A storm is gaining strength in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the National Hurricane Center is now predicting organization to hurricane strength late Friday. If you live in a gulf coast community pay attention to storm updates.
At 1000 PM CDT (0300 UTC), the disturbance was centered near latitude 27.7 North, longitude 88.0 West. The system is moving toward the west-southwest near 9 mph (15 km/h). A motion toward the west is expected on Thursday, followed by a west-northwest motion on Friday and a northwestward motion by early Saturday. On the forecast track, the system is expected to approach the Louisiana coast this weekend.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. Strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days, and the disturbance is forecast to become a tropical depression early Thursday, a tropical storm by late Thursday, and a hurricane by late Friday. (LINK)
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♦Puerto Rico has a long history of public corruption and abuse of federal funds.  Back in 2015 ten government officials in Puerto Rico were arrested for corruption, bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and various schemes related to giving payments to friends and family via federal contracts. [LINK]  This is the typical corruption PR is known for.
♦A few weeks ago (June 28) the FBI, Public Corruption Unit, posted a notification of an ongoing corruption probe and provided a tip-line for leads related to bribery and/or corruption of public officials. [LINK]  This probe is connected to the billions of dollars U.S. taxpayers have provided to Puerto Rico for recovery after hurricane Maria (2017).

So much money is poured into the island that hundreds of local and regional officials seized the opportunity to indulge their friends and family with funds from recovery accounts.  This is the widespread corruption President Trump previously drew attention to.  This overt and in-the-open corruption is why Nancy Pelosi took the entire Democrat caucus to Puerto Rico in January for a vacation with her favorite lobbyists.  Everyone in/around PR knows this corruption is the norm, not the exception.
Today, six more people were indicted under new federal charges, including two government officials: Julia Keleher, who served as Puerto Rico’s education secretary until April; and Ángela Ávila-Marrero, who was the executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration until late June. They are variously charged with wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, according to the 32-count indictment.

WASHINGTON – […] The federal indictment says the former officials illegally directed federal funding to politically connected contractors. The arrests come about a month after Congress approved a controversial disaster aid bill that earmarked additional funding for Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Maria in 2017, which were tied up in part because President Trump called Puerto Rico’s officials “incompetent or corrupt.”

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Some updates in the Michael Flynn case.  As requested the DOJ has filed a response to Judge Sullivan’s order.   The DC judge wanted to know what the status of the prosecution position was now that Michael Flynn is no longer a cooperating witness for the DOJ in the EDVA case, against his former business partner.
The prosecution responds:

(Source Link)

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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks about an important executive order initiative to fight kidney disease.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript]  THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Secretary Azar. And thank you for everyone being here. Please sit down. Let’s enjoy it. It’s much better. You’d rather sit, right?
But today we’re taking groundbreaking action to bring new hope to millions of Americans suffering from kidney disease. It’s a big deal.
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U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced a media availability today at 2:30 p.m. EST to make a statement and possibly answer questions regarding the Jeffrey Epstein arrest and prosecution in Washington, DC.
Acosta was the former U.S. Attorney in Miami during a prior plea agreement.  Democrats are calling for him to resign.  It’s possible this presser may provide answers.
UPDATE: Video Added

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U.K. Ambassador Kim Darroch (pictured left) wrote disparaging diplomatic cables about U.S. President Donald Trump.  The cables were leaked to the media.  Embarrassed by the publicity of the content Ambassador Darroch has resigned after President Trump called him a “pompous fool” and said the administration wouldn’t work with him.

The British Ambassador writes:

“Since the leak of official documents from this Embassy there has been a great deal of speculation surrounding my position and the duration of my remaining term as ambassador. I want to put an end to that speculation. The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like.  Although my posting is not due to end until the end of this year, I believe in the current circumstances the responsible course is to allow the appointment of a new ambassador.“

Various British politicians are upset about the resignation, saying the U.K. government should have done more to support their embattled Ambassador.  Ultimately this is all a little funny…. The British are going bananas; and President Trump doesn’t care.
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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 †

Breakthrough – Things Making Sense Now…

Lots of things going on in/around the two legal cases involving Michael Flynn today.  The origination of the DOJ shift in position involves the indirect case (EDVA) where Flynn is/was a witness in the FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) case against Bijan Rafiekian and the Flynn Intel Group.
Hat Tip to Techno-Fog for a litany of legal filings assembled today [132 pages here].  This is somewhat complex to explain.

The direct case against Flynn (Judge Sullivan court – Washington DC), where Flynn copped a guilty plea for lying to FBI investigators, has a sentencing predicated on Flynn’s ongoing cooperation in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) case against Bijan Rafiekian and FIG (Flynn Intel Group).  However, in a stunning move today the DOJ prosecuting Rafiekian now says it will not call Flynn as a witness; and further the DOJ state they now consider Flynn an “unindicted co-conspirator”.
From court filings (on behalf of Flynn) we find the reason.  Michael Flynn refused a demand by the DOJ to testify that the Flynn Group FARA filing was completed with knowingly false information and contained “false statements”.
Michael Flynn refused to testify to this DOJ construct because the claim was not true.
Michael Flynn and his lawyers say there was no intentional filing of false information in the Flynn Group FARA submissions; and the FARA forms were submitted based on legal advice provided for their completion.  If there were mistakes in the FARA filing, they were not falsehoods and/or mistakes made purposefully or with purposeful intent.
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White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on the U.S.-China trade talks where recontact has been established and now officially restarted. As noted, President Trump is in no hurry; the status-quo is leverage in our favor.
Additionally Director Kudlow discusses the potential benefits of the USMCA trade deal and whether the Federal Reserve should lower interest rates.

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Regarding “inflation” these pundits just don’t get it.  For over three years CTH has been explaining how President Trump’s maganomic policy would reverse three decades of stagnant Main Street economic growth.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) consistently confirms our earlier predictions releasing data where inflation is essentially nonexistent.
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