NBC is reporting that President Obama intends to continue his efforts at creating as much international crisis as possible prior to walking away from office, and leaving President Trump to clean up the aftermath. 
After initiating the latest international crisis with Israel, the former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize now turns his antagonism efforts toward Russia….
(Via NBC) The White House is preparing to announce retaliatory measures against Russia for its role in directing cyber attacks in the United States, two senior officials confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday.
In October, the United States formally blamed Russia for political hacking attacks, saying they were intended to interfere with American elections. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax that the accusations are “nonsense.”
The new actions, which would be an update of a 2015 executive order, could be announced as early Thursday or Friday, the officials said. They would also likely include economic sanctions coordinated by the Treasury department. (more…)

After a meeting today with Don King, President-elect Donald Trump held an impromptu press conference taking numerous questions from the media:

Actress Debbie Reynolds was planning the funeral for her daughter, actress Carrie Fischer, when she suffered a stroke today.  Her son now reports she too has passed.

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Liberalism is based on inherently hypocritical positions:

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded earlier today to the hour long speech by Secretary John Kerry and the clarified stance of the U.S. position toward Israel as outlined in the past several days.

At 05:30 of the Netanyahu remarks he specifically calls Secretary Kerry and President Obama to task for manipulating the United Nations:

(05:30) […]  We have it on absolute uncontestable evidence that the United States organized, advanced and brought this resolution to the United Nations Security Council.  We will share that information with the incoming administration; some of it is sensitive, it’s all true; you saw some of it in the protocol released in the Egyptian paper – there’s plenty more, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There are numerous reports where the current events surrounding President Obama’s push to paint Israel into a corner are specifically outlined and addressed with specificity.  However, if you really want to understand what’s going on, you must reference the longer game as it has been domestically constructed and ignored by most media.
Those who have followed domestic U.S. pro-Palestinian activism over the past several years will be able to more easily understand current events against the larger backdrop.
First, it is critical to remember, the antagonistic left fully anticipated Secretary Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Therefore all of the current U.S. political maneuvers, as recently evidenced, must be viewed as increasingly desperate now that their long-term objectives have been cut off by the insurgent win of Donald Trump.
In short, the longer-term approach from the politically professional left, in conjunction with the political activism of the social justice warriors, has been to undermine Israel, and yet do so without visibility toward undermining Israel.  (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 “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.

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 †

This is disturbing.  According to The Times of Israel, the Egyptian government have transcripts of communication showing Secretary Kerry and Susan Rice formulating a plan with the Palestinian Authority to create the anti-Israeli U.N. scheme; and beyond…

The usual suspects: Samantha Power, Susan Rice, President Obama.

(Via Times of Israel) An Egyptian paper published what it claims are the transcripts of meetings between top US and Palestinian officials that, if true, would corroborate Israeli accusations that the Obama administration was behind last week’s UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
At the same time, a report in an Israeli daily Tuesday night pointed to Britain helping draft the resolution and high drama in the hours leading up to the vote, as Jerusalem tried to convince New Zealand to bury the Security Council measure.
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Call me cynical, but this announced speech by Secretary John Kerry only inspires thoughts of the Obama administration laying dangerous ideological land mines the incoming Trump administration will have to navigate.
(CNN) Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver a speech Wednesday on the Obama administration’s vision for Middle East peace, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The speech at the State Department comes as the relationship between the US and Israel frays following the Obama administration’s controversial decision to abstain on Friday from a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Kerry said at the time that, “In the coming days, I will speak further to the vote in the Security Council today and share more detailed thoughts, drawn from the experience of the last several years, on the way ahead.” (more…)