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Dems, Republicans Slam Nielsen on Resignation

Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen isn’t receiving well wishes from Democrats or Republicans following her sudden resignation.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., called Nielsen’s tenure a “disaster,” while Sen. Johnson, R-Wis., said the U.S. needs “steady, informed and effective leadership in the administration and in Congress to have any hope of fixing our control border security and immigration problems.”

Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J., said Nielsen should have resigned “after lying about children being ripped from their mothers and locked in cages.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said she wasn’t “sorry to see her go.”

“I only wish she’d been fired long ago, before she ever had a chance to resign,” she added.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter celebrated Nielsen’s resignation.

"Hallelujah! Secretary Nielsen has resigned!" Coulter tweeted. "Good news: Secretary Nielsen has resigned! Bad news: Trump considering Jorge Ramos as replacement," Coulter said in another, referring to Univision's Jorge Ramos, a Mexican-American journalist who has been highly critical of Trump's immigration policies.

Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke also criticized Nielsen, tweeting “No surprise here.  I said she was failing POTUS. She was never on board with @realDonaldTrump tough border stance. She never had answers to the crisis at the border. 'Can't' was her favorite lead word. Trump needs a 'can-do' Secretary."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized President Donald Trump for Nielsen's resignation. 

“When even the most radical voices in the administration aren’t radical enough for President Trump, you know he’s completely lost touch with the American people," he said in a statement. 

Source: NewsMax Politics

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In Cuba, Obama’s detente becomes history as Trump threatens

People pass by images depicting Venezuela's late president Chavez and late revolutionary hero
People pass by images depicting Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez (L), with words that read "The best friend of Cuba", and late revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in downtown Havana, Cuba, March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

March 14, 2019

By Marc Frank

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba has jettisoned rhetorical restraint toward the United States and is broadcasting footage of military defense exercises in the face of threats and new sanctions from the administration of President Donald Trump.

The island nation had turned the other cheek over the last two years in the face of Trump’s efforts to end a detente initiated by former President Barack Obama. Local experts said Havana was eager to salvage what it could of improved relations and not be blamed for their deterioration.

Not anymore, as the United States is increasingly blaming Cuba’s Communist government for the political crisis in its left-leaning ally Venezuela and piling new sanctions onto the decades-old trade embargo.

Every day last week, the nightly newscast of Cuban state television showed footage of Soviet-era tanks rolling out from mountain caves, soldiers manning anti-aircraft missile batteries, spandex-clad women shooting rifles and factory workers taking up positions around their plants.

Cuba has always insisted defense preparations are the best way to maintain the peace with the United States and state television described the images as training for “The War of the Whole People.”

Relations between Washington and Havana have nosedived since National Security Adviser John Bolton said in November the United States would no longer appease what he called Latin America’s `troika of tyranny` – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Few international observers believe the United states has any intention of attacking the Caribbean island, with which it has tense relations since Fidel Castro’s 1959 Revolution. Most view Havana’s military exercises as a way to rally nationalist sentiment.

“The message being sent is for the United States and Cuban population at home,” said Hal Klepak, a Canadian military historian who has written extensively on the Cuban armed forces.

Klepak said, however, the Cuban armed forces take a U.S. military threat against Venezuela very seriously and in worst case scenario planning can not discount a spill-over toward the island.

“Preparations of a very limited kind are being made and the population brought up to speed, both to emphasize the seriousness of the moment and to stiffen popular resolve,” he said.

CHANGE OF TONE

An abrupt change in Cuban rhetoric came last month when President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who replaced Raul Castro a year ago, denounced a speech by Trump as “high-handed, cynical, immoral, threatening, offensive, interfering, hypocritical, warlike and dirty.”

That has set the tone for official rhetoric since then.

In his Florida speech, Trump had launched a broad attack on socialism and pledged to free the hemisphere from communism. He branded Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro a “Cuban puppet” and “a man controlled by the Cuban military and protected by a private army of Cuban soldiers.“

Cuba has furnished tens of thousands of doctors, educators and other technical assistance including intelligence and military assistance to Venezuela’s socialist government since the time of Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, who forged close ties with Fidel Castro. Venezuela in turn has provided Cuba with heavily subsidized crude oil.

Since Trump’s speech, senior U.S. officials have denounced Cuba’s role in Venezuela on an almost daily basis, stirring an angry response in Havana.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo provoked a quick tweet from his Cuban peer, Bruno Rodriguez, on Monday.

“Sec. of State makes a fool of himself when saying ‘Cuba is true imperialist power in Vzla.’ His gov. plundered Vzla for 2 centuries … fabricated ‘self-proclaimed’ president,” Rodriguez said.

The United States led the way in recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela in January – a move followed by dozens of other nations.

The U.S. administration’s decision this month to partially implement Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, a 1996 law, has added fuel to the fire.

Title I and II codify all previous sanctions into law and set conditions that must be met for Congress to lift them.

But previous presidents, both Republican and Democrat, suspended Title III, which allows U.S. citizens, including Cuban-Americans, to sue anyone profiting from their nationalized or confiscated properties. The presidents stopped short because of opposition from foreign governments and fear thousands of lawsuits would clog U.S. courts.

The Trump administration will consider further implementation in April.

Now, not a day goes by without the official Cuban media denouncing the Trump administration and the Helms-Burton Act, which it charges was written by exiles out to reclaim their land and people’s homes and schools to boot.

The return to Cold War rhetoric and new sanctions has disappointed many Cubans for whom the detente had raised hopes the United States might soon lift its crippling embargo on the beleaguered economy and the two countries might normalize relations.

“When Obama was in the presidency, we dreamed of an opening that would make things work better, in a healthier, more pleasant way between the two countries,” said retiree Julia Porrata, who sells used books in the colonial sector of Havana.

“That hope we had is gone,” she said.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: OANN

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As Ruth Bader Ginsburg turns 86, hometown Brooklyn plans celebration for Supreme Court justice

The hometown of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hasn't forgotten her birthday. Brooklyn, N.Y., plans a celebration called #RallyforRuth on Friday, as Ginsburg turns 86 years old.

Eric Adams, president of the New York City borough, will host the party for Ginsburg, who was born Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn on March 15, 1933. It was unclear if the justice, known by her initials, "RBG," will attend.

Still, the festivities are set to begin at 8 a.m. at the Brooklyn Municipal Building and will include a call for the city to rename the building in her honor, Patch.com reported. An online petition has garnered more than 60,000 signatures, the report said.

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUST IN JUDICIAL, EXECUTIVE BRANCHES DROPS; RBG MOST POPULAR JUSTICE

The party follows a year that hasn't been the best for Ginsburg in terms of her health.

Last month, the justice underwent a pulmonary lobectomy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York after two nodules were discovered in the lower lobe of her left lung. The discovery came during tests after she fractured several ribs during a fall in November.

Both nodules removed during the lung surgery were found to be malignant, but pre-surgery scans indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body, the Supreme Court said in a statement. No further treatment was being planned.

Ginsburg's injury forced her to miss some Supreme Court sessions for the first time since being appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Her brief absence sparked speculation about whether the justice might look ahead to retirement -- potentially presenting President Trump with an opportunity to nominate a third Supreme Court justice after Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

The lead-up to Ginsburg's birthday was marred Thursday by an incident of vandalism: a poster of the justice was defaced with a swastika and an anti-Semitic insult and an expletive, according to the New York Police Department, which said it was investigating the act as a hate crime.

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A straphanger tweeted a photo of the defaced poster on a Brooklyn subway platform to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York's FOX 5 reported. The poster advertises a book about Ginsburg. Subway officials say the graffiti had been removed.

"There is no room for hate in NYC," the NYPD tweeted.

Ginsburg received her B.A. from Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School and received her LL.B. from Columbia Law School, according to her biography on the U.S. Supreme Court website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News National

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Swiss would prefer Islamic State fighters tried on site: minister

FILE PHOTO - Islamic State billboards are seen along a street in Raqqa
FILE PHOTO - Islamic State billboards are seen along a street in Raqqa, eastern Syria, which is controlled by the Islamic State, October 29, 2014. The billboard (R) reads: "We will win despite the global coalition". REUTERS/Nour Fourat/File Photo

February 19, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland would prefer to have citizens who fought for Islamic State tried on the spot rather than be brought home to face criminal charges, its justice minister said on Tuesday.

The remarks by Karin Keller-Sutter echo reluctance by other European countries to take back combatants whose fate has become more pressing as U.S.-backed fighters seek to capture the last enclave of Islamic State’s self-styled Caliphate in Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday European countries must do more to take them back or “we will be forced to release them”.

“For me, the priority remains the security of the Swiss population and the Swiss security forces.” Keller-Sutter told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “Can we endanger the Swiss to repatriate people who have left of their own free will to wage war in Syria and Iraq?”

“Is it possible to judge them on the spot? That’s what I would prefer,” she added.

“Gathering evidence (and) having a normal procedure on site is hard enough, so imagine Swiss courts suddenly having to judge what happened in Syria.”

Trump has pledged to pull U.S. forces from Syria after Islamic State’s looming territorial defeat, raising concerns in European capitals that jihadists from their countries could try to return home and pose a threat.

In its 2018 annual report, Switzerland’s intelligence service identified 93 cases of jihadi travelers who have left the country for war zones. Dozens of them have died and 16 had returned to Switzerland.

Of the jihadists it identified since 2001, 79 went to Syria and Iraq.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: OANN

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Wisconsin Man Admits Kidnapping Jayme Closs, 13, After Killing Her Parents

Jake Patterson pleaded guilty in a Wisconsin court on Wednesday to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and murdering her parents in a case that sparked a months-long search for the girl and ended with her escape and his arrest.

Patterson, 21, who told authorities that he randomly decided to abduct Closs after watching her board a school bus, tearfully responded "guilty" to the judge's reading of the charges of two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of James and Denise Closs and the kidnapping of Jayme, which will likely result in a life sentence.

"This is what he's wanted to do, he's been consistent with that from the time that we met," Patterson's attorney, Richard Jones, told Barron County Circuit Judge James Babler.

The judge scheduled Patterson's sentencing hearing for May 24.

Nearly two dozen of Closs' family members attended Wednesday's hearing. Patterson's father and sister were present, and both put their heads down and wept as the judge read the charges.

As sheriff's deputies escorted Patterson out of the courtroom, he turned to a news camera and said, "Bye, Jayme," to an audible groan from one of her family members.

Patterson admitted that on Oct. 15 he shot and killed the father through the front door of the family home in Barron, in Barron County, with a shotgun, killed his wife in a bathtub and duct-taped Jayme's mouth and stuffed her in the trunk of his car, according to police.

Patterson held Jayme hostage for 88 days in his rural cabin in Gordon in Douglas County, about 112 miles (180 km) northeast of Minneapolis, according to prosecutors. Patterson kept the girl locked in his room and barricaded her under his bed when he had guests, according to court documents.

Jayme's abduction and the murder of her parents terrified their small, close-knit community. Hundreds of police officers and thousands of volunteers searched for Jayme from October to January, when she escaped from Patterson's cabin.

As part of the plea deal, Patterson is not being charged in Douglas County, where he is accused of holding Jayme captive. As a result, details of the girl's ordeal in his home may never come to light.

In a letter he wrote from jail to a local television station earlier this month, Patterson said he planned to plead guilty to the charges and that he felt "huge amounts" of remorse.

Source: NewsMax America

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Swedish student who tried to stop man's deportation to Afghanistan is reportedly fined

The Swedish student who live-streamed her efforts to stop an Afghan asylum-seeker from being deported has reportedly been fined.

Elin Ersson, 21, was indicted in October by Swedish prosecutors for breaking aviation laws but was fined 3,000 Swedish krona, which translates to roughly $324 in U.S. currency, for her efforts, the BBC reported on Monday.

FLASHBACK: WOMAN REFUSES TO SIT DOWN ON FLIGHT IN EFFORT TO STOP MAN'S DEPORTATION TO AFGHANISTAN, DRAMATIC VIDEO SHOWS

In July, Ersson, a college student and volunteer with refugee groups, bought a ticket for a flight from Gothenburg to Turkey after finding out an Afghan man on the flight was being deported to Afghanistan.

While aboard the plane, she live-streamed herself refusing to take her seat until the Afghan man was removed from the flight, saying the man would most likely be killed in Afghanistan.

“I am doing what I can to save a person’s life. As long as a person is standing up the pilot cannot take off," she said. "All I want to do is stop the deportation and then I will comply with the rules here. This is all perfectly legal and I have not committed a crime."

An annoyed passenger tried to grab the phone from Ersson, saying she was upsetting others — to which the student replied: “It's not my fault that he's getting deported. I'm trying to stop this.”

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“I'm trying to change my country's rules. I don't like them. It's not right to send people to hell,” she added.

The Afghan man who was being deported, however, had received a prison sentence in Sweden for assault, and his asylum application was rejected. The man was eventually deported to Afghanistan.

Fox News' Lukas Mikelionis and Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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UK employers’ confidence in economy slides before Brexit: REC

Workers walk to work during the morning rush hour in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London
FILE PHOTO: Workers walk to work during the morning rush hour in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London, Britain, January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

February 27, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British employers’ confidence in the economy has fallen sharply ahead of Brexit, hammering hiring and investment intentions, an industry survey showed on Wednesday.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) gauge of confidence in the economy slid to -20 in the three months to January, the lowest reading since the survey started in mid-2016 and down from -14 in the previous report.

The survey adds to a raft of business surveys showing that businesses have put the brakes on investment plans ahead of Britain’s scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29.

Lawmakers in London have yet to approve a deal that would smooth Britain’s divorce with the EU, leaving open the prospect of a disorderly departure – although on Tuesday Prime Minister Theresa May offered lawmakers the chance to vote next month in favor of a delay.

“With employers’ confidence levels at a low point and hiring intentions for both permanent and temporary staff dropping in today’s survey, there can no longer be any argument: uncertainty is damaging for job creation,” REC chief executive Neil Carberry said.

By contrast, consumer confidence has held up relatively well, although a separate survey showed households are being hit with higher prices in shops.

The British Retail Consortium said shop prices rose at an annual pace of 0.7 percent in February, the highest inflation rate since March 2013 and following a 0.4 percent increase in January.

“While price rises over the last six months have been relatively modest, a no deal Brexit would have a much more immediate and dramatic effect,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.

A Citi/YouGov survey earlier this week showed expectations for consumer price inflation among Britain’s public hit a joint five-year high in February.

Although consumer price inflation hit two-year low in January, the Bank of England has said this mainly reflects a fall in the price of oil and that domestic price pressures are strengthening.

The REC jobs outlook surveyed 611 companies between Nov. 1 and Jan. 25.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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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.

___

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

Source: Fox News National

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