If the other substantive weaknesses in the politically constructed Manhattan case against Donald Trump do not lead to a pre-trial dismissal, this one should collapse it.

The Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) explicitly states the payments by President Trump to Stormy Daniels are not an election campaign violation.

WASHINGTON DC – A key member of the Federal Election Commission today rejected the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment of former President Donald Trump as a violation of federal election laws.

“It’s not a campaign finance violation. It’s not a reporting violation of any kind,” said FEC Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor.  In trying to stretch the law to make it look like a violation, he added, District Attorney Alvin Bragg “is really trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.”

In a 34-count indictment of Trump, the first criminal case ever against a former president, Bragg charged that a $130,000 payment made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels, which Cohen went to jail for in a plea deal, violated several campaign finance laws that splashed onto Trump. [T]he FEC and Justice Department already considered the case and tossed it.

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This is the funniest thing in months.  Take the time to enjoy and laugh folks… Really, take the time.

French President Emmanuel Macron is in Beijing for an official state visit and his geopolitical priority is to break, or at least weaken, the China-Russia alliance. Yes, the western alliance sent diminutive Macron for this task.  That is funny enough… but what comes next is buckets funnier.

In order to give power to their position, the brilliant NATO minds decided that President Macron should take European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as a way to express the united ‘western alliance’ message that Macron was intended to leverage in his efforts.  Obviously cunning Panda knew the intent, and the way China literally diminished the effort is not only funny in diplomatic action, but also in the optics they present.  LOOK:

Upon arrival in Beijing, and customary with keeping good panda face, Macron “was given the full red-carpet treatment this week in Beijing, fêted at a state banquet, and greeted by military parades and firing cannons on Tiananmen Square. When Macron’s plane touched down, China’s foreign minister personally welcomed him.”  However, “when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived, she got the ecology minister — at the regular passenger exit.” [link]

Big Panda is subtle like a brick through a window. lolol.

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The labor unions are trying to maintain the momentum against French President Emmanuel Macron’s unilateral decision to raise the retirement age.  However, despite nationwide majority support, on the 11th day of a national strike there are fewer protests disrupting commerce.

On the positive side, the offices of Blackrock were targeted and torched.  So, we know the focus is generally on the right multinational target.  Meanwhile, President Macron is in Beijing, China, getting slapped around by the panda paw.

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PARIS (Reuters) -Clashes erupted in Paris next to a Left Bank brasserie favoured by French President Emmanuel Macron during a day of nationwide protests against a pension bill that he has pushed through despite widespread opposition.

La Rotonde, whose awning was briefly on fire as protesters threw bottles and paint at police, is well known in France for hosting a much-criticised celebratory dinner for Macron when he led the first round of the 2017 presidential election.

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Because of course… Despite the Biden White House having complete control over the issues and events during their withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which included the murder of 13 U.S. servicemen during a terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, the Biden administration has to blame Donald Trump.   Pathetic doesn’t even begin to appropriately outline the issue, and even U.S. corporate media can see it.

Without announcing the release in advance, the White House dropped an 11-page after action report [SEE HERE] claiming the prior administration was in control of all their decision making in the summer and fall of 2021.   As noted by the Daily Mail, “The disastrous Afghanistan evacuation that led to the death of 13 U.S. service members and hundreds of civilians was Donald Trump’s fault – and the scenes of Afghans falling from planes and the Taliban shooting people in the streets wasn’t chaotic, the White House said Thursday.”

Kirby said the administration was ‘proud‘ of how U.S. forces carried out the withdrawal, as the Taliban toppled the American-backed Afghan government the U.S. spent trillions over 20 years to keep stable.  WATCH:

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‘All this talk of chaos, I just don’t see it,’ Kirby said in a White House briefing, referring to the withdrawal that culminated in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that 13 Americans and some 170 others dead. ‘I just don’t buy the whole argument of chaos.’  (read more)

Make ‘smite’ Great Again.  These people are vile.

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I’ve never reached out to anyone in the orbit of Donald Trump, and I do not consider myself of any importance to do so. However, if I could send one message it would be this….

[Image Credit, Joshua Youngbluth]

We need a big picture focus right now. Do not be distracted by the smallness of men and their constructs.

The landscape of our national challenge is in a much bigger focus. Connect to the sense surrounding the instability that everyone, even globally, feels amid their lives.

Give direction, context and understanding to that sense, then connect directly to it.

Expand and elevate beyond the schemes, frauds and manipulations.

Lead that level of victory. The rest will follow.

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Often when legal professor Alan Dershowitz appears on media segments he is short on time to give context to his review.  However, in this lengthy interview by Steve Bannon {Direct Rumble Link Here} Mr. Dershowitz has the time to walk through the cases against President Trump and deconstruct the foundation of them.

It’s a good overview for the average person to understand.  WATCH:

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For his opening monologue and first interview tonight, Fox News host Tucker Carlson outlined the ramification of non-western nations now trading in alternative currencies to the U.S. dollar.   {Direct Rumble Link Here]  As the dollar diminishes in value, and as an outcome of Biden using U.S. treasury bonds as part of the sanction regime against Russia, various non-western nations now perceive holding dollars as exposing themselves to risk.

Carlson is joined by Luke Gromen who accurately notes the dollar as a global trade currency may continue, but foreign nations holding U.S. treasury bonds as an asset will likely start contracting.  The result of U.S. treasury bonds returning after maturity with no repurchase, would be an inability of the U.S. to borrow against their sale. This could, perhaps likely will, severely diminish the amount of money the U.S. congress can spend.  WATCH:

None of this should come as a surprise to those who have paid attention. Factually, in March of last year, one month after the Russian sanctions were announced, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Deputy Managing Director said the sanctions against Russia are likely to undermine the US dollar’s global dominance as a trade currency.  Everyone could see this coming.

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You know, it’s funny.  If you viewed the world through the prism of western corporate media, aside from North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, the other world leader to draw the strongest criticism from President Trump was Mexican President Lopez-Obrador.  Yet, both Chairman Kim and President AMLO are two of Trump’s strongest defenders against the leftist regime of Joe Biden.

Secondly, I have to give heaps of credit to President Lopez-Obrador for his comments about the Biden administration’s targeting of President Trump.  If there was one leader who was closest in proximity to feel genuine retaliation from the American targeting operation, it would be AMLO.   Yet for two years this guy has faced-down the Biden administration, undressed Biden verbally and publicly while refusing to acquiesce to the #1 priority of the current U.S. regime around energy policy.

I will admit, with all of my former reservations about the soft-socialist tendencies of AMLO, he has been a far better steward for the interests of the ordinary Mexican people than I ever suspected he would be.  On the economics of the issues critical for Mexico in the long term, Lopez-Obrador has been solid as a rock.

WASHINGTON DC – Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday slammed the history-making charges against former President Trump, but as U.S. politics is consumed by the indictment, most world leaders have been largely silent on the issue.

[…] López Obrador spoke Wednesday, doubling down on comments he made last month before charges against Trump were announced and saying the case is political.

“Supposedly legal issues should not be used for electoral, political purposes,” López Obrador said. “That’s why I don’t agree with what they are doing to ex-President Trump.” “It should be the people who decide,” he added.

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Sometimes the apropos of the thing is just too much fun to notice.  Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is missing in action ever since his slip and fall/concussion a few weeks ago (insert shades of prior HRC issues here).  The conspicuous absence of media questioning his continued absence is a little odd for a DC that loves to notice such things.

Meanwhile, sniffing the possibility of enhanced career aspirations amid the political winds of incapable McConnell, Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, sees Ron DeSantis as a vector to electoral elevation.  Except, there’s a funny thing.

While Erin Perrine of Team DeSantis is quick to promote the endorsement for her managed Florida governor, a review of Representative Massie’s Twitter rapid-fire messaging doesn’t show the endorsement.   Thirsty DeSantis, with slipping polls, contrasts against a teeth-clenched Massie with political aspirations….  We laugh, because it’s, well, perfect!

Meanwhile, moments ago, in other contextual sunlight, Fox News human cabbage patch doll Bret Baier, leads off the GOPe/Murdoch Fox News narrative engineering with the 6:00pm promotion of Glenn Youngkin. LOLOL… These cats are just too transparently funny.

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A case study in the DeceptiCon politics that we discuss amid these pages surfaced today.

WASHINGTON DC – Former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Wednesday joined Husch Blackwell Strategies, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm with close ties to the veteran GOP senator.

Blunt will lead a newly launched strategic advisory practice at the firm, which is run by Gregg Hartley, Blunt’s former chief of staff in the House, and Andy Blunt, his son. Blunt will also reunite with Stacy McBride, his chief of staff in the Senate who joined the firm last month.

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