Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the coronavirus impacts on his specific business and his view on the short-term impacts from disruptions in China.  While retail stores and some manufacturing are closed in the short-term, overall Cook sees very little change in the outlook for Apple business once the short-term impacts are removed.
Tim Cook also discusses his relationship with President Trump working together on jobs and education programs. Cook notes President Trump was able to influence Prime Minister Modi of India to allow Apple to enter the Indian market.

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PS. if you are following the tiered and strategic deployment of COVID-19 hype, you’ll note the next round of heavy artillery (the WHO/CDC have been saving) is the announcement of an official global “pandemic status” being reached.  That will be worth a week of panic media and perhaps another thousand point drop for U.S. stock market.
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Completely agree with Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton here. During a discussion of congress trying to pass a clean FISA reauthorization or a reform version, Tom Fitton says the only way to really reform the process is to arrest, prosecute & jail those who abused it.
Fitton’s point is similar to the CTH argument surrounding SSCI leaker James Wolfe.  If the DOJ had prosecuted Wolfe for the criminal leaks of classified intelligence, the landscape of an adversarial intelligence apparatus over the past two years would be completely different.   The same general perspective applies to the FISA abuse issue.

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The media is attempting to initiate panic about the Coronavirus in 2020 the same way the media attempted to manufacture panic about an upcoming U.S. recession in 2019.
First things first.  Earlier today Vice-President Pence announced Dr. Debbie Birx will serve as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. [CDC COVID-19 Resource HERE]
Dr./Ambassador Birx is about as bureaucratically deep state as you can get.
Coming from the State Department Dr. Birx has led the U.S. effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS effort and has a strong pedigree as a 30-year global health official, scientist and physician:

[…] Ambassador Birx is a scientist, physician, and mom, with three decades of public health expertise, including virulent diseases, their vaccines, and interagency coordination. She has been utilizing the best science to change the course of the HIV pandemic and bring the pandemic under control, community by community and country by country.
Her focus over three decades has been on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. She has developed and patented vaccines, including leading one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history. Three different Administrations across both political parties have relied on her knowledge and judgement. (link)

Additionally Vice President Pence added Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury; Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General of the United States; and Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council to the Coronavirus Task Force.
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The media is attempting to initiate panic about the Coronavirus in 2020 the same way the media attempted to manufacture panic about an upcoming U.S. recession in 2019.
On February 26th President Trump and the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) taskforce held a press briefing in the Brady Room of the White House.  Transcript Below:

THE PRESIDENT – I have just received another briefing from a great group of talented people on the virus that is going around to various parts of the world. We have, through some very good early decisions — decisions that were actually ridiculed at the beginning — we closed up our borders to flights coming in from certain areas, areas that were hit by the coronavirus and hit pretty hard. And we did it very early. A lot of people thought we shouldn’t have done it that early, and we did, and it turned out to be a very good thing.
And the number one priority from our standpoint is the health and safety of the American people. And that’s the way I viewed it when I made that decision. Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. We have the greatest experts in the world — really, in the world, right here — people that are called upon by other countries when things like this happen.
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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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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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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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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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Earlier today Dr. Nancy Messonnier, an official in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), held a conference call with media and pushed a panic narrative around the Coronvirus that ran counter to the Trump administration.
What makes the statements by Dr. Messonnier even more interesting is the fact she is the only sister of former DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Dr. Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (link) told reporters on the call:

“We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad.” … “I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now.” (link)

The alarming message from Dr. Messonnier was quickly picked up by most major news organizations and pushed into all reporting on the issue.  The tone of the alarm is also counter to the message of the Trump administration and HHS Secretary Alex Azar, as outlined in a press conference with leadership from U.S. Health and Human Services.
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