British intelligence, apparently seeking to protect Robert Hannigan, the former Director of GCHQ; and Australian intelligence intelligence seeking to protect Alexander Downer, Foreign Affairs Minister and Ambassador to the U.K; have asked President Trump Trump NOT to release un-redacted FISA documents.
Chairman Devin Nunes discusses the involvement of the U.K and Australia, along with the conflict between DAG Rod Rosenstein and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe ‘s attempt at a Coup d’état to impeach President Trump.

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The latest *claim* (defensive positioning) from the camp of Rod Rosentein, is that the Deputy AG enlisted Robert Mueller because Rosenstein viewed McCabe as intent on abusing his office to take down the president.  This inherent risk is the reason team McCabe leaked the damaging information on Rosenstein to the New York Times.
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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

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford has stated three witnesses were present at the mysterious high school party where she claims supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her approximately 36 years ago.
The claimed witnesses were: (1) Mrs. Leland Ingham Keyser, (2) Mr. Mark Judge, and (3) Mr. Patrick “PJ” Smyth.
According to CNN’s current reporting here’s the statements from the witnesses:
(1)Simply put, “Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.”
“I have no memory of this alleged incident,” said (2) Mark Judge in a September 18 letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said he did not recall the party and never saw Brett Kavanaugh act in the matter Ford describes.
(3) Patrick J. Smyth issued a statement:
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A Texas senate seat flipped from democrat to republican this week for the first time in 139 years.  Republican Pete Flores, a former game warden, defeated former Democratic Congressman Pete Gallego in a senate district covering around 800,000 border residents.  Because the district is 73 percent African-American and Hispanic, the republican victory has gained a little bit of attention [SEE HERE].

Many of the articles citing the republican victory point to the strong campaigning by Pete Flores, and then jump to highlight the possibilities represented by this large district victory.  All of that is true.  However, the one important aspect missing within all political analysis is a failure to recognize that Latino votes are *not* monolithic.
A Puerto Rican Hispanic is to a Mexican Hispanic as a New Yorker is to a Montanan.  While it is true culturally the Puerto Rican base is favorable to democrats, the South American and Cuban vote is not politically analogous.  Nor is the Mexican voting bloc identifiable with either PR, Cuban or South American. Each group is NOT interchangeable; and each group has its own cultures and identities that are not in line with Democrat Socialism – actually, far from it.
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An interesting panel discussion on Laura Ingraham’s television show.  In this segment Lee Smith (Real Clear Politics Investigations) brilliantly outlines the disparate self-interest of both Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe.  I believe Smith has this spot-on.
The New York Times and Washington Post are both primary outlets for narratives scripted by the political intelligence community.   Against the backdrop of declassification, Team McCabe was advancing an anti-Rosenstein narrative with the NYT.  Team Rosenstein was advancing a defense of Rosenstein within the Washington Post; both narratives surrounded the risks within the declassification directive.
Watch the Lee Smith part which starts at 04:30:

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The declassification is a risk to both McCabe and Rosenstein. Both began constructing a pro-active defense. However, McCabe didn’t know Rosenstein was going to carve out a deal with President Trump (leveraging Horowitz) to protect everyone in the DOJ/FBI by reversing the declassification directive.
Andrew McCabe views his risk as the largest risk, and essentially is saying, through the network which includes media, that if he goes down he’s taking everyone down.
(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

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, appears on Fox News to discuss the overall economy and key performance indicators related to ongoing economic policy. Within the interview (02:32) Chairman Hassett notes the unusual intransigence of Canada to join the U.S-Mexico trade deal.
There are numerous indicators that Canada has made the decision to exploit a “no deal” trade position for maximum domestic political benefit. However, despite Canada’s intransigence the U.S. and Mexico are positioned to finalize the agreement bilaterally.

“I’m a little surprised that the Canadians haven’t signed up yet. I worry that politics in Canada is trumping common sense because there’s a very good deal that was designed by Mexico and the U.S. to appeal to Canada. And they’re not signing up and it’s got everybody over here a little bit puzzled.”

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Supporting the U.S. and President Trump today; and underlining how strong the U.S-Mexico trade agreement is; Mexico even went so far as to tell Canada today to be ready for a CAN-MEX bilateral if they don’t join.
Obviously the Mexican trade team is firing a few shots across the Canadian bow; a stunning Trumpian-inspired shift in North American trade alliances.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s incoming government will pursue a bilateral deal with Canada if talks to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement falter, Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday.

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WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier today offered to move next week’s hearing to receive testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh to Wednesday, in order to accommodate one of several requests made by Ford’s legal team. The Committee also offered to accommodate certain other terms while respecting fairness, due process and the senators’ ability to fulfill their constitutional duties.
Chairman Grassley issued the following statement:

“Despite the fact that the July 30th letter remains hidden, my committee has been investigating the allegations and has heard from multiple witnesses since Sunday. Ms. Katz has discussed Dr. Ford’s allegations in numerous media interviews and said on TV Monday morning that Dr. Ford wants to share her account with the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s Friday night and nothing’s been agreed to despite our extensive efforts to make testimony possible,” Grassley said. “I’m extending the deadline for response yet again to 10 o’clock this evening. I’m providing a notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond or Dr. Ford decides not to testify. In the event that we can come to a reasonable resolution as I’ve been seeking all week, then I will postpone the committee vote to accommodate her testimony. We cannot continue to delay.”

The chairman issued a notice of a committee executive business meeting, at which the committee can vote on the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.  (read more)
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