President Donald Trump has announced a public address from the Oval Office tomorrow at 9:00pm EST about the current “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The address comes amid a partial government shutdown caused by Democrat insistence that border barriers are immoral and the Southern border must remain unsecure. CNN is reporting that network executives are debating whether to show the speech; or defer to the requests of their political allies in the Democrat party and refuse to air the broadcast.
President Trump has requested $5 billion to build additional fence/wall on the border and congressional Democrats are refusing to fund any aspect of homeland security that includes a fence or wall.
Additionally, the White House has announced that President Trump is planning a trip to the southern border on Thursday, to highlight the security and humanitarian crisis.

The official, albeit preliminary, U.S.T.R. delegation from the United States is on the ground in China to begin initial discussions of “technical details” surrounding the ongoing trade dispute.  The preliminary talks are today (Jan 7th) through Wed (Jan 9th).

The prior notice from USTR announced the delegation: •Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (pictured above – center); •Ambassador Gregg Doud, USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator; •Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, U.S. Department of Agriculture; •Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Gilbert B. Kaplan, U.S. Department of Commerce; •Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, U.S. Department of Energy; and •Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The delegation will be accompanied by senior officials from the White House, USTR, and the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, State, and Treasury. (link)

Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for World Trade Organization Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing is quoted as saying Beijing’s first phase will be focused on technical details before more important voices “make hard political decisions.”
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Some of the highlights from today’s protests in France are quite remarkable.  Additionally, it seems indicative of an inflection point for Reuters to point out that Macron’s current approach toward the Yellow Vests is only making things worse….  Strange times.

PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron intended to start the new year on the offensive against the ‘yellow vest’ protesters. Instead, the French president is reeling from more violent street demonstrations.
What began as a grassroots rebellion against diesel taxes and the high cost of living has morphed into something more perilous for Macron – an assault on his presidency and French institutions.

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Appearing on Face the Nation, Republican Senator Lindsey ‘Marcus Junius Brutus‘ Graham (U-DC) discusses his bold support for President Trump and the need for a physical border barrier.
Senator Brutus, a beneficiary of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee [think lobbying – example here], connects his support for President Trump’s border position with his concerns about a withdrawal of a U.S. military presence in Syria. Quote: …”the president is slowing down and he is reevaluating his policies”…

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“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” ~ Cicero

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer appears on Meet The Press to outline how the House will use political theater, with their ally Mitch McConnell, to weaken the border security position of President Donald Trump.
When you accept that Senate Leader McConnell is actually on their team, things begin to make more sense. Democrats are providing cover for their UniParty ally, Mitch, by framing the optic of McConnell allied with President Trump.  The entire process is a predictable and well planned insider game of optics and political theater.

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Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney outlines how Democrat leadership have dispatched legislative staff to frame optic of negotiations to re-open government; however, it appears the discussions are only intended to further political resistance efforts.
The leadership staff have no authority to actually negotiate, but simply give the impression of negotiations.  Pelosi, Hoyer, Schumer and Durbin have a plan to maximize the shutdown for political gains; any border agreement would be adverse to their interests.

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This is severely disturbing.  Faulkner County, Arkansas, Sheriff Tim Ryals is now facing massive backlash thanks to a camera phone and social media.
A Faulkner sheriff deputy named Keenan Wallace was caught on camera shooting a small dog while investigating a neighborhood call reporting an aggressive dog.  Initially the County Sheriff was slow to respond to the outcry; then the video went viral on social media. [Warning, this is disturbing]:

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Thankfully the dog named “Reese’s” survived being shot.

ARKANSAS – The Faulkner County Sheriff has fired the deputy who was caught on camera shooting a small dog.  Sheriff Tim Ryals said in the statement he felt deputy Keenan Wallace had numerous opportunities to deescalate the incident.
Sheriff Ryals added it appears no state law was violated. The investigation will be turned over to the prosecuting attorney’s office for further review. (media link)

I can’t even fathom….
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President Donald Trump knows he holds the right position…

The question is, can the White House communications team take control over the consistently (intentionally?) failing communication strategies from the GOP legislative leadership within the House and Senate?…
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Last Wednesday night the arrest of a key political organizer of the Yellow Vest protests, a 33-year-old truck driver named Eric Drouet, spurred the movement to claim French President Macron was now arresting his political opponents. The arrest of Drouet has led to an increase in retaliation by the group against the French government. [Video from today]

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Yellow Vest demonstrators are now allied with various groups from across the political spectrum; most peaceful, but some, notsomuch.  This led to French government ministry official Benjamin Griveaux warning Emmanuel Macron yesterday that a “full blown revolution” was possible.
The evidence to support Minister Briveaux’s dire warning did not take long to surface as a team of masked intruders used a forklift and broke into the French ministry causing police and special forces to evacuate him to safety.
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Vice President Mike Pence, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House Advisor Jared Kushner hold weekend meetings with a team of senior Democrat congressional resistance staffers to negotiate appropriations funding for border security.

According to a post meeting press update provided by the office of the Vice President:

Secretary Nielsen was able to provide a full briefing on the crisis at the Southern border.  The conversation was productive and they agreed to meet again tomorrow afternoon.
There was no in depth conversation about dollar figure, but the priorities for security. VP reiterated President’s position that we need funding for the border wall.

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