Barbara Boyd opens with diesel: as Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries tighten the world’s supply, President Trump threatened to halt U.S. diesel exports unless Europe released its emergency stocks, and the G7 agreed to release 100 million barrels. She presents it as the opening move of a 35-day economic offensive running into the midterms. The week of action includes Trump’s visit to the Peterbilt truck plant in Denton, Texas, where employee Sarah Renshaw credited tariffs for 1,000 new jobs; his Oklahoma rally; a White House luncheon with tech leaders on superintelligence; what the White House calls the largest steel plant ever built in the United States, coming to Iowa; Vice President Vance at the groundbreaking of Saronic’s Port Alpha shipyard in Brownsville, Texas; and South Korea’s plans for an Alaska LNG pipeline, a 6-gigawatt power plant in Texas and eight nuclear reactors.

On affordability, the episode walks through price increases under Biden (energy up 33% from January 2021 to January 2025), Vice President Vance on the inflation crisis he says the administration inherited, refining capacity, housing regulation and immigration, Secretary Kennedy at the MAHA Summit on AI giving every patient a better-informed second opinion, and the White House fraud task force’s crackdown on Obamacare enrollments. It closes with Michael Shellenberger’s account of the student riots in France, French intelligence tying the movement to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed (LFI), and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on a new golden age of space exploration. WATCH:

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears for an interview with Axios co-founder Mike Allen. The wide-ranging conversation covered the U.S. economy, the war in Iran and the Trump administration’s approach to AI.

Secretary Bessent responds to Americans’ frustration with the cost of living; explains why he doesn’t think the AI boom is a repeat of the dot-com bubble and argues that AI leaders warning about losing control should slow down. Bessent also discusses possible U.S-China cooperation on AI risks, Treasury’s economic pressure campaign against Iran, the bond market, Trump Accounts and his clashes inside the administration.  WATCH:

Chapters:

0:00 – Cold open
0:24 – Inside Treasury’s Cash Room
1:38 – Unpacking why Americans still feel squeezed
5:21 – Bessent’s economic campaign against Iran
7:35 – Is AI in a bubble?

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There’s generally a strategy to the madness; you just have to wait until it starts to become visible.  The anniversary of October 7, 2023, massacre is right around the corner.

Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and involved mass shootings, hostage‑taking, rapes and horrific assaults on civilian communities.

As noted in the end of this article about the French protests, “student organizations are nevertheless calling for protests to continue, with the movement now looking towards Tuesday’s National Day of Action.”

EUROPE – Around 400 of France’s 3,700 secondary schools were closed on Friday on the orders of police prefects, with many schools switching to online lessons.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray urged parents to intervene, warning that young people were putting themselves at risk.

“Children are in danger on the streets,” he told BFMTV. “Parents must, quite clearly, take action and tell their children not to go [to the blockades].” The protests began over staffing, funding and school conditions and have spread rapidly across the country.

The Interior Ministry said 1,027 secondary schools were affected on Thursday, including 222 that were blockaded. Around 30 university campuses were also blocked.

It said 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday alone, mainly in connection with violence, unlawful gatherings and attacks on people in positions of authority. (read more)

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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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Once again, you may have seen a lot of banter, interpretation and discussion in western media about Russia speaking of defending Kaliningrad with nuclear weapons if needed.  To gain a full understanding of the context, I strongly suggest reading the transcript below.

Vladimir Putin addressed the plenary session of the 23^rd annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. It is a very lengthy discussion.  I am pulling out the key segment and suggest everyone take some quiet time to read.

President Vladimir Putin – […] Let me digress from the main topic for a while. There are people here in this room who hold a very diverse mix of opinions regarding an extremely acute present-day conflict – the Ukraine conflict, and what caused it. I would like to say a few words on this matter. It is a fact that many hundreds or even thousands of experts, your colleagues who will study the materials from this Valdai Club meeting, they have their own opinions on this matter. I am, of course aware that some within the expert community might ask why Russia started the war while talking about peace. I have commented this many times already, but let me say this once again in front of this audience.

Where is the truth? The truth is that we did not want and were not the ones who started to fight. In fact, they started to fight against us. They should have refrained from encouraging aggressive nationalism and Russophobia in Ukraine so as to turn it into a tool for fighting Russia. NATO should not have embarked on an effort to make our historical territories part of its military space in its own interests and should not have planned setting up its bases there. Radicals in Kiev should not have been pushed to a government coup while the de facto illegal regime should not have been pumped full of all kinds of offensive weapons after that. Plans for setting up concentration camps for the people from Donbass and Crimea should not have been drafted. Unarmed people should not have been rolled over by tanks, shelled with missiles and bombed from the air and burnt alive just for being Russian, in terms of both their ethnic background and their spirit.

The list of these do-nots goes on, but let me stop at that. I am convinced that this was an intentional effort to place Russia in a situation when it was simply forced to defend itself with arms in hand to respond to this obvious act of aggression. They pushed us to this brink knowingly and intentionally. Overall, Russophobia, oppressing and killing Russian people and destroying Russia should not be turned into state ideology while striving to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. This was the way it was all articulated, right? No one forgot this. At least, we did not forget this.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has recently promoted an expansive LNG pipeline deal to center the domestic infrastructure development around the concept of “Buy Canadian.”  However, when questioned about the actual construction of the proposal, Carney now admits the developers will determine what resources will be used – and it will not be Canadian product.

The unfortunate reason is not complicated.  Canada does not have the industrial capacity to make the heavy components for the LNG expansion pipeline because Canada does not have the ability.

[SOURCE]

CALGARY — LNG Canada is planning to use Chinese steel in major components of its $33-billion second-phase expansion despite Ottawa’s promises that nationally significant projects would help drive Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Buy Canadian policy.

The joint venture says Canada lacks the specialized fabrication facilities needed to manufacture the massive modules required for its expansion and plans to buy more components from state-owned China Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd. (COOEC), which manufactured modules for the project’s first phase. (read more)

I would remind readers this inability to manufacture industrial goods is exactly what former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined to President Trump in December 2025 in Mar-a-Lago, when President Trump challenged Trudeau to stop importing Chinese steel and aluminum.  Canada’s clean energy policy blocks the country from creating heavy industrial components.  WATCH:

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President Donald Trump holds a rally in Mobile, Alabama, ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.  President Trump is anticipated to speak at 7:00pm ET, with rally speakers ongoing.  Livestream Links Below:

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President Donald Trump departs the White House for a 2026 MAGA rally in Alabama.  As he departs the White House, Trump stops to answer questions from the assembled press pool.  WATCH:

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Here we go again.

I hope people have caught on by now. However, just in case, let me try to help:

• In 2010 it was Sandra Fluke
• In 2012 it was Romney’s “binders of women”
• In 2014 it was the ‘Me Too” movement / Mattress Girl
• In 2016 it was “Grab them by the pussy” (Trump)
• In 2018 it was E Jean Carroll (Trump)
• In 2020 it was Amy Dorris (Trump)
• In 2022 it was Matt Gaetz, Hershel Walker
• In 2024 it was Jeffrey Epstein et al
• In 2026 it is “The Cornell 7”

Each of these examples are election years.

In each election year professional Democrats deploy the same process to generate support from “suburban women voters”, also known as AWFLS.

These are women voters typically from middle to upper-middle-class backgrounds, who are perceived as politically liberal or left-leaning, often vocal about social justice issues and engaged in activism or virtue signaling. Their gender identity defines them.

In order to generate support, or activate this specific voter base, women’s issues and/or sexual misconduct is utilized as a trigger mechanism. Once the election is over, the emphasis and narrative disappears…… until the next election cycle. Wash – Rinse – Repeat.

For this 2026 cycle the DNC tested: The Lindsay Clancy trial (didn’t work); then Sydney Sweeney posing naked with sports balls (again, didn’t poll test well); then came the first female execution in 200 years (backup fail ongoing); so, they have stuck with the Cornell Seven.

The DNC needs to constantly motivate suburban women to vote!  So, find a story that emphasizes how awful men are and how women are victims.  Drumbeat those talking points on every channel 24/7 for the month before elections.

If you cannot see the pattern by now, you are politically oblivious. However, once you see it you can never unsee it.

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