President Trump has paused the 50% tariffs set to go into effect against Canada at midnight.

According to media reports, after the Canadian trade delegation failed to come to a negotiated settlement on key USMCA terms, Prime Minister Mark Carney called President Trump earlier today to discuss the tariffs that were scheduled to begin tomorrow.

President Trump has announced a pause via Truth Social:

[SOURCE]

I’m curious to see how this works out.  Apparently, there’s something about the Keystone XL Pipeline in a deal.

UPDATE:

Congratulations Mr. President. The deal will include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions that will continue to protect our market and American workers, along with our Canadian… https://t.co/YSQ4rNmKAv

— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) August 19, 2026

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Florida, Wyoming and Alaska all hold primary elections today with most of the interest focused on a few races in each state.

For the Florida Republican primary for Governor, candidate Byron Donalds easily wins the GOP contest.  Donalds will now face Democrat David Jolly in the general election.

[SOURCE] 

Alexander S. Vindman, the legend in his own mind and retired Army lieutenant colonel who operated as a false witness to help the CIA manufacture President Trump’s first impeachment trial, lost to DSA Communist State Representative Angie Nixon for Florida’s Democratic nomination for Senate.  Nixon will now face Republican Ashley Moody in the general election.

WYOMING – In Wyoming, Representative Harriet M. Hageman, also running with President Trump’s endorsement, is likely to win the Republican Senate primary to replace Cynthia Lummis, who is retiring.

ALASKA – In the state that likes to play games with their elections, Alaska Senator Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican, faces former Democrat Representative Mary Peltola in one of the most closely watched Senate races of the midterms. A crowd of candidates including another inserted candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, are trying to split the votes with name games.  The top four vote-winners will advance in this hot mess of a system.

Election Results Here and HERE

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Many people are interested in the John Solomon release of FBI information regarding former congressman Eric Swalwell and his relationship with a known Chinese operative named Fang Fang, aka Christine Fang. [SOLOMON LINK]

Personally, I’m not that interested in rehashing the Swallwell-Fang Fang storyline. However, there is a lot of mistaken information regarding the story.  So, here’s the full background context that will hopefully make sense of the FBI conduct as it relates to the Chinese compromise.

[Fang Fang, aka “Rusty Thumbs”]

[Rusty Thumbs was chosen by the FBI as the codename because the rumor was that Swallwell liked a sexual position known as the “rusty trombone.” Fang would stimulate Swalwell thusly. I know, TMI.]

♦ The FBI has two basic missions.  The #1 primary mission is to protect the interests of Washington DC officials from the outcome of their own conduct.  The #2 secondary mission is to protect the American people from known wolves.

♦ The Dept of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) monitors foreign influence in Washington DC. The DOJ-NSD use the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as the primary legal tool to monitor the political influence.  Former Attorney General Eric Holder, on behalf of President Obama, took this monitoring to new political levels of weaponization.

These two facets come together in the story of California members of congress who are long known to have been the primary conduit of Chinese money into DNC operations at a federal and individual campaign level.  The FBI have known about this for a long time, a very long time.

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Dr. David Morens, 78, served as a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) from 2006 through 2022.  Morens sits at the epicenter of the NIAID coverup to hide the origins of COVID-19.

[Source Legal Documents] – [Plea Agreement] – [Stipulation of Facts]

Today, Fauci’s Senior Advisor Dr. David Morens plead guilty to “Conspiracy to Commit Offenses and to Defraud the United States” in connection with his conspiring with Peter Danzak, President of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr Gerald Keusch, associate director at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Institute and a recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), together with others to defraud the public about NIH-funded gain-of-function research and the origin of COVID.

[SOURCE]

Morens and others plotted to conceal/destroy federal records re: COVID-19 and federal grants to avoid FOIA and the Federal Record Act.  Morens admits to using his gmail account to intentionally defraud the U.S. government and conceal communication and records about his activities.  In addition, Morens admits to receiving “gifts” of material value in exchange for his efforts on behalf of the co-conspirators.

The conspiracy involved a “kickback” scheme in which Morens accepted and was promised gifts – including bottles of wine and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants – in exchange for performing “official acts that were favorable” to his co-conspirators.

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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.

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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 †

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There is enough plausible deniability built into the framework of what is anticipated to be a MAGA rally by President Trump in South Carolina in support of Republican Senate candidate Darline Graham, the sister of Lindsey Graham.

The first indication surfaced in a cancellation announcement by the South Carolina state GOP which canceled its Senate Stump Stop in Anderson County, SC, in anticipation of Trump traveling to Myrtle Beach “on behalf of one of the runoff candidates.”

However, after the Washington Examiner published their article on Trump’s travel plan, the White House did not return a comment. [SOURCE] This may indicate the people around President Trump are noticing a looming likelihood that Darline Graham will not win the contest.  It would be an embarrassing defeat for President Trump to lose the contest after putting his endorsement behind Darline Graham-Nordone.

The oppositional media are paying close attention to the opportunity to undermine President Trump and now framing the contest as Nikki Haley vs Donald Trump because Ralph Norman previously supported Nikki Haley.

Ralph Norman and Darline Graham-Nordone are scheduled to debate tomorrow, August 18th on Newsmax.  The Trump rally with Mrs Graham-Nordone was presumably scheduled for Friday, August 21.  If Trump retreats from the rally, it means internal polling supports a Norman victory.

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The topic of Flock Cameras or ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader) cameras has become of increased interest to a variety of people and groups concerned about privacy.   The issue is increasingly controversial.

There are reports of false identification, wrongful stops, violations of civil liberties and abuse from police and government officials as they use the Flock camera resource network to trace and locate the travel of persons of interest.  To continue putting scale to the transparency effort a crowdsourcing platform has been created where you can search for the Flock cameras near you.

[Interactive Website Here]

“DeFlock is an open-source, volunteer-powered project for identifying and documenting automated license plate readers. The map is powered by OpenStreetMap. Camera locations come from volunteers and the OpenStreetMap community, not a private company or government agency.” ~ Maps.Deflock.Org

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Earlier today President Trump hosted 16-year-old hero lifeguard Ryder Williams at the White House.  Honoring both young Mr Williams and the 10-year-old young man he saved, Nathaniel Rai.

“What you did was incredible and everybody saw it,” Trump said during the meeting as he chatted with Williams and other lifeguards from the teen’s post. Trump added that Williams is someone young Americans can look up to for how he handled the rescue.

Williams saved 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai from the pounding surf in a dramatic rescue that was captured on video, showing Williams’ heroic effort as he kept the young boy above water. The video went viral shortly after the rescue and caught the attention of Eric Trump and eventually the president himself.  WATCH:

Media questions begin at 10:41 of the video.

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35-year-old Ukraine Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov was removed from his position about a month ago.  Despite being heralded as the reason for Ukraine’s successful defense and strikes against Russia, there was internal friction about control of the war spending (ie ‘procurement). The old guard military leaders were unwilling to give up their ability to enrich themselves and their families, Fedorov was removed by President Zelenskyy.

In this CBS interview with Fedorov the young outsider, who is still connected to the war effort and holds strong relationships with both Palantir (Alex Karp) and SpaceX (Elon Musk), outlines the current status of the conflict and gives his predictions on what comes next.

Fedorov states that Ukraine ballistic missiles should be online within three to six months.  He also predicts the ground conflict will be fully autonomous within a year, with robots and drones engaged in most of the combat operations.  As a consequence, Eastern Ukraine is now the real time proving ground for an entirely new type of technological warfare.

The interview is interesting both from a narrative perspective, the Hollywood-lite construct which includes elements of the former ‘find Kony’ performances, the youthful drama – David vs Goliath, the handsome characters etc., and from a perspective of Fedorov’s contemplative responses.  WATCH:

When Fedorov speaks of “destroying 200 Russians” (6:28 of video), he is speaking about destroying the 200 Wildberries warehouses the Ukraine government is convinced will result in the collapse the Russian economy.

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