Call me cynical, but this announced speech by Secretary John Kerry only inspires thoughts of the Obama administration laying dangerous ideological land mines the incoming Trump administration will have to navigate.
(CNN) Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver a speech Wednesday on the Obama administration’s vision for Middle East peace, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The speech at the State Department comes as the relationship between the US and Israel frays following the Obama administration’s controversial decision to abstain on Friday from a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Kerry said at the time that, “In the coming days, I will speak further to the vote in the Security Council today and share more detailed thoughts, drawn from the experience of the last several years, on the way ahead.” (more…)

Sean Spicer, a native of Barrington Rhode Island, sits down with local Eyewitness News reporter Kim Kalunian to discuss his new position, how he entered into politics, and what President-elect Donald Trump is like in person.

The biggest story the media will skip during their annual recap of 2016 will be any admission of how their profession collapsed under the weight of their unbridled bias.
Donald Trump, almost single-handedly, tore down the corporate curtain and revealed to the entire world just how absurd the media’s Potemkin village actually was.  However, learning absolutely nothing, the MSM response so far has been even more insufferable.
(more…)

Smart pick.  Tom Bossert brings a 21st century cybersecurity profile to Trump’s inner National Security team.  Bossert has deep knowledge of cybersecurity from both a Homeland Defense (infrastructure), and a counterterrorism perspective…
(Palm Beach, FL) – President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his selection of Thomas P. Bossert to serve as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. In this position, Mr. Bossert will advise the President on issues related to homeland security, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity, and coordinate the Cabinet’s process for formulating and executing policy in these matters.

The role, performed by a deputy national security advisor in the previous Administration, is being elevated and restored to its independent status alongside the National Security Advisor, a decision that reflects the unwavering commitment President-elect Trump has to the safety and security of the Nation, its people and territory.
Mr. Bossert will focus on domestic and transnational security priorities as General Michael Flynn remains steadfastly focused on international security challenges.
(more…)

….Stephen, you glorious bastard, I’ve read your stuff !  ~SD

(Via Politico) […] The choice of Miller, the 31-year-old who wrote most of Trump’s major prepared speeches in 2016, including his Republican national convention address that was criticized as overly dark, is of no surprise to Trump insiders.
Miller played an unusually multi-faceted role on the campaign: a behind-the-scenes policy adviser, Trump’s chief speechwriter and a speech-giver himself, becoming a skinny-tie-wearing fixture over the summer at Trump rallies as a warm-up act.
“Steve’s a machine,” Jason Miller, a Trump aide, said of Miller’s prolific writing abilities (the two men aren’t related). “I’ve literally seen him knock out three speeches in a day.”
Miller, who spent part of last week with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, has consulted people both on and off the campaign as he puts together an initial draft of the speech, including Trump’s incoming White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.  (read more)

The Trump administration ponders changes to the White House Press Room, and the New York Times are apoplectic.

Could they clutch their pearls any tighter:

NEW YORK TIMES […]  Mr. Trump’s unconventional, sometimes hostile, relationship with the news media and his penchant for communicating through unfiltered Twitter posts threaten to upend a decades-old Washington tradition that relies almost entirely on protocol. The result, reporters and editors say, could be a loss of transparency that would hinder the press’s role as a conduit for information to the people.

But Mr. Trump’s advisers, and even some former White House press secretaries, say that some of the conventions of White House coverage are outdated and due for a face-lift. (more)

Oh my gosh,.. like really,.. O.M.G!  Can you imagine the audacity of a President to communicate directly to “the people” without need for :::GASP::: the New York Times…

(more…)

Newt Gringrich appeared on Fox News Sunday this Christmas morning for an interview with Chris Wallace.   Substantively this was a good presentation by Gingrich who does a great job this time explaining administrative/executive “Trump”, and common sense as it applies to Trump foreign policy.
At the 07:45 point the discussion turns toward governmental contractors and the DC lobbying community etc.
A key moment also comes at the 10:50 point of the interview where Gingrich identifies something we previously discussed in the primary election: the scope of the swamp, and the predictable “there are trillions at stake” fight.

…”they’ll reach a crisis point; where they are going to look in the room at each other, they’re all winners; and they’re going to say either we’re going to be more reasonable and get along with the city, or we have to become even more unreasonable and break the power structure that’s opposing us. My hunch is they’ll pick the latter”…

I think Newt’s hunch is correct.  That inflection point, timed around the delivery of the first Donald Trump budget to congress, is the epic battle many of us have been waiting for.
(more…)

(Via Palm Beach Post) […] Trump and his wife Melania and an entourage of Secret Service agents and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies made the trip from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club to attend the 10:30 p.m. service at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, which sits about 400 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. They received a standing ovation from the congregation when they arrived. (more)

[…] Bethesda-by-the-Sea is the oldest Protestant church in South Florida. It opened more than 125 years ago in Palm Beach. Its location has made it popular with celebrities, politicians and athletes. Michael Jordan was married there in 2013, and singer Rod Stewart was spotted at a service earlier Christmas Eve. (link)
(more…)

Mr. President-elect Donald J Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump together with their son Barron, will be attending midnight mass Christmas services at The Church of Bethesda by The Sea in West Palm Beach Florida.

The Trump family quietly attended services last year at the same church –pictures here– However, as President-Elect -and incoming First Family- this year there is heightened media and public interest.  Security has been enhanced accordingly.

The Episcopal service is being live-streamed via CBS12

VIEW HERE

This might mean Hope Hicks takes over formally as White House Director of Communications….
Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) – Jason Miller, President-elect Donald Trump’s spokesman, has decided he will not take the job of White House communications director he was tapped for just two days earlier.
Citing family reasons, Miller announced he will not continue on to the White House and will hand off his responsibilities as communications director to Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee communications director who was announced this week as the incoming White House press secretary.
“After spending this past week with my family, the most amount of time I have been able to spend with them since March 2015, it is clear they need to be my top priority right now and this is not the right time to start a new job as demanding as White House Communications Director,” Miller said in a statement he provided to CNN, adding that he is also expecting the birth of his second daughter next month. (more…)

This tweet from President-elect Donald Trump directly implies his willingness to lean into the problem:

And President-Elect Donald Trump is not alone carrying optimism: (more…)