From an initial report of 3.0% to a revised report of 3.3% second quarter growth. [BEA report HERE]  Not a surprise, when we factor in the prediction we presented after the first quarter GDP.

However, it is nice to see the BEA finally admit, “The increase in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP.”  I digress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy rebounded this spring from a first-quarter downturn due to fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

In an upgrade from its first estimate in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — expanded at a 3.3% annual pace from April through June after shrinking 0.5% in the first three months of 2025. The department had initially estimated second-quarter growth at 3%.

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The Wall Street Journal wrote the hit piece against DNI Tulsi Gabbard, sourced to two “people familiar with the matter,” and “three other people with knowledge of the situation.”  They all needed to coordinate with the WSJ. Think about it.

The substance of the story is that among the 37 current and former Intelligence Community officials Tulsi Gabbard recently stripped of their security clearances, was an “undercover CIA agent” located within one of those agencies.

The story is written to say DNI Tulsi Gabbard should have vetted the list with the CIA for a longer period of time before she took action. Therefore, she is not doing her job correctly, or something.  The CIA was compromised by Tulsi Gabbard removing the security clearance of one of their hidden agents within the U.S. Government.

Before getting to the story at hand, just stop and think of what the story is selling.  The article says the placement of CIA agents throughout the administration’s agencies is commonplace.  The CIA Director is not necessarily aware of these CIA operatives or operations that are taking place within the government.  That point is one well worth thinking about.

However, there’s another larger point that will fly past most casual observers.  The Intelligence Community (IC), and let’s accept this one is likely the CIA (directorate of analysis) from the structure of the political hit, is leaking against DNI Tulsi Gabbard.  Again, think. The issue at the heart of the CIA complaint is null and void unless the CIA publicly complains about it.

If there was a valid, genuine, legitimate and valuable CIA asset within the 37 names who lost their security clearances, the issue would be quickly and quietly resolved by just not taking the action against that person.  Saying nothing, doing nothing, makes the “mistake” (if that’s what it was) disappear.

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing from the Brady Room.  The anticipated start time is 1:00pm ET, with livestream links below:

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India is now facing a 50% import tariff against the majority of their goods (electronics and pharmaceuticals exempted). However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed not to yield to the pressure. Modi said the world was witnessing a “politics of economic selfishness.”

For approximately a decade many western countries including the U.S. have heaped effusive praise on India as corporations viewed the massive Indian population, the world’s largest democracy, as both workers and consumers.  However, after the western sanctions against Russia were delivered, India -a BRICS nation- began pulling back from western alignment and influence.

Western sanctions map against Russia (yellow = agree with USA).

What we are witnessing now is one of the ramifications of the U.S. forcefully putting an “us or them” aspect into the strategic economic relationship, where “them” is Russia.  Currently, India is not flinching.

One could make the argument that undeveloped regions in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) contain the majority of the valuable rare earth minerals and magnets the ‘western’ nations need for manufacturing.  BRICS has a pressure point to apply leverage, but no global trade currency, if the trade conflict escalates.

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Against the example of the U.S. Government taking a 10% stake in Intel, a private technology company who manufactures microchips, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlines the parameters where the Trump administration would consider taking a stake in private sector companies.

Secretary Lutnick notes that when a company comes to the U.S. government for assistance or benefit, the government -ultimately the taxpayer- should gain an equity stake in that company.  WATCH:

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Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio talks about his perspective on Labor Day 2025.  WATCH:

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Continuing the record of being the most transparent administration in history, President Trump will be holding a cabinet meeting today at 11:00am and the media is invited to participate in the first part of the event.

Livestream Links Below:

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The short answer is no; he did not.

Was NSA Director Mike Rogers aware that political spying was conducted through the use of searches on the NSA database?  Yes.  Did NSA Director Mike Rogers take action in April 2016 to stop the searches within the NSA database that were entirely due to political surveillance?  Yes.

Six months later, October 20, 2016, the extensive review of all the political surveillance searches done from November of 2015 to April of 2016 was completed; the NSA compliance officer briefed Director Rogers. Six days later on October 26, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers then informed the FISA court of the unlawful searches and his action to address the issue.

One month later on November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers went to see President-Elect Donald Trump in Trump Tower, New York.  –SEE HERE– Director Rogers never told his boss DNI, James Clapper.  The very next day, Friday November 18, 2016, The Washington Post reported on a recommendation in “October” that Mike Rogers be removed from his NSA position.

“The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed.  The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter.  […]  In a move apparently unprecedented for a military officer, Rogers, without notifying superiors, traveled to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower. That caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters.”

Notice how the WaPo conflates the two issues. (1) Meeting with Trump (Nov), and (2) the recommendation to fire him (Oct).  The October recommendation to fire Rogers was likely based on the outcome of his decision to fully stop “about queries” of the NSA database and speak to the FISA court.

The recommendation to fire Rogers preceded his visit to Donald Trump, though the IC effort may have provided some additional motivation for the Rogers visit itself.

NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York November 17, 2016, when a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) was set up for President-elect Trump to use following the November 8, 2016, election.

The next day, November 18, 2016, the Trump Transition Team announced they were moving all transition activity to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. –SEE HERE– Where they interviewed and discussed the most sensitive positions to fill.  Specifically, Defense, State, CIA and ODNI.

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Ms. Lisa Cook has vowed to fight the removal effort of President Trump through her attorneys. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022,” Cook said in a statement to POLITICO.

On a Truth Social Post, President Trump announced his decision to remove Lisa Cook from her position on the FED board of governors, due to the criminal referral which alleges she falsified information on a mortgage application.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top law enforcement officials held a press briefing in Brooklyn, New York, after Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia pled guilty in federal court.  WATCH:

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