So much good news: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trade deal between the United States and Mexico will stand even if Canada does not come to an agreement with the Trump administration in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“If for any reason the government of Canada and the United States do not reach an agreement, we already know that there will still be a deal between Mexico and the United States.”
~ Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (link)

Remember those “private meetings” between Jesus Seade and Robert Lighthizer?
It is said: a picture is worth a thousand words.  Cue the audio visual:

The incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador,(AMLO)’s representative is Jesus Seade. The outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto’s representative is Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo.
Why the joy in Seade and the defeated Guajardo?  The answer is in the details:
One of President Trump’s principal objectives in the renegotiation is to ensure the agreement benefits American workers.  The United States and Mexico have agreed to a Labor chapter that brings labor obligations into the core of the agreement, makes them fully enforceable, and represents the strongest provisions of any trade agreement.

Key Achievement: Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining

The Labor chapter includes an Annex on Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico, under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions to provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

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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.

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Seven-term US senator and former presidential nominee John McCain has died.
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Last Wednesday Michael Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, crushed an earlier July 27th CNN story about President Trump having advanced knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russian lobbyists.
According to CNN’s anonymous sources, Cohen claimed that Trump approved his son taking part in the meeting. That report has now been completely and thoroughly debunked; yet CNN is intentionally ignoring any correction.  WATCH:

Michaels Cohen’s attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!). The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2018

The refusal of CNN to walk back their earlier claim is further evidence of how far the media are enmeshed and invested within the ‘Muh Russia’ nonsense.  However, only recently did we discover the media engagements were not just pervasive, they were/are participatory.  Several media outlets were actually working with corrupt officials.
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It was ABSOLUTELY NOT coincidental that China sent a low level trade delegation to the U.S. at exactly the same time U.S.T.R. Lighthizer is conducting open hearings on Section 301 national security trade issues; which are specifically targeted toward China.
For the second time POTUS is using strategic deployment of sunlight on the relationship between Beijing and North Korea. President Trump is highlighting what has been hidden for decades.  China has structured the use of North Korean nuclear ambitions as the sword of Damocles over their economic adversaries in the West. China’s Chairman Xi Jinping controls the government officials that surround North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un:

(Tweet Links)

These tweets, along with the earlier tweet. are serious business.  They are being fired directly into the heart of Beijing.  They are the mother of all truth bombs, and they take away the ability of Chairman Xi to deploy the hidden threat and DPRK control.
“Subtle” like a brick through a window. [More backstory available here.]  President Trump is removing the Panda mask to reveal the authentic nature of Chairman Xi Jinping.  Simultaneously Trump is trying to rescue Kim Jong-un from the clutches of the Red dragon behind the panda mask.
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After two weeks of counting additional ballots Trump-backed Ohio republican candidate Troy Balderson was declared the official winner today by Franklin County officials.
Democrat Danny O’Connor said on Friday he called to concede to Balderson. The final vote count showed Balderson received 104,328 votes, or 50.12 percent, and O’Connor had 102,648 votes, or 49.32 percent, according to Franklin County.

(Via Fox) […] The Trump-backed Balderson had declared victory over Democrat Danny O’Connor on Aug. 7, but O’Connor had declined to concede because of the small margin.
According to the Associated Press, after final absentee and provisional ballots were counted, Balderson defeated O’Connor by 1,680 votes. […] The result fell 520 votes outside the window to trigger an automatic recount. (link)

If his palliative care lasts 17 more days…

(Via NBC) Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who has been fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer for more than a year, will discontinue treatment for the disease, his family announced Friday. That decision suggests the 81-year-old McCain could be nearing death. (more)

Paul Sperry at Real Clear Politics has an extensive article highlighting step-by-step how the FBI did not review the Hillary Clinton emails on the laptop belonging to Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner.

“When then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was closing the Hillary Clinton email investigation for a second time just days before the 2016 election, he certified to Congress that his agency had “reviewed all of the communications” discovered on a personal laptop used by Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, and her husband, Anthony Weiner.”

He Lied – SEE HERE

Paul Sperry confirms our prior research:

Massive Hat-Tip to @almostjingo
Adam Waldman is the lawyer/lobbyist for Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who appears to be a key background player in the 2016 DOJ/FBI scheme against presidential candidate Donald Trump.  Additionally, Mr. Waldman represents the U.S. interests of Christopher Steele, a likely contract employee of Deripaska and author of the Clinton-Steele Dossier that was used by the DOJ/FBI during their counterintelligence operation against presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Because of his centrality, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley recently requested testimony from Mr. Adam Waldman, surrounding his contacts and engagements -with Deripaska, and by extension the DOJ/FBI- throughout the 2016/2017 operation to undermine and remove President Donald Trump.
In a response letter released August 18th (full pdf below) lawyers representing Mr. Waldman told Senator Chuck Grassley their client was “out of the country and not expected to return for several weeks.” SEE BELOW:

However, internet researcher/investigator almostjingo noticed that Mr. Waldman’s wife Barbara Sturm posted an instagram picture today of them dining with friends in New York last night, August 22nd:

(Link) Barbara Sturm second from left, husband Adam Waldman far right.

Whoopsie, apparently the letter from Mr. Waldman’s lawyers was intentionally false and simply an effort to avoid giving testimony to congress.  Adam Waldman cannot be “out of the country for several weeks” and simultaneously having dinner in New York last night.
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It is not coincidental that three events are occurring simultaneously:  (1) U.S.T.R. Lighthizer is conducting public hearings on Section 301 impacts; (2) a Chinese trade delegation is in the U.S. to re-initiate talks; and (3) U.S. President Trump conducts a roundtable meeting with congressional leadership over the Foreign Investment Risk Review and Modernization Act.

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[Transcript] 11:35 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being here this morning, and thank you to Secretary Mnuchin for joining us. And congratulations. You’re doing a great job. We appreciate it very much, Steve.
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