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WashPo Writer Laments Jussie Smollett Case Falling Apart: ‘I Need This Story To Be True’

Nana Efua Mumford, executive assistant to The Washington Post’s editorial board, lamented on Sunday that Jussie Smollett’s story appeared to be falling apart because she felt like she needed the story to be true.

Mumford wrote in a column titled, “I doubted Jussie Smollett. It breaks my heart that I might be right” (HT: The Gateway Pundit):

On Jan. 29, Jussie Smollett, who plays Jamal Lyon, the openly gay heir to the show’s hip-hop record label throne, was allegedly attacked in a baroque hate crime. He told police that his attackers immediately identified him as a gay actor from “Empire,” then proceeded to yell racial and homophobic slurs, shout “this is MAGA country,” pour an unknown chemical on him and place a noose around his neck. The story has since become even more complicated: The Chicago police questioned two Nigerian brothers, one of whom said that he played a small part on “Empire,” about their possible role in the attack. As of this writing, the department is seeking to interview Smollett again; he has hired a criminal defense attorney.

[…] I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did. I know that there is a deep, dark racist history in Chicago and, if proved true, this would be just one more point on the list. I wanted to believe him with every fiber of my being, most of all because the consequences if he were lying were almost too awful to contemplate.

Indeed, it would mean there’s so little “hatred” and “racism” in this country that an openly gay black man living in a well-off, major city has to pay actors to stage a hate crime against himself just to push the narrative.

Over the past few hours, there have been speculations that have confirmed my worst fears. Unnamed “police sources” have claimed that Smollett orchestrated the entire thing.


Najee Ali, a civil rights activist in Los Angeles, says Jussie Smollett could have started a race war with his allegation of a racially motivated attack. Owen Shroyer explains independent media helped bring out the facts about Jussie’s story before that could happen.

If Smollett’s story is found to be untrue, it will cause irreparable damage to the communities most affected. Smollett would be the first example skeptics cite when they say we should be dubious of victims who step forward to share their experiences of racist hate crimes or sexual violence. The incident would be touted as proof that there is a leftist conspiracy to cast Trump supporters as violent, murderous racists. It would be the very embodiment of “fake news.”

Note: the damage these hoaxes have caused to run-of-the-mill Trump supporters and the hatred that’s been generated against them as a result is of no concern.

[…] And that reason, more than any other, is why I need this story to be true, despite its ugliness and despite what it would say about the danger of the world I live in. The damage done would be too deep and long-lasting. This could be one tragedy that the Lyon family — and more importantly, the ordinary people who loved the show and invested in Smollett and his character — could never overcome.

Actually, hate hoaxes like these are exposed almost every month. An entire website has been created just to catalog them called FakeHateCrimes.org. The media just ignores them all and acts like nothing ever happened.

The Covington Catholic kids were lied about and demonized by your very own newspaper just a few weeks ago and after the hoax was exposed they still clung to the narrative and didn’t even bother to apologize.

Source: InfoWars

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A Humiliating Moment for the Washington Press Corps

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: So after two years, here we are. It’s hard to believe any of it actually happened. Two years of unremitting, never-diminishing hysteria about Russia. A continuous wave of panic and superstition over unseen Slavic interference, all stoked by the very people we’re told are the most rational in our society. For two years, our capital city became a kind of massive CNN panel — a living monument to ignorance and dishonesty, where the loudest and dumbest invariably got the most attention. We just lived through two full years of that: screaming, threatening, surveillance, character assassination, loyalty tests, wild allegations of treason and spying and betrayal. Innocent people found themselves afraid to go to dinner, hesitant to send text messages or talk on the phone. For two years we lived in an all-pervasive cult of personality. Our leaders worshipped a 74-year-old federal prosecutor who never spoke in public. He alone was good, they told us. Only they could interpret his will. It was all thoroughly bizarre. Demented really, though nobody said so at the time. They were too afraid. It seems like a dream now. Which of course it was. None of it was real. Nobody colluded with Vladimir Putin. Nobody changed vote totals. Or met secretly in Prague. Or had a pee tape. There never was a Russia conspiracy. Hillary Clinton wasn’t robbed by Julian Assange, or anyone else. She lost the election because she was an entitled boor who didn’t run on anything. In the end, that’s what Robert Mueller proved.

The news anchors couldn’t handle that conclusion. It was too far from what they’d promised their audiences for so long. They were too invested in the lies. When the report arrived in congress this morning, they found themselves reduced to huffing and sputtering. They couldn’t admit what was in it. Well, they told us, Robert Mueller “didn’t exonerate President Trump.” That may be true, but only theologically. Mueller doesn’t have the power to absolve sin. Only God can do that. But in every other sense, Mueller’s report was exculpatory. If dozens of federal prosecutors spent two years trying to charge you with a crime, and then decided they couldn’t, it would mean there wasn’t any real evidence you did it. That’s what happened here. You may not like Donald Trump, but that’s what we learned from the Mueller Report. You’d have to be a mindless partisan to deny it. A lot of news anchors turn out to be mindless partisans. When the facts contravene the interests of their party, they deny the facts, and then attack anyone who persists in stating the obvious. Suddenly the very same people who lied to you for two years about Russia are demanding that, under no circumstances, are you allowed to believe anything that Attorney General Bill Barr might say. Sure, Barr looks like a conventional Republican, being a Jeb Bush donor and everything. Yes, he would appear to be a close personal friend of Robert Mueller’s. But it’s all a ruse. Barr is in fact a Putin stooge like all the rest:

JEFFREY TOOBIN: If you just look at his behavior, it is not that of a geriatric, it is that of a partisan

CHRIS MATTHEWS: This looks like an inside job.

MSNBC guest Elie Mystal: We should not take anything that Barr says tomorrow as anything other than performative.

CHRIS CUOMO: Is Barr the President's new fixer? The answer to that seems to be yes.

NICOLLE WALLACE: He becomes to first cabinet secretary to plunge into the deep end of Trump’s conspiracy pool.

It’s an inside job. That’s the reigning assumption. Somehow Bill Barr is preventing Robert Mueller from concluding that Donald Trump colluding with Vladimir Putin. How is Barr doing that? It’s not clear, but they’re no less certain that he is. Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times announced that Barr’s press conference this morning marked America’s transformation into a, quote, “authoritarian junta.” Her colleague, Maggie Haberman, suggested Trump might be a Nazi, because the White House played a song from The Sound of Music — which by the way, is an anti-Nazi musical. But still Germanic-sounding, and therefore suspicious. These are hysterical children. They shouldn’t be in journalism. But they are. They run journalism. They have no plans on giving up their power.

The Mueller Report may be the single most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to the White House press corps in the history of this country. How did reporters in Washington respond? They celebrated themselves. Over on CNN, former Obama official Jim Sciutto bragged that Mueller had quote “debunked” all of Trump’s unfair attacks on the media. At the Washington Post, Philip Bump was telling us that quote, “the vast amount of reporting” on Russia was accurate.

Even they don’t really believe this. They know they lied. Buzzfeed claimed its reporters has personally seen evidence that Michael Cohen had been instructed but Donald Trump to perjure himself. The editor of Buzzfeed defended that story extensively, including on this show. Now we know it was a lie. That and so much more. So what happens now? What do we do with John Brennan and Jim Clapper? They used to run powerful intelligence agencies. For the past two years, they’ve gotten rich from talking about Russia on television. The only problem is, they were lying:

O'DONNELL: What makes you believe that he has more indictments?

BRENNAN: Because he hasn't addressed the issues related to criminal conspiracy as well as individuals --

O'DONNELL: A criminal conspiracy involving the Russians?

BRENNAN: Yes yeah.

CLAPPER: Is there influence whether witting on unwitting by the Russians over President Trump. And in the intervening year and a half or so, you know, his behavior hasn't done much at least in my mind to allay that concern.

So do Clapper and Brendan get to keep their cable TV contracts? Probably. In decadent societies, the guilty aren’t punished. Only the unpopular are. Over on the other channels, they’re talking about Trump tonight, not themselves. The line they’re quoting most is from today’s report. It’s Trump’s response when he first learned there was going to be a special counsel investigation. “Oh my God,” he said. “This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m effed.”

As it turns out, Trump was wrong on the specifics. He never got indicted. Mueller didn’t drive him from office. But, as usual, Trump’s instincts were clearer. In fact, dead on: In the ways that matter most, the Russia hoax did sabotage his presidency. Mueller’s investigation ended critical momentum from the 2016 election almost immediately. Lawmakers, including a shamefully large number of Republicans, were much happier to talk about Russia than about changing the status quo in Washington, which is what Trump ran on. So they talked about Russia. The result: an election that should have realigned the country, had almost no effect. Two years later, virtually nothing has changed. Millions are still flood over our border from the third world, encouraged by an army of non-profits that instruct them to subvert our laws. The opioid epidemic rages on, as horrible as ever. Suicides are up. Troops are still bogged down in Afghanistan and Syria. Goldman Sachs still controls our economy. Tech companies are still spying on you and crushing your freedom of speech. You can still have your life ruined for supporting the wrong candidate, or believing there are two genders. Most ominous of all, Americans are still dying younger and having fewer children. None of this was resolved. It was never even talked about. The Russia investigation didn’t destroy Trump. But it did a lot to destroy America.

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Some meta Mueller questions


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On the roster: Some meta Mueller questions - Time Out: R&Brie - Fox Poll: It’s Biden and Bernie by a mile - Audible: Claws out - The case of the cruel crop-duster 

SOME META MUELLER QUESTIONS 
Good grief. 

After two years of frothy speculation over the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, we finally have some answers.

But here we go getting all frothed up again.

We haven’t yet seen the report, which is currently being scrubbed and scoured by lawyers at the Justice Department who are redacting the bits that might harm national security, damage ongoing investigations or improperly malign innocents and bystanders.

But because of Mueller’s topline finding that neither President Trump nor his campaign conspired with Russian operatives to defeat his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, we’re watching an abrupt changing of lanes.

Democrats who had defended Mueller and his conduct are shifting into attack mode against a Justice Department some of them say is covering up Trump’s misdeeds. Some Republicans, meanwhile, are renewing their own attacks on federal law enforcement. They’re arguing that since Mueller has now cleared the president on the key concern, it’s evidence of systemic corruption inside the department.

But we don’t know what else is in the report and we don’t yet know how much of it will be released. Depending on the decisions of Attorney General William Barr, we may be just at the beginning of a weeks-long fight over what Congress and the public will get to see.

But spin in the absence of evidence is worse than a waste. As we just observed after two years of Mueller time, insubstantial spin creates false, arbitrary expectations and often leads to rank embracement. But since grievance is the coin of our current political realm, there are plenty on both sides happy to ignore the giant object lesson dropped on their heads Sunday afternoon.

But there are lots of good questions to be asked today and in the days to come.

- Will this news help break the fever among Democrats or intensify it? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has for months been cautioning her fellow Democrats away from impeachment proceedings, instead urging them to instead focus on winning in 2020. We would guess that this reality check from Mueller will strengthen her hand in the long run. 

- How does a post-Mueller Trump behave? The presence of Mueller’s investigation was a powerful tool for the president’s aides in finding ways to constrain the mercurial chief executive. While there will certainly be ongoing state and federal investigations into alleged ethical and legal breaches by the president, his administration and his family, a great weight has been lifted. How will Trump behave now that he is unbound by Mueller? Remember that voters consistently have shown dislike for chaos in Trump’s White House.

Which Democratic presidential candidates are best positioned to thrive in the new environment? The political ground is shifting rapidly, but we can’t yet know in which direction. As we considered in our first question we can’t say yet whether this will make Democratic voters dispirited or even more bloodthirsty. Certainly it will be a painful adjustment for the percentage of the Blue Team that felt assured that Trump would not serve out his first term. Will those and other Democratic voters demand a nominee who promises legal retribution for Trump? Will other Democrats try to forget the whole thing to focus on more traditional issues? 

Will this increase or decrease Republican unity? As long as Trump faced an existential threat from Mueller it was somewhat easier to paper over intra-party disputes. Just as Republicans could use the dangers of Mueller to try to keep Trump in line, the White House could use the threat of Mueller to help back down dissent. As we saw in recent weeks the Republican Senate has become increasingly restive. On the other hand, anyone who was withholding some loyalty to Trump out of a concern about collusion has no more excuse. 

We are in the beginning hours of the next political era and know very little about the facts and decisions that will shape it. That sounds like a good time to consider the possibilities but a bad time for bold pronouncements.

Politicians and members of the press should act accordingly. 

THE RULEBOOK: ABOUT BAD APPLES 
“Because the prospect of present loss or advantage may often tempt the governing party in one or two States to swerve from good faith and justice; but those temptations, not reaching the other States, and consequently having little or no influence on the national government, the temptation will be fruitless, and good faith and justice be preserved.” – John JayFederalist No. 3

TIME OUT: R&BRIE 
NPR: “[The] finding of a recent experiment by researchers in Switzerland … set out to determine how soundwaves might affect the microorganisms that give cheese its flavor. The experiment, titled Cheese in Surround Sound, started last fall with nine 22-pound wheels of Emmental cheese placed in nine separate wooden crates. The assorted fromage was played various types of sound waves and songs… There was also one control cheese wheel that wasn't given any music at all. The cheese was exposed to the music 24 hours a day over six months through a transmitter that focused the sound waves into the cheese wheels. … Once the cheese matured, it was analyzed by professional food technologists, who concluded the cheese wheels exposed to music had a milder flavor compared to the control cheese. The group also determined the cheese that was played hip-hop had ‘a discernibly stronger smell and stronger, fruitier taste than the other test samples,’ according to a summary of the experiment's findings.”

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

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 
44 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -8 points
Change from one week ago: up 4.2 points 
[Average includes: Fox News: 46% approve - 51% disapprove; USA Today/Suffolk: 48% approve - 49% disapprove; CNN: 43% approve - 51% disapprove; Gallup: 39% approve - 57% disapprove; Monmouth University: 44% approve - 52% disapprove.]

FOX POLL: BIDEN, SANDERS TOP DEMOCRATIC PREFERENCE
Fox News: “So many Democrats are running for president the race feels like a March Madness bracket. If it were, the No. 1 seeds would be former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Either would be favored to beat President Donald Trump in the 2020 finals, according to the latest Fox News Poll. Democratic primary voters were read a list of 20 announced and potential candidates for the 2020 nomination. Biden is the top choice at 31 percent, followed by Sanders at 23 percent. California Sen. Kamala Harris (8 percent) and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke (8 percent) make up a second tier. They are followed by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (4 percent), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (4 percent), and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (2 percent). … Two-thirds of Democratic primary voters want Biden to run, and he is the top choice among those who prioritize beating Trump, followed by Harris, Sanders, and O’Rourke. Among those who say it is more important to vote for the candidate they like than the one who could win, Sanders is the first choice, followed by Biden.”

What do voters want? - Fox News: “The poll also asks Democratic primary voters about policies. Majorities are ‘very’ likely to back a candidate who supports Medicare for all (67 percent) and a 70 percent tax rate on income over $10 million (53 percent). Less than 4 in 10 are very likely to vote for a candidate who supports passing the Green New Deal (37 percent), paying reparations to descendants of slaves (31 percent), and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE (25 percent). The hypothetical head-to-heads among registered voters show support for Trump stays between 40-42 percent against each Democrat tested. He tops both Harris (39-41 percent) and Warren by 2 points (40-42 percent). Sanders has a 3-point edge over the president (44-41 percent), but Biden performs best, topping Trump by 7 points (47-40 percent).”

Buttigieg’s youth movement - WaPo: “[PeteButtigieg, who was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., before he turned 30, is used to the double-takes. As his dark horse candidacy has gotten more attention, he's leaned into his age, declaring himself a member of the ‘school shooting generation’ that will live through the ‘business end of climate change.’ … The Indiana Democrat, who is expected to officially launch his candidacy next month, has turned years of “next big thing” coverage into a genuine presidential boomlet. He raised more than $1 million after a CNN town hall and appeared to have met the standard for entering the first Democratic debates. He's adding to a skeletal staff, expanding his campaign headquarters and beginning to build the sort of operation that could compete in early states. Here's what it looks like on the ground.

Party activists test Booker’s loyalties - Politico: “In an interview, [Cory] Booker laid bare what he is grappling with: He’s been in the minority most of the time he’s been in the Senate and seen the power of the filibuster block the conservative agenda. And he’s worried that if Democrats make changes to the fabric of the Supreme Court, it will be exploited to potentially greater effect by Republicans in the future. … But his institutional loyalties are being tested by an activist base lurching left and a need to break out of the sprawling Democratic field where he registers in the low- to mid-single digits. His ambivalence toward such explosive changes reflects Booker’s broader positioning in the 2020 race and within the Senate Democratic Caucus. … It’s a profile that could ultimately help him stand out among his 2020 counterparts…”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Dems give cold shoulder to GOPers on bipartisan bills Politico

Hoyer heralds U.S.-Israeli friendship, subtly rebukes Rep. Omar - WaPo

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., announces he will retire in 2020 - Medium

AUDIBLE: CLAWS OUT
“There's more than one way to skin a cat, and not everything has to be done through legislation explicitly.” – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., discussing her use of Twitter to target big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Responding to you call for comments [on] March 22: ‘a lack of civics education in which too few Americans understand the value of their votes.’ My wife and I have never failed to vote in an election where it was legal and possible. Lately I observe that the freedom of elections no longer exists in CA and some other states. In CA, a proposition has allowed only the two leading candidates to appear on the final election ballot. That, together with an open primary wherein cross party voting is permitted, resulted in no Republican candidate appearing on the ballot for US Senator this year. Hence, despising the Democrat party of today (previously being a ‘liberal’ Democrat years ago), I had NO VOTE in that election. Now there appears to be a ‘trend’ for malicious leaders of some states to force the presidential electors to vote in proportion to the national vote. Hence, citizens of those states will have no vote at all. Their vote is being stolen. If there ever will be a justification for armed rebellion in this country, this is it. Incredible. Disastrous. Criminal. Treasonous. All appropriate descriptions.” – Victor Galindo, Laguna Woods, Calif.

[Ed. note: Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mr. Galindo! It’s a little early in the week to already be at “armed rebellion.” You’ve got to give me time to get warmed up! I certainly understand the frustration of California Republicans who are watching Democrats press their partisan advantage by consigning the already weakened GOP to permanent majority status. You might talk to Democrats in some Southern states that have similar election laws as California. Louisiana’s Blue Team would tell you that a jungle primary system is no fun for the weaker party. And while I certainly am concerned about what is now a collection of 13 states looking to hack the Constitution by awarding an Electoral College victory to the winner of the national popular vote, I would caution you against calling the elected leaders of those states “malicious.” You may think that they are wrong, but I don’t necessarily see malice in what they’re doing. These folks believe in more direct democracy, a view that I assume is sincerely held and one which they believe would benefit the country. And most of all, I would urge you to be especially careful with accusations of treason against your fellow Americans. Using such serious words so readily not only ensures that no fruitful discussion can follow, it diminishes their value in those rare times where they might be needful. In politics and life, it is possible to assume the best of others while always being prepared for the worst. The practice of patriotic grace is a blessing to both its recipient and its giver.]      

“I am embarrassed that this thought just dawned on me at the young age of 61... but is there any linkage to the name ‘Republicans’ to the US being a ‘republic’ and therefore supporting such concepts as the Electoral College and the Senate? Likewise, is the name of the ‘Democratic’ party directly linked to the strict concept of ‘democracy’ and therefore such things as majority rule?” – Ted Toburen, Wake Forest, N.C.

[Ed. note: There are such linkages, indeed! The roots of our parties trace back all the way to the debate over independence and most definitely the construction of the Constitution. The first antecedents of the modern Republicans were the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton. They favored a strong federal government, a powerful executive branch, lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary and the indirect election of presidents and senators. On the other side were the Anti-Federalists who favored de-centralized power and stronger states. As the weak Articles of Confederation foundered, the Federalists, who were mostly northerners, had their moment. With the help of Virginian James Madison from the other side of the aisle, they gave us the basic republican structure of our government. The Anti-Federalists had suffered for lack of a leader to match Hamilton, but that matter was remedied when newly elected George Washington summoned Thomas Jefferson home from his diplomatic post in Paris. The struggle inside Washington’s cabinet between Secretary of State Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Hamilton was the flash point for a new, sharper partisanship. Jefferson’s emerging party took the name Democratic-Republican for itself, meaning to signal that they were for both the will of the people but in favor of republican institutions that would act as a check on tyranny. The Federalists soon fumbled. John Adams got bounced after one term and Hamilton was permanently disgraced because of hush money he paid to cover up an affair. Jefferson’s victory in 1800 was the beginning of the end of the Federalist Party. By the 1820s, they were done. The successor party, the Whigs, that arose in the 1830s substantially carried forward the Federalist cause but soon enough collapsed on the issue of slavery. In the mid-1850s, abolitionists opposed to the expansion of slavery organized in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the 1820 compromise that forbade slavery in new states north of the southern border of Missouri. As momentum grew for the anti-slavery cause, the members of this group took the name Republican for themselves. By this point, the Democrats had long ago dropped the R-word from their name. With Andrew Jackson and his successors, the party’s passions were clearly with the will of the people over the republican restraint. The new party that would be defined by Abraham Lincoln, however, wanted to put the rule of law and federal authority first. There are many, many exceptions, but generally we can say that Democrats have traditionally placed the greatest value on the will of the people while Republicans have been more interested in the rights of individual persons.]

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

THE CASE OF THE CRUEL CROP-DUSTER 
WJW: “The Court of Appeal in Australia will take a look at a lawsuit Monday that claims a supervisor bullied a man with his flatulence. David Hingst, 56, is an engineer. ‘I would be sitting with my face to the wall and he would come into the room, which was small and had no windows,’ Hingst told the Australian Associated Press. ‘He would fart behind me and walk away. He would do this five or six times a day.’ ‘He thrusted his bum at me while he’s at work,’ Hingst told a panel of judges in a previous claim that was dismissed. Hingst filed an appeal after the case was thrown out. Hingst said the flatulence caused him ‘severe stress.’ The Court of Appeal judges will deliver a ruling on the appeal on Friday.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Loyalty to the president is good, but loyalty to truth and integrity of the country is better.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) speaking on "Special Report with Bret Baier" on June 5, 2013.

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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Pittsburgh approves gun control bills; lawsuits expected

The Pittsburgh City Council has given final approval to gun restrictions proposed after last year's synagogue massacre.

The legislation places restrictions on military-style assault weapons like the AR-15 rifle that authorities say was used in the Oct. 27 rampage at Tree of Life Synagogue that killed 11 and wounded seven.

It also bans most uses of armor-piercing ammunition and high-capacity magazines, and allows the temporary seizure of guns from people who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others.

The council approved the measures 6-3 on Tuesday. They now head to Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto for his expected signature.

Pennsylvania state law forbids municipalities from regulating guns, and pro-gun advocates say they'll sue to block the laws from taking effect.

Source: Fox News National

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Spring training roundup: Red Sox’s Pearce hits two HRs

MLB: Spring Training-Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers
Mar 14, 2019; Lakeland, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox infielder Steve Pearce (25) hits a two-run home run during the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

March 14, 2019

Steve Pearce got back to his World Series form on Thursday, hitting two home runs for the Boston Red Sox in a 4-4 spring training tie with the Detroit Tigers at Lakeland, Fla.

Pearce, who hit two home runs in the Red Sox’s Game 5 title-clinching win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in October, went deep in the fourth and sixth innings for his first two homers of the spring.

Grayson Greiner had a two-run double for the Tigers.

Yankees 1, Blue Jays 1

New York right-hander Luis Cessa gave up two hits over four scoreless innings in the tie at Dunedin, Fla. Blue Jays starter Matt Shoemaker gave up just one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings for Toronto.

Nationals 10, Twins (ss) 4

Juan Soto and Victor Robles each hit home runs as Washington grabbed an early 5-0 lead and cruised to the victory at Fort Myers, Fla. Eddie Rosario, Mitch Garver and Trevor Larnach all hit home runs for Minnesota.

Phillies (ss) 4, Rays 3

Gift Ngoepe hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning and Dylan Cozens added a solo shot in the eighth as Philadelphia rallied for a victory at Port Charlotte, Fla. Mike Zunino hit a home run for Tampa Bay.

Mets 1, Cardinals 1

St. Louis starter Michael Wacha gave up five hits over five scoreless innings in the tie at Jupiter, Fla. New York starter Zack Wheeler gave up just two hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Marlins 12, Astros 6

Chad Wallach and Dixon Machado each hit home runs as Miami scored 10 runs in the first six innings and cruised to a victory at West Palm Beach, Fla. Robinson Chirinos, Tyler White and Alex Bregman hit home runs for Houston.

Twins (ss) 7, Orioles 6

Ronald Torreyes hit a home run and Jacob Pearson hit the go-ahead single in the ninth inning as Minnesota won at Sarasota, Fla. Cedric Mullins and Jace Peterson hit home runs for Baltimore.

Pirates 11, Phillies (ss) 2

Adam Frazier, Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte, Kevin Newman and Colin Moran hit home runs for Pittsburgh at Bradenton, Fla. Shane Robinson went deep for Philadelphia.

Diamondbacks 3, Giants 0

Luke Weaver gave up three hits over five scoreless innings with four strikeouts as Arizona won at Scottsdale, Ariz. Dereck Rodriguez gave up one run over 4 2/3 innings for San Francisco.

Reds 3, Dodgers (ss) 3

Phillip Ervin hit a home run and Sonny Gray pitched three scoreless innings as Cincinnati and Los Angeles played to a tie at Glendale, Ariz. Hyun-Jin Ryu gave up two runs on five hits over four innings, the first runs he has allowed this spring, for the Dodgers.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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$878M South Carolina lottery winner sharing with charities

A South Carolina woman who won $878 million in the biggest jackpot payout to one winner in U.S. history says she wants to give back to the city and state where her good fortune happened.

The woman issued a statement through her lawyer Thursday saying she was giving money to the City of Simpsonville Art Center, the One SC Fund for hurricane relief and a relief fund for victims of the recent Alabama tornadoes.

The woman says she bought the ticket after seeing a sign advertising the jackpot at the KC Mart in Simpsonville.

The woman picked a one-time paymen t of $878 million for the Mega Millions jackpot instead of taking the $1.5 billion jackpot over 30 years.

She says she is choosing to remain anonymous for her safety.

Source: Fox News National

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Watch Live: Trump’s War Against The Deep State Has Only Just Begun

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

Source: OANN

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