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Beto’s rocky rollout: O'Rourke drawing crowds and cash, but stumbles out of the gate

Beto O'Rourke raised a whopping $6.1 million in his first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, while drawing big crowds -- and a herd of reporters -- as he campaigned across Iowa and Wisconsin after launching his 2020 bid.

But despite riding a wave of media fanfare, the former three-term congressman from Texas has stumbled out of the gate with a string of apologies and clarifications.

O'ROURKE APOLOGIZES FOR JOKE ABOUT WIFE

While the fundraising and large crowds show the charismatic contender is a force to be reckoned with in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the series of missteps amount to signs that O’Rourke’s nascent campaign may need some fine-tuning -- and fast.

In one widely covered gaffe, O’Rourke apologized for joking at several events on Thursday and Friday that his wife Amy had been raising the couple’s three children "sometimes with my help."

Discussing the comments – amid concern they spotlighted gender stereotypes – O’Rourke promised, “not only will I not say that again, but I’ll be more thoughtful going forward in the way that I talk about our marriage.”

The initial joke was replaced with a more benign comment that “Amy and I are raising three amazing kids.”

BETO O'ROURKE SAYS HE NEVER TOOK LSD

O’Rourke also walked back much-derided comments he made in a cover story on Vanity Fair -- which released hours before he launched his presidential campaign -- in which the former three-term congressman said he was “just born to be in it.”

“I saw the cover with that quote, ‘Born to run,’ or ‘Born to do this,’ and I was like, ‘Man, I hope I didn’t say that,’” O’Rourke said Sunday in Wisconsin. “I think the context of that, which makes sense, is the way that I feel, is that I’m born to serve, I’m born to try to help bring people together.”

“I don’t know that anyone is born for an office or a position, and I certainly am not. But I do think that I find my purpose and function in life in doing this kind of work,” O’Rourke explained.

O'ROURKE RAISES AN EYE-POPPING $6.1 MILLION IN FIRST 24 HOURS AS A CANDIDATE

Some of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination pushed back against the Vanity Fair comments.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that “I wasn’t born to run. But I am running.”

“No, I wasn’t born to run for office, just because growing up in the ’70s, in the middle of the country, I don’t think many people thought a girl could be president,” she added.

And South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said on "Fox News Sunday" that “I think I was born to make myself useful.”

O’Rourke also reacted to a flurry of criticism that he’s benefited from white male privilege over the years. Pointing to not suffering serious consequences after two arrests as a younger man, he said: “I think the criticism is right on.”

“I acknowledge the truth of the criticism that I have enjoyed white privilege,” he added.

The candidate, further, vowed to “keep it clean,” pledging to stop dropping the f-word on the campaign trail as he did during last year's Senate campaign when he nearly defeated Sen. Ted Cruz. Asked by a voter about his proclivity for profanity, O’Rourke said, “great point, and I don’t intend to use the f-word going forward. Point taken, and very strongly made.”

Perhaps most significant, O’Rourke expressed regret for his past affiliation with a group of infamous activist hackers, as well as past writings in connection with that group, following an explosive report by Reuters. Writing under the alias ‘Psychedelic Warlord,’ he even penned one short story that detailed the murder of two kids and another referring to some women as “sluts.”

O’Rourke said he was "mortified” and “incredibly embarrassed” about his earlier writings, adding that “whatever my intention was as a teenager doesn't matter."

O’Rourke also has been trying to mend fences with the media, after initially rubbing some in the press the wrong way. His campaign didn’t provide basic information about events to many media outlets and told some reporters that the events were closed to the press.

After complaints, O’Rourke highlighted that the media is “the best defense against tyranny.” And he told reporters that “I’m trying to do a better job of staying around to answer questions.”

While the missteps could be an early warning sign of trouble ahead, veteran Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas disagrees.

“Clearly the gaffes that political observers from Washington DC have identified are not having the impact those commenting on Twitter think they might. We’ll see if that stands the test of time but clearly what voters are seeing is someone who is authentic, speaks off the cuff, and is generally impressive,” argued Petkanas, who served as a senior aide on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and earlier as top communications aide for then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

He added that “the grassroots fundraising numbers and the crowds are really strong signs for Beto.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Harvard Sued by Descendant of Slave Photographed in 19th Century

A descendant of an American slave on Wednesday sued Harvard University to gain possession of photos of her great-great-great grandfather that the school commissioned in 1850 on behalf of a professor trying to prove the inferiority of black people.

The photos, depicting a black man named Renty and his daughter Delia, were taken as part of a study by Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz and are among the earliest known photos of American slaves. They are currently kept at the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography at Harvard's Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.

A representative for Harvard declined to comment and said the university had not yet been served with the complaint.

Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, who claims to be the great-great-great-granddaughter of Renty, accused Harvard of celebrating its former professor who studied "racist pseudoscience" and profiting from photos that were taken without Renty and his daughter's consent.

"What I hope we're able to accomplish is to show the world who Renty is," Lanier said at a news conference in New York. "I think this case is important because it will test the moral climate of this country and force this country to reckon with its long history of racism."

Agassiz encountered Renty and Delia when he was touring plantations in South Carolina for a research project sanctioned by Harvard that sought to support his view that black people were a different species, according to the lawsuit.

Lanier, who filed the lawsuit in Middlesex County Superior Court in Massachusetts, established her relationship to the photographed slaves with family oral history and genealogical information, her lawyers said. She previously asked the university to give her the photos, but Harvard refused, she said.

"By denying Ms. Lanier's superior claim to the daguerreotypes, Harvard is perpetuating the systematic subversion of black property rights that began during slavery and continued for a century thereafter," the complaint said, referring to an early form of photography.

In addition to gaining possession of the photos, Lanier is seeking compensation for emotional distress and Harvard's acknowledgement that it was "complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery."

Harvard is the latest elite academic institution criticized for its failure to reckon with a racist past. In 2016, a member of Yale University's kitchen staff shattered a stained glass window depicting slaves in a field, drawing national attention and overwhelming support from students who took up his protest against what they said was Yale's implicit endorsement of a racist history.

Source: NewsMax America

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Life sentence expected for murder of Muslim teen in Virginia

A northern Virginia man is expected to receive a life sentence for raping and killing a Muslim teenager as she walked back to a mosque with friends for pre-dawn religious services.

Darwin Martinez-Torres of Sterling struck a plea bargain last year in the June 2017 slaying of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston. That plea bargain requires the judge to impose a sentence of life without parole, in exchange for eliminating a potential death sentence.

Hassanen's death received widespread attention amid concerns her slaying was motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. Prosecutors, though, say Martinez-Torres attacked her after he got out of his car to chase Nabra's group of friends in a road-rage confrontation.

Martinez-Torres is a native of El Salvador; immigration authorities say he was in the country illegally.

Source: Fox News National

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Wall Street extends losing streak after weak jobs report

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 8, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main stock indexes fell for a fifth straight session on Friday and posted their biggest weekly declines since the market tumbled at the end of 2018, as a weak U.S. jobs report ignited more concerns about the global economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.12 points, or 0.09 percent, to 25,450.11, the S&P 500 lost 5.89 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,743.04 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 13.32 points, or 0.18 percent, to 7,408.14.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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Italian police seize assets from four banks in diamonds probe: source

The Intesa Sanpaolo logo is seen in Milan
FILE PHOTO: The Intesa Sanpaolo logo is seen in Milan, Italy, January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

February 19, 2019

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s tax police carried out a seizure order for more than 700 million euros ($794 million) on Tuesday as part of a probe targeting the country’s top four banks over alleged fraudulent diamond sales, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Milan prosecutors have been investigating two diamond brokers and banks Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Monte dei Paschi and Banco BPM with its Aletti unit over sales of diamonds to customers as an investment.

All four banks declined to comment.

Diamond brokers have been using Italian banks to sell high-quality investment diamonds in a business that totaled at least 300 million euros in sales in 2015, according to broker data.

A TV report in 2016 first shed light on alleged mis-selling of diamonds to the public.

Consumer associations also said they had received complaints. In several cases, people have told Reuters that diamonds they had bought as an investment were valued at a much lower price than they paid for them.

Diamond sales have taken off amid negative interest rates which have curtailed bank revenues and made several other investments unattractive for clients.

Banks make a one-off commission of at least 10 percent on diamond sales, in return for putting the diamond brokers in touch with their clients, between whom the contract is signed.

The business usually accounts for no more than 2 percent of a lender’s total fees.

(Reporting by Sara Rossi; Additional reporting by Gianluca Semeraro and Valentina Za; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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Burger King pulls New Zealand chopsticks ad after outcry in China

FILE PHOTO - Giant hamburger model by Burger King is seen outside its restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning
FILE PHOTO - A giant hamburger model by Burger King is seen outside its restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China October 7, 2017. Picture taken October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

April 9, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Burger King pulled a promotional video in New Zealand showing customers trying to eat burgers with chopsticks after it sparked an outcry in China and demands for an apology from the U.S. fast food chain.

The video posted on a franchisee’s Instagram account showed Westerners with an oversized chopstick in each hand struggling to eat the company’s new “Vietnamese Sweet Chilli Tendercrisp Burger”.

Burger King said it asked the franchisee to remove the video immediately. The video was deleted from the Instagram account by Tuesday afternoon.

“The ad in question is insensitive and does not reflect our brand values regarding diversity and inclusion,” Burger King said in a statement to Reuters.

Social media users in China demanded an apology, saying Burger King had made a mockery of Asian customs and dining etiquette. The hashtag “Burger King apology” was viewed more than 50 million times on the Twitter-like microblog platform Sina Weibo by Tuesday afternoon.

Others gave Burger King, which operates 1000 stores in China, the benefit of the doubt.

“I am not sure if this is truly racial discrimination. But the people who made the ad really do not have brains,” said one commentator on Weibo.

Chinese media outlets compared the video to one issued by Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana last year, which featured a Chinese model struggling to eat pizza and spaghetti with chopsticks.

Dolce & Gabbana was forced to cancel a fashion show in China and social media users threatened a boycott over the campaign. The brand’s co-founders later asked for forgiveness in a video apology.

Burger King is a subsidiary of Toronto-listed Restaurant Brands International.

(Reporting by Pei Li and Brenda Goh; editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Venezuelans becoming a growing political and cultural force in South Florida

MIAMI –– When Vice President Pence visited here recently, he didn’t go straight to Little Havana for cafecito at Versailles, a traditional stop for politicians. Instead, he visited a church in Doral, a suburban community home to one of the city's fastest-growing immigrant groups.

As Venezuelans have fled their country in staggering numbers, many have resettled in South Florida, becoming a growing cultural and political force in an area that for years has largely been dominated by Cubans.

Miami now has the largest Venezuelan ex-pat community in the United States, and they have altered the landscape in a city that already has a melting pot of immigrants. That dynamic is reshaping Miami politics and becoming a growing influence in both Washington and Caracas.

“The South Florida Venezuelans are the politically influential portions of the population now. They are the ones that are going to be involved in regime change and rebuilding Venezuela,” Touchton said.

BERNIE SANDERS REFUSES TO CALL VENEZUELA'S MADURO 'DICTATOR,' SAYS 'DEMOCRATIC OPERATIONS TAKING PLACE'

United Nations research shows that since 2014, an estimated 3 million people have fled Venezuela, which is about 10 percent of the country’s population. More than 200,000 Venezuelans live in Florida, according to a 2018 University of Miami study.

Since 2014, an estimated three million people have fled Venezuela

Since 2014, an estimated three million people have fled Venezuela

Doral, the heart of the Venezuelan community, is west of Miami and is bustling with Venezuelan culture. At one popular restaurant, El Arepaso, a large Venezuelan flag flutters on the roof. It’s just one of many businesses that many Venezuelan-Americans said makes them feel like they are home.

Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, who is Cuban-American, said the Venezuelan community has become a force in South Florida – and could one day hold as much sway politically in the region as Cubans do in Miami.

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“While the Cuban population may be larger than the Venezuelan population, I think that is something that you will see, if the situation does not get addressed, we will continue to see more and more exiles here from Venezuela,” Nunez said.

Much like the Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Venezuelans are attracting the attention of both political parties and candidates hoping to court them. Republicans, particularly, have blamed the political crisis in Venezuela on socialism, using it as an example of what happens when a far left-leaning regime is in power.

Protesters hold up signs, demanding an end to dictatorship in their country

Protesters hold up signs, demanding an end to dictatorship in their country (APTN)

The Trump administration has been vocal in condemning Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and urging him to step aside. Trump visited Miami last week and gave a rousing anti-socialism speech, saying what happened in Miami "will never happen to us."

“The days of socialism and communism are numbered,” Trump said. “Not only in Venezuela but in Nicaragua and in Cuba, as well.”

Democratic leaders and 2020 candidates recently began calling attention to the issue, with Sens. Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders calling for free elections and humanitarian aid to be allowed in Venezuela. But some Venezuelans have questioned whether the criticism goes far enough.

In a state where major elections are often decided by a handful of votes, University of Miami political science professor Michael Touchton said Venezuelans in Miami could sway future elections.

It’s still unclear whether the Venezuelan crisis will draw the community to the Republican Party like the Cuban missile crisis prompted many Cubans to shift right.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and top Senate Democrats are working together on legislation that would allow Venezuelans to stay in the U.S. with temporary protection from work permits and deportation. Rubio's Democratic colleague, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, said in a statement, "providing temporary protected status for eligible individuals ... is the humanitarian and morally responsible thing to do."

Rubio said granting temporary protected status would provide a solution to Venezuelans who fear returning home.

Touchton, the political science professor, said the issue has political implications.

“If regime change occurs in Venezuela, while Trump is in office, he will benefit politically, and Republicans will benefit politically, from those votes in South Florida,” he said.

Venezuelan holds up sign at Trump's speech in Miami: "Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."

Venezuelan holds up sign at Trump's speech in Miami: "Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country." (Elina Shirazi/Fox News)

Pence on Monday went to Colombia to speak with leaders and rally the international community behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The vice president announced that the United States will provide an additional $56 million in aid to Venezuela.

"The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy," Pence said.

Blanco Luis, a Venezuelan immigrant living in Miami, said he’s keeping a close eye on what happens in his home country.

Blanco Luis with his son in Venezuela

Blanco Luis with his son in Venezuela (Elina Shirazi/Fox News)

“I am really sad about the people over there. I have a lot of family over there, they don’t have any food. No jobs, no transportation, no medicine,” Luis said.

Stephany Melchor moved to Miami in 2016, leaving her family to pursue a future she could never have back home. “I decided to come here. I had the support of my two brothers and I started over,” she said.

Melchor says many Venezuelans are grateful the United States stepped up to intervene amid the political crisis.

Venezuelans show support for their country at President Trumps' speech

Venezuelans show support for their country at President Trumps' speech (Elina Shirazi/Fox News)

“Coming from a person so powerful as the president of the United States,” Melchor said, “is actually a relief.”

Source: Fox News National

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

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

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

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

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

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News National

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

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

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT BACKERS NOT GIVING UP AFTER MUELLER REPORT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News Politics

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

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

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

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

FLORIDA MAY SEND A BIG MESSAGE TO SANCTUARY CITIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Elina Shirazi contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRENDING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

Source: Fox News National

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