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

‘THANK YOU, WORKING HARD!’: Trump Touts Higher Approval Rating Than Obama

President Trump celebrated a two year high approval rating Tuesday by thanking his supporters and noting that he was right all along concerning the border crisis.

Trump’s approval reached 53 per cent in a new Rasmussen poll, reaching a high that he has not experienced since taking office in 2017 when his approval approached 59 per cent.

The poll found that 45 per cent of likely voters said they disapproved of Trump, down 2 per cent from the previous day.

The bump in approval comes following the end of the Mueller report which found no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia.

The economy and employment numbers could also be another factor in the soaring approval rating. January’s unemployment rate was at just 4 percent, and by March it dropped even further to 3.8 per cent, with almost 200,000 jobs added last month.

Trump himself appears to believe that the approval bump is down to immigration.

The President noted that “everybody is now acknowledging that, right from the time I announced my run for President, I was 100% correct on the Border.”

The President also re-tweeted a report by Breitbart News that points out Trump has a higher approval than Barack Obama at this same point his presidency.

The report notes that “On April 9, 2011, a little over two years into his first term, 46 percent of those polled by Rasmussen approved of the job Obama was doing, compared to 53 percent who disapproved. That put Barry upside down by seven points.”

“So not only is Trump’s overall job approval seven points higher than Obama’s was at this same time, Trump is scoring 15 points better (-7 compared to +8) on the question of approve/disapprove and a whopping 18 points better (-17 compared to +1) on the question of strongly approve/strongly disapprove.” the report concludes.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Democrats support expanding Medicare, with some caveats that could matter to voters

FILE PHOTO: Former Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks at the United States Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) speaks at the United States Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, U.S., January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

March 13, 2019

By Amanda Becker and Ginger Gibson

WASHINGTON/ST. GEORGE, S.C. (Reuters) – After launching his 2020 presidential bid last week, John Hickenlooper took a different stance on establishing a “Medicare-for-all” government health insurance program than many of his Democratic competitors.

“I probably would oppose Medicare-for-all just because there are over 150 million people, Americans who have some form of private insurance through their business, and the vast majority of them are happy with that,” the former Colorado governor said on MSNBC. He added he supported reaching universal health insurance coverage by another route.

In contrast, five of the U.S. senators seeking the Democratic presidential nomination – Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders – back a Medicare-for-all bill that would replace the current mix of private and government coverage with a plan provided solely by the government.

The candidates’ positions highlight a divide in the growing field on one of the defining issues in the Democratic Party’s primary battle. While Democrats have long pushed for some type of universal healthcare, the Medicare-for-all proposal has met resistance from more centrist party members concerned about the hefty price tag and disrupting voters’ current coverage.

Medicare also will likely remain an issue for the general election in November 2020, with Democrats already criticizing President Donald Trump’s proposal on Monday to slash $845 billion from the program’s budget over the next decade.

New Reuters/Ipsos polling suggests the details of any Medicare overhaul will matter to voters. While a majority of Democrats generally favor establishing a Medicare-for-all system, their support would drop if that system also raised their taxes or did not deliver the same quality of care, according to the survey, conducted from Feb. 27 to March 4.

(For a graphic on the poll: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Uxt1Eh)

Eighty-five percent of Democrats said they strongly or somewhat supported a Medicare-for-all health insurance program, but just 27 percent thought it should completely eliminate private insurance.

Thirty-nine percent of Democrats said they would be somewhat less likely or much less likely to support a Medicare-for-all program if their income taxes increased, and 42 percent said their support would decrease if the program raised the national budget deficit.

More than half of Democrats – 64 percent – said they would be less likely to support a Medicare-for-all program if it covered less than their current health insurance plan, and 52 percent said they would be less likely to support it if they had to wait longer to receive non-emergency care, according to the poll.

Thirty-nine percent of Republicans said they supported a Medicare-for-all program to some degree, along with 65 percent of independents.

CANDIDATES STAKE POSITIONS

Democratic candidates eager to show their progressive credentials have quickly lined up in support of Medicare expansion but are thus far short on specifics.

Harris declared herself a “big proponent of Medicare-for-all” as she campaigned in South Carolina, an early primary state, over the weekend.

“Access to affordable healthcare should not be a privilege for those who can pay it, it should be a right for everybody,” she said at a town hall in the rural town of Hemingway, offering a personal story about how her mother’s death from cancer was easier to navigate thanks to Medicare.

The California senator’s campaign has said, however, that she would also be open to more moderate, incremental proposals, after she suggested eliminating private health insurance altogether at a CNN town hall in January.

The Senate plan authored by Sanders and co-sponsored by Harris, Gillibrand, Booker and Warren would finance the Medicare expansion through a combination of taxes on employers, individuals, businesses and the wealthy.

The liberal Urban Institute estimated that an earlier, nearly identical Sanders plan would cost $32 trillion over a decade, with the additional taxes raising about $15 trillion.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a business-friendly Democrat, said in an interview with Reuters that he supports attaining universal healthcare “as quickly as possible” but has not made up his mind about a Medicare-for-all proposal, or allowing people younger than 65 to buy into the program.

Senator Amy Klobuchar supports universal healthcare and expanding Medicare, but has not signed onto Sanders’ proposal or committed to any plans that would eliminate private insurance.

Voters at Harris’ events in South Carolina offered mixed views on the best approach.

Xavaier and Jennette Wescott of Charleston said they like their private insurance but might be willing to switch coverage in order to transition to a universal health insurance system.

“For those who need it, it should be instilled,” said Xavaier Wescott, 57, a retired firefighter. “Nowadays it’s hard to get insurance for those who can’t afford, and it’s hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle if you don’t.”

Jennette Wescott suggested a Medicare phase-in for young people.

About 64 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they would enroll in Medicare if the eligibility age were lowered and they were given the opportunity.

Brittany Dickson, 28, of Summerville, South Carolina, said her current high-deductible private plan would justify paying additional taxes to finance a Medicare-for-all system. She has a $5,000 deductible before her private insurance kicks in.

“Still have to pay all this money before insurance covers anything,” Dickson said. “I pay taxes for a lot of different stuff anyway. I think it’s for a good cause.”

The Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 2,936 people was conducted Feb. 27 to March 4. It has a credibility interval, a measure of the poll’s precision, of 2 percentage points.

(Reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington and Ginger Gibson in South Carolina; additional reporting by Chris Kahn in New York and Sharon Bernstein in Seattle; editing by Colleen Jenkins and Dan Grebler)

Source: OANN

0 0

Man stabbed to death in Warsaw, police make arrest

Police officers investigate the site of stabbing in Warsaw
Police officers investigate the site of stabbing in Warsaw, Poland, April 11, 2019. Agencja Gazeta/Adam Stepien via REUTERS

April 11, 2019

WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish police on Thursday detained one man in central Warsaw after another died of stab wounds, but there was no suspicion of a terrorist motive or further danger to citizens, a spokeswoman said.

Police were informed at 6:55 p.m. (1655 GMT) that a man was lying bloodied on a street in central Warsaw, but paramedics were unable to revive him.

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

0 0

Cain’s possible nomination for Fed in peril as Republican opposition mounts

FILE PHOTO: Former presidential candidate Herman Cain arrives at a rally for U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in Tampa, Florida
FILE PHOTO: Former presidential candidate Herman Cain arrives at a rally for U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in Tampa, Florida January 30, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

April 11, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The expected nomination of businessman Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve appeared in jeopardy on Thursday as another Republican voiced opposition, possibly denying Cain the support needed in the Senate to be confirmed in the post.

“If I had to vote today, I would vote no,” Senator Kevin Cramer said in a statement.

Cramer becomes the fourth Republican senator reported to be opposed to Cain’s expected nomination by President Donald Trump. If all of the Senate’s Democrats and the two independents aligned with them were to vote against Cain, he would fall short of the majority support he would need.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: OANN

0 0

U.S. trial tests claims Roundup weed killer caused cancer

FILE PHOTO: A woman uses a Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray without glyphosate in a garden in Ercuis near Paris
FILE PHOTO: A woman uses a Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray without glyphosate in a garden in Ercuis near Paris, France, May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

February 25, 2019

By Jim Christie

(Reuters) – Bayer AG on Monday faced a second U.S. jury over allegations that its popular glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, six months after the company’s share price was rocked by a $289 million verdict in California state court.

The lawsuit by California resident Edwin Hardeman against the company began on Monday morning in federal rather than state court. The trial is also a test case for a larger litigation. More than 760 of the 9,300 Roundup cases nationwide are consolidated in the federal court in San Francisco that is hearing Hardeman’s case.

Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, saying decades of independent studies have shown the world’s most widely used weed killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around the world have approved the product.

During the first phase in the trial, the nine-person jury is asked to weigh scientific evidence to determine whether Roundup caused Hardeman’s lymphoma.

Aimee Wagstaff, a lawyer for Hardeman, told a packed courtroom during her opening statement on Monday that chemicals in Roundup made the weed killer more toxic than glyphosate alone, causing the man’s cancer.

But U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who presides over the federal litigation, repeatedly scolded her for “crossing the line” by referring to internal corporate communications the judge has said have no bearing on the science in the case.

“You completely disregarded the limitations,” Chhabria said.

In a January ruling, Chhabria called evidence by plaintiffs that the company allegedly attempted to influence regulators and manipulate public opinion “a distraction” from the scientific question of whether glyphosate causes cancer.

If the jury determines Roundup caused Hardeman’s cancer, the judge said such evidence could be presented in a second trial phase.

Plaintiffs criticized Chhabria’s order dividing the trial and restricting evidence as “unfair,” saying their scientific evidence allegedly showing glyphosate causes cancer is inextricably linked to Monsanto’s alleged wrongful conduct.

Evidence of corporate misconduct was seen as playing a key role in the finding by a California state court jury in August that Roundup caused another man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that Bayer’s Monsanto unit failed to warn consumers about the weed killer’s cancer risks. That jury’s $289 million damages award was later reduced to $78 million.

Bayer’s share price dropped 10 percent following the verdict and has remained volatile.

Brian Stekloff, a lawyer for Bayer, in his opening statement attacked the idea of a link between Roundup and cancer. He noted U.S. rates of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have remained steady over time, even when Roundup use began to soar in the 1990s.

Hardeman began using the Roundup brand herbicide with glyphosate in the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property and sprayed “large volumes” of the chemical for many years on a regular basis, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 66 in February 2015 and filed his lawsuit a year later. Hardeman is currently in remission.

But Stekloff on Monday said Hardeman’s age and his history of chronic hepatitis C were known risk factors for developing lymphoma. The lawyer also said the majority of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma incidents are idiopathic, or have no known cause.

(Reporting by Jim Christie in San Francisco, Writing by Tina Bellon; editing by Anthony Lin, Lisa Shumamker and Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

0 0

USC medical program loses national accreditation

The University of Southern California is losing national accreditation for a medical training program dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education notified USC and Los Angeles County this week that their joint-run fellowship in cardiovascular disease will be stripped of accreditation next year. The decision is final and would effectively shut down the program, which had 15 slots for a three-year curriculum.

USC said it hoped to have a new cardiology fellowship program in place before the current one closes in June 2020.

"We are fully committed to working with the ACGME and USC to take every action necessary to restore our standing for all residency training programs," said Christina Ghaly, director of the county Department of Health Services. "We are determined to deliver an exceptional training environment that is safe and inclusive for every physician completing graduate medical education."

The accreditation council gave no public reason for its decision. However, the Times said USC's medical school dean, Dr. Laura Mosqueda, announced the decision Thursday in a faculty memo that said it was based on concerns about "resident safety and wellness processes."

The school and the county were sued in 2017 by Dr. Meena Zareh, who alleged while she was a resident she was groped by a fellow in the program, Dr. Guillermo Cortes, and that the incident was never properly investigated. Two other women later came forward with similar assault allegations.

Cortes' attorney has said his client denies the allegations.

It's the latest embarrassment for USC's medical school and health services. The Times reported that previous medical school dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito associated with criminals and people who used drugs and had been captured on video apparently smoking methamphetamine. He gave up his post in 2016 but remained a faculty member until USC fired him in 2017.

USC President C. L. Max Nikias resigned last summer amid reports that the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Man Yells “Allahu Akbar” at Funeral of German Woman Murdered by Muslim Boyfriend

Panicked churchgoers fled in terror after a man yelled “Allahu Akbar” during the funeral of a German woman who was brutally murdered by her Muslim migrant boyfriend.

More than 500 people participated in the funeral march which took place in the city of Worms following the murder of 21-year-old Cynthia R.

Cynthia was killed by her boyfriend Ahmed T. having previously agreed to wear a hijab and learn Arabic to please the 22-year-old asylum seeker who already knew that he was about to be deported.

After Cynthia refused to go to Tunisia with Ahmed, who had been abusing the system by claiming welfare under three different names while in Germany, “He stabbed the young woman by ramming a kitchen knife through her neck, her lungs, her hands and her back more than ten times,” reports VladTepes.

Despite the somber nature of the funeral march, the funeral itself was ruined when a man rushed to the front of the church before standing in front of the altar, holding his arms outstretched and shouting “Allahu Akbar!”

The refrain means “God is great” in Arabic but it is also routinely shouted by Islamic terrorists before they carry out violent attacks.

This prompted around 20 attendees to run out of the church “distraught” and “crying” over the incident.

Police later arrested the culprit before a news report about the incident blamed it on a “bad joke” or a “confused man”.

“She meant so much to me and I miss her a lot,” said Cynthia’s cousin Patrick Schopp. “I will keep her in my memory as this fun-loving person who never had anything bad to say about anyone and who was very helpful with everyone.”

null

According to figures from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), migrant crime targeting German citizens has soared by over 23 per cent in a single year.

As Reuters acknowledged last year, Germany has suffered a “two-year increase in violent crime,” rising 10 per cent in 2015 and 2016. 90 per cent of that increase was attributed to “young male refugees”.

As we document in the video below (which is banned in Germany), rather than directly address the multitude of problems that importing around 2 million “refugees” has caused the country, German authorities appear more intent on brainwashing and coercing their population into accepting the new reality with passive compliance.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:

Follow on Twitter:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

Source: InfoWars

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
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.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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

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.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

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.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

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 HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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