Following the defeat of Hillary Clinton democrat operative David Axelrod was the first to say the democrat party needed to create an opposition group as effective as the Tea Party. Within days Paul Begala, David Brock and Bernie Sanders were drum-beating a similar talking point.
Within the various regional meetings to select a DNC Chairperson an identical discussion has been repeated.
The larger progressive movement is trying to create a 2017 political oppositional force similar in scope and effectiveness as the 2009/2010 Tea Party movement.
That political goal has driven the constructed caterwauling and protestations for the past week.  However, there is one key difference which dooms any such effort: (more…)

…”There are trillions of dollars at stake”…

In addition to the content, pay close attention to the timing of policy delivery and the sequencing within the policy delivery.   With the outline of the visa suspension as lead-in toward a security policy, President Trump is also now entering economic policy phase 2.
It is all connected.
Within the larger economic construct of “America First”, the underlying supportive policy is easily seen as “Buy American, and Hire American”.  For the Phase One  “Buy American”, President Trump rolled out an aggressive push to leverage corporations and manufacturers to reinvest in U.S. manufacturing and U.S. production facilities.
While President Trump continues to push the economic benefits of domestic production, distribution and manufacturing. Phase Two is directed at the “Hire American” half of this equation. However, President Trump’s expressed security policy on immigration and refugee status suspensions overlaps on the employment aspect within “Hire American”.
Now President Trump fights the “BIG CLUB”:

Watch closely and you’ll note how many significant corporations come out in opposition to the Visa restrictions.  Their opposition is not about security; their opposition is, in no small part, because their strategic business models necessarily include the import of foreign workers.
The corporations who will be most vocal against the security visa executive action, will be those business interests who rely upon non-U.S. workers.  The America electorate is about to discover just how many foreign workers are inside the U.S. economic system. (more…)

President Trump Chief of Staff Reince Preibus engages discussions with guards at the entrance to the DC swamp.
Important yet subtle note:  Further evidence of this entire controversy being a trap by Trump is brutally evident within much of the one-on-one discussions.  Notice how the media are not as aggressive on the XO details… in this rare instance they are beginning to lean back from their skis.  It’s subtle, but it’s there.
NBC Chuck Todd is the first jibber weasel:

(more…)

If people had doubts about the Mexican government being influenced and controlled by drug cartels, well, they can put that doubt away.
In a stunning segment on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN broadcast today Mexico’s former foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, states the Mexican government is willing to counter U.S. President Donald Trump policy by unleashing drug cartels upon the U.S. border.
Watch, and more importantly LISTEN, to his words at 02:10 below:

This is the most politically explosive admission by the Mexican government in the past decade.  Even Fareed Zakaria realized what was being threatened and quickly attempted to redirect the conversation.
Castaneda is openly admitting a willingness to promote drug trafficking.  Additionally, Jorge Castaneda is so proud of the threat, he even posted a video of the discussion on his own YouTube page.
However, don’t expect the video to remain in place too long, because the implications here are so politically explosive, and the admission so brutally obvious and threatening, it could undermine the entire argument of the Mexican government and expose an open secret of collusion they would prefer to remain hidden.
(more…)

Today is really quite humorous.  MSM broadcasts are full of segments of falsity, fake news, and gobsmacking hypocrisy.  Temp Visa restrictions and Temp Refugee ban are two entirely separate issues.  Additionally:
♦ President Obama puts six month ban on Iraqi refugees in 2011 and media…. crickets.
♦ President Trump puts 120 day suspension on Syrian refugees 2017… media explodes.
♦ Obama selects 7 countries for enhanced visa security policy and media… crickets.
♦ Trump uses Obama law, same Obama DHS policy, and same 7 countries; for a 90-day visa suspension and media explodes.

For some reason it just doesn’t appear accidental. This parallel policy of Trump, which is almost identical to Obama policy, is too well constructed to be coincidence. This looks like a strategy and the MSM, along with all Trump opposition, are falling into a trap.
Here’s the DHS response:

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce all of President Trump’s Executive Orders in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people. President Trump’s Executive Orders remain in place—prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety. President Trump’s Executive Order affects a minor portion of international travelers, and is a first step towards reestablishing control over America’s borders and national security.

(more…)

Why would the text of President Trump’s Executive Order suspending travel visas be readily available on CNN (HERE), New York Times (HERE), Wall Street Journal (HERE),  but not on White House page (HERE)?
I don’t think it’s accidental.  The limiting Visa program was President Obama’s action, not President Trump.

If you review the actual text of the executive order (copied below in full) what you will immediately notice is the order doesn’t specify ANY countries to be included in the Visa suspension (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).
President Trump is not suspending visas from countries his team selected, they are simply suspending visa approval from countries President Obama selected.  Additionally, Trump is suspending ALL visa applications from those countries – nothing to do with Muslim applications.
• In 2013 President Obama suspended refugees from Iraq for six months.  • In 2015 Congress passed, and Obama signed, a law restricting visas from states of concern; • and in 2016 Obama’s DHS, Jeh Johnson, expanded those restrictions.  …. all President Trump is doing is taking the same action as Obama 2013, and applying Visa restrictions to the nation states Obama selected in 2015 and 2016.
From the Executive order:
(more…)

President Donald Trump initiates three more campaign promises today via executive action:

♦  A five year ban on lobbying for all White House officials. An order banning administration officials from ever lobbying the U.S. on behalf of a foreign government and imposing a separate five-year ban on other lobbying.

♦  An order to begin restructuring the White House National Security Council. Aides said the changes would help the council better adapt to cyber, digital, terrorist and other modern-day threats.

♦  A request for the Department of Defense, via the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to deliver a preliminary strategy to defeat ISIS within 30 days to the President.

.
(more…)

In yesterday’s executive action (full script not yet released) President Trump suspended the visa travel program with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days in order to assess the screening process for immigrants, and visitors.
Additionally, as reported by Reuters, President Trump put a four-month hold on the State Department refugee program, while the vetting process is reviewed and security practices put into place to enhance the screening process.


The reaction from the left-wing open-border globalists was entirely predictable.  However, even though their response was predictable, it is still incredible to see the complete lack of cogent understanding within their arguments.   This quote from CAIR is a case study in abject moonbattery:

(Reuters) […]  The order seeks to prioritize refugees fleeing religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping Christians in Syria. That led some legal experts to question whether the order was constitutional.
One group said it would announce a court challenge on Monday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] said the order targets Muslims because of their faith, contravening the U.S. Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

(more…)

Kevin Appleby is a well known pro-refugee advocate from The Center for Migration Studies; essentially an advocate and lobbying group for the business end of refugee resettlement.
Most CTH readers are familiar with Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) and/or Catholic Charities, both groups gain hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds for their various refugee programs. “Hundreds of millions”. This is big business.
Tucker challenges Appleby on his expressed narrative, and by doing the well designed questioning approach – well, Appleby’s argument just collapsed. Watch:

.
This (also see below for data), is one of those areas where Rex Tillerson can have a massive common sense impact as *Secretary of State.

*NOTE* CTH is prudently deferring any additional research and discussion threads on the U.S. Department of State until after the Tillerson confirmation vote.

(more…)

A juxtaposition:

(more…)