Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is conducting a regional visit to multiple allies and partners in the anti-ISIS campaign.  Today, Secretary Pompeo is in Jordan for discussions as the U.S. anticipates withdrawing troops from Syria.

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Meanwhile, National Security Adviser John Bolton is in Turkey after announcing from Israel the U.S. will not withdraw from Syria until Turkey (NATO ally) agrees not to kill the Kurdish fighters. Turkish President Recep Erdogan said emphatically there would never be such assurances, therefore U.S. troops will never leave Syria.
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White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp discusses the partial government shutdown over the border wall funding and the most recent call by Democrats’ to raise taxes.

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Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the strength of the U.S. economy, the partial government shutdown and the Trump administration’s trade talks with China.
Mr. Hassett, a happy warrior, walks through the recent economic data and jobs report.

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House Judiciary Committee, ranking member Doug Collins, together with Jim Jordan (ranking member Oversight), and Representative Mark Meadows, begin questioning U.S. Attorney John Huber in their effort to expose the biggest current DOJ con job.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney John Huber (full pdf below), Collins, Jordan and Meadows begin the formal process to expose a widely believed fraud.

A misinformation campaign has been waged to give the appearance of an investigation that does not exist.  There is ZERO factual evidence of any investigative action underway by U.S. Attorney Huber, beyond speculation and supposition.
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses the ongoing U.S. -vs- China trade confrontation and the current status of China’s economic contraction.
Secretary Ross outlines that China has now internally admitted their reliance on access to the U.S. market; and Team Trump’s continued willingness to deliver death by 1,000 cuts to Beijing if needed.
Secretary Wilburine is one of the top targets for Wall Street, GOPe, Democrats and the collective group of beneficiaries from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is effective; he is unrelenting; they want/need him to be removed.   The inability to influence the White House economic policy team is the biggest threat to the corporate lobbying community.

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is absent from the Supreme Court bench for oral arguments today.  After surgery for cancer removal last year, the media claim -without evidence- that Justice Ginsburg is sufficient of mind and body to review transcripts from testimony and preside over cases.

(Barely Coherent in September 2018)

Given how far the far-left wing of the political apparatus was willing to go in their constructed attack against a prior Supreme Court nominee (Kavanaugh); in collaboration with the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. DOJ; one has to wonder if the same ideological forces are not hiding the actual inability of Ginsburg to act as a Supreme Court justice.
In years passed this line of inquiry might have seemed ‘conspiratorial’ or ‘out-there’; however, in the past two years we have been exposed to just how far elements within the political apparatus are willing to go in order to attain their ideological objectives.  See: FBI/DOJ ‘spygate‘ (surveillance of political opposition by the U.S. intelligence apparatus); and the FBI/DOJ allied narrative around ‘rape gang’ attacks against Brett Kavanaugh.
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The official, albeit preliminary, U.S.T.R. delegation from the United States is on the ground in China to begin initial discussions of “technical details” surrounding the ongoing trade dispute.  The preliminary talks are today (Jan 7th) through Wed (Jan 9th).

The prior notice from USTR announced the delegation: •Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (pictured above – center); •Ambassador Gregg Doud, USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator; •Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, U.S. Department of Agriculture; •Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Gilbert B. Kaplan, U.S. Department of Commerce; •Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, U.S. Department of Energy; and •Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The delegation will be accompanied by senior officials from the White House, USTR, and the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, State, and Treasury. (link)

Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for World Trade Organization Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing is quoted as saying Beijing’s first phase will be focused on technical details before more important voices “make hard political decisions.”
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Some of the highlights from today’s protests in France are quite remarkable.  Additionally, it seems indicative of an inflection point for Reuters to point out that Macron’s current approach toward the Yellow Vests is only making things worse….  Strange times.

PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron intended to start the new year on the offensive against the ‘yellow vest’ protesters. Instead, the French president is reeling from more violent street demonstrations.
What began as a grassroots rebellion against diesel taxes and the high cost of living has morphed into something more perilous for Macron – an assault on his presidency and French institutions.

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer appears on Meet The Press to outline how the House will use political theater, with their ally Mitch McConnell, to weaken the border security position of President Donald Trump.
When you accept that Senate Leader McConnell is actually on their team, things begin to make more sense. Democrats are providing cover for their UniParty ally, Mitch, by framing the optic of McConnell allied with President Trump.  The entire process is a predictable and well planned insider game of optics and political theater.

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Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney outlines how Democrat leadership have dispatched legislative staff to frame optic of negotiations to re-open government; however, it appears the discussions are only intended to further political resistance efforts.
The leadership staff have no authority to actually negotiate, but simply give the impression of negotiations.  Pelosi, Hoyer, Schumer and Durbin have a plan to maximize the shutdown for political gains; any border agreement would be adverse to their interests.

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