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IMPEACHMENT UPDATE … Donald J. Trump is still President of the United States.
GRACEFUL IN DEFEAT … "Democrats: Trump’s Acquittal Doesn’t Count," by WFB’s David Rutz: Leading Democrats have already said President Donald Trump's pending acquittal in his impeachment trial is not legitimate due to Friday's vote against admitting new witnesses.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Thursday Trump will "not be acquitted" if his trial doesn't have witnesses, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has repeatedly said Trump's acquittal will have "zero" value.
KULAK HAS CHAMPAGNE TASTES … "Bernie Leads 2020 Field in Private Jet Spending," by WFB’s Brent Scher: The most recent filing from [Sen. Bernie] Sanders reveals $1,199,579 in spending during the final three months of 2019 to Apollo Jets, LLC, a "luxury private jet charter service." … Entering the final quarter of 2019, the Sanders campaign had purchased $9,030 worth of carbon offsets …
Michael Bloomberg, who pumped a whopping $200 million of his personal fortune into his campaign's opening weeks, spent about $646,000 on private jet travel, about half of what Sanders spent.
PANIC! AT THE SH*TSHOW … "Rahm to Bernie Backers: Democrats Can Win Without You," by WFB’s Paul Crookston: Rahm Emanuel said Sunday that Democrats are better off appealing to swing voters with a reasonable candidate than committing to a strategy of turning out progressive voters by nominating Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).
SHOWDOWN IN THE OLD DOMINION … "How Virginia Became the Front Line in the Fight Over Guns," by WFB’s Stephen Gutowski: Democratic groups poured a record $13 million into the state's elections last year. [Michael] Bloomberg-backed groups outspent the National Rifle Association by an 8-1 margin, helping Democrats capture narrow majorities in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate.
The controversies that have erupted across the state since then come as the members of the newly ascendant Democratic majority find themselves caught between the campaign donors who helped them secure control in Richmond and local residents angered by the gun-control proposals offered by those groups and the Democrats they backed.
BLOOMBERG BUYS DNC … "Michael Moore: DNC Changing Rules To Allow ‘Billionaire Republican Mayor Of NYC’ Mike Bloomberg On Debate Stage," via RCP: "The fact that the Democratic, the DNC will not allow Cory Booker on that stage, will not allow Julian Castro on that stage, but they are going to allow Mike Bloomberg on the stage? Because he has a billion fucking dollars!" Moore raged.
Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner said this week that the addition of former Clinton staffer John Podesta to the DNC Convention Committee was a "slap in the face."
WON’T APOLOGIZE FOR BLOOD LIBEL, BUT … "Rep. Rashida Tlaib Apologizes After Booing Hillary Clinton at Bernie Sanders Campaign Event," via TIME: Tlaib has been a key surrogate for the Vermont senator as he remains in Washington for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, and the event came after recent comments by Clinton made dismissing Sanders and his campaign …
On Saturday, Tlaib apologized for the affair on Twitter, saying that she was "frustrated by attempts to dismiss the strength and diversity" of the movement supporting Sanders and that she allowed her "disappointment" with Clinton’s comments about Sanders to "get the best of me."
CHICOM VIRUS GOES GLOBAL … "Coronavirus Kills Its First Victim Outside China as Toll Grows," via WSJ: The newly identified coronavirus claimed its first life outside China, as the number of U.S. cases ticked up to eight and the Pentagon said it was setting up quarantine centers for travelers who screened positive for the illness …
The number of cases has expanded dramatically around the world to more than 20 countries. There are now nearly 15,000 cases of the virus in China, resulting in more than 300 deaths overall. Some 150 people outside China have been sickened.
RELEASED EARLY FOR BAD BEHAVIOR … "Streatham terror attacker freed from jail and on police watchlist," via GUARDIAN: The man shot dead by police after he stabbed two people in London on Sunday left prison only days ago and had previously been noted by police as having a "fascination with dying in the name of terrorism," it emerged last night.
Sudesh Amman, whose attack on Streatham High Road left one person in a life-threatening condition, was under active police surveillance at the time of the attack. He had been freed after serving half of his sentence of more than three years for the possession and distribution of extremist material.
THE STUPID BOWL … "Jemele Hill Resorts to Criticizing Trump Supporter Nick Bosa for Who He Follows on Social Media," via BREITBART: The day before 49ers defensive end and Trump supporter Nick Bosa geared up to take on the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill launched a broadside at the Niner defender for apparently following a private Instagram account that joked about the death of Laker legend Kobe Bryant.
Hilariously, after retweeting an activist account that was trashing Bosa to her 1.2 million followers and calling on him to stop being "secretive" about who he follows on social media, Hill said she’s not here to "police" Bosa’s social media behavior.
THE VIEW FROM TEHRAN … "I Am Not A Bernie Bro," by WFB Guest Writer Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani: Before the Great Satan's wicked missiles assassinated him, [Qassem] Soleimani was keeping a close eye on the upcoming caucuses in Iowa. Iranian electoral law prohibits Quds Force officers from publicly endorsing U.S. political candidates, but Soleimani was what you might call a "Bernie Bro." …
Just look at Sanders's team. They've got Matt Duss, whose work to liberate al-Quds from the evil Zionists has not gone unnoticed in Qom. More important, Bernie has great instincts … There's just one problem: He is a Jew. Do I really need to spell this out? Just read the Koran. If the Jews were not good enough for the prophet (peace be upon him), then they are not good enough for me.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 1,149. Come back, Joe!
"You know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden." —Former President Barack Obama
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