Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the first mid-east head of state to call for the formation of an alliance against extremism.  That alliance gained massive momentum with the election of President Trump:

WHITE HOUSE:

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt to offer condolences to the people of Egypt after the heinous attack on worshippers in Egypt’s North Sinai province. President Trump condemned the attack and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism. The international community cannot tolerate barbaric terrorist groups and must strengthen its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all its forms.

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The day after Thanksgiving kicks off the official start to the bigly celebration… and oh, how this one is going to be the best Christmas yet. The best.  Believe me.

The White House releases the official announcement that OMB Director Mick Mulvaney will head up the Consumer Financial Protection Board until a replacement is confirmed.  As previously discussed – notice the verbiage:

WHITE HOUSE – Today, the President announced that he is designating Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Mick Mulvaney as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The President looks forward to seeing Director Mulvaney take a common sense approach to leading the CFPB’s dedicated staff, an approach that will empower consumers to make their own financial decisions and facilitate investment in our communities. Director Mulvaney will serve as Acting Director until a permanent director is nominated and confirmed.  (link)

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LA radio anchor Leeann Tweeden said last week Senator Al Franken had put his tongue in her mouth.  Another woman, Lindsay Menz, said Monday that Franken had squeezed her buttocks in 2010 while posing for a photo.  Two more women alleged in a Huffington Post story published Wednesday that Senator Franken grabbed their butts during campaign events in 2007 and 2008.  Senator Al Franken “responds“:

“I’ve met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. I’m a warm person; I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women – and I know that any number is too many. Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that.”

“I’ve thought a lot in recent days about how that could happen, and recognize that I need to be much more careful and sensitive in these situations. I feel terribly that I’ve made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again. And let me say again to Minnesotans that I’m sorry for putting them through this and I’m committed to regaining their trust.”  ~ Senator Al Franken

Too funny.  President Trump tweets about declining Time Magazine ‘Man-of-Year’ request and the derangement hive goes bananas:

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The New York Times reporters are outlining another silly story to squeeze out the final drips of usefulness within the vast Russian conspiracy narrative.   Comey’s leak recipient Michael Schmidt, and the narrative engineer with a Phd in passive aggressive writing, Maggie Haberman, collaborate.
The outline is that lawyers for Michael Flynn are no longer sharing information with lawyers from the Trump team.  Obviously the intended premise of this engineering feat is infer that Flynn is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller to the detriment of President Trump.  Key word for narrative building here is: ‘infer’.  The years’-long media Russian conspiracy script relies heavily on ‘inference’.

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case — an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal.

Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether anyone around Mr. Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

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Against the backdrop of the first border opening between Egypt’s northern Sinai and Gaza; and against the ongoing efforts by the al-Sisi led coalition to move toward peace between Arabs and Israelis; the extremists strike back today with a horrific terrorist attack against the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El Arish, the main city in North Sinai.

(Reuters) CAIRO – Militants killed more than 230 people at a mosque in North Sinai on Friday, detonating a bomb and gunning down worshippers in the deadliest such attack of Egypt’s modern history, state media and witnesses said.

Worshippers were finishing Friday prayers at the mosque when a bomb exploded, witnesses said. Around 40 gunmen set up positions outside the mosque with jeeps and opened fire from different directions as people tried to escape.

”Four groups of armed men attacked the worshippers inside the mosque after Friday noon prayers. Two groups were firing at ambulances to deter them, said Mohamed, a witness.

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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 †

There’s an interesting interview within the New York Times written by Thomas Friedman who interviews Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the current changes taking place within Saudi Arabia and MbS’s intense drive to modernize and engage.  The article is well worth reading.
CTH would be remiss if we didn’t draw attention to the level of jaw-dropping weasel linguistics that Friedman uses to jump on the MbS bandwagon.  If you have never read Friedman’s interviews of President Obama –EXAMPLE HERE– you might not see it.
However, if you have watched the decade of fawning idolatry expressed by Friedman toward the Chicago lightbringer you’ll immediately notice the tell-tale signs of a pontificating liberal [shallow-minded simpleton] attempting to retain relevance by claiming proximity toward perspectives that are 180 degrees away from his previous prose.
There’s a particular level of inauthentic weaselistics that goes beyond the normal level of liberal snobbery.  If you’ve ever experienced the shallow pinky-raised elites, group-talking about their sensitive wine palates while the Sommelier tricks them with $10 vino; or if you’ve heard stories of the cloistered-clutch waxing philosophically at art exhibitions which were actually switched for Kindergarten scribbles… well, then you know Friedman’s tribe.
In real terms there’s a level of profound irony within this interview.  The changes within Saudi Arabia are directly supported by a U.S. president empowering Saudi Arabia to manifest its own destiny.
President Trump has reshaped mid-east policy, and formed a strong coalition, based on a partnership among co-equals.  This is not about the U.S., this change is about Saudi Arabia.
That Trumpian outlook is a complete reverse of the Bush/Obama Doctrine of forcing their personal definition of ‘Western values‘ to provide support.   Yet Friedman can’t even see that paradigm shift; his ideology is so mired in selfishness it is invisible to him.
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