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The Latest: Buttigieg questions Pence support for Trump

The Latest on Democratic presidential candidates (all times local):

11:25 p.m.

Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (BOO'-tuh-juhj) says he and Vice President Mike Pence have different views of their Christian faith and that he doesn't understand Pence's loyalty to President Donald Trump.

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says his feeling "is that the Scripture is about protecting the stranger, the prisoner, the poor person, and that idea of welcome." That's what I get in the Gospel when I'm in church." He said Pence's view "has a lot more to do with sexuality, a certain view of rectitude."

Buttigieg says he is puzzled by Pence's strong support for the president.

He asks how Pence "could allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency?" and adds, "Is it that he stopped believing in Scripture, when he started believing in Donald Trump?"

Buttigieg made the comments at a CNN town hall Sunday night in Austin, Texas.

1:55 p.m.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he can't see running for U.S. Senate if his presidential bid fails.

The Democrat says Sunday that he's "not cut out" for the Senate. But Hickenlooper acknowledges he's spoken with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner faces re-election in 2020.

Another Colorado Democrat, Sen. Michael Bennet, is also considering a White House run. Hickenlooper says the last time he spoke with Bennet, the senator seemed to indicate that jumping in the race was likely.

Hickenlooper was the last in a pack of 2020 candidates to speak at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro also made appearances.

___

12:30 p.m.

Sen. Bernie Sanders says ideas he embraced four years ago that seemed "radical and extreme" are now helping define Democrats' presidential campaigns.

Said Sanders: "Virtually all of those ideas are supported by a majority of the American people, and they are being supported by Democratic candidates from school board to president of the United States."

He delivered his remarks to a packed a hotel conference center in Concord, New Hampshire. The crowd braved a snow storm to see the Vermont senator in his first visit to the state since announcing his 2020 run.

Sanders topped Hillary Clinton by 22 points in the state's 2016 primary, but he now faces a wider field of rivals.

He said: "This is where the political revolution took off. Thank you, New Hampshire."

___

11:30 a.m.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he's challenging the U.S. senators in the 2020 Democratic presidential field to abolish the filibuster in their chamber.

The presidential hopeful on Sunday began a second day of Democratic candidates dropping in on the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Inslee joined the race this month and is running a campaign that's almost singularly focused on climate change.

But Inslee says nothing will happen on the issue unless the Senate gets rid of the filibuster. That's a procedural tool that requires a supermajority of 60 votes out of 100 to pass many big items, rather than a simple majority.

Six Democratic senators are running for president. Inslee called on them to "get religion and realize that the filibuster" is stopping them on major policy.

___

10:35 a.m.

Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro isn't ruling out direct payments to African-Americans for the legacy of slavery — a stand separating him from his 2020 rivals.

The former housing secretary says, "If under the Constitution we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn't you compensate people who actually were property."

Other candidates are discussing tax credits and other subsidies, rather than direct payments for the labor and legal oppression of slaves and their descendants. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would put resources into distressed communities such as "Medicare for All" and tuition-free college.

Castro tells CNN's "State of the Union" he doesn't think that's the proper argument for reparations if "a big check needs to be written for a whole bunch of other stuff."

Source: Fox News National

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Washington’s debt farce


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On the roster: Washington’s debt farce - Poll finds Bernie blooming - Major support for Trump challenge in Iowa GOP - Pelosi pooh poohs impeachment: ‘He’s just not worth it’ - ‘Go big or go home’

WASHINGTON’S DEBT FARCE 
It’s a remarkable time for America.

If our economy keeps growing, we will break the record this summer for the longest period of growth in our history, 10 unbroken years of economic expansion.

We are at full employment, with essentially every American who wants a job able to find one. And workers are earning more. February saw the fastest wage growth in a decade, with private sector workers earning an average of $27.66 an hour. Poverty rates haven’t been this low since the late 1990s.

We are safer in our homes and lives than we’ve been in ages. Crime rates have plummeted in the past 25 years. Violent crime is down by almost half since 1993. Property crime rates have fallen by even more.

We are safe as nation, too. There are certainly long-term and strategic threats to the Pax Americana, but this is a remarkably peaceful moment in our recent history by any measure. Combat deaths, overall deployments and terror attacks are all at post-9/11 lows. 

So answer us this: If the federal government can’t get its fiscal house in order under such sublime circumstances, when do you suppose that it ever would?

We’ve got peace and prosperity enough to be the envy not just the whole world but of our own ancestors, and yet somehow our government continues to live dramatically beyond its means, borrowing about a quarter of the money it spends.

The White House today released a spending plan for the next decade that calls for adding another $10.5 trillion to our $22 trillion federal debt. And the administration’s debt forecast is wildly optimistic, assuming as it does not just another decade of uninterrupted growth but growth at booming levels.

It’s quite a lot of chutzpah for this White House to even talk about balanced budgets, but it gets into out-and-out farce to have government economists talking about doing so in the year 2034.

We just need another 14 years of peace and a booming economy and then we’ll quit spending more than we have. Oh yeah, and we’ll totally find the political will to cut entitlements and domestic spending along the way. Just not now.

Cool, cool.

This administration should be credited at least for following the law that requires presidents to submit budgets, something the Obama administration abandoned rather than having to produce politically damaging laughers like this one.

Of course it's Congress that’s actually tasked with minding the books and setting spending priorities, and there you’ll find an equally unserious attitude about fiscal matters. As their party veers toward confiscatory tax policy to finance astonishingly large new spending programs, now is hardly the time that mainstream Democrats want to get caught talking about restraint.  

House Democrats today denounced the Trump budget blueprint for being too miserly while Senate Republicans mostly just ignored the matter. They know, as we all do now, that there will be no serious effort to address sending. 

Congress will just wait until the end of September when the current spending legislation and borrowing authority will expire. Another shutdown. Another bloated deficit. Another year of budgetary drift.

Every serious person in politics and government knows what the consequences will be and that there will be a moment when the interest payments on our swollen debt mean disaster, likely in the form of massive tax increases and, eventually, default. But they will mortgage the futures of the next three generations anyway because there’s no political gain in being a good steward.  
 
When we are judged for our failings in this era of political disruption and realignment, high on the list will be the fact that while we were obsessing over the manufactured outrages of the moment we wasted a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put our finances in order.

The next era of real crisis and recession – and it will surely come – will make for a hard lesson about the foolishness of our current political class. 

THE RULEBOOK: CRASH, BOOM, BANG 
“The public debt of the Union would be a further cause of collision between the separate States or confederacies.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 7

TIME OUT: THEY’LL MAKE A KILLING
Smithsonian: “The spot where Julius Caesar was murdered by members of the Roman Senate is one of the most infamous sites in world history. As a tourist spot, however, it’s infamous in a different way: The ruins in the Largo di Torre Argentina, where dozens of stray cats now call home, are currently crumbling and fenced off from the public. But that's set to change. Julia Buckley at Conde Nast Traveler reports the area will soon undergo renovations before opening to the public in 2021. Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, announced that the restoration is being funded by the fashion house Bulgari, which will drop about $1.1 million on the project, funding earmarked to go toward cleaning up and securing the ruins, building walkways through the site and installing public restrooms, TheLocal.it reports. Though the spot of Caesar’s murder was immortalized by ancient historians and, later, William Shakespeare, it was actually covered over by the expanding city of Rome and lost to history until the 1920s.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.4 percent
Average disapproval: 53.2 percent
Net Score: -10.8 points
Change from one week ago: down 0.6 points 
[Average includes: Monmouth University: 44% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 55% disapprove; Gallup: 43% approve - 54% unapproved; IBD: 41% approve - 53% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 46% approve - 52% disapprove.]

POLL FINDS BERNIE BLOOMING    
Monmouth University: “Among a possible field of 23 announced and potential contenders, former Vice President Joe Biden currently has the support of 28% of Democratic voters (similar to his 29% support in January), closely followed by Vermont’s [Bernie] Sanders at 25% (up from 16% in January). Other candidate support remains largely unchanged from January, including California Sen. Kamala Harris (10%), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (8%), former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke (6%), New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (5%), and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (3%).”

Big gains in Iowa, too - Des Moines Register: “According to a new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll of likely Democratic caucusgoers, 27 percent say [former Vice President Joe Biden] is their first choice for president. That’s down slightly from the 32 percent who said the same in December, but it tops the 19 other declared and potential candidates tested. Biden has a 2-percentage-point advantage over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. … According to the poll, 25 percent now say Sanders is their first choice for president — up 6 percentage points since December. Right now, the contest in Iowa could be characterized as a two-person race. The next-closest challenger, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, trails Sanders by 16 percentage points.  Support has ticked up slightly for Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris is in fourth place. Warren is now at 9 percent, up from 8 percent, and Harris is at 7 percent, up from 5 percent.”

Taps into voters outrage - WaPo: “Sanders bested Clinton by 22 points in the Granite State three years ago. Eleven months is an eternity in politics, especially during the fast-paced Trump era. A lot can — and will — change between now and next February. The 77-year-old benefits from high name recognition, but he cannot count on supporters staying loyal as fresher faces file through town. Bernie’s inroads with folks who didn’t support him in 2016, however, suggest that he has a genuine opportunity to broaden his appeal and credibly compete for the nomination despite persisting resistance from the party establishment. … Something working to Sanders’s advantage right now is how many liberal activists — emboldened by the party’s success in the midterms and the president’s low approval rating — believe that basically any of their candidates could beat Trump next year.”

Stacey Abrams gives muddled answer on 2020 run - Politico: “Democrat Stacey Abrams … referred to a quote from her book where she said she keeps a spreadsheet to document her goals. ‘In the spreadsheet with all the jobs I wanted to do, 2028 would be the earliest I would be ready to stand for president because I would have done the work I thought necessary to be effective in that job,’ Abrams said. After the interview, Abrams insisted in a tweet that the comment did not mean she has ruled out running for president next year. ‘In #LeadFromTheOutside, I explore how to be intentional about plans, but flexible enough to adapt. 20 years ago, I never thought I’d be ready to run for POTUS before 2028. But life comes at you fast,’ Abrams tweeted. ‘2020 is definitely on the table...’”

Dems: Hello, Wisconsin - AP: “Democrats selected Milwaukee to host their 2020 national convention Monday, setting up the party’s 2020 standard-bearer to accept the presidential nomination in the heart of the old industrial belt that delivered Donald Trump to the White House. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez chose Milwaukee over Houston and Miami after deliberations lingered longer than party leaders or officials from the three finalist cities had expected. The convention is scheduled for July 13-16, 2020. It will be the first time in over a century that Democrats will be in a Midwest city other than Chicago to nominate their presidential candidate. Instead, the political spotlight will shine for a week on a metro area of about 1.6 million people. Once dubbed as ‘The Machine Shop of the World,’ the famously working-class city also is known for its long love affair with beer and as the birthplace of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.”

Gillibrand in hot water over handling of office harassment claim - Politico: “Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), one of the most outspoken advocates of the #MeToo movement who has made fighting sexual misconduct a centerpiece of her presidential campaign… [During the summer], a mid-20s female aide to Gillibrand resigned in protest over the handling of her sexual harassment complaint by Gillibrand‘s office, and criticized the senator for failing to abide by her own public standards. … Less than three weeks after reporting the alleged harassment and subsequently claiming that the man retaliated against her for doing so, the woman told chief of staff Jess Fassler that she was resigning because of the office’s handling of the matter. … ‘I trusted and leaned on this statement that you made: ‘You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is O.K. None of it is acceptable.’ Your office chose to go against your public belief that women shouldn’t accept sexual harassment in any form and portrayed my experience as a misinterpretation instead of what it actually was: harassment and ultimately, intimidation,’ the woman wrote.”

Castro: Bernie likes big checks for everything but reparations - Politico: “Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro is skeptical about how fellow candidate Bernie Sanders has responded to proposed reparations for descendants of slaves. The former Housing and Urban Development secretary and San Antonio mayor has joined several of his fellow 2020 Democratic contenders in calling for reparations for the descendants of slaves — whether in the form of tax credits, subsidized education costs or something else entirely. … ‘And so, if the issue is compensating the descendants of slaves, I don’t think the argument about writing a big check ought to be the argument that you make, if you’re making an argument that a big check needs to be written for a whole bunch of other stuff,’ Castro said. ‘So, if, under the Constitution, we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn't you compensate people who actually were property?’”

Republicans try to bushwhack Beto in Iowa - Politico: “A prominent conservative group is thrusting itself into the Democratic primary with a TV ad assailing Beto O’Rourke — a move that comes as Republicans consider a broader campaign to meddle in the opposing party's contest to take on President Donald Trump. The anti-tax Club for Growth is expected to begin airing a two-minute commercial in Iowa this week aimed at dampening liberal support for O’Rourke, who's expected to enter the race any day. The spot paints the former Texas congressman as a politician dripping with ‘white male privilege’ who's undeserving of the comparisons he's drawing to Barack Obama. … The offensive represents the GOP’s first concerted effort to wreak havoc in the Democratic race, and it arrives as senior Republicans have begun deliberating how the party should seek to influence the Democratic primary.”

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR TRUMP CHALLENGE IN IOWA GOP 
Des Moines Register: “Most registered Republicans think President Donald Trump is doing a good job, but they are split over whether another GOP candidate should challenge him for their party’s nomination in 2020, a new Iowa Poll shows. The Iowa Poll, sponsored by the Des Moines Register, CNN and Mediacom, also finds 90 percent of registered Republicans want Trump to run a positive re-election campaign, focusing on the good things he’s done for the country. … Eighty-one percent approve of the job he is doing as president. That’s the same level of approval as in a December 2018 Iowa Poll. Just 12 percent of Iowa Republicans disapprove of the job he’s doing, and 7 percent are unsure. … The new Iowa Poll shows registered Republicans in the state are split on hoping for a challenger: 40 percent hope there will be one, and 41 percent hope there won't. Nineteen percent are unsure.”

Trump’s campaign aims to be a behemoth - WaPo: “President Trump and his advisers are launching a behemoth 2020 campaign operation combining his raw populist message from 2016 with a massive data-gathering and get-out-the-vote push aimed at dwarfing any previous presidential reelection effort… The president’s strategy, however, relies on a risky and relatively narrow path for victory, hinged on demonizing Trump’s eventual opponent and juicing turnout among his most avid supporters in Florida, Pennsylvania and the Upper Midwest — the same areas that won him the White House but where his popularity has waned since he was elected. Some advisers are particularly concerned about the president’s persistent unpopularity among female and suburban voters, and fear it will be difficult to replicate the outcome of 2016 without former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a foil.”

PELOSI POOH POOHS IMPEACHMENT: ‘HE’S JUST NOT WORTH IT’ 
Fox News: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., revealed she's opposed to the impeachment of President Donald Trump in the absence of evidence that is ‘compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan.’ ‘I’m not for impeachment,’ Pelosi told The Washington Post in an interview published Monday. ‘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.’ The speaker's remarks ran counter to sentiments expressed by some freshman members of her caucus, most notably Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who vowed to Democratic activists that she would help ‘impeach the motherf---er’ hours after she was sworn in this past January.”

House Dems push for Mueller report - Roll Call: “House Democrats intend to send a message this week that the full report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should be sent to Capitol Hill and released. So for the second week in a row, a nonbinding resolution will be among the headliners on the House floor. The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Monday evening on the concurrent resolution introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York, with the backing of other Democratic chairmen. The Nadler resolution ‘calls for the public release of any report special counsel Mueller provides to the attorney general, except to the extent the public disclosure of any portion thereof is expressly prohibited by law.’ Unlike former Attorney General Jeff SessionsWilliam P. Barr, his replacement, is not recused from the Mueller probe… The resolution would also express the sense of Congress that the entire report should be transmitted to members of Congress.”

Dem 2020 hopefuls sweat the Mueller moment - New York Magazine: “By now you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Robert Mueller almost never comes up on the 2020 campaign trail. … Many of the campaign teams have, at some point in recent months, sat down to discuss what exactly they should do or say when the report drops, but each has also run up against a seemingly insurmountable problem: There’s very little telling what’s in it, and no lean and overstretched campaign staff is realistically going to be able to draw up useful road maps for so many different scenarios. … The result is a partial paralysis for some campaigns: More than one candidate’s advisers said they’re holding off on scheduling major speeches, newsmaking announcements, or TV town halls until after the initial Mueller dust has eventually settled, concerned that their news will be completely overwhelmed if they inadvertently schedule something for the day the report is eventually filed, or revealed.”

AUDIBLE: SPOON + FORK = SPORK
“At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words.” – President Trump said in a tweet Monday morning. Tim Cook found humor in the situation, changing his Twitter name to Tim Apple, with the Apple logo. 

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

‘GO BIG OR GO HOME’
UPI: “A New Jersey man is fielding a flood of calls and text messages after his sons took out a billboard asking people to send him birthday greetings. Chris Ferry said he woke early one morning at his Linwood home to phone calls from birthday well-wishers who told him they had seen a billboard bearing his photo and phone number, with a message asking viewers to wish him a happy birthday. Ferry, who turns 62 March 16, said he knew his sons were behind the prank even before he knew they had signed the billboard. … He said some people just want to give him a quick birthday greeting, but others engage him in conversation. … Ferry's son, Christopher Ferry Jr., said he and his brother, who both live in Florida, wanted to make their dad's birthday special. ‘We wanted it to be a birthday for him to remember,’ he said. ‘Yeah, there was a little piece of me that was scared at first, putting his phone number out there, but we thought to ourselves ‘go big or go home.’’”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“…I offer the Krauthammer Conjecture: In sports, the pleasure of winning is less than the pain of losing. By any Benthamite pleasure/pain calculation, the sum is less than zero. A net negative of suffering. Which makes you wonder why anybody plays at all.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on June 29, 2017.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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House Committee Seeks Trump Tax Returns from IRS

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has asked the Internal Revenue Service to provide six years of President Donald Trump's personal and business tax returns.

"We have completed the necessary groundwork for a request of this magnitude and I am certain we are within our legitimate legislative, legal, and oversight rights," Neal said in a statement on Wednesday announcing the request.

Neal, who is the only House of Representatives member authorized by law to request Trump's returns, has been under pressure to act from some Democratic lawmakers and outside groups.

U.S. Treasury officials were not immediately available for comment.

Trump defied decades of precedent as a presidential candidate by refusing to release the tax documents and has continued to keep them under wraps as president, saying his returns were under audit by the IRS.

Democrats hope that obtaining the returns will allow them to identify any conflicts of interest posed by Trump’s global business empire.

Republicans oppose the effort, saying such a move would set a dangerous precedent by turning the confidential tax documents of a U.S. citizen into a political weapon.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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China Aiding Weapons Upgrades on Pakistani Jets

The JF-17 Thunder, jointly developed by Pakistan and China, is getting some new upgrades that will make the tactical aircraft all the deadlier.

The news comes amid claims by Islamabad that it was a JF-17 that India shot down last month, not a US-made F-16, as well as a successful smart missile test by the Pakistan Air Force using the jet.

“All related work is being carried out,” on the JF-17 Block 3 upgrades, Yang Wei, a Chinese legislator who is also the jet’s chief designer, said at a press conference last Friday. The upgrades will includes an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar as well as a new helmet-mounted display and sight system for the pilot, enabling them to aim by looking around, Beijing-base military analyst Wei Dongxu told the Global Times on Monday.

The addition of AESA gives Pakistan the ability to compete with India’s new domestically produced Tejas MK-1, which also sports the advanced radar, Sputnik reported. With AESA, the JF-17 can scan the skies as well as the ground for many targets at once and at many frequencies, whereas more traditional pulse-doppler radars have to be pointed and can only scan at a single frequency, making them much easier to jam.


Huawei is being used by China to spy on America even prompting the Pentagon to remove all products that the military may be using.

The plane will also get computer and communications upgrades that will enable pilots share information quickly — what Wei called “informatized warfare.”

Wei told the Global Times the radar addition makes the plane more than a match for the F-16, which Pakistan also uses. The newest F-16 variant, the F-16V “Viper,” also sports AESA radar, Sputnik reported.

Since the new Thunders use basically the same airframe as the previous model, Wei said there won’t be any delays in manufacturing, and the additions can be fitted quickly to the new jets.

First introduced in 2007, the JF-17 Thunder is also called the CAC FC-1 Xiaolong, or “Fierce Dragon,” as it was jointly produced by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China.

(Photo by DVIDSHUB | Flickr)

The fifth-generation multi-role attack jet has been floated as a competitor to others such as India’s Tejas F-1, South Korea’s FA-50 and the United States’ F-16; the Global Times noted the Malaysian Royal Air Force is presently weighing precisely those options. The blog The Aviationist noted that at between $25 and $32 million each, the advanced JF-17 can compete with the F-35 as an export model, too, and being produced in far greater numbers makes it all the deadlier.

Also on Wednesday, the Pakistan Air Force announced that a JF-17 had successfully test-fired an indigenously developed smart missile, Sputnik reported, saying a “successful trial has provided JF-17 Thunder a very potent and assured day and night capability to engage a variety of targets with pinpoint accuracy.”

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Iran and the United Arab Emirates, told Sputnik for a Wednesday article that it had been a JF-17, and not a US-made F-16, that the Indian Air Force shot down late last month near the Line of Control that separates the Indian-controlled and Pakistani-controlled parts of the contested Jammu and Kashmir province. Under the terms of its agreement with Washington, Pakistan can only use the F-16s it purchased for strikes against terrorist forces and not in engagements with India’s military.


Tucker Carlson laid waste to Media Matters in his opening monologue about their targeting of him and other conservatives.

Source: InfoWars

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Japan Grounds F-35 Fleet After Fighter Jet Disappears in Mid-Air – Reports

Japan has 13 operational F-35s, with nearly 150 more on order. The planes are based with the 302nd Squadron at the Misawa Air Base in Aomori, northern Japan.

A Japan Air Self-Defence Force spokesman has confirmed to Sputnik that one of its F-35s has gone missing with one pilot said to be on board. “It disappeared from radars,” the spokesman said, adding that a search for the plane is underway.

Earlier, Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported that an air force F-35A disappeared from radar screens during a routine training flight.

According to the military, ground control lost contact with the plane at around 7:27 pm on Tuesday, about 135 km northeast of Misawa city, during training. The plane is believed to have one pilot onboard.

Over a dozen Maritime Self-Defence Force patrol aircraft and escort vessels are engaged in a search operation, NHK said, with the local Coast Guard also deploying two patrol vessels to help in the search.

Ten F-35As were delivered to the Misawa Air Base last year.


Alex Jones discusses the possible future where all transportation is automated.

All JASDF F-35As Grounded

Later Tuesday, Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that the air force would suspend flights of its remaining F-35As for the time being following the plane’s disappearance, Kyodo has reported.

Tokyo ordered a total of 42 F-35As in late 2011, with the existing order updated to include 63 more F-35As and 42 F-35Bs by late 2018, with Japan becoming the second-largest buyer of Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation stealth fighter.

Last September, the US military grounded its entire fleet of F-35s in the wake of a Marine Corps F-35 crash in South Carolina. That incident followed reports in late 2017 that a US F-35 deployed in Okinawa, Japan lost part of its fuselage in mid-air during a routine training mission.

The F-35 program is one of the most expensive defense projects in history, with a projected total cost of $1.5 trillion over its 55-year lifespan.
In addition to cost (currently ranging from $89.2-$115.5 million apiece), the plane has been criticized for a plethora of glitches and design flaws which continue to plague it over four years after its introduction with the US military in 2015. Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan has reportedly described the plane as “f***ed up,” with President Donald Trump repeatedly criticizing it as an example of Pentagon waste on the campaign trail.

Last month, a US defense spending watchdog complained that the new F-35s for the US Navy were nowhere near operational status, emphasizing that the plane was “not ready to face current or future threats” and could put US military personnel’s lives at risk.


Owen reveals the best strategy for the White House.

Source: InfoWars

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Previously Deported MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced To Prison For Reentering U.S.

A judge sentenced a previously deported MS-13 gang member from El Salvador to one year in prison for illegally re-entering the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady handed Fily Giovany Amaya-Martinez the sentence Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Amaya-Martinez, a 36-year-old known member of MS-13, was deported from the U.S. in 2003 after authorities convicted him of an aggravated felony near Washington, D.C. However, he returned to the U.S. in 2009 after being charged with several murders in his home country of El Salvador.

Amaya-Martinez was able to live illegally in the U.S., undetected, for nearly a decade until an anti-gang task force discovered him in 2018.

“Amaya-Martinez fled justice in his home country and defied the laws of this country when he illegally reentered,” said Lyle Boelens, the acting field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations in Washington, D.C. “Today’s sentencing answers his defiance. We stand with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in resolute commitment to continue to ensure that our communities are safe from dangerous criminals.”

The chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) hailed the case as an example for the need of strong immigration enforcement.

“After allegedly committing multiple murders in El Salvador, this violent MS-13 gang member fled El Salvador and illegally crossed our southern border to get back into the United States,” stated EDVA U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger.

“This case is a prime example of our need for strong borders and why this office continues to prioritize criminal immigration cases. My thanks to the dedicated anti-gang task force agents for their outstanding work on this important case, and for removing this dangerous felon from our community,” Terwilliger continued.

Amaya-Martinez’s sentencing comes as the Trump administration continues to clash with congressional Democrats over immigration and border enforcement.

The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, a five-member board that controls the House of Representatives’ general counsel, voted 3-2 along party lines Thursday to initiate a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border. Democrats, with the help of some GOP support, had previously passed a resolution that condemned his border emergency. However, Trump vetoed the resolution and lawmakers were not able to override it.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has also asked Congress to pass a series of measures to alleviate the immigration situation, but with Democrats controlling the House, these requests are not expected to be met.


Alex Jones and callers discuss how Texas Governor Greg Abbott must be ready to take action and defend the southern border, with or without permission from the federal government or President Trump.

Source: InfoWars

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Opponents of Alaska drilling say it threatens climate, wildlife

Activists attend a protest against the legislation that would open Wilderness in Alaska to oil drilling on Capitol Hill in Washington
Activists attend a protest against the legislation that would open Wilderness in Alaska to oil drilling on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

April 5, 2019

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Opponents of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are lining up in Alaska and in Washington, calling the White House’s efforts to open up the land “ecologically unsound.”

Those against oil development in the ANWR coastal plain say the territory deserves protection from oil rigs, pipelines and roads that crisscross the rest of Alaska’s North Slope. ANWR had been off-limits to drilling for more than four decades before a Republican-passed tax bill in 2017.

The Trump administration has said it wants to hold a lease sale by year-end, which would meet the administration’s aim of speeding up environmental review before drilling.

    Drilling opponents spoke at a March 25 hearing before the Democratic-led U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

    The opponents include Alaska Natives, environmentalists and scientists who say the varied terrain is a poor fit for industrial travel on ice roads needed for development, and that the refuge has taken on increased importance due to sea ice loss that has caused polar bears to migrate inland.

“We believe such development is ecologically unsound and cannot be accomplished while also harboring the original purposes for which the Arctic Refuge was established and is still managed today,” a group of more than 300 scientists and resource managers wrote in a March 7 letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the agency in charge of ANWR leasing.

    The Trump administration has made energy dominance a key plank of economic development and foreign policy influence. U.S. oil production has surpassed 12 million barrels of oil a day, making it the world’s biggest crude producer.

Alaska’s production has dwindled to about 500,000 bpd from a peak of 2 million bpd in 1988. Industry interest in ANWR is unclear; it has been tested only once for the potential to extract fossil fuels.

    The area is important for wildlife, most notably as the calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which roams northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada. Canadian governments and tribes oppose ANWR development in large part because of threats to the herd, the subject of a 1987 U.S.-Canada treaty.

“If you drill in this sacred place it will destroy the caribou and therefore destroy the Gwich’in,” Dana Tizya-Tramm, chief of the Vuntut Gwitch’in First Nation in Canada’s Yukon Territory, told the House committee. Gwich’in Athabascans live along the Alaska-Canada border, and their culture is tied to the caribou.

    However, the Inupiat of the North Slope, another indigenous group, supports ANWR development. The tax base from development is needed for “running water, reliable power, local education and improved health care,” said Richard Glenn, vice president of the Inupiat-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corp, at the House hearing.

The U.S. Department of the Interior came under fire for continuing to plan for ANWR meetings during the government shutdown in January – an example, opponents say, of the White House rushing the process.

    Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a longtime proponent of ANWR drilling, told Reuters she does not think the process is being rushed.

“We have a lot of process to go through,” she said. “We’ve got a ways to go and some time to do it, and I think we’ll do it right.”

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, Alaska; additional reporting by David Gaffen; editing by xxx)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., threatened possible jail time for White House officials refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly, a member of the House panel, made his comments during an interview on CNN on Thursday. He said that “if a subpoena is issued and you’re told you must testify, we will back that up.”

He added: “And we will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.”

“We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.”

His comments came after three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify, CNN noted.

Trump told The Washington Post that his staff should not testify on Capitol Hill, explaining that the White House cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller and “there is no reason to go any further, especially in Congress where it’s very partisan.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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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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