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Vanessa Tyson speaks out, says Lt. Gov. Fairfax took advantage of her past as an incest survivor

Vanessa Tyson, one of two women accusing Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, said Monday in her first televised interview that the Virginia lieutenant governor took advantage of her past as a survivor “of incest.”

During a sit-down with Gayle King of “CBS' This Morning,” Tyson spoke out on her allegations that Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex in 2004. Fairfax has vehemently denied the allegations.

FAIRFAX ACCUSER TYSON SPEAKS OUT AS VIRGINIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SAYS HE PASSED POLYGRAPH TESTS

“I was so ashamed,” Tyson said. “I was so humiliated on so many levels.”

“Here I was, this woman working at a rape crisis center as a survivor, speaking, trying to empower survivors of sexual assault,” she continued.

King asked Tyson what she was a “survivor” of.

“Of incest,” Tyson said.

When asked whether Fairfax was aware of her past, she said: “Yes, actually. Here’s the thing—what I was doing for the rape crisis center was the biggest part of my life at that time.”

Tyson went on to add that, “in retrospect, yes,” she believed Fairfax took advantage of her because of her past experiences.

Tyson and Fairfax met in Boston, Mass. in July 2004 during the Democratic National Convention. Earlier this year, Tyson released a statement outlining in graphic detail their alleged encounter. Tyson accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex. Fairfax, a Democrat, denied those allegations.

The second woman to come out with sexual assault allegations against Fairfax, Meredith Watson, also claimed he took advantage of her history as a sexual assault survivor.

Watson claimed to have been raped by then-Duke University basketball player, now-NBA player Corey Maggette while they were students. Watson claimed the university discouraged her from reporting her claim. In February, a spokesman for Maggette denied the allegations, and the university said they were “gathering information” about the alleged incident.

But Watson and her legal team claimed that she shared details of the alleged rape with Fairfax while they were both students at Duke University in 2000.

FACEBOOK MESSAGES SHOW 2ND FAIRFAX ACCUSER DETAILED RAPE ALLEGATIONS DURING 2017 RACE

A statement from the legal team said: “Mr. Fairfax then used this prior assault against Ms. Watson, as he explained to her during the only encounter she had with him after the rape. She left a campus party when he arrived, and he followed her out. She turned and asked: ‘Why did you do it?’ Mr. Fairfax answered: ‘I knew that because of what happened to you last year, you’d be too afraid to say anything.’

“Mr. Fairfax actually used the prior rape of his ‘friend’ against her when he chose to rape her in a premeditated way.”

Fairfax has vehemently denied both allegations and called them part of a “vicious and coordinated smear campaign.” A spokesperson for Fairfax said Sunday that the lieutenant governor had taken two polygraph tests showing that he engaged in “no wrongdoing whatsoever.” Fairfax’s office did not specify exactly when the tests took place.

The polygraph tests, conducted by the same expert who questioned Christine Blasey Ford over her allegations against then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, showed Fairfax was answering truthfully when asked separately if Fairfax had any “non-consensual sexual activity” with Tyson or Watson, according to his office.

"From the moment that Dr. Vanessa Tyson and then Ms. Meredith Watson first made accusations that Lt. Governor Fairfax had committed sexual assault decades ago, Lt. Governor Fairfax has been steadfast in saying that the allegations are extraordinarily serious, deserve to be heard, and should be investigated and taken seriously," Fairfax's spokesperson said in a statement. "Lt. Governor Fairfax has also been steadfast from the start in saying that a serious, fair, and impartial investigation and examination of the facts would demonstrate that these allegations are false and that he engaged in no wrongdoing whatsoever."

Polygraph tests – often referred to as lie-detector tests – are not infallible and their accuracy rate is estimated to be anywhere between 90 and 70 percent.

Later in the interview, Tyson blasted Fairfax for comparing himself to lynching victims.

“Never was it two black women lynching two black men,” Tyson said. “I find it disgraceful, irresponsible and manipulative.”

EMBATTLED VIRGINIA LT. GOV. JUSTIN FAIRFAX COMPARES HIMSELF TO LYNCHING VICTIMS

She added: “Sexual assault should never be a racial issue. It should never be a partisan issue. Sexual assault is an epidemic.”

Tyson called for Fairfax to resign from his post as lieutenant governor, saying that “the Virginia people and the voters of Virginia have a right to know both my story and Meredith’s story.”

Tyson, a professor of political science at Scripps College in California, also said she spoke publicly about the alleged assault because she did not want her students interested in politics to face a similar situation.

“I don’t want this to ever, ever, ever happen to them,” she said, adding that “the Virginia people need to know who they elected.”

Tyson also said that she wants to testify in public before the Virginia Assembly.

"I would want Meredith, myself, and Mr. Fairfax to be able to speak. To be heard," Tyson said. "And particularly for survivors, I think this is incredibly important...we need to be treated as the human beings that we are."

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and Garrett Tenney contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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Gillibrand says she misses Al Franken after playing prominent role in calling for his resignation

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she misses her former colleague, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., but stood by her decision to call for his resignation as he faced several sexual misconduct allegations in 2017.

"We are all concerned about Senator Franken and frankly we all miss him," Gillibrand, a 2020 hopeful, said during an Iowa town hall on Thursday. "He was someone who really served us well on the Judiciary Committee and was a strong senator but the truth is that he had eight credible allegations against him."

Gillibrand added that she and other female Democrats "couldn't carry his water any farther." "I couldn't defend him," she added, citing her political efforts to end sexual assault on college campuses and in the military. She said that while Franken had a "right" to stay in Congress and sue his accusers, he alone decided to resign.

GILLIBRAND THE FIRST 2020 DEMOCRAT TO UNVEIL 2018 TAX RETURNS: SEE WHAT SHE MADE

"That was his decision and his decision alone. No member of Congress, no other senator can make another senator resign," she said. "We are only asked, 'what do you think?'" Gillibrand's decision reportedly angered more than a dozen prominent donors in her party, prompting some to refuse contributing to her campaign unless she became the Democratic nominee.

“Once the whole thing happened with Al Franken, it was confirmed one billion percent that she’s not to be trusted," a Manhattan donor told Politico. "I think that she hurt the Democratic Party. I think that she hurt the Senate. I think that what she did for women in politics was dreadful.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

After her campaign announcement earlier this year, Gillibrand raised less money than most of the other candidates in her party. She also reportedly lacked support from her colleagues in her own state and a Fox News poll showed her lagging in the percentage of Democrats who would be satisfied if she became the party's nominee.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Some US Venezuelans flock to GOP amid anger at Dems for lack of action against Maduro

DORAL, Fla. -- For the first time in 60 years, South Florida’s political magnifying glass is on a country other than Cuba. The unfolding humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has pulled it to the forefront of the political conversation not just in the Sunshine State, but across the country.

As the country’s problems worsen, Democratic Venezuelan-Americans question whether their party’s actions go far enough. A growing number of exiles say they feel forgotten by a new generation of outspoken, progressive Democrats, leaving them less beholden to a party they had long supported.

Issues that for years were hotly debated in an area of Miami known as "Doral-zuela" due to its vibrant Venezuelan community, have made their way to the ears of some of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

The Venezuelans are angry that, as the country continues to spiral, some Democrats keep calling on the U.S. to pull out of Venezuela and lift all sanctions against the government.

“This is where the Democrats have consistently dropped the ball…they have never felt like it was an important issue…it's very difficult to feel and coexist in the same party that is saying these things are so ignorant about my homeland,” said Venezuelan immigrant Helena Poleo.

Poleo attended college in the U.S. with all intentions of returning to Caracas to begin her journalism career in her family’s magazine and newspaper business, unaware that years later, in November 2017, the Venezuelan government would wedge itself between her and her dreams.

“They denied us access to paper, they would shut down our power right at print time…it just became very hostile,” said Poleo, now president of Influence Communications, Inc. in Miami. Her family also fled to the United States and now runs the publications online from Miami.

“We have a newsroom in Venezuela but it's been very difficult these past few days. They haven't had power, they haven't had Internet,” she said.

Democratic Representatives Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar and Tulsi Gabbard are opposing the Trump administration’s decision to recognize 35-year-old opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela, impose oil sanctions and refuse to rule out military action against denounced lefist-president, Nicolás Maduro.

BERNIE SANDERS REFUSES TO CALL VENEZUELA'S MADURO 'DICTATOR,' SAYS 'DEMOCRATIC OPERATIONS TAKING PLACE'

New York freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed Democratic-socialist, has described U.S. strategy in impoverished Venezuela as “counterproductive,” siding with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in refusing to denounce the Maduro regime, prompting harsh backlash from both sides of the political aisle.

The U.S. was the first country to recognize Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela, prompting over 60 other nations to follow suit. The United Nations continues to recognize Maduro, although it has called for talks, as roughly 50-member nations have vowed to support him, including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Syria.

“A lot of folks…are frankly taken aback by this expression of solidarity by the Left to the military regime…they wonder how it's possible,” said Cuban-American Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Miami. “If you look at Venezuela, it's hard not to understand that socialism…has destroyed it.”

Luigi Boria, who moved to the U.S. from Venezuela with his wife and kids in 1989, agrees. He said he doesn’t understand how elected officials could come to his community of exiles, many having experienced socialism first-hand, to tout those policies.

“This is something that's scares me coming from Venezuela…we need the United States because we love this country. This is a great country. And we came here looking for help…and we don't want that to get thrown out like what happened in Venezuela,” said Boria, the former mayor of Doral, home to the largest concentration of Venezuelans in Miami.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But some Venezuelans are not entirely content with the Republican approach either. They said they want the president to pair tough talk abroad with action at home.

“I think Venezuelans are confused a little bit…on the one hand, we do have sort of a tough-talking administration that seems to take this issue very seriously and they appreciate that. But on the other hand…If we are recognizing the fact that there's a crisis happening in Venezuela it seems that it would be the appropriate thing to extend some kind of protection to people who are in this country right now and not deport them back to a country that is living through what Venezuela is living through,” said Maurizio Passariello, a Venezuelan-born Democratic strategist.

Although the Trump administration has criticized the Venezuelan regime and expressed support for its citizens, it has not granted legal status to immigrants fleeing to Florida, Texas and other states. While rare for the U.S. to grant legal status to those escaping a regime, it was granted for Cubans until 2017.

Florida’s Republican Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio is working with top Senate Democrats on temporary protected status legislation.

From 2017 to 2018, Venezuela had more U.S. asylum applications than any other country.

Immigration from the country, which is home to 31 million people, increased by 21 percent, or almost 61,000 people, between 2016 and 2017, the largest significant increase in immigrants from one country that year, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In the last three years, over 100,000 Venezuelans have settled in Florida.

Worsening hardships in Venezuela have tightened the link between the country and its exiles in the United States.

Worsening hardships in Venezuela have tightened the link between the country and its exiles in the United States. (Fox News)

Poleo said those members of Congress speaking out against U.S. intervention don’t speak for the whole party, arguing South Florida’s three Democratic Congresswomen—Donna Shalala, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell—are among the strongest supporters of the administration’s campaign to overthrow the Maduro government. They have also been quick to distance themselves from some of the far-left Democratic lawmakers commenting on this issue.

Shalala has insisted that Sen. Sanders’ positions were not reflective of those held by most Democrats.

"I'll make it clear, @SenSanders does not reflect the majority of the Democratic Party and our support for Venezuela's interim president @jguaido and the Venezuelan people," Shalala tweeted. "Maduro is a dictator and must go."

She and Rep. Wasserman-Schultz also traveled to the Venezuela-Colombia border, where Maduro's government had set up barriers to prevent humanitarian aid from entering the country.

“Our local Democratic leaders have been very vocal…but the rest of the country, the Democrats seem to be very ill-informed…so they are themselves fueling this,” Poleo said.

That position could give President Trump an edge with Latino voters in 2020 in one of the country’s largest swing states and home to its highest concentration of Venezuelans.

Nearly 17 percent of Florida’s registered voters are Hispanic, a group that includes Venezuelans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians and Nicaraguans, among others. In a state that Trump won by 113,000 votes in 2016, the Latino vote can make or break an election.

The issue is already taking center stage on the 2020 campaign trail with most candidates asked about their position on the crisis. California Sen. Kamala Harris has called for free elections and humanitarian aid to be allowed in Venezuela while Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, along with former Vice President Joe Biden have affirmed their support of Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

“This is really not about ideology…there is actually a humanitarian crisis happening in Venezuela,” said Passariello. “There's a lack of medicine, there's a lack of food and an out of control refugee crisis.”

In a February anti-socialism speech to a South Florida crowd of mostly political asylum-seekers, President Trump said, “The days of socialism and communism are numbered…not only in Venezuela but in Nicaragua and in Cuba, as well.”

(Fox News)

“We already saw the Republicans using the socialist term against Democrats and connecting them to a regime. This is completely wrong and it's completely a wrong connection,” said Poleo. “But it's a connection that works and it's all about buzzwords. So it definitely works.”

Still, Republicans insist their anti-socialist message will help them in 2020.

“This could be what the Bay of Pigs was for Cuban voters…This could be a one-issue situation where even if you are a Democrat you vote for a Republican because they've been supportive of this,” said Poleo, adding that Venezuelans have found a support system in South Florida’s Cuban exile community since arriving to the U.S.

Díaz-Balart said the socialist-leaning positions of some Democrats could leave the party with the possibility of a new generation of Republican Venezuelan-Americans as the Cuban-Americans experienced in the 1960s.

Michael Touchton, a political science professor at the University of Miami, said the political impact could last for years, even decades.

“Just like with the Cuban-American population, I see an opportunity to take that political support for a generation or more,” said Touchton. “Many other members of Latino communities that are sympathetic…will be interested to see how this scenario is resolved or not resolved up to the 2020 election…so it might be more votes on the line than we think… these issues could reverberate well beyond the Venezuelan community.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Euro zone budget to support reforms, investment with grants and loans

Eurogroup President Centeno, EU Commissioner Moscovici and Greek Finance Minister Tsakalotos attend a eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels
Portugal's Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Mario Centeno, European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos attend a eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

March 11, 2019

By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A future euro zone budget should support structural reforms and investment in euro zone countries with grants and loans, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Mario Centeno said on Monday, summing up discussions among European Union ministers.

Finance ministers from the 27 countries that will remain in the European Union after Britain leaves are seeking ways to deepen the economic integration of the single currency area.

A future budget for the 19 countries that share the euro, and those in the waiting room to join it, is their flagship idea that is to be worked out in more detail over the next three months and fully presented in June.

“There is broad agreement that this tool should support both structural reforms and public investment,” Centeno told a news conference.

“Many of us favor an integrated approach, which would allow packages of investment programs and reform measures backed by financial support, to be proposed by members. Overall, the preferred form of delivery is via grants but there is also some support for loans,” he said.

The governance of the budget is to be discussed in April and its size and revenues in the following months. It is also yet to be determined if the budget would be part of the broader long-term European Union budget, or be separate and to what extent.

“There is some support to establish as requirement that member states co-finance a portion of the investment and reform package at the national level,” Centeno said.

“There is also support to explore the possibility of reducing member states’ co-financing rates in case of severe downturns,” he said.

The European Commission and the European Central Bank say that to complete the economic and monetary union it is necessary to have pool of money to play a stabilizing role in case of economic downturns to complement the single monetary policy.

The European Commission, which will ultimately have to prepare the final version of the euro zone budget proposal before it becomes EU law, has so far proposed the euro zone budget should be 55 billion euros ($62 billion).

Of that total, 25 billion euros would come from the EU budget and would be used to support reforms and convergence between economies while the remaining 30 billion would be loans, guaranteed by the EU budget, to support investments in countries facing temporary economic shocks.

($1 = 0.8896 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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DARPA Building “Common Sense” Into AI

Coding “common sense” into artificial intelligence systems is currently a major goal for DARPA.

Interestingly, this objective is best described by getting AI to respond to new situations the way a human would, said the agency’s Defense Sciences Office director Valerie Browning to Nextgov.

“There’s a certain ability to recognize new situations, behave appropriately in new situations, [and] recognize when maybe you don’t have enough experience or training to actually function in a predictable or appropriate way for new situations,” said Browning. “We need to be able to build AI systems that have that sort of common sense wired in.”

“We need AI systems that do have some ability for introspection, so when given a task they could communicate to their partner ‘based on my training and my experience, you should have confidence in me that I could do this’ or ‘I’ve not encountered this situation before and I can’t … Perform in the way you’d like me to in this situation.’”

Brown provided an example: both a human and a machine can identify an image of a panda, but after changing a few pixels – an amount that a person wouldn’t notice – the machine would fail to identify it correctly.

“Machine learning-enabled AI does certain tasks quite well—image classification, voice recognition, natural language processing, statistical pattern recognition—but we also know AI can fail quite spectacularly in unexpected ways.”

Building “common sense reasoning” into the next generation of AI is specifically mentioned in the agency’s $2 billion campaign, AI Next, that is part of the White House’s AI strategy competing with China.

America’s race to dominate AI advancement comes on the heels of a report claiming China is projected to lead the world in AI research due to an “attractive research environment” luring AI researchers into China.

To combat this, the agency has taken up “unprecedented government contracting” allowing for “high-risk” gains in the field.

Currently, China’s Communist regime is using artificial intelligence in tandem with mass surveillance to control its billions of denizens via the infamous social credit system.


Mike Adams breaks down the Democrats’ plan to change U.S. Presidential Election laws to usurp citizens’ real representation and enact mob rule by making the winner of the popular vote the President.

Source: InfoWars

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Weekend preview: Fords hope to continue roll at Talladega

NASCAR: Toyota Owners 400
Apr 13, 2019; Richmond, VA, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (2) races Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie (32) during the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

April 25, 2019

Certainly in recent years, Ford drivers have shown the way to Talladega Superspeedway’s famous Victory Lane — the seven most recent race trophies all belong to the manufacturer and its teams.

Yet NASCAR’s biggest and fastest speedway always remains a place where last-lap maneuvers and daring from-the-gut calls have produced some of the most thrilling and unpredictable finishes of the racing season. Ford has hoisted a string of trophies in recent seasons but the statistical examination of past driver performance keeps this historic venue one of the schedule’s most fickle and NASCAR’s best drivers perpetually on the verge of breakthrough and triumph.

Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the next great superspeedway chapter. And for all of Ford’s recent winning patterns, Chevrolet and Toyota drivers are every bit a part of the statistical high expectation.

Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski owns five Talladega trophies — most of anyone competing this weekend. His Ford teammate Joey Logano is the defending winner of this race and has three Talladega trophies of his own.

But it’s Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott who boasts the top driving rating (91.3) and best average running position (10.8) even as he looks for his first win on the track. Fellow Chevrolet driver, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch is hoping his 36th start will result in his first win at the famed track. He leads this weekend’s field in quality passes (7,406) and laps run in the top 15 (66.7%) and more importantly top-five (eight) and top-10 finishes (19) even as he races for his first trophy.

Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is looking to snap a nearly two-year winless streak — the longest time in his 83-victory career between trophy hoists and champagne toasts. A two-time Talladega winner, he’s led the most laps (322) at this track among his competitors this weekend. This year’s Daytona 500 winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is second with 302 laps led.

“I think superspeedway racing is just something where you have to stay out of trouble,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. “Things can change on track quickly and you just have to be able to stay out of harm’s way.

“We were strong in Daytona and our Nationwide Camaro ZL1 is usually pretty good on superspeedways. The new aero package that we tested in Daytona a few months ago should be interesting to run and I am definitely looking forward to how it does on track. I am ready to see how it does and get to the track.”

XFINITY DASH 4 CASH RAISES THE STAKES IN TALLADEGA

The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ next stop on the schedule is at Talladega Superspeedway for the MoneyLion 300 (Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) which presents a new chapter for all the championship contenders. For the first time this season there are no former Talladega winners or pole-winners entered in the race.

Add to that the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus is up for grabs between four of the series’ hottest drivers — Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and reigning series champ Tyler Reddick — and this weekend’s 300-miler on the series’ fastest track couldn’t be more wide-open. The highest finisher among those drivers earns the $100,000 check from Xfinity and qualifies for next week’s Dash 4 Cash. In addition, the highest top-three championship contending Xfinity finishers this week at Talladega will also qualify to compete for the big check next week at Dover International Speedway.

Among those talented drivers, Allgaier, in particular, is eyeing this race to get back in Victory Lane. The veteran is on a remarkable run of six consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega — including a runner-up showing in 2016 and a third-place finish last year. His average finish (10.0) is tops among those with more than one start at Talladega and the worst he’s finished since 2011 is eighth (twice). He is currently fifth in the championship — 87 points behind leader Reddick. Only two-time race winners Cole Custer (227 laps) and Christopher Bell (428 laps) have led more than Allgaier’s 224 laps this season.

Not only will the JR Motorsports driver Allgaier be in a car to watch, Jeffrey Earnhardt will be back behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota this week. Earnhardt, the grandson of the late 10-time Talladega Cup Series winner Dale Earnhardt, was a major storyline in the series’ first superspeedway race in Daytona Beach in February. He started on the outside pole at Daytona and led a career-best 29 laps in the perennially contending JGR No. 18. This will be Earnhardt’s first start for JGR since Texas last month and first Talladega start since a career-best 12th-place finish there running a part-time schedule for a different team in 2015.

Championship leader Tyler Reddick is still looking for his first victory as well, and Talladega has traditionally been a positive place for him. He finished eighth last year in the Xfinity race and has two top-five finishes in three starts in the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series, winning the pole position in his first ever race (2014) at the superspeedway.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: GEICO 500

Defending race winner: Joey Logano

The Place: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

The Date: Sunday, April 28

The Time: 2 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 500 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 55),

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 110), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 188)

What to Watch For: Among active drivers Kurt Busch holds the top mark for top-five (eight) and top-10 (19) finishes. The late Dale Earnhardt holds the all-time record with 23 top-fives — including a record 10 wins — and 27 top-10s at the track. … Eight drivers currently ranked among the top-16 in the championship standings have never won at Talladega. … Four drivers have multiple series wins including Brad Keselowski (5), defending race winner Joey Logano (3), Clint Bowyer (2) and Jimmie Johnson (2). … Dave Marcis and NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte share the record for most Talladega starts (61). Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick hold the mark among active drivers at 36 races. Busch has the most starts without a win. … Chase Elliott leads active drivers in best average starting position (4.167) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads all active drivers in average finishing position (10.6). Ty Dillon is second to Stenhouse with an average finish of 13.5. Stenhouse has 11 starts and Dillon has four. … Seven drivers have won back-to-back series races at Talladega, but no current driver has. …. Jimmie Johnson has led the most laps (470) at Talladega in this week’s field. … The outside front row starting position (2nd) has produced the most winners (20). … The deepest on the grid a winner has started is 36th (Jeff Gordon in spring, 2000). The deepest on the grid an active driver has started and won is 34th (Denny Hamlin, spring, 2014). …Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports are tied for most wins (12) at Talladega. … Ford has won the last seven races but Chevrolet (40 wins) leads the overall victory tally. Ford has 28 wins and Toyota has three. … The late Buddy Baker and three-time series champion Tony Stewart are tied for most runner-up finishes at Talladega with six each. Johnson and Harvick have the most (three) among active drivers. … In seven of the last nine races the margin of victory was .129-seconds or less. … Two-time Talladega winner Clint Bowyer has been involved in two of the closest four race finishes. He lost to Johnson by .002-seconds in April, 2011 in the closest race in Talladega history. Bowyer beat Jeff Burton by .018-seconds that Fall in the track’s fourth closest Cup race. … Bill Elliott holds the qualifying record of 212.809 mph (set in April, 1987). His eight poles is a record, too. Only Harvick has won multiple poles (2) among this week’s field. … No active driver won his first pole position at Talladega. Only David Ragan (spring, 2013) scored his first career Cup win here among active drivers. … Justin Haley will be making his Cup debut this week in the No. 77 Chevrolet. He won the ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega last year.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: MoneyLion 300

Defending race winner: Spencer Gallagher

The Place: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

The Date: Saturday, April 27

The Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: FS1

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 300 miles (113 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 25),

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 50), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 113)

What to Watch For: There are no former race or pole winners entered in Saturday’s race so a guaranteed first-timer will celebrate both those achievements. … Two of the last three winners of this race led only the final lap — Spencer Gallagher last year and Elliott Sadler in 2016. … Only one driver — Martin Truex Jr. — has won consecutive Xfinity Series races at Talladega. Truex won three straight from 2004-06. … The last time a manufacturer won consecutive races was 2011-12 when Kyle Busch then Joey Logano hoisted trophies. … Five active drivers have won both Cup and Xfinity races at Talladega — David Ragan, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the last driver to sweep both Cup and Xfinity races in a single weekend, doing so in April, 2003. … In 15 of the last 17 years this race has had at least 20 lead changes. The most ever was 56 in 2011 when Kyle Busch won the race. … Only twice in 27 races has the polesitter won — Joe Nemechek in 1998 and Tony Stewart in 2008. … The farthest back a winner has started on the grid is 35th — Nemechek won from there in 2000. … Third place has been the winningest starting position producing three race winners. … Justin Allgaier holds a series-best six consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega, but has never won at the big track. …. Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Tyler Reddick are eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus this weekend. The highest finisher among them gets to cash the check. … Chevrolet has twice as many victories (15) at Talladega as any manufacturer. Ford has six and Toyota has four. … Reigning NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt will be making his season debut Saturday in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Beto O’Rourke defends Ilhan Omar, assails Trump as ‘racist’ as his celebrity status wanes

Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke assailed President Trump as a “racist” for criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., over her remarks that appeared to downplay the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Speaking at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, O’Rourke said Trump was “hateful” and incited violence against Muslims.

BETO O'ROURKE CONFRONTED AT TOWN HALL ABOUT STINGY CHARITABLE DONATIONS

“He’s trying to incite hatred, Islamophobia and, I would argue, violence against her and other Muslims in this country,” O’Rourke said.

“This is the test of all tests for us. It’s not just that he is partisan, it’s not just that he is divisive. He is hateful. He is racist. He has encouraged the worst tendencies amongst our fellow Americans.

“Unless we can beat him in November of 2020, it will continue. Unless we offer a compelling, profoundly powerful alternative to hatred and division and fear and anger, it will continue.”

“He is hateful. He is racist. He has encouraged the worst tendencies amongst our fellow Americans.”

— Beto O'Rourke

His comments came after Omar’s remarks last month at a Muslim advocacy group’s fundraiser, where she appeared to refer to the 9/11 attacks by saying “some people did something.” The description prompted criticism from Trump, who shared a video of her comments together with the footage of the terror attacks.

But O’Rourke’s latest attempt to directly confront Trump follows his diminishing stardom and the rising stock of Mayor Pete Butttigieg -- who has lately received similar media coverage as O’Rourke during the Texas Senate election last year.

SANDERS NABS TOP SPOT IN NEW DEMS POLL AS PETE BUTTIGIEG GAINS MOMENTUM

A new poll released Monday has Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leading the 2020 Democratic presidential field, while former Vice President Joe Biden is in the second place, though he still hasn’t declared his candidacy.

Buttigieg, meanwhile ranked third ahead of O’Rourke, Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, according to an Emerson Polling poll.

This is a downgrade for O’Rourke after he was ranked third in a poll just a few weeks ago. He also raised an eye-popping $6 million in his first 24 hours as a candidate.

Since then, however, he has been subjected to a more critical coverage than during the Senate bid, leading to a decline of his chances.

At another event in Virginia on Tuesday, O’Rourke was confronted by a voter about his charitable giving after his recently released tax returns showed he and his wife gave away just a tiny fraction of their income.

The filings show the couple had given $1,166 to charity in 2017 despite having a combined income of $370,412, which calculates to roughly one-third of 1 percent of their income.

According to a Washington Post reporter, a student who attended the town hall at the University of Virginia asked the former Texas representative why her sister, who was a recent college graduate, donated more to charity while making much less than he and his wife.

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O’Rourke responded by saying he does his best to give back to communities, but noted that some of the ways he gives back are “immeasurable.”

“I’ve served in public office since 2005. I do my best to contribute to the success of my community, of my state, and now, of my country. There are ways that I do this that are measurable and there are ways that I do this that are immeasurable. There are charities that we donate to that we’ve recorded and itemized, others that we have donated to that we have not,” he said.

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

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FILE PHOTO: Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
FILE PHOTO: Pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee at her funeral at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 26, 2019

BELFAST (Reuters) – Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland last week suspect the gunman who shot her dead is in his late teens as they made a further appeal to the local community who they believe know his identity.

McKee’s killing by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot in Londonderry has sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost the lives of some 3,600 people.

The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead in the Creggan area of the city on Thursday when opening fire on police during a riot McKee was watching.

The killing, which followed a large car bomb in Londonderry in January that police also blamed on the New IRA, has raised fears that small marginalized militant groups are exploiting a political vacuum in the province and tensions caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Police released footage on Friday of immediately before and after the shooting showing three men who were involved in the rioting and identified one as the gunman who they believe is in his late teens. 

“I believe that the information that can help us to bring those responsible for her murder to justice lies within the community. I need the public to tell me who he is,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said those involved in the disorder on the night were teenagers or in their early 20s, and that about 100 people were on the ground watching the trouble as it unfolded.

He added that police believed the gun used in the attack was of a similar caliber to those used before in paramilitary type attacks in Creggan. 

“I recognize that people living in Creagan may find it’s difficult to come forward to speak to police. Today, I want to provide a personal reassurance that we are able to deal with those issues sensitively,” Murphy said, echoing similar appeals in recent days.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, editing by Padraic Halpin and Toby Chopra)

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