If you needed any empirical evidence to prove the doomsday proclamations by the financial pundits are false claims, just look at the July consumer spending results. July spending more than doubled expectations.
July results were +0.7 percent, against the economic forecast of +.03 percent.   Consumer spending makes up over two-thirds of the U.S. GDP and overall economy. Doesn’t exactly sound like Main Street is on the precipice of a recession. Oh my.

Average wage growth remains +3.5% year-over-year.  The growth of overall income for American workers exceeds +5.4 percent year-over-year.  Unemployment is a low 3.6% and U.S. consumer inflation remains low at 1.4 percent.  Meaning: the middle-class has more disposable income to save or SPEND; and that’s what is happening….

• Reminder #1: Consumer spending is two-thirds of the U.S. economy.
• Reminder #2: We consume more than 80 percent of our own production (products created in USA).  We do not rely on exports.
• Reminder #3: Because of #1 and #2, the “Main Street” U.S. economy is self sustaining -much stronger- and more protected from the negative impacts on the global economy.
• Reminder #4: Who/What is at risk from global contraction? The Wall Street economy (compromised primarily of multinationals).  What is not at risk, the Main St economy.
• Reminder #5:  Because of #3 and #4, Wall Street can drop while Main Street thrives.

This is the fundamental disconnect. These Main Street results, this dynamic, is the space between two economic engines that CTH has been describing for three years.  The investment class on Wall Street can go through pain, while the middle-class on Main Street thrive.  We are in the space between.
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Early on Tuesday United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the modification of “next step” tariffs on Chinese products.  [See Here] “Products in this group include, for example, cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.”

President Trump responded to the delay/modification when questioned in New Jersey.  President Trump noted a “very productive” phone call between Lighthizer and Vice-Premier Liu He of China:

[Transcript Segment] – […] Q Why did you make the decision on the tariffs, to delay the implementation of the tariffs?
THE PRESIDENT: Only to help, I think, a lot of different groups of people. And we had a very good talk yesterday with China — a very, very productive call. I think they want to do something. I think they’d like to do something dramatic. I was not sure whether or not they wanted to wait until a Democrat has a chance to get in. Hopefully that’s not going to happen because the economy would go to hell in a handbasket very fast.

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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.
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A U.S. District Judge has rejected the DOJ and FBI motion to block the release of the Archey Declarations (descriptions of Comey memos). [Background Here]
In a strongly worded ruling (full pdf below) released moments ago, Federal Judge James Boasberg blasted the DOJ and FBI for attempting to change their filings, claim national security “sources and methods”, and block his prior court ruling – which instructed the DOJ to release the “Archey Declarations”.  The judge is obviously angry:

It must strike readers as erroneous “with the force of a five-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.”…

[Backstory for those unfamilar] In the background of what was The Mueller Investigation, there was a FOIA case where the FBI was fighting to stop the release of the Comey memos.  Within that courtroom fight Mueller’s lead FBI agent David Archey wrote a series of declarations to the court describing the content of the memos and arguing why they should be kept classified.
The FOIA fight shifted; and the plaintiff, CNN, argued for public release of the content of the FBI agent’s descriptions, now known as the “Archey Declarations”.
After a lengthy back-and-forth legal contest, on June 7th Judge James E Boasberg agreed to allow the FBI to keep the Comey memo content hidden, but instructed the DOJ/FBI to release the content of the Archey Declarations.  On August 2nd the DOJ/FBI changed their position and claimed national security, “sources and methods” would be compromised by the release of the Archey Declarations.
Today Judge Boasberg completely rejected their argument:
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After reviewing the unexpected resignation of Canadian Ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, several aspects of the U.S-Canada economic relationship; and the larger political ideological relationship between the far-left in both countries; begins to take a sharper focus.
Justin from Canada has acquiesced to the influence of democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and agreed to postpone any USMCA ratification vote in Parliament until Pelosi gives Justin her approval.  For political purposes, Speaker Pelosi is attempting to stall the USMCA vote in congress, which directly supports China, as long as possible.

When we first reviewed this political quid-pro-quo, we wondered if Justin from Canada was actually willing to hurt his own economy just to assist the political efforts of U.S. democrats.  Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding yes.

OTTAWA—Canada’s unemployment rate rose in July as the economy unexpectedly shed jobs for a second straight month, fueling speculation over a possible Bank of Canada rate cut later this year.
The Canadian economy lost a net 24,200 jobs in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics Canada said Friday. Market expectations were for a net job increase of 12,500.

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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:
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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.

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During the 2016 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was headed by Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein.  After the 2016 election Senator Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner in January 2017.
While the SSCI was engaged in their part of the 2016 effort Vice-Chair Feinstein’s lead staffer was a man named Daniel Jones. Dan Jones was the contact point between the SSCI and Fusion-GPS.
After the election, and after Feinstein abdicated, Dan Jones left the committee to continue paying Fusion-GPS (Glenn Simpson) for ongoing efforts toward the impeachment insurance policy angle.
Feinstein left because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of a President Trump, IF he discovered the SSCI involvement. Dan Jones left because with a Trump presidency the SSCI, now co-chaired by Senator Mark Warner, needed arms-length plausible deniability amid their 2017 operations to continue the removal effort (soft coup).
The blueprint for this plausible deniability process, and ongoing soft-coup effort, first surfaces with Dan Jones appearing in the 2017 text messages between Senator Warner and the liaison for Christopher Steele, lawyer and lobbyist Adam Waldman:
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The Manhattan U.S. Attorney has released the following statement about the suspicious custodial death of Jeffrey Epstein:

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Earlier this morning, the Manhattan Correctional Center confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein, who faced charges brought by this Office of engaging in the sex trafficking of minors, had been found unresponsive in his cell and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter of an apparent suicide.
Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in Court. To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing.  We continue to urge anyone who feels they may be a victim or have information related to the conduct in this case to please contact 1-800- CALL FBI.” (link)

Meanwhile, Clinton-allied liberals are absolutely triggered…
Shareblue is the brain-child of far left activist David Brock; a rabid Clinton advocate.  Recently Shareblue hired Allison “Avi” Girvin as the Über leftist CEO for Shareblue Media.  Girvin was previously the head of NBC News’s Business, Tech, and Media unit.
Apparently the death of Jeffrey Epstein, a pedophile and sex trafficker directly connected to the Clinton cabal, has triggered the maximum alert warning for “Avi” and the Shareblue community, as they dispatch urgent talking points for their social media army:
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Eh, who didn’t see this coming.  Universal Studios has decided to stop the release of the controversial film, The Hunt.   The violent plot for the movie is where liberal elites (rich democrats) hunt deplorables (less rich Trump supporters) for sport and gratification.
Apparently the backlash against the production company penetrated the echo-chamber and someone finally said this might not be such a good idea.   Ya think?

“While Universal Pictures had already paused the marketing campaign for The Hunt, after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film,” the studio said in Saturday’s statement. “We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film.”  (link)

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President Trump drew attention to the highly inappropriate movie yesterday.  Even though the deplorables win in the end of the movie, the premise of humans being hunted based on ideology was viewed as, well, inappropriate and sketchy by most.
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