Like a boss.  President Trump throws the irony into hyper-drive telling the entire group of NATO socialists: it’s time to pay their fair share.

[Transcript] 4:39 P.M. CEST – PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much, Secretary General Stoltenberg.  Chancellor Merkel, thank you very much.  Other heads of state and government, I am honored to be here with members of an alliance that has promoted safety and peace across the world.

Prime Minister May, all of the nations here today grieve with you and stand with you.  I would like to ask that we now observe a moment of silence for the victims and families of the savage attack which took place in Manchester.  (A moment of silence is observed.)  Thank you.  Terrible thing.

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Like a boss.  The body language is hilarious.  The European and NATO leaders are sweating through their newly tailored Bironi suits as President Trump swaggers in to stare them directly in the eye.

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President Trump, Mad Dog and T-Rex walk into town:

…Nice -new- fancy offices you have here.  Obviously with all this extra cash for fancy buildings you must have plenty of room to spend on your own NATO defense.

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It is not coincidental the origin of all ‘vast-Russian-conspiracy‘ stories seem to start with a discussion of intelligence gathering beginning in July of 2016.   The GOP convention to nominate Donald Trump was July 18-21st of 2016.

Surrounding the nomination that stunned the geo-political world almost every foreign government was trying to figure out who and what Donald J Trump was all about; and more specifically: how would his run for the presidency impact their specific interests.

WASHINGTON NYT — American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.

[Paragraph #5] The information collected last summer was considered credible enough for intelligence agencies to pass to the F.B.I., which during that period opened a counterintelligence investigation that is continuing. It is unclear, however, whether Russian officials actually tried to directly influence Mr. Manafort and Mr. Flynn. Both have denied any collusion with the Russian government on the campaign to disrupt the election. (link)

The New York Times should win a Pulitzer for undermining their own ‘Russian Conspiracy’ headline narrative within the fifth paragraph.  [It’s a current trend] I digress.

Obviously Russia would be asking these questions along with China, France, England, the larger EU and every nation in every continent.  It would be silly to claim otherwise.

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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

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 †

U.S. President Donald J Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium.  Accompanying President Trump is Dina Powell, Steven Miller, Rex Tillerson, HR McMaster, Gary Cohn.

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After meeting with the pope earlier in the day, while visiting Italy First Lady Melania Trump went to visit children at Bambin Gesù children’s hospital in Rome.

At the entrance to the hospital Melania stopped to pray before a statue of Mary the blessed virgin mother.

First lady Melania Trump visited with the sick, and engaged with those recovering, while speaking their native tongue.  {{dusty keyboard alert}}

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The Director of the Office of Management and Budgets, Mick Mulvaney, gave testimony today before congress and outlined the Mother Of All Budget Battles (MOABB).

Behind the scenes the financial class are putting full pressure on congress to attack the Trump administration’s budget proposals which would significantly enhance the speed of the swamp draining.   Lobbyists are out in force protecting their spending priorities, as the taxpayers watch the pantomime play out through the media’s preferred narrative.

The Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve will work earnestly to block President Trump’s economic policy.  There are trillions of dollars at stake.

The ‘system‘, the vested financial interests who fund politicians, are apoplectic at the thought of any reductions in government spending – and the advanced ideology of financial upward mobility and independence is adverse to their interest.

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The Manchester Bomber is one of Hillary Clinton’s Libyan “Rebels”

Islamic State fighters landed in Libya back in November of 2014, and began work establishing training camps in the Libyan city of Derna before launching a terror offensive which included an attack on a Libyan hotel, attacks on oil field workers, and the execution of 21 Copts in a graphic video which made international headlines.

In early through mid-2015 several extremist jihadist elements in Libya swore allegiance to Bakar al-Baghdadi.  A man named Abdelhakim Belhadj took the position as head of ISIS in Libya. Abdelhakim Belhadj was critical in forming “Libya Dawn”, essentially a group of Islamic militia forces (LIFG or Libyan Islamic Fighting Groups) who fought under various banners such as Ansar al-Sharia (al-Qaeda in Libya) and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Today the links emerge between the Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi (22), and these extremist forces within Libya.  It appears the bombing attack against the Manchester concert venue was directed and coordinated by the family of Abedi and their close contacts within Libya including his father Ramadan Abedi who was arrested earlier today.

Important top-lines:

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