On the same day that DoLS reports unemployment claims are at their lowest level in 45 years; and on the same day when Reuters economist panel admits that wages are indeed going up quickly now; well, the November holiday sales results are being reviewed and the results are stunning.

(Reuters) U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in November as the holiday shopping season got off to a brisk start, pointing to sustained strength in the economy.
[…]  The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.8 percent last month, with households buying a range of goods even as they cut back on purchases of motor vehicles. Data for October was revised to show sales gaining 0.5 percent instead of the previously reported 0.2 percent increase.
Retail sales accelerated 5.8 percent on an annual basis. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales increasing only 0.3 percent in November. (link)

5.8% growth over last year is BIGLY yuge.  We’re talking about massive numbers. To move them almost 6% is bigly. Remember, retail sales account for approximately two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity within our GDP valuation.  We are the world’s largest market economy.
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“Net Neutrality” was always about giving control over internet content, and all the downstream consequences therein, to an elite few control agents who use political ideology to control the internet.

Thankfully, today FCC Chairman Ajit Pai led the FCC board to overturn the 2015 Obama regulation of the internet.   One of the benefits all will see, on the revenue and business side of the internet, is market competition will begin providing alternatives to Google and Facebook revenue streams.  It will take time, but the final downstream outcome will be more diverse ideological content on the internet, and an even playing field.

(Reuters) […]  Democrats, Hollywood and companies like Google parent Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc had urged Pai, a Republican appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, to keep the Obama-era rules barring service providers from blocking, slowing access to or charging more for certain content.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters the administration “supports the FCC’s efforts. At the same time, the White House certainly has and always will support a free and fair internet.”

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Well, now we know.  Many people were curious about how Inspector General Michael Horowitz zeroed-in on the communication between FBI Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page.
IG Horowitz explains in a letter today (full pdf below) and interestingly provides additional insight into the years-long investigation.  Accepting, based on the past several weeks -and fully accepting there is a reason for the rapid response herein- Horowitz is prudently strategic with his communications, it would also be wise to read between the lines in his letter:
[scribd id=367204037 key=key-2sW9oHw14RIBdl0NhqHl mode=scroll]
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When candidate Donald Trump campaigned and won the election in 2016 he promised to cut the massive regulatory burdens that were strangling the U.S. economy.  Together with several cabinet members, today President Trump celebrated the administration’s efforts at achieving the biggest cut in federal regulations in history.
“For the first time in decades, the government achieved regulatory savings,” President Trump said, boasting that “we blew our target out of the water”. “The administration, over its first 11 months, we canceled or delayed over 1,500 planned regulatory actions – more than any previous president by far.”

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During a recent rally in Pensacola President Trump remarked off-the-cuff: “we have a rigged system, we really do, we have a rigged system and we’re working hard to change it“. Against the backdrop of recent revelations with the stunning politicization of the FBI and DOJ, those words ring notes of truth, and also caution.
Over the past two weeks we have seen releases from the DOJ Office of Inspector General that appear to be building toward a much more consequential outcome. The corruption is jaw-dropping. The very heart of the U.S. system of Law (DOJ) and Order (FBI) is now being questioned. I would argue the IG obviously understands the need for caution within these discoveries and the recent releases are all purposeful, timed, planned and targeted.
Consider what is at stake; and further consider that you were given the task of revealing the outcome of an investigation of such consequence.  How would you introduce the findings to the larger U.S. electorate?   Given the timing of the releases from the IG’s investigation, I think that’s what we are seeing in the past two weeks.  A prosecutor laying out his case over the course of multiple media cycles.
For the past year plus, we have heard generalized terms of investigations.  However, since the beginning of December the information shifted and we begin hearing about specific names caught within the IG investigation.

Focusing only on the names from within the IG concern we find:  FBI Agent Peter Strzok; FBI/DOJ Attorney Lisa Page; DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr; his wife, Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr; FBI Counterintelligence Director Bill Priestap; and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  Each of these people appear to have been captured within the net at the heart of the politicization investigation.
Now, there’s bound to be more details; however, those names are all likely to face some form of congressional scrutiny, questioning, and possibly criminal charges.  Charges that will likely be based, in part, on the outlined information within the IG releases.
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Ohio Representative Jim Jordan is directly over the target… and he ain’t flinching.
Righteous.
Jordan ain’t just talking to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, he’s directly talking to US.
Very Worth Watching:

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Boy howdy, these IG releases are way beyond popcorn worthy. However, don’t go critical on Rosenstein, remember AG Jeff Sessions can’t really be too close to this because of his affiliation with the Trump 2016 campaign etc. Rod Rosenstein is filling in for the role we would love to see Sessions conducting; we must accept the best opportunity -to keep the usurpers from using Sessions as a distraction- is to have him stay out of the mud.
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#1) …exactly why the White Hats are selectively preparing the larger U.S. electorate in advance of the 1.2 million documents which will outline the background of the Inspector General’s year-long investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.
The recent IG releases of information, Agent Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr; to include FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s text messages with FBI Lawyer Lisa Page; are strategically sequenced -and timed- in their public release.
The information drop today, which includes the text messages, reveals the bigger plot:

August 15, 2016, FBI Agent Strzok tells FBI Lawyer Lisa Page:

“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office that there’s no way he gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”

“Andy’s office” would be FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; and the appearance here is a clear outline to use the Steele Russian Dossier, as the foundation to the FISA warrant, which would be considered “an insurance policy” against candidate Donald Trump winning the presidency.
Yes, that would be a conspiracy; being discussed in Andrew McCabe’s office.  A few weeks later (October 2016), the FBI and DOJ did get the FISA warrant they were discussing in August 2016.
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President Donald Trump is delivering a speech on the ongoing tax reform proposal currently being worked through House and Senate committee. The anticipated start time is 3:00pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added

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The text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strozk and his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, have been released to both Fox News and CBS.  SEE HERE and SEE HERE.
The messages reflect a strong bias against President Trump. However, the bigger story is not the anti-Trump bias within the text communication, the BIGGER story is why the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General (OIG), began even looking at Agent Peter Strozk’s communication in the first place.
Remember, the original mandate by the Inspector General’s office was initiated to review and discover any politicization of the FBI and/or DOJ officials.
After news broke of Strzok’s removal from investigative duty within the FBI counterintelligence unit, what the OIG responding statement said was for 11 months the Dept of Justice OIG office has been investigating the politicization within the DOJ and FBI and deciding if the actions, or lack of action, was driven by the political ideology of the participants therein:
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Last Thursday it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was mysteriously recused from the Special Counsel case against General Mike Flynn, five days after Judge Contreras accepting the initial pleading.  No explanation as to ‘why’?

(Reuters) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.  (read more)

One might think the media apparatus, or pundit proletariat writ large, might be curious about why a U.S. District Court Judge would be recused.  Alas One would be wrong.  The recusal angle is transparently missing from any follow-up by media; and apparently the judicial cat also has stolen the tongue of congressional curiosity.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.
The story has been memory holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.
We have speculated that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused, either by himself or by challenge, because he is also a FISA Court Judge and could have signed off on the October FISA warrant that led to the wiretapping and surveillance of General Flynn.  However, we have received information that it wasn’t ‘by challenge’, leaving the preponderance of the motive for recusal directly upon Judge Contreras personal decision.
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