First Lady Melania Trump arrived in Ghana on Tuesday morning (October 2nd) after a 12-hour flight from Washington, D.C. This is the first stop on a four nation visit within Africa.

Day one in the capital of Accra, Ghana was spent visiting a local hospital to learn more about local welfare initiatives for children, while also getting the chance to promote her Be Best initiative. According to pool reports the first lady then enjoyed afternoon tea with her Ghanaian counterpart at the presidential palace in Accra.
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If there was a five-click dial available as a severity meter between the U.S. and China, something happened internally in Beijing, over the last 72 hours, because that dial just triggered movement from 3 to 4… Keep watching everything in the world of geopolitics with a mental 360° radar sweep looking for Chinese influence/interests.

Nuance and subtlety is everything in China. Culturally harsh tones are seen as a sign of weakness and considered intensely impolite in public displays between officials; especially within approved and released statements by officials representing the government.
Therefore, when we see China publicly use strong language – it indicates a level of internal disposition beyond the defined western angst. Big Panda becomes Red Dragon; there is no mid-status or evolutionary phase.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s state media on Monday lashed out at the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump in an usually direct attack, accusing him of “starring in his own carefully orchestrated street fighter-style deceitful drama”.
Trump’s wish for others to play along with his drama is “wishful thinking,” the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper said in an editorial.

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The Supreme Court has upheld President Trump travel restrictions and rejected the challenge to the Trump administration’s September 2017 travel ban. (full ruling pdf below). Response from the White House – Statement from the President Regarding Supreme Court Ruling:

Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution. The Supreme Court has upheld the clear authority of the President to defend the national security of the United States.
In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country. This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country.
As long as I am President, I will defend the sovereignty, safety, and security of the American People, and fight for an immigration system that serves the national interests of the United States and its citizens. Our country will always be safe, secure, and protected on my watch.  ~ President Donald Trump

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Big picture move by President Trump today that has massive, and generally misinterpreted, ramifications for any trade deal with China, EU and most importantly NAFTA.

China is using U.S. nuclear negotiations with North Korea as leverage for more beneficial trade outcomes; the communist regime is in full manipulative dragon-mode. President Trump can see through the economic play and is dropping the Panda outreach.  Eagle-one now hits back at Chairman Xi for deploying such dangerous tactics.

If you have been following trade nuance, the Automobile Sector is one of the biggest points of contention within varying trade negotiations. In the NAFTA discussion the auto-sector, via rules of origin, runs at the heart of NAFTA’s fatal flaw.

The fatal flaw is the use of Asian, mostly Chinese, auto components within auto manufacturing. Mexico and Canada arguing to allow more Chinese auto parts in North American manufacturing; and President Trump demanding more North American parts for North American auto manufacturing.

Many U.S. Auto manufacturers have moved to Mexico to exploit the NAFTA loophole (fatal flaw). Vehicles assembled in Mexico use cheaper Chinese parts and are shipped into the U.S. without any tariff under NAFTA rules.

It didn’t take long before EU auto-manufacturers, mostly German, to begin taking the same approach. Albeit to a lesser extent, German auto companies also invested in building vehicles in Mexico/Canada for tariff-free transfer into the U.S. This works out great for Canada and Mexico auto-workers, but not for the U.S.

In essence, the auto-sector is representative of much of the manufacturing exploitation by multinational corporations beyond vehicle production. China has supported this approach because they produce the components for multiple sectors (furniture, appliances etc).

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I was waiting to see where this story went, and to hear first-hand from the two people arrested and detained in British prison for daring to want to interview Tommy Robinson, before coming to a conclusion.  In essence two people were stopped, arrested and detained in U.K. prison for having incorrect thoughts as defined by the British government.

The story was such an Orwellian outline; my initial skepticism told me there had to be more to these second and third-hand accounts.  Alas, unfortunately the facts are as disturbing as initially outlined.

Austrian political activist Martin Sellner belongs to a group called Génération Identitaire, a national political group who advocate for national identity.  Mr. Sellner’s girlfriend is an American author and ‘YouTuber’ named Brittany Pettibone.  They were stopped from entering England by British authorities because they were going to interview a British nationalist called Tommy Robinson.

Being stopped from being allowed to interview Tommy Robinson, a person who has not committed any crime and is in all other aspects a free citizen, is bad enough;  however, what is exponentially worse is that U.K. authorities forcibly separated Mr. Sellner and Ms. Pettibone and imprisoned them – while admitting their incarceration was entirely because they were going to speak to someone.

Think about that.

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More Winning – A federal judge in Hawaii has rejected a motion filed by that state seeking to limit the scope of President Donald Trump’s so-called travel ban, parts of which were cleared to be implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Because Plaintiffs seek clarification of the June 26, 2017 injunction modifications authored by the Supreme Court, clarification should be sought there, not here.”

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said in a ruling Thursday in Honolulu that the Supreme Court is the proper venue to deal with the issue. (read more)

So much winning. The Supreme Court is letting a version of the Trump administration ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect, a victory for President Donald Trump. In the decision to lift the stay the court outlined temporary limits to the ban based on status.

The court said Monday the ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen could be enforced as long as they lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” The justices will hear arguments in the case in October. President Trump said last week the immigration and travel restrictions would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

#1: Agree to hear case:

[W]e grant both of the Government’s petitions for certiorari and consolidate the cases for argument.

#2: Agree to allow ban to continue:

We grant the Government’s applications to stay the injunctions, to the extent the injunctions prevent enforcement of §2(c) with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch said they would have let the complete bans take effect without any limits. (more…)

In a speech Friday at a Miami theater associated with Cuban exiles, Trump claimed his executive order would cancel the Obama administration’s “one-sided deal with Cuba.”

President Trump cancelled President Obama’s Cuba Policy and ordered tighter restrictions on traveling to Cuba and a clampdown on U.S. business dealings with the island’s military, saying “with God’s help a free Cuba is what we will soon achieve.”

As Trump laid out his new Cuba policy in a speech in Miami, the White House announced plans to roll back or eliminate much of former President Barack Obama’s 2014 deal between the U.S. and Cuba.  However, President Trump leaves the U.S. embassy in Havana.

“We will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer,” Trump told a cheering crowd in Miami’s Cuban-American enclave of Little Havana, including Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who helped forge the new restrictions on Cuba.

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Tonight at 6:00pm EST / 3:00pm PST three judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments from Washington State and the President Trump Department of Justice on a motion to stay the previous injunction halting the Trump administration’s temporary visa suspension (90-day travel ban) from seven identified nations.
The appeals court hearing is being held via phone conference and not in an actual courtroom.  However, the hearing will be live streamed at the website of the 9th circuit, and also it appears RSBN will be running a duplicate live stream feed.
9th Circuit Live Stream HERE – RSBN Live Stream HERE:

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The Department of Justice 15 page court brief outlining their position and the request for the appellate stay is available HERE, and is also embedded below for review:
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The White House says it expects the courts to restore President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on Syrian refugees and 90-day suspended visa status for travelers from seven countries, via an executive order founded on a claim of national security.
Despite the initial 9th circuit denial of the Trump administration’s request to immediately set aside a Seattle judge’s ruling that put a hold on the executive order nationwide, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (the most liberal and overturned appellate court in the nation) requested legal briefs from both sides by 6:00 pm EST today / 3:00 pm PST.

(Via AP) [4:30am EST]  Lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota have told a federal appellate court it would “unleash chaos again” if it lifted an order temporarily halting President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

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