President Donald Trump will Participate in a Signing Ceremony for H.R. 2, the “Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.  Anticipated start time 3:30pm EST:
President Trump leads the signing ceremony for the ‘Agriculture Improvement Act’ aimed at supporting farmers through threats of a trade war and increasingly frequent natural disasters. Additionally, President Trump is expected to make remarks on the ongoing showdown over government funding and border security kicked off by Trump and Democratic leadership in congress.
UPDATE: Video Added

A few days ago many critics were concerned over an announced pledge of U.S. State Department funding ($4.8 billion) for security and economic development in Mexico. However, CTH noted the approach was likely not what it seemed.
Those who followed the USMCA construct closely noted that U.S. President Trump (through Jared Kushner) and Mexican President Lopez-Obrador (through Jesus Seade) were doing something much bigger than a trade agreement; they were structuring an entirely new U.S-Mexico economic alliance.
With increased investment in central America by the Chinese government; and with Venezuela in a state of vulnerability to becoming a proxy therein; and with Brazil taking a more nationalistic approach; a completely new partnership which focused heavily on domestic security and economics was taking shape between the U.S. and Mexico. Throughout 2017 and 2018 the U.S. media was oblivious to it.
Then, two days ago, the U.S. State Department made public the principles of an economic alliance between the United States and Mexico. [See Here] The outline should be familiar: Economic Security is National Security.
Today Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen told lawmakers that migrants heading to the southwest border to seek asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico until their claims are processed, under an agreement between the two countries:

Sticking to his prior statements about omnibus spending, President Donald Trump called republican leaders to the White House and informed them he will NOT sign a short-term resolution that does not provide funding for border security.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy hold a quick presser following their visit with President Trump:

CTH has some new readers, so against the backdrop of the UniParty in Washington DC jumping into action to criticize President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria; perhaps a little factual historic refresher is in order….

On September 30th 2016 the New York Times quietly released a leaked audio recording of Secretary John Kerry meeting with multiple factions associated within Syria.
The 40-minute discussion took place on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22nd 2016:

[…] Kerry’s off-record conversation was apparently with two dozen ‘Syrian civilians’, all from US backed opposition-linked NGO’s in education and medical groups supposedly working in ‘rebel-held’ (aka terrorist-held) areas in Syria.
This opposition conclave also included ‘rescue workers’ which can only be ambassadors from the White Helmets, a pseudo NGO which serves as Washington and London’s primary PR front in pursuit of a “No Fly Zone’ in Syria, and it’s being bankrolled by the US, UK, EU and other coalition states to the tune of well over $100 million (so far). (link)

When you listen to the audio recording (embedded below) it becomes immediately obvious what was going on in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as an outcome of policy from the White House. In addition, you discover why this jaw-dropping 2016 leak/story was buried by the U.S. media and how it connects to the prior 4 years of perplexing U.S. mid-east policy.
This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama. It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans, and explains how the prior action placed President Trump into a precarious position requiring a careful approach.
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From research we know what is known as the “Steele Dossier” was a collaborative effort between Fusion-GPS contract employee Nellie Ohr, and a British intelligence asset named Chris Steele; also hired by Fusion.  According to inferred congressional testimony, Nellie Ohr’s co-author, Chris Steele, was also an employee of Russian influence agent Oleg Deripaska.
Within a court filing today (full pdf below) there’s an outline of a network of NeverTrump republican allies who received the dossier directly from Christopher Steele. Including: David Kramer (for John McCain), Representative Adam Kinzinger, Paul Ryan’s chief-of-staff John Burks, and various British and U.S. intelligence officials.

It was David Kramer, on behalf of Senator John McCain, who gave the Dossier to Buzzfeed to publish.  The first 10-pages of the filing outline the distribution network.
Considering the relationship between Oleg Deripaska and Christopher Steele, ultimately what the dossier and distribution reflects is a Russian propaganda document created by Fusion-GPS Nellie Ohr (herself an expert on Russia) and Chris Steele – then funneled to the U.S. intelligence apparatus for use against an American presidential candidate.
Rather ironic eh?
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President Trump delivers a deliberate message announcing the full U.S. military withdrawal from Syria.

Thank You, and Merry Christmas.

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Economic security is national security… In July 2017 President Trump traveled to Poland to attend the Three Seas Initiative Summit, a gathering of countries bordering the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea (Poland, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia).
The primary purpose of the visit was to discuss security initiatives including how to diminish Russian influence through a cooperative agreement over energy.  President Trump took the SME’s, and delivered a speech in Warsaw, Poland:

[…] “President Duda and I have just come from an incredibly successful meeting with the leaders participating in the Three Seas Initiative. To the citizens of this great region, America is eager to expand our partnership with you. We welcome stronger ties of trade and commerce as you grow your economies. And we are committed to securing your access to alternate sources of energy, so Poland and its neighbors are never again held hostage to a single supplier of energy.”

Well, today a massive multi-billion energy contract for the United States sale and Poland purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was announced.  While financial terms were not disclosed, the agreement is for the sale and purchase of approximately 2.7 billion cubic meters per year (after regasification) – enough natural gas to meet about 15 percent of Poland’s daily needs.  The contract is for 20 years of purchases.

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Port Arthur LNG, LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), and the Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG) today announced they have entered into a definitive 20-year sale-and-purchase agreement for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Port Arthur LNG liquefaction-export facility under development in Jefferson County, Texas.

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The White House says U.S. has started returning troops home from Syria as it transitions to next phase of campaign.  Additionally, all U.S. State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours (link).

White House – “Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign. The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support, and any means of infiltrating our borders.”  (Link)

The UniParty Decepticons will not be pleased…

As expected the UniParty legislature in Washington DC; bought and paid for by lobbyists with specific intention to oppose President Trump; have constructed a short-term funding mechanism that kicks-the-can to February 2019.
Mitch McConnell announced on the Senate floor the stopgap funding mechanism, for departments and agencies not already funded for fiscal year 2019, would run through Feb. 8th, 2019.  The Big Club lobbyists control the UniParty.  President Trump pushes back by announcing a U.S. military withdrawal from Syria…

(Via Roll Call) […] “Later this morning I’ll introduce a continuing resolution that will ensure continuous funding for the federal government,” McConnell said. “Even if the face of a great need to secure the border and following good-faith efforts by the president’s team, our Democratic colleagues rejected an extremely reasonable offer yesterday.”

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Much misplaced anger is visible.  President Trump wants the southern border wall; he is being opposed by every interest who doesn’t want it.  The people in DC who are opposed to border security, are the people who write the laws.  I’m not talking about congress; I’m talking about the real people who actually write the laws, the lobbyists.
Right now Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are writing a short-term continuing resolution to fund government and avoid a shutdown.
They know President Trump is quite comfy with a shutdown.
Why would republican Mitch McConnell take such an action that puts the republican President in a position of opposition and compromise?
Because he wants to, that’s why.
President Trump said he wouldn’t sign another CR that didn’t fund the border wall.  Right now Mitch and Chuck are writing a CR that doesn’t fully fund the border wall.  Why would Mitch McConnell do that? Because he want’s to that’s why.  UniParty !
Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan are working to put a take it or leave it bill in front of the President and force him to accept it.  Republicans currently control the House and Senate.  Why would McConnell and Ryan put President Trump into that position?  Because they want to, that’s why.
That’s who you should be mad at, not President Trump.
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