The French election commission and all French media are attempting to keep presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron’s email and document release from having an impact on the election; even going so far as to warn people that reading the content might be illegal.

With 9.9 gigabytes of data uploaded to Pastebin it sets up a rather unusual issue if Macron happens to win the election and the content of the email and documents show manipulation and coordination of the candidate by interests external to France.

Via Reuters – France sought to keep a computer hack of frontrunner Emmanuel Macron’s campaign emails from influencing the outcome of the country’s presidential election with a warning on Saturday it could be a criminal offence to republish the data.

Macron’s team said a “massive” hack had dumped emails, documents and campaign financing information online just before campaigning ended on Friday and France entered a quiet period which forbids politicians from commenting on the leak.

(more…)

In the run-up to the June 8th national election called for by British Prime Minister Theresa May, the local elections are providing strong indicators for a historic level of support.

This outcome is exactly what Prime Minister May wanted as she heads into tough negotiations with the European Union on terms of exit.

Having won the historic Brexit vote and gained victory for the UK to pull out of the Union, most of UKip party supporters are melding back into the traditional Conservative party ranks.

REUTERS – British Prime Minster Theresa May’s Conservative Party is still a strong 16 points ahead of the main opposition Labour Party ahead of a national election on June 8, according to a poll by Opinium on Saturday.

(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

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 †

Earlier today President Donald Trump signed HR244 into law.  The provisional spending bill that funds government through September 30th, the end of fiscal year 2017.

There has been a great deal of anxiety amid punditry about the spending outline itself, and the spending priorities as determined by both houses of congress.  Some of the criticism is warranted, most is not.

The basic principle the entire professional political class seem to overlook is the reasoning for the CR itself.  Congress has been unable to fulfill its budgetary obligation since 2007.

In fact, the last federal budget (fiscal year ’08) was signed into law in September of 2007.  By the conclusion of this CR it will have been an entire decade without a federal budget.

Perspective: ♦ Over half of all elected federal politicians have never held elected office in any year with a federal budget in place.  ♦ Almost two-thirds of Republicans in congress have never known a federal budget for a single day in office.

THAT FACT should be the target of the ire from all Americans, particularly conservatives.  However, hypocritically, it is not.

For some reason ankle-biters, antagonists, and crony constitutional punditry amid the various CONservative outlets, choose instead to focus their criticism toward the first president in our lifetime to actually deliver on conservative policy, conservative values and expressed policy objectives/outcomes that benefit all common sense Americans.

(more…)

[Transcript] My fellow Americans,

Since Day One, my administration has been hard at work, tearing down the barriers to job creation and economic growth. We have removed one job-killing regulation after another – they’re not pretty and they’re going. And believe me, we are just getting started on regulations. They’re gone.

On Thursday, the House voted to repeal one of the worst job-killing laws of all. It’s called ObamaCare, perhaps you’ve heard of it. Everywhere we look, ObamaCare is collapsing. The House Bill is a plan that will save Americans from this disaster, and replace it with more choices, and more freedom for American families. Most importantly, it will be great healthcare, and your premiums will come down, and your deductibles will come down. So you’ll have better healthcare at a lower cost. And now, I’m calling on the Senate to take action. Repealing and replacing ObamaCare will be a big, big win for the American People.

(more…)

Sybrina “Ms Candy” Fulton and Tracy “Fruit” Martin, the family of Trayvon Martin, will accept a college degree in Aeronautics presented posthumously in recognition of the life of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin:

(Via CNN) […] The aeronautics degree is in “honor of the steps he took during his young life toward becoming a pilot,” the school said in a Facebook post. Florida Memorial’s Department of Aviation and Safety has a designated Cessna pilot training center, and the school also houses the Trayvon Martin Foundation.  (read more)

Seriously?

What’s next, sizzurp scholarships?

(more…)

During a ceremony today at the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered remarks of remembrance and honored fallen foreign service workers.

(more…)

Well this is stunning to say the least.  After initial denials the campaign of French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is now confirming the authenticity of a massive upload of emails from his account.

The 9.9 Gigs of emails, outlining some very sketchy deals by the presidential candidate, were uploaded to Pastebin a document sharing site – SEE HERE –  Initially no-one was able to confirm the authenticity, and the campaign of Macron denied.   WikiLeaks began an attempt to authenticate the release.

However, the authentication is no longer necessarily warranted as the campaign is admitting they were hacked, and the content appears to be directly from the accounts of Emmanuel Macron:

The campaign of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron condemns “massive hacking attack” after document leak(link)

Reuters initially reported:

(more…)

The media gnats, and some doofus conservative punditry, quip about President Trump talking to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Duterte is also the rotational President of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).  Meanwhile, President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson remain keenly focused on the BIGGER PICTURE in Asia and how ASEAN policy relates to N-Korea.

Thankfully the grow-ups are in charge.

STATE DEPT – Secretary of State Tillerson hosted the Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a special U.S.-ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting, reinforcing the Strategic Partnership between the United States and ASEAN and commemorating the 40th anniversary of U.S.-ASEAN relations.

Secretary Tillerson underscored that the Asia-Pacific region is a top priority for the Trump Administration and that ASEAN is an essential partner. ASEAN Ministers welcomed the continued commitment by the United States to ASEAN, including the Association’s community-building and regional integration efforts.

(more…)