Many of you might remember the three brave Americans, Spencer Stone (U.S. Air Force), Alek Skarlatos (U.S. National Guard) and Anthony Sadler (Pittsburg, CA) who confronted a heavily armed Jihadist aboard a French train during a terrorist attack in 2015.
U.S. Air Force Spencer Stone charged the terrorist who was using an AK-47, tackled him and suffered severe wounds in the confrontation.  All three of the friends were heroes. The terrorist, Ayoub el-Qahzzani, had at least nine full magazines of ammunition holding almost 300 rounds, a hand gun and a box cutter.
For their bravery the three Americans and one British tourist were awarded France’s highest honor – The Légion d’Honneur medal.

Oscar winner, actor and director Clint Eastwood is making a movie based on the lives of the three friends and the events on that fateful day.  The movie is called “The 15:17 to Paris”.  And instead of hiring Hollywood actors, Mr. Eastwood is actually casting the three men to play themselves in the movie.   How cool is that?
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White House National Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, delivers a press briefing aboard AF1 en route back to the U.S. from France.  If you did not read and watch the information yesterday from President Trump’s Special Envoy, Brett McGurk, I would strongly suggest you review that prior to this press briefing.  -SEE HERE- Everything is connected.

[Transcript] Aboard Air Force One – En Route Newark, New Jersey – 3:01 P.M. CET
MR. BOSSERT: So let me just start the conversation by saying that President Trump and President Macron had private conversations yesterday, but also an extended bilateral conversation. And I wanted to talk you about that and give you a readout, and answer your questions if I might.
♦ Q Did they discuss the role that Syrian Kurds might have in a future Syria after ISIS?
MR. BOSSERT: So, among other things in the bilateral conversation yesterday, the Presidents discussed Syria — defeating ISIS in general, but Syria specifically; our desire to have a political solution outside and after our military solutions prevail. They discussed counterterrorism in general, as it will be an enduring and ongoing problem after our defeat-ISIS campaign takes the physical caliphate from ISIS.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been keeping an exhaustive schedule for the past week and especially in the past few days.  In the ongoing diplomatic effort against mid-east terror networks, the GCC/Trump coalition have kept up pressure against Qatar.
Kuwait is acting as the primary mediator between Qatar and the rest of the Gulf States; T-Rex conducted three days of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to assist and reassert the position of the Trump administration.  Tillerson traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and back to Qatar with extensive meetings within each nation.
It would take a bazillion words to explain all the nuances, shifts, agreements and diplomatic ongoing efforts.  However, to keep it simple we boiled it down to the current, most consequential, outcome within this graphic:
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The Trump directed Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS is known shortly as the acronym “D-ISIS”.
Though the media never reported on it much, you might remember immediately after taking office President Trump announced an immediate call for an international summit in Washington DC specifically purposed to readdress the Global Coalition and give the alliance specific focus toward the international defeat of ISIS.
In response to that call by President Trump, 68 nations traveled to Washington DC in late March to join together in an agreement of approach to eliminate ISIS.  Led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, that summit was the formation of the 2017 “D-ISIS” strategy. All 68 nations signed on to the united effort; everyone was on the same page.  Again, the media coverage was scant to non-existent.
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President Trump’s Deputy Assistant, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, spoke exclusively with One America News about how the Trump administration has been involved with defeating the Islamic State. One America’s Chief White House Correspondent Trey Yingst has the interview from the White House.

More Winning – A federal judge in Hawaii has rejected a motion filed by that state seeking to limit the scope of President Donald Trump’s so-called travel ban, parts of which were cleared to be implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Because Plaintiffs seek clarification of the June 26, 2017 injunction modifications authored by the Supreme Court, clarification should be sought there, not here.”

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said in a ruling Thursday in Honolulu that the Supreme Court is the proper venue to deal with the issue. (read more)

There are people on all sides of the political continuum entirely missing the reason for President Trump to threaten Bashir Assad publicly.   Key word to understanding the Trump motive is: “publicly“.

President Trump, according to all high-brow punditry, is breaking diplomatic and national security norms by announcing the threat of punishment publicly instead of directly to Assad via a back-channel like Russia.  However, that approach appears entirely by design; not by some arbitrary dispatch or happenstance breech of security protocol.

Here’s the big picture.

♦ FIRST – Who benefits from the U.S. attacking, weakening or taking out Assad?

Four primary groups:

• #1) Assad’s political opposition.
• #2) Islamic Extremist groups (ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra et al) ie. The Muslim Brotherhood.
• #3) Turkey and Recep Erdogan; and
• #4) John McCain, Evan McMullin, Adam Kinzinger, the industrial war complex and neo-cons etc.

♦ SECOND – President Trump doesn’t want to engage in Syria beyond the elimination of ISIS (al-Qaeda, al-Nusra) etc.  Trump’s announced strategy is to defeat the Islamic extremists, ISIS; and then work on a regional governorship type structure toward a diplomatic internal political solution (Rex Tillerson).

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So much winning. The Supreme Court is letting a version of the Trump administration ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect, a victory for President Donald Trump. In the decision to lift the stay the court outlined temporary limits to the ban based on status.

The court said Monday the ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen could be enforced as long as they lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” The justices will hear arguments in the case in October. President Trump said last week the immigration and travel restrictions would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

#1: Agree to hear case:

[W]e grant both of the Government’s petitions for certiorari and consolidate the cases for argument.

#2: Agree to allow ban to continue:

We grant the Government’s applications to stay the injunctions, to the extent the injunctions prevent enforcement of §2(c) with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch said they would have let the complete bans take effect without any limits. (more…)

(VIA STATE DEPT) Qatar has begun its careful review and consideration of a series of requests presented by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

While some of the elements will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution.

A productive next step would be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation. We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working together towards one goal which we all agree is stopping terrorism and countering extremism.

Each country involved has something to contribute to that effort. A lowering of rhetoric would also help ease the tension. The United States will continue to stay in close contact with all parties and will continue to support the mediation efforts of the Emir of Kuwait.

~ U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

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“The core allies were certainly encouraged by the clear narrative by President Trump in Riyadh, and thus decided to address the Qatar-Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] problem. The speech changed the narrative.” ~ Walid Phares

According to a Fox News Exclusive report, the President Trump administration is considering a Camp-David style Arab peace summit.   Those who have followed the administration’s structural activity all year will see this as a natural progression of events within the alliance formed by President Trump and the Mid-East coalition.

The four major allies within the growing alliance, Egypt, Saudi, UAE and Bahrain, as well as other moderates supportive of the larger objectives to restore stability, are currently engaged in a campaign to change the outlook of Qatar and stop their support for the Muslim Brotherhood.  A peace summit around their united efforts, with the support of President Trump, would follow a logical path.

The media will go bananas at the thought of such a consequential accomplishment.

(Via Fox News) President Trump is considering calling a Camp David-style summit to address growing tensions among long-established U.S. allies in the Arab world and renew his call for those nations to confront the “crisis of Islamic extremism,” Fox News has learned.

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