The Democratic Socialists of America, whose membership ballooned after the 2016 candidacy of allied Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced its endorsement this week of the Vermont lawmaker in his second bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Sanders is the only Democratic Socialist running for president in 2020, and the only socialist in American history with a serious chance of winning the presidency,” said the DSA in a press release. “Sanders’s platform — Green New Deal, Medicare for All, College for All, ending cash bail, strengthening unions, and a living wage — would transform American society by ending the worst forms of poverty and inequality while empowering workers to fight for even more.”

TOP 5 FAILED SOCIALIST PROMISES: FROM LENIN TO CHAVEZ 

While the endorsement comes as little surprise, some democratic socialists had raised concerns that Sanders is not socialist enough.

“Sanders 2016 revived the progressive left and turned DSA into the largest socialist organization in America in seventy years,” former Sanders campaign worker Dan La Botz wrote on the DSA website in opposition to a Sanders endorsement. “Flooded with young people angry at the Democratic Party, DSA became a radical, activist organization projecting the need for a total socialist transformation of America.”

“Sanders 2020 will not have the same effect,” La Botz wrote. “Bernie will not appear to be much different than other progressive Democrats and his campaign threatens to lead DSA deep into the Democratic Party.”

About a quarter of some 13,000 DSA members responding to the organization’s poll before the decision to back the senator said they did not support the endorsement of Sanders.

But other DSA followers, who have debated among themselves whether they should seek to gain influence within the Democratic Party or on their own under the socialist banner, see Sanders as their ticket to growth.

An apparent DSA member identified only as “Neal M.” wrote on the organization’s website: “DSA benefited hugely from being the only socialist organization to actively endorse Sanders in 2016. If we enthusiastically support Sanders in 2020, DSA could become a 100,000 member organization, with significantly greater capacity and resources.”

“The number one lesson we should learn from 2016 is that small socialist organizations must participate in the big movements that dominate national politics.”

Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist. He announced his Democratic presidential bid last month, saying his campaign is about “creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.”

Sanders spoke to striking university workers in Los Angeles this week and complained about “a war being waged against the working people.”

The DSA puts its membership at more than 56,000 as of March. Its long-term mission is to run candidates as socialists, and not under the Democratic Party banner.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks as he kicks off his second presidential campaign, Saturday, March 2, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sanders pledged to fight for "economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice." (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Ella Mahony of the DSA’s national political committee said in recent days that democratic socialists have a unique spotlight right now to further their anti-capitalist agenda and convert more Americans to socialism. Not backing Sanders, she said on the DSA website, would mean losing an opportunity to push their message on a national stage.

“The combination of the Sanders campaign and the teachers’ strike wave has made our job as socialists so much easier,” Mahony said. “Now, we can go into our campuses or workplaces and find people willing to identify not just as union activists or as socially conscious but as Democratic Socialists.”

Jon Torsch, center, wears a t-shirt promoting democratic socialism during a gathering of the Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America at City Hall in Portland, Maine, Monday, July 16, 2018. On the ground in dozens of states, there is new evidence that democratic socialism is taking hold as a significant force in Democratic politics. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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“It is our duty to take full advantage of this moment and run out the radicalizing processes happening in the formal political sphere, in labor, and in society as far as they can go, she added. “Whatever the details of his program may mean to us, to the rest of the world, the Bernie Sanders campaign will be a referendum on socialist politics in the United States.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

FILE - This file photo provided by the Ben Hill County Sheriff's Office, Ga., shows Bo Dukes on Friday, March 3, 2017. Dukes is standing trial on charges that he helped conceal the death of Tara Grinstead, a high school teacher who disappeared more than 13 years ago. Grinstead vanished from her home in rural Irwin County in October 2005. A trial for Dukes opened Monday, March 18, 2019. (Ben Hill County Sheriff's Office/WMAZ via AP, File)

ABBEVILLE, Ga. – A Georgia prosecutor says a man charged with hiding a slain teacher's death inflicted "more pain" when he lied to police as the woman remained missing a decade later.

Jurors in Wilcox County heard closing arguments Thursday in the trial of 34-year-old Bo Dukes. He's charged with concealing a death by lying to police about his role in the October 2005 death of Tara Grinstead. Her disappearance remained a mystery until Dukes and a friend were charged in 2017.

District Attorney Brad Rigby told the jury Dukes sought to protect himself in 2016 when he denied to police that he confessed to an Army buddy in 2006.

Defense attorney John Fox said Dukes didn't lie, but couldn't recall a decade-old drunken confession.

Dukes later confessed to police in 2017.

Source: Fox News National

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2018, file photo, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert speaks during a news conference at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. Herbert says he backs a state legislative push to ban some types of gay conversion therapy that he called "barbaric" but added that defining what constitutes conversion therapy is key. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

SALT LAKE CITY – A nationwide push to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy for minors looked like it could succeed in conservative Utah after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it wouldn't stand in the way, but the effort ground to a halt this week.

Conversion therapy has a long history in Utah, and the legislation drew fierce opposition from people who said barring therapists from talking about changing someone's sexual orientation would violate free-speech rights.

It was seen as a milestone when the state's predominant faith announced would not oppose the ban, considering past teachings that being gay could be "cured," according to religion scholars. The church has taken a more welcoming stance to the LGBTQ community but remains opposed to gay marriage and sex.

The Utah effort got momentum amid a national campaign to ban the practice this year. Fifteen other states have passed laws, and advocates in Utah said it would help combat an alarming spike in youth suicide.

But eight Republican lawmakers in Utah approved changes this week that advocates said effectively gutted the ban. They would have allowed damaging practices aimed at changing kids' gender identity, activists said.

Republican Rep. Karianne Lisonbee sponsored the changes and insisted she was looking for a compromise that would still protect LGBTQ kids. But activists say some of her Facebook comments revealed by The Associated Press indicate that she supports the debunked practice.

In 2013 comments reviewed by the AP and confirmed by two family members, Lisonbee wondered whether it was "possible that living a homosexual lifestyle may cause individuals to choose to commit suicide?"

She also wrote a 1970s-era experiment in Utah using electric shocks to change sexual orientation was horrifying but shouldn't be considered torture on subjects who volunteered.

Lisonbee said people have "successfully overcome" what she called "unwanted same-sex attraction" and that such therapy should be available to others who want it.

Asked Thursday about the comments that have since been removed, Lisonbee didn't disavow them but said they came in an occasionally heated debate between members of her family over a story about same-sex marriage and the faith widely known as the Mormon church.

"I repeatedly said my stance was love and compassion and not judgment," she said.

Asked about the comment on suicide, she pointed to legislative testimony by a man who said he felt despondent about his attraction to other men until he underwent therapy that helped him meet and marry a woman.

Troy Williams with the gay rights group Equality Utah denounced the posts.

"She's falsely suggesting that people take their lives because they are gay," he said. "That is reckless and dangerous rhetoric that reveals her extreme homophobia."

Lisonbee denied that allegation. She said conversion therapy is a "horrific practice" and pointed out that her version also would have banned electroshock therapy.

"My goal was to find something that could pass," she said, adding that she's now the target of angry messages.

But activists say therapists practicing conversion therapy generally don't use outdated, painful techniques, and her revisions still would have allowed practices they do employ to try to change behavior and feelings.

"It's much worse than doing nothing," said Maria Olsen-Hiatt, 21, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after going through conversion therapy at age 14.

She came to the state Capitol on Thursday night to protest the ban's defeat. Gov. Gary Herbert released a letter apologizing for supporting the changes, calling it "an enormous misunderstanding."

Olsen-Hiatt said the outcome reveals a disconnect. While state leaders have reached out to gay teens as they work to prevent suicide, she said there's still a widespread view in Utah that "LGBT existence is sinful."

Source: Fox News National

WILMINGTON, Del. – Jurors in the trial of four inmates charged in a deadly Delaware prison riot have told the judge that they're at an impasse on some charges.

Delaware State News reports jurors passed a note Monday to Judge Jan Jurden. They are hearing charges against John Bramble, Abednego Baynes, Kevin Berry and Obadiah Miller.

The four are charged with riot, assault, kidnapping, conspiracy and murder in connection with the 2017 uprising at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna. Corrections officer Lt. Steven Floyd died in the riot.

Jurden told jurors to continue deliberations but they can deliver the partial verdict later if necessary.

Defense attorney Tony Figliola said the jurors have deliberated for five days, and their note indicates they've decided 35 of the 40 counts.

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Information from: Delaware State News, http://delawarestatenews.net

Source: Fox News National

A literal-minded activist supporting Virginia's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment exposed her breast Monday while recreating the commonwealth’s seal, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Capitol Police in Richmond arrested Michelle Renay Sutherland, 45 — whose address was listed as Florida, and charged her with indecent exposure after giving her a warning, the news outlet reported.

The state seal shows the Roman goddess Virtus, representing the commonwealth, holding a spear and sword with her left foot on the form of Tyranny, represented by the prostate body of a man.

According to the Times-Dispatch, a few passersby appeared uncomfortable when they saw the public display of a naked breast. One GOP lawmaker, Del. Chris Peace, recalled when former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gave his staff lapel pins with Virtus' breast covered, the news outlet reported.

Sutherland, who goes by the name "Sister Leona," is with a group called Radical Matriarchy, and her fellow protester Natalie White of New York City — who was arrested last week outside the office of GOP House Speaker Kirk Cox — is with a group called Equal Means Equal, the news outlet reported. 

The Virginia Senate in January voted to pass a resolution for Virginia to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, but it died in a state House subcommittee.

ERA supporters said if Virginia were to ratify the amendment it would become part of the Constitution, but opponents argue that the possibility of that has expired, the news outlet reported.

Source: NewsMax America

FILE PHOTO : The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul, South Korea January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

February 20, 2019

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday said it will release a pricey folding smart phone in April, with specially adapted applications from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc designed for the new device.

The Galaxy Fold will cost $1,980 and go on sale on April 26, Samsung officials said at an event in San Francisco. The device will have a 4.6-inch display while folded and a 7.3-inch display when unfolded. Samsung said it worked with Facebook, Google and Microsoft Corp to create special versions of their popular apps to fit the new display.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

PHOENIX – PHOENIX (AP) _ Vereit Inc. (VER) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results matched Wall Street expectations.

The Phoenix-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $172.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 17 cents per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $27.2 million, or 1 cent per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $313.3 million in the period.

The company's shares have increased 14 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 19 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VER at https://www.zacks.com/ap/VER

Source: Fox News National