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

Common Sense on “Measles Outbreak” Hysteria

Before the current measles hysteria gets even further out of hand, a little common sense could help us think more carefully before rushing to take action that won’t work and will actually do harm.

Refusing unwanted medical treatment is a basic human right that all civilized nations have sworn to uphold, with the sole possible exception of a dire and imminent threat to the public health, which a few localized measles outbreaks, numbering no more than a few dozens or hundreds of cases, decidedly are not.

Are the Measles Outbreaks Really an Emergency?

All of these outbreaks are typical of those that have occurred ever since the vaccine was introduced, and others just like them will undoubtedly continue to occur even if the drug industry’s well-funded campaign succeeds in vaccinating everybody. Yet the Washington State Health Department has declared a public health emergency on the basis of them; several other states are considering doing the same; and the news media have enthusiastically joined in, with editorials and Op-Eds in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and other major outlets, as well as talk shows on NPR and other radio stations, all well-meaning but repeating the same alarmist fears and exaggerations as if they were settled truths, and citing these modest outbreaks as ample justification for eliminating personal-belief exemptions from the states that still honor them.  A clear violation of the First Amendment, the latest and most ominous example is Congressional pressure on Facebook and other social media to censor postings that dare raise doubts or questions about vaccines or their mandates.

On the other hand, these politicians and journalists have done nothing more than simply taking on faith the information that prominent doctors and public health authorities are feeding them.  Unfortunately, what they’re being told is not only bad ethics, but also bad science, based on assumptions that are flatly contradicted by current research, and violate basic human rights and moral values that we still profess to hold dear.


Panic & article after article about measles but have you heard about the number of mumps cases of migrants at Texas detention centers that are greater than all the measles cases nationwide? Have you heard about serious infections traced back to vaccinations in 3 states? Why not?

The Bottom-Line Assumptions

Often assumed to be self-evident without even having to be stated, much less proved, their bottom-line assumptions are really two postulates that depend on each other to support them — namely:

  1. that these small outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases that we vaccinate against are initiated and propagated by unvaccinated individuals;
  2. and that vaccines are not only miraculously safe, but also uniformly effective in rendering people immune to these diseases without having to contract them, so that only the unvaccinated are still susceptible and thus capable of transmitting them to others.

But you can’t have it both ways.  For if these postulates were really true, if the immunity conferred by the measles vaccine were truly comparable to the absolute, lifelong immunity that results from coming down with and recovering from the actual disease, then the unvaccinated would pose no threat to anyone but themselves, based on a free choice of their own making, such that those taking the vaccine would have nothing to worry about. Conversely, if vaccinated individuals are indeed at risk of acquiring the disease from the unvaccinated, then the vaccine is clearly ineffective to that extent, and whatever it does offer cannot be a genuine or reliably effective immunity.

In any case, there’s plenty of good scientific evidence that both of these assumptions are just plain false.  The vast majority of cases of measles, mumps, and other vaccine-preventable diseases in both past and recent outbreaks, typically between 75 and 95%, have been in vaccinated individuals, while a recent study of measles in China, where over 99% of the population are vaccinated by the same sort of strict government mandate being advocated here, nevertheless reported over 700 localized outbreaks in a single year, totaling almost 26,000 cases. Much the same is true of recent mumps outbreaks in the United States, where typically 95-100% of the cases have been vaccinated.

Counterfeit Immunity

So even if all non-medical exemptions were eliminated and virtually everyone were vaccinated, as the proposed new laws would require, similar outbreaks would undoubtedly continue to occur.  In other words, the so-called immunity conferred by vaccines is a trick, a counterfeit of the real thing; and “herd immunity,” the stated goal of the mandates, customarily tied to a vaccination rate of 95% or more in the case of measles, is a chimera of wishful thinking that vaccination simply cannot achieve, in contrast to the natural disease, regarding which public health experts have long known that large-scale outbreaks no longer occur when at least 80% of the population have already contracted and recovered from it. That, and only that, is herd immunity: to expect a vaccine to achieve an even higher level, with no outbreaks at all, is pure fantasy, and the polar opposite of hard science.

Moreover, scientists have also demonstrated that individuals receiving vaccines made from live viruses, like measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, rotavirus, oral polio, and some versions of influenza, regularly “shed” them and are thus contagious for many weeks afterward. 

Regarding the resurgence of whooping cough in recent years, for example, numerous studies have shown that the increasingly large and frequent outbreaks of the disease are likewise being spread by vaccinated individuals, even though the bacterium is no longer alive, in part through natural selection for vaccine-resistant strains, as has been documented in the case of other non-living vaccines (HiB, pneumococcus, and possibly injectable polio) as well.

In short, the entire rationale of vaccinating as many people as possible, and the bullying and resentment of parents who choose not to vaccinate that always accompanies it, is not only cruel and misplaced, but helps to create and propagate the very diseases that the vaccines were designed to eradicate.

Rather than simply accepting the fact that vaccines have at best a partial and limited efficacy, we are allowing the CDC and the drug industry to play on our fears to the extent of inflating these small, localized outbreaks of measles into the dreaded semblance of a looming public-health emergency, posing a serious threat to society, justifying forced vaccination of everyone, even against their will if necessary, and thereby nullifying our co-authorship of and continuing allegiance to the Nuremberg Code of Human Rights and the Helsinki Declaration governing Biomedical Research, both of which insist upon the right of every patient and every experimental subject to give informed consent to all medical and surgical procedures, and explicitly forbid administering them by force.

Although one could imagine a genuine public health emergency that might justify and even require temporarily waiving such rights, such as a large-scale bioterrorist attack or the rapid dissemination of a deadly plague, that is precisely what these small, localized outbreaks of ordinary childhood diseases are not.  The truth is that there is no emergency, that we vaccinate purely as a matter of long-term health policy, and that most of the diseases that we vaccinate against were:

  1. already rapidly declining, thanks to improvements in sanitation, water quality, and other aspects of public health (pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus);
  2. ordinary diseases of childhood that most people contracted and recovered from without complications or sequelae (measles, mumps, rubella, flu, rotavirus, chickenpox);
  3. or caused by mutant strains of organisms that are part of our normal flora and only occasionally cause invasive disease (HiB, pneumococcus).

Measles is indeed a perfect test case of the vaccination concept, as the most highly contagious of them all, with an attack rate approaching 100% in susceptible individuals; and the measles vaccine has in fact reduced the annual incidence of the disease in the United States from about 400,000 cases to less than 10,000, surely a historic achievement, no matter how it was done or why it was thought necessary.  But inasmuch as these small, localized outbreaks are still occurring, and will undoubtedly continue do so in the future, no matter what we do, the CDC surely owes us a more convincing explanation than the impossible dream of “herd immunity” for why they don’t simply declare victory and let it go at that.

Science is Far From Being Settled

So for all of these reasons, contrary to what we’re being told, the science is far from being settled when it comes to vaccine effectiveness.  Even that much would be enough to deflate the myth that vaccine mandates are necessary.  But it’s not the only reason, or even the most important one.  Vaccine safety is even further from being settled, to put it mildly, and for very good reasons.  In the first place, many studies have shown that children who come down with and recover from acute febrile infections like measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and influenza are much less likely to develop chronic autoimmune diseases and cancer later in life than those merely vaccinated against them.

Still other studies link the risk of death, hospitalization, and other serious adverse reactions not so much to any particular vaccine or vaccines, but rather to the total number of vaccines given, both simultaneously at the same visit, and cumulatively over the patient’s lifetime. In other words, these worst outcomes cannot be simply written off as idiosyncratic aberrations of certain hypersensitive individuals, but rather appear to be built into something about the nature of the vaccination process itself.

These findings are already more than sufficient to question if not discredit the almost universal reverence accorded to the concept of vaccination, not to mention the blank check that allows and even incentivizes the drug industry to develop, market, and ultimately mandate more and more vaccines, based on the assumption that vaccines are safe and effective across the board, that they save vast sums of money from not having to care for patients suffering with these diseases, and that it is therefore OK and even desirable to pile on as many doses of as many different vaccines as the traffic will bear, often for no better reason than that we have the technical capacity to make them.

It is the same assumption that allows and even blesses the drug industry to conduct its own safety studies without genuine placebo controls of unvaccinated individuals; that limits adverse effects to those appearing within a few hours or days of the shot, thus automatically excluding the chronic diseases from consideration; that gives the lead investigator unlimited authority to determine whether a reported adverse reaction is or is not vaccine-related, according to criteria that are never specified; and that allows the CDC to insist that vaccines are uniformly safe and effective without conducting independent studies of its own, even though Congress has legislated and the Supreme Court has upheld that they are “unavoidably unsafe,” in order to shield the manufacturers from liability for the deaths and injuries they cause, a free ride granted to no other industry.

In short, these assumptions are not science, but merely scientism, a reverent, quasi-religious faith characterized by dogmatism in the name of science, which stifles the critical thinking, questioning, and doubting of allegedly settled truths that real science requires, and helps explain why the news media refrain from reporting deaths or injuries from vaccines without having to be told, and why most physicians offer up their own children for the same vaccinations they administer to their patients.  The late Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, sums it up admirably:

“[In science] we must leave room for doubt, or there is no progress and no learning.

There is no learning without having to pose a question, and a question requires doubt.

Before you begin an experiment, you must not know the answer, [or] there is no need to gather any evidence; and to judge the evidence, you must take all of it, not just the parts you like.  That’s a responsibility that scientists feel toward each other, a kind of morality.”

Which brings me to my final point, that if vaccination and vaccines were indeed safe and effective across the board, then the thousands upon thousands of parents who sincerely believe that their children were maimed or killed by them and must live with that existential reality every day of their lives must be either lying, ignorant, or stupid, and thus perhaps even deserve to have their stories ignored and dismissed out of hand by the medical community, the news media, and the public at large.  Yet their suffering, whatever may have caused it, surely cries out at the very least for caution, restraint, and simple compassion for the viewpoint of those whose lived experience is so tragically different from that of everyone else privileged enough to be ignorant of or somehow unmoved by their loss.

As a family physician who has cared for many of these children over the years, I can say with complete assurance that the vast majority of their parents are by no means ignorant or credulous “anti-vaxxers” or hostile to science.  Quite the contrary, in fact: they are often well-educated, have devoted their lives to unraveling the mystery about what really happened to their kids, and ask no more than that vaccines be made as safe as possible, based on careful investigation by independent scientists unaffiliated with the drug industry. After more than fifty years in the trenches, I can also attest that the instinctive, practical sense of caring parents is often a far more accurate and trustworthy guide to the truth about what caused the specific tragedies that they have had to endure than any preformed, generic pronouncement that pre-empts any need to consider the details of their actual, lived experience.

Finally, the widespread and indeed almost universal reverence accorded to vaccination, based on the catechism that vaccines are not only safe and effective, but also among the supreme achievements of modern medicine, has impelled me to write with a sense of urgency and foreboding at this critical moment in our history, when the time-honored rights of patients to refuse unwanted medical treatment and to make such decisions on behalf of their children are being challenged as never before.  I will feel well rewarded if my words, my reasoning, and the commingled sadness, fear, and outrage I have long felt about this subject will promote a healthy debate and elicit more of the rigorous scientific work that still remains to be done.

Given the legitimate doubts and fears surrounding their use, the simplest and wisest solution would be to make the vaccines optional, that is, available to all those who want them, once fully apprised of their risks, so that exemptions will no longer be required.  For if vaccines  and vaccination are truly as safe and effective as the CDC and the industry have been insisting, it shouldn’t be that difficult for them to convince the public to the extent of wanting to give them to their children, without needing mandates to impose them by force.

Until that happens, the most pressing issue before us is to preserve the frail remnant of personal liberty embodied in the few remaining exemptions that most citizens in our democracy have long been rightly proud of, and that the influential and well-funded drug industry has always been eager to take away.  My fervent hope and heartfelt plea is that good common sense will prevail and the American people will be sufficiently aroused to not let that happen.

The viewpoints expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Infowars.


David Knight explains why Sen. Paul is correct to fight for liberty over a false sense of security.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Day vows to bring different mindset to Presidents Cup

FILE PHOTO: Final round play of the Masters at Augusta National
FILE PHOTO: Golf - Masters - Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia, U.S. - April 14, 2019 - Jason Day of Australia on the 2nd hole during final round play. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

April 24, 2019

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Former world number one Jason Day is determined to bring a more positive mindset to the Presidents Cup in Melbourne this year after struggling to produce his best for the Internationals team in four consecutive losses to the United States.

The Australian has reaped only seven points from his 20 matches in the biennial team tournament and is still bothered by his 2015 performance in South Korea where he claimed only a half-point as the Internationals were pipped 15.5 – 14.5.

In line to qualify for his fifth Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in December, Day said he needed to “pick up the slack” as a now senior member of a team looking to break a seven-tournament losing streak.

“I’m the first one to put my hand up in regards to that because unfortunately, it has to start at the top, and I’ve made mistakes with regards to not mentally being there,” he told reporters at the Zurich Classic.

“You can obviously see my results in Korea and I wasn’t mentally there unfortunately with regards to being there for the team when I needed, performing for the team.

“That was one Presidents Cup that we had a very good opportunity to win, and sometimes you have to look at leadership and ask the questions why, and for me, I made the mistake and I need to understand we’ve got 11 other guys on the team that are trying just as hard or trying even harder than myself, so I’ve got to pick the slack up, too.”

Day will partner countryman Adam Scott at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic, one of a number of prospective Internationals pairings teeing off at the team-based tournament under the watch of captain Ernie Els.

Scott is not one of the top 10-ranked Internationals players who secure an automatic berth in the team but the former Masters champion is highly likely to be a captain’s pick due to his depth of experience at Royal Melbourne.

Day and Scott, who have both carried the world number one ranking and each won majors, have only been paired once in four Presidents Cups — in 2015 when they halved a four-ball match against Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson.

Scott hoped they would rekindle that partnership at Royal Melbourne.

“I think we’re a hell of a team,” he said.

“I’ve tried to push for it to happen more often, but there are a lot of different opinions and things to happen.

“You know, you have to play as a team member and do what’s best for the team, but I would definitely push for this pairing, certainly in Australia. I think it’s very formidable.”

(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

0 0

Golf: Ko holds on for first major victory, wins ANA by three shots

LPGA: ANA Inspiration - Final Round
Apr 7, 2019; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Jin Young Ko tees off on the sixth hole during the final round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills CC - Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

April 8, 2019

(Reuters) – Ko Jin-young clinched her first major victory when she fended off a challenge from fellow South Korean Lee Mi-hyang in the final round at the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California on Sunday.

Ko had a one-shot lead with three holes to play following two quick bogeys, but a perfectly-judged 10-foot birdie putt at the 16th proved the decisive blow at Mission Hills.

She clinched in style with another birdie at the last for a two-under-par 70, beating Lee by three strokes and becoming the fifth Korean to win the event.

Ko, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, finished at 10-under 278, while Lee carded 70 for second place, a shot ahead of American Lexi Thompson (67).

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

0 0

Putin envoy in Caracas rejects US revival of Monroe Doctrine

As Venezuela's reliance on Russia grows amid the country's unfolding crisis, Vladimir Putin's point man in Caracas is pushing back on the U.S. revival of a doctrine used for generations to justify military interventions in the region.

In a rare interview, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Zaemskiy rejected an assertion this week by U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton that the 1823 Monroe Doctrine is "alive and well."

The policy, originally aimed at opposing any European meddling in the hemisphere, was used to justify U.S. military interventions in countries including Cuba, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Grenada, but had been left for dead by recent U.S. administrations trying to turn the page on a dark past.

"It's hard to believe that the U.S. administration have invented a time machine that not only allows them to turn back the clock but also the direction of the universe," the 66-year-old diplomat told The Associated Press this week.

In an example of how the Cold War-like rhetoric on all sides of Venezuela's crisis has quickly escalated, the ambassador compared hostile comments by Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to those of the al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"Their obsession in imposing their will, in this case on Venezuela's internal affairs, reminds me of the declarations of the leaders of al Qaeda, who in carrying out the attack on the Twin Towers also tried to position themselves as the only bearers of the truth," said Zaemskiy, who was senior counselor at Russia's mission to the United Nations on 9/11. "The history of humanity has shown that none of us are."

Those specific, written remarks were prepared ahead of the interview.

While the Trump administration led a chorus of some 50 nations that in January recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's rightful leader, Putin has steadfastly stood by Nicolás Maduro, sending planeloads of military personnel and blocking condemnation of his government at the U.N. Security Council.

In a speech this week commemorating the anniversary of the disastrous CIA-organized invasion of Cuba in 1961 by exiles opposed to Fidel Castro's revolution, Bolton warned Russia against deploying military assets to "prop up" Maduro, considering such actions a violation of the Monroe Doctrine.

What the U.S. considers Russia's destabilizing support for Maduro hit a high point in December when two Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons touched down in Caracas. Then, last month, dozens of uniformed personnel arrived to service Sukhoi fighter jets and an S-300 missile system.

Zaemskiy said such military cooperation is perfectly legal and has been taking place for years — ever since the U.S. in 2006 banned all arms sales to the South American country. But he said the alliance has taken on added importance as the Trump administration repeatedly insists that a "military option" to remove Maduro remains on the table.

He was unwilling to say how far Russia would go to thwart an eventual U.S. attack, saying that as a diplomat he's an optimist.

"I firmly believe that in the end reason will prevail and no tragedy will take place," he said.

The soft-spoken, bookish Zaemskiy has specialized in Latin America since his days working for the Soviet Union and was posted to Washington for the first of two U.S. tours when the Cold War ended.

Because of his strong Spanish and English, he was a note-taker at the U.N. in September 2000 when Maduro's mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez met Putin for the first time. He said he recalls Chavez complaining to the newly elected Putin about the need to raise oil prices, then near three-decade low. The two petroleum powers gradually cemented a political, military and economic alliance over the next few years as oil prices surged to an all-time high, bringing riches to both.

The aquamarine-colored Russian Embassy, where Zaemskiy also lives, was a mid-century mansion purchased in the 1970s from a wealthy military colonel trained in the U.S. It lies in the shadow the hilltop U.S. Embassy, whose flagpole has been bare since the last American diplomats pulled out of the country last month amid a feud with Maduro over its recognition of Guaidó.

He acknowledged that with hyperinflation raging and many goods in short supply, Venezuela is in a "very difficult" situation. Echoing Maduro, he blamed U.S. sanctions, as well as the stifling of private investment.

His first tour in Venezuela as a protocol officer came from 1976 to 1979, when modern skyscrapers paid for by a flood of petrodollars transformed Caracas' skyline even as many outside the capital lived in what he described as a semi-feudal state. Zaemskiy said the legacy of Chavez's economic and political revolution — that it restored dignity to the poor — remains intact.

"It's perfectly clear to me that the economic situation of the country has deteriorated a great deal," he said. "The way forward is to open more opportunities for the private sector, which still has a big role to play in the country and should be allowed to demonstrate that" — seemingly a veiled criticism of Maduro's constant squeeze on private businesses.

To break the current stalemate, he urged something the government's foes have so far rejected: burying the past and starting negotiations, perhaps with the mediation of the Vatican or U.N.

The U.S. and opposition insist that past attempts at dialogue have only served to give Maduro badly needed political oxygen while producing no progress.

"The lack of confidence is a problem on both sides, which is why they should think together on some innovative ways to create reassurances in this process," he said. "To simply reject the possibility of dialogue and repeat that the only way forward is the 'end of usurpation' as the opposition says, won't lead anywhere."

Despite such outward care for Maduro, some have questioned the depth of Russia's support.

Russia is major investor in Venezuela's oil industry, but those interests have been jeopardized since the Trump administration in January imposed sanctions on state-run oil giant PDVSA and even went after a Moscow-based bank for facilitating its transactions. At the same time PDVSA last month moved its European headquarters to Moscow from Lisbon, Gazprombank said it was pulling out of a joint venture with the company, Russian state media reported.

"The core value of Russia's association with Chavismo is a challenge to U.S. prerogatives in its supposed backyard," said Ivan Briscoe, the head in Latin American for the Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. "That said, Russian diplomacy is nothing if not realistic. They know Venezuela is plunging into an economic abyss with tragic humanitarian consequences. When the moment comes and tensions reach a height, they are likely to help negotiate a settlement, but will aim to exact the highest price they can."

___

Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman

Source: Fox News World

0 0

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough slams ‘political hack’ William Barr, says his reputation has been ‘sullied’

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough declared Attorney General William Barr’s reputation has been “sullied” just hours before he addressed the media regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, saying it’s time to rethink the process how attorney generals are picked.

“He does something once again that is going to scuff up his reputation. Absolutely his reputation is shot,” Scarborough said of Barr’s handling of the release of the Mueller report, also describing him as a “political hack” and no longer “a respected legal mind.”

“Here’s a guy that served in Washington for 30 years, had the respect of Republicans — he won’t get his reputation back. It’s shot. Sullied, the way he’s handled himself.”

“Here’s a guy that served in Washington for 30 years, had the respect of Republicans — he won’t get his reputation back. It’s shot. Sullied, the way he’s handled himself.”

— Joe Scarborough

AG WILLIAM BARR SPEAKS ABOUT MUELLER REPORT AHEAD OF ITS RELEASE -- LIVE BLOG

Scarborough’s remarks came ahead of the release of the report detailing findings from the two-year investigation into the Trump campaign and the Russia government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

The MSNBC host later went on to suggest that Barr’s behavior should lead to a change in how attorney generals are picked.

WHAT TIME WILL THE MUELLER REPORT BE RELEASED? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DOCUMENT DUMP

“We’ve seen the breaching of norms and political norms and it seems bizarre at this point that a president should be able to select their own attorney general, who can decide how the investigations are run against them.”

Democrats and media figures criticized Barr for announcing a press conference before the actual release of the document and for briefing the administration on Wednesday about some of the contents of the report.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Barr’s summary of the report states that the Special Counsel investigation didn’t find evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to elect President Trump.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Trump to nominate ex-Delta pilot Steve Dickson as FAA head

With the Federal Aviation Administration facing mounting scrutiny domestically and overseas, the White House said it plans to nominate Steve Dickson, a former senior Delta Air Lines official, as permanent head of the agency.

The pick comes as the FAA is struggling to regain its footing after two deadly crashes of Boeing 737 MAX jetliners within five months, tragedies that have prompted questions about the agency’s safety approvals of the models.

Dickson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Since January 2018 the FAA has been run by acting chief Daniel Elwell, a longtime aviation expert who moved up from deputy administrator and is widely viewed as a close ally of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The FAA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In addition to continuing scrutiny of the FAA's decision-making by the Transportation Department's inspector general’s office, Secretary Chao on Tuesday also asked the same office to conduct an audit compiling "an objective and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737-MAX." The latest effort, she said in a written statement, is intended to "assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively."

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Maryland Democrat booted from state House leadership post over racial slur

A Democratic member of Maryland's House of Delegates was removed as chairwoman of a subcommittee on Tuesday after an account of her using a racial slur during an after-hours gathering at an Annapolis cigar bar last month was published by The Washington Post.

Mary Ann Lisanti, 51, apologized to the Maryland House Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, one day after she apologized to the leaders of the state's Legislative Black Caucus. In a message to her constituents in Harford County northeast of Baltimore, Lisanti said she was "ashamed" and "sickened" she had used the word, which "does not represent my belief system, my life’s work or what’s in my heart."

It is my hope and prayer that you ... can forgive me for the pain that I have caused, and help me to mend what I have broken," she added. "I will continue work every day to repent for my actions and represent my constituents."

The Post reported on Monday that Lisanti told a white colleague that he had been campaigning in a "[N-word] district" in mostly black Prince George's County to support a candidate in last fall's elections. Asked about it by the newspaper earlier this month, The Post reported that Lisanti said, "I don't recall that. ... I don't recall much of that evening."

When asked by The Post whether she had ever used the slur, the newspaper reported that she said: "I'm sure I have. ... I'm sure everyone has used it."

CHICAGO POLICE SAY THEY HAVE MORE EVIDENCE JUSSIE SMOLLETT STAGED HATE CRIME

Del. Darryl Barnes, the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland chairman, described Lisanti's apology as "woefully inadequate" and urged House Speaker Michael Busch to discipline the delegate. Busch, also a Democrat, announced Lisanti would no longer chair the Unemployment Insurance Subcommittee of the House Economic Matters Committee, because "I believe that leaders in the House need to be able to bring people together -- not tear them apart."

Busch also said that Lisanti had agreed to sensitivity training.

USA TODAY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ADMITS 'HORRIBLE' MISTAKE AFTER SHE'S LINKED TO 'BLACKFACE' YEARBOOK

"I hope that through sensitivity training that Delegate Lisanti has agreed to and the help of her colleagues, she will develop a greater understanding of the impact that she has had on her fellow legislators and the entire House of Delegates," Busch said in a statement.

Barnes, who represents part of Prince George's County, noted in his letter to Busch that African-Americans make up nearly 30 percent of Maryland's population. He also pointed out that the Maryland General Assembly has 57 black members out of 188 legislators.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"It is clear that Delegate Lisanti is unsuited to continue in a position of leadership in the Maryland General Assembly," Barnes said in the letter. "We have been receiving calls for her resignation, removal of subcommittee chairmanship, and to be censured on the House floor."

In neighboring Virginia, the state government has been embroiled in scandal since Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats, acknowledged they wore blackface in the 1980s. They both resisted calls to resign.

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 worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

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