U.N. Secretary Nikki Haley appears on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos to discuss the vast Russian planetary electoral conspiracy theorem.

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Andrew Breitbart truthfully stated: “politics are downstream from pop culture”.  However, what Andrew never fully digested was that “Pop Culture” is downstream from “Economics”.  Show me the opposition to President Trump and his policy objectives, and I’ll show you an entity with a vested financial interest in that opposition.   Domestic or foreign opposition, it matters not – the financial motives are the same.

Last week commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross delivered remarks at the 47th Annual Washington Conference of the Americas.  Within his remarks Wilburine explains the new U.S. administration’s strategy to increase overall commerce while reducing the trade deficit.

The Q&A begins around 19:00 and Secretary Ross explains what the Chinese “One-Belt One-Road” means to U.S. Trade.  If you are interested in economic policy and how it will effect your daily lives this is a great watch.  Remember, this is raw source material where you can make your own judgements about what is said/happening without the filter of the media telling you what is said/happening.

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When you understand what is outlined in honest explanations like this you can destroy the talking points of oppositional voices.  This is the intellectual armament that helps you to discuss with your friends and families and cut through the media nonsense.  The important battle-space is between our ears.

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Good grief.  NBC’s Chuck Toad spent two-thirds of his interview opportunity with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asking repeated questions about the preferred Democrat narrative known as the ‘Muh Russian conspiracy’.

However, Tillerson did have the opportunity to push back against Senator John McCain’s ridiculous attacks against Secretary T-Rex.   Anyone who watched the T-Rex talk to the State Department on May 3rd can fully understand the context of Tillerson’s outline of distinction between “U.S. policies” and “U.S. Values”.   If you haven’t watched or read the speech you should, SEE HERE.

Senator John McCain was furious that Secretary Tillerson would not accept the McCain/Powers “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine which mandates U.S. foreign policy as interventionist around the globe.  Senator McCain wrote an op-ed opposing Tillerson and demanding that U.S. policy must include creating more wars around the world.

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Here is Secretary Tillerson’s actual words in context, that Senator McCain finds so fundamentally abhorrent:

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To understand the China ‘One-Belt / ‘One-World’ economic trade forum it becomes necessary to understand how structurally weak the Chinese economy was created.

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People often talk about the ‘strength’ of China’s economic model; and indeed within a specific part of their economy -manufacturing- they do have economic strength.  However, the underlying critical architecture of the Chinese economic model is structurally flawed and President Trump with his current economic team understand the weakness better than all international adversaries.

Lets take a stroll and lightly discuss.

China is a central planning economy.  Meaning it never was an outcropping of natural economic conditions.  China was/is controlled as a communist style central-planning government; As such, it is important to reference the basic structural reality that China’s economy was created from the top down.

This construct of government creation is a key big picture distinction that sets the backdrop to understand how weak the economy really is.

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This post was written in 2012. I have made some additions, but left the bulk of the post intact. For clarity, since my changes involve people and time, the additions are in italics.

This has been a very special year in our family, this past year since Mother’s Day 2011. First, we had a beloved addition to our family in May 2011, Sarah Isabella. She arrived several months early, and many of you Treepers prayed for her and her mother after her birth. Then, in March of this year, the arrival of Sadie made me a grandmother for the first time. These two births, as well as some challenges other friends and family members have faced being mothers has made me think a great deal about motherhood, and the unique challenges it brings. A recent conversation with another mother whose children are now adults added more perspective. Last year, I did a post about the history of Mother’s Day. Most people think about their mother or grandmother, or perhaps a favorite aunt,  when the topic is Mother’s Day. We adults tend to think of our mature mothers, or perhaps even an elderly mom. Because two young mothers have been in my thoughts and prayers this year, as well as my heart, I thought about writing something to honor those young women, the mothers who struggle so hard with the demands only a young family faces. A recent conversation inspired me to take it a little further. So, I would like to write about the stages of motherhood, and perhaps, for the sake of coherence and the story, I will make assumptions about families that may not match everyone’s experience. That does not mean I value your experience less.

With the first baby comes overwhelming love, awe, fear, joy, and the gushing happiness specific to motherhood. You have had 9 long months to prepare for this precious little miracle God is entrusting to you, and yet you are not ready, you can never really be prepared. How can you be prepared for that first embrace, the soft, sweet skin, the way your heart just stops at the first cry? How can you anticipate  the perfection of the unfocused stare of your baby? The completion of your family, the way your love for your husband, and his for you, is multiplied and increased, the way that three people have become a little universe of love? How can you possibly imagine the utter weariness of night upon night without sleep? The fear at the first cough or hiccup? The inner warrior woman you never knew existed who is ready to leap into action at any threat to that child? The hopes, the dreams, the plans you and your husband share as you hold that little part of you? (more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Tonight Fox broadcast an extensive and much discussed interview with President Trump and Judge Jeanine Pirro.  The interview was conducted/recorded in the cabinet room of the White House between 12:00pm and 2:00pm on Friday May 12th.

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This is more than a little bit disconcerting.  This past week former President Barack Obama was in Milan Italy; paid €3,000,000 ($2.5+ million) to deliver remarks to an international summit on food innovation called “Seeds and Chips”.

During the Q&A segment of Mr. Obama’s performance he was discussing challenges to the global community and governmental policy amid the larger food production discussion. Part of the discussion involved the issue of technological innovation displacing the need for human labor within farming and the agricultural industry.

While directing the discussion of workforce displacement, Mr. Obama took the opportunity to expand the conversation into more general terms.   What Obama said about labor distribution amid new and emerging economies is stunning. Perhaps even more stunning is the reaction from the European audience.  (video prompted 44:36)

https://youtu.be/DzQIfzB4qS4?t=44m36s

(44:36 of video) […] This is a much bigger concern in the economy as a whole.  And my guess is that ultimately what is going to happen is that everybody is going to have to work less and we’re going to have to spread work more.

But that is going to require a reorganization of the social compact.  That requires we change our mindset about the link between work, income and value of people in the teaching profession, or in healthcare, or in certain things that cannot be done by AI or a robot.

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Two great interviews with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, aka “Wilburine”. Secretary Ross is easily the most comprehensively well-versed trade policy commerce secretary in modern history, perhaps ever.

Wilburine is discussing the recent U.S./China trade breakthrough. –BACKSTORY HERE– Additionally, at 08:30 of the interview Ross discusses NAFTA against the backdrop of the Senate not yet accepting his “letter of intent” to renegotiate the agreement.  Secretary Ross discusses how Robert Lighthizer’s confirmation should help speed up the senate process.

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In substantive terms the bigger aspect to remember is how much more leverage there is in bilateral trade negotiations than multilateral agreements.

The Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) would have held the U.S. hostage to agreements that in many cases were against our interests and to the benefit of the larger group of TPP nations. Former Secretary of State John Kerry stated openly: while China was not part of the original TPP framework, the participating nations held open a back door for China to enjoin.

Because President Trump pulled away from TPP, the U.S. is able to negotiate terms for trade with our market that may have specific and purposeful benefit exclusive to the United States. This is critical as we review current negotiated bilateral deal with China.

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