Well, it might not exactly be the best endorsement for the American political aspirations of Bernie Sanders but the official communist propaganda outlet in Cuba, Granma, is heaping high praise upon Bernie “Fidel” Sanders for his support for the communist regime.

Miami Herald – Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, prominently displayed a report about Sanders and his praise of “some of the social programs implemented by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro.”
“U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, today one of the strongest candidates for the nomination of the Democratic Party to the November presidential elections, recognized Cuba’s role in sending doctors worldwide,” Granma said. (more)

[You can read the communist praise here] Meanwhile, in directly related news, Bernie Sanders has plummeted to third place in the latest poll of Florida Democrats.  Early voting is underway and election day is March 17th.
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Today, President Donald J. Trump will discuss his Administration’s success in empowering members of the African-American community.
UPDATE: Video Added

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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.
AG Bill Barr is requesting a clean FISA renewal with no reforms or revisions. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham support the AG request.  The American people want it scrapped, or, at a minimum strongly revised. Congress is trying to hide the FISA renewal within the Coronavirus appropriations bill.

According to media reporting, Rand Paul said he talked to President Trump yesterday, and President Trump does not support a “clean renewal” of the FISA authorities that were used against him and his campaign:

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump told Sen. Rand Paul that he does not support a clean extension of expiring surveillance authorities, throwing the future of the program into doubt ahead of a fast-approaching March 15 deadline to re-up key features of the Patriot Act.
The Kentucky Republican told reporters that Trump made the comments to him on Wednesday, just a day after Attorney General William Barr told GOP senators that Congress should extend the expiring provisions regarding roving wire taps, lone wolf actors and the most controversial provision: call data collection.

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Mini-mike Bloomberg is viable for the Club if they can run him as a candidate that no-one has to actually see, hear, or get to know…. However, after two debates with Bloomberg included, his support is dropping like a rock.

…”His national debate debut in Las Vegas last week laid bare his vulnerabilities around race and gender and gave many voters their first glimpse of his irritability. The performance short-circuited his rise in polling, and he has since made no headway against frontrunner Bernie Sanders in delegate-rich California, a state he was counting on. In addition, there are signs of a revival for Joe Biden in South Carolina this weekend — an outcome that would upset Bloomberg’s plan to seize on his demise as moderates search for a replacement to him.” (link)

Bloomberg is not on the ballot Saturday in South Carolina, and the latest Monmouth Poll shows people jumping back to support Joe Biden.  [Data Link]

Monmouth’s Patrick Murray is a well known Big Club pollster.  According to his construct the Club’s blitzkrieg on Fidel Sanders paid off. However, once people got to see the Clubs’ alternative, Bloomberg, the voter aversion to mini-mike ended up with a retreat to support Biden; at least in South Carolina.
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Political leaders, specifically mayors in Baltimore Maryland, are predisposed toward corrupt behavior.  Remember Sheila Dixon in ’08, or Stephanie Rawlings Blake in ’15… It’s a perpetual cycle. I digress…
Into the corrupt landscape comes Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who was arrested in 2019 for taking bribes and payoffs through a pay-to-play bribery scandal for books she “authored” called “Healthy Holly”.   Want a city contract?…. buy her books, easy peasy.

BALTIMORE – Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades and was elevated by voters to lead the city following the upheaval of 2015, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for a fraud scheme involving a children’s book series.
Pugh, 69, asked U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow for mercy and apologized in court “to anyone I have offended or hurt through my actions.”

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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 †

Previously Chairman Lindsey Graham promised to hold public hearings on reforms needed to the FISA process prior to any reauthorization vote.  However, with two weeks remaining until current FISA authorization expires the Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to hold a single hearing, and the senate calendar is empty.

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.
The Senate is scheduled to go back into recess on March 13th.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  At a minimum the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court needs to be made public prior to any reauthorization by congress; and to better understand the scale of the issue, an explanation of the the DOJ/FBI sequestered evidence needs to be made public.
Representatives requesting FISA reform prior to renewal include: Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Doug Collins, Jody Rice, Devin Nunes and Steve Scalise.  Additionally, Senator Mike Lee and Senator Rand Paul are trying to force reform or let the current version expire.  However, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, along with AG Bill Barr, want a clean FISA renewal without public hearings….
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It’s a great time to be watching Democrat politics and the unending efforts of the national media to protect them from themselves.
The leading candidate for the Democrat party is an avowed socialist, Fidel Sanders.
Meanwhile, the strongest fall-back candidate for the party that rails against the rich; the only candidate likely to save them from Fidel; is a former republican billionaire, mini-mike Bloomberg.  The former New York City mayor Bloomberg made himself famous by railing against guns, soda, Slurpees, salt, and hot-dogs at baseball games.  You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said she would be comfortable with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the Democratic presidential nominee in November.
The congresswoman was asked the question as she was leaving a closed-door meeting in the House basement Wednesday morning.  She replied with one word: “Yes.” (link)

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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