Kjell Magne Bondevik served as prime minister of Norway two separate times, from 1997-2000 and 2001-2005. Apparently, for some reason, he still travels on a diplomatic passport.  Upon arrival at Dulles airport DHS questioned him about his travels to Iran.  He was delayed for 40 minutes; this triggered his tender sensibilities.
Bondevik immediately rushed to the U.S. media to decry the severe and emotionally destabilizing punishment, which he views as abhorrent example of Terrible Trump’s travel vetting…. except it wasn’t… but his feelings are still hurt.  Cue CNN in 3… 2… 1…

WASHINGTON DC – […] He flew into Dulles Airport from Europe Tuesday afternoon and says he was not immediately allowed to leave after customs agents saw in his passport that he had been to Iran.
[…]  Bondevik says he was placed in a room with travelers from the Middle East and Africa who were also facing extra scrutiny. He says he had to sit and wait for about 40 minutes, and then he was questioned for about 20 minutes regarding a trip to Iran in 2014.

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Sorry #NeverTrumpers, but you don”t get to dismount your high horse and celebrate the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch today.  This is NOT your victory, this is ours!
There is a gobsmacking level of pontificating self-righteousness visible from the collective proletariat within your crony-conservative movement who made the decision to formulate their political argument from a position of opposition.

Perhaps it would be different if you framed your antagonism from a position of advocacy, but that wasn’t the direction you chose.  No, you chose a specific position of opposition as clearly evident within your chosen mantra “Never Trump”.
Perhaps it would be different if you ever had a come-to-Jesus moment and apologized immediately following the November election.  Then again, when your opinion of your own self-importance is this high, those humble words are just as foreign as your understanding of the movement that won.
You don’t get to frame the entire construct of your argument around opposition to a team, and then claim benefit to the outcome of victory.  Stay on your high-horse, move along and ride off into that proverbial land of irrelevance; you’re dead here.
Save your dismount for another defining “conservative” assembly where you can gather at CPAC again and give a standing ovation to House Speaker Paul Ryan a month after he eliminates the debt ceiling and passes a $2 trillion OmniBus spending bill, funding all of the progressive priorities you hypocritically claim to oppose; you’re good at that.
That particular circle of crazy just doesn’t sell here any longer.
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King Abdullah of Jordan is part of the mid-east freedom alliance with President Fattah Abdel el-Sisi of Egypt.   Due to President Obama’s extremist politics, Abdullah and Sisi formed a working security and economic relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Prior to taking the oath of office President Trump spoke personally to President el-Sisi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.   Since the inauguration – The geo-strategic evolution continues -> President Vladimir Putin (Russia), President Fattah el-Sisi (Egypt) and King Salman (Saudi Arabia) have all held diplomatic and strategic discussions with President Trump.
Now today:

[From the Office of the Vice President] The Vice President hosted His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan for a working breakfast at the Vice President’s Residence at the Naval Observatory this morning.
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…”There are trillions of dollars at stake”…

In addition to the content, pay close attention to the timing of policy delivery and the sequencing within the policy delivery.   With the outline of the visa suspension as lead-in toward a security policy, President Trump is also now entering economic policy phase 2.
It is all connected.
Within the larger economic construct of “America First”, the underlying supportive policy is easily seen as “Buy American, and Hire American”.  For the Phase One  “Buy American”, President Trump rolled out an aggressive push to leverage corporations and manufacturers to reinvest in U.S. manufacturing and U.S. production facilities.
While President Trump continues to push the economic benefits of domestic production, distribution and manufacturing. Phase Two is directed at the “Hire American” half of this equation. However, President Trump’s expressed security policy on immigration and refugee status suspensions overlaps on the employment aspect within “Hire American”.
Now President Trump fights the “BIG CLUB”:

Watch closely and you’ll note how many significant corporations come out in opposition to the Visa restrictions.  Their opposition is not about security; their opposition is, in no small part, because their strategic business models necessarily include the import of foreign workers.
The corporations who will be most vocal against the security visa executive action, will be those business interests who rely upon non-U.S. workers.  The America electorate is about to discover just how many foreign workers are inside the U.S. economic system. (more…)

Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser to President Trump, joins “CBS This Morning” from the White House to discuss the travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, and how the Trump administration plans to create new immigration vetting procedures.
As Miller easily cuts through the MSM nonsense, CBS couldn’t get him off the air fast enough….  Well done Mr. Miller !

Two suspects shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire inside the The Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, which is also known as the grand mosque of Quebec. At least 6 people were killed, 8 injured / 6 in very serious condition.  39 potential victims escaped (link).

[CBC.CA] A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told CBC’s French-language service Radio-Canada that two masked individuals entered the mosque.
“It seemed to me that they had a Quebecois accent. They started to fire, and as they shot they yelled, ‘Allahu akbar!’ The bullets hit people that were praying. People who were praying lost their lives. A bullet passed right over my head,” said the witness.
“There were even kids. There was even a three-year-old who was with his father.”  (link)
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(Via CNN) No person accepted to the United States as a refugee, Syrian or otherwise, has been implicated in a major fatal terrorist attack since the Refugee Act of 1980 set up systematic procedures for accepting refugees into the United States, according to an analysis of terrorism immigration risks by the Cato Institute.

Oh Really?  No Refugees implicated in terrorism?  Read on…


1 Yemen – Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam and Islamic lecturer. U.S. government officials allege that he was a senior recruiter and motivator who was involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda (link) al-Awlaki spoke with and preached to three of the alleged 9/11 hijackers who were al-Qaeda members. Awlaki presided at the funeral of the mother of Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who later e-mailed him extensively in 2008–09 before the Fort Hood shootings. Awlaki was the mastermind behind Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted the 2009 Christmas Day (underwear) bombing of an American airliner.
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ABC’s Martha Raddatz, who cried when Hillary Clinton lost the election, expresses her profound contempt and frustration that President Trump is acting like a President for Americans – instead of pontificating philosophically on behalf of the global community.
Raddatz uses her best dramatic voice as she questions President Trump Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, over the horror of a non-liberal administration.

This is a jaw-dropping exhibition of the scope of President Trump’s strategic leverage. Remember how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refused to take the bait from Senator Marco Rubio regarding Saudi Arabia?  Put this outcome in the dividend column.
Those who have not followed the back-story of non-extremist politics in the middle-east will miss the obvious play identified more readily by those who have followed closely.
One of the major influences and advisers for King Salman of Saudi Arabia is Egyptian President Fattah Abdel el-Sisi.  El-Sisi has already established a productive relationship with President Trump both before and after the election.  No doubt King Salman and President Sisi debriefed the prior conversations between Trump and el-Sisi.

Today King Salman agrees to a primary expressed policy position of President Trump.  Saudi Arabia will support and finance “safe zones” within Syria and Yemen.  This is a big, big deal.

(Via Reuters) Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, in a phone call on Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump, agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, a White House statement said.

Trump, during his presidential campaign last year, had called for Gulf states to pay for establishing safe zones to protect Syrian refugees.

A statement after the phone call said the two leaders agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of Islamic State militants.

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