Shortfalls in the illicit drug trade could be very problematic for the DNC who receive funding through Mexican drug cartels.  Apparently, according to the cartels, the coronavirus is having an impact.  Will Speaker Pelosi look for bailout options?

Additionally the U.S. military operation to target illicit drugs is entering its fourth week creating even more havoc in the system.

NEW YORK (AP) — Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralyzing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.

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Though the U.S. and Canada are not part of the “OPEC Plus” group, President Trump has  been leading negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Russia to broker a deal and stop their price war.  Today President Trump announces an agreement between the major petroleum exporting countries to curb oil production by approximately 10 million barrels per day:

Additionally, there was a loggerhead within the negotiations as Mexico did not want to cut their production by the requested amount of 400,000 barrels daily.  Mexico relies on oil as a large part of their economy. AMLO stated his economy could not withstand such a significant drop in state revenue.  Economic security is, after all, national security.

President Trump broke the OPEC+ stalemate by agreeing to decrease U.S. production by 300k/barrels allowing Mexico to drop a more manageable 100k/barrels.  Trump and AMLO reached an undisclosed agreement where Mexico will reimburse the U.S. later on.

I suspect the “reimbursement” will be more, well, strategically geopolitical than financial.  [*nudge-nudge*, *wink-wink*, *say-no-more/say-no-more*]  President Trump has an uncanny knack of collecting leverage for later, more strategic, purposes.  Just sayin’.

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President Trump calls-in for a short interview with Jeanine Pirro to provide his perspectives on faith, the Easter holiday and the challenges to combat the Wuhan virus.

Our president outlines the complex dynamic of ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the movement of resources regionally to continue the fight; and the simultaneous need to restart the American economic engine while balancing the health interests of Americans.

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Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly (pictured left) submitted his resignation Tuesday morning; and shortly thereafter Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he accepted the resignation, consulted with President Trump, and nominated Under Secretary of the Army James McPherson to be his replacement.

Secretary Modly resigned after making poorly-timed remarks to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt about the judgement of captain Brett Crozier.  Modly labeled Crozier as “stupid.”  Bad form.

The poor judgement by Captain Brett Crozier did compromise his mission and publicly put our enemies on notice a nuclear powered asset was compromised. He deserved to be removed.  However, in response, Secretary Modly also compromised the structure of command authority with public statements exhibiting his own bad judgement.  Criticism of command leadership goes up, never down.  Doofus.  FUBAR.

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Former White House advisor Steve Bannon appears on Fox News to discuss his thoughts on how to mitigate and eliminate Coronavirus from the United States.

Among Comrade Bannon’s proposals:  Shut down all inbound international air travel. Shut down all domestic air travel. Forced federal shut down all ports of entry, allowing only commerce. Initiate forced quarantine zones around major metropolitian areas keeping people from leaving.  A forced shut-down all vehicle travel on interstates, except supply chain transports. A federally enforced closing of states to cross border traffic. WATCH:

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Yikes.  Civil liberties? Meh, details… details.

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The always political Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to President Trump today saying it was “long past the time” to name a senior military officer to lead the supply-chain effort.

Senator Schumer was attempting to construct a political narrative around the administration not taking action to secure U.S. supply needs combating COVID-19.

The letter was/is ridiculous; and built upon an entirely false premise; because Admiral John Polowczyk is already in that supply-chain procurement and distribution position working closely with Peter Navarro after the invocation of the Defense Production Act.

Replying to the ridiculous Schumer letter, President Trump calls out his stupidity:

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Earlier today President Trump and Defense Secretary Esper announced a major deployment of U.S. military to interdict narcotics trafficking from Central America.

On the surface the effort to deploy naval assets to the Caribbean and southern pacific is justified based on intelligence drug cartels will exploit the coronavirus pandemic to ship more narcotics into the U.S.

However, in the bigger picture there’s also a likelihood the CCP would work with their allies in Central American regimes to further weaken the U.S. during a time of increased vulnerability.

In times of war, or severe geopolitical confrontation, exploiting a vulnerability is a common strategy.  Therefore it’s a smart and prudent geopolitical move for President Trump and U.S. military to take very aggressive action against the cartels and their communist sympathizers.  There’s more going on here than appears on the surface.

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Admitted or not we are at war with the Red Dragon.  Chairman Xi is cunning and strategic; President Trump is countering.  Keep watching…

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Comrade citizens, if you don’t believe there are local, state and federal contingency plans to activate the National Guard as a police authority you have not paid close attention over the past three decades.  However, nothing quite grabs attention like a convoy of Humvees and MWRAPS driving though Main Street…

In this small example of what is happening on a national scale, Illinois State Police and Chicago police prepare to enforce Governor  Pritzker’s “stay-at-home” order.  WATCH:

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Watch for the words: “opportunity”, “challenges” and “support” when used within a sentence that describes the deployment of the national guard.

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Earlier today President Trump announced he was invoking sections of the Defense Product Act to help mitigate COVID-19 (Chinese Coronavirus) in the U.S.  The act empowers the government with greater authority to control specific sectors of the U.S. economy, and specific industries, needed to respond to national emergency needs.

The three main components of the Defense Production Act include:

♦ Companies are required to accept and prioritize contracts from the government and to prioritize “materials, services, and facilities to promote the national defense or to maximize domestic energy supplies.” While this provision has historically been used to ramp up military production, in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic the act will be used for medical supplies.

♦ The second provision in the act provides financial measures, such as loans, loan guarantees, purchases, and purchase commitments, to speed up the production of materials “needed to support national defense and homeland security procurement requirements.”

♦ The act also addresses voluntary agreements – or what the government says is “an association of private interests, approved by the Government to plan and coordinate actions in support of the national defense.” The proviso permits business competitors to work together to plan and coordinate measures to increase the supply of materials as directed by the U.S. government.

Immediately after invoking the act, President Trump signed an executive order to prioritize Health and Medical resources (masks, respirators, medical equipment).

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The United States and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Taliban) have signed a peace agreement to end the nineteen-year war in Afghanistan.  [Details Here]  During the signing ceremony Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the following remarks.
[Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – SECRETARY POMPEO: Good afternoon. I want to start by thanking His Highness Sheikh Tamim for Qatar’s invaluable role as host of these historic talks. His unstinting support, and yours foreign minister, have supported both sides and allowed them to reach this momentous day.
The United States and the Taliban have endured decades of hostility and mistrust. Previous talks have faltered. This effort only became real for the United States when the Taliban signaled interest in pursuing peace and ending their relationship with al-Qaida and other foreign terrorist groups. They also recognized that military victory was impossible. I then asked Ambassador Khalilzad to serve as our lead negotiator to gauge the Taliban’s sincerity.
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