U.S. Attorney General nominee William Barr has been confirmed by the senate.  The vote was 54-45 with three democrats voting to support Barr: Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Doug Jones (AL) and Joe Manchin (WV); with one republican, senator Rand Paul (KY), voting against the nomination.
Now that he is confirmed Barr is officially supervising the special counsel probe of Robert Mueller.  It is also likely that after a transition period Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will depart.
One of Barr’s responsibilities will be to determine what, if anything, to tell congress about the Mueller probe once it is completed.  Perhaps the best way to think about the Mueller report is to think about your local police department (detective or DA) doing an investigation on a subject and completing that task.
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The actual budget appropriations bill is seven compartments consisting of more than 5,000 pages. However, here is the 29 page summary outlining the key elements as negotiated by congress.
WARNING: This is a bad deal, but it reflects the UniParty reality within congress.  Take a deep breath; don’t lash out.  Remember, there are very few MAGA minded representatives. This was negotiated by two wings of the same corporate bird and both want open borders.

[scribd id=399623170 key=key-SCOGFaqwlDLsswYDoZHx mode=scroll]
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• Provides $1.375 billion, or $4.325 billion less than the $5.7 billion the Trump administration requested, for a very limited 55 miles of physical barrier that can only be placed along the southern border in *only* the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
• Contains language allowing only fencing designs in use as of 2017.
• No funding for new border patrol agents above the current on board levels.
• Does not fund the Administration’s request for joint detention facilities.
• No funding for additional enforcement and removal field personnel.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman appears on Fox News to discuss the border security funding bill.  Senator Graham urges President Trump to accept the deal that is presented and move on.

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The language of the bipartisan border security funding legislation is still being written. Unfortunately, reports indicate Democrat language will be inserted into the DHS funding bill that will allow any town, city, municipality, mayor, city manager or local council within any border state to veto the construction of any structural border security wall or fence.
This definitely sounds like an approach the Lawfare group would be assisting with.  Despite overwhelming support from the majority of Americans, the DC Uniparty seems to consistently find a way to usurp national sovereignty.  Very frustrating.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest consumer price information today which shows overall low inflation at 1.6 percent (with energy price deflation, and flat food prices).
Excluding food and energy costs the total CPI remains low at 2.2%.   This low inflation is the exact opposite of what financial media were predicting when President Trump began the series of import tariffs in 2017, which continued throughout last year.

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When President Trump began the tariffs against global Steel and Aluminum imports; and when President Trump began the first set of tariffs against Chinese imports; almost all financial media went into fits of apoplexy claiming we would see massive increases in prices.   Reality shows their doomsday predictions were completely over-hyped.
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Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer are currently leading another round of trade negotiations in China.  Recent reporting indicates the U.S. team will meet with Chairman Xi Jinping at the conclusion of this round of discussions.

At the conclusion of the previous round of discussions in Washington DC, President Trump invited the Chinese delegation to the Oval Office. The surface panda-face diplomacy appears to be based on reciprocity; however, there is no indication President Trump and Chairman Xi are making any efforts for a meeting.

BEIJING – China’s President Xi Jinping “is scheduled to meet” key members of the US trade talks delegation, including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in Beijing on Friday, according to sources close to the matter.

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Earlier today President Donald Trump delivered a speech to a conference of Major County Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] 3:21 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: I have a lot of friends in this room. Thank you. That’s a very fancy-looking table. A lot of very powerful people sitting around that table. Thank you very much, everybody. And thank you, Sheriff Judd — a friend of mine for a long time — for those kind words and for your outstanding leadership of the Major County Sheriffs of America. That’s an important group of words. Done an incredible job.
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President Trump delivers remarks from the oval office while introducing Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez.  The primary topic between the two leaders is the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.  President Trump praised interim Venezuelan president Juan Guaidó for being “brave”, and answered a variety of media questions.  [Video and transcript]:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Duque of Colombia. We’ve been working very closely. And it’s so nice to meet your wife, First Lady. And you have a brilliant reputation. And thank you for coming. We very much appreciate it. I think, Melania, you’re both going to have lunch afterwards and get to know each other.
MRS. RUIZ: We are. And I’m sure we’re going to enjoy it.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know you’re going to enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
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The usual suspects within the Decepticon Caucus (McConnell, Cornyn, Thune, Barasso, Crapo, Portman, Blunt, Gardner, Burr, Romney) and Richard Shelby held a press conference to announce the outcome of their DHS border security funding negotiations.
There are massive numbers of Republicans who view Senate Majority Mitch McConnell as a brilliant strategist and staunch supporter of President Trump.  Unfortunately, those voices once again have to reconcile McConnell’s comprehensive failure on a Trump priority.   Yes, McConnell and Shelby successfully negotiated for less border security funding than before the shutdown.

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Fortunately, POTUS Trump planned for the intentional failure of McConnell and his veto-proof construct. [Rest assured, thankfully, President Trump knows exactly who McConnell is.] President Trump had anticipated the result and dispatched Mulvaney to review the granular DHS, DoD and DoS programs throughout fiscal year 2019 appropriations to assemble secondary funding.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that he will move forward on a plan to allow a senate vote on the far-left platform called “The Green New Deal”.
Now, McConnell obviously doesn’t support the GND because: (a) his benefactor, Tom Donohue, doesn’t want anything to do with it; and (b) the entire premise behind it is stunningly stupid.  As such, those who don’t fully understand how McConnell operates think that McConnell is toying with the Democrats and forcing them to take a position of support that is toxic to their interests…. But that’s not Mitch.  Beware.

Yes, McConnell knows the Green New Deal is toxic to the central political aspirations of the Democrats amid his chamber; and he knows many of the 2020 candidates would be forced to put-up their support, or shut-up their moonbat-wing.  However, that’s not his motive for supporting a vote.  The UniParty Mitch-move is to remove the sword of Damocles the GND represents from his UniParty alliance (both Democrats and Republicans).
McConnell absorbs all power. McConnell views himself as more powerful than all other political elements within Washington DC, including the office of the president. McConnell is the self-annointed emperor of the dark swamp forces.  To understand McConnell you have to reset traditional reference points.
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