The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren as an outcome of the Dodd-Frank legislation. With the CFPB Pocahontas tried to set up the head of the agency, the Director, in a manner that that he/she would operate without oversight. Unfortunately, her dictatorial-fiat-design collapsed when challenged in court.  Backstory #1 – Backstory #2
A federal court found the CFPB Director position held too much power and deemed it unconstitutional. The court decision noted that giving the President power to fire the Director would fix the constitutional problem.
However, with the prior court ruling as a backdrop, a second issue for Warren surfaces as an outcome of the current CFPB Director, Richard Cordray, resigning and President Trump appointing an ‘interim’ head for the agency.
Senator Warren, apoplectic at the thought of CFPB critic Mick Mulvaney acting as head of the agency, wants the Deputy Director,  Leandra English, to become Acting Director and points to Warren’s legislative outline as evidence to support her demand. Except it doesn’t…. not even a little bit.

(WARREN LINK)

The language Pocahontas points to in the CFPB construct, points to the Deputy Director filling in during the “absence” or “unavailability” of the Director. The statute clearly does not provide a mechanism when the Director position is “Vacant”.
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There’s an interesting interview within the New York Times written by Thomas Friedman who interviews Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the current changes taking place within Saudi Arabia and MbS’s intense drive to modernize and engage.  The article is well worth reading.
CTH would be remiss if we didn’t draw attention to the level of jaw-dropping weasel linguistics that Friedman uses to jump on the MbS bandwagon.  If you have never read Friedman’s interviews of President Obama –EXAMPLE HERE– you might not see it.
However, if you have watched the decade of fawning idolatry expressed by Friedman toward the Chicago lightbringer you’ll immediately notice the tell-tale signs of a pontificating liberal [shallow-minded simpleton] attempting to retain relevance by claiming proximity toward perspectives that are 180 degrees away from his previous prose.
There’s a particular level of inauthentic weaselistics that goes beyond the normal level of liberal snobbery.  If you’ve ever experienced the shallow pinky-raised elites, group-talking about their sensitive wine palates while the Sommelier tricks them with $10 vino; or if you’ve heard stories of the cloistered-clutch waxing philosophically at art exhibitions which were actually switched for Kindergarten scribbles… well, then you know Friedman’s tribe.
In real terms there’s a level of profound irony within this interview.  The changes within Saudi Arabia are directly supported by a U.S. president empowering Saudi Arabia to manifest its own destiny.
President Trump has reshaped mid-east policy, and formed a strong coalition, based on a partnership among co-equals.  This is not about the U.S., this change is about Saudi Arabia.
That Trumpian outlook is a complete reverse of the Bush/Obama Doctrine of forcing their personal definition of ‘Western values‘ to provide support.   Yet Friedman can’t even see that paradigm shift; his ideology is so mired in selfishness it is invisible to him.
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Lots of people were wondering why Senator John McCain’s orthopedic boot mysteriously switched from his right leg to his left leg yesterday.

Senator McCain has worn the boot on his right leg since treatment for a minor tear in his right Achilles tendon at the beginning of the month.  He explained the switcheroo in a tweet earlier today:
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I somewhat agree with Mrs. Brazile, but I doubt she’ll ever be honest with the reason.
Anyone who has watched the ongoing internal battle within the larger Democrat party will note the institutional apparatus is about to make a major concession.  More than likely the Democrat machine will drop “super delegates” from the system.
The control authority will sell the removal of ‘super delegates‘ as confirmation they are reforming and listening to the people.  However, things are not quite as they would appear.  The institutional control agents will NEVER give up their control over the nomination process; they don’t even carry that genetic possibility in their DNA strain.
As an insider and life-long party benefactor, Donna Brazile outlines her view on the future. A future that almost everyone reading these pages will be very familiar with.

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Remember the adage, ‘history repeats’. What Brazile is outlining is exactly the same conversation you might remember from the republican wing of the UniParty circa 2009; and expanded later in the 2013 GOP autopsy. There’s a strategy behind running a field of candidates; a control strategy; a “splitter strategy“.
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Aside from the common vernacular of ‘broken arrow‘ referencing a loss of a nuclear weapon it also means:

“a code phrase that a ground unit is facing imminent destruction from enemy attack and all available air forces within range are to provide air support immediately.”

In essence, with enemy completely overwhelming a position – a military commander calls in direct fire upon themselves in a last-ditch effort to at least retain some of their own forces in the aftermath.
For the sake of this discussion do not consider the reference ‘federal politicians’ (ie. DC congress and Senate); but rather consider the term “broken arrow” a metaphor for the totality of the past eight years and the collapse of the Democrat political apparatus in state House seats and state Senate seats.
Currently:

• State House Majority Control: 38 states Republican / 12 states Democrat
• State Senate Majority Control: 37 states Republican / 17 states Democrat / 1 state tied.
• State Governors: 34 Republican / 15 Democrat / 1 Independent

If you put a blue marble on a table for each of the Democrat politicians in state office and a red marble on the table for each of the Republican politicians in state office the table would be roughly 65% red marbles and 35% blue marbles.
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Oh, this is SWAMPY – and the timing is epic.  Pennsylvania Congressman Bob Brady is a ranking member of the Committee on House Administration which oversees settlements paid by Congress for sexual discrimination and harassment complaints.
Additionally, representative Brady is also under FBI investigation for false statements, conspiracy and campaign fraud, according to FBI documents revealed on Tuesday:

PHILADELPHIA –  The FBI has reason to believe U.S. Rep. Bob Brady unlawfully concealed a $90,000 payment made by his campaign to get an opponent to quit a 2012 primary race, according to court documents that confirm the Philadelphia Democrat is under investigation in a widening campaign finance probe.
In unsealed court documents made public Monday, the FBI requested a search warrant and has obtained data from an email account belonging to Brady. The FBI agent who filed the warrant wrote that there is probable cause Brady violated contribution limits and produced false documents, and there is evidence that he and others knowingly circumvented campaign finance rules.

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CBS has fired long-time figurehead Charlie Rose as three more victims come forward to outline his history of sexual harassment.  Additionally, PBS and Bloomberg news have also dropped Rose from their media networks.

(Via CBS)  CBS News has fired “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose over allegations of sexual misconduct, CBS News president David Rhodes announced Tuesday.
“Despite Charlie’s important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace — a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work. We need to be such a place,” Rhodes said in a statement Tuesday.

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UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were arrested in China for shoplifting while attending basketball tournament. UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said the players stole from three stores in China including sunglasses stolen by LiAngelo Ball from a Louis Vitton store.
During a state visit to China President Donald Trump requested leniency and consideration from President Xi Jinping. The players were released as President Trump returned from Asia.
Now, the ungrateful father of LiAngelo Ball, LeVar Ball, dismisses the efforts of President Trump:

“Who?” LaVar Ball told ESPN on Friday, when asked about Trump’s involvement in the matter. “What was he over there for? Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”

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The entire apparatus of the American moonbat-left ignores it, and simultaneously attempts to send it into the inconvenient memory-hole of nothingness, that’s what.
Nobel prize winning Aung San Suu Kyi is the State Counselor of Myanmar (Burma), and has for years been the de-facto personification of a heroine for far left Brangelina Peacenik treehuggers.

Lauded by the Birkinstock crew: Bog Geldof, Bono, and President Obama as the “Asian Mandela“, Aung San Suu Kyi was elevated to almost mythological status by Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, the U.S. State Department and international human rights groups.  In short, she was their heroine.
Unfortunately Aung San Suu Kyi was also susceptible to the intoxicating self-importance of expressed western globalism; and entirely inept in understanding the value in cultural nationalism, and the value of national identity, when there’s no framework of democracy to underpin her desired political and social changes.
After months of weakness, willful blindness and duplicity in allowing genocide against the Rohingya Muslim population, the bloom is off the ruse.  Follow modern peacenik liberalism to its natural and logical conclusion and you find totalitarian dictatorships created by losses in national sovereignty. Despite the apologetic and defensive posture of the New York Times the reality remains.
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According to the general legal outline that surfaced in the trial of Senator Bob Menendez, quid-pro-quo agreements between “abiding friends” can never be considered corruption or defined as ‘bribes’ because,.. just like non-public officials or business associates, close friends would do favors to help and repay each other.
In essence the legal definition of bribery for public officials now comes down to how long the two parties have known each other, and if they can show an abiding friendship. If two parties can show an “abiding friendship“, of undefined duration, no action taken by one party -to the benefit of the other party- can ever be considered bribery, regardless of the scope of the action.
You can bet a social networking strategy and Christmas Card lists of a whole bunch of politicians and public officials will be much longer this year. Everyone involved in paying-off public officials will now begin creating evidence of a much deeper friendship – which is now a proven legal defense.

(Reuters) – The corruption trial of New Jersey’s Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez ended in a mistrial on Thursday, after the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked on bribery, fraud and other charges.

Menendez, 63, a longtime fixture in the state’s political circles who first joined the Senate in 2006, was accused of accepting private flights, campaign contributions and other bribes from a wealthy patron, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, in exchange for official favors.

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