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Beneath Fed’s positive spin, an embrace of a tepid future

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis

March 21, 2019

By Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve policymakers see a U.S. economy that is rapidly losing momentum. They predict inflation will miss their 2 percent target for yet another year, despite rising wages, and they expect unemployment to increase.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s view of it all? He calls these fundamentals “very strong,” says the economy is in a “good place and sees the outlook as “favorable.”

Welcome to the new normal.

Powell’s upbeat assessment of a deteriorating economy shows how completely the Fed has embraced a world of stubbornly weak inflation, permanently slower growth and chronically low interest rates that give the central bank precious little room for conventional policy easing when the next downturn arrives.

It is a situation that poses risks to the Fed’s credibility, given the long-running failure to lift inflation to a target first specified in 2012 in hopes of guiding the economy upward. It also raises the stakes over an evolving debate about the need for fiscal, social and other policies that may be targeted to pick up the slack.

“It feels like the Fed has come to Jesus on this topic,” said University of Oregon economics professor Tim Duy, who believes the abrupt revisions to Fed forecasts show the Fed may have already raised interest rates too far. “The secular stagnation story, some part of it, must in fact be a reality.”

Powell delivered his message on Wednesday as the Fed signaled it is likely finished with the interest rate increases it started back in 2015, and hinted that should the outlook worsen, a rate cut may be next.

“We are very mindful… of what the risks are,” Powell said after the Fed held its target range for short-term rates steady at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. “We don’t see data coming in that suggests we should move in either direction… We should remain patient and let the situation clarify over time; when the time comes, we will act appropriately.”

DOWN IN THE DUMPS?

At least nine and perhaps as many as 15 of the Fed’s 17 policymakers slashed their interest rate forecasts, with most seeing no rate hikes this year. As a group they now believe the economy has lost perhaps a third of its momentum compared with last year, and will grow around 2.1 percent in 2019.

What about the idea they would need to boost rates high enough to brake growth and actually curb inflation, a feature of their outlook in 2018? A thing of the past.

If anything, the Fed’s concern has shifted in the other direction, toward inflation remaining so low it undermines business and household expectations about the future, another potential drag on growth if either sector becomes more cautious in spending.

To some analysts, the abrupt revisions sound like a warning.

“What does the Fed know that it’s not saying?” asked Marvin Loh, global macro strategist at State Street.

“I think we are bracing for another shoe to drop,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco.

That was also the view of financial markets, with short-term interest-rate futures quickly pricing in a rate cut next year.

Powell noted risks to his positive outlook include a slowdown in Europe and ongoing trade tensions with China.

RISK OF THE LESS-LIKELY OUTCOME

To others, however, it seemed like confirmation of an inconvenient truth: that global growth may have peaked, leaving countries stuck in slow-growth mode and reliant on fiscal policy to keep from grinding to a halt. In addition, they will have to carry the load of recovery should a recession occur.

“Even once this episode is past, what do things look like? In the Fed’s view it is a world of sub-2 percent growth” over the long run, said Nathan Sheets, chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income and a former U.S. Treasury official. “By U.S. historical standards, it is not great.”

Central banks in Japan and Europe are in a similar fix, fueling a global debate about whether, given chronically low interest rates, it makes sense for larger and economically more dynamic nations to borrow more for investments in infrastructure, education, climate adaptation and other endeavors that would have a clear public return.

“It is a different world,” former International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said in a meeting with reporters recently at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “We are going to be in a world where monetary policy is highly constrained and fiscal (policy) will become central.”

Originally skeptical of the secular stagnation argument that low growth in developed nations is hardwired into the long-term outlook by aging populations that over-save, he said he now views that as the “more likely” state of affairs.

The issue now is whether the current slow-growth expansion will continue indefinitely in the hoped-for “soft landing” that the Fed foresees in its current projections.

There are arguments to the contrary. The recently released Economic Report of the President projected growth will remain near 3 percent this year and could edge up in coming years if, for example, the now-temporary household tax cuts approved in 2017 are made permanent. Resolution of current global trade frictions could also raise the global outlook.

But 2018, a year that began with U.S. and world officials heralding an era of synchronized global growth, may also prove the outlier.

Said Bank of the West’s Anderson: “Even with the U.S. pausing, it might not be enough to stop a global downturn.”

(Reporting by Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Dan Grebler)

Source: OANN

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Governor says surfing can connect California and El Salvador

California masterfully markets its surfing culture and Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he wants to share that expertise with El Salvador to help boost tourism and provide more economic opportunities for its impoverished citizens.

"There's no doubt there's a lot we can do together in this space," Newsom said after a discussion about the surfing industry's economic potential with local business owners, investors and U.S. Ambassador Jean Manes.

He'll have a willing partner in President-elect Nayib Bukele, who he met later. Bukele has an initiative titled "Surf City" aimed at investing in beaches to drive tourism.

"We have the best surfing beaches in the world and they have the other ones," he told reporters after meeting with Newsom. "So we want to work together."

California has a long history with surfing, which became the state's official sport last year. It's the home of The Beach Boys, whose version of surf music produced a series of smash hits in the 1960s including "Surfin' USA" with its lyrics highlighting many of Southern California's signature surf beaches. Sept. 20 is designated California Surfing Day and the state markets surf vacations.

Newsom said the state's tourism arm, Visit California, has already expressed interest in working with El Salvador.

Though El Salvador has among the highest homicide rates in the world and the U.S. government warns its citizens about traveling there, Newsom and Bukele said tourist areas are much safer than other parts of the country. Bukele said he'll work to get the U.S. travel advisory removed when he takes office.

Working together on promoting surfing and economic tourism may be one of the most tangible ways Newsom can build a partnership with El Salvador. As his trip concluded, Newsom told reporters he's walking away more educated about the country's challenges. The updated budget he'll present in May will include new resources for immigrants arriving in the United States and he plans to encourage California business interests to invest in El Salvador; he also discussed bringing Salvadoran business leaders to California for a visit.

As a governor, Newsom has little power to effect immigration policy, but he said his trip was vital to understanding the gang violence and other dynamics that cause people to flee.

Bukele, who takes office in June, wants to strengthen U.S.-Salvadoran relations and was diplomatic when asked his views on President Donald Trump.

"We don't want to meddle into U.S. politics," he said. "We will work with any administration."

The U.S. government already invests some money in Salvadoran infrastructure, including roads and water and sewage treatment near El Salvador's coasts through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, created in 2004 under then-President George W. Bush. Last year it contributed about $3 million for a $10.8 million project to develop the coastal area called El Zonte to build hotels and a water treatment plant. MCC has pledged $277 million for coastal development and other projects over a number of years.

Several surfing business owners who joined Newsom on Tuesday said without improved roads and sewage treatment it is harder to attract more tourists. El Salvador has world class surf, particularly on the Punta Roca beach that is well-known to traveling surfers, but lags behind nearby Costa Rica as an international tourist destination, said Jess Ponting, director of the Center for Surf Research at San Diego State University.

"The surf tourism resources (waves) are definitely there, surf tourists just need to know it's relatively safe to travel to and be in those locations," he said in an email. "It seems pretty clear that there is a lot of untapped potential for surf tourism in El Salvador."

Beyond the economic benefits, surfing can provide a dream for young children with few opportunities, said Marcelo Castellanos, who runs a surfing academy in the area. He told Newsom about an 11-year-old boy he trained who eight years later became a professional surfer traveling the world.

"All the kids that grow up in these poor areas know they all can dream," he said. "That happened because we have this program, and we invite the kids who can't pay. The ocean is free, the waves are free. They can make a living and that's the example."

Source: Fox News World

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Hong Kong ‘Occupy’ protest leaders found guilty for role in mass rallies

Pro-democracy activists Tanya Chan, Chu Yiu-ming, Chan Kin-man and Benny Tai chant slogans outside the court before hearing a verdict on their involvement in the Occupy Central, also known as
(L-R) Pro-democracy activist Tanya Chan, and Occupy Central pro-democracy movement founders Chu Yiu-ming, Chan Kin-man and Benny Tai, chant slogans outside the court before hearing a verdict on their involvement in the Occupy Central, also known as "Umbrella Movement", in Hong Kong, China April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

April 9, 2019

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found three leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy “Occupy” civil disobedience movement guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance for their role in mass protests that brought parts of the Chinese-ruled city to a standstill.

Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming were all found guilty following a trial that comes as the financial centre’s civil liberties come under mounting pressure.

(Reporting By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: OANN

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Women singers test limits, signal Afghanistan’s changing times

Zahra Elham, 18, an Afghan singer practices in Kabul
Zahra Elham, 18, an Afghan singer practices in Kabul, Afghanistan April 3, 2019. Picture taken April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

April 4, 2019

By Orooj Hakimi

KABUL (Reuters) – Soria Hussaini was not sure what would happen when she decided to perform the first Kabul street concert by a woman in recent memory.

The 20-year-old, whose family fled civil war in Afghanistan for Iran during the 1990s, worried about her safety. But nearly 50 people watched the unadvertised concert by Hussaini’s rock group, Azadi, in the city’s Kart-e-Char neighborhood in March, singing and clapping along with the music.

“Some were against this concert, but we did not give up,” she said. “We are all scared of suicide bombings, explosions, abductions and other issues in this country.”

Hussaini’s concert was unusual both for its public setting and the positive response it received in a country where views on women and entertainment are often ultra-conservative.

In sharp contrast, a video surfaced this week and was widely shared on social media showing men whipping a woman, purportedly a Taliban punishment for singing in public. It was not clear when the video was filmed, but it generated fierce online criticism of the Taliban.

Reuters was not able to verify the authenticity of the video. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said he could not confirm the video depicted members of the group, and that it was investigating the incident.

Intensifying peace talks between the United States and the Taliban have brought a focus on the place of women in Afghan society. Many say they fear greater freedoms won in recent years will be eroded under a settlement with the Islamists.

The Taliban banned women from playing music or appearing in public with their faces visible when in power from 1996 to 2001.

One symbol of the changes since the Taliban were overthrown is 18-year-old Zahra Elham, who last month became the first woman to win the vote-in singing competition Afghan Star in the 14 years since local TV station Tolo began screening the popular show modeled on American Idol.

“They finally supported a girl. That day, I witnessed that there is justice, they let a girl move forward,” she said.

Not everyone celebrated her success, however, said Elham, who recalled a frightening 2-km (1.2-mile) walk home from the TV studio one night in January, as her celebrity grew.

“Everyone was taunting me on the way,” said Elham, who hails from the Hazara ethnic minority that has long suffered discrimination in Afghanistan. “There were comments about ethnicity since, in our tribe, it is not desired for a girl to become a singer. Now my fear has increased.”

#MYREDLINE

TV journalist Farahnaz Forotan, 26, received a more supportive reaction when she launched last month a social media movement with the hashtag “MyRedLine”, encouraging women – and men – to publicly declare what rights they would not surrender.

Forotan launched the movement by declaring that her pen, symbolic of her profession, was her red line. Since the Taliban government fell in 2001, a robust media industry has emerged in Afghanistan, including many female journalists.

Forotan’s personal RedLine video has been viewed nearly 12,000 times on Facebook. She is planning visits to all 34 Afghan provinces to expand her campaign.

“I thought that we were at a more sensitive and historic situation than any other time in the past and this sensitive and historic situation needs historic deeds,” she said.

Supporters recorded short smartphone videos of themselves declaring their own “red lines”, including a female lawyer citing her work defending women’s rights.

“We emphasize that we won’t go back,” Forotan said, referring to the Taliban era.

Meanwhile Hussaini, who still lives in Iran, is already planning two more Afghan street concerts, one in Bamiyan province and another in Kabul.

“I see a good future in Afghanistan and am hopeful that street concerts will become more common here,” she said.

(Reporting by Orooj Hakimi in Kabul; additional reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi; Writing by Rod Nickel; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: OANN

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Cold case killings of Montana couple solved after 45 years using DNA evidence

Over four decades after a young couple was discovered dead in their Montana home, authorities revealed Monday they finally tracked down their killer with the help of a genealogy database.

The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office announced that Linda and Clifford Bernhardt, both 24, were killed at their Billings-area home in 1973 by a former co-worker of Linda's.

"Today we can tell you that based on the evidence collected on the scene, which includes biological evidence and all the reasonable inferences taken from this evidence, we have determined that Cecil Stan Caldwell, a former coworker of Linda Bernhardt at Ryan's Inc. is the person responsible for the deaths of Linda and Clifford Bernhardt," Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder told reporters. Caldwell died in 2003.

ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS EVIDENCE TO BE RE-EXAMINED BY INVESTIGATORS

Clifford Bernhardt was a concrete worker and Vietnam veteran and his wife worked at a grocery distribution warehouse. They had been married several years and moved into a new house just weeks before they were killed.

Photos of Linda and Clifford Bernhardt, who were killed in 1973, are displayed at a press conference at the Yellowstone County administrative offices in Billings, Montana on Monday, March 25, 2019. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, pictured at right, says authorities have identified the couple's now-deceased killer.

Photos of Linda and Clifford Bernhardt, who were killed in 1973, are displayed at a press conference at the Yellowstone County administrative offices in Billings, Montana on Monday, March 25, 2019. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, pictured at right, says authorities have identified the couple's now-deceased killer. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

Linda Bernhardt had been bound and sexually assaulted before her death, and authorities used psychologists to try to build a profile of the suspect, according to the Billings Gazette.

Linder said that evidence collected at the scene of the home, including biological evidence, tied Caldwell to the killings, although he did not identify a motive. The sheriff, however, believed that Linda was targeted by Caldwell.

Caldwell had no criminal record and died in 2003 at the age of 59, according to his obituary in the Billings Gazette.

DNA, FORENSIC GENEALOGY LINK MAN WHO DIED IN 2017 TO 2 COLD CASE RAPES, KILLING

Authorities had conducted hundreds of interviews over the years, even bringing in a psychic at one point as part of their search for clues.

Investigators remained stymied until 2004, when DNA was discovered on evidence gathered at the crime scene, according to the sheriff. But comparing that DNA against an FBI database of known criminals yielded no results, leaving authorities frustrated yet again.

In 2012, the county formed a cold case unit, which made the murders a priority. Three years later, the unit enlisted a Reston, Virginia technology company, Parabon NanoLabs, to analyze the DNA by comparing it to genetic samples available through a public genealogy database.

Scott Goodwin, a volunteer with the cold case unit who helped with the investigation, told the Associated Press that he and others involved were unwilling to let it go.

"We were obsessed with it," Goodwin said. "These are two young people who didn't deserve what happened to them. They didn't do anything. They came home on a Tuesday night and they were murdered."

After running it through a public genealogy database, officials ultimately narrowed the list of suspects to Caldwell and his brother, who is still alive and living outside the area, according to Vince Wallis, a former detective captain with the sheriff's office who now works for the Billings Police Department.

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Wallis said that after DNA was obtained voluntarily from the brother, it was analyzed by the Montana State Crime Lab to eliminate him as a suspect. That left only Caldwell, Wallis said.

"It's the kind of police work that we are blessed to have in Montana every day," Montana Attorney General Tim Fox told reporters.

The families of the victims issued a statement at the news conference thanking the sheriff's office for its work, but made no further comment and asked for privacy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Ex-Officials Torn Over Trump DHS Pick

President Trump’s selection for the acting head of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), following the departure of ex-chief Kirstjen Nielsen, has triggered dissenting reactions from two former officials with intimate knowledge of the challenges at the southern border.

Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Thomas Homan and former Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu, both of whom are known for strong positions on border security, have offered divergent assessments of the appointment of former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan as acting DHS head.

“He knows border issues, and he can hit the ground running,” said Homan. “He knows the border… He will start day one.”

“He will think outside the box,” he continued. “He will put his foot on the gas.”

In contrast, Babeu, who served as sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, until the end of 2016, does not see eye-to-eye with Homan, effectively calling McAleenan a globalist operative in a recent tweet.


“Deep state McAleenan to replace Nielsen at DHS?” Babeu wrote. “McAleenan is known as the architect of Obama’s ‘Catch and Release.’ This is almost unbelievable!”

McAleenan recently held an emergency press conference in El Paso, Texas, to warn that the U.S. immigration system had reached the “breaking point,” amid an unprecedented surge of migrant families seeking to penetrate the border.

“Two weeks ago, I briefed the media and testified in Congress that our immigration system was at the breaking point,” McAleenan said on March 27. “That breaking point has arrived this week at our border.”



Infowars’ Owen Shroyer made a visit to deliver avocados to his local chapter of the Democratic party.

Source: InfoWars

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Acting Pentagon chief says IS territory nearly cleared

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan says the United States and its partners in Syria have liberated virtually all the territory the Islamic State group once held.

But he's not declaring victory. The insurgents and local forces are still battling over a small slice of land.

Shanahan tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. forces are drawing down in Syria but will maintain a presence to prevent a resurgence of the extremist group that once controlled large swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

Shanahan is a former Boeing executive who's been the interim Pentagon chief since Jan. 1, when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis left.

President Donald Trump hasn't said whether he'll nominate Shanahan for the Cabinet post.

Source: Fox News National

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“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.

Migrant families face no consequences if apprehended trying to cross the border illegally under present law, Border Patrol chief of Operations Brian Hastings claimed during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“We need a change in the current outdated laws that we’re dealing with for this current demographic and this crisis that we have,” he said.

Hastings said as of Thursday there have been 440,000 apprehensions along the southwest border. There were 396,000 apprehensions all of last year.

SOUTHERN BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’ AFTER MORE THAN 76,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TRIED CROSSING IN FEBRUARY, OFFICIALS SAY

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.

Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.

“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”

The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that has forced immigration officials to release entire families because “you don’t want to separate families.”

Recently, he said he is drafting legislation that would allow children to be detained for more than 20 days.

Hastings said agents are frustrated with the situation but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

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“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”

Source: Fox News National

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President Trump on Friday blasted liberal billionaire activist Tom Steyer for his continued push to impeach Trump — with Trump claiming Steyer is “trying to remain relevant” and doesn’t have the “guts” to run for the White House himself.

“Weirdo Tom Steyer, who didn’t have the ‘guts’ or money to run for President, is still trying to remain relevant by putting himself on ads begging for impeachment,” the president tweeted. “He doesn’t mention the fact that mine is perhaps the most successful first 2 year presidency in history & NO C OR O! [Collusion or Obstruction]”

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT BACKERS NOT GIVING UP AFTER MUELLER REPORT

Trump and his allies have pointed to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report’s conclusions that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and its decision not to make a conclusion on obstruction of justice as a vindication for the president.

But some Democrats and left-wing activists have pointed to the instances of possible obstruction of justice that the investigation looked into as proof of the need for more investigations or even impeachment proceedings.

ELIZABETH WARREN DOUBLES DOWN ON TRUMP IMPEACHMENT PUSH, SAYS IT’S ‘BIGGER THAN POLITICS’

Steyer has been one of the leaders backing a push to impeach Trump and founded “Need to Impeach” and has kept up that push since the report’s release. He announced on Thursday that he was calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to support impeachment proceedings.

On Friday he responded to Trump’s tweet, calling him “angry and scared.”

“I know you want it all to go away. But for the sake of the country you must face your transgressions. Rage away, but that anger doesn’t matter,” he said in a tweet. The truth and the people will prevail.”

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Impeachment hearings have been backed by a number of House Democrats, as well as 2020 presidential hopefuls Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. However, Pelosi has long been skeptical of impeachment proceedings against Trump.

“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi told The Washington Post in an interview last month. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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A Florida measure that would ban sanctuary cities is set for a vote Friday in the state’s Senate after clearing its first hurdle earlier this week.

The bill would effectively make it against the law for Florida’s police departments to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

“The Governor may initiate judicial proceedings in the name of the state against such officers to enforce compliance,” a draft version of the Senate bill reads.

A House version of the bill, which passed by a 69-47 vote Wednesday, adds that non-complying officials could be suspended or removed from office and face fines of up to $5,000 per day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign off on the measure, although it’s not clear which version.

FLORIDA MAY SEND A BIG MESSAGE TO SANCTUARY CITIES

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state.

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state. (AP)

LAWRENCE JONES: NEEDLES, DRUG USE AND HUMAN WASTE ARE THE NEW NORMAL IN SAN FRANCISCO

Florida is home to 775,000 illegal immigrants out of 10.7 million present in the United States, ranking the state third among all states.

Nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas — already have enacted state laws requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Florida doesn’t have sanctuary cities like the ones in California and other states. But Republican lawmakers say a handful of their municipalities — including Orlando and West Palm Beach – are acting as “pseudo-sanctuary” cities, because they prevent law enforcement officials from asking about immigration status when they make arrests.

“There are still people here in the state of Florida, police chiefs that are just refusing to contact ICE, refusing to detain somebody that they know is here illegally,” Florida Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia said earlier this month. “So while the actual county municipality doesn’t have an actual adopted policy, they still have people in power within their sheriff’s department or police department that refuse to do it anyway.”

Florida’s Democratic Party has blasted the anti-Sanctuary measures, while the Miami-Dade Police Department says it should be up to federal authorities to handle immigration-related matters.

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“House Republicans today sold out their communities to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis by passing this xenophobic and discriminatory bill,” the state’s Democratic Party said Wednesday after the House passed their version of the bill. “It’s abhorrent that Republican members who represent immigrant communities are now turning their backs on their constituents and jeopardizing their safety.

“Florida has long stood as a beacon for immigrant communities — and today Republicans did the best they could to destroy that reputation,” they added.

Fox News’ Elina Shirazi contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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The Amish population in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County is continuing to grow each year, despite the encroachment of urban sprawl on their communities.

The U.S. Census Bureau says the county added about 2,500 people in 2018. LNP reports that about 1,000 of them were Amish.

Elizabethtown College researchers say Lancaster County’s Amish population reached 33,143 in 2018, up 3.2% from the previous year.

The Amish accounted for about 41% of the county’s overall population growth last year.

Some experts are concerned that a planned 75-acre (30-hectare) housing and commercial project will make it more difficult for the county to accommodate the Amish.

Donald Kraybill, an authority on Amish culture, told Manheim Township commissioners this week that some in the community are worried about the development and the increased traffic it would bring.

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Information from: LNP, http://lancasteronline.com

Source: Fox News National

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