The opening ceremony of the ASEAN summit is always a little goofy with the cross-handed handshake and group photograph:

The bilateral one-on-one meetings between the leaders, and upper tier delegations, of nations are where the consequential stuff happens.  Most of the rest of the summits are relationship building, networking and information for public broadcast.
(more…)

When Senator Blunt rises from the darkest and deepest part of the swamp to talk about senate Tax legislation (always written by the biggest K-St donors) you know the sausage is rotten.  Decepticon Blunt is only visible when the little people are conscripted to wash the cigar residue from the Senate’s Corinthian leather.
Senators: Blunt, Cornyn, McConnell, Hatch, Portman, Thune, McCain, Cochran, Murkowski, Graham and Corker will NEVER allow the income tax position of common-folk to supersede their corporate porkulous-minded financial interests.
CTH needed to be patient to see the architecture, and see if they retained their traditional approach at swamp constructs,… Now it’s visible, I can guarantee you this bill is destined to fail.  Maria Bartiromo knows it… she knows, and she’s playing the game; but you can see it behind her eyes… she knows.

.
Accepting that Donald Trump has exceptionally keen instincts, he had to know -in advance- where this was headed. The only purpose this bill serves is ammunition within the ‘big ugly’ to showcase, yet again, the corruption and ineptitude of the GOPe wing of the UniParty and how they are mere salespeople for their financiers on Wall Street/K-Street.
Forget tax reform; like the budget and O-care, it’s a moot point to discuss now.
(more…)

President Trump, together with Team USA, attend the 31st summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) today.  Paying close attention to who Trump is meeting with, along with the specific length of time allocated to each of the bilateral exchanges, helps to measure the value of each participant in the larger economic strategy.

In the morning (Manilla local time – 8pm U.S. Eastern), President Donald J. Trump will participate in a photo opportunity with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. The President will then participate in a welcome ceremony for the 31st ASEAN Summit.
Later in the morning, the President will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull of Australia, followed by a bilateral meeting with President Duterte. In the afternoon, the President will attend the 5th U.S.-ASEAN Summit which commemorates the 40th anniversary of U.S.-ASEAN relations.
Later in the afternoon, the President will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India followed by an embassy meet and greet.
Schedule below:
(more…)

Former ODNI James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, appear with Jake Tapper to defend themselves against President Trump calling them out as political hacks yesterday. Together they attempt round #3 of couples grief therapy while selling their nonsense. Oh, how they both think we have forgotten – we haven’t.

As you watch James Clapper read his teleprompter, and yes, he’s reading from prepared script because he’s a useful idiot (see: 02:28 for confirmation), it should be noted that President Obama blamed James Clapper for the “rise of ISIS“.  Additionally it should be noted that Clapper previously admitted to lying to congress about ‘spying on Americans’.
John Brennan is even worse.  Earlier in the year Brennan contradicted Comey and stated he told congress and the FBI about Russian activity AFTER Comey testified he didn’t. Go figure. Then again, earlier in his career Brennan admitted to hacking into the State Department in 2008 to review/modify candidate Obama’s passport records; six years later, following an Inspector General report, Brennan was forced to admit and apologize to the Senate Intelligence Committee for using the CIA to spy on congress.
How Brennan was never prosecuted for those crimes is a question never answered.  Then again, he’s defending the weaponized FBI so there’s that quid-pro-quo angle to digest.  I digress:
(more…)

Those who have walked in the deep weeds of geopolitical strategy know the emphasis the Trump administration has placed on ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) as a counter-balance (control leverage) to the Chinese trade and military expansion.
The ongoing trade and security relationship between the U.S. and India, as well as other regional partners, is a large part of the overarching dynamic.  The ASEAN Summit in Manilla Philippines is an opportunity for President Trump to expand the conversations; enter into deeper discussions surrounding the terms of partnership; and deepen commitments toward larger U.S. international objectives.

.
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region including India, comprises a combined population of 1.85 billion people, one-fourth of the global population. From the perspective of India – “Prime Minister Modi is likely to reassert India’s push to create a global approach to deal with terrorism. He will also pitch steps to boost regional trade. One of the more significant meetings will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump.”
(more…)

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 †

At 10:20am (local) / 10:20pm (U.S. EST) President Trump and President Quang will be holding a joint press conference from the Presidential Palace, Hanoi, Vietnam.
UPDATE: Video Added

.
President Trump pushed back against the ridiculous questions about Russian election conspiracy and knocks the nonsense out of the ballpark. GREAT ANSWER (Video Segment Below)
(more…)

United States President Donald J Trump arrives to the official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam  as an honored guest of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.
The official Vietnamese welcoming ceremony begins with the playing of both the U.S. national anthem and the national anthem of Vietnam; then a presentation of the national military, inspection by President Trump and President Quang; followed by greeting the highest national delegation of the host nation.  They did a really great job. WATCH:

.
[Press Pool] Soldiers clad in white uniforms with red trim and wearing knee-high boots lined a grand red-carpeted staircase up to the entrance of the mustard-yellow Presidential Palace, a colonial-style building with arched windows and a giant Vietnamese flag on top. Under grey skies and a steady drizzle, uniformed troops were lined up on three sides of a tiled courtyard out front, and on the left were a group of little girls wearing sequined tutus and holding American and Vietnamese flags.
(more…)

Last year against the backdrop of President Obama’s sanctions announcement against Russia, we closely reviewed the “Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – Joint Analysis Report”. This December 2016 intelligence report (actual document below) is the report where the media talking points “17 intelligence agencies agreed” and the Russian “hacking of the election” began.
The report was released to coincide with President Obama kicking out Russian diplomats as punishment for the content therein.  Everyone talks about this report, yet almost no-one talking about it has actually read it.  WE HAVE.


President Obama’s administration released the ‘Joint Analysis Report’ which various politicians and media claimed to outline details of Russia’s involvement hacking into targeted data, computer systems, and political networks during the election.
Except it doesn’t.
Not even a little.
(more…)