Tag Archives: What Happened

Oct 27 2017

BREAKING: Grand Jury Approves First Charges in Mueller Investigation…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 27, 2017 by

Washington (CNN) A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment. (read more)

(Article Link) – (Tweet Link)

First wave of arrests to begin on Monday?

 

Oct 27 2017

MAGAnomics – Third Quarter GDP Growth of 3% Exceeds “Economist Expectations”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 27, 2017 by

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.

♦Second, “smaller trade deficit”. Again, as we noted, the reductions in imports have a doubling impact on GDP growth because imports are deducted from GDP in the economic equation.  If you make a $100 widget in America and don’t import a $100 widget from China, the GDP grows by $200 (the combined value of the produced product and the absence of a deduction for the imported product).  Notice no economic publication is giving Trump credit for the “Made in USA”, America First, policy and promotion.

The economy grew at a 3.1 percent pace in the second quarter. It was the first time since 2014 that it experienced growth of 3 percent or more for two quarters in a row. Economists had forecast GDP increasing at a 2.5 percent rate in the third quarter.

[…]  Post-hurricane labor market, retail sales and industrial production data already show an acceleration in underlying economic activity. Economists expect the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates for a third time this year in December.

“Fed officials will be encouraged by both the overall performance and the composition of growth in the third quarter, which confirms the U.S. economic expansion remains on solid ground,” said Michelle Girard, chief U.S. economist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut.

Of course the Fed will increase rates.  However, FED policy is still disconnected from “Main Street”.   FED policy is focused on inflation.  We are still in the space between two economies, “Wall Street” and “Main Street”.   FED policy is designed around the Wall Street economic model they created over 20+ years.

Remember, the FED had consigned the “Main Street” economy to be a “service driven economy”; it is Trump’s MAGAnomics that has disrupted this design and is bringing back a production and manufacturing economy, a middle-class economy.  As such FED policy needs both time and new leadership to come into synergy with an entirely different set of economic policy initiatives created by President Trump.

[…] Businesses accumulated inventories at a $35.8 billion pace in the third quarter, leading to inventory investment adding 0.73 percentage point to third-quarter GDP growth. Inventories contributed just over a tenth of a percentage point to output in the prior period. Economists expect a modest boost from inventories in the fourth quarter.

These “inventories” include raw material purchases for future products.  Remember, companies are smart… the free market is smart…. production companies know when to forecast higher import prices on any raw material.  Like you, companies will purchase items now that they predict will increase in price later.  This boosts the gross margin when the final product is assembled for sale.

When final product assembly is timed when the domestic economy is ‘hot’, the final product has a higher selling price.  Lower initial purchase costs for raw materials combined with higher selling prices equals bigger profits.  It’s easy peasy business 101.

Though export growth slowed in the last quarter, that was eclipsed by the steepest pace of decline in imports in three years, leaving a smaller trade deficit, which added four-tenths of a percentage point to GDP growth. Trade has contributed to output for three quarters in a row.

Business investment in equipment rose at an 8.6 percent rate, increasing for a fourth straight quarter.

Import purchases dropping, thanks to Trump policy and promotion of ‘Made in USA’ programs, leads to domestic companies buying equipment to ‘Make in USA’.  DUH…

[…]  Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, slowed to a 2.4 percent rate as hurricanes Harvey and Irma hurt incomes.

Consumer spending rose at a robust 3.3 percent pace in the second quarter and is likely to accelerate in the fourth quarter with a separate report on Friday showing consumer sentiment holding at lofty levels in October.

“Lofty levels”?  Writers at Reuters can’t even give Trump credit for the highest level of consumer confidence in the past 40 years.

Despite the moderation in consumer spending, inflation perked up in the third quarter, likely as a result of disruptions to the supply chain caused by the hurricanes.

They don’t know what kicked up inflation, because they are stuck in their economic paradigms and not recognizing a tighter labor market… leads to increased wages… leads to increased prices… leads to increased inflation on products from within those labor markets.

This next part cracks me up:

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding food and energy, increased at a 1.3 percent rate. That followed a 0.9 percent pace of increase in the second quarter.

With inflation rising, income at the disposal of households increased at a 0.6 percent rate, braking sharply from the second-quarter’s strong 3.3 percent pace. (link)

As we have continually stated the FED doesn’t measure ‘highly consumable products’ in their inflation index (ie. food, fuel, energy costs).  These highly consumable products represent the largest part of the expenditures for households.  They are also domestic products.

Trump’s MAGAnomic Main Street (middle-class) policies, as executed with removal of regulation and increases in production etc., are driving down the price of food, fuel, oil and energy – all domestic products.  This lower cost-of-living approach, in conjunction with increased wages as a result of labor market, means a doubling effect on the incomes of middle-class Americans.   Stuff we use a lot costs less and we are simultaneously seeing wage increases.

If it wasn’t for the insufferable ObamaCare, GDP growth would be pushing 4% or higher because we’d have that much more available purchasing power.  However, remaining positive and not getting annoyed by that aspect, this is also why it’s very predictable to see tax reform putting even more spending fuel into your pocket….

All of that will drive GDP well beyond 5%; and when you combine our ability to spend, with U.S. companies making the stuff we want, and again less imports -and you know how imports deduct from GDP growth- well, the totality of it makes 6 or 7% growth seem very plausible….  Which is exactly what Steve Forbes predicted two years ago if Donald Trump became President Trump.

 

Oct 27 2017

House Intel Committee Announces Uranium One Probe – Three Distinct Components…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 27, 2017 by

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.

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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.

(Via WikiLeaks – October 2016) Part 1 of the Podesta Emails comprises 2,060 emails and 170 attachments and focuses on Mr Podesta’s communications relating to nuclear energy, and media handling over donations to the Clinton Foundation from mining and nuclear interests; 1,244 of the emails reference nuclear energy. The full collection includes emails to and from Hillary Clinton.

In April 2015 the New York Times published a story about a company called “Uranium One” which was sold to Russian government-controlled interests, giving Russia effective control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.

Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for the production of nuclear weapons, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of US government agencies.

Among the agencies that eventually signed off the deal was the State Department, then headed by Secretary Clinton. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) comprises, among others, the secretaries of the Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy.

As Russian interests gradually took control of Uranium One millions of dollars were donated to the Clinton Foundation between 2009 and 2013 from individuals directly connected to the deal including the Chairman of Uranium One, Ian Telfer.

Although Mrs Clinton had an agreement with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors to the Clinton Foundation, the contributions from the Chairman of Uranium One were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons.  [The foundation admission]

When the New York Times article was published the Clinton campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, strongly rejected the possibility that then-Secretary Clinton exerted any influence in the US goverment’s review of the sale of Uranium One, describing this possibility as “baseless”.

Mr Fallon promptly sent a memo to the New York Times with a rebuttal of the story (Podesta Email ID 1489).  In this memo, Mr Fallon argued:

“Apart from the fact that the State Department was one of just nine agencies involved in CFIUS, it is also true that within the State Department, the CFIUS approval process historically does not trigger the personal involvement of the Secretary of State. The State Department’s principal representative to CFIUS was the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs. During the time period in question, that position was held by Jose Fernandez. As you are aware, Mr Fernandez has personally attested that “Secretary Clinton never intervened with me on any CFIUS matter.”

What the Clinton campaign spokesman failed to disclose, however, was the fact that a few days before sending his rebuttal to the New York Times, Jose Fernandez wrote on the evening of the 17 April 2015 to John Podesta following a phone call from Mr Podesta (Email ID 2053):

“John, It was good to talk to you this afternoon, and I appreciate your taking the time to call. As I mentioned, I would like to do all I can to support Secretary Clinton, and would welcome your advice and help in steering me to the right persons in the campaign”.

Five days after this email (22 April 2015), Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon wrote a memo to the New York Times, declaring that “Jose Fernandez has personally attested that ‘Secretary Clinton never intervened with me on any CFIUS matter’,” but Fallon failed to mention that Fernandez was hardly a neutral witness in this case, considering that he had agreed with John Podesta to play a role in the Clinton campaign.

The emails show that the contacts between John Podesta and Jose Fernandez go back to the time of internal Clinton campaign concern about the then-forthcoming book and movie “Clinton Cash” by Peter Schweizer on the financial dealings of the Clinton Foundation.

In an email dated 29 March 2015 (Email ID 2059), Jose Fernandez writes to Podesta:

“Hi John, I trust you are getting a brief rest after a job well done. Thanks no doubt to your recommendation I have joined the CAP [Center for American Progress] board of trustees, which I’m finding extremely rewarding.”

Julian Assange

(Via New York Times) […] “Shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.”

Oct 26 2017

Report: Las Vegas Shooting Witness “Hero” Jose Campos Fled to Mexico Immediately After Shooting…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 25, 2017 by

If any more concerning information was needed to add fuel to growing skepticism of the official Mandalay Bay Massacre narrative the latest information is exponentially concerning.

According to border crossing documents provided to Fox News Tucker Carlson, the Mandalay Bay employee, eyewitness and security guard (labeled hero), Jose’ Campos, fled to Mexico immediately after the Las Vegas shooting and resurfaced a week later driving back through the San Diego crossing.

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Why officials would allow Campos to leave the country immediately after the shooting only leads to further speculation about the official story, his attachment to a manufactured narrative and his immigration status.

Obviously without honest, consistent or reliable information from officials; and considering their official position not to conduct any further press conferences; and accepting Jose Campos is now being tightly managed by Mandalay Bay to include no further media questioning; speculation will fill the void.

That said, the behavior outlined in the latest revelation would lend more credibility to the original concern that Jose Campos is an illegal alien and returned to the U.S. only after gaining assurances from national officials (FBI/DHS) that his status would not be used against him in turn for cooperation.

If Jesus “Jose” Campos is indeed an illegal alien almost all of the challenging and conflicting reports from law enforcement, Mandalay Bay and the FBI begin to reconcile.

Think about it. The legal risk to MGM as a corporation, and Mandalay Bay hotel and Casino specifically, becomes transparent if their employment verification standards would allow an illegal alien to find a job as a security guard.

This would explain the local and national concerns within the larger political and national security apparatus. Think about how dramatically the national conversation could shift if the FBI and Department of Homeland Security had to admit the security of thousands of people in Las Vegas was compromised by non secure hiring practices.

This would also explain why Campos was unarmed; he would not pass a state or federal background check to carry a firearm. Was Jose Campos in fear of his status being discovered? Did this delay or impede his action on Sunday night October 1st?

Factually, the possibility of Campos illegal status would represent a transparent risk to all stakeholders in the event and lead directly toward a position of legal amnesty.

STAKEHOLDERS: ♦Las Vegas, almost entirely dependent on tourism, needs to present an image of safety and security. ♦Las Vegas Metropolitan Police need to present an image of competency and security control. ♦Mandalay Bay, the MGM corporation and the larger hotel and casino industry, need to reduce any culpability and liability; as well as portray their action as prudent and secure before the attack, and competent in the aftermath. ♦Federal crisis management with direct influence over investigative authorities (FBI and DHS) need to portray an impression of national security and control.

Previously, Ellen Degeneres, an insider within the entertainment industry, and a stakeholder in the outcome, was a friendly venue to control Campos interview and shape the “hero” narrative.

(Via Daily Mail) Mandalay Bay shooting hero Jesus Campos was pressured into giving his only interview to Ellen DeGeneres because the giant company that owns the Las Vegas casino feared he would spill the beans about the shooting timeline if he was grilled by real journalists, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.

MGM is worried that families of the 58 people murdered as well as many of the 546 injured in the Mandalay Bay massacre will launch lawsuits potentially worth billions of dollars against the company, sources tell DailyMail.com.

And they thought Campos might not keep his story straight under the pressure of the TV lights and tough questioning. (link)

Las Vegas investigative authorities (LVMPD and FBI) have stated they will provide no additional press conferences or information on the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Oct 25 2017

Hillary’s What Happened – She Lost & It Was Her Fault!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Oct 25, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Hillary is running around pitching her book – What Happened. Of course, we all know the answer – she lost. The problem is that she takes no blame for that and like a fool who buys the market at the top, they come up with conspiracy theories to blame everyone else for their failed investment.

The four people she is blaming all has to do with the leaked emails, none of which has she EVER claimed they were fake or altered. So her whole argument is that someone leaked the truth. Her own staff said she set up a private server so she could be free from a FOIA request. If she did not do that, Comey would not have had to investigate.

The last on the list is Richard Murdock. One member of the press who was against her when she had everyone else in her pocket from the New York Times to CNN, seems a bit absurd. The press was biased in her favor – not Trumps’s.

Hillary has also blamed women for not voting for her. She obviously has just refused to accept any responsibility whatsoever. Who cannot forget she would not even go out to thank her supporters when she lost. She sent Podesta to go do it. No candidate in history has ever been that upset at losing that they did not address their supporters that night.

Hillary has displayed for the whole world to see that she has no real character to be a leader of anything, no less the free world