Earlier today President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call about the pending French digital services tax on U.S. companies, and USTR Lighthizer’s pending $2.4 billion 100% countervailing duty against high-end French products:

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Emmanuel Macron of France. The two leaders agreed it is important to complete successful negotiations on the digital services tax, and they also discussed other bilateral issues. (link)

Where “avoid tariff escalation” means Macron just took a knee.  He really has no choice.
United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer calculated a $2.4 billion pending tariff, at a rate of 100%, against select high-end French products as a result of France’s desperation for tax revenue and deciding to tax U.S. digital services.
The WTO already handed the U.S. legal authority against the EU for $2.5 billion in annual tariffs as a result of the Boeing case. Legally the EU cannot retaliate.
With Britain leaving the EU; and with Germany, France and Italy already suffering from a lack of investment and shrinking sales of industrial products – the EU economy is a sitting duck for President Trump to target.  There is no-way France can lead the charge in a tariff battle against the United States….  The conversation goes something like this:
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Wow, this is quite a contrast. The number one policy initiative that helped President Trump win election in 2016 was his promise to build a southern border wall. Several hundred miles of the new border security barrier have been completed with several hundred more in various stages of construction.
During the VICE News Brown & Black Democrat Presidential Forum today, 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders said he would “look at” tearing it all down. WATCH:

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Approximately 22,000 second amendment supporters rallied at the Richmond, Virginia capitol today to petition state government not to infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

Appearing to cheer for some confrontation or violent outcome, the national media had hyped the event as a massive assembly of “right wing militia groups”; further attempting to inject a racial element around the MLK holiday by proclaiming “white separatists” would be squaring-off against Virginia law enforcement. It was all fake news.
Curtis Houck from the Media Research Center assembled a montage of CNN and MSNBC media reports from this morning to highlight how the national media attempted to set the narrative.
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The lawyers representing President Trump and lawyers representing the Office of the Presidency collectively file a response briefing, a trial memorandum, to the Senate (full pdf below).  The 170-page rebuttal to the House articles is HERE and embedded below:
[scribd id=443635181 key=key-aNR0dOONH5PrvmDt1r3u mode=scroll]
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Ohio congressman Jim Jordan appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the full background of the FBI surveillance impetus and how the bigger picture brings all of the government activity forward to the actions behind an impeachment trial.
In the full picture, the totality of government effort, the arc of all swamp action, has been to remove a president who is everything these administrative state officials oppose.  It is the independence of a Peoples’ President that represents the threat to the system…

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Previous discussion HERE.
Virginia government officials have made extensive preparations ahead of tomorrow’s planned Second Amendment “Lobby Day” protests.  Earlier today a videographer named Stephen B walked through the capitol grounds to highlight the extensive fencing assembled by authorities.  Some slightly salty language:

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Additionally, the Virginia State Police are taking the planned protest quite seriously. In a Twitter video below law enforcement show up at a man’s home, 100 miles from the venue, to question him based on a “tip”, and suspecting some thought crimes may be committed.
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Updating a story we shared last night; and the latest information only makes the situation seem much worse.   To say this story is infuriating would be an understatement.
As an individual with some personal knowledge of how the recovery process works, the actions by these government officials in Puerto Rico are beyond tragic.  There are people in desperate need, and these stupid claims by officials do nothing to ameliorate ongoing suffering.  This is disgusting and heartbreaking at the same time.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired the heads of Puerto Rico’s housing and family departments Sunday in the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse filled with emergency supplies dating from Hurricane Maria.

The removal of Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar came a day after the governor fired the director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.

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A response to the formal summons from the Senate, notifying the Executive Office of the President of impeachment proceedings, was due at 6:00pm ET today.   The White House has responded [WH pdf link – and embed below] with a seven-page position answer.

[Via White House] THE HONORABLE DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, HEREBY RESPONDS:
The Articles of Impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their President. This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election—now just months away. The highly partisan and reckless obsession with impeaching the President began the day he was inaugurated and continues to this day.

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There is a remarkable confluence of data-points surrounding a second amendment rally in Virginia this holiday weekend that bear a strong note of caution.  Something akin to an astroturf event appears in the background.  ♦ Data-points:
♦ Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is running for President.  Bloomberg has funded the majority of Virginia anti-gun legislators who are now proposing considerable restrictions on lawful gun ownership in the commonwealth.
♦ It is also worth noting in the wake of the astro-turfed Charlottesville narrative, the professional political messaging of the Democrat apparatus, via Joe Biden, proclaimed in April 2019 that Charlottesville represented “the battle for the soul of this nation.”
If there is one consistent aspect to DNC activists (Occupy Wall Street, Antifa etc.), it’s that they use the same playbook.
♦ Provoking civil unrest to achieve political objectives is a well known strategy of the Alinsky wing of the apparatus.  ie. “never let a crisis go to waste”; and they are very good at creating the appearance of an organic crisis.  It’s usually in hindsight when the astroturf originating the crisis is identified.
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I’m skipping any further discussion of Pam Bondi because, quite frankly, while she may be considered a member of President Trump’s team, if we are honest about her background –particularly in the Zimmerman case fraud– there’s nothing good to say.
Bondi was the Florida AG and convinced Gov. Scott to appoint a special prosecutor.  Bondi picked her campaign manager, Jacksonville state attorney, Angela Corey; who constructed a fraudulent witness against the accused. AG Pam Bondi specifically knew Witness #8 was manufactured. In ’12/’13 Pam Bondi attempted to frame a transparently innocent man.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz appears on Fox News for a discussion of his role in the upcoming senate impeachment trial of President Trump. Mr. Dershowitz states he will be presenting the constitutional argument against the entire premise for the insufferable impeachment. WATCH:

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