Today at 3:30pm EST, President Trump will be holding a post-inauguration celebration rally in Las Vegas, Nevada.  RSBN is broadcasting live from the venue, with livestream links below.

RSBN YouTube Livestream – RSBN Rumble Livestream

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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.

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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 †

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For 20-years we have called out the Machievellian nature of Mitch McConnell and his duplicitous agenda to support the UniParty apparatus in Washington DC.  Heck, even the name of this site, “The Last Refuge” came from our non-pretending association as to the nature of the root cause of our problems within the Republican apparatus.  Mitch McConnell has always been working for the other side.

Last night in the confirmation vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Mitch McConnell voted no.  In an almost identical way to former Senator John McCain refusing to repeal Obamacare, Mitch McConnell ends his time in the senate with a very planned, purposeful and public rebuke of President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the military.

Do not overlook that Senator McConnell intentionally waited, just like McCain, to cast his ‘nay’ vote until the end of the vote call.  McConnell did this with purpose and public intent, just like McCain.  Vice-President JD Vance then steps-in to a 50/50 vote to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Mitch McConnell now exits the chamber as Pete Hegseth is now confirmed despite him.

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President Trump was asked about Mitch McConnell’s vote as he departed California for the return to DC.  Video Below:

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Chopper pressers are the best pressers, AND THEY’RE BACK!

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart the White House en route to severely impacted North Carolina and later to Los Angeles. As they depart the White House the press pool asks questions.  WATCH:

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A few interested sites are noting a recently published decision in the U.S. v. Hasbajrami case in Brooklyn, New York, where Eastern District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall identified the misuse of FISA-702 “backdoor searches” regarding defendant, Agron Hasbajrami.

Hasbajrami plead guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, alleging that he intended to travel to the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan, where he expected to join a terrorist organization, receive training, and ultimately fight against U.S. forces and others in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, after his guilty plea, while he is serving time in prison, prosecutors admitted some of the evidence against him came as a result of privacy violations, unlawful FISA-702 searches.

Hasbajrami sought to have the evidence against him thrown out on 4th amendment grounds (fruit of the poisoned tree) and withdraw his guilty plea. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Hasbarjami’s blanket evidence suppression motion for the exclusion of all FISA Section 702 collection in his case but did not weigh in on whether the warrantless Section 702 database queries were constitutional, instead remanding the case back to Judge Hall for a review of that question.

Judge DeArchy Hall received the case again and reviewed all of the government motions against the request to suppress the evidence.  What results is a very well-constructed explanation and opinion of how FISA-702 was misused in the case [SEE 60-pg Opinion HERE].

The judge determined that U.S. government officials did factually violate the technical rules and procedures for the use of FISA-702 searches, and the DOJ should have gone to court to obtain a warrant to look at Hasbajrami’s private communication. In essence, yes, the 4th amendment protections of Hasbajrami were violated.  However, the issue of overturning the resulting evidence becomes a matter of legal distinction.

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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.

(more…)

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 †

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According to the New York Times, President Trump has removed the security detail from Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook, in addition to previous removals for John Bolton.  The protective detail came from the U.S. State Dept under the Diplomatic Security Service.

NYT –  President Trump revoked security protection for his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and a former top aide, Brian Hook, despite warnings from the Biden administration that both men faced ongoing threats from Iran because of actions they took on Mr. Trump’s behalf, four people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Hook had been part of an aggressive posture against Iran during the first Trump presidency, most notably the drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassim Suleimani in early 2020.

Mr. Trump also remains under threat because of that action, and his advisers have regularly stressed the seriousness of the situation in the years between his two terms in office.

Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Hook had their security details, which were believed to be provided by the State Department, pulled on Tuesday, one of the people briefed on the matter said. A day before, Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. Secret Service detail of John R. Bolton, who was Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser and also faces threats. (more)

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President Trump ordered the U.S. Defense Department to make “homeland security a core mission of the agency.”  In one of the first actions to support an executive order on border security, the Pentagon sends an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to support Customs and Border Patrol.

(Via Reuters) – […] The additional troops include 500 Marines, as well as Army helicopter crews and intelligence analysts. They will join 2,200 active-duty troops and thousands of National Guard that were on the border prior to Trump’s inauguration this week.

A separate official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there had been informal discussions about sending as many as 10,000 troops over time. But, officials cautioned, a final figure had not been determined, and troop numbers would depend on several factors, including impact on military readiness and what the Department for Homeland Security requests.

[…]  Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the U.S. military would help provide flights for Department of Homeland Security-led deportations of more than 5,000 immigrants held by U.S. authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.

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