Repost:

A “Countermeasure” is a measure or action taken to counter or offset a preceding one.

Politically speaking, the deployment of countermeasures is a tactic used by professional politicians in Washington DC to counter incoming public inquiry and protect themselves from anger expressed by the electorate.
Weaponized government takes action and creates victims. Beyond the strategy – the countermeasures are politicians assigned a role to control the incoming righteous inquiry from voters who find out about the weaponized or corrupt governmental action.
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Imran Awan pleaded guilty today to one count of bank fraud.  However, all of the more serious charges; that were based on intelligence compromises and national security; and that naturally would implicate members of congress; were dropped and dispatched by federal prosecutors.
Add in the date of the announcement today, when everyone is headed to a long July 4th holiday weekend, and voilà we see the all-too-familiar Potomac Two-Step:

(Via Daily Caller)  An assistant US attorney said Tuesday he would not prosecute Imran Awan, a former systems administrator for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats, for any crimes on Capitol Hill in a plea agreement that had him plead guilty to one count of bank fraud.
Only one person sat at the prosecutors’ table: J.P. Coomey, who unsuccessfully prosecuted New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez for corruption and was only added to the case Monday. There was no sign of Michael Marando, who had previously led the prosecution.
Coomey did not object to the removal of Awan’s GPS monitor, said he would not oppose a sentence of probation, and agreed to drop charges against his wife, fellow former systems administrative Hina Alvi.  (continue reading)

Reminder Here

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte has filed a subpoena to compel open hearing testimony from FBI Agent Peter Strzok, July 10th, 2018 at 10:00am.
Chairman Goodlatte tweets notification (link); Committee Announces/Schedules (link)

Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 10:00 a.m., the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform will hold a joint hearing on “Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election: Testimony by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok.” The House Judiciary Committee today issued a subpoena to Peter Strzok – a former senior official in the FBI’s counterintelligence division – to testify publicly before the Committees regarding FBI and DOJ actions surrounding the 2016 presidential election. (link)

Strzok’s attorney has indicated he would not comply with the request: “Having sharpened their knives behind closed doors, the committee would now like to drag back Special Agent Strzok and have him testify in public — a request that we originally made and the committee denied,” Goelman said. “What’s being asked of Special Agent Strzok is to participate in what anyone can recognize as a trap.”  (CNN Reports)

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks with a group of narrative engineers from the White House driveway.

The executive suite corporate media are making moves of journalists who all circle around the recently indicted senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe. The motivation for the moves is transparent.
James Wolfe has pleaded not guilty. A trial seems likely. It is virtually guaranteed that many, if not all, of James Wolfe’s media contacts will become part of the trial record if he takes his defense all the way to criminal court without copping a plea deal. That means there are potentially dozens of reporters, and corporate media outlets, who might find themselves -and their contacts with Wolfe- in the headlines as part of the evidence.

Anticipating this possibility, yesterday Brian Ross departed ABC and today the New York Times begins dealing with deep throat journalist Ali Watkins.

(Via NYT) The New York Times demoted a reporter who acknowledged a romantic relationship with a Senate staffer who is suspected of leaking information to journalists.
Times editor Dean Baquet said Tuesday he would reassign the reporter, Ali Watkins, from the paper’s Washington bureau to New York in the wake of revelations that she had been involved with James Wolfe, the former head of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee. Watkins covered the committee for a number of publications, although not the Times.

Interestingly, the Times is upset with Watkins not revealing the executed search warrant that seized her records.
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By now everyone has reported about ABC journalist Brian Ross and his Producer Rhonda Swartz resigning from the network.  However, almost everyone pointing back to Ross’s fake news report on Michael Flynn in December; and almost no-one is pointing out the more obvious motive for the resignation.
Brian Ross was almost guaranteed to be “Reporter 4” in the federal indictment of Senate  former senior senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe.  The notorious Senate Intelligence “leaker”.

CTH originally pointed this out when the details of the indictment were released (full pdf below), and research was possible to determine each reporter.  It did not come as a surprise to see the staff from this specific committee leaking secret and top-secret classified information.  The committee rots from the head down.
According to the indictment Wolfe was notified by the FBI of a classified intelligence leak investigation on/around October 30th, 2017.  From the indictment we see that Wolfe was interviewed and confronted by FBI investigators on December 15th, 2017.  After admitting he lied to those FBI investigators Wolfe resigned from his position.
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Pontificating economic globalists are stuck between empirical good news and their preferred anti-Trump tariff narrative.  Economic media like the Wall Street Journal are filled with angst, as Trump’s manufacturing MAGAnomics continues to destroy their decades-long talking points and globalist preferences.

The analysis of June factory and manufacturing indicators from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) highlight an expanding reality: increased production, increased new orders, increased employment, and demand outpacing supplies and transportation capacity.  Yes, all of this means the Main Street U.S. economic engine is firing on all cylinders.  We can only imagine what the Q2 numbers will reflect when it’s all rolled up.

ISM DATA – “Comments from the panel reflect continued expanding business strength. Demand remains strong, with the New Orders Index at 60 percent or above for the 14th straight month, and the Customers’ Inventories Index remaining low. The Backlog of Orders Index continued to expand, reading at 60 percent of higher for the third consecutive month. Consumption, described as production and employment, continues to expand in spite of labor, skill and material shortages.

What does this mean in blue collar language?  Short term: OVERTIME pay folks…. maximum earnings possibilities as demand for factory and manufacturing has all employment working maximum production shifts. Long term: upward wage pressure, jobs, jobs, jobs.
For the Truck Drivers?  Work, work, work.  You got a rig, they need it hauled. Everywhere.
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Today U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue announced another campaign to protect and defend his Wall Street contributors against initiatives that benefit Main Street U.S.A. This is not the first time, and unfortunately it will likely not be the last time.
For a great historic reference consider THIS ARTICLE from 2014; when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced their direct attack against the Tea Party backed candidates that threatened to remove the massive lobbying power of Tom Donohue’s corrupt officials. That 2014 reference point has two parts. I strongly urge anyone who would defend the U.S. CoC approach to read both.

The overwhelming majority of economic punditry and opinion come from salespeople on the purchased payroll, direct and indirect, of the chamber. It is one of the most, check that, it is the most corrupt and abusive enterprise in the history of our nation. They are pulling out a very familiar playbook.

(Reuters) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday denounced President Donald Trump’s handling of a global trade dispute, issuing a report that argued the tariffs imposed by Washington and retaliation by its partners would boomerang badly on the American economy.

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President Donald Trump meets with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House.
During remarks President Trump notes a phone call with Mexico’s winning presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador; and ongoing interviews/discussions with possible Supreme Court nominees.  [Four SCOTUS nominees were interviewed today and three or four more will come in the next few days.]
On the trade front President Trump notes the ongoing issues with the WTO (World Trading Organization), and a possible confrontation looming over structural changes needed to reset global trade disparities and establish open markets.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders conducts the White House Press Briefing for Monday July 2nd, 2018.  Anticipated Start time 4:00pm EDT.
UPDATE: Video Added