Following days of riots, violence, arson, buildings destroyed and mass looting, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a national address to the people of France.  Remarkably, in the beginning of his remarks Macron says no one in the French government understands what is happening, but he is demanding an investigation.

A few paragraphs into the prepared transcript and Macron says high fuel prices driven by President Trump’s war against Iran, “a war we had nothing to do with,” is certainly the cause of the protests that have mysteriously turned violent for some unknown reason.  Macron further notes those protests are righteous, justified and he agrees with them.

This is quite a remarkable address.  WATCH:

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The image below represents the entire dynamic.

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Yesterday at approximately 4:00pm a large fire broke out at a Canadian military base and spread quickly. CFB Wainwright (Canadian Forces Base Wainwright) is situated adjacent to the Town of Wainwright in east‑central Alberta.

CFB Wainwright is one of Canada’s busiest military training bases, where soldiers prepare for combat operations. It is home to the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, which conducts realistic battlefield exercises, and the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre, which provides military training. {LINK}

Media reports, citing unnamed military sources, {LINK} said that a live-fire training exercise hit a gas line or gas well on the base, causing an explosion that spread as a result of high winds. High wind gusts reaching up to 100km/h fanned the flames, causing the blaze to spread rapidly beyond the base’s perimeter and into the adjacent Municipal District of Wainwright.

A doctor at a hospital in the city of Edmonton, 180km (120 miles) northwest of Wainwright, told Canada’s national broadcaster patients were being brought to hospitals across the city as its health-care facilities became “completely overwhelmed” by the number of people requiring care.  Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirms that four servicemembers were killed and several dozens were injured.  WATCH:

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Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appears on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss the current status of the economy and ongoing geopolitical events.  Within the interview [Video and Transcript Below] Secretary Bessent notes that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is coordinating closely with both British King Charles and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, needs to be very careful about the malicious lies he is speaking to U.S. audiences. WATCH: 

[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: Welcome back. Joining me now is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary Bessent, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, good to be with you.

KRISTEN WELKER: It’s great to have you back. Let’s start on inflation, these new inflation numbers we got this week. Consumer prices rose in September at the fastest pace in five months, to 3.7%. Are the president’s policies driving up inflation?

SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, we have an energy shock. And if you look underneath the hood in the numbers, core inflation has been very flat before this month, and it’d been down for four months in a row. So core inflation is down. The food is below the Fed’s targets. The prescription drugs have had the biggest decrease in history. Rents are down. So this is an energy shock. We will get to the other side of the Iran conflict, and those prices will come down.

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Again, there are multiple dynamics unfolding inside this story.  However, as to the central component of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complaining about hampered access to Starlink and/or Starshield, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sets the record straight.

Ukraine has never had access to the U.S. military version of Starshield; providing that level of guidance access would be akin to the United States being in direct conflict with Russia using a proprietary U.S. military system. This is not our circus and not our war; there is no need for U.S. military conflict with Russia.

Because Ukraine does not have that access, it is now revealed that Zelenskyy has been using Starlink, a commercially available satellite system – but that system is not permitted by SpaceX to be used for military efforts.  This is almost certainly where the relationship between Elon Musk and former Ukraine Defense Minister Michael Fedorov comes into play. Fedorov is no longer in the Ukraine govt.   WATCH:

Rubio notes that Zelenskyy’s claims against the White House are nonsense.  The White House has not interfered or instructed the military about the use of Starshield because Ukraine has never had Starshield to use.  If Ukraine has been violating the terms of service by weaponizing Starlink (they have) then the commercial provider can act independently to block or stop that access. [Full Transcript Below]

In the background of this storyline, we should always remember that about a month ago Russia finalized their own upgraded satellite system that covers Russia and eastern Europe.  It is widely suspected the increased accuracy of Russian targeting inside Ukraine is specifically because of their own enhanced capabilities, which now highlights the vulnerability of Ukraine if they do not have weaponize their Starlink access and the new desperation therein.

Bottom line, Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to highlight his mastery of cutting through the nonsense and staying focused on the priorities of the administration with messaging that cuts through the media chafe.  Rubio excels in this role far beyond prior expectations. Very impressive.

On the topic of his travel to the “stans”, watch carefully. This is connected to the overall Russia/Central Asia agenda.

Transcript Below:

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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The New York Times {SEE HERE} is leading a charge of multiple U.S. media outlets to rage-bait Americans on the issue of President Trump exempting Russia from a new sanctions regime.

Let me start with a positive.  Despite the massive amount of years-long gaslighting, lying and narrative engineering by the overwhelming majority of American media and political punditry, the majority of Americans don’t want U.S. sanctions against Russia [37% vs 54%].  Why?  Because most Americans have a keen sense of manipulation.

This is one of the reasons why I believe the current effort to create an impeachment narrative against President Trump, again using the Ukraine conflict as the source material, will fail.  Yes, the majority of elected politicians support Ukraine and oppose Russia, but the majority of the American people don’t align with the politicians.

More than a week ago we noted the Trump decision to enter a diesel sales agreement with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin was very predictable.  Even when President Trump signed HR5334 the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions bill, we noted how it was written to the benefit of President Trump by Lindsey Graham himself. {GO DEEP}

Indeed, with Europe purchasing Russian energy from Vladimir Putin, one of the great ironies within the latest Russian sanctions bill was the requirement and authorization to tariff Europe at a 500% rate for violating the sanctions bill.  Yes, that is correct, inside this bill congress authorized President Trump to massively raise tariffs on Europe or anyone else who was purchasing Russian energy products.

As a consequence, if President Trump doesn’t take an action to pause or exempt Russia from these latest sanctions regime, then he will end up hitting almost all the NATO allies with 500% tariffs.  However, the media don’t want to draw attention to that aspect as it doesn’t fit their narrative {NYT ARTICLE HERE}.

It did not come as a surprise to me to see President Trump sign an executive order to “waive the application of any sanctions provision” [Executive order here].  Lindsey Graham knew the bottom-line goal of President Trump was to stop the killing, stop the fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Graham himself created the ability of waivers in the sanction regime specifically so that Trump would have maximum flexibility in providing economic carrots to Russia.

The waiver option is in HR5334 specifically so that President Trump can use it…. And so, he did, DUH!  And Lindsey Graham knew he would. And the media are going bananas.

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Glenn Beck interviewed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week.  Within the interview USTR Greer walks through some of the current geopolitical issues surrounding trade and MAGAnomics beginning with Iran, oil and gas prices, the diesel fuel agreement with Russia, then ongoing trade friction with Canada and a perspective on European industrial manufacturing.  Well worth watching:

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Things are not getting better in France, Belgium, Italy and beyond as social chaos continues unfolding. The worst of the street violence seems to be centered throughout France as government officials now report around 500,000 people participated in street “protests” nationally that turned into violent confrontations with police.

EU News is reporting that dozens of arrests were made as the chaos unfolded {link}. “The French Interior Ministry said around 550,000 people took part in the protests, including roughly 110,000 in Paris.”

Additionally, AFP is reporting, “The town hall in the French city of Limoges was “largely lost” to a fire set by masked protesters on Saturday, the top regional official told AFP.  “The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared,” the local prefect, Maurice Barate, said.

Another report highlights the looting that quickly took place as opportunists swooped in to agitate for economic reparations in the form of Hermes swag and Apple Store tech components. {link} Looters in several French cities on Saturday broke into stores ranging from a high-end luxury brand to a bakery, on the sidelines of cost-of-living protests, AFP journalists and authorities said.

In Paris, near the Republique square, the front window of a skincare brand came crashing down, with looters tossing beauty products to dozens of people massing outside, an AFP correspondent saw.

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Today, President Donald Trump is speaking at a midterm MAGA rally at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena at 2 p.m., marking the president’s second appearance in the Greater Cincinnati area in two weeks.  Livestream Links Below:

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