Glory to God in the highest, the Greater Doxology, is the song the angels sang at Christ’s birth. Perhaps no other song, no other phrase, so greatly expresses the joy of the moment.
May all hearts be opened as the moment we celebrate, remember, treasure, and rejoice in comes closer. May we unite in this ancient call to our God as we celebrate His gift to all mankind.
Last week Politico reported on an explosive in depth investigation surrounding how the former President Obama administration allowed the terrorist group Hezbollah to continue a multinational drug running and money-laundering operation to fund terrorism in order to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.
The DEA’s “Operation Cassandra” was intentionally blocked; while the administration allowed drug-running into the U.S., weapons procurement to kill Americans and money laundering to facilitate all the terrorist activity. Supporting Hezbollah was down-played and intentionally permitted by the Obama administration.

Under any normal circumstances, other than an Obama presidency, this entire scandal would have been explosive headlines. [Insert comparison to media coverage of “Iran-Contra” here.] However, the response from U.S. media has been essentially nothing other than to attack the intensely well-sourced author of the expose’.
Now, pause for a minute and really think about this next question.
Consider how the same U.S. media will respond to the sunlight upon President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s “Operation Trump”?
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At a 9:00 a.m. (EST) this morning President Trump held a video conference with soldiers deployed overseas to wish them a Merry Christmas. The President complimented each representative assembly of the military on how well were doing in the fight against terrorism, and thanked them for their service. “We’re winning. Merry Christmas.”
[Transcript] Via Video Teleconference – Mar-a-Lago Club and Resort – Palm Beach, Florida – 8:59 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: I just wanted to wish everybody a very, very Merry Christmas. We say, “Christmas” again very proudly. Very, very merry Christmas. We’re going to have a great year. It’s going to be an incredible year.
I’m thrilled to bring season’s greetings on behalf of the First Lady and our entire family, and most importantly, on behalf of the American people. Today and everyday we’re incredibly thankful for you and for your families. Your families have been tremendous. Always underappreciated, the military families — the greatest people on Earth.
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Gospel Lk 1:26-38
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.”Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
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 †
UPDATED – In the past few days/weeks, thanks to some revealing information amid the various investigators of the DC swamp, we have been introduced to some previously unknown people. Timeline HERE
Names like FBI Agent Peter Strzok; his mistress FBI Attorney Lisa Page; their ideological comrade Asst FBI Director Andrew McCabe; along with DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr; and his wife, Fusion-GPS contract employee Nellie Ohr. Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby. These are a few of the recent names that have hit the headlines as a result of ongoing investigations into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.
But there’s one name conspicuously absent, FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap.

When you understand how central Bill Priestap is to the entire 2016/2017 ‘Russian Conspiracy Operation‘, the absence of his name, amid all others, creates a curiosity. I wrote a twitter thread about him recently because it seems rather unfathomable his name has not been a part of any of the recent story-lines.
Bill Priestap is the head of the FBI Counterintelligence operation. He was FBI Agent Peter Strozk’s direct boss. If anyone in congress really wanted to know if the FBI paid for the Christopher Steele Dossier, Bill Priestap is the guy who would know.
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“Ho Ho” to the Rubes he was grinch-ish-ly humming,
“they’re finding out now that no justice is coming”;
“they’re finding out now, and I know just what they’ll do”;
“why, their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
then the flyover rubes will all cry Boo Hoo.”
“That’s a noise”, said James Comey, “I simply must hear”;
so he tweeted a word, a sanctimonious sneer.
And he did hear a sound rising over the crowd;
it started in low – then it grew rather loud.
“Justice-for-us, justice-for-us, welcome justice for this place”…
“Justice-for-us, justice-for-us, welcome justice – justice day.”
“Welcome, welcome, justice-for-us, welcome, welcome justice-for-us”…
“Justice day is in our grasp, so long as we have truth to clasp.”
But this, well this, this sound wasn’t sad.
“Why”, he sneerly snarked “this sound, sounded glad”?
Each one a Deplorable, the tall and the small,
was just singing for justice – with no worry at all.
He hadn’t stopped justice from coming, it came;
somehow or other, it came just the same.
Earlier today the Washington Post reported that Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe is planning on retiring on/around March 2018; timed to receive pension benefits.
President Trump notes the conspicuous timing of Andrew McCabe’s decision:

It is important to note that in prior congressional testimony by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, the Department of Justice OIG (Office of Inspector General) has committed to release over 1.2 million pages of documents on January 15th, 2018 to the Judiciary Committee.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein affirmed the investigative documents would be released to Chairman Goodlatte and House investigators. This release is important to overlay against the backdrop of the McCabe decision to retire.
The Inspector General may, or may not, be complete with his investigative report on/around January 15th. However, with the House Oversight (Gowdy) and Judiciary (Goodlatte) Committees both launching investigations they are not waiting for Inspector General Michael Horowitz to conclude his final report.
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It is important to remember the Washington Post is the unofficial public relations outfit of the U.S. intelligence community: FBI, CIA, etc. When a leaked source, or insider release of information appears within the Washington Post, it is there by collaboration with the intelligence community.
That said, the story today about Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe planning to retire in March 2018, should be viewed as the WaPo attempting to create leverage for McCabe to retain his position up to his pension eligibility. It is NOT coincidental that Inspector General Michael Horowitz is planning to release his Year-Long OIG report outlining his investigative details into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.

This maneuver by “Andy” McCabe is similar to moves by his former boss James Comey. McCabe is trying to gain leverage over a pending IG report release and ongoing congressional investigations that recently have begun to run a parallel track. By publicizing his intent to leave the FBI ahead of all the investigative outcomes being public, McCabe is attempting to change his central disposition to the scandals.
The Washington Post report is shaped to deliver a specific narrative about Andrew McCabe and assist his positioning. The absence of any WaPo mention of the FBI counterintelligence operation, “The Trump Project”, including the absence of any mention of the FBI involvement in the Steele Dossier (FISA Warrants, Wiretaps and Surveillance), and the myriad of explosive issues therein, is evidence of WaPo’s motive:
WASHINGTON – Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director who has been the target of Republican critics for more than a year, plans to retire in a few months when he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits, according to people familiar with the matter.

