There’s a big con job just over the horizon.  All of the elements are there.  The timing, the platform, the personalities, the discussion topics, etc., it’s a familiar script.  CTH would like to direct attention to this interview which took place last night on Laura Ingraham’s new Fox News show.  Listen carefully to three elements:
♦On Tax Reform – on one side of Rubio’s ‘full-throated‘ mouth he wants higher taxes on corporations 22% -vs- 20%. In the almost the same breath, inside the same argument, he says “it’s not their (the government’s) money”.   Try to reconcile that.
♦On DACA – [Remember, three months ago President Trump gave congress six months to fix DACA]  Rubio says the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program is not the “Dreamers”.  What? Yes it is. The childhood arrivals ARE the so-called ‘dreamers’.
♦However, much more importantly, listen to what is said on “chain migration“.  Ingraham asks if Rubio supports “chain migration”.   Rubio says no, then immediately says: “I’ve always agreed to limiting chain migration to immediate family members”. WHAT? That is chain migration.

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Alabama campaign officials who support Roy Moore held a press conference yesterday to outline the reason for their continued support.  Additionally, several officials confronted and deconstructed the accusations.
The audio is a little sketchy in the beginning:

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There are many people taking notice of modern politics for the first time in their lives. There is also some confusion noticed between two groups who talk above and around each other. Two groups communicating from two entirely different sets of understanding.  Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.
There is not a single congress person who writes legislation or laws.
In 2017 not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.
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CTH has attempted to stay away from talking about the Alabama ‘clown show‘, all of it, since we made our position clear long before the primary run-off race.  Play stupid games, win stupid prizes etc.
My concern with the Alabama mess was a very simple MAGA issue: riding horses to polling stations does not establish a connection to the man or woman who hit the necessary alarm clock at 5:15am to pay the bills.  Those are MAGA people. That’s the essence of the Trump coalition.
The MAGA coalition I know has never been predisposed to racism, sexism, nativism, or any other kind of “ism” or “ist”, because we’ve never been not busy. It takes time to give a rats-ass about bathroom police, social justice etc. Time and energy for that, who has it?

The current position of the epic fiasco was/is entirely predictable…. warnings, deaf ears, blah-blah-blah; water under the bridge.  That said, the current race to the exits by all of the fly-by-nights (populist wallflowers) is embarrassing to see play out.
Factually, I feel sorry for Mr. and Mrs. Roy Moore… However, I don’t have a smidgen of sympathy for the noob-right financial opportunists: Steve Bannon, Laura Ingraham, Sebastian Gorka et al, or the political Roberts-The-Bruce: Ted Cruz, Mike Lee etc. Heck, I’m still waiting for the ‘Use El Chappo Money to Build The Wall‘ bill…  I digress.
So why engage now?  Well, today Rush Limbaugh weighs in in using the customary (passive aggressive/mamet principle) approach to frame the argument as: “The Roy Moore Soap Opera is Really About McConnell -vs- Bannon”.   No, no it’s not.
I understand the frame of reference, why Limbaugh views it that way, but that’s not an accurate assessment.
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When Senator Blunt rises from the darkest and deepest part of the swamp to talk about senate Tax legislation (always written by the biggest K-St donors) you know the sausage is rotten.  Decepticon Blunt is only visible when the little people are conscripted to wash the cigar residue from the Senate’s Corinthian leather.
Senators: Blunt, Cornyn, McConnell, Hatch, Portman, Thune, McCain, Cochran, Murkowski, Graham and Corker will NEVER allow the income tax position of common-folk to supersede their corporate porkulous-minded financial interests.
CTH needed to be patient to see the architecture, and see if they retained their traditional approach at swamp constructs,… Now it’s visible, I can guarantee you this bill is destined to fail.  Maria Bartiromo knows it… she knows, and she’s playing the game; but you can see it behind her eyes… she knows.

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Accepting that Donald Trump has exceptionally keen instincts, he had to know -in advance- where this was headed. The only purpose this bill serves is ammunition within the ‘big ugly’ to showcase, yet again, the corruption and ineptitude of the GOPe wing of the UniParty and how they are mere salespeople for their financiers on Wall Street/K-Street.
Forget tax reform; like the budget and O-care, it’s a moot point to discuss now.
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If you haven’t followed the entirety of how the “Freedom Alliance” was assembled in the very early months shortly after the election of President Donald Trump, it’s hard to understand the scope of what is taking place in the middle-east.
The nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), led by Saudi Arabia, are on the cusp of transforming themselves into a modern and engaged era. The goals of the GCC allies, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) are to remove the influence agents who have supported extremism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and stimulated and/or enabled crisis for personal and ideological gains.
Because of the financial reach within the parties involved, the downstream consequences are being felt within the political bodies of most nations including our own. Specifically within Washington DC’s deep-state institutions, career politicians on foreign affairs committees, and within the upper and lower tiers of the aggregate U.S. State Dept.  A great realignment is taking place.

Caption: There will come a time when you will need to choose a side. Think wisely…

French President Emmanuel Macron said today he will make an unexpected trip to Saudi Arabia after leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discuss crises in Lebanon, Yemen and the wider region.  This happens simultaneous to the UAE announcing they too are examining bank accounts for their own officials, officers and leaders within their nation.

DUBAI (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is making a previously unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, notably over Lebanon and Yemen.

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Disturbing follow-up to this story; and, well, this doesn’t speak too highly of Capitol Hill Security:

WASHINGTON – […] The U.S. Capitol Police Board is conducting an internal investigation into how someone without a press credential – and on a watch list – was able to slip into the secure area and get so close to the president.  This was a monumental f—up,” a senior congressional security source told Fox News.

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Well this is sketchy.  A disturbed individual named Ryan Clayton came within inches of the President of the U.S. and Majority Leader of the Senate today while, inside the Capitol Building and embedded with the press pool.
How this unbalanced person was capable of hiding within a credentialed and security processed press pool is a little unnerving.   He’s within a few feet of the president when he launches his confrontation:

Did members of the press pool facilitate the attack? It would seem likely.
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If you thought paying for four simultaneous committee investigations into the vast 2016 ‘muh Russia’ conspiracy was enough effort for your money; well hold on… they’re not done…
Not only did DC throw in a special counsel investigation, just because your worth it; but they’re not done yet…  For a limited time, if you act fast, you too can own another brand new set of joint committee investigations tailored only for this special Flak and Countermeasures offer. Act know, because this offering will surely last forever.
That’s right, House Republicans have opened a joint investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the lawmakers announced Tuesday. Brilliant. Congress, via the House, will now be investigating the investigators; and if we’re lucky, and if Bob Corker can double the value prior to departure, the Senate will soon follow and investigate the investigation of the investigators.

How lucky are we? Six, that’s right, SIX launched congressional investigations, with the possibility of two more coming soon. Allow yourself to relax and forget you don’t have healthcare coverage; forget “Repeal and Replace”. Enjoy the freedom from focusing on those pesky “budgety things”; sip slowly… ah yes, the joyful life of willful ambivalence where worries of tax reform simply melt away into the obsequity of the swamp.
The just announced probes will be conducted by two congressional panels responsible for overseeing the Justice Department and government operations in general. The investigators will review then-FBI Director James Comey’s various decisions pertaining to the Clinton investigation, such as his unusual announcement that she should not face indictment. But they will also review whether the Justice Department erred in its handling of investigations pertinent to President Trump’s campaign.
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Earlier today President Trump met with members of the Senate Finance Committee to discuss the latest tax reform proposal.  (transcript below)

[Transcript] – 11:34 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I’m honored to welcome Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee to the White House. And especially, I’d like to thank Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch — thank you, Orrin — and Ranking Member Ron Wyden for joining us today. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ron.
We’re here to discuss our plan to deliver historic tax cuts for American families, businesses, workers. It will be the largest tax cut in the history of our country.
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