In the synergy between the U.S. intelligence apparatus and their media agents, the CIA, DOJ and State Department have specific outlets assigned to public relations.
A long tracked history and pattern reflects the DOJ and FBI leak their needs to the New York Times.  The preferred outlet for the U.S. State Department is CNN; and the Washington Post generally comes out first in defense of the CIA agenda.   This pattern has been remarkably consistent for years.

So against a backdrop of looming revelations about the intelligence community and their activity in the 2016 election; and suddenly The Washington Post, seemingly out of nowhere, pushes an article intended to diffuse the issues around western intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud; we can reasonably assume something is happening in the background that has officials in the CIA worried about exposure and their image.
From the WaPo introduction we can see what part of “spygate” the CIA is concerned about:

(Wa Po) […] The Maltese-born academichas not surfacedpublicly since that October 2017 interview, days after Trump campaign aide GeorgePapadopoulos pleaded guilty tolying to the FBI about details of theirinteractions. Among them, Papadopoulos told investigators, was an April 2016 meeting in which Mifsud alerted him that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

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It would appear that congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in a thirst for media exposure, has officially decided to remove any remaining semblance of credibility.
After a series of political stunts intended to generate a far-left narrative for open borders, the loon from New York has officially gone bananas:

In addition to migrants having to drink from toilets, Ms. Cortez claims she was threatened to be raped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducting a tour for a congressional delegation.  However, according to Homeland Security journalist Anna Giaritelli none of this happened.
Factually, as reported, AOC began screaming during a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing and refused to tour the facilities.  Even AOC’s most staunch supporters are having a difficult time defending their moonbat lightbringer on this one.
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Today, July 1st, is the first day of the third quarter 2019.  As typical some of the earliest economic reporting from June is released.  One of the first reports comes from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) as they compile the manufacturing sector.

As noted in the ISM review, manufacturing growth remains strong with an overall index of 51.7 (anything above 50 is growth), and the results are stronger than initially predicted by the financial media (Wall Street).
The manufacturing production index for June is 54.1 versus last month’s 51.3 (May); generally this means manufacturing outputs are growing, order backlogs are being reduced, orders are being fulfilled faster.  This is an indication that new production investment is now coming on-line and delivering actual products from orders.
In the past CTH had noted the heavy Main Street investment which began in 2017 would start to come on-line in Q2 2019, it generally takes about two years for a new manufacturing facility to start producing, and then increases in production efficiency follow.  The ISM result shows we were pretty close with that forecast.
Within the review there are particular notes for additional interest.  First, the June manufacturing employment index is 54.5, very strong; (last month 53.7).  In essence manufacturers are hiring at a fast rate.  One cause is better weather (seasonal), and the majority cause is filling the jobs from new production facilities coming on-line.
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The White House has produced a brief recap video of President Trump’s historic visit to the Panmunjom DMZ in North Korea.

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Tucker Carlson was traveling with the group and will have an interview with President Trump on his Fox News show at 8:00pm this evening.
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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 †

Mike Morell was the Deputy CIA Director when President Obama and Hillary Clinton botched the joint 2011 CIA and State Department operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya.
“Zero Footprint” was the covert operation initiated by Secretary of State Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta.  Director Panetta left the CIA just before the operation went sideways and resulted in the attack on the Benghazi State Dept./CIA annex September 11th, 2012.  General David Petraeus was the new CIA Director when the Benghazi attack happened.  Immediately, General Petraeus became a risk.  [Deep Background]

After the Benghazi attack, the relationship between journalist Paula Broadwell and General Petraeus was used by ODNI James Clapper to remove the CIA Director.
Immediately after the election of 2012 CIA Director David Petraeus resigned (Nov 9th) and interim CIA Director Morrel took over. This is why Petraeus never testified about CIA operations to the Senate panel investigating Benghazi, Mike Morrel took his place.
Morrel’s job was to provide cover for the background operation (2010, Zero Footprint) where Obama, Clinton and Panetta provided covert weapons, including shoulder fired missiles, to Libyan “rebels”, aka Libyan al-Qaeda.  AND Morrel’s second role was to cover for the extended CIA operation (2011-2012) where the CIA was buying back those missiles and shipping them into Syria for use overthrowing the Assad regime; the second operation was based out of the secret (at the time) State Dept/CIA facility in Benghazi.
Morrel was essentially the CIA narrative ‘fixer’.  He was up to his eyeballs in the cover-up behind Benghazi 2012 and 2013.  After Acting Deputy Morrel testified to congress about the CIA involvement around Benghazi, and the issues of terrorism vs. Islamic movie (happy squirrel chase) etc. Mike Morrel was replaced at the CIA by John Brennan.
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In the aftermath of the first set of Democrat debates, the strategy of the institutional democrats and their media assets gains a little clarity.

Senator Elizabeth Warren emerged unscathed thanks to her wounded-Indian routine and generally safe position on the first night of the foray.  Warren’s minority status, when combined with the baffle-em’-with-BS routine, appeared to align with pre-debate intents.
Senator Harris took Biden’s scalp knocking a solid ten percent from his pre-debate polling by accusing him of toxic whiteness/institutional racism.  Ever the opportunist, Spank-Me positioned herself as the heir-apparent to the grievance vote.  Booker attempted to regain grievance position, but his ethnic linguistics only made him look silly.  Down twinkles.
Facing a left-wing surge, communist Senator Sanders angrily demanded the electorate embrace full anarchy; but his messaging fell short, again.  Something about the joy of bread-lines, and shared misery combined with a Starbucks Latte, doesn’t seem to hold appeal beyond the Antifa and Occupy groups.   However, the unattended and overindulged children of the limo-liberal community will not easily stop supporting Che’ Bernie.
Creepy Joe was/is under constant attack and now appears to have underestimated the motives of those who pushed him into fray.  The anger crowd need a target for their rage and gropey Joe is the perfect candidate to personify everything they can project upon old white men.  Once they kill off Creepy, watch out Crazy – they’ll come for him soon.
It appears, based on the immediate narratives and media smoke-signals, the clans want ‘Spank Me‘ and ‘How’ to gain maximum traction.
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With President Donald Trump making massive strides toward peace and stability surrounding North Korea, the media cannot accept -nor allow- the common sense solutions to succeed.  President Trump is clearly perceived as a risk because his success highlights just how useless and manipulative a professional political class of consultants, advisors and DC think-tanks really are.
The U.S. media are desperate to find something to criticize and openly cheering for failure, so long as it provides fuel for their anti-Trump narrative.  It is stunning to watch against the backdrop of President Trump cutting the Gordian knot known as North Korea.

Perhaps by training, by habit or by unintended consequence, the DC proletariat have developed a system for themselves where the process itself as the end result.  This allows them to wax philosophically about problems; but it is within the discussion of the problem itself where their industry exists.  Solutions are not wanted because that stops the process.
DC journalism has evolved into reveling about the never ending process and, as a consequence, media completely ignore the end point, miss the bottom line, don’t actually SEE the subject matter, and never actually attempt to discover solutions.
If you watch this nonsense long enough you realize those inside the industrial media complex avoid the subject matter deliberately; because if they get their heads around it and nail it home, they won’t have anything to talk about – they will have exhausted their stash.
As part of their unspoken strategy when they encounter a solution driven approach, the media (writ large) fall back on the Gruber Principle: relying on “the stupidity of the American voter” not to understand how the lies and talking points are being distributed.
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After a historic trip to Panmunjom for a meeting with Kim Jong-Un, President Donald Trump traveled to Osan Air Base to deliver a speech to service members.

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