“It can’t be done”, they said. “There’s no way Trump can achieve 4.0% economic growth” they said.  The Congressional Budget Office said economic projections were “improbable”, they said….  “Impossible”, they said.
Yeah, well, Donald Trump said: “Impossible is just the starting point“.  And now:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is on track to expand at a 4.0 percent annualized pace in the third quarter with inventory investment contributing 1.12 percentage points to growth, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Thursday. (read more)

How is this possible?  Well, if you’ve never had to wash your hands with Lava – it might seem impossible.  For those who have washed with Lava, it’s simple common sense.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, is the growth in value of all goods and services produced within the economy over a specified period of time.  A key part of that equation is the sum total of exported goods minus imported goods is part of the measure.  Only the stuff created in the U.S. increases the growth dynamic.  If you import more, the GDP shrinks.  It’s simple arithmetic.
If you grow exports, and maintain a constant on imported products, the net lowering of the trade deficit adds to GDP growth. It’s not a hard equation.  If our economy is making more stuff, our economy is growing.
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President Donald J Trump has done a remarkable job creating a seismic political shift that has gone far beyond drawing a line in the republican sand.  Heck, Donald Trump openly dug a trench on his pre-selected battle space within all political encampments.

Without any apology or hidden motive, President Trump filled the trench with a highly explosive electorate fuel (the result from years of Republican lies and deceit), and boldly stood behind his formation twirling a Zippo while looking toward the deceivers.
Today, it sounds like President Trump hands off the Zippo to Steve Bannon:

“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents — on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America.”  ~ Stephen K Bannon

(Via Bloomberg) […] According to a person close to Bannon, he met Wednesday with conservative billionaire Robert Mercer, co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies and a major financial supporter of both Trump and Bannon’s efforts. The two mapped out a path ahead for Bannon’s post-White House career and discussed how Trump could get his agenda back on track.

The following evening, Mercer and several other major Republican donors had dinner with Trump to share their thinking, and Mercer also had a private meeting with Trump to pledge to redouble his efforts to support Bannon and advance Trump’s agenda.  (read more)

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If you are only listening to corporate media presentations you would be left thinking the political strategy of Democrats against President Trump is working.
Except you would be wrong.
VERY wrong.

While the overwhelming majority of corporate media punditry and opinion broadcasts paint a picture of President Trump and the larger republican/deplorable party in retreat, the actual data, outside the influence of media, shows a completely divergent truth.
The Democrats are in serious trouble; and it’s only getting worse.
The latest self-admissions by the larger American electorate on Party Affiliation show the number of people identifying as Democrat has slipped to 28%.  That matches the lowest number of registered democrats recorded in the past decade.
For comparison, in November 2016, just before the presidential election, the number of registered voters identifying as Democrat was 31%.  Conversely the number of registered voters identifying as Republican is also 28%.  However, that’s actually an increase of one point from November when the number was 27%.
However, party affiliation only represents one small part of the data dynamic.
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In direct contradiction to the current media narrative, most Americans support keeping historic confederate monuments and memorials in place.

NPR and PBS teamed up with Marist to poll Americans on their views of historic confederate monuments. [Full pdf below].  Despite the severe bias as presented within the Alt-Left poll the vast majority of Americans support keeping the monuments.

Obviously polling should never be used to determine whether historic monuments are removed; however, the intent here appears to be measuring the national sentiment against the backdrop of a heavily pushed media narrative.  Republican support for keeping confederate monuments is 86%, Independents 61% and Democrat 44%.
However, in order to facilitate the agenda of the narrative, Marist skewed the poll with a political sample of: Dem 36, Rep 26, Ind 37.  The national current party registration is Dem 28, Rep 28 and Ind 41.  As typical for polls intended to deliver specific ideological results, the Maris poll over samples Democrats by 8 points.
If the accurate national party registration numbers were used, obviously the support for the monuments would be significantly higher than NPR/PBS presented conclusion.
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This was not unanticipated.  Those who have read CTH in the past two months will have noted the writing was clearly on the wall.  Especially in the aftermath of the American Prospect article and the downstream consequence that Secretary of State Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Mattis were fielding questions from media about why Bannon was undermining them -and President Trump- on national security policy via North Korea.
In the American Prospect article Steve Bannon also undermined U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson directly, and was far out of line with this:

“I’m changing out people at East Asian Defense; I’m getting hawks in. I’m getting Susan Thornton [acting head of East Asian and Pacific Affairs] out at State.” ~ Steve Bannon

This type of statement was so over-the-top arrogant, and exhibits a ridiculous level of power-lust and expressed self-importance, I asked the question: ” Who exactly is Steve Bannon to think that he can marginalize the cabinet? And against the division narrative within the White House why the heck would he push that opinion publicly? Is he trying to push the envelope and get fired?“.
Well, the White House Press Office has confirmed that political strategist Steve Bannon is no longer working at the White House.

On timing, it makes sense Mr. Bannon would exit today given the full national security meeting in Camp David attendance by: President Trump, VP Pence, General John Kelly, HR McMaster, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, Secretary Mnuchin, ODNI Dan Coats, CIA Director Pompeo, AG Jeff Sessions, Ambassador Haley, Joint Chief Chairman General Dunford, etc.
Can you imagine the awkwardness of Steve Bannon being in the room, amid the administration team, given the nature of his public outline?  No way.

(Via Reuters) A source close to Bannon said he was not expected to resign on his own. “Bannon is going to make them fire him,” the source said. “He’s not going to officially resign. He’s still been doing the work. He’s been working on projects.”
The New York Times, however, cited a person close to Bannon as saying he had submitted his resignation on Aug. 7 and that it was to be announced this week, but had been delayed by the fallout from a rally by white nationalists in Virginia over the weekend.

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If you were to review how CNN and corporate mainstream media talk politics, well, according to their echo-chambered versions of President Trump, each week that passes is the worst week ever in presidential history.  Seriously, no joke. President Trump has been in office for 30 weeks, and 20 of those weeks have been called “the worst” by media.
However, if you actually engage with people living their lives and not focused on who the media blame for the latest round of horrid offenses; well, then you might recognize the scope of how over-emphasized and out-of-touch the media perspective really is.
CBS and The Associated Press each found themselves picking their corporate media jaws off the floor when they actually did ask people.  You know, ordinary people.  Folks like you and me.  The media didn’t anticipate the power of common sense to see through their BS.
With the president under fire voters have some things to say, and it’s not what the media thought. CBS Mark Strassmann begins by speaking to three women who voted for President Trump. Watch:

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But it’s not just three random republican women that support President Trump. The media pile-on is so gobsmackingly over-the-top, it is only making Godzilla Trump stronger; as The Associated Press found out:
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Breaking and Ongoing – In a second related terrorist incident approximately 70 miles south of Barcelona, another terrorist cell -or additional members from the originating cell- in the coastal town of Cambrils Spain has been confronted by police.

According to most recent reporting (See Reuters) at least six civillians have been injured and up to four jihadists shot and killed.  Catalan police believe attackers killed in Spain’s Cambrils are linked to the earlier attack in Barcelona and an explosion in Alcanar Spain the prior evening.

(Via Daily Mail) […] The terrorists, who police say were attempting to carry out a fresh attack, were reported to have explosives strapped around their waists when they were gunned down. One of them has been arrested.

Reports suggested the group had attempted to carry out a similar attack to that in Barcelona by driving a van at pedestrians but their vehicle overturned and they were shot by officers.

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(Via Fox News) Imran Awan, a former IT aide for Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was indicted Thursday on four counts including bank fraud and making false statements. The indictment also includes his wife Hina Alvi.

The grand jury decision in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia comes roughly a month after Awan was arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia trying to board a plane to Pakistan, where his family is from.
Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats have been on investigators’ radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft, and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.
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The ‘big ugly’ is inevitable. We all know it.  The only thing yet to be determined is the timing.  My spidey hunch tells me there are multiple possible detonation moments depending on sequencing.
Today, President Trump violates Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer’s golden rule regarding incumbent Senators.  President Trump tweeted support for a challenger:

Think about it.  President Trump has quietly placed triggering policy around the base of several UniParty issues:

♦China Trade Imbalance and North Korea Denuclearization; ♦the ongoing NAFTA renegotiations and future trade deals; ♦the fiscal year 2018 budget and associated MAGAnomic policy; ♦the southern border wall and immigration enforcement; ♦infrastructure and prioritization of spending; ♦no more stupid wars; ♦the repeal of ObamaCare and tax reform to benefit the middle-class workforce. 

These are not Bannonisms, these are core and central issues important to President Trump on an inherently personal and intrinsic level.
With some nuanced adjustments to reflect the current international challenges (ie. adding DPRK to the China objectives), these are essentially the fundamental reasons why candidate Trump came down the escalator in 2015.
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Jihadists have used vehicles to mow down their victims in numerous terrorist attacks in Europe.  The London Bridge Attack in the U.K, and the attack in Nice, France as well as the Berlin, Germany Christmas Market attack are three high-profile recent examples.
However, after today’s terrorist attack in Barcelona Spain using the same approach of vehicles as weapons, CNN has discovered the real source of inspiration for using cars and trucks for Islamic terrorism.
According to CNN reporter Jim Scuitto and CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, the terrorist attack today in Barcelona was the result of a copy-cat from,… wait for it,… yep, Charlottesville Virginia.  No, seriously; I’m.Not.Kidding.  WATCH:

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