National security attorney Bradley Moss and former assistant attorney general John Yoo appear on Fox News to discuss the issues around a constructed Russian conspiracy; a politically corrupt special counsel; the pending IG report on possible FISA abuse; and the ongoing predicate review by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

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Former congressman Trey Gowdy warns everyone to tamp down expectations from the IG report on FISA abuse. One point of focus from Horowitz’s letter today is that he *only* looked at the singular FISA issues surrounding Carter Page, nothing more.

…”Relating to a certain U.S. person.”

Therefore if Carter Page was not a victim; meaning if Carter Page was an active participant (mole) in the FBI operation – willing to be the vehicle by which the Steele Dossier could be injected into the investigation; then there will likely be no criminal conduct outlined by Horowitz.  The head of the tick-tock club was not happy with this possibility.

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The recession-hoping pundits took more blows to their remaining credibility today when both the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) deliver excellent economic results from August that continue to exceed MSM expectations.
The Commerce Dept. announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlights retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year.   These excellent results come on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.

The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July, when Amazon held its two-day, blowout Prime Day sale. (link)

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In a quiet admission of food dependency, China purchased 600,000 tonnes of soybeans yesterday (link), and simultaneously announced that U.S. pork and soybean imports would be exempt from further tariff increases.
The surface message Beijing is selling, surrounds their magnanimous panda narrative of reaching out to diminish trade friction.  However, below the surface everyone knows China cannot feed itself,and if food prices keep rising they could likely have growing unrest.

Beijing’s decision to not enhance tariffs of pork and soybeans is very self serving; particularly because China owns Smithfield foods, the largest producer of U.S. pork.  In essence China has lessened tariffs against their own company.

(SCMP) China has announced that it will exclude imports of US soybeans, pork and other farm goods from additional trade war tariffs, opening the door for significant purchases of agricultural products.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce made the exemption in response to the US’ decision of postpone an increase in the tariff rate on $250 billion of Chinese goods from October 1 to October 15.

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The DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz has notified congress that his investigation is complete.  In a letter to congressional committee members with oversight authority, IG Horowitz states the draft report on his FISA abuse investigation is currently undergoing an internal classification review:
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When the reports of a possible indictment for Andrew McCabe surfaced, we noted it would be interesting to see how the Lawfare alliance responds. Today we can see that response.
Andrew McCabe’s defense attorney, Michael Bromwich (also the attorney for ‘beach friend’ Christine Blasey-Ford in the Kavanaugh narrative), leaks his communication with U.S. Attorney for DC, Jessie Liu, to the New York Times.

Leaks to the NYT and WaPo are how the Lawfare alliance push their narrative.  These are the same DOJ/FBI officials who leaked to the same media when constructing the Russian Conspiracy narrative around the Trump campaign.  [Same exact people]

(NYT) […] In a letter sent late on Thursday, defense lawyers asked whether a grand jury had considered charges against Mr. McCabe, who is being investigated over whether he lied to internal investigators about interactions with news media. The letter came shortly after the Justice Department told Mr. McCabe’s lawyers that it had rejected their pitch to the deputy attorney general to drop the case.

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Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  Departing the White House for a flight to Baltimore, Maryland, attending a republican conference dinner, the President pauses to hold an impromptu press conference with the media pool on a variety of topics.
[UPDATE – Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Thank you everybody. So, the stock market is up again, and we’re very close to a new high. It would be over 100 times, I believe. You’ll check it. But many, many times, we set the record. So we’re very honored by that. We’re having a tremendous couple of weeks. A lot of good things are happening.
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During an interview with Fox Business Maria Bartiromo White House Trade and Manufacturing Advisor Peter Navarro outliness how the USPS, the postal system, has been heavily subsidizing “incoming mail of a number of countries to the tune of hundreds of million dollars a year.”  Navarro notes he is meeting with foreign ambassadors and representatives of the State Department at the Blair House in Washington, D.C., to work on changes to the current mail system.
Additionally, Navarro explained that he will be traveling to Geneva, Switzerland, on Sept. 23 for a third “Extraordinary Congress” and there will be two issues/options on the ballot: (1) allows all countries in the postal union to self-declare rates, ending a terminal dues system that costs countries to subsidize incoming mail. (2) A “multispeed approach,” allowing the U.S. to self-declare rates immediately.

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The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday an indefinite supply of fresh asset purchases and deeper cuts to interest rates, into negative territory, as it tries to prop up the ailing euro zone economy.  These are EU financial counter-measures to the geopolitical trade realignment triggered by U.S. President Trump.
The EU is driving down the value of their currency in an effort to help prop-up the French and German economies that are dependent on exports.  In essence, the financial and economic positions of the EU and China are connected.  The more pressure the U.S. (Trump administration) puts on China, the less China can purchase from the EU.
With that as the backdrop, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin holds an impromptu press conference outside the White House on China trade, Huawei and the bond market.

 

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A series of very strong internal economic evaluations today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) show the Main Street economy is perfectly positioned with maximum benefit to the U.S. middle-class.
First, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, saying Trump tariffs on China would create massive inflation…. It Ain’t Happening!  Overall year-over-year inflation is hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; that’s a low inflation rate.  Rate has firmed up now with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate remains consistent.   [See Below]

A couple of important points.  First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America-First MAGAnomic initiative.  Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector… Except ‘food at home’.
Which brings us to the second important point.  Notice how food prices have very low year-over-year inflation, 0.5 percent.  That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:
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