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.

When China announced the One-Road/One-Belt initiative (now banned from discussion in Beijing); in combination with a looming trade confrontation with President Trump; CTH pointed out that sketchy pandas’ bamboo economy was very vulnerable because it was deep, but narrow – simply too dependent on manufacturing and exports.
Slow down the manufacturing sector and, well, there is no fall-back position….. Cue:

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s manufacturing activity grew at the slowest pace in more than a year in August, with export orders shrinking for a fifth month and employers cutting more staff, a private survey showed on Monday.
The gloomy findings reinforce views that China’s economy will cool further in coming months, even as the United States ramps up tariffs on Chinese goods. That is likely to prompt more spending and other growth boosting steps from Beijing.

(more…)

Regardless of how far into the DOJ and FBI investigative network/timeline you get with the story it always circles back to the 2015/2016 abuse of the NSA and FBI database.  The origin of “spygate” or the myriad of downstream issues all come back to a network of government contractors who were exploiting their database access for political opposition research.  Not only is this a reality, it’s also where the deep swamp doesn’t want the focus.

Other than a few intrepid researchers who keep drawing attention to this issue, no-one within mainstream media -or even allied media- can touch this third-rail of intelligence corruption which lies at the heart of FISA abuse.   One of those intrepid truth-tellers, Jeff Carlson, draws attention to it again today [SEE HERE].    If President Trump wants to dismantle the deep state, declassifying the April 2017 FISC ruling IS the place to start.

(TheMarketsWork) – One of the bombshell admissions from a closed-door testimony by DOJ official Bruce Ohr was that his wife, Nellie Ohr, was working for opposition research firm Fusion GPS already in late 2015.
Previously, it had been reported that Nellie Ohr was hired to find dirt on then-candidate Donald Trump in the spring of 2016.

(more…)

Yesterday we wrote about how the Associated Press was attempting to cloud and obfuscate details (now getting exposed) about DOJ Official Bruce Ohr and his engagements with Fusion-GPS, Glenn Simpson, Christopher Steele and the collaboration with the FBI in their collective political targeting of candidate Donald Trump.
I noted it becomes frustrating because writing hundreds of words to: (1) initially outline, then; (2) describe as the fiasco unfolds with more details surfacing; then (3) affirm the original outline and description with irrefutable evidence; is like writing/reading the same chapter of the same novel over-and-over-and-over… yet no-one in authority makes a single move to indict these bastards because ‘muh institutions‘ must be protected.  I digress…
Here’s the cut-to-the-chase:  Those AP reporters are almost virtually guaranteed to be the same AP reporters that are participants within the Fusion GPS network; and the same AP reporters who collaborate with Andy Weissmann et al. These endless media scribes were willing participants within the 2015/2016/2017 plot, plan and execution; and as such they are clearly acting/writing to protect themselves and their interests.
Today we cue up another brutally obvious example of media collaboration to protect their own interests, where we see the New York Times attempt to engineer yet another narrative and hide a reality that DOJ and FBI officials were conspiring with Russians:

(Read Article Here)

See how the insufferable media now spin the connection between the DOJ/FBI and Oleg Deripaska as the FBI was trying to “flip” the Russian oligarch.
(more…)

The Trump Doctrine is easiest to describe as: deploying economic leverage to achieve national security interests.  The Trump Doctrine is unique and stunningly effective.

Many of the geopolitical decisions have multiple facets which connect like small gears on a much larger machine.  One of those small dual-purpose gears is the Doctrine as it is applied to Pakistan.  The downstream moves impact China, our #1 geopolitical and economic adversary, then Russia, and also support new alliances with India and the broader Middle-east.

Toward China = ♦Squeeze #3. In 2017 Trump and Secretary Tillerson, now Secretary Pompeo, put Pakistan on notice they need to get involved in bringing their enabled tribal “extremists” (Taliban) to the table in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s primary investor and economic partner is China. The U.S. removed $900 million in financial support to pressure Pakistan toward a political solution in Afghanistan, China has to fill void.  [NOTE: Last month the World Bank began discussions about a financial bailout for Pakistan.]  Again, more one-way bleed for China. {Go Deep}

When President Trump removed the $900 million in aid to Pakistan, he empowered the Pentagon via Defense Secretary James Mattis, with an option to give $300 million to Pakistan if Mattis felt positive steps were being taken to change behavior.  Today the Pentagon announces no change in behavior is noted:
(more…)

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has submitted a regulatory 90-day notification to congress outlining the intent to modify the U.S. trade deal with Mexico according to mutually agreed terms.
However, the Canadian trade priorities; including retention of protectionist tariffs (dairy) and non-regulatory barriers (telecom/banking); in combination with subsidies (lumber/aeronautics), make Canada joining the deal almost impossible.

Canada is scheduled to meet with Lighthizer again on Wednesday, but it seems very doubtful the political needs for Justin Trudeau would allow any three-way agreement.
(more…)

Well this is troubling on many levels.  According to a responsive filing from the FISA Court (full pdf below), there wasn’t any hearing on the sketchy FISA application submitted by the DOJ/FBI to conduct FISA Title-1 surveillance on Carter Page.
Even more disturbing, according to the secret court, it is customary to just accept and review the FISA applications as presented without judicial inquiry into the content.

(link to pdf)

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the Justice Department (DOJ) admitted in a court filing last night that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spy warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a former Trump campaign part-time advisor who was the subject of four controversial FISA warrants.  (read more)

(more…)

There’s an Associated Press report published today presenting a ridiculously slanted version of the Bruce Ohr testimony from the perspective of two leaking democrat congressional staffers who were present. However, if you fly passed the nonsense narrative engineering, and go way down in the article you might note this (emphasis mine):

[…] One of the meetings he recounted was a Washington breakfast attended by Steele, a Steele associate and Ohr. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, who worked for the political research firm, Fusion GPS, that hired Steele, attended at least part of it.
[…] That breakfast took place amid ongoing FBI concerns about Russian election interference and possible communication with Trump associates.
[…] That revelation prompted the FBI to open the counterintelligence investigation on July 31, 2016, one day after the breakfast but based on entirely different information.  (link)

Breakfast with “a Steele associate” on July 30th, 2016.
(more…)

U.S. Trade Represenative Robert Lighthizer releases a statement announcing the administration is filing a NAFTA Section 2202 trade modification “notification of intent” letter to congress:

Washington, DC – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today issued the following statement regarding the status of trade negotiations with Mexico and Canada:
“Today the President notified the Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico – and Canada, if it is willing – 90 days from now.  The agreement is the most advanced and high-standard trade agreement in the world.  Over the next few weeks, Congress and cleared advisors from civil society and the private sector will be able to examine the agreement.  They will find it has huge benefits for our workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses.
“We have also been negotiating with Canada throughout this year-long process.  This week those meetings continued at all levels.  The talks were constructive, and we made progress.  Our officials are continuing to work toward agreement.  The USTR team will meet with Minister Freeland and her colleagues Wednesday of next week.”  (link)

Under the original 1993 terms and Chapter 22 of the Implementation Act, Lighthizer notifies congress that trade parties have modified the terms; this is the Section 2202 notification of modification. Ninety days after the date of the notification the U.S. and Mexico can sign the new terms of agreement; congressional approval is not required. [Canada can still join the U.S-Mexico agreement but they need to act fast.]
(more…)

Deploying her best cutesy high school routine at the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland gives an update on the state of trade negotiations between Canada and the United States.
The presentation is fraught with *tells* highlighting how every word is carefully selected through the prism of domestic politics. Chrystia now heads back to Canada for debriefing, discussion and poll-testing of Canadian sentiment. She will meet again with USTR Lighthizer next Wednesday with an answer as to whether or not to include Canada in the 2202 notification.