Via Charlie Pierce, Drumpf on Putin at his press conference:

“I want to thank him because we’re trying to cut down our payroll, and as far as I’m concerned I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. There’s no real reason for them to go back. I greatly appreciate the fact that we’ve been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We’re going to save a lot of money.”

Via Media Matters, Fox News anchor says the the media is showing a double standard by expecting more of Trump than from Kim Jong-Un 😈

I wonder – if I was a North Korean general responsible for the demonstration of force by firing four missiles to land off Guam, I would scheduled it a week or so later to give the ship with the four explosive charges that would indicate success time to reach the area off Guam. Four missiles would be fired from North Korea, and then there would be four explosions in the sea off Guam. The record of North Korean success is not great, and Kim will definitely get upset if the missiles fail.

Wait, you’re saying, won’t intel know that the launch and the explosions are unrelated? “Fake News!” just like the White House…

Position: 19.7N 99.2W [10AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: West [260°] near 20 mph [31 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 30 mph [ 45 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↑.

Currently about 20 miles [ 35 km] North-Northwest of Mexico City.

After midnight the storm came ashore near Lechuguillas in the state of Veracruz as a hurricane.

At 10am CDT Franklin was declared a remnant. All watches and warnings were cancelled in the final NHC advisory on the storm.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]