Tonight is the last governors race of the year. Democrat Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is facing off against a Republican challenger Eddie Rispone, a Baton Rouge businessman who emerged as the winner in last month’s nonpartisan primary.
President Trump is very popular in Louisiana and has supported Mr. Rispone in his challenge.  It is expected to be a very close race, and the media is hoping for an opportunity to frame President Trump’s reelection outcome with a loss for Mr. Rispone.
If John Bel Edwards wins, the media will joyfully proclaim the victory as overwhelming evidence of President Trump’s weakness.  If Eddie Rispone wins the media will play it down and say it means nothing.
UPDATE:  Incumbent Governor John Bell Edwards Wins by 40,000 votes.

Louisiana Secretary of State – Election Results Here

It was Democrat votes from within Orleans Parish that overwhelmingly voted for Governor John Bel Edwards (almost 90%) and eliminated any possibility for Eddie Rispone.  Orleans voted +100,000 for JBE (see graph below):
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Amid increased calls from House Republicans to force the testimony of the CIA “whistleblower”, today the Washington Post, the primary outlet for CIA misinformation and public relations, began shaping the “whistle-blower” as a hero.
Because the overall effort involves multiple parts of the deep state apparatus, to see through the construction it is important to note which media outlet holds equity for agency talking points within the coup.  The Washington Post is primary PR for the CIA and IC writ large. The New York Times is primary PR for the FBI; and CNN is primary PR for the State Dept.  This pattern has been consistent throughout.

Over time it has become clear the first confidential human source for the CIA Ukraine dossier, written by CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella and also known as the “Whistleblower report”, is Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman a Ukraine expert inside the National Security Council on assignment from the Dept of Defense intelligence unit.
Within his deposition the ideology of Lt. Col Vindman is clear. Vindman’s mission focus was/is to shape U.S. policy toward Ukraine (and by extension NATO) regardless of the actual policy view of President Trump.  Within his deposition Vindman admitted to giving countermanding instructions to his Ukraine counterpart two weeks after understanding opposite policy objectives from his commander-in-chief.
During his deposition Lt Col Vindman also admitted -with considerable angst and attempts to deflect from his legal advisors provided by the Dept. of Defense- that he was intentionally usurping the chain of command in an effort to follow his own ideological agenda; and perhaps that of his DoD leadership.
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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

Stephanie Grisham Twitter @StephGrisham45

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 †

A rather lengthy speech by U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr to the Federalist Society is getting some increased attention today for the specific focus on how the executive branch has been weakened over the past several decades.
More specifically, AG Barr discusses how, in the Trump-era, the resistance movement has abdicated their legislative power and responsibility in favor of a politically motivated intent to harm the constitutional executive power.  [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] – Good Evening. Thank you all for being here. And thank you to Gene [Meyer] for your kind introduction.
It is an honor to be here this evening delivering the 19th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture. I had the privilege of knowing Barbara and had deep affection for her. I miss her brilliance and ebullient spirit. It is a privilege for me to participate in this series, which honors her.
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Earlier today President Trump gave remarks and held a brief White House presser on the topic of healthcare pricing transparency. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. It’s a great honor. The stock market is up big today. It set a new record. I think it’s the 22nd time this year, and it’s over 100 times for the time that we’re in office. We’ve set over 100. I think it’s substantially more than 100. We’ll get the exact number because I know you wouldn’t want me to have that wrong. They don’t like that.
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Representatives Jim Jordan (OH) and Elise Stefanik (NY) delivered some of the most powerful congressional questioning today during day-two of the House impeachment hearings.  At the conclusion of the hearing the two leaders were joined by Republican members for a press briefing.  WATCH:

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Earlier today Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared for an interview with Maria Bartiromo on the status of phase-one for the U.S-China trade deal, Huawei and ZTE national security concerns, and Speaker Pelosi blocking ratification of the USMCA agreement.
Secretary Ross cautions the Chinese deal is contingent on some very particular and important enforcement details. Additionally Ross discusses the potential national security issues with 5G network and AG Bill Barr having strong concerns about Huawei and ZTE.

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Representative Elise Stefanik brought to light interesting information today surrounding how the Obama administration was concerned about issues surrounding Vice-President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his connection to a corrupt Ukraine company Burisma.  This revelation directly contradicted the Yovanovitch opening statement.
During questioning Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch admitted the Obama White House spent time briefing her on how to respond to congress if questions about Hunter Biden and Burisma were raised.  This testimony highlights the concerns by the Obama administration about a clear issue with the Biden family and corrupt Ukraine interests.

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This admission by former Ambassador Yovanovitch directly contradicted her testimony that was made only minutes before the admission.  From her opening statement:

[Yovanovitch Opening Statement November 15th, Page #8]

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The preferred impeachment narrative amid Democrat party leadership surrounds creating articles of impeachment that are based on constitutional principles, not hard-line partisan politics.  However, with the latest shift by Speaker Pelosi to focus on the word “bribery” it is now discovered the reason for the impeachment change was a political focus-group:

(Washington Post Article Link)

By focus-group testing the impeachment design the Democrats are admitting the entirety of their construct is based on political motives and intents.
Focus-group polling and testing was the preeminent approach for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election campaign.  Candidate Clinton used the focus groups to test each of the talking points used by her campaign.  It would appear that same approach is now being applied to Speaker Pelosi’s impeachment effort.
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