The Director of President Trump’s Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) Mick Mulvaney discusses the ongoing budgetary priorities of President Trump and the intertwined larger policy objectives – with the newest spokesperson for Grecian men’s haircare formula Jake Tapper.

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Larger things considered, Mulvaney has always been an odd duck selection.  However, perhaps President Trump knew something we didn’t.  What better way to coordinate a budget than to use the same people who allowed a willfully-blind decade of financial usurpation, only this time holding them accountable to a corrective path.  Leverage is, if they fail, their prior activity can always be exposed.
Heck, there’s growing evidence President Trump might just be pulling off an epic reverse Castellano’s maneuver.  After all, Paul Ryan was the former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and current Chair Kevin Brady has been a key focus of President Trump.  Hmmm…
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Representative Jim Jordan lays out a forceful case to destroy the RyanCare healthcare proposal.  Jordan makes a lot of good points; however, the unnerving aspect is Jordan’s response to the long-term ramifications of blowing up the Senate process:  “I don’t care” if we lose elections and end up with single-payer healthcare.
Jim Jordan is scheduled to meet again with President Trump this coming Tuesday.

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Earlier on Fox Business News, House Majority Whip, Representative Steve Scalise, defended the current three-step proposal and extended the conversation into the budget ramifications and the Trump tax reform proposal.
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Secretary Wilbur “wolverine” Ross, aka Wilburine, discusses his perspective on trade issues, and enforcement.    Gotta love Wilburine’s magnanimous graciousness as he explains the “goodwill gesture” extended recently to Mexico.  {LOL} Wilburine also hits at Trade with Japan being utilized as offsetting leverage with China. [Explains golf with Abe]

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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 †

Don’t Forget – Set your clocks forward one hour tonight.  Or at 2:00am tomorrow.

On Saturday the Dutch government withdrew landing permission for a Turkish foreign minister’s aircraft, sparking a furious reaction by Turkish president Recep Erdogan and escalating a diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies.
The primary concern of the Dutch was the Islamic Turks inability to assemble without violence in Rotterdam.  Throughout the day tensions grew until finally a full-blown Islamist riot began and the Dutch government were forced to respond with riot police.

Unfortunately, this behavior is exactly what the Dutch predicted would happen, and it would appear the Turkish Muslims were determined to prove the Dutch authority correct.
In another Ironic twist, the behavior by the Muslim Turkish constituency in Rotterdam will most likely aid a political resurgence of Dutch Nationalist Gert Wilders who has promised to rid the country of radical Islamists.
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Put this in the ‘you-can’t-make-this-up‘ file.   Taking the concept of limo-liberalism to new stratospheric heights of modernity, Chaz Bono’s housekeeper has an illegal “helper”.
We have now reached a period of exponential Fabian Socialism where the carefully designed “underclass” are so enlightened they actually have their own secondary “underclass” of conscripted illegal alien assistants.
OK. I know, take a minute, let that sink in.

(LINK)

Sorry, I cannot yet write an accurate context for the concentric circle of sub-headings necessary to frame the discussion.  Talk among yourselves.

As more people begin seeing through the fog of political “talking points”, the next response from those suffering from battered conservative syndrome is to say: well, do nothing, and allow ObamaCare to simply self-destruct.
Unfortunately, this is not an option.  At least it’s not a reasonable option.  To understand how battered conservatives are being lead around, used and abused, it is very important to understand the abusers.  There are many.

Last week Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin informed congress it will soon be necessary to raise the debt ceiling.   Immediately, crony-constitutional conservative types, like many who assemble in the House Freedom Caucus, shouted “no way”; apparently, according to their pearl-clutching political position – it unnerves their fiscally conservative sensibilities.
Interesting.
On October 21st, 2015, the Freedom Caucus itself backed Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House of Representatives. (LINK)  A week later, October 28th, 2015, members of the same Freedom Caucus voted to approve a $2+ trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill, a massive continuing resolution, and removed the debt ceiling restrictions (link).  Two days later, October 30th, 2015, at 3:00am in the morning, the Omnibus CR bill passed the Senate (link).
This was yet another year without a federal budget, and a specific decision to fund all of Obama’s spending priorities for 2015 and 2016.  (more…)

Don’t listen to the Western media version of what Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says. It is important to listen to his words directly:

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CNN has intentionally broadcast a filtered version of this interview focusing on the “foreign invaders” perspective. However, pay close attention to the 06:15 point of the video above where Assad discusses President Trump and his policy, and how Assad (correctly) views Turkey as facilitating ISIS.

“We have hopes that this administration in the United States is going to implement what we have heard, taking into consideration that talking about ISIS doesn’t mean talking about the whole terrorism; ISIS is one of the products, al-Nusra is one of the products, you have so many groups in Syria but they are not ISIS – but they are al-Qaeda. They have the same background of the Wahhabi extremist ideology”. [ie. The Muslim Brotherhood]

Asked about cooperation with President Trump specifically, President Assad expands: (more…)