NAFTA Round #4 negotiations have been ongoing and resulting in little progress on the serious issues surrounding the three nation trade pact.
Word from behind the scenes, and off-the-record, finds several insiders with the opinion that the decision by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbying group to conflict with President Trump and the U.S. trade team has backfired.
U.S. CoC President Tom Donohue made the decision to align in common cause with Canada and Mexico, against the interests of the U.S., and go public with his attacks against the U.S. negotiating team, the administration and President Trump personally.
Following the confrontational approach by the largest DC lobbying group, the U.S. team asked Canada to take their protectionist trade restrictions off the Dairy and Poultry sectors.  Canada was adamant they will never leave their agriculture unprotected, and rejected any consideration of open trade discussion toward those sectors.
The U.S. is standing firm on three elements that Mexico and Canada are dead-set against:
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The federal bribery and corruption trial of Democrat Senator Bob Menendez will continue after a federal judge refused to support a defense motion for acquittal.
WASHINGTON – A federal judge ruled Monday that the case against Sen. Bob Menendez would move ahead after defense attorneys made the case for acquittal, reports NJ Advance Media.

Defense attorneys argued that the charges went against a recent Supreme Court decision that limited the scope of bribery charges in a federal court. They said the actions Mr. Menendez, New Jersey Democrat, and Mr. Melgen are accused of doing were not included in the scope as defined by the Court and should not be allowed in this case, according to the report.

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Against growing immigration policy backlash, early results in the Austria election show the center-right People’s Party (OVP), led by Sebastian Kurz, winning with around 31 percent of the vote.  The second place party, Freedom Party (FPO), with around 27% is even more euro-skeptic and nationalistic minded.  The Social Democrat Party, the former lead party, has dropped to third place with around 26%.

(Via Express UK) The People’s Party (OVP) got 30.2 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls from Austrian news channel ORF.
Mr Kurz’s party is tough on migration, easy on taxes and widely Eurosceptic after rebranding itself over the last few months to propel its popularity in the wealthy Alpine nation.
He is expected to form a coalition with the right-wing populist Freedom party (FPO), who got 26.8 per cent of the vote, according to the latest projections.
Speaking after 85 per cent of the votes were counted, he told his cheering supporters: “Today we have won a huge mandate to change this country, and I promise you I will work with all my energy for change.

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This is a great interview from the perspective of seeing first hand how the disconnect between historic economic theory (Kudlow) runs into the reality of a person (Ross) who completely understands how Trade and Finance are enmeshed in a completely new economic paradigm. [The Myth of Modern Free Markets]
If you have read “The New Economic Dimension” you’ll note that Kudlow represents the economist sitting in the Atlantic, only able to see the Wall Street economy; while Wilbur Ross has a satellite perspective on both the Main Street and Wall Street economic engines.
Kudlow’s financial perspective runs into Ross’s reality about two-thirds of the way through the interview when Secretary Ross asks the question: “I bet you can’t give me an example of an economically sound investment that hasn’t found capital”.  It’s just a splendid thing to watch.

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Despite his financial-centric economic focus Kudlow is a good MAGA ally.  However, Wilbur Ross understands every single pixel of the larger economic picture, and how trade interacts with the larger U.S. economy within the Main Street -vs- Wall Street dynamic.
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An overly emotional Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, together with FBI special agent Aaron Rouse, held a press conference today delivering further information on the 1October Mandalay Bay Massacre. (Video Below)  New details on the timeline and sequence of events were shared but no questions were taken.
According to the latest information the “Check-In” date for shooter Stephen Paddock was confirmed as September 25th. A subsequent change in the hotel room registry on Sept 28th placed the registration of the room in the name of Paddocks girlfriend, Marilou Danley.  The suite was occupied by Paddock from 9/25 throughout, with only the registration name changing on 9/28 to Danley.

Additionally, during a very defensive explanation, Sheriff Lombardo attempted to provide further clarification on the timeline and sequence of events.
Lombardo states that security guard Jesus “Jose'” Campos responded to the report of a blocked stairwell door at 9:59pm.  After not being able to open the emergency door at 9:59pm (from the stairwell side) Campos then walked around to the front of the exit door on the 32nd floor and arrived at 10:05pm, that’s when he encountered nearby the Paddock suite door slightly ajar and Paddock began shooting at Campos.
This establishes the beginning time for the first shots at 10:05pm and reconciles Mandalay Bay reporting with LVMPD reporting.  After responding to radio and cell phone calls from Campos, additional security and police arrived 12 minutes later at 10:17pm.  When police and armed hotel security arrived on the 32nd floor, responding to the calls from Campos, there was silence.  Sheriff Lombardo then stating all shooting of the crowd took place between 10:05pm and 10:15pm.
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CTH has noted on several occasions that many of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipal authorities control their regions in a similar fashion to mafioso families.  There is a tremendous amount of corruption within the ranks of “Mayors” on the island.  The entire system of governance is more accurately similar to third-world overlords.
This report on FEMA aid being corrupted by these same officials does not come as a surprise; indeed, unfortunately, it is the norm – not the exception.

(Puerto Rico) FBI agents in Puerto Rico have been receiving calls from “across the island” with residents complaining local officials are “withholding” or “mishandling” critical FEMA supplies — with one island official even accused of stuffing his own car full of goods meant for the suffering populace.
The accusations come in the aftermath of deadly Hurricane Maria, which devastated the U.S. territory last month.
“The complaints we’re hearing is that mayors of local municipalities, or people associated with their offices, are giving their political supporters special treatment, goods they’re not giving to other people who need them,” FBI Special Agent Carlos Osorio told Fox News.
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There is a myriad of complexity within the Iran issue that extends beyond the substantive issue of whether or not President Trump should again certify compliance with the Iran Nuclear Deal.
For clarity, President Trump would not be ending the deal or ending the agreement.  The President is required (every 90 days) to certify if Iran is upholding the terms of the nuclear agreement.  The next certification is due on October 15th.  If President Trump does not, because he cannot, certify compliance – he notifies congress.  It’s up to congress to decide what to do from there.
Therefore President Trump would not be “tearing up” the agreement, nor would he be “ending the agreement”, he would simply be notifying congress of the compliance of Iran, or lack thereof, according to the monitoring agencies that report to the President.  That’s it.  Now to Senator Tom Cotton.  Watch:

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Senator Cotton can be an ally for MAGA (see immigration), or he can be a concern for MAGA (see aggressive military intervention), depending on the issue.  It is also important to understand how lobbying efforts impact policy positions as they relate to military intervention.  There are interests in DC pushing us toward military conflict with Iran.
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Here we go… buckle up, and grab the popcorn.  This is the part where the “trillions at stake” comes into play…

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is now engaged in a direct fight with U.S. President Donald Trump. As would be expected, and as we specifically predicted, Tom Donohue is now specifically aligning himself with Canada and Mexico against the interests of the United States economy.

Tom Donohue gives hundreds of millions to Mitch McConnell and the crony UniParty capitalist ilk that infect Washington DC. Donohue owns the vast majority of U.S. politicians. This battle is the epicenter of lobbying usurpation, and how multinational corporations own U.S. politicians. This battle will be epic.

MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The most powerful U.S. business lobby accused the Trump administration on Tuesday of making “poison pill proposals” to sabotage talks aimed at modernizing NAFTA, as negotiators began gathering in Washington for fresh trade talks.
[…] Speaking in Mexico City, Thomas Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s president and chief executive, listed several U.S. proposals that he said would undermine $1 trillion in annual trilateral trade, including a “sunset clause” to force regular negotiations.

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Ahead of a working lunch with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, President Trump holds a consultation meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Mr. Kissinger has been an arms-length foreign policy adviser since the campaign.
Undoubtedly the requested Kissinger insight would be regarding China, and more specifically regarding Beijing, and the old communist guard’s outlook toward the ongoing communist congress currently taking place in the deepest bamboo forest.
President Trump took the media opportunity to discuss a myriad of ongoing issues including the collapsing ObamaCare issues and the ongoing tax proposals.

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The meeting with Kissinger follows a familiar pattern for those who have watched the nuance of President Trump and how he advances his own ideological philosophy by listening to historic advocates with insight into what Trump considers “prior failed policy”.
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Well, well, well… the entire previous weeks claims about the timeline and structure of Stephen Paddock and how he carried out the Mandalay Bay Massacre just changed a full 180 degrees today when Sheriff Joseph Lombardo dropped a statement that Paddock did not begin shooting until his advanced preparation was interrupted by Mandalay Bay security officer Jesus “Jose'” Campos.
According to the latest stunning revelation by Sheriff Lombardo, security guard Campos was responding to a door alarm notification, presumably from a fire exit door being opened by suspect Paddock on the 32nd floor.  Upon reaching the floor, Campos noticed the hotel room suite door was ajar, and heard the sound of drilling (he didn’t knock).

Paddock was drilling a hole in a door (“adjacent room”) when Campos walked in at 9:59pm.  That’s when Paddock opened fire on Campos wounding him in the leg.  Immediately thereafter is when Stephen Paddock broke out the windows and opened fire on the crowd below.
This latest revelation is explosive because it shows Paddock was interrupted in the act of preparing for the attack, and not during the commission of the attack itself.
This explains a great deal about the event and why so many advanced preparations appeared not to have been utilized.  Unused ammunition, body armor, weapons etc.
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