Justin from Canada travels to the White House for a conversation with President Trump about the USMCA deal, ratification, and a request from Canada for assistance in their conflict with China.  The relationship between President Trump and the arrogant Justin from Canada is tenuous at best.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] 12:10 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We had some good news. The market hit a all-time high today. The S&P just broke its record, so we’re very happy about that. The stock market continues to do well. Jobs have been literally through the roof. And, speaking of jobs, we have the USMCA with Canada, with Mexico. And we’ve come a long way. It’s a great agreement. As you know, Mexico, yesterday, approved it.
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Byron York has put down the crustless triangle sandwich and white wine spritzer long enough to finally discover the October 20th, 2017, scope memo written by Rod Rosenstein that authorized Weissman and Mueller to target Michael Flynn Jr.

[…]  The Justice Department has recently allowed members of some congressional committees to view the scope memos, and out of that has come the news that there was a third scope memo to Mueller. Dated Oct. 20, 2017, its contents remain a secret. But its very existence suggests something was going on behind the scenes in the relationship of Mueller and his supervisors at the Justice Department. (read more)

York continues… “At the moment, the third scope memo, like most of the second scope memo, remains a secret.“…  Good grief, seriously?  Funny how AG Barr is now letting congress look at the scope memos, meanwhile -despite the authorization to release provided by President Trump- the public is blocked from them.  I digress.
The October 20th, 2017, Rosenstein scope memo was specifically so that Weissmann and Mueller could target specific people for maximum political damage; including the targeting of Michael Flynn Jr. to generate leverage so that Flynn Sr. would have to accept a plea or see his family crushed under the weight of the weaponized special counsel.
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The Blandensburg Cross, aka The Peace Cross, is a war memorial, located in the three-way junction of Bladensburg Road, Baltimore Avenue, and Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, Maryland.

The American Humanist Association had sued the American Legion to have the cross removed, arguing the memorial represented a Christian symbol on public land and violated the establishment clause.
Lower courts had agreed with the plaintiff, against the American Legion, and the memorial was to be removed.  The American Legion appealed the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.
Today the Supreme Court reversed the lower court rulings (full pdf below).  In a 7-2 decision authored by Justice Alito, the court acknowledged the Bladensburg Cross -as a memorial- represents more than religion and does not violate the establishment clause.
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Earlier today President Donald Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Arthur Laffer in the Oval Office.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – 5:16 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Well, this is a big day. Very important for a very important subject. Today it’s my privilege to award our nation’s highest civilian honor to the father of supply-side economics: Dr. Arthur Laffer. (Applause.)
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In August 2016 a Syrian named Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, now 21, entered the U.S. under President Obama’s refugee program.  Today he was arrested in an ISIS plot to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(Via DOJ) Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 21, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was arrested today based on a federal complaint charging him with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and two counts of distributing information relating to an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction in relation to his plan to attack a church in Pittsburgh.

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The construct of the USMCA was always anticipated to sail through ratification in Mexico because, well, quite frankly, the USMCA is specifically structured to provide great benefit toward Mexico. It’s not because the language within the USMCA favors Mexico, but rather the rules are centered around deregulating industry, and lifting wages.
The rules-of-origin, in combination with mandated minimum wage rates attached to the manufacturing sector; and the fact that Mexico has the lowest current wage rates in North American; specifically means that Mexican workers stand to get the biggest financial benefits… and that’s ok.  Trump, Lighthizer and Ross designed it that way.

The U.S. benefits when the Mexican wage rates are raised.  Heck, there was a time in the early negotiations, after Canada was kicked out of the room, when Secretary Wilbur Ross was advocating for an $11/hr minimum wage in Mexico, and the Mexicans were like ‘whoa, wait a minute, too high, too high’… [It was quite funny, because Trump was being called racist simultaneous to him trying to give a $85/day pay raise to Mexicans (from $3/day)].

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico on Wednesday became the first country to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) agreed late last year to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump.

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This entire story is creepy, really creepy.  God bless those poor people on the jury who had to sit and hear all these skeezy details….
Following a six-week trial the Democrats favorite sex trafficker, Keith Raniere (58), was convicted on all charges including: sex trafficking, racketeering, wire fraud, forced labor and attempted sex trafficking; all conspiracy charges. He will be sentenced Sept. 25.
Here’s the statement by U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue after the conviction of Keith Raniere outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse:

NEW YORK – NXIVM’s founder Keith Raniere was convicted on Wednesday on all seven counts against him, for creating what prosecutors described as a sex cult in which female members were branded with his initials and kept in line through blackmail.

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The possibility of U.S. Attorney John Durham exploiting/using documents declassified by his boss, AG Bill Barr, could suggest some of the material may not be made public; indeed that’s the inference from Representative John Ratcliffe three weeks ago as he outlined to Maria Bartiromo.

If accurate, it is worthwhile considering what *could be* publicly declassified by AG Barr, and yet not run afoul of any investigative value for Durham.   Example: the declassification of the Rosenstein scope memos to Robert Mueller (no longer a reason to be hidden) would not seem to materially affect the investigative intents of Durham.
So considering investigative value, what documents could be made public that would not impede Durham?
Here’s the list of material possible for declassification. This was the original list as outlined in 2018:
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This is interesting… but not simply because of the surface visibility.  Yesterday there was an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, that brought together Apple CEO Tim Cook, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Workforce policy advocate Ivanka Trump and U.S. CoC President Tom Donohue (on the margin).

Today, Apple Inc announces a restructuring of their supply chain away from China. In the media report notice the nations that likely stand to gain, and reference Trump’s 2017 golden ticket tour of Asia.

(Reuters) – Apple Inc has asked its major suppliers to assess the cost implications of moving 15%-30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia as it prepares for a restructuring of its supply chain, according to a Nikkei Asian Review report on Wednesday.
Apple’s request was a result of the extended Sino-U.S. trade dispute, but a trade resolution will not lead to a change in the company’s decision, Nikkei said s.nikkei.com/31zCGhw, citing multiple sources.

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During the kick-off campaign rally in Orlando Florida, President Donald Trump delivered a farewell tribute to a “warrior”, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
During the first two years of the administration Sarah Sanders has stood firmly in support of President Trump and fearlessly faced a hostile and ideologically corrupt media. Tonight Trump supporters had the opportunity to say thank you. The crowd delivered a rousing standing ovation while shouting: “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah”…. WATCH:

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