All our propaganda are belong to us…

In comments yesterday about the likelihood of Canada joining the U.S-Mexico trade agreement, Justin from Canada stated emphatically that his country would not join any trade agreement that removes Canadian protectionist policy on “cultural industries”.

What are Justin’s “cultural industries“? Well, that would be control over media and telecommunications. In essence, Canada wouldn’t want any of that pesky free-market media stuff interfering with the state-run propaganda broadcasts.  Yup, you can’t make this stuff up folks…

CANADA – […] The prime minister also said his government won’t sign an updated free trade accord with the U.S. and Mexico if the deal doesn’t continue exemptions for Canada’s cultural industries, which aims to protect Canada’s publishing and broadcast industries.

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From a pure economic/financial perspective this Nike  branding campaign doesn’t make sense…. unless, you realize a much bigger picture. A hidden bigger picture.

On its face, it just seems absurd. Why would any major corporation intentionally stake out a branding position that is adverse to their financial interests?
I’ve spoken to some very excellent business actuaries on this late today; and one specific conversation finally helped to make it all make sense.  During that conversation a good ally shared: “a multinational corporation would never make a branding decision adverse to their financial interests. Unless there is a hidden risk unrelated to what is visible on the surface.” ….BINGO, there it is, the lightbulb went on.
A hidden risk that likely has nothing whatsoever to do with Colin Kaepernick.
The bigger risk to Nike has nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, U.S. Consumers, or Antifa-like political advocacy. The bigger financial risk to the Nike Corporation has everything to do with geopolitics and a reset of international trade agreements.
Here’s the hidden aspect with research to back it up.  Nike Inc. has hitched its massive corporate existence to a 10-year business plan that is dependent on the continuance of recently negotiated manufacturing contracts.
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Nike shares fall Tuesday after the company revealed failed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be the modern face of the brand.  It will get much worse; much worse.
It is only day #1 of the Nike decision to make Colin Kaepernick, and all of the controversy that surrounds him, the brand image of Nike sporting goods apparel; and today the stock dropped over 3%.
However, the current valuation drop doesn’t really tell the full story; because massive investment/branding moves like this are generally projected to increase share value, not lose it.  The financial loss is actually much more significant, and only beginning.
There is another problem.  Not only is Nike branding themselves based on severe political ideology; and not only is Nike selecting a failed athlete to express that image; and not only has this decision removed well over half of their potential customer base; but Nike has also decided to go much further.  Nike will present an entire line of Colin Kaepernick apparel and products. Essentially an apparel line for the Antifa audience.
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In the latest example of a corporation making a ridiculous decision to brand itself based on politics, Nike apparel has decided that Colin Kaepernick is the modern face of the brand:

“We believe Colin is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward.”

~ Gino Fisanotti, Nike’s vice president of brand for North America

Apparently Nike has been paying Colin Kaepernick since 2011, and made the decision to go full social justice as part of their 30-year anniversary.   As with prior endeavors for corporations who engage in political advocacy, this will likely not end well financially.

The U.S. Dept of Justice detained ISIS fighter Omar Ameen in Sacramento, California, yesterday (full pdf below) pending extradition back to Iraq on murder charges.  Incredibly Ameen gained State Department entry into the U.S. through the refugee system.
Despite the claims of the Obama administration, Omar Ameen’s ability to enter the United States is a clear example of weaknesses within the refugee process and lies told by former administration officials about the security therein.
From the DOJ memo of extradition, Omar Ameen first applied for refugee status in Turkey in 2012.  Then in June of 2014 applied for refugee status to the United States.  The extradition memo explains that “based on the written and verbal answers given by Ameen, his refugee application was approved by USCIS on June 5, 2014.”
On June 21st, 2014, Ameen, who claimed to work as a truck driver, murdered police officer Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim in Rawah, Iraq, an ISIS stronghold.  Four months later, November 4th, 2014, Ameen entered the U.S. settling in Salt Lake City and then later traveling to Sacramento, California, where he was arrested.
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The corporate thought police moved in unity today to unperson Alex Jones and his Info Wars media site from popular social media platforms.
Imagine if BP, Exxon, Chevron and Sunoco all moved, on the same day, at the same time, to charge $5.00/gal for gasoline at their service stations.  That would be illegal collusion to take advantage of a monopolistic position.  That’s essentially what happened today when Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify simultaneously banned the Alex Jones broadcast from their platforms; in an effort to purge him from the internet.

Info Wars Website Here

Ezra Levant has some perspective worth sharing:

“One of the terrifying things about the Facebook & Apple bans of everything Alex Jones has ever said, is that it is not based on any particular allegation. They haven’t identified a specific violation of their terms of service. They’re just un-personing him.”

“It’s not a legal approach (remedy a problem) and it’s not an intellectual approach (articulate what thoughts are now banned, and why) . It’s a de-platforming approach, a mob approach, hysteria. It’s how Antifa would act, if they owned a trillion-dollar tech company. Or China.”

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviews a British man named Tommy Robinson. Mr. Robinson was arrested and thrown in jail for livestreaming in front of a U.K. courthouse where members of an Islamic gang were attending court proceedings under charges of sexual assault for raping schoolgirls.
For two months Mr. Robinson was held in solitary confinement within the British prison system; he describes the alarming sequence of events, and the political weaponization of the British legal system to Tucker Carlson.

A police report has been filed after a sixteen year old was eating at a Whataburger in San Antonio Texas and an unhinged man attacked him at the restaurant because he was wearing a Make America Great Again hat.
Video of the assault went viral along with several media outlets reporting on the incident:

(News4SanAntonio Link)

The victim is 16-year-old Hunter Richard. The man assaulting the teen was identified quickly through social media as 30-year-old Kino Jimenez. According to follow-up reports Jimenez worked as a bartender in the area. He has been fired from his job.
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Earlier today in response to questioning about the current Democrat platform to abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), President Trump said he hoped his political opposition would run on that issue because they are out of touch with the American voter.
A Harvard Harris poll (full pdf below) shows President Trump’s instincts are spot-on.  1,448 polled voters. [Poll ideology: Democrat 37%, Republican 32%, Independent 29%]

An overwhelming majority of American registered voters, 70 percent, support tougher immigration enforcement to include a border wall (60% support), deportation (64% support), and repatriation of all illegal border crossers including families with Children (61% support). Additionally 69% of voters do not support the position of disbanding I.C.E.
♦ Page #67 – Do you think current border security is adequate or inadequate? 61% Inadequate / 39% Adequate
♦ Page #69 – Do you support or oppose building a combination of physical and electronic barriers across the U.S.-Mexico border?  60% Support / 40% Oppose
♦ Page #72 – Do you think that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, known as ICE, should be disbanded or not?   31% Disbanded / 69% Not Disbanded
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Representative Ron DeSantis confronts Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about Rosenstein’s conflicts of interest in the Mueller probe.  Additionally, DeSantis questions Rosenstein about his specific efforts to block DOJ and FBI document production.