Here’s the fact bomb that silences Canadians almost immediately when delivered.

In December 2024 then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, told President-elect Donald Trump that Canada could not comply with a renewed trade agreement based on reciprocity because: (1) Canada had deindustrialized; their manufacturing was now “light” manufacturing and assembling of component goods made by others. (2) Canada had legislated energy policy based on climate change, and high carbon emitting industrial production was no longer an option [coking coal burning etc.]. (3) The NATO military spending goal was too high for Canada to reach [they were 19th and it wasn’t a priority because the USA was the crutch]. (4) Internal provincial rules, restrictions and cross-border trade regulations did not align with a Canadian federal trade policy effort, and (5) the political power of the ‘dairy cartel’ inside Canada tied the hands of Canadian trade representatives.

That was the gist of it. That’s why Canada cannot now or ever find a path to a U.S. reciprocal or balanced trade agreement.  #1 and #2 is specifically why Canadian govt officials repeatedly use the word “intertwined.”  They say intertwined because they can no longer function separately. Canada is economically dependent on proximal and economic subsidies from the United States.

That outline by Trudeau led Trump to say that Canada should then become a 51st state….. And, well, you know the rest. Someone in Canada should ask Trudeau about it. The former Prime Minister has no reason to deny it, and too many people were witness. Then, perhaps, Canadians will understand.

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Today the CIA released an unprecedented 71 Presidential Daily Briefs given to the Executive Branch before and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  You can review the material [HERE – CIA LINK]

I would remind readers, in 2010 George W Bush’s campaign manager, aide and senior staff, Karl Rove, revealed [“Courage and Consequence“] that then CIA Director George Tenet had been trying for several weeks to get a personal meeting with President Bush to outline an intelligence concern about an international terror threat.

According to Rove, White House National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, had been blocking Tenet from meeting with President Bush.  Director Tenet sent several requests using alternate channels to reach Bush.  Eventually, in the late spring or early summer 2001, Tenet overcame the Rice block and was given time to brief President Bush.

CIA Director George Tenet then told President Bush the CIA had intercepted telephone “chatter” pointing to an al-Qaeda terrorist threat that somehow involved airlines.  However, the details and the specifics of the threat were unknown.  The only thing Tenet knew with certainty was that some type of plot was underway and airlines were involved.

George W Bush responded to Tenet by saying it appeared the CIA director was just trying to “cover his ass” in case something happened.  Bush was angered at the vagueness of the warning and told Tenet to consider his ass covered, but essentially the information was useless without specifics.

The rest, as they say, is history.  The matter did not surface again until after the 9/11/01 plot was carried out.

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Earlier today, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participated in the 25th Anniversary 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon.

Participating speakers included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and former National Security Advisor Condeleeza Rice.   President Trump begins his remarks at 1:08:03 of the video below.

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For several days the pontificating media have been parading around the various jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, using the mostly white women to frame the deliberations as sexist and insensitive to the emotional plight of a woman who strangled her three children to death with an exercise band.

Millions of middle-age, suburban, angry white females have proclaimed that American men should not have an opinion in the case while simultaneously using toxic sympathy as a weapon to defend the murderer.  The previously described “one male holdout juror” who created a mistrial by failing to find the murdering mother not guilty, has been criticized directly or by implication by an aligned leftist media.

Today, things changed.  Today, all the toxic, murder-supporting, leftist feminists found out the lone male holdout was a black man in his 30’s.  Suddenly, you can hear a pin drop as silence falls upon the professional AWFLs (Affluent, White, Female, Leftists).

Gayle King was interviewing juror Paula Devlin on CBS Mornings today, and as she was maneuvering through the narrative to hold the progressive banner in a certain direction – she asked the questions that froze her.

The Juror, Paula Devlin explained the jury panel consisted of nine women and three men, with 11 white jurors and one person of color. “Was the person of color a woman or a man?” King asked. After Devlin said the juror was a man, King sought clarification. “Is the holdout juror … a Black man?” she asked. “Yes,” Devlin replied. “A Black man is the holdout juror?” King asked incredulously. “Yes,” Devlin said. Stunned with disbelief and now incapable of formatting the DEI agenda, “Woah, I have to sit with that for just a second,” King said.  WATCH:

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That explains why the media newsrooms, producers and media executives have not put the holdout juror through the traditional gauntlet of doxxing, vitriol, isolation, ridicule, personal targeting, marginalization and hate-filled public shaming.   The professional left doesn’t know what to do.

If the holdout was a white male juror, he would already be under attack.  Now, they’re stuck.

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The missing aspect in all USMCA/CUSMA trade discussions is the simple fact that President Trump and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer would prefer bilateral trade agreements.  The reason is simple and is highlighted in all the problems with the three-party USMCA.

Two countries can negotiate based on their individual interests; multiple country assemblies get complicated.  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his “middle power” strategy of multiple interests assembling to create larger influence simply doesn’t work in trade discussion.  That’s the bottom line.

Reuters is reporting the obvious.  Mexico and the United States are racing to reach a bilateral trade deal before the U.S. midterm elections in less than eight weeks, according to six sources in both countries familiar with the talks, an effort made more urgent by the collapse of Canadian negotiations with Washington. Both USTR Jamieson Greer and President Trump have previously said the deal with Mexico would likely come first.

Mexico has played this very well.  Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not participated in any antagonisms toward the U.S. position; they are simply negotiating for their best outcome.  The Mexican government officials don’t try to hide their U.S. dependency under the misguided premise of patriotism.  They understand the nature of the relationship.

If President Sheinbaum wants to keep a strong economy, she needs the USA.  Both leaders want a trade agreement; it’s business beyond politics.  Canada on the other hand is playing pure politics and trying to carve out a deal for themselves the rest of the world doesn’t have.  Canada wants to be excluded from the baseline tariffs applied to everyone, that’s not going to happen.

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The 25th anniversary of the attacks on 9-11 present a day to reflect, remember and pay tribute to those we lost.   I am sure most of us remember exactly where we were at the moment when we found out our nation was under attack.  Our nation was forever changed by those moments on September 11th, 2001.

Perhaps we can share our memories together as we think about the anniversary of this date.

Where were you on that day?  And what memories are most vivid for you?

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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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Promethean Action’s Barbara Boyd presents her review of the election outcome in Germany, the alignment of Canada with the EU and the Ukraine negotiations headed by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“A Saxony-Anhalt provincial election saw Germany’s nationalist AfD win 43.8% to the next party’s 17.2%, prompting alarm in the British press and among EU-linked elites because the AfD campaign pledged to end open borders and halt German funding for the Ukraine war. The script argues the surge reflects a broader European revolt driven largely by economics: China’s industrial strategy and competition are squeezing Germany’s Mittelstand, with the Wall Street Journal cited on job losses and a shift toward importing more advanced machinery from China, while green policies, nuclear shutdowns, and the ban on cheap Russian energy have pushed prices 40–50% higher and cut energy-intensive production by 15%.

It links Germany’s downturn to EU war-mobilization plans, casts doubt on Mark Carney’s planned EU-Canada alignment, and contrasts that with Trump-era peace efforts, including a Trump-Putin call, corruption probes in Ukraine, and U.S. officials downplaying inflation impacts from Canada’s tariffs.”

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The European Central Bank raised interest rates a quarter of a percent claiming the effort will reduce energy prices.  However, the primary cause of higher energy costs is energy policy not monetary policy.

As you can see, Europe is blaming the Iran conflict, and by extension blaming President Trump for inflicting higher oil and gas prices.  Yet in reality, it was the European decision to cut themselves off of Russian oil and gas that led to their massive price increases.

In essence, if you ask yourself how far the EU collective is willing to go in order to combat the fictitious threat represented by Russia’s conflict with non-EU state Ukraine, it appears there is no upper limit.  Rather than assist in a resolution of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, they are willing to keep fueling the war and diminishing their own economy in the process.

From the perspective of the welfare of the average European, none of this makes sense.  This is bureaucratic ideology running amok.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank raised interest rates Thursday to cool inflation that is being fed by high oil prices from the Iran war. The decision was supported by a stronger-than-expected economy that suggests businesses can weather the higher borrowing costs.

The central bank for the 21 EU member countries that use the euro currency raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.50% at a meeting held in Berlin, away from the bank’s Frankfurt headquarters.

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