Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Prosecutors drop all charges in deadly Waco biker shootout

Prosecutors say no one will be punished for the 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas, that left nine people dead and at least 20 injured.

McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said in a statement Tuesday that he's dropping all remaining charges, and that any further effort to prosecute would be a "waste of time, effort and resources."

Law enforcement officials arrested 177 bikers in the May 2015 shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant and charged 155 with engaging in organized criminal activity.

Former District Attorney Abel Reyna dropped charges against all but 24 of the bikers and chose to re-indict them on a riot charge . These are the 24 cases Johnson is dropping.

Only one case was prosecuted in court and that ended in a mistrial.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

China goes all-in on home grown tech in push for nuclear dominance

FILE PHOTO: Model of nuclear reactor
FILE PHOTO: A model of the nuclear reactor "Hualong One" is pictured at the booth of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) at an expo in Beijing, China April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China plans to gamble on the bulk deployment of its untested “Hualong One” nuclear reactor, squeezing out foreign designs, as it resumes a long-delayed nuclear program aimed at meeting its clean energy goals, government and industry officials said.

China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, was once seen as a “shop window” for big nuclear developers to show off new technologies, with Beijing embarking on a program to build plants based on designs from France, the United States, Russia and Canada.

But after years of construction delays, overseas models such as Westinghouse’s AP1000 and France’s “Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor” (EPR) are now set to lose out in favor of new localized technologies, industry experts and officials said.

China signed a technology transfer deal with the United States in 2006 that put the AP1000 at the “core” of its atomic energy program. It also pledged to use advanced third-generation technology in its safety review after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

But by the time the world’s first AP1000 and EPR made their debuts in China last year, Chinese designs had become just as viable.

Though China has yet to complete its first Hualong One, officials are confident it will not encounter the delays suffered by rivals, and say it can compete on safety and cost.

Beijing has already decided to use the Hualong One for its first newly commissioned nuclear project in three years, set to begin construction later this year at Zhangzhou, a site originally earmarked for the AP1000. [nL3N2152KM]

“The problem with AP1000 – the delays, the design changes, the supply chain issues and then the trade problems – has forced their hand, and it has become Hualong,” said Li Ning, a nuclear scientist and dean of the College of Energy at Xiamen University.

He added that China’s licensing procedures would also be an advantage for the home grown tech. “For the Hualong, there are four reactors already under construction and one of them is near completion already. It is a Chinese design so it wouldn’t be very hard to license the next four,” he said.

EDF, France’s state-run utility, which helped build the EPR project at Taishan in Guangdong province, declined to comment. Westinghouse, now owned by Brookfield after entering bankruptcy restructuring, also did not respond to a request for comment.

INTERNATIONAL AMBITIONS

China’s ambitions for the Hualong One extend overseas as well. The first foreign project using the reactor is under construction in Pakistan and the model is in the running for projects in Argentina and Britain.

“(Hualong One) is competitive,” said Li Xiaoming, assistant general manager of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). “The technologies are now just about the same as those of the United States, France and Russia.”

“This is the foundation that we will rely on for our future survival and our international competitiveness,” Li said.

China already has four Hualong Ones under construction, with the first, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, set to go into operation late next year, ahead of schedule, said Huang Feng, a member of the expert committee of the China Nuclear Energy Association.

“China has already become one of the small number of countries that has independently mastered third-generation nuclear power technology, and it has the conditions and comparative advantages to scale up and go into mass production,” he told an industry conference.

As Beijing gets ready to commission eight reactors a year in order to meet its 2030 clean energy and emissions targets, construction speed will be a crucial consideration, benefiting local developers.

Huang said the estimated costs of Hualong One and the AP1000 were now roughly the same, and much now depended on scaling up production to cut costs and allow the Chinese design to compete not only with other reactors, but also with coal-fired power.

Li of CNNC said while foreign-designed projects would still be built, it would “make no sense” to rely on foreign technology if China’s own domestic reactors were equally safe and reliable.

“There are probably some technologies where we will continue to cooperate, but overall we will gradually turn to our own,” he said.

($1 = 6.7139 yuan)

(Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Source: OANN

0 0

O’Rourke backs off impeachment, says voting Trump out of office in 2020 is better idea

Beto O’Rourke said in a new interview that the “best way” to oust President Trump would be to vote him out of office in 2020, rather than pursuing impeachment.

The former three-term congressman from Texas on Thursday launched his much-anticipated bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. During his Senate campaign against GOP Sen. Ted Cuz, he said Trump should be impeached. But now that he's all in for 2020, he told CBS News in an interview that the ballot box is a better route to take.

BETO O'ROURKE MAKES 2020 RUN OFFICIAL WITH EARLY MORNING ANNOUNCEMENT 

“I think the American people are going to have a chance to decide this at the ballot box in November 2020, and perhaps that's the best way for us to resolve these outstanding questions," he said, in an interview conducted on the campaign trail in Iowa hours after he announced his presidential run,

He also called for raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations and defended his credentials to serve as president -- saying he has experience “hiring people” and “creating jobs.”

O’Rourke explained that he still believed the president deserved to be impeached, saying “it's beyond a shadow of a doubt to me that, if there was not collusion, there was at least the effort to collude with a foreign power, beyond the shadow of a doubt that if there was not obstruction of justice, there certainly was the effort to obstruct justice.”

Still, his comments may not sit well with many progressive Democratic primary voters, who are hungry to impeach the president.

MEDIA'S BETOMANIA BOOSTS O'ROURKE: KURTZ

The president has repeatedly denied any collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to try and interfere with the presidential election.

O'Rourke said Trump's firing of former FBI Director James Comey in 2017 and his tweeting to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring an end the Russia investigation were potential examples of obstruction of justice. But he acknowledged that any decision to impeach the president was up to Congress and earlier this week the top Democrat on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made clear she opposes impeaching Trump at this time because it would be too divisive.

"How Congress chooses to address those set of facts and the findings which I believe [we] are soon to see from the Mueller report is up to them,” he said.

O’Rourke said “yes” when asked in the interview if he would raise taxes on the wealthy.

“I think corporations should be asked to pay a greater share, O’Rourke said. “I think the wealthiest at a time of historic income inequality should be asked to pay a greater share. I don’t know what the levels should be at.”

Pelosi was asked Thursday about O’Rourke’s accomplishments in the House during his three terms representing El Paso in Congress. She failed to pinpoint any specifics and instead spotlighted his “vitality.”

Questioned whether he had the experience to serve in the Oval Office, O’Rourke gave an answer that’s likely to invite criticism, saying “it depends on what kind of experience you’re looking for. I’ve got experience hiring people, creating jobs, developing the economy of the community in which I live, serving in local government, with Amy (his wife) helping to raise a family.”

Hours after the launch of his campaign, O’Rourke was criticized by Trump.

"Well I think he's got a lot of hand movement, I've never seen so much hand movement," the president told reporters. "I said is he crazy or is that just the way he acts? So I've never seen hand movement -- I watched him a little while this morning -- doing I assume it was some kind of a news conference. And I've actually never seen anything quite like it,” the president said.

Trump himself is known for expressive hand gestures, however, and O'Rourke brushed off the comments.

"I'm pretty animated," O'Rourke acknowledged during his CBS News interview. “I am who I am.”

And responding to Trump’s criticism, O’Rourke said: “I really do think we all want to get past the pettiness, the personal attacks.”

"Let's not put anybody down. Instead, let's lift each other up. Let's bring out the absolute best from our fellow Americans -- every single one of them from every single community,” he added.

On health care, O’Rourke once again called for universal coverage but wasn't married to "Medicare-for-all," which many of his rivals for the nomination support.

“I think Medicare-for-all is one of the possible paths. I think the fastest way to get there is to ensure that people who have insurance that they like through their employer are able to keep it and we compliment that with those who can purchase Medicare.”

The interview came during O’Rourke’s three-day swing through Iowa, the state that votes first in the presidential caucus and primary calendar. The candidate’s expected to hold a formal kick-off on March 30 in his hometown of El Paso.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Exclusive: Ford likely to end independent India business with new Mahindra deal – sources

FILE PHOTO: The logo is seen on the bonnet of a new Ford Aspire car during its launch in New Delhi
FILE PHOTO: The logo is seen on the bonnet of a new Ford Aspire car during its launch in New Delhi, India, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo

April 9, 2019

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co is nearing a deal with Mahindra & Mahindra to form a new joint-venture company in India, a move that will see the U.S. automaker cease its independent operations in the country, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters.

Under the terms of the deal being negotiated, Ford will form a new unit in India in which it will hold a 49 percent stake, while India’s Mahindra will own 51 percent, the two sources said.

The U.S. carmaker’s India unit will transfer most of its current automotive business to the newly created entity, including its assets and employees, according to one of the sources. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Ford said it does not comment on speculation, but added both companies continue to work together “to develop avenues of strategic cooperation that help us achieve commercial, manufacturing and business efficiencies”.

Mahindra too said it does not comment on speculation. It said in a statement it was “working together in identified areas” with Ford after a 2017 partnership arrangement, and “will announce further definitive agreements as we progress on some of the other areas.”

Currently, Ford manufactures and sells its cars in India through its wholly-owned subsidiary. In 2017, it also formed a strategic alliance with Mahindra under which, among other things, they plan to build new cars together, including sport-utility vehicles and electric variants.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

0 0

Mueller report sparks new DC war over Russia probe: Subpoenas, payback and more

The public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Thursday marked the dramatic final note of a lengthy and contentious investigation, but also sparked a tinderbox of new calls for subpoenas, congressional testimony, resignations, and even impeachment proceedings -- all despite the probe's central finding that no evidence showed that President Trump's team "coordinated or conspired" with Russia.

The whirlwind moments kept coming, even hours after the report's release, as more and more revelations from the 448-page document trickled out. The White House, for its part, claimed total victory and vindication for the president who, according to the report, once fretted that the special counsel's appointment marked the "end" of his presidency and that he was "f---ed" beyond the possibility of redemption.

"As I have been saying all along, NO COLLUSION - NO OBSTRUCTION!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Wrote journalist Glenn Grenwald on The Intercept: "Robert Mueller Did Not Merely Reject the Trump/Russia Conspiracy Theories. He Obliterated Them."

But Democrats and media outlets that long advanced the idea that the Trump campaign had worked with Russia quickly turned their focus to whether the president had, instead, deliberately and corruptly interfered with the now-completed investigation into such an alleged conspiracy.

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Wednesday morning, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz)

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Wednesday morning, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz)

Within minutes of the report's publication, House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., charged that the special coounsel had provided "disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice" and, referencing the report's limited redactions, finished with a tantalizing flourish: "Imagine what remains hidden from our view."

Nader immediately called on Mueller himself to testify, and top Republicans, including Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, said they would have no objections to him doing so.

MUELLER MADE 14 CRIMINAL REFERRALS, INCLUDING FOR OBAMA WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL -- WITH 2 INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING

Like previous heated hearings featuring former FBI Director James Comeycounterintelligence head Peter Strzok, and ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, a moment with Mueller in the congressional hot-seat would promise to be yet another spectacle in a long-running investigative saga.

Nadler also announced he would subpoena the full, unredacted version of the Mueller report and any underlying grand jury evidence. That move set up a likely legal confrontation with the Justice Department, where attorneys worked with Mueller's team to redact legally sensitive matters concerning classified information, ongoing investigations, unnecessary personal information and grand jury proceedings.

“The attorney general deciding to withhold the full report from Congress is regrettable, but not surprising,” Nadler said during a press conference, at which he refused to rule out impeachment proceedings. “Even in its incomplete form, the Mueller report shows disturbing evidence that President Trump obstructed justice.”

However, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., cautioned against impeachment proceedings. "Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point," he said. "Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement."

Republicans, meanwhile, claimed vindication, pointing specifically to several portions of Mueller's findings that debunked long-held conspiracy theories and media reports that misrepresented the Trump team's contacts with Russia.

For example, notably absent from Mueller's analysis was any mention of the unverified report that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had "secret talks" with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London's Ecuadorian embassy months before stolen emails damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign were published.

Closely scrutinized communications between the Russian ambassador and Trump campaign officials at the Republican National Convention and at a speech in Washington, D.C. were "brief, public, and non-substantive," Mueller wrote.

Similarly, breathless coverage of a meeting between the ambassador and Jeff Sessions in Sept. 2016 in Sessions' office amounted to little more than a footnote in Mueller's report, which said Sessions' talks included a "passing mention of the presidential campaign."

TRUMP WORRIED MUELLER APPOINTMENT WOULD DISTRACT FROM HIS PRESIDENCY: 'THIS IS THE END. I'M F---ED'

And "the investigation did not establish that one Campaign official's efforts to dilute a portion of the Republican Party platform on providing asssistance to Ukraine were undertaken at the behest of candidate Trump or Russia."

The FBI, in its warrant application to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page, quoted directly from a disputed Washington Post opinion piece which noted that a Trump campaign official vetoed a proposed platform amendment that would have called for providing lethal arms to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia, and suggested the move was a possible indicator that the campaign had been compromised.

One-time adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Carter Page, addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow

One-time adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Carter Page, addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow (Reuters)

The Trump campaign, at the time, supported providing only defensive arms to Ukrainians, and rejected a single Republican delegate's proposed platform amendment that called for providing lethal arms. Later, the Trump administration changed course and approved lethal arms sales to Ukraine.

The FBI did not provide its own independent assessment of whether the Washington Post opinion piece contained accurate information, and did not mention that the Obama administration had the same policy towards arming Ukraine as the one Trump's team supported.

Separately, Mueller wrote that investigators "did not establish that Manafort coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts," despite reports that he shared polling data with an individual linked to Russian intelligence.

PRIVATE COMEY MEMOS CONTAINED FAR MORE SENSITIVE INFORMATION THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN

Mueller's team "did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort's sharing polling data and Russia's interference in the election, which had already been reported by U.S. media outlets at the time of the August 2 meeting," the report stated.

Referring to a discredited BuzzFeed News bombshell report, Mueller wrote, "The evidence available to us does not establish that the President directed or aided Cohen's false testimony [concerning the Trump Tower Moscow project]," even though evidence showed that Trump "knew" Cohen had lied to Congress.

BuzzFeed has inexplicably stood by its reporting that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress in the face of mounting inconsistencies, even though the story has been contradicted explicitly by Mueller, Cohen, and every other relevant on-record source.

Summing up the positive news for his administration in the report, Trump tweeted a reference to the popular "Game of Thrones" television series, with the words, "No collusion, no obstruction. For the haters and the radical left Democrats -- Game Over."

And White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters that Thursday was the "best day" since Trump's election, calling the Mueller probe a "political proctology exam" and the final report a "clean bill of health."

"It should make people feel really great that a campaign I managed to its successful end did not collude with any Russians," Conway said. "We’re accepting apologies today, too, for anybody who feels the grace in offering them."

Democrats, however, claimed their own vindication, and charged that Barr had improperly given cover for the president. 2020 presidential contender Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., called on Barr to "resign," after Barr pointed out in his press conference that Trump's mental state -- including his apparent frustration at the long-running investigation -- was relevant to the question of whether he obstructed justice.

On collusion, according to the report, former national security adviser Michael Flynn told investigators that Trump repeatedly requested that his team find tens of thousands of emails deleted from a private server controlled by Hillary Clinton.

At a July 2016 campaign rally, Trump remarked sarcastically, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."

After that statement, Flynn contacted operatives in the hopes of uncovering the documents, according to Mueller. And Peter Smith, a GOP consultant, "created a company, raised tens of thousands of dollars, and recruited security experts and business associates,” the report stated.

Smith told Mueller's team “he was in contact with hackers ‘with ties and affiliations to Russia’ who had access to the emails, and that his efforts were coordinated with the Trump Campaign" -- a claim Mueller could not verify.

Regardless, Mueller found no evidence that the Trump team had “initiated or directed Smith’s efforts.”

Multiple media reports, and several commentators, focused on a section of Mueller's report that read: “According to notes written by (Sessions' chief of staff Jody) Hunt, when Sessions told the President that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair, and said, ‘Oh my God.  This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm f…….' ... The President became angry and lambasted the Attorney General for his decision to recuse from the investigation, stating, ‘How could you let this happen, Jeff?’"

But Mueller's report went on to make clear that Trump's concern was with losing a political mandate, not going to jail: “The president returned to the consequences of the appointment and said, ‘Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won't be able to do anything. This is the worse thing that ever happened to me.’”

Mueller further referenced several incidents described in the report in which top Trump advisers resisted or defied the president’s “efforts to influence the investigation” -- while saying those efforts were unsuccessful because of that defiance.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller exits St. John's Episcopal Church after attending services, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 24, 2019.  (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller exits St. John's Episcopal Church after attending services, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 24, 2019.  (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

For example, the report detailed Trump's alleged effort to have Mueller sidelined, amid reports at the time that the special counsel’s office was investigating the president for obstruction of justice. The report detailed a dramatic moment where the president's White House counsel apparently rejected the push.

“On June 17, 2017, the president called [White House Counsel Don] McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre,” the report stated, referencing the Watergate scandal.

The report noted that Trump did not follow up with McGahn in a later meeting as to whether he would fire Mueller, and ultimately decided not to terminate him.

The report also detailed the run-up to Trump's decision to fire Comey, after the FBI Director repeatedly refused to publicly confirm that Trump was not under investigation -- even though Comey had privately confirmed that to Trump.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to Mueller's report, there was "substantial evidence" that Comey's termination had to do with his “unwillingness to publicly state that the president was not personally under investigation.”

Mueller cited reports that the day after Comey was fired, Trump told Russian officials that he had “faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Comey acknowledged in testimony last December that when the agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government in July 2016, investigators "didn't know whether we had anything" and that "in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't know whether there was anything to it."

In remarks late Thursday, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe -- who was fired last year for making unauthorized leaks to the media and lying to investigators about them -- sounded a rare, nonpartisan note of optimism amid the brouhaha gripping the nation.

"The Mueller Report is a remarkable document – detailed, thorough, objective, and full of facts rather than rhetoric," McCabe said in a statement. "It stands as a tribute to the hard work of the team of FBI agents and lawyers who, despite the endless stream of attacks on law enforcement from this Administration, worked for two years to find the facts and the truth amidst a swamp of lies and misinformation. It shows what our law enforcement personnel – especially the dedicated men and women of the FBI – do every day on cases large and small throughout this country. We owe them our profound gratitude.”

Fox News' Jake Gibson, Bill Mears, Catherine Herridge, and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Minnesota Dems consider primary challenge against Ilhan Omar

Local Democrats are seriously considering the prospect of supporting an unprecedented primary challenge to Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in 2020, following a bipartisan condemnation of several of her remarks as anti-Semitic, according to officials and state representatives.

Activists and officials interviewed by The Hill said that although they have not yet recruited a viable alternative candidate to the 37-year-old Omar, frustrations are mounting.

“There’s definitely some buzz going around about it, but it’s more a buzz of is anyone talking about finding someone to run against her than it is anyone saying they’re going to run against her or contemplate it," state Rep. Ron Latz, a Democrat, told The Hill. "There’s definitely talk about people wanting someone to run against her."

Omar Jamal, a Somali community activist, told the Washington Post that he has been in touch with Jewish community leaders about Omar. He said he supported her campaign but called her recent comments, "wrong, period."

"This is up to Ilhan Omar," he said. "She has really spoken in a very dangerous way, and it’s going to be up to her to reach out to people and fix this."

ON THE STREETS IN OMAR'S DISTRICT, SOMALI GANGS AND DISTRUST OF POLICE

Added Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas: "Our community is exasperated by Rep. Omar’s unfulfilled promises to listen and learn from Jewish constituents while seemingly simultaneously finding another opportunity to make an anti-Semitic remark and insult our community."

Hunegs noted that he had met with Omar, a Somali-American and one of two Muslim women in Congress, after she initially implied that Jewish politicians were bought. Omar re-ignited the flames later, when she once again suggested that groups supportive of Israel were pushing members of Congress to have "allegiance to a foreign country.

"Unfortunately, having the opportunity to speak with her about that point didn’t dissuade her making that statement,” Hunegs said in an interview with The Hill. “We were appalled.”

EX-ISRAELI SECURITY CHIEF SLAMS DEMS FOR TOLERATING OMAR

Omar has apologized for her comments and has support from her Democratic colleagues, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised eyebrows earlier this month when she said the congresswoman “doesn’t understand” that some of the words she uses are "fraught with meaning."

Last week, the House passed a bipartisan resolution condemning hate of all kinds in the wake of Omar's comments. But Democrats kept Omar's name out of the resolution, which several Republicans opposed as a watered-down, half-hearted effort.

Any primary challenge would face an uphill battle, given Omar's strong base of urban support and her backing by the influential Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.  An Omar spokesperson told The Hill that Omar was not concerned.

The changing demographics that contributed to Omar's rise would also likely serve to buttress her 2020 bid. The Somali community grew in Minneapolis rapidly during the 1990s, when large numbers of Somalis fled a devastating civil war. The community has since grown with the addition of U.S.-born children of those refugees - as has the debate over the Somalis' desire and ability to culturally assimilate.

Minnesota is now home to one of the largest Somali communities in the global diaspora, with an estimated 100,000 living in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is the center of the Somali community – and is fondly nicknamed “Little Mogadishu” – for its array of Somali-centered organizations, businesses, and mosques.

Fox News' Hollie McKay and Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Michael Cohen asks House Democrats to help keep him out of prison

With a little less than a month to go until he is slated to report to prison, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen is asking House Democrats to help keep him out of the big house.

In a letter sent to lawmakers Thursday, Cohen's legal team said he was still sorting through documents in his personal files that might be of interest to House Democrats investigating President Trump, including emails, voice recordings, images and other documents on a hard drive.

The letter was sent to a veritable who's-who of Trump opponents, including Reps. Adam Schiff of California, Jerry Nadler of New York, Maxine Waters of California and Elijah Cummings of Maryland, all Democrats.

"To date, Mr. Cohen has located several documents that we believe have significant value to the various congressional oversight and investigation committees," wrote the attorneys, Lanny Davis, Michael Monico and Carly Chocron.

Davis had served as then-President Bill Clinton special counsel in the 1990s, including during Clinton’s impeachment. He supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

The lawyers said if Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, has been going through the documents alone, without any help, and if he reports to prison May 6 as scheduled, he won't be able to finish reviewing the material.

COHEN CALLS TRUMP A RACIST FRAUD AT EXPLOSIVE HOUSE HEARING, SAYS TRUMP BULLIED COLLEGES NOT TO DISCLOSE GRADES

They asked the lawmakers to write letters saying that Cohen was cooperating and that "the substantial trove of new information, documents, recordings, and other evidence he can provide requires substantial time with him and ready access to him by congressional committees and staff to complete their investigations and to fulfill their oversight responsibilities."

Michael Cohen hired former White House Special Counsel Lanny Davis to represent him in the criminal investigation.

Michael Cohen hired former White House Special Counsel Lanny Davis to represent him in the criminal investigation. (Lanny Davis/Twitter)

If any lawmakers were to write such a letter, it could be useful if Cohen petitioned the court to delay his prison report date.

Cohen, who pleaded guilty last year to tax evasion, fraud, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations, already has received one short delay on medical grounds while he recovered from shoulder surgery.

In their letter to lawmakers, Cohen's lawyers said they were still holding out hope that federal prosecutors in New York not only would back another delay in the start of his prison term, but also would agree to reopen his case and advocate for a lighter sentence. He has been sentenced to a three-year term.

"It is our hope that the authorities in the Southern District of New York will consider this total picture of cooperation by Mr. Cohen, verified by your letter and the important new evidence he has made available or could make available to assist the government, and the particular facts involved here to grant Mr. Cohen a reduced term following the rules and procedures of the Southern District of New York."

Democrats, including Schiff, have signaled they've intended to keep investigating alleged collusion by the Trump campaign, even after Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded a nearly two-year, $25 million investigation last month. Mueller found no evidence of any such collusion -- despite repeated efforts by Russia to conspire with the Trump team, according to a summary from Attorney General Bill Barr.

At a hearing this past February, Democrats questioning Cohen pushed an unproven theory that Trump, along with his family, could be compromised by the Russians. "Is it possible the whole family is conflicted or compromised with a foreign adversary in the months before the election?” Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, asked Cohen. Wasserman Schultz led the committee when its emails were hacked.

“Yes,” Cohen replied.

After the hearing, House Oversight Committee Republicans referred Cohen to the Justice Department for alleged perjury, claiming he lied during sworn testimony before the panel about a number of issues including his ambitions to work in the Trump administration and contracts with foreign entities. And, a top House Democrat told Fox News that Cummings, the Democrat oversight chair, probably would make a perjury referral.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Manhattan declined to comment on the letter from Cohen's attorneys.

New York prosecutors previously advocated for a tough sentence, saying the crimes were serious and that the help Cohen had provided to ongoing investigations wasn't as valuable or as complete as Cohen had claimed.

Fox News' Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has warned that if Democratic 2020 presidential candidates don’t take the crisis at the border seriously, they’ll do so at their own risk.

Speaking with “Fox & Friends” hosts on Friday morning, Rivera discussed the influx of candidates entering the race, including former Vice President Joe Biden, and gave an update on the newest developments at the border.

“If [Democrats] don’t take it seriously they ignore it at their peril,” Rivera said.

He went on to discuss the fact that Mexico is experiencing the same problems dealing with volumes of people at the border as the United States is. Processing facilities, as many have argued, are understaffed and underresourced, resulting in conditions that have been controversial.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: INTERNAL FBI TEXT MESSAGES REVEAL DOJ CONCERNS OVER ‘BIAS’ IN KEY WARRANT TO SURVEIL TRUMP AIDE

“It is very, very difficult when hundreds and hundreds become thousands and thousands ultimately become tens of it is very difficult to have an orderly system,” he said.

Rivera asserted his opinion that the United States could lessen the influx of migrants coming into the country by investing in the development of Central American countries, where many are fleeing from violence and economic instability.

“I believe, as I have said before on this program, that we have to stop the source of the migrant explosion, by a comprehensive system of political and economic reform in Central America where people have the incentive to stay home,” Rivera said.

“I think we have help Mexico with its infrastructure. Mexico has a moral burden, as the president made very clear, not to let unchecked herds of desperate people flow through 2,000 miles of Mexican territory to get our southern border.”

Rivera also brought up President Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign in 2016.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Fox News correspondent said that having been so excited about Trump’s campaign, the comments made him feel “deflated” as a Hispanic American.

However, as the crisis at the border has accelerated over the last few years, Rivera argued that ultimately, the president’s comments weren’t incorrect.

“He is now in a position where he can justly say I was right, that the that the anarchy at the border doesn’t serve anybody,” Rivera said. “Maybe he said it in a language I felt was a little rough and insensitive, but there is no doubt.”

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist