The U.S. Conference Board is an economic think tank in partnership with Nielsen surveys which provides predictive economic analysis based on consumer and economic surveys within the larger U.S. economy.  The latest monthly report from the board shows a stratospheric level of consumer confidence, 125.9 the highest level since 2000.
Accordingly, “consumers were even more optimistic in October than economists polled by Reuters expected.”  The media and economic teams who thrill at the possibility of being able to talk-down the U.S. economy are apoplectic…

(Reuters) U.S. consumer confidence jumped to a near 17-year high in October, with households upbeat about the labor market and business conditions, which could underpin consumer spending and boost the economy in the final three months of the year.
The economy’s prospects were further bolstered by other reports on Tuesday showing an acceleration in wage growth in the third quarter and sustained increases in house prices in August.  (read more)

(more…)

Against the backdrop of the Paul Manafort indictment, Fox News host Tucker Carlson expanded on his exclusive source insight (from a former employee) into the Podesta Group and the lobbying activity on behalf of Russian interests.
Additionally, Mr. Carlson shares the legal threats he and his broadcast have recently received from lawyers representing Tony and John Podesta and the DC Lobbying Group they founded.

.
Tucker Carlson and Jonathan Turley (George Washington University Law School) discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller, his ongoing investigation, the indictments from earlier today, and both ultimately come to the same conclusion CTH shared earlier,
Being intellectually honest it appears that Mueller is focused on the bigger, and more dangerous, dynamic surrounding foreign lobbying efforts and payments to DC politicians therein to shape U.S. policy.  Toward eliminating those lobbyist payments, the legal cases against Paul Manafort and Tony Podesta are tools to send the Swamp a message to stop.
(more…)

As the Special Counsel Robert Mueller indictment documents show with increasing clarity, the entire enterprise surrounding the Washington DC Russian Investigation is not about law, it’s about creating and controlling leverage.
If you review anything within the ongoing political fiasco from the perspective of laws broken or unbroken and the application of the judiciary toward the endeavor of stopping such activity we will remain oblivious to the bigger picture. EXPLAINED HERE
It’s not about the law; it’s not about the judiciary; it’s not about what’s legal, or the illegality of behavior; only politics. These are not legal issues; the entities involved are not connected to legal or illegal application of laws as they relate to the rest of American society.

You cannot view the current action through the transactional prism of modern judicial proceedings as they relate to you and me. These are political struggles taking place inside the venue of the legal system. The players use the legal system to game out the optics and narrative of political battles for ideological wins and losses.
In essence, this is about leverage for political use.
The 2016 election caused the balance of power to shift favorably toward political forces that are external to the DC machine, ie. President Trump and the deplorables.
The subsequent action by Robert Mueller, Democrats, the Media (writ large), and President Trump is a confrontation over political goals and objectives. The DC machine, the “swamp” per se’, is attempting to frame leverage against actions adverse to their political interest.
(more…)

Well, well, well…. Long-time Clinton insider and the epicenter of all Clinton connected power in Washington DC, Tony Podesta, is stepping down from the super-lobbying group that bears his name.
According to a report in politico, Tony Podesta has discovered he is also in the cross hairs of the Special Prosecutor investigation by Robert Mueller.  Additionally, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked for the Podesta lobbying group to advance the interests of Ukraine and Russia in Washington DC.

There is some strong DC speculation that Manafort’s earlier indictment may lead to, or have been intended to, leverage cooperation with special counsel Mueller regarding the Podesta firm investigation.
Federal records show two firms doing work on behalf of Paul Manafort’s Ukraine front group beginning in April of 2012: The Podesta Group and Mercury Group.
Despite the lobbying activity neither group was disclosed as legally required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) until April of 2017. Documents: SEE HERE and SEE HERE

(Via Politico) Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.

(more…)

Victoria Toensing is the lawyer for the confidential FBI informant who exposed Russian nuclear officials engaging in bribery, extortion, and money laundering during their attempts to corner the U.S. uranium market under the Obama administration.
In 2010 the Obama administration rushed through a Uranium One purchase of U.S. uranium rights through CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.) approval during a review period lasting only 90-days.
It is now reported, during the CFIUS review the FBI (Director Robert Mueller) was investigating Russia’s government involvement in the deal. Normal a CFIUS review takes more than six months, often years, for approval.
During an interview with WMAL “Mornings on the Mall” Victorial Toensing states her client, the primary FBI informant, was forced to sign a non disclosure agreement (NDA) and threatened with legal action if he shared the content of the FBI investigation with congress.
Attorney Toensing also states during the 2012 election, lawyers from the Eric Holder Justice Department threatened her client, and later Loretta Lynch’s DOJ coerced him into dropping a lawsuit. “He was told that if he didn’t dismiss the case his reputation and liberty were in jeopardy.” Listen Below:

.

“When he tried to bring some of the allegations to light in the lawsuit last year, the Obama Justice Department threatened him with loss of freedom. They said they would bring a criminal case against him for violating an NDA.”

(more…)

MAGAnomics is a generally common sense approach toward achieving dynamic growth in the U.S. economy.  Left-leaning economic experts (most of them) are gnashing their teeth as the America-First MAGAnomic principles are paying YUGE initial dividends.
Reuters News is forced to painfully publish the positive numbers; yet they talk down the economy despite the reality.  Again, using the Reuters information we’ll dig into the economic news, and deconstruct their dismissive ideologically-driven narrative.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy unexpectedly maintained a brisk pace of growth in the third quarter as an increase in inventory investment and a smaller trade deficit offset a hurricane-related slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in construction.

♦First, “unexpectedly”. Yeah, it’s always ‘unexpected’ when the results run counter to the preferred outcome.  Notice, “inventory investment”, that’s parseltongue verbiage to describe manufacturing and production infrastructure investment.  It’s not just “inventory” as in “unsold products”, what’s happening is companies are investing in growth and building out production capacity.  The “inventory” is actually equipment (being purchased) and operational infrastructure (being built), two measured GDP values.
(more…)

House intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announces the congressional probe into the Russian Uranium One deal.  As described, the initial part of the probe will be to discover if there was actually an ongoing FBI investigation into the company at the time the Obama administration gave the green light for the controversial purchase.
In order to answer that originating question the DOJ has released an FBI informant from their non disclosure agreement (NDA).  If it is confirmed the FBI was actually conducting an investigation – the additional lines of probative value will encompass how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved the purchase during an ongoing FBI investigation.

.
If the FBI was investigating, and if CFIUS approved the purchase despite the investigation, then it appears congress would move to the third probative point “why”?
Within the third probative point is where the possibility of a quid-pro-quo with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes into play.  The financial dynamic behind Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation is substantive, factual, generally well cited, and potentially illegal albeit difficult to prove.
It is within that third dynamic that WikiLeaks previously outlined the exceptionally coincidental connections which align with the quid-pro-quo and encompass Hillary/Bill Clinton, John Podesta, and Russian business and governmental interests.
(more…)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced today that construction for prototypes of the Border Wall has concluded in San Diego.

The prototype construction phase is complete. CBP will now test and evaluate the finished products, provided by industry, to determine which wall design elements meets our needs. This testing and evaluation period will last 30 to 60 days.
“Border security contributes to our overall national security and relies on a combination of border infrastructure, technology, personnel, and partnerships,” said acting Deputy Commissioner Ron Vitiello.
(more…)

On Tuesday of this week the Senate voted, narrowly, to strike down a CFPB banking rule that was set to begin in 2019.  The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), is the watchdog financial agency created by Congress in the aftermath of the mortgage mess.
The CFPB rule, five years in the making, would have allowed individual and class action lawsuits against financial institutions by consumers and lawyers instead of arbitration to settle disputes.  The Democrats and those who supported the rule framed the arguments around protecting consumers from predatory banks. However, those against the rule pointed out the cost to smaller banks, community banks and credit unions.
Big banks and multinational financial enterprises (ie. The Big Club) can afford massive groups of lawyers to defend their interests; smaller community banks and credit unions cannot afford such litigious costs.  The K-Street lobbyists were against the regulatory rule as a natural outcome of their general disposition toward regulation.  However, K-Street was specifically ambivalent to the final senate vote because increased systemic regulation supports their competitive ability to dominate the U.S. financial system.

Richard Condray is the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and was appointed in 2012 to a five year term by President Obama.  Condray is anticipated to step down soon and run for Ohio governor.  President Trump will appoint his replacement and will likely appoint someone who is focused on protecting consumers but also understands the important need to expand capital investment into Main Street USA.

President Trump’s political opposition will frame any appointee as a person likely to remove regulation; thus will continue their political argument that POTUS Trump is removing all of the regulatory “progress” installed by President Obama. However, those who have followed the goals and objectives of President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin will note the administration regulatory goals are inherently different from all prior approaches.

(more…)

A stunning admission today from the U.S. State Department considering all of the dismissive declarations from the Clintons, the FBI, DOJ and State Department before the 2016 election.
The State Deparment now admits there’s over 40,000 Clinton emails, created on her personal server, they’ve never even read:

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that the State Department revealed in a federal court hearing that it has yet to process 40,000 of 72,000 pages of Hillary Clinton records that the FBI recovered last year.
The revelation came during a federal court hearing in Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails that were sent or received during her tenure from February 2009 to January 31, 2013 (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)). The case is before Judge James E. Boasberg.

(more…)