Earlier today President Donald Trump celebrated several NCAA championship-winning teams at the White House, including:
♦Arizona State Women’s Triathlon ♦Florida Baseball ♦Maryland Men’s Lacrosse ♦Maryland Women’s Lacrosse ♦McKendree Women’s Bowling ♦Ohio State Men’s Volleyball ♦Oklahoma Men’s Golf ♦Oklahoma Men’s Gymnastics ♦Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics ♦Oklahoma Softball ♦Penn State Men’s Wrestling ♦Penn State Women’s Rugby ♦Texas A&M Men’s Indoor Track and Field ♦Texas A&M Women’s Equestrian ♦Utah Skiing ♦Virginia Men’s Tennis ♦Washington Women’s Rowing ♦West Virginia Rifle.
Raw Video of Event:

President Trump’s US Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivers a speech to the Federalist Society – Law and Public Order Studies:

In the opening moments of a speech to the Federalist Society Attorney General Jeff Sessions broke the ice with a little Russian humor:

There is a notable intent to talk down the economy amid almost all financial news providers.  However, despite their negative tone the economic reality continues to surpass their Eeyore disposition.
October’s U.S. housing starts jumped +13.7% to 1.29 million units and now begins to catch up with the underlying economic data.
You’ll note CTH discussed how housing would be regionally specific as the larger Main Street MAGAnomic policies were implemented.
Capital expenditures by home builders and home purchasers are the biggest financial decisions for most American workers.
Due to the deliberate factors involved, home purchasing is the largest railroad car in the economic train; it is also positioned in the rear of the economic sequencing.  However, when home building takes off the entire economic train gains momentum.

(Via Reuters) […] The sharp rebound in home construction reported by the Commerce Department on Friday was also driven by robust gains in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
The broad recovery could ease concerns about the housing market, which has been a drag on economic growth since the second quarter. The report added to labor market, manufacturing and retail sales data that have pointed to strong economic momentum as the year winds down.

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders delivers the press briefing for Friday November 17th.  Anticipated start time 3:00pm.  [Alternate Livestream #3 is active in advance for those who enjoy listening to reporters on hot mic.]
UPDATE: Video Added

TV and Radio personality Laura Ingraham was the first pundit to state that Congress has paid out millions in settlement money for sexual harassment claims within congress. The following day a reporter for The Hill, Reid Wilson, shared a chart showing the annualized payout amounts. We shared the chart from Reid Wilson.
However, the chart is misleading without the accompanying cover letter describing the content. [Original Source Link Here] In reality the claim that congress has paid out millions for “sexual harassment” or “harassment” settlements is entirely FALSE.

Fibber !

Sean Davis co-founder of The Federalist, was the first to spot the fraudulent presentation of data HERE. If you look at the actual letter (full pdf below) from the U.S. Congress, Office of Compliance, you’ll note the following important notation:

…”A large portion of cases originate from employing offices in the legislative branch other than the House of Representatives or the Senate, and involve various statutory provisions incorporated by the CAA, such as the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

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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 are many people taking notice of modern politics for the first time in their lives. There is also some confusion noticed between two groups who talk above and around each other. Two groups communicating from two entirely different sets of understanding.  Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.
There is not a single congress person who writes legislation or laws.
In 2017 not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.
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Multinational corporations and foreign governments spend hundreds of millions in Washington DC lobbying House and Senate politicians to retain trade positions.  It’s generally a legal bribery business where congressional representatives get rich by selling their votes to corporations and foreign governments.
Most of you already know the game: It’s a big club, and we -the working class- ain’t in it.
Fortunately for us, President Trump won the election without funding from the big corporations and lobbyists within the U.S. political system.  As such they cannot influence Trump’s decisions on economic policy matters and trade; and President Trump rarely invites them into the White House for policy meetings.
Specifically because the lobbyists don’t have access to the White House they rely on their purchased politicians in the House and Senate to influence the administration.

The multinational corporations and multinational banks are against the U.S. removing ourselves from multilateral trade agreements.  Those institutions rely on being able to manipulate the U.S. consumer market – EXPLAINED HERE.  The biggest influence agent, and by far the biggest lobbyist spender, is Tom Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who represents the interests of the multinational corporations and Wall St.
So when you see these letters, knowing they are written by K-Street and transcribed onto legislative letterhead by political staffers, all you need to do is look at the signatures of the politicians and you can quickly identify who has been purchased by Tom Donohue:
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