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Confessed Parkland, Florida school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, is set to receive more than $400,000 from a life insurance policy, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting.
Cruz, who is charged with killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, will split $864,929.17 with his younger brother Zachary. The money is presumably a death benefit for their mother, Lynda, who died in November 2017, the newspaper said.
As a result of the money, Cruz, will lose representation from the Broward Public Defender’s office. The public defender only represents clients who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys.
Meanwhile, attorneys interviewed by the newspaper, said the money will not go very far in hiring another lawyer in a death penalty case. One lawyer said at least half of that money could be spent on having expert witnesses testify.
Others contacted by the Sentinel said Cruz is unlikely to ever see any of it because victims’ families have sued him and won default judgments.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the shootings, said the loss of the public defender’s representation and the appointment of a new attorney for Cruz, will just cause unnecessary delays in the case.
“I’m furiously mad right now,” he tweeted.
Source: NewsMax America
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
April 25, 2019
By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK (Reuters) – After months of handwringing about the possible crash-landing of the housing market, investors awaiting quarterly earnings from No. 3 U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup Inc this week were ready for the worst.
Their trepidation was justified. New home sales across the country had fallen for three consecutive quarters to close out 2018. Housing stood out as a particularly dark spot among several key sectors of the American economy showing signs of fatigue by the end of last year, giving rise to worries about recession.
Instead, Pulte delivered something unexpected: optimism.
“2019 can turn out to be a good year for the housing industry,” Chief Executive Ryan Marshall said on a conference call. Historic lows in unemployment are “allowing for some wage inflation and continued high consumer confidence,” he said.
Marshall’s renewed confidence was backed up by government data that same day showing new home sales rose nearly 15% in the first three months of the year, the strongest quarter in six years.
And it’s not just the housing market looking up.
Across industries from soda-pop to bulldozers and software to social media, companies are delivering results that suggest the U.S. economy might not be all that bad.
Beyond PulteGroup, scores of companies are beating Wall Street’s forecasts for the first quarter, including beverage maker Coca-Cola Co, heavy-machinery manufacturer Caterpillar Inc, software maker Microsoft Corp and social media platform Twitter Inc, each representing a distinct slice of the economy.
That resilience may be further confirmed on Friday when the Commerce Department releases its first reading of gross domestic product (GDP) for January through March, which just six weeks ago appeared headed for stall speed but has gathered pace since.
Indeed, in the first days of 2019 the odds looked stacked against the U.S. economy, with a partial government shutdown, fallout from tariffs and trade uncertainty, a strong dollar, frigid weather that kept consumers indoors, wild-swinging stock markets late last year and a diminishing boost from tax cuts.
“It looked like we were heading for a very, very poor quarter,” after weak numbers on retail sales earlier this year, said Brian Rose, senior Americas economist at UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office.
From the second half of the quarter, however, job and wage gains as well as retail sales figures have shown improvement.
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION?
What a difference a month makes. In mid-March, Wall Street analysts were fretting about an imminent profits recession, and some economists worried an economic recession might follow in its wake.
Profits at S&P 500 companies, seen declining for the first time in three years just a month ago, now appear on course for another quarter of growth as first-quarter results pour in, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.
This is the first quarter in more than a year when investors are poised to get a real view of Corporate America’s strength because so much of last year’s earnings growth came from a major business tax cut. A year ago, S&P 500 profits grew 26.6% year-over-year, and at present this year’s first-quarter earnings are forecast to be flat, although profits among companies that have reported so far are up 7.1%.
That improvement is matched by measures tracking the wider economy.
As recently as March, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s widely followed GDP Now model predicted a barely positive reading of first-quarter GDP. Now it forecasts 2.7% annualized growth and the consensus estimate in a Reuters poll calls for 2.0%. Growth clocked in a 2.2% in the fourth quarter.
For the moment at least, fears about the economy so intense that they triggered an end to rate hikes by the Federal Reserve now seem to be unfounded. The Fed’s rate-hike holiday, confirmed after their March policy meeting, has helped keep the pressure off debt-dependent sectors.
Consumers have also weathered the storm. A competitive job market helped lift a key benchmark of private-sector wages 3.2% over the last year, the strongest in a decade, Labor Department data shows. That helped keep demand robust for consumer goods and services, and companies in those areas posted better revenues in the first quarter.
Certainly some risks remain in place.
Any collapse in U.S.-China trade talks that leads to an escalation of tariffs could end the relief surrounding the economy, according to Tony Roth, Chief Investment Officer for Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors Inc.
“I don’t think China or the U.S. can afford to not get a deal done,” he said. “If they don’t get a deal done with China – to the point where there’s additional tariffs that come on – that would be catastrophic for markets.”
And with profits growing more slowly, companies may struggle to justify further spending and investment, especially as margins come under pressure from higher wages and other costs.
Still, the resilience of the American job market, with unemployment near a 50-year low, is providing a strong foundation for continued growth in consumer spending, the engine that accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
“If you want to look at the consumer,” said Rose, the UBS economist, “the most important fundamental is the labor market, which is very strong.”
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Dan Burns and Susan Thomas)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Colin Huang, founder and CEO of the online group discounter Pinduoduo, speaks during the company’s stock trading debut at the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York, during an event in Shanghai, China July 26, 2018. Picture taken July 26, 2018. Yin Liqin/CNS via REUTERS
April 25, 2019
(Reuters) – The United States on Thursday added China’s third-largest e-commerce platform to its list of “notorious markets” for violations of intellectual property rights and kept China on its priority watch list for piracy and counterfeiting concerns.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office placed Pinduoduo.com, which USTR described as third largest by number of users, on its blacklist of commercial marketplaces that fail to curb the sale of counterfeit products. It also kept Alibaba Group’s taobao.com, China’s largest e-commerce platform, on the list.
USTR’s annual review of trading partners’ protection of intellectual properties rights and so-called “notorious markets” comes as the United States and China are embroiled in negotiations to end a tit-for-tat tariff battle that has roiled supply chains and cost both countries billions of dollars. The two countries are due to resume talks in Beijing next week.
China’s inclusion on the list “reflects the urgent need to remediate a range of intellectual property-related concerns,” a USTR official told reporters on a call to discuss the report.
He noted longstanding concerns that have been voiced by the Trump administration in the trade talks, including “coercive” technology transfer requirements, widespread copyright infringement and “rampant” piracy and counterfeiting.
The official declined to discuss how the talks with China were going, but said that additional actions using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 were possible. The United States has levied tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods under the act.
Of Pinduoduo.com, USTR said in the report: “Many of (the site’s) price-conscious shoppers are reportedly aware of the proliferation of counterfeit products on pinduoduo.com but are nevertheless attracted to the low-priced goods on the platform.”
While Alibaba has taken steps to address counterfeit products offered and sold on the Taobao marketplace, companies continue to see widespread infringement, USTR said.
ADDITIONAL ENGAGEMENT
A total of 36 countries were on this year’s overall watch list of trade partners warranting additional bilateral engagement over these issues, including Russia and India.
In addition, USTR raised Saudi Arabia to include it among 11 countries on the priority list. The bump-up in Saudi Arabia’s status as a concern was in part due to an illicit service for pirated content called BeoutQ, the report said.
Despite “extensive engagement” in Saudi Arabia by both U.S. government and private stakeholders, treatment of intellectual property rights “continued to deteriorate,” USTR said.
Canada was removed as a priority because of commitments made in the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade pact agreed in 2018. It remained on the overall watch list, however.
Tajikistan was removed from the list due to “concrete steps” to improve its intellectual property regime, the agency said.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice in New York and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sonya Hepinstall)
Source: OANN
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond attends a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (not pictured) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Pool
April 25, 2019
By William James
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain and China will hold the next round of their Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) in mid-June in London, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Thursday, after months of reports that talks had been delayed by diplomatic tension.
The EFD has been used in the past to announce closer cooperation on trade and banking initiatives, and to sign commercial contracts.
However, relations between London and Beijing have been strained in recent years, most notably after a British warship sailed close to islands claimed by China last August.
The EFD talks were agreed during Hammond’s visit to Beijing to speak at a summit on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, championed by President Xi Jinping, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China to Asia and beyond with extensive infrastructure investment.
“By deepening our cooperation on financial services, trade, and investment with international partners, we can ensure Britain’s global future,” Hammond said in a statement.
In that light, Britain will view the agreement of potentially lucrative talks as a success and a step closer to rebuilding the close ties seen earlier in the decade when then-finance minister George Osborne successfully courted Chinese investment.
Hammond said the talks would continue the “golden era” of cooperation – a phrase used repeatedly since Xi’s state visit to London in 2015 which has become a byword for Britain’s pitch to tap the investment power of the Chinese state.
Earlier on Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua expressed regret to Hammond that the South China Sea issue had harmed ties, and that he hoped Britain could “respect China’s core interests and important concerns”.
A Treasury statement said Hammond was due to tell the Belt and Road forum that Britain is a “natural partner for quality global infrastructure initiatives due to the world class talent and expertise the UK has to offer.”
The Chinese initiative has become mired in controversy, with some partner nations bemoaning the high cost of projects, though China has repeatedly said it is not seeking to trap anyone with debt.
Hammond will emphasis in his remarks that projects must meet international standards on governance, debt sustainability and environmental impact, the Treasury said.
(Reporting by William James, additional reporting by Andy Bruce, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper)
Source: OANN
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted new exemptions reportedly granted by the administration to recent sanctions against Iran.
“These reports are deeply troubling,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “I hope they are mistaken.
“Any policy that includes significant exemptions and waivers is less than maximum pressure, and leaves the Ayatollahs with access to additional resources that they will use to undermine the security of America and our allies, to build up their nuclear and ballistic missile programs, to support Middle East terrorist groups including Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, to arm Shia militias in Iraq that are undermining the sovereignty of the Iraqi government, to provide military support for the Houthi militia preventing a peaceful political settlement in Yemen, to supply forces in Syria including those under Iranian command, to support the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan, to maintain the IRGC and IRGC Qods Force, to launch cyberattacks, and to threaten international shipping.
“I very much hope these reports are premature, and that State Department defenders of the Obama Iran nuclear deal have not succeeded in weakening the president’s decision to withdraw from that disastrous deal.”
The administration granted exemptions on Wednesday to new sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Foreign governments and businesses that have dealings with the Revolutionary Guard and its affiliates will not be subject to a ban on U.S. travel under waivers outlined in two notices published in the Federal Register.
Source: NewsMax Politics
Those that passionately advocate for political decentralization are often portrayed as fringe carpers whose ideas are entirely unworthy of consideration.
Indeed, the mainstream media and ruling class has repeatedly alleged that events like Brexit and Calexit would cause chaotic political shifts, and routinely deem supporters of such causes radical extremists or “Neo Confederates.” Many such individuals ascribe religious qualities to modern political unions, and denigrate anyone who dares to argue that political arrangements serve a utilitarian – rather than a sacramental – function.
Tactlessly, those who deride the supporters of federalism and political fragmentation imperil us all by ignoring the lessons of history. Candid scholars, on the other hand, recognize that several junctures from the past contradict the orthodox narrative against disunion and decentralized government. One such case was the demise of the Roman Republic, where it was actually the marked transition to political consolidation that caused the very chaos and bloodshed we are always told decentralization will bring.
In the decades prior to the end of the republic, citizens celebrated the Rome’s military might and European conquest. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, better known as Pompey the Great, used his uncanny military acumen to put down a series of slave rebellions known as the Servile Wars. An attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, the Catiline Conspiracy, was swiftly exposed and suppressed by the Roman army. The subjugation of Gaul was completed in 52 BC, and Rome was the strongest power on earth. Roman patriotism among the plebian class was at an all-time high.
Through it all, the virtuous Cato cautioned that it was not the barbarians that Romans had to fear, but the one man who achieved such prestige as the result of their downfall – Gaius Julius Caesar. Claiming that Caesar sought only to elevate himself in political stature and usurp the power of the republic, Cato pleaded his fellow senators to curtail his political privileges, and eventually, to declare him an outlaw and confront him militarily. If left unopposed, he thought, Caesar would place all authority within the republic in his own hands.
And centralize Caesar did. Bestowed with the privileges of a dictator – a ruler with near unlimited power – he quickly made use of his newfound authority. A friend the plebian class, Caesar developed a cult of personality that allowed him to stretch his authority beyond all imaginable limits. Without Pompey in his way, there was little to stop him from doing so.
In one of his most significant acts as dictator, Caesar imposed several reforms that transformed the republic from a fragmented series of provinces into a single, unitary state. Prior to this overhaul, Rome’s provinces retained a substantial amount of autonomy. Italy especially had been a mosaic of independent regions and cultures, and its unification was consummated only through brutally accelerated violence, confiscation of property, and civil war.1
During his dictatorship, Caesar often made unilateral decisions behind closed doors, and issued edicts as if they had been adopted by the Roman Senate through legitimate constitutional processes. During his absences from Rome, his two non-senatorial advisors, Oppius and Balbus, also wielded unprecedented power. In the words of esteemed Roman scholar Ronald Syme, Caesar’s ascension was characterized by an elevation to supreme and personal rule, and the rise of a national, transformed Roman state.2
Because the Senate had been depleted in the wake of the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, the dictator made hundreds of new appointments, filling the assembly with Caesarian partisans who zealously backed his vision for political consolidation. Many of them were notoriously corrupt, and engaged in rampant extortion.3 Caesar eventually assumed the power to appoint all magistrates of the republic, effectively transitioning them from representatives of the people to fervent supporters of himself.
Caesar also passed a sumptuary law, limiting the citizens’ ability to purchase and consume various goods. He also planned grandiose construction projects, including a temple to himself known as the Forum of Caesar. Perhaps most significantly, though, he outlawed Rome’s professional guilds – associations that openly debated political topics of their day. Doing so, he believed, would root out all remaining opposition to the Caesarian regime.
In a move that was absolutely unprecedented in the Roman Republic, Caesar established a police force for the first time. For centuries, Roman cities and neighborhoods effectively policed themselves, and the patronage system that linked patricians with the plebeians protected the safety of the people. With the dictator’s climb to power, however, the iron hand of the enforcement state – which would be later expanded by Augustus – was established for the first time.
Despondent were those who resisted Caesar’s treacherous reign until the bitter end. Cato famously plunged his own sword into himself rather than live under Caesar’s unitary rule over Rome. The age’s best-known orator, Cicero, refused to join Caesar in the First Triumvirate because he believed it would undermine the republic and lead to the accumulation of too much power.4 In his last days, he condemned the dictator, sympathized with those that assassinated him, and worked to obstruct his successors. Though the Liberators that assassinated Caesar remained convinced that the republic’s traditions and customs must be preserved at all costs, they too fell prey to military alliance between Mark Antony and Octavian.
The path to Roman centralization was only made possible, however, because of a sizable political shift that transpired during the prior generation. Indeed, the undertakings of Lucius Cornelius Sulla did much to lay the groundwork for Caesar’s rise.
It was Sulla, after all, that first rallied his army to march on Rome in an unprecedented act of treason. After his military successes, he implemented an array of reforms to the Roman Constitution, including a revival of the malignant proscription system – which authorized the type of political purges Mark Antony and Augustus utilized and build upon. Additionally, it was Sulla that revived the dictatorship – where a single individual was granted near unlimited power over the state. In a manner that Caesar and Augustus came to emulate, Sulla achieved political prominence through military strength and political domination rather than republican virtue.
All of these factors, in combination, played crucial roles in the demise of the Roman Republic – a system of limited and divided political power, where the proclivities of the ambitious were at one time hindered by traditional restraints. In our contemporary age, where the number of potential Caesars has grown exponentially, it behooves us to avoid the pitfalls of political centralization and the calamity it has wrought upon western civilization.
On his way to bullhorn the White House, Alex Jones bumped into Max Keiser of MaxKeiser.com.
Source: InfoWars
FILE PHOTO: Journalists follow a news conference during the opening of the new Alphabet’s Google Berlin office in Berlin, Germany, January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo
April 25, 2019
PARIS (Reuters) – Google will not have to pay 1.1 billion euros ($1.22 billion) in back taxes demanded by French authorities, an appeals court in France ruled on Thursday, dashing the government’s bid to overturn a 2017 decision.
The latest ruling comes at a time France is trying to crack down on digital service giants and the tax they pay, with the planned introduction of a French levy and as it pushes for broader international reforms.
The back tax case centers on a claim by the French finance ministry that Google had declared advertising revenue in Ireland which had actually been earned in France, thus avoiding paying corporate tax and value-added tax between 2005 and 2010.
But the appeals court in Paris said it agreed with an earlier ruling that favored the U.S. company and argued that Google Ireland Limited did not have a “permanent establishment” or sufficient taxable presence in France to justify the bill.
(Reporting by Simon Carraud, Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Source: OANN
House Democrats are finding out how difficult it is to provide Congressional oversight.
Axios reported the White House has figured out there’s not much Democrats can do if the administration continues to say no to everything. The administration has blocked several key administration officials from appearing before the House Oversight Committee.
The Washington Post reported the latest example is the administration’s refusal to allow senior adviser Stephen Miller to testify regarding immigration policy.
Meanwhile, Axios noted that any of those who have actually been subpoenaed by the committee could be held in contempt if they do not appear. But it said the subpoenas are difficult to enforce. And the website said recent contempt cases have “fizzled,
Axios also pointed out President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have filed suit against Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., to block a subpoena for the president’s financial records.
But it said that strategy could have a downside, the website said.
“It totally undercuts the argument that we’ve been transparent and because there was no criminal wrongdoing that’s why we encouraged everyone to cooperate,” said a former senior White House official. “Now we look like we’ve got something to hide and we’re not being open and transparent.”
Still, the Trump White House is unlikely to face any consequences in the short-term, Axios said.
But one Democratic aide said there are ways of getting past the White House efforts.
“One trend we’ve been seeing more and more, and a way we can get new information, is from whistleblowers,” the aide said.
Source: NewsMax Politics
FILE PHOTO: The NBC and Comcast logo are displayed on top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, formerly known as the GE building, in midtown Manhattan in New York July 1, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 25, 2019
(Reuters) – Comcast Corp is in talks to sell its stake in Hulu to Walt Disney Co, CNBC reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report comes 10 days after Hulu bought back wireless carrier AT&T Inc’s stake in the U.S. entertainment streaming service for $1.43 billion.
With Comcast’s stake, Disney will now have a 90 percent share in Hulu.
Comcast, Hulu and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Source: OANN
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is mulling a 2020 presidential candidacy, speaks at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ (IBEW) construction and maintenance conference in Washington, U.S., April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
April 25, 2019
By Arlene Washington
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The largest Democratic field in the modern U.S. political era is competing for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
The diverse group of 20 vying to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, includes six U.S. senators. A record six women are running, as well as black, Hispanic and openly gay candidates who would make history if one of them becomes the party’s nominee.
Here are the Democrats who have launched campaigns, listed in order of their RealClearPolitics national polling average for those who register in opinion surveys.
JOE BIDEN
The leader in polls of Democratic presidential contenders, Biden waited until late April to enter the race – launching his bid by taking a direct swipe at Trump. Biden, who served eight years as vice president under President Barack Obama and 36 years in the U.S. Senate, enters in the middle of a Democratic debate over whether a liberal political newcomer or a centrist veteran is needed to win back the White House. At 76, he is the second oldest candidate in the nominating contest, after Senator Bernie Sanders. Liberal activists criticize his Senate record, including his authorship of the 1994 crime act that led to increased incarceration rates, and his ties to the financial industry, which is prominent in his home state of Delaware. Biden, who relishes his “Middle-Class Joe” nickname and touts his working-class roots, made unsuccessful bids for the nomination in 1988 and 2008. Biden, recently the subject of allegations of unwanted physical contact with women, in a video pledged to be “more mindful” of respecting “personal space,” an attempt to tamp down the controversy.
BERNIE SANDERS
The senator from Vermont lost the Democratic nomination in 2016 to Hillary Clinton but has jumped in for a second try. In the 2020 race, Sanders, 77, will have to fight to stand out in a packed field of progressives touting issues he brought into the Democratic Party mainstream four years ago. His proposals include free tuition at public colleges, a $15 minimum wage and universal healthcare. He benefits from strong name recognition and a robust network of small-dollar donors, helping him to raise $5.9 million during his first day in the contest. Sanders, whose father was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, has shown a more personal side in this campaign, highlighting his struggles while growing up in a working-class family. He also has tried to reach out to black and Hispanic leaders after having trouble winning over minority voters in 2016.
BETO O’ROURKE
The former three-term Texas congressman jumped into the race on March 14 – and has been jumping on to store countertops ever since to deliver his optimistic message to voters in early primary states. O’Rourke, 46, gained fame last year for his record fundraising and ability to draw crowds ahead of his unexpectedly narrow loss in the U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. O’Rourke announced a $6.1 million fundraising haul for the first 24 hours of his campaign, besting his Democratic opponents. But with progressive policies and diversity at the forefront of the party’s nominating battle, O’Rourke will face a challenge as a wealthy white man who is more moderate on several key issues than many of his competitors.
KAMALA HARRIS
The first-term senator from California would make history as the first black woman to gain the nomination. Harris, 54, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, announced her candidacy on the holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. She has made a quick impact in a Democratic race that will be heavily influenced by women and minority voters. She raised $1.5 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign and drew record ratings on a CNN televised town hall. She supports a middle-class tax credit, Medicare for All healthcare funding reform, the Green New Deal and the legalization of marijuana. Her track record as San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general has drawn scrutiny in a Democratic Party that has shifted in recent years on criminal justice issues.
PETE BUTTIGIEG
The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is emerging from underdog status as he begins to build momentum with young voters. A Harvard University graduate and Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, he speaks seven languages and served in Afghanistan with the U.S. Navy Reserve. He touts himself as representing a new generation of leadership needed to combat Trump. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee of a major American political party.
ELIZABETH WARREN
The 69-year-old senator from Massachusetts is a leader of the party’s liberals and a fierce Wall Street critic who was instrumental in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She has focused her presidential campaign on her populist economic message, promising to fight what she calls a rigged economic system that favors the wealthy. She also has proposed eliminating the Electoral College, vowed to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook if elected, and sworn off political fundraising events to collect cash for her bid. Warren apologized earlier this year to the Cherokee Nation for taking a DNA test to prove her claims to Native American ancestry, an assertion that has prompted Trump to mockingly refer to her as “Pocahontas.”
CORY BOOKER
Booker, 49, a senator from New Jersey and former mayor of Newark, gained national prominence in the fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Booker, who is black, has made U.S. race relations and racial disparities a focus of his campaign, noting the impact of discrimination on his family. He embraces progressive positions on Medicare coverage for every American, the Green New Deal and other key issues, and touts his style of positivity over attacks. Booker eats a vegan diet and recently confirmed rumors he is dating actress Rosario Dawson.
AMY KLOBUCHAR
The third-term senator from Minnesota was the first moderate in the Democratic field vying to challenge Trump. Klobuchar, 58, gained national attention in 2018 when she sparred with Brett Kavanaugh during Senate hearings for his Supreme Court nomination. On the campaign trail, the former prosecutor and corporate attorney supports an alternative to traditional Medicare healthcare funding and is taking a hard stance against rising prescription drug prices. Klobuchar’s campaign reported raising more than $1 million in its first 48 hours. Her campaign announcement came amid news reports that staff in her Senate office were asked to do menial tasks, making it difficult to hire high-level campaign strategists.
JULIAN CASTRO
The secretary of housing and urban development under President Barack Obama would be the first Hispanic to win a major U.S. party’s presidential nomination. Castro, 44, whose grandmother immigrated to Texas from Mexico, has used his family’s personal story to criticize Trump’s border policies. Castro advocates a universal pre-kindergarten program, supports Medicare for All and cites his experience to push for affordable housing. He announced his bid in his hometown of San Antonio, where he once served as mayor and a city councilman. His twin brother, Joaquin Castro, is a Democratic congressman from Texas.
ANDREW YANG
The entrepreneur and former tech executive is focusing his campaign on an ambitious universal income plan. Yang, 44, wants to guarantee all American citizens between the ages of 18 and 64 a $1,000 check every month. The son of immigrants from Taiwan, Yang also is pushing for Medicare for All and proposing a new form of capitalism that is “human-centered.” He lives in New York.
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
Gillibrand, known as a moderate when she served as a congresswoman from upstate New York, has refashioned herself into a staunch progressive, calling for strict gun laws and supporting the Green New Deal. The senator for New York, who is 52, has led efforts to address sexual assault in the military and on college campuses, and she pushed for Congress to improve its own handling of sexual misconduct allegations. On the campaign trail, she has made fiery denunciations of Trump. She released her tax returns for the years 2007 through 2018, offering the most comprehensive look to date at the finances of a 2020 White House candidate, and has called on her rivals to do the same.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER
The 67-year-old former Colorado governor has positioned himself as a centrist and an experienced officeholder with business experience. He is the only Democratic presidential candidate so far to oppose the Green New Deal plan to tackle climate change, saying it would give the government too much power in investment decisions. During his two terms in office, Colorado’s economy soared and the Western state expanded healthcare, passed a gun control law and legalized marijuana. The former geologist and brew pub owner is among the many candidates who have refused to take corporate money. He previously served as mayor of Denver.
JAY INSLEE
The Washington state governor has made fighting climate change the central issue of his campaign. As governor, Inslee, 68, has moved to put a moratorium on capital punishment and fully implement the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, and accompanying expansion of Medicaid health coverage for the poor. He has not settled on a position on Medicare for All but does support the Green New Deal backed by progressives. Inslee spent 15 years in Congress before being elected governor in 2012.
JOHN DELANEY
The former U.S. representative from Maryland became the first Democrat to enter the 2020 race, declaring his candidacy in July 2017. Delaney, 55, plans to focus on advancing only bipartisan bills during the first 100 days of his presidency if elected. He is also pushing for a universal healthcare system, raising the federal minimum wage and passing gun safety legislation.
TULSI GABBARD
The Samoan-American congresswoman from Hawaii and Iraq war veteran is the first Hindu to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. After working for her father’s anti-gay advocacy group and drafting relevant legislation, she was forced to apologize for her past views on same-sex marriage. Gabbard, 37, has been against U.S. intervention in Syria and slammed Trump for standing by Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. She endorsed Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.
ERIC SWALWELL
The third-term congressman from a California district south of San Francisco cited tackling student debt and gun violence among the reasons he jumped into the Democratic primary race. Swalwell, 38, is among the younger candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination. He served on the House Intelligence Committee and founded the Future Forum, a group of more than 25 Democratic lawmakers that visits universities and community colleges to discuss issues important to millennial voters like student loan debt and climate change.
TIM RYAN
The moderate nine-term congressman from a working-class district in the battleground state of Ohio has touted his appeal to the blue-collar voters who fled to Trump in 2016. He says Trump has turned his back on those voters and failed to live up his promise to revitalize the manufacturing industry. Ryan, 45, pledges to create jobs in new technologies and to focus on public education and access to affordable healthcare. He first gained national attention when he unsuccessfully tried to unseat Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader in 2016, arguing it was time for new leadership. A former college football player, he also has written books on meditation and healthy eating.
SETH MOULTON
An Iraq War veteran and member of Congress, Seth Moulton, 40, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 when he defeated a fellow Democrat in the primary election. Moulton served in the Marines from 2001 to 2008. He became a vocal critic of the Iraq War in which he served, saying no more troops should be deployed to the country. He has advocated stricter gun laws, saying military-style weapons should not be owned by civilians. Moulton supports the legalization of marijuana and told Boston public radio station WGBH in 2016 that he had smoked pot while in college. After Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2018, Moulton helped organize opposition to Representative Nancy Pelosi’s bid to again become speaker.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
The 66-year-old New York Times best-selling author, motivational speaker and Texas native believes her spirituality-focused campaign can heal America. A 1992 interview on Oprah Winfrey’s show propelled Williamson to make a name for herself as a “spiritual guide” for Hollywood and a self-help expert. She is calling for $100 billion in reparations for slavery over 10 years, gun control, education reform and equal rights for lesbian and gay communities. In 2014, she made an unsuccessful bid for a House seat in California as an independent.
WAYNE MESSAM
Messam, 44, defeated a 16-year incumbent in 2015 to become the first black mayor of the Miami suburb of Miramar. He was re-elected in March. The son of Jamaican immigrants, he played on Florida State University’s 1993 national championship football team, and then started a construction business with his wife. He has pledged to focus on reducing gun violence, mitigating climate change and reducing student loan debt and the cost of healthcare.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Source: OANN
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