Weekly Recap

Politics –

• Midterm Election
  • Republicans gained in the Senate, however, the number is still to be continued. Nelson (D), and  Sinema (D) are still pending vote totals. It is likely Sinema will win in Arizona, however, Nelson should lose in Florida. Mississippi will go Republican, but not until a runoff election later this month. These results will give the GOP 53 seats.
  • Democrats gained control of the House, and will decide the direction they take their party. They can investigate for two-years, or attempt to legislate. Newt Gingrich, and Mitch McConnell, two Republicans who were around during the Republican’s attempt at Impeaching Clinton have both reminded the Democrats that he [Clinton] ended up winning reelection, and gained in favorability. Time will tell.
• CNN’s Jim Acosta
  • Early Wednesday during Trump’s first press conference since the Midterms, Acosta and Trump sparred. What else is new? The incident took a turn, however, and a White House staffer attempted to grab the mic from Jim. He refused to hand over the microphone, and continued to ask questions, which led to a verbal chastising from Trump. The result was Mr. Acosta having his White House press credentials revoked.
• Attorney General Jeff Session
  • The widely anticipated resignation of AG Sessions happened later in the day Wednesday. The move has sparked a variety of controversy. First, most Democrats, and even Republican pundits have theorized this is a Constitutional Crisis. The rationale is Deputy Director Rob Rosenstein is next in line, however, Trump bypassed the appointment, and chose Matthew Whitaker. The decision’s legality is in question. This sparked nationwide protests Thursday night in support of Sessions, and the demand that Robert Mueller will be able to successfully carry out his Russian Collusion investigation. Whitaker is on the record as one that does not believe Mr. Mueller and the Special Counsel should have unlimited free rein.
• Fox New’s Tucker Carlson
  • A sizable group of folks from the left-wing group Antifa showed up outside Mr. Carlson’s home on Wednesday evening. They shouted threats, and one person was overheard mentioning a pipe bomb. Tucker was not home, however, his wife was. She was home alone, hid in a closet, and called 911. The group had at one point broke a door. She thought an armed robbery was taking place.
• Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  • Twenty-nine years young, therefore, the youngest female ever elected to the House of Representatives, and she’s already hit a speed bump. She has stated that she cannot afford to rent in DC until her pay kicks in early next year. She’ll likely find crowd funding support by the end of the weekend to make sure she is comfortable in Washington. 

Stock Market & Economy –

• Procter & Gamble, the maker of Gillette Razors, Tide, Charmin, and Crest, to name a few, has decided to restructure their company. The company decided a few years back to narrow their products, and now has gone to phase two, which will entail separation of certain lines of business. The move will decrease overlap, and increase efficiency. The stock rose 1.20% on the news, despite the broader market falling. Wall Street approves.
• Embattled company General Electric received a brutal downgrade from JP Morgan. The company that was $17 per share a year ago traded at $8 today, and got a $6 price target. The company has listened to countless recommendations from Wall Street, however, it is still not enough to turn them into a profitable, valuable buy. 
• Amazon inconspicuously announced their long-awaited HQ2 site. They shocked everyone and handed out two final roses. As expected, Arlington, VA was given a chunk of the new headquarters for lobbying power in DC, but Long Island City, Queens got the second nod. Long Island City is on the other side of the East River bordering Manhattan. The municipality has incredibly favorable tax-deferred zones for businesses and high rises. The timing of the move is peculiar. The decision came the morning of the Midterms, and has been largely overshadowed and forgotten. Did Amazon not want the country to know about the DC location? 
• The US Housing market is showing signs of cooling, with Miami, New York, and DC all grinding to virtual halts year over year. Seattle has begun falling month over month, and California appears to have peaked. Las Vegas is the lone bright spot showing a price rise of nearly 14% in one-year. It is important to note that while housing has slowed or peaked, it has certainly not began to fall.
• The US deficit is beginning to loom large as the national debt continues to rise. Our entitlement spending is the large culprit, and it will be interesting to see if our newly divided legislature decides to tackle the issue. Doubtful.
• The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged, however, they expect to raise them in December, and say they want to raise them three times in 2019. We’ll see what Mr. Trump has to say about that.

Sports –

• The Steelers (6-2-1) looked amazing on Thursday Night Football. They completely embarrassed a Carolina Panthers (6-3) team that had been rolling. The Dallas Cowboys (3-5) were shutout at home in the second half on Monday Night Football, and now fight for their season on Sunday Night Football against the Eagles (4-4).
• College Basketball returned, and the Duke Blue Devils opened the season against the higher ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Duke looked unstoppable, and has become the early season favorite.
• Alabama football continued to roll, as well as Clemson, Notre Dame, and Michigan. All teams will have at least one tough matchup before the season ends, however, this is the final four if all win out.

National News –

• California Wildfires – The fires jumped the 101 Freeway earlier Friday morning, which caused a mandatory evacuation of Malibu. The popular Paramount Ranch, which Hollywood uses for HBO’s Westworld, and is known for Dr. Quinn Medicine Women burnt down soon after. Many celebrity homes are in danger, leading to evacuation of Alyssa Milano, Rein Wilson, Cher, and James Woods. Mr. Woods did something last night on Twitter that has rarely been done, especially on the scale he showed. He created his own hashtag, and with his reach on the app, connected those in need. He was a connector for missing persons, lost animals, and trapped patrons. It was an incredible display, which led to him publicly putting Twitter on notice to do something like this for all users going forward.
• Thousand Oaks, very close to the wildfires was the site of a horrific shooting overnight Wednesday. Twelve died, including a sheriff deputy who was first to arrive. He ran into the nightclub three minutes after the gunman began fire, but died in the line of duty.
• The nationally known pimp Dennis Hof died in a party the night before Election Day. He was running for a seat in the Nevada State Assembly.  Election officials informed voters of his death on Election Day, however, Hof still won. Porn star Ron Jeremy discovered his body. Foul play is not expected.
• Recounts are likely in Georgia and Florida’s Governor race, as well as Florida’s Senate battle. There is a chance for a recount in Arizona’s Senate contest.

Next Week –

• Drama surrounding the recounts will continue to mount
• The replacement of Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be named
• The legality of acting Attorney General Whitaker will come into question