President Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in India for a two-day state visit.  The Trumps’ were greeted upon arrival with full pageantry and personal warmth by Prime Minister Modi.  WATCH:

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in India shortly before noon local time (1:10am ET). On arrival at the Ahmedabad airport, the first couple will head straight to Sabarmati Ashram. The Trumps will reach the venue of the “Namaste Trump Rally” at the newly built Motera cricket stadium after being serenaded along the route by artists and floats, depicting India’s diversity.   President Trump will deliver a speech at the Namaste Trump welcome rally 1:15pm local / 2:45am ET.
The US President will then leave for Agra, arriving at just before 5:00pm local (6:30am ET) to take in the view of the Taj Mahal silhouetted against a setting sun. Cars are not allowed to be drive down to the Taj, alternative arrangements for Trump remain to be seen. While Prime Minister Modi will accompany Trump to his two venues in Ahmedabad, he will not be around at the Taj.  [Livestream Links With Schedule Below]

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Presidential candidate and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is coming under scrutiny for his elitist comments about farmers not being smart enough to add value in the era of technology.   In some ways it’s predictably sad, in other ways his condescension simply reflects the outlook of modern Democrats.

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While it is angering to watch this pontificating condescension; at another level it is entirely predictable. Both the old school Fabian socialist outlook and the modern Democrat ideology is based on superiority.
George Bernard Shaw, a founder of modern socialist thought, famously said at some point each citizen should be required to stand before a tribunal and explain their value. If the community does not find value in that person, then society would be better off eliminating them. You can extend that same perspective into almost every policy advocated by the current political left.  It’s a short walk from Bloombergs’ speech to the cattle-cars.
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According to Jennifer Jacobs at Bloomberg News the Vindman weasel may soon be removed from the National Security Council.  Hopefully a full damage assessment has been conducted in the wake of the national security damage Vindman has created.

As would be expected from modern media the Bloomberg article is written to emphasize their ideological position that President Donald Trump, the head of the Executive Branch, should not be allowed to select the people who provide him advice and counsel:

Bloomberg – The White House is weighing a plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council after he testified in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, preparing to position the move as part of a broader effort to shrink the foreign policy bureaucracy, two people familiar with the matter said.

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Earlier today Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced an agreement with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the Senate questioning phase of the impeachment trial that begins tomorrow.

Senator Schumer and McConnell have agreed to alternating back-and-forth questions from Republicans and Democrats over the course of two days totaling a maximum of sixteen hours.   The alternative would have been 8 hours of questioning by Democrats followed by 8 hours of republican questions.  Obviously, and curiously, McConnell and Schumer see a benefit to alternating back-and-forth over the two days.
Additionally, according to several media reports, McConnell took a ‘whip of the Senate’ regarding witness testimony and does not currently have enough republican votes to block the pre-planned House Managers’ unconstitutional scheme to call witnesses.
The appropriate constitutional position for the Senate to take would be that the House investigates; the House calls witnesses within their investigation; the House assembles articles of impeachment; and the Senate is the trier of fact from those articles.
Ergo if a witness was not included in the article assembly, that would be a defect of the House articles; incurable in the Senate.  However, it appears there are enough republicans willing to establish a new extra-constitutional process whereby the House can assemble speculative supposition; avoid the executive branch using their lawful process to appeal to the judicial branch for opinion; and put the burden of witness testimony on the Senate.

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The U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial of President Donald Trump begins today at 1:00pm Eastern.  The first series of anticipated events includes the framework for Senate rules for impeachment which will come in the form of a final resolution for Senate vote.
The formation of the impeachment rules, and any amendments therein, will likely take up the majority of the afternoon in the Senate.  Anticipated start time 1:00pm EST.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – RSBN Livestream Link

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The gang is getting back together again.  Representatives Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, Mark Meadows, Debbie Lesko, Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin and Doug Collins have been selected as additions to President Trump’s impeachment defense team. UPDATE: and Mike Johnson

The MAGAnificent Seven

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump announced that the following Members of the House of Representatives will serve as part of his team working to combat this hyper-partisan and baseless impeachment. This initial list includes the following Members:

♦ Congressman Doug Collins
♦ Congressman Jim Jordan
♦ Congresswoman Debbie Lesko
♦ Congressman Mark Meadows
♦ Congressman John Ratcliffe
♦ Congresswoman Elise Stefanik
♦ Congressman Lee Zeldin
♦ ¹Congressman Mike Johnson

Throughout this process, these Members of Congress have provided guidance to the White House team, which was prohibited from participating in the proceedings concocted by Democrats in the House of Representatives. The President looks forward to their continued participation and is confident that the Members will help expeditiously end this brazen political vendetta on behalf of the American people. (link)

UPDATE – Oh man, they messed up my “MAGAnificent Seven” slogan by unexpectedly having eight. LOL.  Oh well, “Elite Eight” (pictured below) because it makes sense to include an actual constitutional attorney ¹Mike Johnson.  This is a big honor.  These names will appear in history books generations from now.

…And not Matt Gaetz LOL

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Earlier today President Trump, together with his trade delegation and the delegation from China represented by Vice-Premier Liu He, signed a new, fully-enforceable Phase One Trade Agreement. This is the first ever trade agreement any nation has attempted to change the dynamic of how a free-market system (USA) can engage with the Communist system within China. [Video Below – Transcript ADDED]
While ‘phase-one‘ was structurally created to set the foundation, and test the principles of enforcement, this historic trade agreement will frame the text that all other free-market nations will follow in their own efforts to come to a substantive agreement with Beijing.
This is a really big deal on a worldwide scale of international commerce.  Structurally the biggest changes inside China relate to Intellectual Property protections, U.S. ownership of assets, and changes within the Chinese legal system to stop Forced Technology Transfer.
During the ceremonial remarks Vice-Premier Liu read a statement from Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping to commemorate this historic trade agreement.

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[Transcript]  PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Please. We greatly appreciate your joining us at this White House event. This is a very important and remarkable occasion.

Today, we take a momentous step — one that has never been taken before with China — toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade, as we sign phase one of the historic trade deal between the United States and China. Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers, and families.

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This is a little weedy, but it’s important….

In the second half of Devin Nunes interview with Maria Bartiromo today he was asked his thoughts about the FISA Court selecting David Kris as an FBI surveillance and compliance monitor.  The issue is quite important because the FBI FISA reforms and promises are essentially meaningless without some form of structural review process.
However, the new 2020 FISC Presiding Judge James Boasberg selecting David Kris has been noted by several people as a rather weak effort on behalf of the court.

As an outcome of our former FISA-702 reviews CTH has an entirely different reason for questioning the selection of Kris; there’s much more substantive reasons to be alarmed about it; but first here’s the general consensus opposition:

WASHINGTON – The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has stunned court-watchers by selecting David Kris — a former Obama administration lawyer who has appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show” and written extensively in support of the FBI’s surveillance practices on the left-wing blog Lawfare — to oversee the FBI’s implementation of reforms in the wake of a damning Department of Justice inspector general report last year.
[…]  “Of all the people in the swamp … this is the guy that you come up with?” Nunes asked. “The guy that was accusing me of federal crimes? The guy that was defending the dirty cops at the FBI? … The court must be trying to abolish itself. There is long-term damage.”

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I made mention of this on the Twitter and someone actually still had theirs.
I can remember these being all over the place, and sold at mom-pop gas stations as stickers for your car window….  How many people remember these?

[NOTE: this was *not* an official “Disney Product”, it was a black-market cartoon sketch that became a big hit during the Iran hostage crisis.]