The situation in Hong Kong is a geopolitical dynamic that will likely become much more volatile in the next few weeks, months and/or years.  One constant in an ever-changing universe is how the UniParty in DC will attempt to drag the U.S. into the issues.

First, Hong Kong is China.  Whether a generation of people look back with regret to the time when Great Britain ceded the territory to Beijing is irrelevant.  China has, and will have, full control over Hong Kong; and that’s the way it is.  This will not be reversed.
Any effort for the people within Hong Kong to reverse the situation and escape the clutches of oppressive communism while retaining their liberty will only lead to massive bloodshed.
Unfortunately for Hong Kong, as President Trump decouples the U.S. economy from the duplicitous communist Chinese enterprise, Beijing will grasp more control over the heavily Western-influenced economic strata in/around Hong Kong.
(more…)

The Iowa State Fair has a fun, quirky and non-scientific poll that it does each presidential primary season.  While the results only reflect those fair visitors who choose to participate in placing a kernel of corn in a jar corresponding to their preferred candidate, the results are usually quite accurate when compared to the election results the following year.
After three days of visitors, the results as of 5:00pm show Joe Biden with a considerable lead (24%), followed by Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren (16%), Kamala Harris (11%), and Bernie Sanders (9%) rounding out the top five:

(Link and More Results Here)

With gaffe prone Biden still holding a lead, it appears Pete Buttigieg is surging, and is now in a stronger Iowa position than national polls would suggest.
Additionally, albeit somewhat anticipated, it’s confirmed the former Bernie bloc has fractured and support amid the communist wing now leaning toward Elizabeth Warren.  Perhaps that explains a rather stark tweet from Che’ Bernie moments ago:
(more…)

As the U.S-China trade confrontation continues, China is running out of dollars.  Beijing is burning through cash to prop up its manufacturing industries; and the currency devaluation only exacerbates the problem.  A weak Yuan, makes their exports cheap; but China is an economy of dependency, and relies upon dollars to pay bills.
Against this growing internal financial crisis, videos seem to confirm Chinese military moving into regions around Hong Kong as protests continue.  Hong Kong nationals staged a three-day protest at Hong Kong’s international airport to draw attention to their plight.

.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police fired tear gas at demonstrators in the working class district of Sham Shui Po on Sunday, as yet another day of protest marches turned into a confrontation between police and activists.
Ten straight weekends of increasingly violent protests have plunged Hong Kong into its most serious political crisis in decades, posing a challenge to the central government in Beijing.(link)

(more…)

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo for a wide-ranging discussion on current political and geopolitical events.
Topics include the U.S-Mexico border security and immigration; the 2020 democrat candidates (announced and unannounced); the bigger geopolitical issues behind the U.S-China trade conflict; Joe and Hunter Biden’s direct financial relationship to the Chinese communist government; the USMCA trade agreement; Trump’s leverage to increase an EU free economic alliance against China; and radical action by dems.

(more…)

White House Manufacturing and Trade Policy Advisor Peter Navarro appears on CNBC to discuss the turbulent week on Wall Street and the current status of the U.S. trade position with China.  Pundits are starting to accept that bigger tariffs are on the horizon.  Team Trump is not backing down; and our U.S. position is much stronger.
On one hand, Wall Street loves cheap money (low fed rates). However, on the other hand 51% of all Chinese manufacturing is done by U.S. owned multinationals; and those corporations don’t want to see the retention efforts of China undermined with a lower dollar value (lower fed rate). As a consequence Wall Street is schizophrenic.

.
On the issue of manufacturers leaving China, Forbes has this outlook: “American businesses now have a month to prepare their supply chains for the impending tariff changes. Companies that do well will be the ones who have taken Trump at his word, rather than to doubt the Disruptor-in-Chief’s position on China. Further disruptions are coming to the U.S. supplier network, impacting how equity analysts view companies, recommend their stocks, and — in a broader sense — impacting the business cycle, already long in the tooth.” (link)
(more…)

Joaquin Castro is personifying the ‘Mamet Principle’ as he justifies his action in posting lists of President Trump donors/supporters for targeting by political opposition.
Pretending an action is something else, other than what is clearly evident in that action, is exactly the approach used by leftists to deflect from their behavior; it is also the way leftists turn themselves into victims as an outcome of their own activity.
To deconstruct this illogical fallacy, direct questions must be asked.
Direct questions, perhaps uncomfortable questions, which cannot be avoided by deflection and obfuscation; and cut to the heart of the matter.  Example: If your intention is to make public the identification of private citizens contributing to your political opposition, then would you support federal legislation requiring all Trump supporters to wear visible armbands or insignia in public?

.
Here’s a video discussion with one of the people identified in Castro’s “Hit List”. What is described is exactly the outcome that Representative Castro denies in his justification.
(more…)

Wow. Go Wilburine!  U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has slapped a whopping $4.4 billion countervailing duty on Chinese cabinet manufacturers.  The rate of manufacturing subsidy identified within the ‘wood cabinet‘ study shows a massive 229% subsidy rate via discounted land, free lumber, electricity, raw materials, direct grants from government and discounted loans from Chinese banks to enhance export incentives.

The current study and duty only applies to wood cabinets and vanities, but if you ever wondered how come Chinese furniture is so cheap, well, it’s not a stretch to consider those same subsidy rates likely apply to their household furniture and wood products.

(Bloomberg) Add $4.4 billion in imported cabinets to the long list of Chinese goods slapped with U.S. levies in the escalating trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday it will ask the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of the wooden cabinets and vanities from China based on subsidy rates of as much as 229%. Commerce issued a preliminary determination in response to a petition filed earlier this year by the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance, alleging at least $2 billion in harm from the Chinese shipments.

(more…)

Democrat Congressman Joaquin Castro, represents a district that encompasses San Antonio, Texas.
Using his twitter account today, Representative Castro posted a list of local donors to the Donald Trump campaign directing his followers to target those ordinary citizens.  [Tweet here]
Pay close attention to this current method of political targeting; and overlay the law of unintended consequences to the current gun control discussion surrounding “redflag” laws.
Ultimately what far-left Joaquin Castro is doing is exactly what will happen when arbitrary rules of defining people for targeting are pushed into law.  History is full of examples where this exact process was used.  None of those examples ended well for those who were defined.
Posting a list on the public square; of ordinary citizens who just hold a different political outlook; and targeting them for confrontation, is just fueling ANTIFA toward violence against those on the list.   This is what cultural progressives mean when they say: “by any means necessary.”
Joaquin Castro’s twin brother, Julian Castro, is one of the Democrat candidates for president, and was previously President Obama’s HUD secretary.  Together Joaquin and Julian personify an ideology that supports political targeting, by any means necessary – including violence, of their political opposition.
Political targeting is exactly what President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder were doing when the DOJ requested the donor contribution lists, “schedule B’s”, from the IRS (Lois Lerner) so they could generate their ‘secret research project‘ targeting list.  These actions are directly, openly, publicly and specifically, the weaponization of government.
(more…)

National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, appears on CNBC to discuss the U.S-China trade conflict that led to yesterday’s stock market drop. Additionally, Kudlow notes the strong key performance indicators that highlight the strength of the U.S. Main Street economy.

.
Larry Kudlow also held a press conference.
(more…)

White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro, appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the current status of the U.S.-China trade conflict.
Within the interview Navarro discusses the impact of China devaluing their currency as a strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.  WATCH:

(more…)