Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz set for windfall, leading public defenders to request withdrawing

The public defenders representing Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday asked to be removed from the case after learning the mass killer is due to inherit more than $430,000.

In a motion to withdraw from the case, the Broward County Public Defender's Office said Cruz is set to receive half of his late mother’s life insurance policy worth $864,929.17.

"The Law Office of the Public Defender is statutorily prohibited from representing a non-indigent defendant," the attorneys said in the filing.

ATTORNEYS FOR FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT WANT TO QUESTION HIS MENTAL COUNSELORS ALONE 

Public defender Howard Finkelstein and his top assistant, Gordon Weekes, said they only learned about the insurance policy this week, according to the Associated Press.

Finkelstein said it is not clear if Cruz will receive any of the insurance money or actually change lawyers.

Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz speaks with his attorney in court for a defense motion at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, April 18, 2019.

Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz speaks with his attorney in court for a defense motion at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, April 18, 2019. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

He explained that Cruz also faces civil lawsuits filed by families of the victims.

“The victims’ families’ lawyers are probably going to move to freeze those assets,” Finkelstein told the Washington Post. “Because of their significant trauma and awful loss, they’re entitled under the law to receive monetary damages. So if they freeze those assets, then he doesn’t have access to them.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Finkelstein noted that the case has already resulted in more than 4 million pages of discovery, and questions surrounding the insurance policy could further delay the trial, which is scheduled to begin early next year.

Cruz faces 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Cruz has pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys have said he would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Explainer: How much of the Mueller report must U.S. attorney general disclose?

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Robert Mueller, as FBI director, testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Federal Bureau of Investigation oversight on Capitol Hill in Washington June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

March 22, 2019

By Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has submitted the report on his investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election, Attorney General William Barr must decide how much of the document – if any – to make public.

Justice Department regulations governing special counsels adopted in 1999 give Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official, broad discretion in deciding how much to release to Congress and the public. Barr, in his January Senate confirmation hearings after being nominated by Trump, promised to “provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law” – a pledge that still gives him a lot of wiggle room.

Trump said on Wednesday he does not mind if the public is allowed to see the report.

Mueller was named special counsel in May 2017 by the department’s No. 2 official, Rod Rosenstein, to take over an investigation that had been headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He examined whether Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia and whether the president unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction and Russia has denied election interference.

Here is an explanation of the rules Barr must follow and the political pressures that he faces in deciding on disclosure of Mueller’s findings.

WHAT DO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REGULATIONS CALL FOR?

Justice Department regulations do not require the release of the entire special counsel report but also do not prevent Barr from doing so, giving him leeway to disclose it if it is in the public interest.

Special counsels can be appointed by the department to investigate matters of high sensitivity that are not handled through the normal channels.

The department placed limits on special counsel powers in the 1999 regulations creating the post.

The regulations state that when an investigation is conducted a special counsel must provide the attorney general a “confidential report” explaining why particular individuals were or were not charged.

The regulations require Barr to notify the top Republicans and Democrats on the House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary Committees that the investigation has ended. Department policy calls for Barr to summarize the confidential report for Congress with “an outline of the actions and the reasons for them.” According to the regulations, Barr “may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions.”

In deciding what to release, Barr may have to confront thorny legal issues involving secrecy of grand jury testimony, protecting classified information, communications with the White House possibly subject to the principle of executive privilege shielding certain information from disclosure, and safeguarding confidential reasons for why some individuals were not charged.

WHAT POLITICAL PRESSURE MIGHT BARR BE FEELING?

Some Democrats have expressed concern Barr may try to shield Trump and bury parts of the report. Barr may feel pressure from the Republican president to conceal damaging parts of Mueller’s report and release any findings that may exonerate him.

Barr, 68, is a veteran Washington insider who also was attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under Republican President George H.W. Bush. He has embraced an expansive view of presidential powers but also is considered a defender of the rule of law.

Trump fired Barr’s predecessor, Jeff Sessions, in November after complaining for months about Sessions’ 2017 decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation.

WHAT IF BARR DECLINES TO RELEASE THE FULL REPORT?

Democrats control the House and some already have pledged to subpoena the report and Mueller and go to court if necessary to secure its full release. The House on March 14 voted 420-0, with four conservative Republican lawmakers voting “present,” to approve a non-binding resolution urging Barr to make public everything in Mueller’s report that is not expressly prohibited by law and to provide the entire document to Congress.

HOW HAVE OTHER SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORTS BEEN HANDLED?

Only two special counsels have been appointed under the 1999 regulations: Mueller and former Senator John Danforth, who was appointed that same year to investigate the deadly 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas. Danforth’s report in 2000 cleared government officials of wrongdoing.

In appointing Danforth, Attorney General Janet Reno specifically directed him to draft a report for public release on his findings, which he did. Rosenstein made no such demand on Mueller.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

0 0

The pregnancy of Meghan, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

March 11, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The Duchess of Sussex, former U.S. actress Meghan Markle, is due to give birth this Spring to her first child with husband Prince Harry, 34, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson.

The baby, who will be seventh in line to the British throne, is expected in April after Meghan, 37, disclosed she was six months pregnant in January.

Here is a timeline of some major events Meghan has attended during her pregnancy:

Oct. 15: Harry and Meghan, who married in May 2018, announce they are expecting their first child in the spring of 2019 while in Australia on their first overseas tour as a married couple.

Oct 24: Meghan cut back on some of the couple’s busy program during the tour to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific but did join her husband for engagements on a trip to Fiji.

Nov. 19: The Duke and Duchess attended the annual Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.

Dec. 10: At a star-studded event, Meghan presented the designer of her wedding dress with a prize at the London Fashion Awards.

Dec. 18: Meghan joked she was feeling “very pregnant” during a Christmas visit to a care home where she joined residents making decorations and singing festive songs.

Dec. 25: Harry and Meghan joined the other senior members of the British royal family at a traditional Christmas Day church service at Sandringham, eastern England.

Jan. 14: During a trip to Birkenhead in northern England, Meghan told well-wishers that she was six months pregnant but said the gender of her baby would be a surprise.

Jan. 16: Meghan and Harry attended the Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem” show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, an event aimed at raising awareness and funds for Harry’s Sentebale charity.

Feb. 1: Crowds braved freezing conditions in Bristol for a visit by the royal couple who visited the western city’s Old Vic, built in 1766 and the oldest continuously working theater in the English-speaking world.

Feb. 7: Harry and Meghan attended an awards ceremony for the Endeavour Fund which supports the physical and mental recovery of injured and sick servicemen and women

Feb. 12: The couple attended a play at London’s Natural History Museum about the young Charles Darwin’s 19th Century expedition on HMS Beagle, in aid of forest conservation, an issue supported by Harry.

Feb. 24: On what was expected to be their last overseas trip before the birth of their baby, the royals arrived in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains where they showed their support for rural girls’ education.

Feb. 25: As part of their Morocco visit, the couple attended a cooking event and sampled food made by chef Moha Fedal, host of Morocco’s version of the Masterchef TV show.

March 8: Meghan joined a panel discussion held by The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust to mark International Women’s Day at King’s College, London.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

Source: OANN

0 0

Chris Pratt calls fiancee Katherine Schwarzenegger 'high maintenance'

Chris Pratt poked fun at fiancee Katherine Schwarzenegger while showing off his latest achievement on his farm.

CHRIS PRATT SLAMS ELLEN PAGE'S CLAIM THAT HIS CHURCH IS ANTI-LGBTQ

Pratt, 39, posted a photo of his 29-year-old bride-to-be cuddling with a lamb on Saturday, writing, "@katherineschwarzenegger rocks the latest trend in fierce accessories. The eggshell wool baby lamb. Super high maintenance but worth it for this fashion icon. #farmlife."

On Valentine's Day, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" star showed off his season's first lamb, which he named Cupid in honor of the holiday.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pratt is an avid lover of farming, much to the chagrin of critics who consider his farm-to-table and hunting habits "problematic."

The actor previously revealed that he's looking forward to spending more time on his farm and less time on movie sets, telling press that in the future he wants "lots of kids."

CHRIS PRATT CREDITS FAITH WITH SAVING HIM FROM THE 'LION'S DEN' OF FAME

"Maybe less time spent working, more time spent enjoying life," he said. "I always want to be that guy that works to live, not lives to work. I think [I want to spend] just a lot of time at the farm and a lot of time catching a lot of fish and seeing lots of sunsets."

0 0

EU needs central supervisor to tackle money laundering ‘rats’: Latvia’s PM

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins delivers a speech during a debate on the future of Europe, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins delivers a speech during a debate on the future of Europe, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

April 17, 2019

By Foo Yun Chee

STRASBOURG (Reuters) – Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins pledged on Wednesday to rid the country’s banking system of money-laundering “rats” in a year, as the Baltic state faces international pressure over its ability to counter financial crime.

In a speech to European Union lawmakers, Karins also said the best way to address the problem across the bloc was to set up a central supervisor to monitor and tackle money laundering, replacing the patchwork of national watchdogs that have sometimes proved ineffective against cross-border crime.

EU lawmakers and the European Central Bank have repeatedly called for the creation of a new supervisor against financial crime, but many EU governments have opposed the move as they prefer leaving powers at a national level.

Karins said he wanted to turn the Latvian banking system into “the cleanest” in Europe, after its reputation was tarnished by the collapse last year of ABLV, the country’s largest bank, amid money-laundering allegations.

Karins said he was confident that in a year’s time he could be in a position to provide tips to other Europeans on how to clean up banking systems.

“But it’s a little bit like fighting rats. I can make sure that I get the rats out of my house and my house will be clean, but what about my neighbors?” he told lawmakers.

Baltic and Nordic countries are grappling with a huge money-laundering scandal, after allegations the Estonian branch of Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest lender, handled 200 billion euros ($226 billion) in suspicious transactions of Russian money between 2007 and 2015.

Sweden’s Swedbank has recently been drawn into the scandal, after it was reported that it handled some of the same payments that went through Danske..

“The criminals may have left Latvia for now but they have unfortunately, I’m convinced, not left Europe,” Karins said, adding the problem concerned all European states.

Latvia faces a review by international money-laundering standards watchdog Moneyval in the coming months, which some officials fear could label the country as risky, alongside the likes of Serbia and Pakistan..

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Strasbourg and Clare Roth in Brussels; Writing by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

0 0

Enbridge pipeline delay spooks traders in long-term Canada crude market

Crude oil tanks at Enbridge's terminal are seen in Sherwood Park
A sign listing emergency contacts for the companies on "Pipeline Alley" (Kinder Morgan, Enbridge and Keyera Energy) are seen at an industrial zone dubbed "Refinery Row" in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada November 13, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

March 10, 2019

By Devika Krishna Kumar and Nia Williams

NEW YORK/CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – North American energy traders are reluctant to take up long-term positions on Canadian crude price moves, preferring to stick to spot deals, as uncertainty around government intervention in the market grows following delays to a critical pipeline project.

Enbridge Inc unexpectedly said earlier this month its Line 3 oil pipeline will be delayed until the second half of 2020, dealing another blow to the oil-rich province of Alberta, which is struggling with long-running congestion on export pipelines.

Severe pipeline bottlenecks depressed Canadian heavy oil prices to the weakest on record last year, prompting the Alberta government to order mandatory production cuts effective Jan. 1, a move that sent prices sky-rocketing and traders scrambling to cover positions.

While some producers welcomed the government cuts, others including Suncor Energy and Imperial Oil criticized the move for causing uncertainty and unintended consequences, such as disrupting rail shipments of crude.

Imperial declined to comment and Suncor did not offer an immediate comment.

Now, Enbridge’s delay has heightened concerns the government may impose cuts for longer than its current target of year-end.

“Everything we heard from the government was that they were 100 percent relying on Line 3 coming into service at the end of 2019,” said Tim Pickering, president of Auspice Capital Advisors in Calgary, which manages a Canadian crude exchange-traded fund.

“That (delay) is definitely something that may have them responding as the market changes,” he added.

Canada is the world’s fourth biggest oil producer and the heavy crude it produces is in high demand in the United States, where refiners are already facing a shortage due to sanctions on Venezuela and lower production from Mexico.

But sources at producers and refiners on both sides of the border said it has become more difficult to make a compelling case to management to buy Canadian oil contracts for later in the year because of the uncertainty related to what the government might do.

BROKEN TRUST

Not being able to lock in forward prices typically heightens risk for producers and refiners, leaving them more exposed to fluctuating spot commodity prices.

Longer-dated trading volumes in the Canadian heavy benchmark Western Canada Select (WCS) vary each month, making year-on-year comparisons of trading volumes difficult, traders said.

But buyers of Canadian crude in the U.S. Gulf Coast have held back from taking up positions to hedge their exposure or betting on Canadian prices for later in the year for fear of big losses if the government makes an unexpected move, sources said.

“I won’t take any forward positions in Canada right now. Everyone is wondering what the government is going to do … one announcement can ruin your year,” one trader said.

Hedge funds – who typically trade financial contracts rather than physical barrels – are also reluctant to get involved in Canada now, Pickering said, leading to a thinner market with fewer participants.

Liquidity in the Canadian crude ETF that Auspice manages surged last October as Canadian crude’s discount to U.S. oil futures ballooned, attracting big U.S. market makers like Virtu Financial and Jane Street, Pickering said. That liquidity dropped off once the government stepped in.

Further muddying the picture, current Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party government is currently trailing in the polls ahead of a spring election, facing a stiff challenge from the United Conservative Party.

It is unclear what impact the elections would have on planned curtailments.

Alberta government spokesman Mike McKinnon said the cuts had been applied fairly and equitably.

“A short-term production limit is not ideal or sustainable, which is exactly why we have a plan to move more oil by rail in the coming months while we fight for the long-term solution of building pipelines to new markets,” he said.

One Calgary-based trader said the Alberta government had ruined trust in the Canadian heavy crude market. Market participants who were bearish 2019 WCS because of fundamentals like rising production and tight pipeline capacity were wrong-footed by the curtailments and ended up losing “a ton of money,” he said.

“I just think it’s too risky now. So no one is trading that far out,” another Calgary-based trader said.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Nia Williams in Calgary, Alberta; Editing by Chris Reese)

Source: OANN

0 0

India will not be cowed in internet consultations: tech minister

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Facebook logo is displayed in front of the Twitter logo in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Facebook logo is displayed in front of the Twitter logo, in this illustration taken October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

February 20, 2019

By Sankalp Phartiyal

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India will hold wide consultations with internet companies before finalizing rules to regulate content on social media but will not hold back from framing laws that safeguard national interest, the country’s technology minister said.

India, one of the world’s biggest internet markets, in late December proposed rules that will compel platforms such as Facebook, its WhatsApp messenger service and Twitter to remove within 24 hours unlawful content, such as anything that affects the “sovereignty and integrity of India”.

The draft rules have prompted intense lobbying by technology companies, which say the proposals “impose burdensome obligations”.

The rules, if implemented in their current form, are also likely to raise costs for companies by requiring them to monitor online content around the clock.

New Delhi, which is in the process of finalizing the so-called intermediary rules, will be fair to all stakeholders, technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of an IT conference in the financial capital of Mumbai on Wednesday.

“We’ll be fair, we’ll be objective, but India’s sovereign right to frame rules and laws will always be there,” he said.

The draft rules also come at a time when India, the world’s largest democracy, heads for a general election before May and social media becomes a hotbed for circulation of fake political news.

Social media giant Facebook this month said it is toughening its advertising policies to create more transparency ahead of the vote. It also expanded its fact-checking network.

Rival Google has also conducted scores of workshops across the country to train journalists to verify news.

“As a minister, I want to assure that a social media company shall not be allowed to abuse the data of Indians to influence elections,” Prasad said.

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by David Goodman)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist