Many readers might remember back in the summer 2017 (throughout July) when there were indications that President Trump, and allies, were positioning assets and drills for what appeared to be a strategic naval blockade. Well, today Reuters is reporting that South Korea has seized a second oil tanker, flagged under Panama, headed to North Korea.
The cost of smuggling oil into North Korea is getting very high. These oil tankers are very expensive and the cost of commerce in international ocean freight is underwritten by massive global insurance companies. Each of these interdictions’ makes the business end of smuggling much more unstable.  Additionally, each of these violations opens up the co-dependent enabler as a target for massive U.S. Treasury Sanctions previously established.

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean authorities have seized a Panama-flagged vessel suspected of transferring oil products to North Korea in violation of international sanctions, a customs official said on Sunday.
The seizure was the second to be revealed by South Korea within a few days, as the United Nations steps up efforts to squeeze essential oil supplies to the reclusive North following its nuclear or ballistic missile tests.

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Interesting discussion today between Senator Lindsey Graham and CBS journalist Major Garrett.  Senator Graham went through a myriad of issues, from his specific perspective, including: Iran (and current protests), North Korea (nukes), DACA, Robert Mueller and the Russian Dossier.

It looks like the Iranian Green Revolution is back on the streets as waves of protests are happening.  In 2009 the Mullah’s brutally cracked down on the reformers and President Obama stood by.  In 2017 the reformers have an ally in the oval office as President Trump and his entire administration (specifically Rex Tillerson and Nikki Haley) openly show their support for the movement.  Stunning developments.
The U.S. Media are attempting to spin the protests as “pro-regime” and claiming the supporters are pro-Khameni and pro government.  That narrative is 100% false, yet it highlights the severity of the entire left-wing media apparatus as they attempt to prop-up the failed policies of the Obama administration.
Tens-of-thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to express their anger, and unfortunately for the preferred media script that anger is not directed at President Trump or Saudi Arabia; but rather at the mullahs and their oppressive security forces.
The protests may have begun over economic grievances in the northeastern city of Mashhad.  However, the uprising has grown to at least 18 cities nationwide.  The slogals are no longer about corruption and economics, they are directly confronting the Islamic Republic:
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If the U.S. were to exit NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the price you pay for most foodstuff at the grocery store would drop 10% in the first quarter and likely drop 20% or more by the end of the first year. Here’s why:
Approximately a decade ago the U.S. Dept of Agriculture stopped tracking, and reporting, U.S. consumer food prices. The food sector joined the ranks of fuel and energy in no longer being measured to track inflation and backdrop Fed monetary policy. Not coincidentally this was simultaneous to U.S. consumers seeing massive inflation in the same sector.

There are massive international corporate and financial interests who are inherently at risk from President Trump’s “America-First” economic and trade platform. Believe it or not, President Trump is up against an entire world economic establishment.
When you understand how trade works in the modern era you will understand why the agents within the system are so adamantly opposed to U.S. President Trump.
The biggest lie in modern economics, willingly spread and maintained by corporate media, is that a system of global markets still exists.
It doesn’t.
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Well, that didn’t take long.  About a decade ago we needed a phrase to describe a very specific set of republican senators, thus originated the term “Decepticons”.
Decepticons are different from traditional ‘establishment’ types in that they are a cloistered club, a sub-set of the upper-tier within the GOPe, and they protect their exclusive position because of the payments and benefits they receive from an individual lobbyist, Tom Donohue.

Tom Donohue is the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest single lobbying group in all of Washington DC.   Donohue represents the interests of massive financial institutions and multinational corporations.  Donohue receives hundreds of millions from his corporate conglomerates; and he controls the distribution of tens-of-millions toward individual senators on capitol hill who agree to uphold those interests.
A ‘Decepticon’ will NEVER break ranks with the Chamber. EVER.  Regardless of the Chamber position.  That character trait is what makes them uniquely “Decepticons.”

WASHINGTON DC – Senate Republicans are growing frustrated with what they see as a lack of clear direction in President Trump’s trade agenda, which they warn is hurting U.S. exporters.
Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee vented their concerns in a recent meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

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Initial 2017 sales growth estimates exceed $33 billion (almost 6%), for a total of $598 billion, according to analysis by Customer Growth Partners.
Consumer spending represents two-thirds of total GDP; and with initial Q4 sales growth estimates coming in much higher than anticipated – this puts even more fuel into fourth quarter GDP growth estimates that have been hovering near 4%.
The stunning retail growth increases have been noted in both on-line and brick-and-mortar stores which reflects a more broad increase, driven by consumer confidence, likely to exceed these initial estimates.

CBS – […] Total retail sales this holiday season added up to a record $598 billion dollars — up $33 billion from last year. “This is literally the best season since before the recession,” business owner Craig Johnson said.

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A quarter billion here, a quarter billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking about Bigly money.  LOL  While T-Rex is achieving State Department spending reductions of 30%, Nikki Haley joins the ‘walking in a winner wonderland” party…

(USUN) Today, the United Nations agreed on a budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. ‎Among a host of other successes, the United States negotiated a reduction of over $285 million off the 2016-2017 final budget. In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key U.S. priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system.

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PART I – As the year winds down there will be lots of reviews of all things political. Lists of shifts and outlined accomplishments will be compiled to either show the advances or declines depending on tribal affiliation of the pundit.
However, not many people ever ask the questions behind the “why”.  Why is there so much opposition to President Trump?

In the larger analysis, Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) proposition is a daily reminder that citizen inspired government can eliminate the decades-long notion of politics as a profession.
There are hundreds-of-thousands of people within the institutional system known as politics. Each member carving out a specialty and selling their expertise as necessary within the opaque organization known as government. From city council, through state legislature and into federal representation, the primary selling point of each participating member is to declare their operational skill within the institution.
Heck, the professional political enterprise is so accepted as ordinary you can even go to college and earn a degree in how to be a politician. Why?
Boil down government to its most basic of institutional objectives and the entire premise is about operating common systems to the benefit of the aggregate assembly. The only thing that changes is the scale of the assembled constituency, local, state or federal.
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The economic strategy of President Trump is so consequential and encompassing, even the domestic effects are felt globally.

♦Removing the U.S. from the multinational TPP trade deal initially planted the seeds of doubt amid multinational trade forecasters because the shift positioned the U.S. with unique leverage. They saw Trump using access to the worlds largest market as a negotiating strategy.
♦A few months later, President Trump walked away from the ridiculous regulatory restrictions within the Paris Climate Treaty.  Instantaneously this put even more strategic manufacturing and economic advance on the U.S. ledger, and simultaneously made American energy independence a foregone conclusion.
♦And now that congress has codified President Trump’s lower domestic business taxes, in conjunction with opening up ANWR for energy development (a strategic economic goal for 20+ years), the size of the U.S. economic and manufacturing advantage has just increased U.S. trade leverage to almost unimaginable levels.

Economic Nationalism – President Trump’s strategy has created: •Lower and long-term predictable energy costs, not attached to OPEC or multinational influence; •Lower and long-term raw material costs due to slashed regulatory environment; •lower and long-term business manufacturing tax rates; and now Trump begins negotiating trade deals.

Add these advantages together within the largest economic market in the world and the U.S. is now the place where manufacturers will want to do business.  Additionally, the process of utilizing Canada and/or Mexico as a workaround into the U.S. market, via NAFTA, is on the cusp of removal.
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BETHESDA, Md. — President Donald Trump paid a holiday visit Thursday to wounded service members at Walter Reed National Medical Center, hailing them as “some of the bravest people anywhere in the world.”
During his visit, the president awarded the Purple Heart to 1st Lt. Victor Prato of the 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion, who was injured last month while deployed in Afghanistan.

Prato, 25, of Somers, New York, suffered multiple soft tissue injuries following a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blast, according to the White House.
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