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V.P. Mike Pence Calls for Europe to Leave Iran Nuclear Deal, Support Guaido

V.P. Mike Pence Calls for Europe to Leave Iran Nuclear Deal, Support Guaido

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:24 AM PT — Sat. Feb. 16, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence urges the European Union to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal.

On Saturday, Pence delivered a speech to world leaders at the Munich Security Conference, calling for European countries to join the U.S. in pressuring the Iranian regime to give the people the peace and freedom they deserve.

United States Vice President Mike Pence delivers his speech during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

He also warned of the threat posed by telecoms equipment supplied by Chinese provider Huawei.

Pence also addressed a terrorism issue and said the U.S. will continue fighting the Islamic State.

Additionally, Pence asked the leaders in the room to support Venezuela in its struggle for democracy and recognize Juan Guaido as the only legitimate President of Venezuela.

Source: OANN Top News

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Open that door? Netflix explores choose-your-own horror, romance

FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is seen on their office in Hollywood, Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is seen on their office in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

March 20, 2019

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Netflix Inc experiment that began with viewers picking a movie character’s breakfast cereal may expand to letting the audience choose the best on-screen date or the safest path to escape an ax murderer.

The world’s largest streaming service wants to try out more interactive entertainment following the response to science-fiction movie “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” executives told reporters this week.

The company is looking for possibilities across genres such as comedy, horror and romance, said Todd Yellin, Netflix’s vice president of product.

“Why can’t you have a romantic title where you get to choose who she goes out with?” Yellin said. “Or horror titles. Should you walk through that door, or should you dive out that window and get the heck out of there? You can make the choice.”

In “Bandersnatch,” the first decision viewers could make was whether a character would eat Sugar Puffs or Frosties for breakfast.

The idea was to give audiences a simple choice to encourage them to test the technology, which involved clicking via a remote or tapping on the screen to select an option. The movie kept playing even if the viewer did not choose.

The cereal scene became an Internet sensation when “Bandersnatch” was released last December.

“Like many of you, I got addicted to ‘Bandersnatch’ and trying to figure out what’s the significance of the cereal, and not the cereal, all the different options,” Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said.

The film provided feedback about how long people want to engage with interactive programming and how many choices they want to make, Hastings said. After the cereal decision, viewers selected things such as the type of music a character would play or whether they would jump off a building.

When viewers can direct a story, they feel “really with the character,” Yellin said. “You are more viscerally feeling what they are feeling. You just made the choice for them.”

That is why Yellin wants to try the format in other stories where characters face immense consequences. “Horror is life and death situations constantly,” he said. And in romances, “the emotional stakes are high.”

Yellin said the effort is in its early stages, and Hastings suggested he does not see interactive entertainment replacing traditional storytelling.

“I don’t know if I would do it every day,” Hastings said, “but as part of my viewing, it’s pretty exciting.”

Netflix already has produced a handful of interactive shows for kids, who were immediately receptive to the idea, Yellin said.

“Kids don’t have established rules,” he said. “They assume that’s the way the world should be and they’ll try it.”

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Thai opposition party undeterred after ally’s failed princess bid

Supporters of Pheu Thai Party attend the election campaign in Bangkok
Supporters of Pheu Thai Party attend the election campaign in Bangkok, Thailand February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

February 18, 2019

By Panu Wongcha-um

UBON RATCHATHANI, Thailand (Reuters) – Leaders of Thailand’s biggest opposition party campaigning on Monday never mentioned ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose policies they espouse, nor the princess whose shock candidacy could see its ally banned from the March 24 election.

They didn’t need to. Supporters in the northeastern stronghold of the Pheu Thai party are well aware of the complexities of the first general election since a 2014 coup – and are determined to return their party to power despite electoral rules limiting their voting power.

“How long have you all waited, how long have you all suffered?” asked Sudarat Keyuraphan, Pheu Thai’s top prime ministerial candidate, asked supporters during a campaign stop in Ubon Ratchathani province.

“We all have to wait just a little while, until March 24. That day will be a day of victory for all of us!” she told the cheering crowd.

Pheu Thai is the largest of several parties in the election linked to ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in self-exile after a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated.

The party and its offshoots retain support among rural farmers and the poor for their social welfare programs, but they face an uphill battle in the election, with new rules that prevent any one party gaining a big majority.

Junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army chief in 2014 ousted the last civilian government, is also running, as the prime ministerial candidate of a new pro-military party.

Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election since 2001, but after Thaksin was ousted their successive governments have been ended either by court rulings or coups, with the most recent military takeover ousting a Pheu Thai government that Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck, had led.

After nearly five years in power, the junta is in the process of choosing all 250 members of the Senate, which will elect a prime minister along with the 500-seat House of Representatives, putting pro-military forces at a significant advantage even before election.

Supporters of Pheu Thai say the new rules are aimed at ridding the country of Thaksin’s influence once and for all. The party has to distance itself from the former telecommunications tycoon because the law on political parties forbids outsiders from controlling or directing them.

But Thaksin’s loyalists in Udon Ratchathani were undeterred.

“I think Pheu Thai will win by a landslide, despite what’s happened, and regardless of the military-appointed Senate,” said Kriangsak Lamun, 64.

Mathematically, however, Pheu Thai’s chances of regaining power would be reduced even if it is the top vote-getter if one of its allied parties, Thai Raksa Chart, is disqualified.

‘AS POPULAR AS EVER’

Thai Raksa Chart stunned the nation and electrified supporters on Feb. 8 with the surprise nomination of the king’s older sister, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, as its sole prime ministerial candidate, breaking tradition of royalty shunning politics.

The nomination drew a swift rebuke from King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and the princess was disqualified by the Electoral Commission. Now, her nominating party faces a possible ban in a Constitutional Court decision due later this month.

Thai Raksa Chart is one of at least three pro-Thaksin parties contesting the elections to help scoop up seats under the complex electoral laws that limit the impact of the largest party.

With Pheu Thai likely to be hamstrung by those rules, other pro-Thaksin parties such as Thai Raksa Chart and the Pheu Chart party are intended to gain some of the proportionally awarded seats that favor smaller parties.

If Thai Raksa Chart is disqualified, that safety net may disappear – making the headline-grabbing nomination of the princess seem like a miscalculation.

Die-hard supporters of Thaksin’s populist policies were mixed in their opinions about Thai Raksa Chart’s recruiting royalty, revered as semi-divine in Thai culture, into politics.

Some said they admired the princess as a candidate, while others found it inappropriate.

“I don’t think it was a good move … Royals should not get involved in politics,” said Virat Laddabut, 55, though he said he wouldn’t change his vote.

Another voter, Somchai Wongsa, said voters in the rural northeast would vote for pro-Thaksin parties whatever their name.

“It doesn’t matter if Thai Raksa Chart is dissolved,” he said.

“People here will still vote Pheu Thai. The party is as popular as ever.”

(Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Daughter arraigned in death of family members

The Latest on a mother and daughter charged in the deaths of five relatives in suburban Philadelphia (all times local):

3 p.m.

The adult daughter of a Pennsylvania woman charged with homicide in the deaths of five family members has appeared in court to answer the same charges.

Court papers show that 19-year-old Dominique Decree was arraigned Tuesday in the deaths of five of her relatives, including three children.

Authorities says Decree and her mother, Shana Decree, killed their family members, though why is still not clear. Authorities have also not said how the victims died.

It's unclear whether either woman has an attorney who can speak on her behalf.

The slayings at a Philadelphia-area apartment are being investigated by the Bucks County district attorney's office.

___

1:10 p.m.

Pennsylvania authorities say they're no closer to determining a motive for a set of slayings that left five family members dead and a mother and daughter facing homicide charges.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said Tuesday at a news conference that 19-year-old Dominique Decree is expected to be arraigned soon. Her mother, 45-year-old Shana Decree, was arraigned earlier Tuesday.

Authorities found Shana Decree's 25-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son dead Monday alongside her sister Jamilla Campbell and Campbell's twin 9-year-old daughters in the small Morrisville apartment they shared.

How they died isn't clear. It also isn't clear whether the mother and daughter yet have lawyers to speak for them.

___

12:30 p.m.

Police say the teenage son of a woman found dead alongside four relatives in a Pennsylvania home was with friends in New Jersey.

Morrisville Borough Police Chief George McClay said Tuesday that Jamilla Campbell's 17-year-old son, Joshua, was found staying with friends in Willingboro, New Jersey.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub has stressed that the teen isn't a suspect in the slayings and that officials wanted to be sure he was safe.

Campbell was found dead alongside her twin 9-year-old daughters, her 13-year-old nephew and 25-year-old niece.

Campbell's sister Shana Decree and niece Dominique Decree face homicide charges. Police have not released a motive or said how the victims died.

___

10:30 a.m.

A mother and daughter charged with homicide in the deaths of five relatives, including three children, have told police that one of the victims helped with the killings.

Police in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, say Shana Decree and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique Decree, were found in the apartment Monday acting disoriented. They were taken to the hospital where they were treated and interviewed by police.

An affidavit describing the charges says both women changed their stories while talking to police. It says they first described one to three unknown men committing the killings, before telling police they had killed several of the family members.

The documents say Shana Decree told police that everyone "wanted to die." The women claimed 42-year-old Jamilla Campbell killed at least one of the children before she herself was choked to death.

___

7:30 a.m.

Authorities say a Pennsylvania woman charged along with her teenage daughter in the deaths of five relatives, including three children, has been arraigned on murder charges.

The bodies were found Monday inside an apartment in suburban Philadelphia.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub says 45-year-old Shana S. Decree and 19-year-old Dominique Decree are charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy.

Shana Decree was arraigned early Tuesday, while her daughter was expected to make her initial court appearance later in the day. The teen remains hospitalized.

It wasn't clear if either woman has retained an attorney.

The victims include Shana Decree's two other children, ages 13 and 25; her 45-year-old sister; and the sister's 9-year-old twin daughters.

Source: Fox News National

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Beijing city targets raising $1.5 billion fund in tech push: sources

FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask makes his way at a financial district during a heavily polluted day in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask makes his way at a financial district during a heavily polluted day in Beijing, November 30, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

February 26, 2019

By Julie Zhu and Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) – An investment firm backed by the Beijing city government is in talks with prospective investors to raise over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in its first fund aimed mainly at cutting-edge tech investments, said two people with direct knowledge.

Beijing Innovation Industry Investment Co’s fundraising move underscores the Chinese capital city’s push to catch up with other cities in the country, most notably Shenzhen, in pursuing innovative technology and industrial upgrading projects.

It comes as China aims to speed up development of its technology sector, including segments such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, amid a fierce trade stand-off with the United States that has demonstrated the country’s reliance on imported technology.

China’s State Council in 2016 approved a 200 billion yuan venture capital fund https://www.reuters.com/article/china-funds-idUSL3N1AZ1SX, financed by state controlled entities, to invest in new technologies.

Beijing Innovation could not be immediately reached for comment.

It was set up by Beijing’s municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees the city’s state-owned enterprises, and has been tasked with making investments in new-economy sectors on behalf of the local government.

Beijing Innovation has attracted the local SASAC and several local government-backed companies such as Shenzhen Capital Group, the venture investment vehicle of the Shenzhen government, as investors, according to domestic media reports and public corporate registry filings.

It will look for direct-equity investment opportunities in sectors ranging from information technology and integrated circuits to electric vehicles and new materials, according to domestic media reports.

As a major tech hub in China, Beijing, where ByteDance Technology, one of the world’s most valuable startups, online food delivery-to-ticketing services firm Meituan Dianping and e-commerce firm JD.com are headquartered, has for years lacked a consolidated investment arm under the local government for tech deals.

In contrast, Shenzhen which has bred companies such as online gaming-to-social media giant Tencent Holdings, telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies and drone maker DJI, has Shenzhen Capital Group investing in the tech sector for 20 years.

Shenzhen Capital Group has over 333 billion yuan of assets under management, its website shows, and holds a 15 percent stake in Beijing Innovation, according to public disclosures.

(Reporting by Julie Zhu and Kane Wu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

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Why civics education matters


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On the roster: Why civics education matters - House readies resolution to end national emergency - Harris calls for new election in NC House race - Biden considers his family ahead of 2020 decision - Girl scout of the year

WHY CIVICS EDUCATION MATTERS
You no doubt heard the news. Americans don’t know bupkis about our history and system of government.

The survey from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found appallingly low percentages of Americans were conversant even in the basic facts of our system and past.

In order to pass a U.S. citizenship test, an applicant must get at least 60 percent of the questions on a civics and history test correct. You can take a sample test here but knowing you, dear readers, 60 percent will seem like a rock-bottom grade.

If you have been reading us for any length of time you will also know that civics and history education is something of a hobbyhorse for us, so we were certainly happy to see attention brought to the subject. What concerns us, however, is that very few people seem to be discussing why this is a problem.

Knowing civics and history isn’t something that is an abstract good like knowing how to play the clarinet, hit a one-handed backhand or tell the difference between Monet and Manet. It is a practical, vital knowledge the lack of which is creating a crisis for our country.

Civics education, where it still exists, is treated often as something obligatory. You make your bed, you shine your shoes for church, you say “please” and you know how many justices are on the Supreme Court.

If we expect students to care and schools to emphasize the subject, we had better make sure that everyone understands what’s at stake. Without a working knowledge of what this country is and how our system works, each generation becomes less able to operate this miracle that has proven to be a light into the world.

The most significant problems facing our government today aren’t really ideological, they’re systemic.

For example, there are good debates to be had about how the federal government should allocate the nearly $3.5 trillion in tax revue it collects each year. Where should it be spent and in what increments? How much more money should the government borrow?

But politicians have essentially destroyed the system that allowed those questions to be addressed for the previous two centuries. Most of the money that’s being spent is doled out on schedules and rates set decades ago. 

Less than a third of federal spending is actually appropriated by the current Congress. The other 70 percent goes to entitlement programs, pensions, pre-programed welfare systems and interest on the $22 trillion national debt. It’s that way because previous generations of lawmakers determined they and their successors were too irresponsible to allocate money anymore.  

While most federal outlays cruise on like a deep space probe zooming out past Pluto, what obviously will happen to the discussion over the ever-shrinking slice that Congress really does control? When there was plenty of money, the appropriations system allowed for an orderly, if greasy, means for allocating the money. Now, every time the bills come due at the end of the federal fiscal year, we start jumping off of fiscal cliffs.

We recently endured what was called the “Seinfeld shutdown,” the shutdown about nothing. Lawmakers and the president were at odds over a little flyspeck of spending – four hundredths of a percent of the deficit alone – and closed a substantial part of the government for more than a month only to come to what was an obvious compromise from the start.

However you feel about border barriers and “delayed action for childhood arrivals” and anything else about immigration, that’s not a sensible way to have discussions about spending priorities. That’s not liberal or conservative, Republican or Democratic but rather systemic. The way the U.S. government handles its money is a rotten, chaotic mess.

But there’s little political advantage to be had in addressing that. In fact, there’s substantial political disadvantage. 

Listen to the president and his potential general election opponents as they talk about money. They sound like 1970s pornographic actress and disco star Andrea True. “How do you like it? More, more, more.” More tax cuts, more infrastructure spending, more entitlements, more welfare programs. More, more, more.

Spending is just one example. We could say the same of our legal, educational, medical and national security apparatuses. Deep problems continue to churn, but politicians across the spectrum tend to offer painless pabulum. 
    
Now, we should rightly blame the politicians who pander and deceive. But as the scorpion told the frog, we know it is their nature. As comedian Chris Rock once joked about sexual fidelity, “Men are only as faithful as their options.” A dim, if not entirely undeserved view. For politicians, the maxim would hold that they are only about as honest as they have to be.

And voters are letting them get away with murder.

We will not reinvent human nature in such a way that a new generation of selfless politicians rises up to save us from ourselves. But that is what Americans look for each successive election. What do we want each cycle? Change. And each cycle they deliver the kind of surficial change that temporarily gratifies the bloody-minded partisanship of one side but leaves most people with a deeper-still feeling of unease. Something is wrong, but we just can’t say what. 

So what will we choose next time? Why change, of course.

The purpose of an educated electorate – the crucial aim of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others – was as the ultimate guarantor of good government. If the people do not know what they have, they won’t know how to use it. They won’t know which demands are sensible to make. They will become easy prey for demagogues.

Welp.

The urgent work of educating the next generation in American history and civics isn’t just something that would be nice or to avoid national embarrassment. It is actually about rebuilding a bulwark against tyranny. As our government slips deeper and deeper into dysfunction and people come to have less and less faith in the American system, we become sitting ducks for the kind of authoritarianism that has ruled most of our species for most of our history. 

Civic classes are about nothing less than guaranteeing “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”       

THE RULEBOOK: HOLD YOUR GROUND  
“Whatever efficacy the union may have had in ordinary cases, it appears that the moment a cause of difference sprang up, capable of trying its strength, it failed.” – Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Federalist No. 19

TIME OUT: THE PRICE OF COLLEGE SPORTS
Sports Illustrated: “UNC-Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium is typically a showcase for everything that's great about sports… But the story was [Zion Williamson’s injury]. He's the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, and one of the biggest names in sports at the moment. … What happens when the biggest game in America becomes dominated by the player who left after 30 seconds? For one, after 48 hours of news stories about Duke-UNC ticket prices, there were natural conclusions drawn about the injustice of Zion performing as an unpaid amateur and suffering an injury while almost everyone else in the college sports ecosystem was able to get rich off the game. That argument makes some sense. … And why does Zion Williamson have to be in college at all? … If players are talented enough to be drafted into the NBA after high school, many around the sport think they should be able to make that transition as soon as they graduate.”

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

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 41.8 percent
Average disapproval: 54.4 percent
Net Score: -12.6 points
Change from one week ago: no change  
[Average includes: Fox News: 46% approve - 52% disapprove; Gallup: 44% approve - 52% unapproved; CNN: 42% approve - 54% disapproval; IBD: 39% approve - 57% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 57% disapprove.]

HOUSE READIES RESOLUTION TO END NATIONAL EMERGENCY
WaPo: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday night that the House will vote in the coming days on a resolution rejecting President Trump’s national emergency declaration, encouraging fellow Democrats to support the effort as they try to stop Trump’s push to expand efforts to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, the California Democrat said Trump’s declaration ‘undermines the separation of powers and Congress’s power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive.’ By invoking a national emergency, Trump is claiming authority to shift federal funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes to be spent instead on his border wall. Pelosi announced that the House would move ‘swiftly’ to pass a disapproval resolution authored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), although she did not specify an exact date and indicated it would move through a House committee before coming to the floor.”

Sen. Collins backs lawsuit against national emergency - Portland Press Herald: “Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday that she supports the lawsuit filed by 16 states – including Maine – challenging President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a southern border wall. But Collins also signaled support for a straightforward congressional disapproval of an emergency declaration that she views as having ‘dubious constitutionality’ and setting a dangerous precedent. ‘It may be that the courts will stop what I believe to be a very unwise action, or it may come about through Congress,’ Collins said Wednesday. ‘If the House passes a resolution of disapproval and it is a clean resolution, I will support that.’ … The three other members of Maine’s congressional delegation – independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden – also have strongly criticized the president’s emergency declaration.”

The Judge’s Ruling: Trump's brazen overreach - This week Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains how the president’s national emergency is unconstitutional: “When the president acts pursuant to authority granted to him by the Congress in an area of government delegated to him by the Constitution, his authority is at its peak, and he is free to exercise it as he sees fit. When he acts in an area as to which the Congress has been silent, he acts in a twilight zone and can succeed only if the area of his behavior is delegated to him under the Constitution and if he enjoys broad public support. But when the president acts in an area that the Constitution gives exclusively to Congress -- such as spending money -- and when he acts in defiance of Congress, his acts are unconstitutional and are to be enjoined.” More here.

HARRIS CALLS FOR NEW ELECTION IN NC HOUSE RACE
Raleigh News & Observer: “In a startling statement, Republican candidate Mark Harris Thursday called for a new election in the 9th Congressional District ‘to restore the confidence of voters.’ Harris’ statement came after a break in a hearing after he had testified about his dealings with Bladen County operative McCrae Dowless. On the stand, Harris said he suffered two strokes in January while hospitalized for a severe infection and was ‘struggling’ to get through the hearing. After hearing the evidence of absentee ballot fraud, Harris said, ‘I believe a new election should be called.’ A member of North Carolina’s State Board of Elections had pressed Harris on why he didn’t heed warnings from his son about hiring Dowless to run an absentee ballot operation in his 2018 campaign for Congress. … ‘He raised concerns (about Dowless). I did not consider John’s (emails) to be a warning. I thought he was overreacting,’ [Harris said].”

BIDEN CONSIDERS HIS FAMILY AHEAD OF 2020 DECISION 
NBC News:Joe Biden wants to be president. And each day, he’s closer to being ready to run for the office. But even as he weighs a campaign to unseat President Donald Trump, Biden is carefully considering a key question — what happens when the president or his top allies try to make his family an issue? Conversations with aides to the former vice president and others who’ve spoken with him in recent weeks present the idea of a Biden candidacy as not if but when. … But Biden knows and expects the president to fight as hard to stay in the White House as he did to win it in the first place — and he’s already shown nothing is off limits. … No line of attack would be more reprehensible to the former vice president than one directed at his family, and he and his team have been forced to consider that even as they also weigh the political dynamics.”

Harris swipes at far-left Dems over open borders - Fox News: “Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said ‘We can't have open borders’ as she continues to disassociate from her party’s calls for unrestricted immigration and tearing down existing barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. senator from California, a leading 2020 hopeful for the White House on the Democratic side, has recently been overshadowed by the entry of Senate colleague Bernie Sanders -- the progressives’ likely first choice -- into the race, and the potential candidacy of Beto O’Rourke the former congressman from Texas who’s been making inroads and positioning himself as the anti-Trump candidate. This prompted Harris to come out against O’Rourke’s call to tear down the existing 700 miles of fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border during a Wednesday night appearance on Comedy Central's ‘The Daily Show.’”

Family matters: Kamala’s dad isn’t happy over her comments on weed - Fox News: “The father of Sen. Kamala Harris is trying to distance himself from the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful after she said her pot smoking in college stemmed from her Jamaican heritage. … Harris' father, Donald, disapproved of the comments, which he told the Jamaica Global Online constituted ‘identity politics.’ ‘My dear departed grandmothers ... as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,’ he said. Donald Harris continued: ‘Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.’”

Williamson: ‘One last grift for Bernie Sanders’ - National Review: “Right-wing populists and left-wing populists may disagree about such world-changing issues as whether the phrase ‘a man with ovaries’ actually means anything, but on the fundamental policy questions they come down strikingly close to one another. That is because the enemy of populism isn’t the right wing or the left wing — the enemy of populism is liberalism, understood here not in the demented sense we use it in U.S. politics (where liberals are the people opposed to liberalism) but in its proper sense, meaning the classical-liberal regime of property rights, free enterprise, free trade, individual rights, and a worldview based on well-ordered liberty emphasizing cooperation within and between nations.”

Disinformation cyber campaign begins against Dems - Politico: “A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity. The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president. A POLITICO review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms … suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary. The cyber propaganda … is being pushed across a variety of platforms…”

POMPEO RULES OUT ON KANSAS SENATE RUN
Politico: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he has ruled out running for a soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat in his home state of Kansas next year in favor of remaining the nation's top diplomat. The former Kansas congressman and CIA director had dodged questions about whether he planned on running in 2020 to claim the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts, fueling speculation that he might by attending certain events and meeting with GOP operatives in the state. But on NBC's ‘Today’ show on Thursday, the secretary of state threw cold water on the prospect, telling anchor Craig Melvin ‘it’s ruled out.’ ‘I love Kansas. I'm going to be the secretary of State as long as President Trump gives me the opportunity to serve as America’s senior diplomat,” Pompeo said. ‘I love doing what I'm doing and I have 75,000 great warriors out and around the world trying to deliver for the American people.’”

Poll: Joni Ernst's approval rating soars ahead of 2020 re-election - Des Moines Register: “U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s approval rating has hit its highest point ever as she prepares for a 2020 re-election campaign, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. Fifty-seven percent of Iowans say they approve of the job she’s doing — a 10 percentage-point increase since September. She earns approval from a majority of Iowans in each of the state’s four congressional districts. That includes a high of 65 percent in the Republican-heavy 4th District, in northwest and north central Iowa, and a low of 51 percent in the Democratic-leaning 2nd District, in southeast Iowa. … Ernst, a military veteran from Red Oak, became the first woman in Iowa elected to either chamber of Congress in 2014. … She announced in December that she intends to seek re-election.”

Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne announces 2020 Senate run - AL.com: “U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne became the first official Republican entrant into the 2020 U.S. Senate race announcing his intention to run in a race that could become one of the most expensive political contests in Alabama history. … Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones, who narrowly defeated Republican Roy Moore in that election, raised more than $24 million. … Byrne said he anticipates, similar to the 2017 special election, national attention paid to the Alabama Senate contest next year. The race is considered one of the few 2020 Senate contests in which a Democratic officeholder is seeking re-election against a Republican inside a state that has long been dominated by GOP leadership.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Neal Kaytal: What to expect from the Mueller report NYT

Poll shows Virginians aren’t demanding Ralph Northam’s resignation - Sabato’s Crystal Ball

AUDIBLE: NO ONE KNOWS
“I have read it and I have reread it and I asked Ed Markey… what in the heck is this?” – Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., discussing his struggle to understand the Green New Deal on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“It's midnight. And I'm listening to ITYW podcast and you mentioned a Pawpaw. I hope this finds you because 50 years ago in the movie Jungle Book a Pawpaw is mentioned in the lyrics of Bare Necessities. I sang it all the time and never knew what I was singing about. Now I do. And I love ice cream. So I'll have to [check] that out. Please share my note with Dana.” – Brian Keill, Pearl River, N.Y.

[Ed. note: The 1967 animated version was one of my favorites as a little boy. It’s scary enough to give you some bad dreams — that snake! — but funny enough and tender enough to make it beloved. But I hadn’t remembered that paw paws made an appearance. Makes it even *ahem* sweeter.]

“Yet another polling question, although I understand the ones you use and the methodologies behind them. What does confuse me is that some days you have a certain set of polls, other days you have a different set of polls. The average can go up or down significantly based solely on one poll being included and another one being removed. Any chance you could enlighten us on that piece?” – Mike Schlender, Minneapolis

[Ed. note: As they would say in the business world, Mr. Schlemder, “FIFO” or first in, first out. We cycle out the oldest polls when new one comes in.]

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

GIRL SCOUT OF THE YEAR
WISN: “As if any of us needed any more of an incentive to buy even more boxes of Girl Scout cookies, a fifth-grade marketing genius just reinvented her Samoas packaging in the best way possible. The Colorado-based ‘Cookie CEO’ Charlotte Holmberg — who earned the title after selling more than 2,000 boxes in 2018 — is upping her game in a major way in the new year. Turning her Samoas into Momoas, the elementary schooler redesigned her packaging to include a shirtless Jason Momoa, and unsurprisingly, they're flying off the figurative shelves. Holmberg happened to have a marketing professional already on her sales team — her mom — and after spotting a few Momoa Samoa memes, she thought up the rebranding. The pair printed a shot of the ‘Aquaman’ star on the classic purple packaging, and suddenly, everyone was eager for a box.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Say it and sign it. To get, you have to give. That’s the art of the deal, is it not?” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Sept. 1, 2016.

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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White House Reacts To Mueller Report Release

Saagar Enjeti | White House Correspondent

The White House will defer the review of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to Attorney General Bill Barr, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a Friday afternoon statement.

“The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course. The White House has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report,” Sanders said minutes after Barr revealed that he had received the report. (RELATED: The Mueller Investigation Is Over) 

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a news conference at the FBI headquarters June 25, 2008 in Washington, DC. The news conference was to mark the 5th anniversary of Innocence Lost initiative. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a news conference at the FBI headquarters June 25, 2008 in Washington, DC. The news conference was to mark the 5th anniversary of Innocence Lost initiative. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Mueller delivered his final report to Barr after 675 extraordinary days of appointment, during which he sought to review any potential contact between Russia and the Trump 2016 campaign. The investigation became a sprawling review and led to the indictment of many of those in Trump’s orbit. It dominated headlines in the first two years of Trump’s presidency and became a major foil for the president who decried it as a “WITCH HUNT” throughout the process.

William Barr, nominee to be US Attorney General, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 15, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

William Barr, nominee to be US Attorney General, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 15, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Mueller’s appointment came in May 2017 after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed him. Rosenstein appointed Mueller after a period of turmoil during which Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, prompting questions of whether he did so to curtail the Russia investigation.

Barr will now review Mueller’s report and told lawmakers Friday afternoon that he hopes to share the top findings of the report with them as soon as this weekend. Barr’s letter noted that at no point did the Department of Justice curtail any of Mueller’s activities.

Source: The Daily Caller

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government must make men aware of the dangers of poor hygiene after expressing dismay over the 1,000 penis amputations that apparently occur in his country each year.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said while speaking to reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

The far-right leader called the figure “ridiculous and sad,” Reuters reported. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society told the news agency the number is based on its official data for penis amputations.

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The amputations were conducted out of necessity over untreated infections, along with complications from HIV and various cancers, she said.

Source: Fox News World

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Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies. Suicide bombers exploded themselves last Sunday in three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and wounding 400 more. Authorities said eight Muslim militants blew themselves up at their targets while the wife of one of the attackers blasted herself on being rounded up by police.

The carnage has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Cabinet led by Wickremesinghe says neither he nor his ministers were informed of the intelligence received by the defense authorities. Sirisena is the head of state, defense minister, minister in charge of the police and head of the armed forces. He also chairs the National Security Council, which includes the heads of security agencies and departments. Traditionally the prime minister also plays an important role on the council.

According to Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Sirisena has not included Wickremesinghe in national security affairs since a dispute between them came into the open in October last year. This is an unusual departure from the protocol, he said.

Senaratne said that Sirisena was overseas when the attacks took place and even after that, the National Security Council refused to meet with Wickremesinghe as he tried to give them instructions.

Sirisena has also said that he was not informed of the intelligence received and vowed to overhaul the leadership of the defense forces.

The top bureaucrat at the Defense Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, has resigned at Sirisena’s insistence.

“It is a major factor,” said Jehan Perera, the head of local activist group National Peace Council, referring to the alleged lack of coordination between the leaders contributing to the failure to prevent the attacks.

“The primary responsibility has to be taken by the president, he did not give the information and he did not act,” Perera said. “He had the Ministry of Defense, took the police from the prime minister, chaired the National Security Council meetings and did nothing,” Perera said.

Kusal Perera, a journalist and political commentator, says security and intelligence officials should have acted on the information whether or not they received orders from politicians.

“If they (Wickremesinghe and his party) were not invited to the National Security Council, why did not they say in Parliament that they were not responsible for the security of the country any longer,” said Perera, who is not related to Jehan Perera.

“Saying that now is taking political advantage, not taking responsibility,” he said.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe belong to different political parties but came together for Sirisena’s presidential campaign in 2015. Their relationships broke down and their differences exploded last year when Sirisena suddenly sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed in his place former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in the presidential election. The crisis crippled the country for more than seven weeks to the point of not being able to pass this year’s national budget on time.

A court decision compelled Sirisena to reappoint Wickremesinghe, but the two leaders have been rivals within the same government.

Rajapaksa, who is the minority leader in Parliament, blames the government for weakening intelligence and dropping its guard, which he had maintained to defeat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago to end the 26-year-old civil war. He also criticized the government for the detention of intelligence officers accused of extrajudicial killings and abductions during the closing days of the war, which he said crippled the security apparatus before the bombings. According to conservative U.N estimates, some 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s conflict.

Sirisena summoned an all-party conference Thursday to which Wickremesinghe was also invited. At the conference, Sirisena stressed “setting aside all the political beliefs and difference (so that) everybody should collectively commit towards building a peaceful environment within the country,” a statement from his office said.

“It is not a secret that the disagreements between me and the government aggravated over the past two years,” Sirisena told the country’s media executives Friday. “One of the reasons for that is weakening of military intelligence and arresting military officials unnecessarily and my speaking up against it within and outside the government.”

Jehan Perera said that the security threat could prove politically advantageous to Rajapaksa and his family, with a presidential election scheduled at the end of this year. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a younger brother of Mahinda, was the powerful defense secretary during his brother’s reign and has expressed his interest to join the contest.

“People are saying we want a stronger leader and they are talking about Gotabhaya. It (the blasts) has worked to their benefit,” Perera said.

Source: Fox News World

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A California man who allegedly fatally shot his ex-girlfriend in broad daylight last month before fleeing the country has been returned to the U.S. following his arrest in Mexico on Wednesday, authorities said.

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, is accused of shooting his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Thalia Flores and a second unidentified male victim March 21 around 2:45 p.m. while the two were sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot of a discount store in Chino. Both communities are about 36 miles east of Los Angeles.

ARREST MADE IN DOUBLE HOMICIDE OF EX-PRO HOCKEY PLAYER, COMMUNITY ADVOCATE, POLICE SAY

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, Calif. was located in Mexico Wednesday and returned to California where he faces murder and attempted murder charges related to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Thalia Flores.

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, Calif. was located in Mexico Wednesday and returned to California where he faces murder and attempted murder charges related to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Thalia Flores. (City of Chino Police Department)

Flores died at the scene. The man, whose name was not released, walked to a nearby hospital where he’s recovering from his gunshot wounds.

Rocha allegedly fled the scene and remained at large for more than a month, the Daily Bulletin reported. He was formally arrested at 4:30 p.m. after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico, KTLA-TV reported.

The suspect was booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on murder and attempted murder charges, the City of Chino Police Department said on Facebook.

Flores ended her seven-year relationship with Rocha just two months before her death and still lived in fear of him until that point, a sister of the victim, Bernice Flores, told the Daily Bulletin.

“He said himself so many times to other people, ‘If I can’t have her, no one will.’ ” Flores said, adding that her sister stayed in the relationship longer that she would have liked in fear that Rocha would hurt her or her family if they broke up.

Rocha was convicted on misdemeanor battery in 2016 and sentenced to 60 days in prison. He was originally charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon, but the charges were lowered in a plea deal, the Daily Bulletin reported.

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Rocha was convicted of misdemeanor resisting or obstructing a peace officer in 2014. A second charge of misdemeanor battery was dropped in a plea deal, and Rocha was ordered to complete a 26-week anger management course, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records. Rocha was later arrested and sentenced to 10 days behind bars for failing to complete the course.

Source: Fox News National

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Multiple people died Thursday when a semitrailer plowed into stationary traffic that resulted in explosions and flames on a Colorado freeway, authorities said.

The incident occurred just before 5 p.m. in the Denver suburb of Lakewood when a truck driver lost control while traveling east on Interstate 70, according to a preliminary investigation. The collision started a chain reaction and a diesel fuel spill, Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman told the Denver Post.

“This is looking to be one of the worst accidents we’ve had here in Lakewood,” he said.

The driver of the runaway truck survived. At least one truck was carrying lumber, another was hauling gravel and the third may have been carrying mattresses, KDVR-TV reported.

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Lakewood police tweeted there were multiple fatalities but did not give a specific number. Six people were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not released, according to the paper.

Lanes in both directions were closed and expected to remain so into Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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President Trump will address members and leaders of the National Rifle Association on Friday at the group’s annual convention in Indiana.

Around 80,000 gun enthusiasts and more than 800 exhibitors are expected to pack the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis for the three-day event, the Indianapolis Star reported. It will mark the third straight year that Trump will deliver the keynote address, where he is expected to champion the rights of gun owners.

“Donald Trump is the most enthusiastic supporter of the Second Amendment to occupy the Oval Office in our lifetimes,” Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (ILA), said in a statement. “President Trump’s Supreme Court appointments ensure that the Second Amendment will be respected for generations to come. Our members are excited to hear him speak and thank him for his support for our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.”

“Donald Trump is the most enthusiastic supporter of the Second Amendment to occupy the Oval Office in our lifetimes.”

— Chris Cox, executive director, NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action

COLORADO ENACTS ‘RED FLAG’ LAW TO SEIZE GUNS FROM THOSE DEEMED DANGEROUS, PROMPTING BACKLASH

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas last year. (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas last year. (Associated Press)

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at last year’s convention in Dallas. During his speech, Trump assured gun owners that he would protect their Second Amendment rights, according to the paper.

“Your Second Amendment rights are under siege,” Trump told the cheering audience in Dallas. “But they will never, ever be under siege as long as I am your president.”

Trump has supported some gun control measures in the past. Last year, his administration imposed a ban on bump stocks, attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in rapid bursts. Although, he most recently threatened to veto two Democratic gun control bills.

This year’s convention comes as the NRA faces outside pressure and internal problems. The group has seen its legislative agenda stall amid a series of mass shootings — including a massacre at a Parkland, Fla., high school in February 2018 that left 17 dead and launched a youth movement against gun violence.

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It’s also grappling with infighting in its ranks, money problems and investigations into whether Russian agents courted officials and funneled money through the group.

“I’ve never seen the NRA this vulnerable,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control measure.

The convention will run through the weekend and conclude Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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