President Donald Trump discusses the short-term (relief) and long-term (recovery) efforts for Puerto Rico.    As everyone is aware, even before the storm the island territory was under financial collapse as a result of Democrat mismanagement and generational political agendas’ creating a culture of dependency.
Hurricane Maria has exacerbated Puerto Rico’s problems and is showcasing a governmental structure incapable of governing during crisis.  The media hypes the suffering, yet omits the Island’s inept systems of governance and the culture of dependency.  The only way the U.S. federal government can assist effectively is by taking over almost every aspect of state and local government.
As President Trump points out in this impromptu press conference, congress has some decisions to make on the long-term future of Puerto Rico.  Throwing money at the problem is futile when the recipient systems are fraught with ineptitude and corruption.

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After several conversations with dozens of relief and recovery workers the message to CTH from boots-on-the-ground is the same: the culture of dependency is jaw-dropping. Watch the raw background footage from Western media on the island and see if you can spot any native Puerto Rican residents doing much, if anything, to help themselves.
FUBAR
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Against the backdrop of targeted sonic-weapon attacks against American diplomatic personnel the U.S. State Department removes non-essential employees and issues a travel warning against Americans traveling to Cuba.
STATE DEPT – Over the past several months, 21 U.S. Embassy employees have suffered a variety of injuries from attacks of an unknown nature. The affected individuals have exhibited a range of physical symptoms, including ear complaints, hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping. Investigators have been unable to determine who is responsible or what is causing these attacks.
On September 29, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Until the Government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our Embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.
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Well, that didn’t take long. LOLOL.
HHS Secretary Tom Price resigns. President Trump accepts his resignation:

Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted. The President intends to designate Don J. Wright of Virginia to serve as Acting Secretary, effective at 11:59 p.m. on September 29, 2017. Mr. Wright currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (link)

EARLIER – Price is toast.  We all know President Trump is loyal, but this one is business.  HHS Secretary Tom Price was already on tenuous ground because he was supposed to be the central figure behind the ObamaCare repeal and replacement effort.
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As you read this press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, reference the originating nations for the 2014 “Unaccompanied Alien Children” crisis. [ie. Ted Cruz, Glenn Beck and Dana Loesch: ‘Teddy Bear and Soccer Balls’ alien relief mission]  This is directly related to DACA used as a magnet. (Background follows press release)

U.S. DOJ – Senior law enforcement officials from the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras announced here today criminal charges against more than 3,800 MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in the United States and Central America in a coordinated law enforcement action known as Operation Regional Shield.

The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the United States, Attorney General Douglas Meléndez of El Salvador, Attorney General Thelma Aldana of Guatemala, and Attorney General Oscar Chinchilla of Honduras, marking the six-month anniversary of the commitment to combat transnational organized crime initiated in March by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, together with the Attorneys General of the three Central American countries.

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President Donald Trump delivers a speech outlining the latest tax reform plan to an audience at the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C.

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[Transcript – 11:41 A.M. EDT] THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Taking up a lot of television time, but that’s okay. (Laughter.) Thank you all very much. It’s great to be here with the National Association of Manufacturers. And I especially want to thank your president, Jay Timmons, and your chairman, David Farr, along with all of the members of Congress that are here today. And they’re working hard, I will tell you that.
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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 †

The Weaponized Administrative State is Protecting Itself

A report from Reuters highlights the DOJ and FBI refusing to hand over documents related to the Steele Dossier on candidate Donald Trump, and the FBI (Via James Comey) involvement in assembling the content therein.   However, the lede is buried in paragraph four of the article.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are resisting demands from a Republican lawmaker to hand over documents about a former British spy’s dossier on purported Russian support for Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, because the FBI has its own open criminal investigation, officials said.
The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas in August seeking “any and all documents” about both agencies’ dealings with former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, according to a letter seen by Reuters from committee chairman Devin Nunes, a Trump supporter.

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Despite the leagues’ head-in-sand denial of Mount Obvious, the NFL’s very bad horrible week is getting worse. The backlash is strong, and individual organizations are trying to lessen the financial losses while simultaneously league officials try to keep up the unity appearance.
Before getting to the stats of ticket sales, check out this video from CNN.  I haven’t watched very-fake-news CNN for a few months other than YouTube snippets; but obviously they are facilitating the anti-Trump aspect to the NFL position.
This exchange between Spike Lee and a Gold Star family is quite remarkable and shows the inherent disconnect.  Just below the initial surface Mr. Lee appears filled with the same race-based rage and hatred expressed by protesting NFL players.

Lee tries to obfuscate the NFL protests by saying the anti-American kneelers are not protesting the flag.  However, Colin Kaepernick, the originator of the protests, specifically said the protests were against the flag and everything the U.S.A. stood for.  The disingenuous Spike Lee claims to the contrary are silly and hollow.
Now to the ticket stats…
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Before getting to the heart of the latest announcement it is important to note there is a great deal of rapid economic action taking shape in China ahead of Secretary Rex Tillerson’s arrival.   ¹China has stopped the import of recyclables.  ²Chinese manufacturing is slowing.  ³Comac (chinese aerospace) has successfully tested their latest airliner.
#1 is important because it reflects the opinion of the central economic planners in Beijing that #2 is more severe than currently publicized. #3 is important because Canada’s plan in the Boeing -vs- Bombardier trade dispute was to look toward China to purchase Canadian subsidized aerospace products. Purchases won’t happen because China is creating it’s own airline manufacturing industry with Comac (a Beijing subsidized industry). However, China is more than willing to give the illusion of trade in order to steal Bombardier technology.
Those are all subtle signals of economic activity within China.
However, today the bigger economic story is an outcome of President Trump and Treasury Mnuchin outlining specific sanctions against any entity that engages in economic activity with North Korea.
Beijing understands the consequences to the Trump/Mnuchin sanctions and finds themselves in a tight position where allowing DPRK business interests to operate within China violates the intended purpose to cut off North Korea from it’s economic enablers.

(Via Daily Mail) China has ordered North Korean companies in the country to shut down by January as it applies UN sanctions imposed following Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test.
The commerce ministry in Beijing said today the companies, including joint ventures with Chinese firms, have 120 days to close from the date the United Nations resolution was adopted on September 12.

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