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.

~ Something has to happen this week

The Senate is scheduled to recess March 13, 2020.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  If congress is going to reauthorize the controversial FISA provisions, they now have only *FIVE* days; and the good news today is Doug Collins confirming the House does not have enough votes to support a “clean reauthorization.” Hopefully, that means FISA is going to change.

.
According to Senator Rand Paul, President Trump is committed to seeing that FISA is not reauthorized without “significant” reform. Senator Paul has proposed to significantly change the FISA process by forcing the DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community to apply for search and surveillance warrants to Title-3 courts in order to access any NSA database containing private information of American citizens.
(more…)

The White House provides some background material on the purposes of the working dinner tonight between President Trump and President Bolsonaro of Brazil.
[White House Transcript] – […] SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you so much. So let me put this working dinner, which is what it’s going to be tonight, in context. Obviously, President Trump will welcome President Jair Bolsonaro to Mar-a-Lago for a working dinner, along with a group of advisors in this dinner.

To put it in kind of a greater context, you know, last year, we welcomed — President Trump welcomed President Bolsonaro to the White House for a working lunch at that time. And there’s a historic list of deliverables that was announced at that time, many of which have now been followed up upon in this new historic relationship that the United States has with Brazil and the historic relationship, frankly, that President Trump and President Bolsonaro have.

(more…)

Yesterday President Trump toured the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.  At the conclusion of the tour and briefing the President delivers remarks to the media and holds a press conference. [Video and Lengthy Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: I said, “I’d like to walk the press down the hall to see how professional this is.” It’s incredible. If you people would like, we would do that. Are they able to do that, Doctor? Can they do that?
DR. MONROE: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes. (Laughter.) Why don’t you tell them a little bit about what you’re doing and how it’s going? And here they are, right over there. They’re actually very nice people. But they’re told not be (inaudible) by the editors.
Dr. Monroe is a tremendously talented man. They’ve done tremendous work here. Doctor, please.
(more…)

Most people are aware the Wuhan coronavirus has become an economic contagion within China. However, the scale of the contraction is only now being quantified and the data doesn’t match the visible reality.
When evaluating the data showing drops in exports from China is worthwhile to consider the lack of visible supply-chain disruption formerly predicted by global economic “analysts”.  According to Reuters; to the extent data can be gathered from within a closed communist system; total exports from China dropped 17.2% in January and February.

The lack of factory production has cut the estimated growth rate within China by half.  However, is that a cause?  – or – Is that a cover?  For decades corporations have moved to a supply chain process known as Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory.
If Chinese component manufactured goods were part of a critical corporate supply chain, and with more than 30-days of source disruption quantified, there would be impacts by now. Where are the crippled customers?  There are no measurable, demonstrable, citations for missing component parts making downstream finished goods impossible.  There are lots of anticipatory declarations, but no shortage has materialized.
(more…)

7:30pm – THE PRESIDENT participates in a working dinner with the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil

White House – President Donald J. Trump will meet President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, March 7, 2020. President Trump and President Bolsonaro will discuss opportunities to build a more prosperous, secure, and democratic world.

As leaders of the Hemisphere’s two largest economies, they will also discuss opportunities for restoring democracy in Venezuela, bringing peace to the Middle East, implementing pro-growth trade policies, and investing in infrastructure. The President will use this meeting as an opportunity to thank Brazil for its strong alliance with the United States. (link)

This afternoon National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses the jobs report, coronavirus fears, the Federal Reserve, and the steps the Trump administration is taking to address the illness.  Two background issues should be noted:
First, the Wall Street multinationals are starting to propose that the federal government should be considering ‘bailing them out’. The Coronavirus is hurting business operations overseas, and the corporations who left the U.S. to exploit overseas profits are now asking for a “bailout”. No way, no how, it should never be considered.
Secondly, there are politically manipulative localized regions, under the control of Democrats, that are cancelling public events under the auspices of Coronavirus containment. In many cases these control agents appear to be making efforts to disrupt localized economies; and create a wider, weaponized, economic impact. Watch which areas cancel which events and you will see a pattern of left-wing control of the area (ex. Miami-Dade FL, Austin TX, Chicago IL, Seattle WA, etc.)
The administration needs to be smart and wise to the underlying efforts. Shut up and listen to Trump; he’s got this. Here’s Kudlow:

(more…)

Jumpin’ ju-ju bones.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights an excellent jobs report for February with 273,000 new jobs added; and an upward revision of 85,000 job gains in December and January.  Total new jobs with revisions 358,000; that’s exceptional.
Main Street USA is very strong, exceptionally strong; and the fundamentals of the U.S. economy show balance and overall strength.  Keep in mind, while all of this growth is happening the full impacts of the renegotiated trade deals have yet to kick in.

Highlighting the strength in the overall economy the construction sector added 42,000 jobs in February, following a similar gain in January (+49,000). In 2019, construction job gains averaged 13,000 per month. In February, employment gains occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,000) and residential building (+10,000). This specific metric is important because it highlights economic expansion from U.S. workers and households having financial strength for home purchasing.

(BLS DATA) Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 273,000 in February, and the unemployment rate remains at 3.5 percent. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.0 percent.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised up by 37,000 from +147,000 to +184,000, and the change for January was revised up by 48,000 from +225,000 to +273,000. With these revisions, employment gains in December and January combined were 85,000 higher than previously reported. (link)

(more…)

Earlier today New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo complains to the media about only getting $35 million in initial emergency funding for Coronavirus impacts.  WATCH:

.
Last night CTH did our first review of the $8.3 billion COVID-19 appropriation as it passed through congress.  It is loaded with pork spending and foreign aid.  The bill was $7.8 billion at the beginning of the day and ended with $8.3 billion on final passage.
The emergency Coronavirus appropriation passed 96-1 in the Senate. The Senator voting against the bill was Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The foreign aid section is roughly $3 billion of the spending.  Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment to rescind unobligated balances of current foreign aid appropriations because so much new money is being spent on this bill.  His amendment was defeated.
Here’s the breakdown:
(more…)

Earlier today Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened supreme court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch today during a rally in support of abortion.

“I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.” “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

The leading democrat Senator Schumer accused the supreme court justices of taking away peoples’ “fundamental rights” to kill babies, as the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case about a Louisiana law that regulates abortion providers.
Alarmed by the radical threats against the court, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts released the following statement:
(more…)

Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks to Hispanic American business leaders and small business owners along with members of the Latino Coalition attending the Annual Latino Coalition Legislative Summit. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And thank you, Hector. Please. Let’s have some fun, right? (Laughter.) But thank you very much for that beautiful introduction, Hector. And I appreciate it. It’s been a great friendship and it’s a terrific thing to honor all of these incredible people, the Latino Coalition. Latino Coalition. You’re having the best year you’ve ever had, I have to say that. Last year was your best and we’re beating it this year.
(more…)