut of the collection fee.

All of this is from private-public business partnerships – constructed as a business model – from 3rd party vendors who purchase access to data and legally act as an authorized party/agent on behalf of the government. (link)

When we originally said this is a dangerous slippery slope, the ACLU, civil rights groups and *most* conservative groups said not to worry because this isn’t government collecting data; these are only private companies.  Blah, blah, blah, wash-rinse-repeat. No, honestly, the level of anger at exposing the system (as it was being built) was off-the-charts.

Well, five years later this process is now being used to capture illegal aliens.  NOW, the ACLU and others have suddenly found themselves taking issue with it.

PS. Did you know that anytime you write the words “Patriots” and “Day”  together in a sentence, you enter the NSA PRISM priority system for auto-review.

Patriots Day 

Earlier today President Trump received a White House briefing on drug trafficking at the border including growing concerns about fentanyl shipments entering the U.S. Additionally, the president took the opportunity to invite the media for an impromptu presser. [The media Q&A begins at 14:50]:

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[No transcript yet, but one will follow shortly]

This has to be the current leading example of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).  Keep in mind @TheDemocrats is: “the official twitter account of the democrat party”.

(Twitter Link – Story Link)

To understand the scale of the ‘OrangeManBad’ manipulation here, just take a review of two years of President Trump initiatives to combat the Opioid Crisis [HERE]

On October 26, 2017, President Trump announced that his Administration was declaring the opioid crisis a national Public Health Emergencyunder federal law, effective immediately. “I am directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis,” the President said.  (overview link)

[…]  “We are already distributing nearly $1 billion in grants for addiction prevention and treatment, and more than $50 million to support law enforcement programs that assist those facing prison and facing addiction,” the President said before signing the memorandum. “We have also launched an $81 million partnership to research better pain management techniques for our incredible veterans.”

The President’s proposed Federal Budget requests $3 billion in new funding in 2018 and $10 billion in 2019 for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat the opioid epidemic by expanding access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services. The funding would also go toward addressing mental health concerns. (read more)