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Trump assembles 2020 war chest


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On the roster: Trump assembles 2020 war chest - Report: Biden debates adding VP choice to announcement - GOP redistricting moderated Dems’ 2018 gains - The Judge’s Ruling: Can the president break the law? - Petco’s policy is no bull

TRUMP ASSEMBLES 2020 WAR CHEST
Fox News: “While President Trump is facing murmurs of a primary challenge – as well as a massive field of Democratic candidates jockeying to take him on – the incumbent president enters the 2020 melee with an undeniable advantage: a war chest that would be the envy of any modern president. Unlike most incumbents, Trump started his re-election bid on day one of his presidency. He filed papers with the Federal Election Commission within hours of being inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. Many saw it as a comical – albeit in character – step for the audacious Trump. Yet, by doing so he was able to raise huge sums of money four years before the election. According to recent FEC data, the Trump campaign has raised over $67 million from 2017 to 2018, with nearly $20 million on hand. Combined with the hauls from two major joint fundraising groups – Trump Victory and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee – the president has raised over $130 million as of the end of 2018, with over $35 million on hand.”

Economic models show a Trump 2020 landslide - Politico: “But if the election were held today, he’d likely ride to a second term in a huge landslide, according to multiple economic models… Credit a strong U.S. economy featuring low unemployment, rising wages and low gas prices — along with the historic advantage held by incumbent presidents. While Trump appears to be in a much stronger position than his approval rating and conventional Beltway wisdom might suggest, he also could wind up in trouble if the economy slows markedly between now and next fall, as many analysts predict it will. And other legal bombshells could explode the current scenario. Trump’s party managed to lose the House in 2018 despite a strong economy. So the models could wind up wrong this time around. Despite all these caveats, Trump looks surprisingly good if the old James Carville maxim coined in 1992 — ‘the economy, stupid’ — holds true in 2020.”

Trump charged his own campaign $1.3 million - Forbes: “Donald Trump has charged his own reelection campaign $1.3 million for rent, food, lodging and other expenses since taking office, according to a Forbes analysis of the latest campaign filings. And although outsiders have contributed more than $50 million to the campaign, the billionaire president hasn’t handed over any of his own cash. The net effect: $1.3 million of donor money has turned into $1.3 million of Trump money. In December, Forbes reported on the first $1.1 million that President Trump moved from his campaign into his business. Since then, his campaign filed additional documentation showing that it spent another $180,000 at Trump-owned properties in the final three months of 2018.”

Pence pushing for anti-Trumpers to donate this time around - Politico: “When Vice President Mike Pence appeared before some of the GOP’s most powerful donors at the iconic Pebble Beach golf course on Monday evening, he did something that would’ve been unthinkable a few years ago. Over a surf and turf dinner, the vice president showered praise on Paul Singer, a prominent New York City hedge fund manager who spent millions of dollars in 2016 bankrolling TV ads painting Trump as ‘too reckless and dangerous to be president.’ … The private dinner provides a window into a behind-the-scenes, Pence-led mission: to ensure that Republican givers who never came around to Trump in 2016 are on board for 2020. With Democrats already raking in colossal amounts of cash, Republicans estimate they’ll need to raise around $1 billion — a figure that will require the party’s donor class to be all-in.”

THE RULEBOOK: PUT UP A BRAVE FRONT  
“But whatever may be our situation, whether firmly united under one national government, or split into a number of confederacies, certain it is, that foreign nations will know and view it exactly as it is; and they will act toward us accordingly.” – John Jay, Federalist No. 4

TIME OUT: HBD BACH!
Time: “Now you can harmonize like Johann Sebastian Bach thanks to Google’s first ever AI-driven Doodle. To celebrate the German composer’s March 21, 1685 birthday, Doodle lets users compose a melody in Bach’s style. … Bach was born in a small town of Eisenach in Germany to a family with strong musical background. Influenced by his father who worked as the director of the town’s musicians, Bach started out as a chorister before learning the violin. Much of his legacy is attributed to his genius mastery of the violin. More than 300 years after his death, 1,000 pieces of Bach’s work have lived on in manuscripts and are performed worldwide. John Eliot Gardiner, an English Bach conductor compares listening to the German composer to snorkelling. ‘Being in Bach’s music has that sense of otherness: it’s another world we enter … You put your mask on, and you go down to a psychedelic world of myriad colours.’”

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SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 41 percent
Average disapproval: 53.6 percent
Net Score: -12.6 points
Change from one week ago: down 1.8 points 
[Average includes: CNN: 43% approve - 51% disapprove; Gallup: 39% approve - 57% disapprove; Monmouth University: 44% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 55% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 53% disapprove.]

REPORT: BIDEN DEBATES ADDING VP CHOICE TO ANNOUNCEMENT
Axios: “Close advisers to former Vice President Joe Biden are debating the idea of packaging his presidential campaign announcement with a pledge to choose Stacey Abrams as his vice president. Why it matters: The popular Georgia Democrat, who at age 45 is 31 years younger than Biden, would bring diversity and excitement to the ticket — showing voters, in the words of a close source, that Biden ‘isn't just another old white guy.’ But the decision poses considerable risk, and some advisers are flatly opposed. Some have pointed out that in a Democratic debate, he could be asked why no one on the stage would be a worthy running mate. Advisers also know that the move would be perceived as a gimmick. Biden's position on the issue couldn't be learned — we were just told about the advisers' debate. Biden has discussed selecting a running mate early, a move that one senior Democrat said could hurt him by feeding ‘an air of inevitability,’ CNN reported. Biden's office declined to comment. Abrams met Biden in Washington last week to discuss her next political steps, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.”

Delaney calls on Kasich or Hogan to challenge Trump - Politico: “Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney on Thursday said a Republican, such as former Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, should challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. ‘Unless Republicans believe that Donald Trump is a fair and accurate representation of the Republican party as a whole, they should put up a challenger to run against him in the primary election,’ he said in a statement, adding that few Republicans ‘have shown the courage to stand up to Trump.’ … ‘Voices like John Kasich and Governor Hogan, from my state, would do an enormous service to not just their party, but to their fellow Americans to stand up and challenge this President,’ Delaney said.”

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet getting closer to 2020 announcement - Denver Post: “U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is taking the final steps toward becoming the second Colorado Democrat in the 2020 race for president, with a possible announcement coming soon, sources familiar with his plan have told The Denver Post. Craig Hughes, a longtime adviser, said a final decision has not been made. ‘We’re making progress towards a decision and encouraged by what we are seeing and hearing,’ Hughes said. While an announcement is not imminent, Bennet could announce within a month, the Democratic sources said. Bennet, Colorado’s senior senator, has been considering a run since the fall.”

Klobuchar gets caught citing bad data about reducing black incarceration - WaPo: “In response to a sharp question from [CNN’s Jake] Tapper about what [Sen. Amy] Klobuchar did as a prosecutor to deal with ‘stark racial disparities’ in the ratio of African Americans sent to Minnesota jails, the 2020 presidential hopeful had a ready answer: The incarceration rate fell 65 percent ‘from the beginning of my term to the end.’ CNN reported that Klobuchar’s staff later clarified that she was talking about the jail population, not the prisons, in Hennepin County. … [But] it wasn’t true. … The prison admission rate for African Americans did drop during her tenure, though how much credit she can claim is subject to dispute. … On national television, Klobuchar claimed a figure that should have been unbelievable to herself.”

Colin Reed: ‘Will the 3 Bs (Beto, Biden and Bernie) leave Elizabeth Warren on the sidelines in 2020? - Fox News: “It’s been less than three months since Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., became the first Democratic presidential hopeful to enter the race, but it may as well have been three years. Look at how the political landscape has shifted since Warren’s surprise New Year’s Eve announcement. … In the past, Warren could count on raising both in spades. Now, she’s losing in the battle for resources and attention, having been overshadowed by the three B’s of Biden, Bernie and Beto. … One bright spot for Warren is the upcoming debates – assuming that she is able to meet the qualifying requirements. Having gone to college on a debate scholarship, Warren can be formidable dissecting her political opponents when the lights are shining brightest. … Had Elizabeth Warren entered the presidential race in 2016, she very well could be president. Now it seems as though her moment has come and gone.”

GOP REDISTRICTING MODERATED DEMS’ 2018 GAINS
AP: “Democrats won more votes, regained control of the U.S. House and flipped hundreds of seats in state legislatures during the 2018 elections. … Yet it wasn’t as bad as it could have been for Republicans. That’s because they may have benefited from a built-in advantage in some states, based on how political districts were drawn, that prevented deeper losses or helped them hold on to power, according to a mathematical analysis by The Associated Press. The AP’s analysis indicates that Republicans won about 16 more U.S. House seats than would have been expected based on their average share of the vote in congressional districts across the country. In state House elections, Republicans’ structural advantage might have helped them hold on to as many as seven chambers that otherwise could have flipped to Democrats, according to the analysis. The AP examined all U.S. House races and about 4,900 state House and Assembly seats up for election last year using a statistical method of calculating partisan advantage that is designed to flag cases of potential political gerrymandering.”

THE JUDGE’S RULING: CAN THE PRESIDENT BREAK THE LAW?
This week Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses previous presidents who used the power of the Oval Office for acts that are deemed criminal: “Legal scholars have been fascinated for two centuries about whether an American president can break the law and remain immune from prosecution. … During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered banks to confiscate gold from Americans who had purchased and possessed it lawfully. Wasn't that theft? In the early 1970s, Richard Nixon used the CIA to spy on Americans and to frustrate the FBI's efforts to investigate a burglary at the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters, and then he denied doing any of this. Wasn't that an invasion of privacy and obstruction of justice and using a federal office for deception? …Can the president legally break the law? If he can, we will soon be back to the Nixon days. And we all know how they ended.” More here.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Rep. Elijah Cummings reveals Jared and Ivanka use private email accounts for official business - NYT

New Congress will hit three month mark with not much to show - WaPo

Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment, refuses to turn over documents for top Dem's probe - Fox News

AUDIBLE: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY
“We’ll make sure a space is cleared off for him, just in case he decides to jump on anything.” – Kirsten Neves, co-owner of Tuckerman Brewing Co. in Conway, N.H., told Politico in reference to Beto O’Rourke’s tendency to stand on elevated surfaces.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

PETCO’S POLICY IS NO BULL
KXAN: “A Texas rancher found a unique way to test out Petco’s ‘all leashed pets are welcome’ policy. He took his African Watusi steer, Oliver, into the store. Vincent Browning's goal was to see if the company stands by its claim. The pair walked into the store, and Oliver was greeted by employees without a problem. Browning said on Facebook that the Atascocita Petco was by far his and Oliver's favorite by far. African Watusi steer are typically between 1,000 and 1,600 pounds. Their demeanor is generally described as docile.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“As a moderate carnivore myself, I confess to living in Jeffersonian hypocrisy. It’s a bit late for me to live on berries and veggies. … And while I don’t demand that every chicken I consume be certified to have enjoyed an open meadow and a vibrant social life, if I can eat free range, I will.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on May 7, 2015.

Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Russian diplomat accused of espionage quietly leaves Sweden

Swedish authorities say a Russian diplomat has quietly left Sweden following the arrest of a computer specialist he allegedly handled as a spy and met for dinner in Stockholm to carry out an act of espionage.

The delay in Moscow recalling the diplomat after he was seen meeting with the Swedish computer specialist had puzzled government officials.

An intelligence report from a European service obtained by The Associated Press identified the diplomat as Yevgeny Umerenko and alleged he served as a "line-x officer," or a specialist in technology espionage.

Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter first named Umerenko.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment

The computer specialist was arrested on Feb. 26 by Sweden's domestic security agency.

Anna Lundbladh, a spokeswoman for Sweden's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, confirmed Thursday that Umerenko had left the country.

Source: Fox News World

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Two Venezuela central bank employees arrested after meeting Guaido: lawyer, source

FILE PHOTO: Protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas
FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country's rightful interim ruler, speaks during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

April 12, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Two workers at Venezuela’s central bank were arrested on Friday after meeting opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has called on public officials to disavow President Nicolas Maduro, according to the employees’ lawyer and a source familiar with the matter.

The attorney, Alonso Medina Roa, said the two employees – Deny Albujar and Manuel Alberto Guisseppe – had also recently taken part in protests demanding better working conditions.

According to Roa, they have not yet appeared in court and the charges against them are unknown.

The arrests came as Maduro cracks down on the opposition amid a nearly three-month power struggle with Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency in January.

He has been recognized as the OPEC nation’s rightful leader by more than 50 countries, which agree with his claim that Maduro’s May 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Maduro, a socialist, argues Guaido is a puppet of the United States attempting to oust him in a coup.

Both Albujar and Guisseppe, whose job titles were unknown, were present at a public meeting on Monday that Guaido held at the National Assembly with a few dozen state employees, the source said. Guaido discussed a proposed law to improve benefits to public workers in a new government once Maduro leaves power, the source said. None of the other participants has been arrested.

Albujar and Guisseppe worked at the bank for more than five years, the source added.

Neither the central bank nor Venezuela’s information ministry, which handles media for the government, responded to requests for comment.

Public workers in Venezuela have been demanding better salaries and benefits for several months, as their wages and living standards have been eroded by hyperinflation.

(Reporting by Caracas Newsroom; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Bangladeshi student burned to death by fellow students for reporting sexual harassment by head teacher

A Bangladeshi teenager who braved the shame and taboo of being sexually harassed by reporting her ordeal to officials, has been doused with kerosene at school and burned to death.

Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, filed a complaint with local police in late March after allegedly being touched inappropriately by the head teacher at her Islamic school, also known as a madrasa, according to the BBC.  A police officer filmed her distraught testimony on his mobile phone and it was leaked after the teacher was arrested.

Despite the increasing threats of violence against her, Rafi continued going to class and on April 6, reportedly was lured to a building rooftop at her school. She was then surrounded by several burqa-clad individuals who demanded that she retract her police report.

After refusing, the Police Bureau of Investigation Chief told the BBC, the student was doused in kerosene and set alight –but their plan to “make it look like a suicide” failed after the severely injured Rafi was rescued.

GRUESOME RAPE, MURDER OF KASHMIR GIRL RAISES TENSIONS

She suffered burns to more than 80 percent of her body, and died ten days later. But while being rushed to hospital via ambulance and in one final act of courage, Rafi recorded a statement on her brother’s phone exposing some of her attackers as fellow students.

“The teacher touched me,” she reportedly said. “I will fight this crime till my last breath.”

“When a woman tries to get justice for sexual harassment, she has to face a lot of harassment again,” Salma Ali, a human rights lawyer and former director of the Women Lawyers’ Association, told the BBC. “The case lingers for years, there is shaming in society, a lack of willingness from the police to properly investigate the allegations. It leads the victim to give up on seeking justice.”

NUNS SEXUALLY ABUSING MINORS COULD BECOME NEXT CATHOLIC CHURCH SCANDAL, EXPERTS SAY

But given the wave of media attention and the outpouring of anger that has arisen in the wake of Rafi’s murder, some remain hopeful that at least some justice might be served. The case is under investigation and authorities have already determined law enforcement negligence in the initial response to her complaints.

More than a dozen arrests reportedly have been made related to her murder.

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At a news conference this week, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also took aim at the Islamic school for a long track record of ignoring previous grievances against the headmaster’s behavior toward female students.

“If the administration from the district level to madrasa acted responsibly, then the incident would never have taken place,” noted Kazi Reazul Haque, the NHRC chairman. “We questioned how (the head teacher) was appointed as the principal despite having this kind of past.”

Source: Fox News World

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Death toll from China pesticide plant explosion hits 12

Vehicle of paramilitary police is seen near smoke following an explosion at a chemical industrial park in Xiangshui
A vehicle of paramilitary police is seen near smoke following an explosion at a chemical industrial park in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

March 22, 2019

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The death toll from an explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on Thursday evening has risen to 12, state media said on Friday.

China Central Television reported that the fire at the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in the city of Yancheng had been put under control at 3.00am local time on Friday morning.

It said a total of 88 people were rescued from the scene, including the 12 fatalities.

According to a report in the official China Daily on Friday, the fire at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi Chemical Company spread to neighboring factories. Children at a kindergarten located in the vicinity of the factory were also hospitalized.

The exact cause of the blast is still under investigation, but the company – which produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, some of which are highly flammable – has been cited and fined for work safety violations in the past, the China Daily said.

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: OANN

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Reporter’s Notebook: Why House Dem leaders can’t wreck the freshmen’s ‘homecoming float’

Back when I was in high school, a couple of upperclassmen got in big trouble for going out late one night and trashing the freshman class homecoming float.

Homecoming was a big production at my rural high school. A few weeks before the big day, each class would usually scope out a barn somewhere and begin tricking out a hay trailer with every piece of crepe paper available in southwestern Ohio. This would be the genesis of a class float for the homecoming parade.

But in my junior year, vandals ruined the freshman homecoming float. People were mad. But it surprised nobody. After all, it was only the freshman homecoming float. Certainly, the freshmen weren’t going to defile the junior or senior homecoming float. They were lowly underclassmen. It was only natural that upperclassmen would tear up the freshman float. After all, they were just freshmen.

DEM LEADERS REJECT IMMEDIATE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS IN URGENT CONFERENCE CALL

You wouldn’t blame senior House Democrats for occasionally wanting to trash the House freshman homecoming float. After all, the left-wing messages of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., seem to capture most of the attention in the press – much to the dismay of other voices in the House Democratic Caucus. But House Democrats know they can’t rip up the homecoming float of the freshmen.

That’s because the politics of many House Democrats are far more moderate than those of Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar and others. Democrats don't have control of the House because they won those dark-blue districts in New York, Michigan and Minnesota. Democrats are now in the majority because of freshmen most Americans have never heard of: Reps. Abby Finkenauer, D-Iowa, Ben McAdams, D-Utah, Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., to name a few. These Democrats are more tempered in their views. They represent swing districts. They flipped their seats from red to blue in the last election cycle. And party elders know they have to keep these seats in Democratic hands or risk a return to the minority.

This is why Democrats can't wreck the freshman float. The freshmen are too valuable, even if a particularly small minority of those freshmen are the ones who capture the headlines.

CONWAY: TRUMP CAN'T BE IMPEACHED BY AN INVESTIGATION DEMOCRATS STARTED

This reflects the current Democratic conundrum with the Mueller Report. Some liberal Democrats believe the report clears them to move to impeach President Trump. More moderate Democrats aren't so sure.

The Mueller report not only revealed some of Trump’s deceitful behavior but exposed chasms between House Democrats over how to proceed in the post-special counsel world.

This is why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reiterated to her caucus in a letter Monday that House Democrats will "conduct oversight over the other branches of government."

Not exactly a full-throated endorsement of impeachment. That's why Pelosi immediately pivoted in her missive to call out the GOP.

CHRIS STIREWALT: IMPEACHMENT TALK PUTS DEMOCRATS IN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION

"Congressional Republicans have an unlimited appetite for such low standards," Pelosi wrote of Trump's comportment as spelled out in the Mueller Report. "The GOP should be ashamed of what the Mueller Report has revealed, instead of giving the President their blessings."

Pelosi must walk down both sides of the street, simultaneously jabbing the President and his Administration – to say nothing of Congressional Republicans – without doing anything to damage her freshman class and new majority.

In her letter, Pelosi wrote that Democrats were committed to finding the "truth." That’s why House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., authorized a subpoena for former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify and provide documents about what he told Mueller. Nadler announced the subpoena moments before House Democrats jumped on the Monday conference call to discuss their options now that the Russia investigation is complete.

WHY THE MUELLER REPORT COULD TURN INTO A NEVER-ENDING STORY ON THE HILL

The release of the Mueller report in the middle of a two-week Congressional recess for Easter and Passover may have hindered the ability of Democrats control the narrative. Trump could thunder on Twitter there was "no collusion" and "no obstruction," Game of Thrones style. It would have been easier for Democrats to counter Trump's narrative had lawmakers been roaming the Capitol. But the timing of the report's publication may have been a blessing in disguise for Democrats. The absence of Democrats in Washington muted internal schisms over what would come next.

So this is the likely path for Democrats: Lots of hearings. Attorney General William Barr is slated to appear at Senate and House sessions next week. Then a likely appearance by Mueller. Possible testimony by McGahn later in May. The trick for Democrats is to continue chipping away at the president, undercutting him going into 2020 – yet not to impeach. Such a strategy might not be everything liberal Democrats want. But it could mildly satisfy the appetite of the base as they attempt to pummel the President.

Moreover, such a scheme would protect many of the vulnerable House Democrats mentioned above – especially freshmen from battleground districts.

That said, there is a risk that the public could interpret repeated inquests into various aspects of the Mueller report as harassment. That could distract from the Democrats’ honed message of health care and infrastructure. But it’s not impeachment.

“If it is what we need to do to honor our responsibility to the Constitution – if that’s the place the facts take us, that’s the place we have to go,” said Pelosi on the conference call. “We don’t have to go to articles of impeachment to obtain the facts, the presentation of facts.”

No wonder Trump told reporters Monday he was “not even a little bit” worried about impeachment.

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So, Democrats will kinda-sorta-maybe-perhaps-talk-about-impeachment-but-not-rule-it-out any time soon. Republicans will rail against this ploy as though Democrats are aiming for the jugular. But rank-and-file Democrats, especially freshmen, will enjoy a few layers of protection. Pelosi needs all her new members on board with the gambit. Liberals and moderates. Those from safe districts. Those from liberal epicenters.

All new majorities in the House refer to their freshman as "majority makers." So, this "tweener" ploy is just for them, regardless of their politics.

And that’s why the freshman homecoming float will remain intact for now.

Source: Fox News Politics

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James Clapper defends his Trump-Russia commentary on CNN: 'I've tried to be factual and temperate-minded'

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who had questioned President Trump's judgment multiple times during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, tried defending his commentary on Monday after the release of the findings from the Mueller report.

On the White House lawn, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had challenged Congress to call Obama administration officials to testify, including Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, who she claimed “perpetuated this absurd lie” that President Trump was a “foreign agent” for Russia.

Clapper, a CNN national security analyst, responded by suggesting that Sanders was “confusing” collusion with Russian interference, telling Anderson Cooper that he was “tasked” by then-President Obama to put together the reports on Russian interference in the 2016 election. He insisted that he had been “consistent” shortly following Trump’s inauguration that “we didn’t have enough evidence” at the time and that the Mueller probe would “resolve it once and for all.”

“Do you regret anything you have said in terms of raising questions about the president’s behavior or anything the president has done or said?” Cooper asked.

“No, I don’t,” Clapper answered. “I have my concerns as do others and I have tried to be factual and temperate-minded about it  but I do have my concerns and no, I don’t have any regrets.”

DAN BONGINO: THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO STARTED PHONY RUSSIA PROBE AND MUST ANSWER FOR IT

In December 2017, Clapper told CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin “knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with” Trump.

The previous summer, after Trump held a raucous rally in Phoenix, Clapper reacted: “I really question his ability to be, his fitness to be in this office and I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it. maybe he is looking for a way out.”

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Earlier Monday, Brennan walked back his previous commentary to MSNBC viewers claiming more indictments were coming that would prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as obstruction of justice committed by the president.

“I don’t know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was,” Brennan said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Cyprus police on Friday widened their search for more victims of a suspected serial killer after the 35-year-old national guard captain told investigators he killed four more people that he previously admitted to on the small Mediterranean nation.

The count now has climbed to seven.

CYPRUS FEARS POSSIBLE SERIAL KILLER AFTER BODIES OF TWO WOMEN ARE DISCOVERED IN MINESHAFT

Authorities said they are focusing on a military firing range, a man-made lake and an abandoned mine about 20 miles west of the capital Nicosia.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades expressed “deep sorrow and concern” at the slayings and said he shared the public’s revulsion at “murders that appear to have selectively targeted foreign women who are in our country to work.”

“Such instincts are contrary to our culture’s traditions and values,” he said in a statement from China, where he was on an official visit. He urged calm so police can complete their investigation.

The scale of the alleged crimes by a Cypriot National Guard captain has horrified the small nation of over a million people, where multiple killings are rare. Five British law enforcement officials — including a coroner, a psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in multiple homicides — have been dispatched to help with the investigation.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect, who can’t yet be named because he hasn’t been formally charged, told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. Police said the suspect will appear in court Saturday for another custody hearing.

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims. 

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week’s discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims.  (AP)

The victims — all foreigners— include Marry Rose Tiburcio, 38, from the Philippines, whose bound body was found April 14 in a flooded mineshaft. She and her six-year-old daughter had been missing since May of last year.

The girl remains missing and authorities believe she was also slain by the suspect. Divers have entered the reservoir to search for her but have not found her body yet.

CYPRUS: GROUND NOT YET READY FOR PEACE TALKS RESUMPTION 

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio’s online messages.

Six days later, police discovered another body April 20 in the same mineshaft, identified by Cypriot media as 28-year-old Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines.

A third alleged victim, also of Filipino descent, is 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola, who had been missing since December 2017. The suspect initially denied killing Arquiola but reversed himself after a court hearing Thursday, a police official said.

The suspect on Thursday also pointed investigators to a military firing range, where they discovered another unidentified body, which according to the suspect belongs to a woman of either Nepalese or Indian descent.

SERIAL KILLER WHO MAY HAVE COMMITTED 90 MURDERS IS LINKED TO YET ANOTHER KILLING 

Cypriot police are also looking for a Romanian mother and daughter. Cypriot media identified them as Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, and eight-year-old Elena Natalia Bunea, who are believed to have been missing since September 2016.

The man-made lake remains off-limits to a manned search because of high levels of toxic heavy metals from the copper pyrite mine, Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said, adding that authorities will use other means to scour the lake.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus police have faced criticism from immigrant activists who said they didn’t act fast enough to investigate the whereabouts of some of the victims, many of them domestic workers. The island nation has 80 unsolved missing persons cases, going back to 1990.

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Police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou said a three-member panel has been assigned to probe whether police followed all the correct protocol in recent missing persons cases.

According to the state-run Cyprus News Agency, an investigator had told the court at an earlier hearing that the suspect admitted to killing one woman he met online after having sex with her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News World

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Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. REUTERS TV/ via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-run National Assembly said on Friday that opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro was detained, which it described in a Twitter post as a violation of diplomatic immunity.

Caro had previously spend a year and a half in jail, before being freed in June 2018. The arrest comes as Juan Guaido, the National Assembly’s leader, mounts a challenge to President Nicolas Maduro, arguing his 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Guaido in January invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury's store in Redhill
FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury’s store in Redhill, Britain, March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) – With Sainsbury’s dream of creating Britain’s biggest supermarket group in tatters, its chastened CEO Mike Coupe needs to reassure investors he has the plan to arrest a sales decline when he presents annual results next week.

Britain’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s 7.3 billion pound ($9.4 billion) takeover of Walmart’s Asda on Thursday, saying the deal would increase prices. Sainsbury’s shares fell 5 percent and are down 22 percent over the last three months.

For Sainsbury’s fourth quarter to March 9 analysts are on average forecasting a 1.6 percent fall in like-for-like sales, which would follow 1.1 percent decline over the Christmas period.

Monthly industry data from researcher Kantar has also shown Sainsbury’s as the weakest performer of the big four grocers this year and this month it lost its status as Britain’s No. 2 supermarket group by market share to Asda.

While Sainsbury’s has struggled, market leader Tesco has gained momentum, this month reporting a 34 percent jump in full year profit.

Prohibition of the deal was a major blow to Coupe, its architect and Sainsbury’s boss since 2014.

Martin Scicluna became Sainsbury’s chairman last month and when bedded-in may decide that if the group needs a major shake-up it is best carried out by a new leader.

Much will depend on the attitude of 22 percent shareholder the Qatar Investment Authority, which has so far declined to comment, as well as Coupe’s own appetite to continue after 15 years at the group.

THE RIGHT STRATEGY?

Coupe said on Thursday he was confident Sainsbury’s was pursuing the right strategy.

That was a clear indication that Wednesday’s results statement will not include radical changes to the group’s plans, such as a big margin reset — sacrificing profit to drive sales.

However, sources connected to Sainsbury’s said Coupe would likely acknowledge that more needs to be done on prices, so the supermarket business can better compete with its big four rivals – Tesco, Asda and No. 4 Morrisons – as well as German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Coupe’s strategy is based on differentiating Sainsbury’s food offer, growing its general merchandise, clothing business and bank, while investing in convenience and online channels.

Some analysts believe major change is needed.

HSBC analyst David McCarthy reckons Sainsbury’s needs a margin reset, should allocate more space for core lines and needs to drive better store standards. He said Sainsbury’s might consider closing down space in some of its larger stores and reducing its non-food offer.

For the full 2018-19 year analysts are on average forecasting a pretax profit of 626 million pounds, up from 589 million pounds in 2017-18 – a second straight year of profit growth. A full year dividend of 10.5 pence per share is forecast versus 10.2 pence last time.

Bank and lawyer fees related to the proposed combination with Asda were 17 million pounds in the first half and have reportedly jumped to around 50 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey rejected demands from a secular group to remove posts on social media where he sent Easter greetings and cited a Bible verse, offering to provide copies of the Constitution to his critics.

Ducey, who’s a practicing Catholic, has been bombarded with calls from Secular Communities for Arizona to remove the post, which included a cross, a Bible verse, and the phrase, “He is risen.”

ARIZONA’S GOP GOVERNOR WAGING WAR AGAINST OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING LAWS

The group argued the posts crossed a line into government sponsorship of religious messages and was unconstitutional.

The governor fired back at the group, saying in a tweet that he will never remove the posts or other religious ones.

“We won’t be removing this post. Ever. Nor will we be removing our posts for Christmas, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Palm Sunday, Passover or any other religious holiday,” he tweeted. “We support the First Amendment, and are happy to provide copies of the Constitution to anyone who hasn’t read it.”

Dianne Post, an attorney for the secular group, told the Arizona Republic “elected officials should not use their government position and government property to promote their religious views.”

LICENSE REQUIRED TO REPAIR DOORS? REGS SPARK HEATED DEBATE IN ARIZONA

She added the courts have repeatedly “struck down symbolism that unites government with religion,” adding that Ducey’s office must “represent and protect the rights of all residents of Arizona, including those who do not believe in a monotheistic God or any gods at all.”

Many congratulated Ducey for not backing down amid the pressure, though some Facebook users sided with the secular group and criticized the governor on his original post.

“Why do you use a government platform to bring up your personal religion?” asked one person. “Are there no citizens in your jurisdiction that believe differently from you?”

Another stipulated that the post was somewhat discriminatory. “Great sensitivity, Doug. That’s the last time this Jew votes for you,” one person wrote.

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Ducey wished in a statement Arizonans last week a “blessed and joyful Easter and Passover weekend.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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