Less than nine months after taking the oath of office – today President Donald Trump announces the defeat of Islamic State fighters in their self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa is “a critical breakthrough” in a worldwide campaign against the militants.

October 21, 2017 – Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Defeat of ISIS in Raqqah
I am pleased to announce that the Syrian Democratic Forces, our partners in the fight against ISIS in Syria, have successfully recaptured Raqqah the terrorist groups self-proclaimed capital city. Together, our forces have liberated the entire city from ISIS control.
The defeat of ISIS in Raqqah represents a critical breakthrough in our worldwide campaign to defeat ISIS and its wicked ideology. With the liberation of ISISs capital and the vast majority of its territory, the end of the ISIS caliphate is in sight.

(more…)

President Trump begins to question Fusion GPS, the company behind the widely debunked Steele Dossier, a day after the company filed legal motions to quash a subpoena and hide their financial backing.
The dossier was reported to have been used by the FBI as a justification to get a FISA warrant against Trump campaign officials. Warrants that later became the tools underlying the road map narrative for the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the election.

(Via Breitbart) Fusion GPS — the firm behind the Trump dossier — filed for an injunction in a D.C. court on Friday to quash a subpoena for its financial records, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The House intelligence Committee earlier this month subpoenaed TD Bank for Fusion GPS’s financial records, and an injunction would be to prevent those records from being handed over.

(more…)

Panda Reacts To Finding Lion Tracks Amid Shrinking Bamboo Forest !

A Chinese central planner, Zhang Yong, the vice-head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), made a statement today (during the communist party congress) that carries much more significance than most people recognize.

The statement was made on behalf of communist China’s central planners and is directed toward what sectors of their economy they will focus investment (emphasis mine).

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will introduce measures aimed at guiding private investment into areas that have a higher growth potential, a senior official with the state planning agency said on Saturday.
China also would take steps to lower the investment threshold for private investors, said Zhang Yong, the vice-head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), during a briefing on the sidelines of China’s Communist Party Congress.
The manufacturing industry as well as the property market, which have been driving private investment, are now quite weak, Zhang said.
“Now we want to attract investment in sectors with growth potential such as subway projects.” (link)

Notice two key points: #1 forecast growth in manufacturing is seen as “quite weak”, and #2 they are shifting toward building their own domestic transportation infrastructure.
(more…)

Yesterday Politico reported that President Trump would block the release of the JFK files. Today, President Trump tweets:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that, subject to receipt of further information, he planned to allow the opening of long-secret files on the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy due for release next week.
[…]  Over the years, the National Archives has released most documents related to the case, but a final batch, amounting to tens of thousands of pages, remains and only Trump has the authority to decide whether some should continue to be withheld or released in redacted form.

(more…)

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.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

This is a little weird. There’s some video CCTV of a potential suspect SEE HERE. Police don’t know if the suspect is male or female, black, white or latino.  Three young victims all in the last 10 days.

TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – A recent high school graduate who took the wrong bus home from work on Thursday night has become the third victim of a killer who is targeting Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood.
Interim Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said officers were patrolling Seminole Heights around 8 p.m on Thursday when they heard gunshots. Minutes later, officers found the body of Anthony Naiboa, 20.
“He was in the prime of his life and was taken instantly,” said Chief Dugan during a news conference on Friday morning.
(more…)

In a 90-day period back in 2016 a new political record of 2.1 million small donors signed up to support presidential candidate Donald J Trump.  This represented the largest single quarter assembly of small donors from either political party in U.S. history.  REMINDER:

(Via Politico 2016)  Donald Trump has unleashed an unprecedented deluge of small-dollar donations for the GOP, and one that Republican Party elders have dreamed about finding for much of the last decade as they’ve watched a succession of Democrats — Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and, to a lesser extent, Hillary Clinton — develop formidable fundraising operations, $5, $10 and $20 at a time.
Trump has only been actively soliciting cash for a few months, but when he reveals his campaign’s financials later this week they will show he has crushed the total haul from small-dollar donors of the last two Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney — during the entirety of their campaigns. (read more)

That was the moment when Party Chairman Reince Priebus realized the future of the modern Republican party was Trump’s.  Indeed MAGA was larger than the GOP, and both Priebus and Sean Spicer recognized the Trump Train was not stopping; they were ‘all in’.
The scale of the small donor support is critical because it shows the depth and width of the supportive base.  The donor list also becomes just as valuable as the contributions connected to it.   For comparison and context: the entire Clinton donor list from all years of campaigning by Bill and Hillary was 2.3 million donors.  Donald Trump gained 2.1 million donors in just 90 days during 2016.
(more…)

An amazingly strong gold star widow, Natasha De Alencar, released audio of a phone conversation she had with President Trump in April of 2017 after the death of her husband, Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, who was killed in Afghanistan.

Joe Dan Gorman is back with his latest edition of Intellectual Froglegs. Enjoy:

Visit Website HERE

(more…)