Oh boy, this is challenging.  We do not want the Democrat Party to change their mind, and we definitely want to see Keith Ellison advanced to become Chairman of the DNC, this epic expository by Alan Dershowitz explains why.
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz was really animated earlier when he said he’ll leave the Democratic Party if Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) is appointed the next chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

[02:10] “If they now appoint Keith Ellison, who worked with [Nation of Islam leader Louis] Farrakhan, to be chairman of the DNC, you’re going to see a lot of people leave.”

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Some things never change.  In full alignment with President Obama, the ever faithful war monger Senator John McCain calls for a declaration of war against Russia.
…and if you disagree with him, well, you’re “a Hobbit“, or “a crazy“… or something. 

(Via Reuters) […]  Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Friday that Russia must face a penalty for the cyber attacks and that is was possible to impose many sanctions.

“When you attack a country, it’s an act of war,” McCain said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1” while on a visit to Kiev.

“And so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay, so that we can perhaps persuade the Russians to stop these kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy.” added McCain, who has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on foreign cyber threats.  (read more)

Seriously, and I am NOT KIDDING when I say this… (more…)

Earlier this morning, looking much healthier and rested, Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on Fox News Morning show for a sharp interview.   The topic was the new sanctions on Russia, announced yesterday by President Obama, and the responses therein.

Build that darn wall Donald, BUILD THAT WALL:

[…] And when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.  ~ Donald Trump June 17th 2015

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Mexican man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus that traveled through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. another nine times since 2003, records obtained by The Associated Press show.
[…]  Court filings show Martinez-Maldonado has two misdemeanor convictions for entering without legal permission in cases prosecuted in 2013 and 2015 in U.S. District Court of Arizona, where he was sentenced to serve 60 days and 165 days respectively.
A status hearing in the rape case is scheduled for Jan. 10. Defense attorney Lisa Hamer declined to comment on the charge, but said, “criminal law and immigration definitely intersect and nowadays it should be the responsibility of every criminal defense attorney to know the possible ramifications in the immigration courts.” (more…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin just crushed President Obama by refusing to play games with international diplomacy.  In addition, the Putin approach immediately negates the intention of the Obama effort to create crisis with Russia.  

Epic political chess move.   The only thing better than Putin’s strategic magnanimous response, is the tweet from Trump of his opinion toward Putin’s response. Together, Putin and Trump have made President Obama look petty and weak...

Here is the official statement from President Vladimir Putin:

We regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing US administration as provocative and aimed at further weakening the Russia-US relationship. This runs contrary to the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people. Considering the global security responsibilities of Russia and the United States, this is also damaging to international relations as a whole.

As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore Russian-US relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration.

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Everywhere you look the end of each year brings forth a series of lists outlining some variant of an annual summation.   We don’t traditionally assemble anything like that – however, this year my thoughts have been on specifically domestic stories that have not received the attention they deserve.
With that in mind, here’s my Top Ten list of domestic, mostly political, stories that I view have not been discussed with the importance or emphasis they should have carried:
#10 – Jeb’s failure to launch.  When you think about the years of strategic planning that went into a Jeb Bush presidential campaign, well, the scope Jeb’s failure to launch just exemplifies how disconnected the professional republican apparatus was from the average voter.  The party apparatchik genuinely believed Jeb Bush had a chance at winning the nomination.  Hundreds of millions of corporate and individual dollars, from major GOP donors, contributed to a campaign that was intensely futile, but the people supporting Jeb seemed oblivious to the reality.  Almost every incumbent republican politician aligned with his campaign.  Their collective disconnect from the feeling of the average American voter was definitely under reported.
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Last night incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus appeared on Fox News to discuss current events including President Obama’s action against Israel at the U.N., and yesterday’s sanctions against Russia etc.
Key point at 01:30 surrounding the third party anonymous sources. Well articulated:

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “2016 Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Trump/Pence presidential victory.

Transition Website HERE

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

In accordance with Presidential Directive #755.689 the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has released the following nationwide BOLO alert to assist in the apprehension of suspected Russian hackers and election saboteurs:

In accordance with current U.S. intelligence protocols, and to ensure the validity of the claims against the suspects, the White House has officially declassified and released clear and convincing evidence of their nefarious deeds suspected earlier this summer.
Previously withheld CCTV images capture the DNC hacking just prior to the incident. This  concrete evidence has been declassified to substantiate the need for official sanctions:
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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 †