NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon – Falcon 9 Rocket Launch – 3:22pm EDT Livestreams…

History will unfold today as NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. This mission marks the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011 that humans will fly to the space station from U.S. soil.  Targeted Launch Time 3:22 pm EDT  – Livestreams Ongoing

NASA and SpaceX are providing live coverage from launch to arrival at the space station. Teams are targeting an instantaneous window of 3:22 pm EDT for the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock to the space station May 31st.

NASA Livestream LinkSpaceX Livestream LinkCSPAN Livestream Link

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May 30th – 2020 Presidential Politics – Trump Administration Day #1227

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.

trump-president-3

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

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Kayleigh McEnany Twitter @PressSec

Saturday May 30th – Open 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 †

The Anger Games – Friday Night Riots – Open Discussion Thread

The riots, arson, looting and related violence has spread from Minneapolis Minnesota to several urban areas around the nation.  From ground reports it appears Antifa groups have organized and infiltrated activist and protest groups in Minneapolis and beyond.

Democrat strongholds in Atlanta (GA), Washington DC, Houston (TX), New York City (NY), Los Angeles (CA), and other deep blue metropolitan areas are now seeing organized riots, anti-police violence and chaos.

Many people are calling for federal intervention; however, that type of confrontation is the intended goal of the social anarchy crowd.  The leftist chaos is purposeful bait.

Politically speaking, the merging of Antifa (revolution communists) & Black Lives Matter (sub-text political Islam), has a purposeful agenda unknown to the standard brick thrower. Suburban white liberals, essentially modern affiliates of the former Bill Ayers Weather Underground, are the organizing entities.  Most of the people on the street are oblivious.

Local authorities in/around the urban danger zones have the primary responsibility to maintain domestic tranquility.  Federal intervention to replace local political ineptitude, and lack of desire to confront a crisis of their own creation, is short-sighted.

If local officials and/or state governors are not going to take action; factually they do not want to take action because they are fearful of backlash from their own tribe; then federal assistance doesn’t work.  It is better for President Trump to watch from a distance and keep reminding the U.S. electorate how he supports, but will not replace, local officials.

The 2020 Anger Games were predictable.

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President Trump Participates in “Transition to Greatness” Business Reopening Roundtable – Video

Earlier today President Donald Trump led a roundtable discussion with industry leaders on reopening the American economy. President Trump noted his administration built the greatest economy in American history before COVID-19 and is already at work on the “transition to greatness” to restore well-paying jobs and prosperity to all Americans.

Participating in the discussion with President Trump is: Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Counsel; Ambassador Debbie Birx, M.D., White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator; Kevin Hassett, Senior Economic Advisor to the president; Tim Pataki, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Liaison; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

External participants: Geoff Ballotti, President and CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; Brian Goldner, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hasbro; David Hoffmann, CEO, Dunkin’ Brands; Gary Kelly, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Southwest; Rodney McMullen, Chairman and CEO, Kroger; Oscar Munoz, Executive Chairman, United; Brad Smith, President, Microsoft and Sonia Syngal, CEO, Gap Inc.

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Nothing Inappropriate – DNI John Ratcliffe Releases Wiretapped Flynn-Kislyak Transcripts and FBI Summaries (“CR Cuts”) Of Those Transcripts…

DNI John Ratcliffe has released the transcripts and FBI generated summaries known as “CR cuts” from the telephone calls between incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. [pdf version here].

A fast review of the transcripts (also embed below) shows there was nothing inappropriate or improper about the conversations at all.  Quite the opposite: Lt. General Flynn was direct, diplomatic, polite and represented the interests of U.S. policy from both the outgoing Obama administration and incoming Trump administration.

The views expressed by Lt. General Flynn did not impede or obstruct outgoing Obama policy nor did they undermine any position during the transition.  Any media reporting to the contrary was completely false.

The FBI summaries or “CR Cuts”, created by FBI analysts, are what FBI Director James Comey gave to former DNI James Clapper on January 4th, for use in briefing former President Obama.  The summaries are FBI interpretations of what the calls contained.

It has been my long-standing suspicion the FBI summaries (CR Cuts) will not accurately reflect the content of the calls; and were purposefully manipulated by the FBI to give a false impression that Flynn was undermining Obama.  I am doing that comparison now.

Here’s the summaries and transcripts:

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President Trump: “Looting Leads to Shooting” – MSM Go Bananas…

While watching the third night of mayhem, looting and riots in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, last night President Trump tweeted: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, and the media went bananas.

Every person of normal and stable constitution knew the meaning was looting and violence leads to shooting and escalated violence; thus it needs to be addressed with urgency by local officials in charge of maintaining the peace.  However, the media needed to pretend they were unaware of common sense in order to turn the phrase into an attack against the president.  President Trump responds:

The background of George Floyd being killed by police officer Derek Chauvin is horrific.  There is no justification for Chauvin’s action and the seemingly cavalier attitude by those who were at the scene of the events.  Outrage and emotional reaction over the video of the events is not surprising; but the riots, arson and looting are another level of troubling.

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May 29th – 2020 Presidential Politics – Trump Administration Day #1226

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.

trump-president-3

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

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Kayleigh McEnany Twitter @PressSec

Friday May 29th – Open 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 †