…When you plant your trees in another man’s orchard, don’t be surprised when you pay for your own apples…

President Trump has instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to execute Round Two of tariffs on Chinese imports. The first round applied to $50 billion in products. The current round applies a 10% tariff to $200 billion (effective Sept. 24, 2018), until January 1st, 2019, when the tariff increases to 25%.
The list of products is particularly focused, and happily we note it includes almost all Chinese processed food imports.
Chinese food processing is sketchy, and China has refused to comply with most international food safety programs. However, President Trump spared smart watches from Apple and Fitbit and other consumer products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.
In a statement announcing the Round-Two tariffs, President Trump warned China if they take retaliatory action against U.S. farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”  That would hit Apple and all consumer good imports. Here’s the announcement and the list of products:

Washington, DC – As part of the United States’ continuing response to China’s theft of American intellectual property and forced transfer of American technology, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released a list of approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that will be subject to additional tariffs.
In accordance with the direction of President Trump, the additional tariffs will be effective starting September 24, 2018, and initially will be in the amount of 10 percent. Starting January 1, 2019, the level of the additional tariffs will increase to 25 percent.

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Special counsel Robert Mueller really, really, r.e.a.l.l.y doesn’t want to sentence former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn for lying prior to the release of the of the unredacted text messages and the IG Report on FISA abuse.
Nothing would be more devastating for Mueller’s political objectives than to sentence General Flynn – and then have the nature of an entrapment scheme exposed.  Hence yet another incredulous delay (this is the fifth delay):

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Earlier today President Trump hosted a meeting with the key administration officials executing the workforce initiatives programs.  The programs include expanded vocational training, private-public partnerships for education, and expanded investment in skills training for a modern American workforce.
The National Council for the American Worker is the executive agency tasked with execution of the policies and working with various state and local officials to help increase the skills training for U.S. workers.  With a MAGAnomic expanding economy; and with all of the subsequent jobs growth; and with a revitalization of U.S. manufacturing; the workforce initiatives are keys to sustaining successful growth for American workers.

A statement from the White House moments ago reflects a directive from the Office of the President to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, along with the DOJ and FBI to declassify documents and remove redactions to all investigative text messages.   The wording within the request is important:

WHITE HOUSE –  At the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency, the President has directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to provide for the immediate declassification of the following materials: (1) pages 10-12 and 17-34 of the June 2017 application to the FISA court in the matter of Carter W. Page; (2) all FBI reports of interviews with Bruce G. Ohr prepared in connection with the Russia investigation; and (3) all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all Carter Page FISA applications.
In addition, President Donald J. Trump has directed the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction, of James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr.  (LINK)

The president (WH counsel) is referencing “committee requests”, this is critical because it removes the legal conflict (executive self-interest) within the release; and makes the request a function of legislative branch oversight.  Additionally, and importantly, the request calls for all of the prior text messages to be released without redactions.
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Supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh presented the following statement today following a high school sexual assault accusation from Christine Blasey Ford:

“This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”
“I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.”

Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, discussed the issues this morning on Fox and Friends:

White House National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow was the keynote speaker today at the New York Economic Club.  Mr. Kudlow delivered a speech on the basics of the MAGAnomic agenda and results so far.
The entire event, including speech and Q&A, is slightly more than an hour long.  Here’s an excerpt, the entire event is available below:

A year ago it seemed almost impossible to see a trade agreement with Mexico that would facilitate the interests of both countries. However, with the successful election of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), a remarkable populist shift dramatically changed the landscape within the Mexican economic outlook and policy.

President Trump’s tweet today hints toward a much bigger picture we have recently been discussing.  Against the likelihood Canada will not join the U.S-Mexico trade agreement. The Mexican government is affirming their intent to go forward with a bilateral trade deal if needed because the U.S-Mexico joint agreement is in their best interests.  According to Mexico’s Chief Negotiator, Kenneth Smith-Ramos:

“We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S … the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement …”

Outgoing Mexican President Peña Nieto, structured his economic policy around accepting multinational corporate investment, facilitating the requests of Wall Street investment banks, and the predictable parasitic outcomes that follow. Exfiltration of wealth and exploitation of resources/labor are an outcropping of predatory multinational trade exploitation, ie. “globalism”.
Retention of the multinational schemes generally leads to massive corruption. In the U.S. this corruption is known as “lobbying”, in Mexico the process is called ‘bribery’; however, the activity is the same.
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The timing is transparent: the week prior to Brett Kavanaugh committee vote; the outlet is transparent: the intelligence ‘resistance’ apparatus, The Washington Post; the accuser is transparent: a far-left California liberal professor, Christine Ford Blasey, anti-Trump ‘resistance activist’ with an anti-policy background, including recently.  The accusation is transparent: 35-year-old harassment claim/accusation, from high school intended to activate the “Me Too” activists. The motive is transparent: block the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Kavanaugh.
Today the Washington Post announces the accuser of Brett Kavanaugh has stepped forward to tell her story.
Ms. Christine Ford, aka Christine Blasey, a registered democrat and political activist, claims she attended a high school party where Kavanaugh forcibly groped her over her clothes. [Story Here]

[…]  While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

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Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes appears with Maria Bartiromo for a wide-ranging discussion on a variety of current issues and events.  The interview begins with a discussion on China’s strategic economic objectives and continues into issues surrounding congressional investigations of the DOJ and FBI.
In the second half of the interview Chairman Nunes shares some insight from interviews, testimony and depositions from approximately 70 former administration officials and calls for the release of the transcripts.  According to Nunes 70 to 80% of all testimony is not classified.  The remaining 20% could be declassified for release by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Dan Coats.  The interview is in two segments:

Representative John Ratcliffe appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss Hurricane Florence response and his knowledge of details from congressional investigation of the FBI and DOJ.
This interview is important from the perspective of understanding the position of congress in the last few weeks leading up to the election.  Congress is attempting to provide information while the executive branch leadership in the DOJ and FBI do nothing to help inform the American electorate or the president.  Really, quite stunning.