The same federal judge who had her injunction overturned by the Supreme Court has again blocked the United States Postal Service requirement for mail-in ballots.  The Lawfare communists refiled their lawsuit today, the judge ruled within hours. [Ruling Here]

The issue is at the core of leftist manipulation of elections as the blue states refuse to comply with DHS and Social Security cross-checks for voter eligibility prior to sending out mail-in ballots.  The blue states do not want their voter rolls cross-checked to verify citizenship status and voter eligibility. We can only guess the number of illegal aliens on the voter rolls.

(VIA AP) – A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.

The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks.

The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the administration to move ahead.

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Deep breath.  Yesterday, CTH noted to pay close attention to the Finland-Russia border region and the areas in/around St Petersburg.  There has been a visible coordination between Finland and Ukraine in the attacks against Russia.  I would not be surprised to hear this terrorist crossed that border region.

A Lt Col in the Russian Airforce was killed immediately when a car bomb exploded that also severely injured his wife.  As you are reading this there are also reports of thousands of Ukraine civilians fleeing Kiev ahead of Russia’s predicted retaliation.  The serviceman was killed in an area heavily occupied by military personnel and their families.

This is the fourth car bomb in the past few months and the seventh Ukraine car/parcel bombing in the last few years. Zelenskyy is in Moldova today organizing new attacks against Russia.

RUSSIA – A senior Russian officer has been killed by a car bomb in St Petersburg, Russian media reported.

Footage posted on Telegram showed emergency workers and police flooding a street littered with the debris of an exploded vehicle and cordoning it off from the public.

An explosion sounded at around 10am near a Magnit supermarket in the suburban neighbourhood of Shushary, killing the lieutenant colonel and badly injuring his wife, according to Fontanka, a St Petersburg news publication, which cited eyewitnesses.

The outlet claimed that both had lost their legs in the blast, which took place as they began driving away from their home. (read more)

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The Canadian state media outlet, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), responds to the tensions of the Canada-USA relationship by telling all state funded journalists: “Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”

According to the internal communication: “The memo instead described the 9-11 events as hijackings that led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. It also said the World Trade Center was destroyed. {citation}

CANADA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday defended an internal memo directing its reporters and editors to refrain from describing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as “terrorist attacks,” telling Fox News Digital the guidance reflected its longstanding practice of attributing terms it considers politically and emotionally loaded.

“It is the practice of the CBC to exercise extreme caution before using the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism,'” CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The memo was a reminder of the longstanding practice that favours the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting.”

The memo was authored by Basem Boshra, CBC News’ senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, and surfaced ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary. The directive was first reported by Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, who said it was addressed to CBC News staff. “Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the memo said.

The memo instead described the events as hijackings that led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. It also said the World Trade Center was destroyed. (read more)

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President Trump holds a press availability in the oval office for a signing ceremony changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.  Additionally, President Trump answered questions about the U.S relationship with the Canadian government.

Listen to the presser and you fully understand President Trump’s position on U.S-Canadian trade and the trilateral NAFTA/USMCA agreement.  Trump noted he is now finishing the North American trade and economic policy that he began in his first term.  There is not a single moment of hesitation in his responses.  WATCH:

President Trump also fielded questions about the Ukraine war and the status of relationship with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.  President Trump succinctly said, “he’s not going to attack NATO.”

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As we have all learned in the past week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney manufactured an oppositional narrative to the U.S-Canada trade deal in order to say no. Today, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gave specifics about the last-minute Canadian demands that blew up the trade agreement.

Secretary Lutnick has a long-standing relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney and during the negotiations he talked at length to both Canada’s primary trade negotiator, Dominick LeBlanc as well as Prime Minister Carney. Lutnick notes the issues Carney claimed were too much for Canada to agree to were entirely manufactured at the last minute in order to say no.

At no point was the French language ever mentioned in the trade discussions. At no time was the trade sector that involves U.S. tariffs against heavy-duty trucks and semi tractor trailers ever mentioned, until Friday at 4:00pm when Carney brought up that issue. The agreement was outlined and agreed by all parties prior to Friday; Howard Lutnick speaking twice to Prime Minister Carney personally. There was no issue until the last minute when Canada chose to make issues.

As Lutnick notes, this is all political on the Canadian side. Prime Minister Carney needed domestic political leverage to manipulate his constituents. This is worth watching:

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The full presser is below that covers other topics including the Kennedy Center.  In the longer video the Canada issue comes up at 18:38.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suspended all international visa reviews and interviews with applicants until all of the consulate staff undergo training on the appropriate review process.  The intent is to proactively identify visa applicants who are seeking temporary visas with the intent of claiming asylum status or similar permanent migration.

Each consular staff agent and officer is being tasked with scrutinizing applications to ensure the applicant does not become a “public charge” after entry.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has directed U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to postpone immigrant visa interviews while consular officers complete training on new public-charge guidance, temporarily stalling applications that have reached the interview stage.

The State Department told diplomatic posts to reschedule immigrant visa interviews until consular officers complete the training on how to evaluate whether an applicant is likely to become a public charge.

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Western media are reporting that CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow, Russia, to warn his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), about striking back against Baltic states. {CITATION} However, that’s only half of the story.

Director Ratcliffe wasn’t simply telling Naryshkin not to hit back; he was telling Naryshkin that European NATO provocations against the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (between Poland and Lithuania) were not ‘fully’ sanctioned by the United States. {CITATION Aug 18}

EU NATO members have been conducting provocative military operations and psychological warfare via NATO exercises all around Kaliningrad. They have been getting more aggressive with each series of maneuvers.  The Trump administration (DoW) recently removed the head of U.S-NATO operations over this background strategy. What the western media will not tell us is that Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander of the Army’s V Corps, was removed from command over this planned operation {citation Aug 7}.

Apparently, European NATO is increasingly trying to provoke expanded conflict with Russia, while President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe attempt to tamp down the problems being created.  This is all connected to the expanded drone activity recently reported in media (Germany – Leipzig airport and Romania citations}, which looks increasingly like covert Ukraine intelligence operations.  There are some reports that western intelligence linked Russia to the Leipzig airport drone, so perhaps Director Ratcliffe also carried that intelligence message.

The bottom line is there’s a lot of sketchy ‘fog of war’ stuff happening, and U.S. intelligence has a responsibility to the Trump administration to try and contain any significant issues involving escalation.  Hence, Ratcliffe’s message saying we are not trying to provoke you, so don’t put us in a situation where we end up defending NATO because you retaliate against all of this activity happening outside Ukraine’s borders.

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This is a must watch interview.  Most Americans have no idea that Canadian media is controlled by the Canadian government; it’s what they call “cultural protection” where the rules and regulations of permissible speech are controlled by govt regulators and media are subsidized by govt.  The overall objective is to control information and censor viewpoints that might be averse to the interests of the Canadian govt. That’s why most Canadians have no concept of granular details on policy matters; they just don’t get the information.

In this interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is discussing the trade conflict and breakdown with Canada’s version of Baghdad Bob, Rosemary Barton.  I’m a little surprised the CBC would even entertain the discussion. However, as noted in the past few days there is increasing skepticism amid Canadians about who and what actually blew up the trade talks. Canadians are starting to show signs of suspicion; enter Ms. Barton on behalf of the Canadian government to try and control things.

USTR Jamieson Greer answers the questions in a most unfortunate manner; meaning, he told the truth.  Greer outlined exactly why he suspects the trade talks broke down, and it has nothing to do with economics or trade, it’s all politics on the Canadian side.  As Greer noted, there was no change to the trade agreement between President Trump and Prime Minister Carney’s lengthy phone call on Tuesday, and the Canadian decision to walk away on Friday.  Greer was being very diplomatic, but Barton started getting the vapors. WATCH:

Greer noted the Carney administration had requested “Fortress North America” a synergetic alignment of U.S-Canada trade principles.  Canada wanted a united North American continent against the world on trade.  Therefore, this talk of Canada being upset about joint collaboration and agreement on trade agreements with third countries, a point brought up by Carney in the walk-away just doesn’t make sense.

If you want a united trade policy for North America, then each nation in North America must hold the same baseline on terms and conditions with other nations.  That was the discussion. Those were the agreed principles; until all of a sudden Canada accused the U.S. of dictating terms.

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