It’s official, Infowars is more banned on Facebook than mass shootings. We tested this in real time and proved it to be true. We also have Martina Markota join us to discuss how to win the culture war. Oliver Darcy puts out an unbelievable propaganda piece.
GUEST // (OTP/Skype) // TOPICS: Martina Markota//Skype
FILE PHOTO: construction of the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser -/File Photo
February 20, 2019
By Davide Barbuscia
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will soon discuss with international banks its plans to use export-credit agencies in other countries to help it finance infrastructure projects, sources familiar with the matter said.
Saudi Arabia has embarked on an ambitious economic transformation plan involving infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, in areas ranging from housing to transport.
But it has accumulated almost $60 billion of debt in just over two years, and that has not included financing linked to the infrastructure projects.
In January last year, the country’s debt-management office said it had asked banks to submit proposals for potential financing backed by export-credit agencies (ECAs). Those agencies offer loan guarantees and sometimes financing to encourage trade and lower the costs of international business.
Some Saudi entities have already used such financing. Aramco, the state-owned oil company, last year signed a $2 billion line of credit with UK Export Finance, the British ECA.
But more than a year after requesting proposals, the government has not appointed a financial adviser, the sources said. Nor has it said what specific projects the financing would support.
The debt management office did not respond to a request for comment.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on mega-projects over the past decades, but a slump in construction and delays in payments to contractors have stalled existing developments. At the same time, lower oil prices have squeezed the state budget.
Work on King Abdullah Financial District, for example, a $10 billion project in Riyadh, began in 2006. But it has run into construction delays, cost overruns and doubts about an initial economic feasibility study.
The kingdom said last month it planned to start developing the first area of NEOM, a high-tech $500 billion business zone, in the first quarter of 2019.
ECA-backed financing could be useful for similar large projects requiring foreign equipment and contractors, as well as cheap debt financing over long periods, the sources said. But, they added, the government has not started talks yet on ECA-backed financing for NEOM.
The government has taken some steps toward project funding. Last November, the debt management office appointed as a temporary adviser MUFG banker Hirofumi Sakioka, who is the deputy head of ECA Finance EMEA at MUFG Bank.
The sources said his appointment was aimed at coordinating ECA financing requirements from various Saudi ministries.
About two years ago, the government asked ministries to review billions of dollars’ worth of unfinished projects with a view to shelving or restructuring them.
Many of the projects are relics of an era of high oil prices and lavish state spending, which ended when oil prices began to fall in mid-2014, making it increasingly difficult for Riyadh to find the money needed to complete them.
A federal judge has blocked California’s ban on over 10-round magazines as unconstitutional while stating that the most popular firearms lawfully used by Americans typically hold more than 10 rounds.
In his ruling on Friday evening, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, a Bush-appointee, stated that “California’s law prohibiting acquisition and possession of magazines able to hold any more than 10 rounds places a severe restriction on the core right of self-defense of the home such that it amounts to a destruction of the right and is unconstitutional under any level of scrutiny.”
Benitez based his ruling on the 2008 landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller in which the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment applies to firearms in lawful, common use.
“Millions of ammunition magazines able to hold more than 10 rounds are in common use by law-abiding responsible citizens for lawful uses like self-defense,” he wrote. “This is enough to decide that a magazine able to hold more than 10 rounds passes the Heller test and is protected by the Second Amendment.”
Some of the guns in common use that hold more than 10 rounds include the Glock 17 pistol and the Ruger 10/22 rifle, both of which have been sold for over 30 years, Benitez noted.
In contrast, California’s 10-round limit was first introduced in 2000, at which time it grandfathered already-owned magazines above that limit.
However, in 2016 the state effectively outlawed even the ownership of magazines over 10 rounds, which Benitez said was an unconstitutional seizure of property without compensation.
Livid Chicago law enforcement officials are furious Jussie Smollett has had all 16 felony charges dismissed against him after he was accused of staging his own hate crime – and they smell a political rat.
“The Chicago Police Department is not happy. Our Superintendent expressed his displeasure about the charges being dropped,” one officer in the Chicago police department told Fox News. “The Department exhausted manpower and numerous hours investigating this case to make sure it was handled properly."
The wiping of the case has been seen as nothing short of a "real blow" to those in Chicago's law enforcement. The department insider also noted that they have been left scratching their heads as to why the case was suddenly sealed, thus not allowing public scrutiny, and pointed to “politics” and questionable shuffles and possible interference in handling the case.
“The police department worked super hard on this. They put a ton of manpower on it because they knew it sounded wrong from the beginning,” another former Chicago-based law enforcement source said.
"What’s interesting is that the former chief-of-staff of Michelle Obama called the state's attorney about the case, saying the (Smollett) family was concerned. Shortly after, the state's attorney recused herself and now the charges are dropped and the court has sealed the record.”
Reports emerged last week that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had been in contact with Mrs. Obama’s former chief-of-staff, Tina Tchen, who emailed her expressing the “concerns” that the Smollett family had about the ongoing investigation. Foxx is alleged to have then spoken with a Smollett relative whose number was provided by Tchen, and subsequently reached out to Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
Actor Jussie Smollett talks to the media before leaving Cook County Court after his charges were dropped, Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Ahead of the charges being dropped, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham alleged that Foxx may have interfered with the police probe and sought an investigation into whether Foxx herself had violated any laws.
Another retired police chief in the region told Fox News that politics has long plagued the Chicago judicial system.
“Politicians run for office promising to change the way things are done and this is what they do,” he said. “Policemen work their butts off to do a good job and this is what they get. The least a prosecutor could have done was to send it to the grand jury. It’s no wonder policemen get discouraged.”
Johnson claims to have been blindsided by the sudden dropping of charges, and others connected to law enforcement officials in Chicago told Fox News that conflict between the DA and the PD could “get pretty ugly.”
In late January, the black and openly gay actor told police that he was attacked by two men who jeered him with homophobic and racial epithets. While sympathy poured in for him from Hollywood and high-level advocacy organizations, skeptics also started to raise red flags. The two alleged assailants turned out to be brothers who previously worked with Smollett, and told investigators that they have been paid to assist in staging the incident.
Chicago’s Cook County State's Attorney’s Office did not specify if any information had arisen on the case, and simply stated that “after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his [$10,000] bond, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to the case.”
Other less pronounced theories have emerged as to why the charges were abandoned, with some in the broader law enforcement community suggesting that presumptions of guilt put forth by state officials in recent weeks may have “tainted the jury pool.”
At a press conference announcing the charges in February, Superintendent Johnson chided Smollett, questioning how an African-American man could use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations” and mandated that “bogus police reports cause real harm.” But both Johnson and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel doubled-down and again came out lambasting the actor for his “hoax” on Tuesday after the charges were tossed.
“Police should never be conducting press conferences where they convict an individual of wrongdoing because that is not their job,” said Joe Ested, a former law enforcement official and author of “Police Brutality Matters."
“The job of law enforcement is to gather all evidence and present it to the prosecutor. When you hear of a dismissal of this nature, it usually comes from improper police procedures or misconduct somewhere during the evidence gathering.
“It can be police omitting evidence, selectively interviewing witnesses and taking only certain statements into consideration but not all of the evidence; or it can be witnesses changing their statements. Police should never have the mindset of convicting people, especially in the public arena.”
An FEC complaint has been filed against Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, alleging that the campaign is violating federal election law by employing an illegal immigrant.
The complaint was first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and mentions Sanders’ deputy national press secretary, Maria Belen Sisa.
US Senator of Vermont Bernie Sanders in Conway NH on August 24th 2015 by Michael Vadon
The complaint filed by the Free Beacon argues that “Sen. Sanders and Bernie 2020 is permitting a foreign national, Ms. Sisa, to serve in an advisory position which allows her to directly or indirectly participate in the decision-making process of persons with regard to election-related activities in violation of FEC regulations.”
Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir told The Daily Caller that Sanders plans to continue to fight for permanent protections for DACA recipients while also accusing President Donald Trump of racism. (RELATED: Here’s A List Of Hoax ‘Hate Crimes’ In The Trump Era)
“Unlike the Trump administration, President Sanders will not only act to protect DACA recipients and their community, he will ensure this campaign seeks out their voices and treats them with respect,” Shakit said. “Now more than ever, we need leadership that brings us together and stands up to Trump’s racist and bigoted attempts to divide us up.”
Sanders previously accused Trump of being a “racist, a sexist, a homophobe [and] a xenophobe” in his campaign announcement last month.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is withholding judgment on whether he supports the possibility of impeaching President Donald Trump until after the Russia investigation concludes and the report is issued.
"I'm going to wait for the Mueller report," Schumer said, according to The Washington Times.
"Let's wait for the report."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made headlines Monday when she insisted impeachment is "divisive to the country" and she is not in favor of pursuing impeachment of the sitting president.
"And he's just not worth it," she said.
With Democrats now in control of the House, they are probing into Trump's background as they search for anything that shows Trump might have broken the law. At the same time, special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a Department of Justice investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. European Union regulators have hit Google with a 1.49 billion euro ($1.68 billion) fine for abusing its dominant role in online advertising. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The EU's competition commissioner says she is one of seven candidates from the European Parliament's liberal, pro-business ALDE faction running for top posts within the European Union this year.
Margrethe Vestager, whose term ends in October, told Denmark's Politiken newspaper on Thursday that she was "part of the team." She did not name the other ALDE candidates.
A former Danish deputy prime minister and economy minister, Vestager has since 2014 been the EU's competition chief, making headlines by repeatedly slapping major tech companies — most recently Google — with big penalties and fines.
The top posts up for election in May include the presidencies of the European Commission, European Council, European Parliament and the European Central Bank, as well as the post of EU foreign affairs chief.
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj
AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.
Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.
PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.
The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.
“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.
Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.
A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.
“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”
PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.
The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.
The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.
Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)
(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh
CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.
ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.
The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”
Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.
In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.
“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.
Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.
The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.
ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.
In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.
Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.
ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.
The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.
Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.
The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.
Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.
The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.
A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.
In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.
Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.
The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.
Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.
Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.
(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By Matthias Williams
KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.
Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.
“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.
“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.
Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.
Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.
Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.
“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT
The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.
Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.
Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.
Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”
A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”
Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.
Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.
“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”
The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”
Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.
The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.
“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.
“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.
President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”
The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.
Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Click below to consent to the use of the cookie technology provided by vi (video intelligence AG) to personalize content and advertising. For more info please access vi's website.