President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force are scheduled to hold a press conference today at 6:30pm Eastern.  The COVID-19 taskforce was established on January 29th.  A quarantine and travel entry ban was announced January 30th, and ongoing proactive efforts to mitigate U.S. risk from the coronavirus outbreak are ongoing.

Fox Business Livestream – White House Livestream – RSBN Livestream Link

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The task force is being led by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and includes: Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Matthew Pottinger, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.
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Starts airing tomorrow in local TV markets in Denver and Colorado Springs:

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A member of the Coronavirus taskforce, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, appears on CNBC to discuss the latest information about the Trump administration response effort.
You can visit the COVID-19 Information Page HERE

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CTH disagrees with Dr. Fauci on one point. Fauci doesn’t think additional countries will be added to the U.S. travel entry restrictions… CTH sees a strong possibility more countries will be added or restricted; possibly announced later today.
ps. Press briefing moved to 6:30pm.
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A big victory for the Trump administration as a federal appeals court rules today the Department of Justice (DOJ) can withhold funding from sanctuary cities and states refusing to cooperate with administration’s immigration enforcement.

A group of seven states including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington, Massachusetts and Virginia, along with New York City, sued the DOJ in 2017 after then-AG Jeff Sessions announced the DOJ would start withholding funding from local governments that refused to share information about undocumented immigrants or provide jail access to federal authorities investigating inmates’ immigration status.
Today a three-judge panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned a prior district court ruling saying the DOJ lacked the authority to impose immigration-related conditions on funding. [Ruling Here]
The Trump administration can now withhold funds from any city and state that declares themselves a ‘sanctuary‘ from immigration enforcement.
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In 2018 President Trump established a National Biodefense Strategy specifically to improve the speed of action for any biological risk to U.S. Citizens. [pdf here]

Following the initial reports from China, and in response to potential U.S. health risks; and anticipating multiple agency aspects of the U.S. government would need a unified command structure; on January 30th President Trump assembled a unified task force to coordinate all response efforts across the totality of government.
At the time the task force was established, January 30th, President Trump signed a presidential proclamation, using his authority pursuant to Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, temporarily suspending the entry into the United States of foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the 2019 novel coronavirus.
The task force is coordinated through the National Security Council. It is composed of subject matter experts from the White House and several United States Government agencies, and it includes some of the Nation’s foremost experts on infectious diseases.
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Traditionally, Ash Wednesday and Lent have been associated with Catholicism, but that no longer holds true. More Christians are taking advantage of the “forty days” (it’s really 46) to prepare for Easter.
Lent is a time to fast, pray, give alms. Many Catholics will give something up. Sweets, alcohol, meat, cursing, something that is supposed to be sacrificial and difficult. We perform acts of penance, and frequently take part in public prayer, such as the Stations of the Cross, which most parishes will have weekly, often before a Lenten meal.
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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 †

This is likely the most insufferably short-sighted political position in decades.  Faced with years of evidence showing worsening abuses by government officials using the FISA court, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr says a clean reauthorization bill is the best option because his DOJ and FBI will not abuse it.
Note the import of AG Barr’s position.  He is not saying the system *cannot* be abused; and he is not saying that reform isn’t needed to prevent systemic abuse; only that he can give assurances under his tenure FISA data collection and exploitation will *not* be abused.   What happens when an administration changes?…. ::::crickets chirping::::

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020:

WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr told Senate Republicans on Tuesday that the Trump administration could support a clean extension of contentious surveillance laws set to expire next month. And Barr said he could make changes on his own to satisfy President Donald Trump and his allies who have railed against the use of the law to monitor his 2016 campaign, according to senators at a party briefing.

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Amid a sudden MSM firestorm, seemingly created to weaponize talking points around the Coronavirus for political damage, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Alex Azar appears with Lou Dobbs to outline national preparation and prevention efforts.
On January 31st President Trump initiated a national health emergency, instituted a proactive travel ban and assembled a Coronavirus taskforce.  One key point highlighted by Secretary Azar is the number of U.S. originating cases at 14 has not changed in the two weeks since initially diagnosed.  No cause for alarm.

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