Today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the State Department’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

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[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, some of you may have seen a press release that was put out just before I arrived announcing that at the President’s direction, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea. He is on his way, en route home, to be reunited with his family.

We continue our discussions with the North Korean regime regarding the release of the three other American citizens that have been detained. We have no comment on Mr. Warmbier’s condition, out of respect to him and the family, and that is the statement that was released.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be testifying before congress today and his former democrat colleagues have promised to tear him limb from limb.  Fired FBI Director James Comey previously testi-lied that it was his opinion Jeff Sessions was placed inside the U.S. Attorney Generals office to coordinate with Vladimir Putin.  Gottabe a spy, ohmygosh.

AG Jeff Sessions’ response will take place at approximately 2:30pm EDT today.   Tickets for the circus level fiasco are sold out and media are breathless with anticipation.

RSBN Livestream Link – Alternate Livestream #1 – Alternate Livestream #2 – Alternate Livestream link #3

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Continuing evidence continues to mount that James Comey is carefully playing an orchestrated scheme leading to counter-positioning he has constructed, and useful idiots are playing along without noticing who is baiting them.  This is so typically Comey.

The latest evidence surfaces as Sara Carter writes an article, based on a leak of a discussion Comey had with lawmakers in the closed intelligence committee session last Thursday.

However, what Carter and later Sean Hannity actually end up doing, under the auspices of catching Loretta Lynch in something sketchy, is restoring the dignity, honor and moral certitude of former FBI Director James Comey – JUST LIKE COMEY PLANNED.

It is actually getting hilarious to watch play out.

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To understand the Machiavellian construct you must first READ THE SARA CARTER article and see how it favorably positions James Comey as the harbinger of all things moral and virtuous.  Secondly, you must understand James Comey (See Here).

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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

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified yesterday to the House Appropriations Committee discussing the FY 2018 budget, the current state of federal finance and the need to increase the budget ceiling.

Most of Mnuchin’s testimony focused on the bigger and more broad economic issues including: the federal budget, tax reform, spending, the debt ceiling, and the need to focus on GDP growth.

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Secretary Mnuchin also describes the current state of the trade team’s conversations with multiple international partners and how they are responding positively to the engagements of Mnuchin, Secretary Ross (Commerce) and U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer.

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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 †

#NeverTrump Katie Pavlich just loves her some #NeverTrump Trey Gowdy:

Politically speaking, the deployment of countermeasures is a tactic used by the institutional deep state politicians in Washington DC to counter incoming public inquiry and protect themselves from anger expressed by the electorate.

Weaponized government, aka “Deep State”, takes action and creates victims.  The UniParty countermeasures are politicians assigned a role to control the incoming righteous inquiry  from voters who find out about the weaponized or corrupt governmental action. (more…)

Jurors in the case against Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez for the shooting death of Philando Castile began deliberations this afternoon.  No verdict was determined and the jury will continue deliberating tomorrow.  Yanez is charged in Ramsey County with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of reckless discharge of a firearm for shooting Castile in Falcon Heights.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot Philando Castile, a 32-year-old cafeteria worker during a traffic stop on July 6, 2016. The shooting drew widespread national attention because Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed the aftermath on Facebook.

Minnesota – […] Defense attorney Earl Gray told jurors that the state “failed miserably” in presenting its case. He emphasized the defense’s main contention: that Castile failed to follow orders because he was too stoned from smoking marijuana and grabbed a gun in his right pocket, forcing Yanez to shoot.

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On February 3rd 2017 President Trump signed Executive Order #13772 calling for a system of reviews, first due in 120 days, of the U.S. financial, investment and banking system for possible reform. Today Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin released the first in a series of reports (full pdf below) outlining the U.S. Financial System.

Given the breadth of the financial system and the unique regulatory regime governing each segment, Treasury will divide its review of the financial system into a series of reports:

• The depository system, covering banks, savings associations, and credit unions of all sizes, types and regulatory charters;
• Capital markets: debt, equity, commodities and derivatives markets, central clearing and other operational functions;
• The asset management and insurance industries, and retail and institutional investment products and vehicles; and
• Non-bank financial institutions, financial technology, and financial innovation.

Today’s report covers the depository system.

The full report is below and it is rather extensive.  Here’s my initial review of the content with the report embedded at the bottom.

Back in July 2010 when Dodd-Frank banking regulation was passed into law, there were approximately 12 to 17 banks who fell under the definition of “too big to fail”.

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Earlier today President Trump held the first full cabinet meeting of his administration following extensive delays in prior confirmations driven by oppositional democrats.

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