We had to wait a few weeks to see how the Beijing communists and Xi Jinping hardliners were positioned for new trade talks; and now things make sense.
Initially it seemed at odds with Beijing’s prior position to restart U.S-China trade negotiations with Vice-Premier Liu He.  The prior three months of negotiation came to a collapse when Beijing resoundingly rejected the trade terms organized by Liu He.  If the Red Dragon was so opposed to conciliatory terms, why would team Xi restart with the same negotiator?  Now it makes sense, they didn’t.

China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan has been assigned the role to harden the position of the communist regime and override any panda presentations by Liu He.  Vice-Premier Liu retains the panda mask, but Zhong is the ultimate control agent.  The message within Zhong’s placement tells the true nature of the Chinese position: Trade War !
Beijing attempts to downplay the position of their hard-line commerce addition, but the reality of the re-started trade discussions tells a more fulsome story.  Chairman Xi took the strategically presented bait and is going to engage in full confrontational trade war with President Trump and the U.S. team.

SCMP – The participation of China’s Commerce Minister in the latest trade discussion with the United States was “normal”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday, playing down the eye-catching change in Beijing’s negotiating team.

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Earlier today President Trump drew attention to another uncomfortable truth.  Some of the most virulent anti-American progressive lawmakers entered the United States for the opportunity and freedom within our system.  However, those same politicians then decry the U.S. and demand changes to the system providing the benefit.
In essence, do not flee to the land of liberty, indulge in the benefits and then have the audacity to criticize the foundation of the nation providing the opportunity.

The media immediately went into apoplectic fits of outrage accusing President Trump of being a racist because he calls-out the anti-American messengers directly.
After a media cycle of outrage du jour, President Trump responds:
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HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News Weekend to discuss the upcoming congressional testimony of special counsel Robert Mueller.  Additionally, Nunes discusses the aggregate issues with the FBI and DOJ.
The Gang-of-Eight meeting Nunes notes McCabe attempted to get him removed from was the May 17th, 2017, meeting by Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe where they briefed the Go8 on the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel prior to the public release.
During that 3/17/17 meeting DAG Rod Rosenstein and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe were concerned that Devin Nunes would support President Trump’s position when McCabe and Rosenstein launched the corrupt and fraudulent Special Counsel.

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For deep-weed CTH readers: After listening to Nunes strongly implying he expects a full DC cover-up of the entire weaponized DC operation against candidate, president-elect and President Trump. I started a new intelligence research project to identify what might lie at the center of that concern.
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CTH has tracked this issue so closely through the years it often feels futile for another reminder. However, with the insufferable political games in the headlines over the issue of illegal immigrants and children, perhaps it is worth another visit.
There is no greater disconnect from ordinary Americans on any singular issue than the policy positions of Democrats and Republicans in Washington DC surrounding illegal immigration. President Donald Trump is confronting their unified interests.

Understanding The Big Racket.

Massive illegal immigration is supported by both sides of the professional political machine. There are few issues more unifying for the K-Street purchased voices of DC politicians than keeping the U.S. borders open and the influx of illegal aliens as high as possible. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pays politicians to keep this system in place.
All Democrats and most Republicans support mass immigration. Almost no DC politicians want to take action on any policy or legislation that stops the influx. There are billions at stake. None of the GOP leadership want to actually stop illegal immigration; it’s a lucrative business. Almost all of the CONservative groups and politicians lie about it.
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As immigration enforcement leads the Sunday headlines, White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway appears on Fox News to debate the international defender of all downtrodden economic migration, Chris Wallace.
The ever-insufferable Wallace takes his natural Fos/GOPe cocktail circuit position that all immigration enforcement is antithetical to the global rights of humans to have unfettered access to the United States.

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Fox News talking hair Leland Vitter uses his best dramatic voice, channels his inner Shep, and proclaims the end of the known universe is nigh, because the power went out in a part of Manhattan, New York City.  Evacuations, crisis, no stoplights… oh, my.
OMG… “pitch black”, it’s the beginning of the zombie apocalypse or something, only this time they’re bringing hashtags!

New York – A power failure struck the West Side of Manhattan on Saturday evening, plunging subway stations into darkness, stalling trains, stranding people in elevators and for a time leaving parts of Times Square without its customary bright lights.

Con Edison said that about 42,000 customers were without power, mainly on the West Side. The Fire Department said the failures stretched from 72nd Street to the West 40s, and from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River.

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The leaks from the diplomatic cables of former British Ambassador Kim Darroch continue; this time the cables discuss the U.K. efforts to get President Trump to change his position toward the cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal.
Apparently the British ambassador wrote the Trump administration was “set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism.” Oh, the audacity of it all.  Yes, according to the Brits President Trump was an intractable fellow when it came to the Iran Deal.

(Via Daily Mail) […] Sir Kim Darroch’s claim – made after Boris Johnson made a doomed trip to the White House to change the President’s mind – is revealed in leaked cables and briefing notes which led to Sir Kim’s resignation last week.
The new revelation comes after an extraordinary row over the freedom of the press blew up this weekend, with Mr Johnson and leadership rival Jeremy Hunt leading the condemnation of Scotland Yard over its threats to prosecute this newspaper.
[…] In other dramatic developments:

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This is an example of what happens when politicians and far-left activists push a false narrative that ICE facilities are comparable to concentration camps.
An obviously unstable man armed with a rifle attempts to blow up an ICE detention facility in Tacoma Washington following protests hours earlier.

WASHINGTON – An armed man was fatally shot early Saturday during a confrontation with police after he hurled incendiary devices at a Washington state immigration detention center, Tacoma police said.
The shooting occurred about 4 a.m. local time outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Northwest Detention Center, where the gunman attempted to set the building and parked cars on fire, according to police spokeswoman Loretta Cool.

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Former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is involved in two heavily connected legal cases that came from the special counsel appointment of Robert Mueller.  One direct case is in DC District Court, Judge Emmet Sullivan; and one indirect case in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), Judge Anthony Trenga.

The DC case is the direct case against Michael Flynn where Flynn took a plea deal and has been in a rather tentacled sentencing phase since November 2017.  The EDVA case is the FARA case against Flynn’s former business associate Bijan Rafiekian where Flynn was going to be a witness (now cancelled).
While the larger issues connecting both cases are somewhat complex, some details released last week reveal a concerning bigger picture that originated long before Robert Mueller became special counsel in May 2017.  [Back story HERE and HERE and HERE]
I’m going to make the assumption the reader is familiar with the backstory noted above; and additionally, in full disclosure for the reader, this is openly written for the research benefit of the Flynn defense team – with whom I’ve had no contact.
Of particular interest to me was the revelation that DOJ National Security Division head David Laufman engaged with Flynn in January 2017, and was the lead point of contact within the DOJ-NSD when Flynn was filing FARA compliance documents, as part of the transition into the Trump administration.
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New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is well known for her choreographed border performances and staged pictorial presentations.  However, many within her target audience are no longer supportive of the indulgent self-serving narrative; and support is diminishing.
In an effort to restore and reignite diminishing career fuel, Ms. AOC moved her particular form of dramatic political art to the world of cinematography.  For her debut theatrical exhibit the young artist submits a well-rehearsed performance during a broadcast congressional mini-series titled: “My life amid the toilet drinkers.”

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One Critic’s Review – Director Elijah Cummings generally does a fine job guiding new actors to lively congressional performances. But for this endeavor the AOC staging is heavy-handed. The border toilet angle works well in typeset, but falls flat on film; it appears force-fed as presented. The dramatic pause for effect at introduction was stiff and overworked. Still, despite the obvious construct, amid a sheeple audience the pantomime will likely strike a chord. In this fairy tale performance everybody within the existing AOC orbit is enchanted; however, beyond the script the effort falls flat.
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