Today President Trump will be recognizing a career of accomplishment by presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former New York Yankee Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera.  The anticipated start time is 2:00pm EDT.
Update: Video Added

(White House) Today, President Donald J. Trump will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mariano Rivera.  During his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, Mariano Rivera established himself as the greatest relief pitcher of all time. Signed by the New York Yankees in 1990, Mr. Rivera would become a 13-time All-Star and 5-time World Series champion. He was the first player in the history of the sport to be elected unanimously into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Off the field, through the Mariano Rivera Foundation, he has provided education and inspiration to children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, empowering them to achieve better futures. The United States proudly honors Mariano Rivera for being a legend of the game of baseball and for his commitment to improving America’s communities.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss several ongoing political issues.
In the first two-thirds of the interview Leader McCarthy discusses Iran attacking the Saudi oil facility, and the ramifications therein. Speaker Nancy Pelosi holding back the USMCA hoping to get past the Canadian election; and the current field of 2020 democrat candidates. McCarthy holds the opinion that Elizabeth Warren will be the Democrat candidate for President.
In the last third of the interview (@11:15) McCarthy discusses the upcoming IG report on FISA abuse.  McCarthy believes: Andrew McCabe will be indicted; the IG report will identify culpability for James Comey, and the construct of a soft coup will be highlighted.

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By now everyone is familiar with the Lawfare network; an alliance of ideological political interests inside and outside government who use the law to achieve their objectives.  [Specific Example Here]

During the Obama administration the Lawfare group: (1) weaponized the IRS for political targeting; (2) weaponized the DOJ and FBI for political targeting; (3) weaponized the intelligence community for political activism; (4) created new legal theories around ‘disparate impact’ to weaponize the National Labor Relations Board; and generally used embedded officials to advance far-left political interests across the spectrum of govt.

After they lost the 2016 election the Lawfare group immediately: (1) worked to delegitimize the presidency of Donald Trump; (2) delegitimize National Security Adviser General Flynn; (3) target, disempower and isolate AG Jeff Session; (4) delegitimize AG Bill Barr and the institution of the FBI outside their control; (5) delegitimize DHS, Border Patrol and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE); and (6) delegitimize any institution or office that would now be removing or overturning their former Lawfare constructs.
What we are seeing today from the Lawfare Alliance appears as a designed effort to continue this overall agenda; now focused on delegitimizing the Supreme Court of the United States.

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This is funny in so many ways; especially for CTH readers who have a far better-than-ordinary understanding of the big picture Trump goals around China.
(1) CNBC tweeted this story last night (note the date/time). (2) It is written exclusively from the perspective of the Goldman Sachs analysts who represent the U.S. multinational position. (3) However, the article was actually written on May 12, 13, 2019.

What is funny about CNBC pushing this story, NOW, is how the claims within the CNBC story can be fact checked; and their predictions are, well, absurd (especially in hindsight).   Keep in mind this was written in May, and tweeted last night for some reason:

(Via CNBC) “Goldman Sachs said the cost of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last year against Chinese goods has fallen “entirely” on American businesses and households, with a greater impact on consumer prices than previously expected.

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Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway appears on Fox News Sunday for an interview.  Bill Hemmer is filling in for Chris Wallace.  The recent Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia oil production is the top issue covered.
Additionally, Ms. Conway discusses John Bolton’s replacement as National Security Adviser, current WH positions on legislation to restrict firearm ownership, the ongoing negotiations with China on trade, the impeachment nonsense and the democrat 2020 race.

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This interview with former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker was Friday evening. Mr. Whitaker gave a specific reference point for his expectation of the IG report on the circumstances surrounding the Carter Page FISA:

…”From where I sit, and from what I know, I think it is going to be fairly dramatic, what this investigation is going to show”…

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CTH Research Opinion – Carter Page was irrelevant to the FBI objective.  The FBI/DOJ goal was to get the Steele Dossier into official investigative position so they could investigate.  The dossier claims were the cornerstone to launch the Mueller probe; but the dossier was only a tool for Mueller; not the goal.  The goal for Mueller and team was to generate evidence of obstruction…. which would be used for impeachment.
Or put another way…
To get impeachment, they needed obstruction.  To get obstruction they needed an investigation.  To get the investigation they needed evidence (the dossier). To change the dossier from oppo-research to evidence they needed a target.  The target was Carter Page.
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Iranian backed Houthi terrorists used ten drones to attack Saudi oil production facilities in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province.  The attack caused Saudi Arabia to shut down half of their crude production facilities; repairs are underway.

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In response to the attack President Trump called Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MbS) to offer his support:

White House – Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to offer his support for Saudi Arabia’s self-defense. The United States strongly condemns today’s attack on critical energy infrastructure. Violent actions against civilian areas and infrastructure vital to the global economy only deepen conflict and mistrust. The United States Government is monitoring the situation and remains committed to ensuring global oil markets are stable and well supplied. (read more)

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National security attorney Bradley Moss and former assistant attorney general John Yoo appear on Fox News to discuss the issues around a constructed Russian conspiracy; a politically corrupt special counsel; the pending IG report on possible FISA abuse; and the ongoing predicate review by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

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The recession-hoping pundits took more blows to their remaining credibility today when both the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) deliver excellent economic results from August that continue to exceed MSM expectations.
The Commerce Dept. announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlights retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year.   These excellent results come on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.

The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July, when Amazon held its two-day, blowout Prime Day sale. (link)

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In a quiet admission of food dependency, China purchased 600,000 tonnes of soybeans yesterday (link), and simultaneously announced that U.S. pork and soybean imports would be exempt from further tariff increases.
The surface message Beijing is selling, surrounds their magnanimous panda narrative of reaching out to diminish trade friction.  However, below the surface everyone knows China cannot feed itself,and if food prices keep rising they could likely have growing unrest.

Beijing’s decision to not enhance tariffs of pork and soybeans is very self serving; particularly because China owns Smithfield foods, the largest producer of U.S. pork.  In essence China has lessened tariffs against their own company.

(SCMP) China has announced that it will exclude imports of US soybeans, pork and other farm goods from additional trade war tariffs, opening the door for significant purchases of agricultural products.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce made the exemption in response to the US’ decision of postpone an increase in the tariff rate on $250 billion of Chinese goods from October 1 to October 15.

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