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With Congressional Democrats tantruming over redactions, presidential candidates out-virtue-signalling one another in denigration of Trump (for what it is unclear) calling for impeachment (again, for what is unclear) and the liberal media desperate for a distraction from the embarrassment of their two-year harassment in lieu of the main headline – “no collusion, no obstruction;” few if any among the mainstream have noticed (or mentioned) one tiny little detail in the Mueller Report… the ‘confirmed’ interference by Russia in the 2016 US Election took place – knowingly – under President Obama’s watch.
But amid all this sound and fury, something odd happened. The ‘powers-that-be’ at CNN – ground zero for the Trump’s-a-traitorous-Putin-Puppet propaganda – have allowed the publication of an op-ed amid their hallowed pages that casts blame at the anointed one. CNN contributor Scott Jennings – soon to be exiled from every social media platform we suspect – dared to point out that the Mueller report looks bad for Obama.
“The partisan warfare over the Mueller report will rage, but one thing cannot be denied: Former President Barack Obama looks just plain bad. On his watch, the Russians meddled in our democracy while his administration did nothing about it.”
“The Mueller report flatly states that Russia began interfering in American democracy in 2014. Over the next couple of years, the effort blossomed into a robust attempt to interfere in our 2016 presidential election.”
“The Obama administration knew this was going on and yet did nothing.”
“In 2016, Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice told her staff to “stand down” and “knock it off” as they drew up plans to “strike back” against the Russians, according to an account from Michael Isikoff and David Corn in their book ‘Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump’.”
Is this some kind of penance on this holy weekend for CNN’s past sins of omission? Perhaps. But Jennings then asked the hard question: Why did Obama go soft on Russia?
“My opinion is that it was because he was singularly focused on the nuclear deal with Iran. Obama wanted Putin in the deal, and to stand up to him on election interference would have, in Obama’s estimation, upset that negotiation. This turned out to be a disastrous policy decision.”
“Obama’s supporters claim he did stand up to Russia by deploying sanctions after the election to punish them for their actions. But, Obama, according to the Washington Post, “approved a modest package… with economic sanctions so narrowly targeted that even those who helped design them describe their impact as largely symbolic.” In other words, a toothless response to a serious incursion.”
“But don’t just take my word for it that Obama failed. Congressman Adam Schiff, who disgraced himself in this process by claiming collusion when Mueller found that none exists, once said that “the Obama administration should have done a lot more.” The Washington Post reported that a senior Obama administration official said they “sort of choked” in failing to stop the Russian government’s brazen activities. And Obama’s ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said, ‘The punishment did not fit the crime’ about the weak sanctions rolled out after the 2016 election.”
“A legitimate question Republicans are asking is whether the potential “collusion” narrative was invented to cover up the Obama administration’s failures. Two years have been spent fomenting the idea that Russia only interfered because it had a willing, colluding partner: Trump. Now that Mueller has popped that balloon, we must ask why this collusion narrative was invented in the first place.”
“Given Obama’s record on Russia, one operating theory is that his people needed a smokescreen to obscure just how wrong they were. They’ve blamed Trump. They’ve even blamed Mitch McConnell, in some twisted attempt to deflect blame to another branch of government. Joe Biden once claimed McConnell refused to sign a letter condemning the Russians during the 2016 election. But McConnell’s office counters that the White House asked him to sign a letter urging state electors to accept federal help in securing local elections — and he did. You can read it here.”
“I guess if I had failed to stop Russia from marching into Crimea, making a mess in Syria, and hacking our democracy I’d be looking to blame someone else, too.”
“But the Mueller report makes it clear that the Russian interference failure was Obama’s alone. He was the commander-in-chief when all of this happened. In 2010, he and Eric Holder, his Attorney General, declined to prosecute Julian Assange, who then went on to help Russia hack the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016. He arguably chose to prioritize his relationship with Putin vis-à-vis Iran over pushing back against Russian election interference that had been going on for at least two years.”
“If you consider Russian election interference a crisis for our democracy, then you cannot read the Mueller report, adding it to the available public evidence, and conclude anything other than Barack Obama spectacularly failed America. Subsequent investigations of this matter should explore how and why Obama’s White House failed, and whether they invented the collusion narrative to cover up those failures.”
As President Trump just commented, this hoax was “…a big, fat, waste of time, energy and money – $30,000,000 to be exact.”
“It is now finally time to turn the tables and bring justice to some very sick and dangerous people who have committed very serious crimes, perhaps even Spying or Treason. This should never happen again!”
The question is – will CNN follow this ‘racist’ op-ed with some real journalism on who knew what, when and how this farce started? (We will not be holding our breath).
After being exonerated, the Trump campaign’s statement on the Mueller report reveals they are ready to fight for the justice they deserve.
Source: InfoWars
Apr 19, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Enrique Hernandez (14) follows through on a swing for a three-run home run during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
April 20, 2019
Enrique Hernandez hit a three-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to six games with a 5-3 victory Friday over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Hernandez connected on an 0-2 pitch against Brewers All-Star closer Josh Hader (0-1) to break a 2-2 tie and score A.J. Pollock and David Freese, both of whom walked. It was Hernandez’s fifth home run of the season.
Christian Yelich hit a home run for the second consecutive game and for the sixth time in five games as the Brewers lost their third consecutive game overall and their third consecutive against the Dodgers since Sunday. Milwaukee’s Eric Thames hit his third home run in the eighth.
Pedro Baez (1-1) recorded two outs in the seventh inning to pick up the victory. Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save and his third in three days.
Yankees 6, Royals 2
CC Sabathia allowed an unearned run in five innings and Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer as New York beat Kansas City at Yankee Stadium.
After throwing 62 pitches in his return from cardiac surgery and a knee injury in his season debut Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, Sabathia (1-0) was stretched out further this time and delivered an 86-pitch outing. He worked around four walks and held the Royals to three hits while getting five strikeouts for his 247th career win.
Gardner provided the Yankees with a 2-1 lead when he blasted 2-0 fastball from Kansas City starter Jakob Junis (1-2) over the right-center field fence in the third. Mike Tauchman also homered in the fifth as the Yankees won for the third time in four games despite committing three errors.
Rockies 4, Phillies 3 (12 innings)
Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning as Colorado rallied to beat Philadelphia in Denver.
Bryce Harper had five hits and Rhys Hoskins and Maikel Franco had three hits apiece for the Phillies, who saw two players leave with injuries — Andrew McCutchen was hurt on a swing in the second inning and shortstop Scott Kingery suffered a right hamstring injury running to first in his third at-bat.
The Phillies took a 3-2 lead on Harper’s RBI double in the top of the 12th off Chad Bettis (1-2) but Colorado came back against Juan Nicasio (0-1). Tony Wolters drew a one-out walk and after Raimel Tapia popped out, Blackmon hit a 1-2 fastball into the Philadelphia bullpen to end it.
Astros 7, Rangers 2
Justin Verlander worked seven strong innings and was backed by an offense that produced seven extra-base hits as Houston claimed the opener of its three-game series with Texas at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Verlander (3-0) gave up his first hit with two outs in the fourth inning and carried a shutout into the sixth. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Rangers second baseman Danny Santana in that frame but recovered to complete his outing with flair, getting three successive called strikes against Texas center fielder Delino DeShields.
The Astros got off to a rousing start against Rangers left-hander Drew Smyly (0-2), with George Springer (double), Jose Altuve (home run) and Alex Bregman (home run) reaching in succession to open the game. When Altuve added an RBI single in the second, Houston led 4-0 and cruised from there.
Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 1
Kyle Hendricks pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 11 as Chicago snapped visiting Arizona’s four-game winning streak on a cold, blustery Friday afternoon.
Hendricks (1-3) gave up three hits and walked two. Steve Cishek pitched the eighth to run the Cubs’ scoreless innings streak to 31 before the Diamondbacks rallied off Brad Brach in the ninth.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (1-2) worked around two walks in a 33-pitch first inning and was almost out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the second when Kris Bryant hit what normally would have been a lazy fly behind second base. But the wind took over and second baseman Wilmer Flores stumbled while chasing the ball, which fell into shallow right field for a two-run double.
Pirates 4, Giants 1
Right-hander Jordan Lyles pitched six four-hit, scoreless innings before leaving because of a hand injury, and Pittsburgh earned a fourth consecutive win, beating visiting San Francisco.
Lyles (2-0), Pittsburgh’s fifth starter and part of a rotation that led the National League entering the night with a collective 2.09 ERA, struck out six and walked one. He lowered his ERA to 0.53. Lyles left after an inning-ending double-play comebacker by Joe Panik in the sixth grazed his pitching hand as he instinctively ducked and raised his hands. He was being evaluated for a contusion. The Pirates also lost center fielder Starling Marte and shortstop Erik Gonzalez when they collided while chasing a fly ball in the eighth.
Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (1-3) gave up four first-inning runs before settling down to go another five innings. He allowed six hits and one walk while striking out seven.
Marlins 3, Nationals 2
Miami ended its 24-inning scoreless streak early in the game and went on to defeat Washington at Marlins Park, ending a four-game losing streak and winning for just the third time in its last 16 contests.
Left-hander Caleb Smith (2-0) earned the victory, giving up one run on five hits without walking a batter while striking out eight in six innings. He has 29 strikeouts in 23 innings this year.
Washington’s Anibal Sanchez — who made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2006 and had a no-hitter in six-plus seasons with the franchise — took the loss to fall to 0-2. He allowed five hits, four walks and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. He also struck out six.
Mets 5, Cardinals 4
Wilson Ramos and J.D. Davis had back-to-back RBI hits in the first inning for visiting New York, which never trailed but needed to survive a late comeback by St. Louis to end a two-game losing streak. The Cardinals have lost three of four.
St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (1-2) retired the first two batters of the game before giving up a double to Robinson Cano, who had a season-high three hits. Michael Conforto walked, after which Ramos singled home Cano before Davis doubled to score Conforto.
Seth Lugo (1-0), the first of five Mets relievers, earned the win despite allowing two runs in two innings. Edwin Diaz allowed a pair of baserunners before retiring Molina on a lineout to close out his seventh save. The two runs Lugo gave up came off the bat of pinch hitter Lane Thomas, who hit a two-run homer in his first big league plate appearance.
Reds 3, Padres 2 (11 innings)
Derek Dietrich hit a two-run homer off Craig Stammen with one out in the 11th inning to lead Cincinnati past host San Diego and hand the Padres their fifth straight loss after an 11-5 start to the season. The Reds scored a second straight win following four consecutive defeats.
Right-handed reliever Jared Hughes (2-0) pitched one scoreless inning for the win, and Michael Lorenzen recorded his first save. Stammen (2-1) took the loss after yielding two runs (one earned) in two innings.
Dietrich’s homer followed a pitching duel between starters Anthony DeSclafani of Cincinnati and Matt Strahm of San Diego, each of whom gave up a solo home run and only two hits.
Red Sox 6, Rays 4
Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland hit back-to-back home runs to break an eighth-inning tie as Boston beat Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Betts, critical of himself earlier this week for his poor play to begin the season, went deep to dead center to lead off the eighth for a 5-4 lead, and Moreland followed with a blast to right-center as Boston snapped a three-game losing streak, with Brandon Workman (1-1) getting the win in relief.
The Rays lost for just the third time in their past 11 games. Diego Castillo (0-2), who served up both eighth-inning homers to the only two batters he faced, took the loss.
White Sox 7, Tigers 3
Yoan Moncada homered, scored twice and drove in two runs, Carlos Rodon pitched six strong innings, and Chicago topped host Detroit.
Moncada hit his sixth homer this season, a solo shot in the first inning. Leury Garcia and Jose Abreu also drove in two runs apiece, while Ryan Cordell scored twice. Rodon (3-2) held the Tigers to one run on three hits, walking three and striking struck out six.
Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann (0-3) allowed five runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked four against the White Sox, who were without shortstop Tim Anderson and manager Rick Renteria as they served one-game league suspensions for their conduct during a benches-clearing incident against Kansas City on Wednesday.
Mariners 5, Angels 3
Tim Beckham and Omar Narvaez hit back-to-back solo homers in the ninth inning to lift Seattle over host Los Angeles for the second straight night.
As they did on Thursday, the Mariners broke a tie in the ninth off Angels reliever Cody Allen (0-2) and spoiled a late-game comeback by Los Angeles. The Angels rallied from a 10-2 deficit in the seventh inning of the series opener on Thursday, tied the score in the eighth, but lost 11-10.
Mike Trout hit a two-run homer off Mariners starter Marco Gonzales in the eighth on Friday to tie the score at 3-3, ending Gonzales’ bid to become the first 5-0 pitcher in the majors. Zac Rosscup (2-0) got the final two outs of the eighth, and Roenis Elias pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
Blue Jays 5, A’s 1
Danny Jansen highlighted a four-run second inning with a two-RBI double and right-hander Marcus Stroman pitched into the ninth for his first win of the season as Toronto rolled over host Oakland in the opener of a three-game series.
Brandon Drury took A’s starter Aaron Brooks (2-2) deep for his first home run of the season, helping Toronto win for the fourth time in five games on their seven-game trip. Stroman (1-3), who had watched the Blue Jays score a total of six runs in his first four starts, got an early boost from the four-run second.
Stroman was dominant in his eight-plus innings, allowing one run and six hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Twins at Orioles, ppd.
Minnesota’s scheduled game at Baltimore was rained out. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader Saturday.
Braves at Indians, ppd.
Atlanta’s scheduled game at Cleveland was rained out. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader Saturday.
–Field Level Media
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO – Australian Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten laughs during remarks at his election night party in Melbourne, July 2, 2016 on Australia’s federal election day. REUTERS/Jason Reed
April 20, 2019
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten gave himself 100 days to make sure that low-paid workers get more money for working overtime if he wins next month’s election.
Labor party leader Shorten, a former union organizer, said on Saturday he would reverse the decision by a tribunal to cut overtime pay in several low-paying industries within 100 days of the May 18 poll.
“Do we really want to go down the American path of workplace relations where a worker … to make ends meet has to rely on tips and charity and the coins and dollar notes left on the table after the guest has gone?” Shorten told supporters in Melbourne.
“That is not the Australian way.”
In 2017, the Fair Work Commission ruled that reductions in the so-called penalty rates for weekends, public holidays and late night or morning shifts in retail, hospitality, fast-food and pharmacy would be phased in gradually by 2020.
The commission, an independent tribunal that sets the minimum wage, ruled that the cuts would vary, depending on the industry.
Opinion polls have had Shorten’s center-left Labor party well ahead for years and show that the coalition of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberals and the rural-focused National party is headed for a resounding defeat.
A recent poll showed that support for Australia’s once-influential far-right One Nation party plummeted after a series of scandals, paving way for Morrison and Shorten to intensify their fight for the right-wing voter.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Source: OANN
A longtime conservative operative is calling on the Trump administration to reform the country’s visa laws after he was falsely accused of a crime he said an illegal alien charged likely in order to score a visa.
A woman in late 2016 claimed Codias Brown harassed and exposed himself to her over a two-week period and said he was seeking her out in public places, according to an arrest affidavit. The accuser, Rosa Patino-Herrera, claimed she encountered Brown — someone she didn’t know personally — around eight different times and believed he was seeking her out around the city of Austin, where he also lived.
The forensic data proved to be a game-changer. Disclosure of Brown’s phone location data showed he was nowhere near any of the locations Patino-Herrera claimed the events took place, according to court documents reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The charges were ultimately dismissed — but not until April 2018.
During the court proceedings, Patino-Herrera admitted she was an illegal immigrant. Work from a private investigator also discovered she was actively seeking a U-visa. Brown’s legal team believes she accused him in order to obtain a U-visa.
Brown, now completely exonerated of the charges, is using his experience to push for reform. The Republican organizer is calling on President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Congress to block the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act until it’s changed to mandate a criminal conviction before the issuance of a U-visa. Such an amendment, he argues, would incorporate constitutional due process rights not currently embedded in the U-visa application process.
“I hope to work with the Trump administration and lawmakers to reform the laws and policies that made this ordeal possible,” Brown told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Established in 2000, the U-visa program was intended to incentivize immigrants into helping law enforcement catch and prosecute criminals. Foreign nationals who are victims of a crime can apply for a U-visa, allowing them to remain in the country and assist police.
Interest in the U-visa program has exploded in popularity. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 10,937 petitions for U-visa status in the 2009 fiscal year. By the 2016 fiscal year, however, the number of petitions ballooned to 60,710, according to information compiled by Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR).
Immigration experts said the U-visa program is inadvertently designed to attract fraud, and actually does little to help law enforcement.
“The program’s vague standards and lucrative perks, make it a prime target for abuse by well-meaning, but misguided law enforcement agencies — particularly those in so-called ‘sanctuary jurisdictions,’” said Matthew Tragesser, communication specialist for FAIR. “Though the program may offer some help to some aliens who have been exploited by criminals, there is little data suggesting that the program significantly improves the prosecution of crime in immigrant communities, or that it has had a measurable impact on human trafficking.”
Jessica Vaughan, a director with the Center for Immigration Studies, told TheDCNF the U-visa program has become a means for foreign nationals to “launder their status,” with many law enforcement agencies signing off on their applications without any due diligence.
“In the blink of an eye, an illegal alien — aided by social justice warriors parading as cops, prosecutors, and judges — nearly destroyed everything I worked for,” Brown told TheDCNF, describing the day he was arrested.
As Brown and his wife were walking from their Austin, Texas, home to a local grocery store Dec. 9, 2016, he said he was suddenly flanked by a police task force, arrested and sent to jail — where he remained for four days until he was able to be released on $75,000 bond. Even after he was let go from detention, Brown, who said he had no prior criminal history, said he was forced to wear an ankle monitor for several months.
The allegations came with serious consequences. If Brown were convicted, he faced the possibility of up to 10 years in prison. Furthermore, Patino-Herrera was granted a protective order against Brown.
However, Brown was unequivocal in his defense: Not only did he claim he never stalked Patino-Herrera, he said he had never met the woman in his life.
“Brown should never have been arrested because there was no evidence to corroborate these baseless accusations, the accuser made numerous inconsistent and illogical statements throughout the proceedings, and forensic data ultimately proved Brown was not even in the vicinity of the alleged incidents,” said Benjamin Lange, Brown’s attorney.
Numerous inconsistencies emerged as Brown fought for his innocence, according to his legal team. Patino-Herrera, for example, testified she had several conversations with Brown that lasted up to five minutes in length. However, her English was so limited she required an interpreter during court proceedings. Brown, on the other hand, does not speak Spanish.
That the case lingered for so long has been a point of contention for Brown’s legal team.
“The fact that these allegations made it past the investigative stage, let alone through a Texas grand jury is a travesty. What is particularly concerning is that, even after the forensic evidence proved Brown was not in the vicinity of the alleged incidents, the lead prosecutor in this case, Beverly Mathews, continued the prosecution for nearly a year,” Lange said.
TheDCNF reached out to Beverly Mathews, the assistant district attorney of Travis County, multiple times for comment on this story. However, a spokeswoman for her office eventually said Mathews declined to respond. The office of Detective Scott Donovan, who arrested Brown, did not respond to multiple requests for comment either.
Brown’s legal team raised other red flags while the case lingered on.
A private investigator discovered the social security number apparently being used by Patino-Herrera was issued several years before her listed birthday in court documents, a strong indication she was illegally using someone else’s. Questions over her legal status were confirmed when she voluntarily admitted during a civil protective order hearing she was an undocumented alien.
Another detail emerged that drew the attention of Brown’s team: Patino-Herrera admitted to a private investigator that she was actively seeking a U-visa. Brown’s team believed the issue to be relevant.
“Travis County law enforcement has been actively promoting U visa benefits to illegal aliens for years,” Lange said about the connection. “Shortly after Brown’s local counsel began inquiring into whether the accuser had applied for a U-visa, prosecutors dismissed the case. Later, the accuser admitted to a private investigator that she had been pursuing a U-visa.”
Notably, prosecutors dismissed the charge against him shortly after they asked the court if his accuser had filed for a U-visa. It was months after the dismissal when the investigator prompted Patino-Herrera to admit she was actively seeking a U-visa. Days later, Travis County prosecutors recommended an immediate expunction for Brown.
TheDCNF was not able to reach Patino-Herrera for comment on this article.
Whether she accused Brown in order to obtain a U-visa is unknown, but Brown said the connection is hard to ignore. If true, Brown would not be first person to have fallen victim from U-visa fraud. Other reports have detailed the stories of people facing spurious accusations from foreign nationals applying for the same visas.
U-visa abuse has also been promulgated by police officers themselves. Four law enforcement officers in March, for example, were charged with involvement in fraudulent U nonimmigrant visas. An indictment in that case alleges the officers took bribes in return for creating fraudulent incident reports.
Brown is no stranger to politics. For nearly 10 years, he managed Republican campaigns, working to put conservatives in elected office. Brown’s career as a political operative reached a milestone when, after being tapped by Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential team, he led the former senator’s ground game in the Iowa caucuses and delivered an upset victory.
Brown gained notoriety more recently for his work in the tech world. The Texas Republican in September 2016 launched the eponymous online platform known as “Codias.” A social network geared solely for conservatives, Codias allows like-minded citizens, candidates and organizations to communicate and organize with each other without fear of censorship.
The emotional toll of the ordeal still runs deep for Brown and his family. Personally, he was forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars defending himself in court. Professionally, he said he was unable to raise capital or market his startup company, Codias, for a long time, dealing a devastating blow to his work.
However, the Republican operative said his faith and his loving family kept him going.
“I could not have endured this without a gracious God, a strong and loyal wife, and a faithful circle of family and friends. This experience has only served to strengthen my faith and family as we prepare for more profound battles that lie ahead,” he said.
“We’ve only just begun to fight.”
Alex Jones talks over the phone with callers and gauges their reactions to AG Barr discussing the redacted first part of Mueller’s report.
Source: InfoWars
FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates in front of a drilling rig at sunset in an oil field in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford
April 18, 2019
By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in three weeks as production growth forecasts from shale, the country’s largest oil fields, continue to shrink.
Drillers cut eight oil rigs in the week to April 18, bringing the total count down to 825, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Thursday.
Baker Hughes released the report a day early this week due to the Good Friday holiday.
The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is still a bit higher than a year ago when 820 rigs were active.
The rig count fell for the past four months and production growth in the Permian and other key shale basins have slowed as oil prices fell in the fourth quarter and many independent shale companies cut spending in the face of investor pressure to focus on earnings growth instead of increased output.
Major oil companies, like Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, however, are boosting their presence, particularly in the Permian, the largest U.S. shale oil field.
U.S. crude oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by about 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May to a record 8.46 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly drilling productivity report on Monday.
Although May’s total, if accurate, would be a record high, the increase continues a pattern of shrinking growth since February.
Since the start of the year, several independent producers have announced job cuts, including Encana Corp and Pioneer Natural Resources Co, while oilfield service company Schlumberger NV projected onshore domestic exploration and production investments will fall by 10 percent in 2019.
“Collectively, these are all signs that U.S. crude and natural gas production growth should moderate in the months ahead, following the trend of slowing rig activity that is starting to build,” said Trey Cowan, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts Analytics.
U.S. crude futures, meanwhile, traded near a five-month high of almost $65 per barrel for a second week in a row this week as a drop in crude exports from OPEC’s defacto leader Saudi Arabia and a draw in U.S. oil inventories supported prices. [O/R]
Looking ahead, crude futures were trading around $64 a barrel for the balance of 2019 and $61 in calendar 2020.
Year-to-date, the total number of oil and gas rigs active in the United States has averaged 1,039. That keeps the total count for 2019 on track to be the highest since 2014, which averaged 1,862 rigs. Most rigs produce both oil and gas.
Analysts at Simmons & Co, energy specialists at U.S. investment bank Piper Jaffray, however, forecast the average combined oil and gas rig count will slide from 1,032 in 2018 to 1,019 in 2019 before rising to 1,097 in 2020.
That is the same as Simmons predictions last week.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A Rivian R1S All-Electric SUV is displayed at the 2019 New York International Auto Show in New York City, U.S, April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 18, 2019
By David Shepardson
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Demand for electric vehicles remains low in the U.S. market, but industry executives at the New York auto show this week said they are pushing ahead with billions of dollars in investments even while preaching patience.
Officials said their companies are charging ahead with a flurry of new electric vehicle (EV) models, citing rising regulatory requirements globally.
Last year, only about 2 percent of U.S. auto sales were comprised of full electric or plug-electric hybrid models, with Tesla Inc accounting for more than a third of those sales. The United States ranks seventh in EV sales as a percentage of overall sales, according to the International Energy Agency.
Michelle Krebs, analyst at online marketplace Autotrader, expects EV sales to remain relatively modest until charging infrastructure, prices and battery performance improve.
“It’s going to be a pretty long runway,” Krebs said, adding EV sales may first rise dramatically in government and corporate fleets.
In New York, industry executives said they face hurdles to selling EVs – persistently low fuel prices, lack of consumer education, lower residual values, higher upfront costs because of battery packs and consumer concerns about the availability of charging infrastructure.
Nevertheless, automakers are showing sportier, more creative EVs than the original plug-in models that were mostly small cars.
Hyundai Motor Co’s luxury Genesis unit at the show showed an EV concept car, called the Mint, capable of an estimated 200 miles per full charge and fast recharging, while its Kia affiliate unveiled a concept EV crossover with butterfly wing doors called the HabaNiro.
Daimler AG showed a new Mercedes-Benz SUV called the EQC Edition 1886 that will go on sale next year “and then we have a whole lot of other electrics coming over the next couple of years,” said Dietmar Exler, who heads Mercedes-Benz USA.
Jaguar Land Rover began selling its electric Jaguar I-PACE, in late 2018 in the United States and is selling only about 200 a month. “It will be a long, long time until we see mass adoption,” said Joe Eberhardt, who heads the company’s North American unit.
The $70,000 I-Pace was named World Car of the Year this week at the New York show.
There are nearly 300 million gasoline-powered vehicles on U.S. roads, Eberhardt said. “Nobody is going to drive them into the ocean.”
He noted the economic advantages of EVs are slight at current gasoline prices. He suggested an I-PACE owner would on average save about $500 a year by using electricity rather than using fuel, but they will also save on maintenance costs.
Germany’s Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit are introducing a half-dozen new electric vehicles in the coming two years and have aggressive volume targets, aiming to have 20 to 30 percent of its sales as EVs by 2025.
As part of VW’s $25 billion “dieselgate” settlement, the German automaker agreed to add at least three additional electric vehicles, including an SUV, in California by 2020.
Volkswagen U.S. chief Scott Keogh said the company, which showed off a concept ID Buggy EV, is investing in EVs not as a “guilt play” to address its prior diesel issues but to make money.
Keogh says there will be a flurry of launches in the next three years but it will still be a few years beyond that. “I think 2025 is where you’re really going to see – is it taking hold?” Keogh said.
Audi said this week it plans to start delivering its new electric E-Tron SUV to U.S. consumers next month. It has just delivered test vehicles to its 300 dealers, said Mark Del Rosso, president of Audi of America, noting that many people who reserved an E-Tron are new to the Audi brand.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Source: OANN
The percentage of U.S. adults who belong to a church or other religious institution has plunged by 20 percentage points over the past two decades, hitting a low of 50% last year, according to a new Gallup poll. Among major demographic groups, the biggest drops were recorded among Democrats and Hispanics.
Gallup said church membership was 70% in 1999 — and close to or higher than that figure for most of the 20th century. Since 1999, the figure has fallen steadily, while the percentage of U.S. adults with no religious affiliation has jumped from 8% to 19%.
Among Americans identifying with a particular religion, there was a sharp drop in church membership among Catholics — dropping from 76% to 63% over the past two decades as the church was buffeted by clergy sex-abuse scandals. Membership among Protestants dropped from 73% to 67% percent over the same period.
Among Hispanic Americans, church membership dropped from 68% to 45% since 2000, a much bigger decline than for non-Hispanic white and black Americans.
There was a big discrepancy over that 20-year period in regard to political affiliation: Church membership among Democrats fell from 71% to 48%, compared to a more modest drop from 77% to 69% among Republicans.
David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame political science professor who studies religion’s role in U.S. civic life, attributed the partisan divide to “the allergic reaction many Americans have to the mixture of religion and conservative politics.”
“Increasingly, Americans associate religion with the Republican Party — and if they are not Republicans themselves, they turn away from religion,” he said.
Mark Chaves, a professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke University, said that as recently as the 1970s, it was difficult to predict someone’s political party by the regularity with which they went to church.
“Now it’s one of the best predictors,” he said. “The correlation between religiosity and being Republican has increased over the years.”
The overall decline in church membership is driven by cultural and generational factors, said Nancy Ammerman, a professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University.
“Culturally, we are seeing significant erosion in the trust people have for institutions in general and churches in particular,” she said. “We are also seeing a generational shift as the ‘joiner’ older generation dies off and a generation of non-joiners comes on the scene.”
The new Gallup findings underscore that generational dynamic. Among Americans 65 and older, church membership in 2016-2018 averaged 64% percent, compared to 41% among those aged 18-29.
“The challenge is clear for churches, which depend on loyal and active members to keep them open and thriving,” wrote Gallup poll analyst Jeffrey Jones. “How do they find ways to convince some of the unaffiliated religious adults in society to make a commitment to a particular house of worship of their chosen faith?”
“These trends are not just numbers, but play out in the reality that thousands of U.S. churches are closing each year,” Jones added. “Religious Americans in the future will likely be faced with fewer options for places of worship, and likely less convenient ones, which could accelerate the decline in membership even more.”
Professor Scott Thumma, who teaches sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary, suggested several likely factors behind the decline. Among them, he said religious young adults are delaying marriage, postponing having children, and, when they do, having fewer children.
He also suggested there was diminished social pressure to formally join organizations.
“I’ve encountered many persons in churches that have attended for several years but did not officially join or become a member,” he said by email. “This is also evident in persons switching from one congregation to another without joining any.”
The findings are based on Gallup surveys conducted over the last 20 years, with most surveys including at least 2,000 U.S. adults and having a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Some findings are based on aggregated interviews from 1998-2000 and 2016-2018, with each period including interviews with more than 7,000 adults.
Source: NewsMax America
Apr 17, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman (26) rounds the bases on a solo home run against the Houston Astros during the sixth inning at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
April 18, 2019
Matt Chapman broke a sixth-inning tie with a home run Wednesday night, helping the host Oakland Athletics snap the Houston Astros’ 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory.
Frankie Montas (3-1) gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, and the Oakland bullpen got the final eight outs as the A’s beat the Astros for the first time in five tries this season to split the two-game series.
Wade Miley (1-2), who took a 5-1 career record against the A’s to the mound, was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs on just four hits in six innings.
Indians 1, Mariners 0
Carlos Carrasco pitched seven scoreless innings as Cleveland completed a three-game sweep of host Seattle. Jake Bauers hit a solo homer to account for the game’s lone run.
Carrasco (2-2), who allowed six runs in two of his first three starts of the season and entered the game with a 12.60 ERA, showed the form that helped him win 35 games over the past two seasons with the Indians.
Carrasco allowed only three hits, walked two and struck out 12.
Dodgers 3, Reds 2
A.J. Pollock interrupted a pitchers’ duel with a three-run home run, and Los Angeles finished off a three-game series sweep with a victory over visiting Cincinnati.
With Reds starter Sonny Gray locked in a scoreless showdown with Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, Pollock came through in the sixth inning as Los Angeles tied the major league record for consecutive games with a home run at home.
The Dodgers have hit at least one home run in 32 consecutive games going back to last season, matching the mark set by the Colorado Rockies in 1999.
Phillies 3, Mets 2
Jake Arrieta pitched eight-plus solid innings, Scott Kingery and Cesar Hernandez each homered, and host Philadelphia defeated New York.
J.T. Realmuto had two hits for the Phillies, who played without shortstop Jean Segura due to a strained left hamstring.
Arrieta (3-1) allowed six hits and two runs and induced the Mets into 12 ground-ball outs. He walked two and struck out three. Hector Neris earned the shaky save despite allowing an RBI single and hitting Wilson Ramos. Neris struck out Keon Broxton swinging on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded in the ninth.
Cardinals 6, Brewers 3
Paul DeJong matched his career high with four hits, and visiting St. Louis avoided a three-game sweep with a win against Milwaukee.
Michael Wacha (1-0) improved to 6-0 in his career against the Brewers, allowing two runs and five hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one.
Marcell Ozuna hit his fifth home run in the past four games. Matt Carpenter also homered, while Kolten Wong had three hits and Matt Wieters had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals.
Diamondbacks 3, Braves 2 (10 innings)
Adam Jones walked with the bases loaded and Arizona exploited the struggling Atlanta bullpen for the second straight night. The winning rally came against Jesse Biddle (0-1), whose throwing error allowed Tim Locastro to reach second base with one out. Biddle walked Jarrod Dyson, coaxed Eduardo Escobar into a lineout and then walked David Peralta.
Greg Holland pitched a scoreless 10th inning, striking out two, to earn his fourth save and extend his scoreless streak to 11 innings. Archie Bradley (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings and earned the win.
Brewers starter Corbin Burnes (0-2) had allowed three home runs in each of his first three starts this season and gave up two more before leaving after 3 1/3 innings. He yielded five runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three.
Yankees 5, Red Sox 3
Brett Gardner hit a grand slam off Ryan Brasier with one out in the seventh inning, and New York rallied past Boston to complete a two-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees loaded the bases on two walks and a single by Clint Frazier against Brandon Workman (0-1).
It was Gardner’s 100th career homer and fourth career grand slam. It was his first grand slam since June 30, 2017, in Houston off James Hoyt.
Cubs 6, Marlins 0
Cole Hamels pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Chicago to a shutout win at Miami.
All six Cubs runs scored on two-out, opposite-field hits as Chicago completed a three-game sweep. Daniel Descalso went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Javier Baez went 2-for-4 and homered for the second straight game.
Hamels (3-0) allowed just three hits — all singles — and no walks, striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 2.77. He got 11 groundouts.
Nationals 9, Giants 6
Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick hit homers in the first inning, and Matt Adams and Kurt Suzuki went deep in the seventh as Washington held on to beat visiting San Francisco.
Adams hit a three-run homer off Travis Bergen to give his team a 7-2 lead in the seventh. Two batters later, Suzuki went deep with a two-run shot.
The Giants erupted for four runs in the ninth as Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar hit two-run homers to make it 9-6 off reliever Austen Williams with no outs. That brought on Kyle Barraclough, who retired the only batter he faced before closer Sean Doolittle got the final two outs after allowing a double to Buster Posey and a walk to Brandon Belt.
Pirates 3, Tigers 2 (10 innings)
Colin Moran knocked in the go-ahead run in the 10th, and Pittsburgh edged host Detroit for the second consecutive night.
Josh Bell was the only other Pirate to record an RBI. Nick Burdi (2-1) pitched an inning of scoreless relief to notch the victory. Felipe Vazquez got the last three outs to pick up his fifth save.
Pirates starter Trevor Williams allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five in six innings. Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull only gave up an unearned run in six innings while limiting Pittsburgh to two hits and two walks. He fanned five. Ronny Rodriguez and John Hicks drove in the runs for the Tigers, who have dropped five straight.
Rays 8, Orioles 1
Brandon Lowe, Ji-Man Choi and Yandy Diaz each homered as Tampa Bay defeated visiting Baltimore.
The Rays have taken the first two games of this series and have belted four homers so far. Lowe’s homer was the big one in this contest, a three-run shot off Baltimore starter David Hess, and it gave the Rays a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Five Tampa Bay players finished with at least two hits as the Rays banged out 13 overall, nine for extra bases.
Rangers 5, Angels 4
Shin-Soo Choo had two hits, including a two-run triple in the decisive fifth inning to lead Texas past visiting Los Angeles. Choo, who raised his batting average to .345, was instrumental in Texas sweeping the three-game series.
Rangers starter Lance Lynn (2-1) worked out of trouble early and minimized damage before exiting with two outs in the sixth inning. Lynn allowed just two runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out two.
Rangers closer Jose Leclerc notched his fifth save, although he made it adventurous. Entering with a 5-3 lead, he loaded the bases with no outs on a David Fletcher double, a walk to Kole Calhoun and a Mike Trout hit-by-pitch. Leclerc dodged disaster, allowing only a fielder’s choice RBI to Andrelton Simmons between striking out Justin Bour looking and Brian Goodwin swinging.
Royals 4, White Sox 3 (10 innings)
Hunter Dozier homered to lead off the 10th inning, and visiting Kansas City posted a victory over Chicago in a game that featured a benches-clearing melee.
After his RBI single in the seventh gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, Dozier launched a 2-0 inside fastball from Nate Jones (0-1) over the wall in left field for his fifth homer of the season.
Chicago’s Tim Anderson punctuated his two-run homer off Kansas City starter Brad Keller in the fourth inning by emphatically tossing his bat. Keller drilled Anderson in the backside on the first pitch to lead off the sixth inning, resulting in both benches and bullpens rushing the field. Keller, Anderson, White Sox manager Rick Renteria and Royals bench coach Dale Sveum were ejected
Twins 4, Blue Jays 1
Nelson Cruz went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs, and Jake Odorizzi allowed just one run over 5 2/3 innings as Minnesota beat Toronto in Minneapolis.
Odorizzi (1-2) allowed six hits and one walk while striking out six. Blake Parker retired all three batters he faced in the ninth, including two by strikeouts, to pick up his fourth save.
Jorge Polanco went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored two runs, raising his average to .429, and Marwin Gonzalez also went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI for the Twins. Freddy Galvis went 2-for-4 with a run for Toronto.
–Field Level Media
Source: OANN
If you’re an organ donor, you might have chosen that status out of a sense of goodwill, thinking that medical personnel don’t harvest your organs until after you’re dead and unconscious. But a new scientific study reveals that organ harvesting is very likely taking place even while patients are still conscious, even though their hearts have stopped beating.
This means that patients are fully aware — and experience all the pain — of doctors rapidly cutting into their bodies and slicing away their organs in order to generate “transplant profits” for the corrupt medical system.
Even when your heart stops beating, you’re still alive and conscious for several minutes
You’re not really dead when your heart merely stops beating, even though that’s what doctors use to pronounce you dead. “[P]eople who have survived cardiac arrest later accurately described what was happening around them after their hearts stopped beating,” said Dr. Sam Parnia, a researcher who studies consciousness after death. His comments were reported by Fox News:
He said: “They’ll describe watching doctors and nurses working, they’ll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them.”
In other words, you’re still alive, conscious and aware for several minutes after your heart stops beating. Just because the heart stops doesn’t instantly disconnect the activity of the brain. (This should be obvious, but the corrupt, evil medical system has whitewashed this issue for years, pretending that death is instantaneous, taking place the moment the heart stops beating.)
“This means you are essentially ‘trapped’ inside your dead body with your brain still working,” reports Fox News. If you’re an organ donor, that’s the moment in which doctors slice into your body without using anesthesia (since they assume you’re dead) and start rapidly harvesting your organs. You feel every bit of it, but you’re trapped inside your body and can’t move or even scream.
If you’re an organ donor, greedy hospitals and unethical doctors may start harvesting your organs BEFORE you’re dead
Doctors are pushed by the medical industry to harvest as many organs as possible, since organs are free to the hospital, yet that same hospital can generate millions of dollars in revenue from an organ transplant. The organ trade is steeped in unethical medical crimes and horrifying realities that almost no one dares acknowledge. Over the years, there have been many reports that claim some doctors dishonestly declare patients to be deceased even when they aren’t, in order to start harvesting their organs before their heart stops beating.
A shocking investigative book called The Red Market (by Scott Carney) documents the unethical practices of the organ trade industry. The book’s subtitle is, “On the trail of the world’s organ brokers, bone thieves, blood farmers and child traffickers,” and it lays out the horrifying truth about the organ harvesting industry that the medical establishment has successfully covered up for decades.
The corrupt medical system pushes you to donate your organs for THEIR benefit, not yours
In summary, the entire push for you to become an organ donor is based on medical system profits. They need your organs in order to charge patients for organ transplant procedures, drugs and a lifetime of repeat doctor visits. In seeking to capture these profits, they falsely imply that somehow organ transplants are free to everyone, as if hospitals and doctors are volunteering their time and resources to save lives.
That’s a big lie.
In truth, organ transplants are a huge profit center for many hospitals, and while hospitals and doctors reap enormous profits on these procedures, they pay no money whatsoever to the family of the deceased person whose organs made the entire thing possible in the first place.
Why should organ donors give up their organs for free while doctors, hospitals and drug companies reap huge profits from those organs? If “saving lives” is the real goal, then why don’t hospitals the doctors offer all organ transplants for free?
The answer is obvious: It’s big business. It’s a profit center for the corrupt, evil medical industry.
And if you are an organ donor, you are perpetuating this great evil and possibly subjecting yourself to horrifying torture as surgeons rip your organs from your body while you’re still alive and conscious.
If you really want to help others, teach people how to protect their own organs through healthy living, nutrition and avoidance of toxins. By teaching people how to keeps their own organs healthy, you reduce the need for fresh organ transplants, thereby making more of those organs available to those who are waiting for them.
You can start by teaching people to avoid toxic vaccines, since vaccines damage the kidneys. Chemotherapy damages the heart, liver and brain. Exposure to glyphosate herbicide and other agricultural chemicals damages all your organs. If you really want to save lives and help others, encourage them to read Natural News where they can learn how to avoid disease and protect the organs God gave them.
Also read MedicalViolence.com for more stories about the extreme violence carried out against human beings by the medical system.
Source: InfoWars
Reaction was quick — and harsh — to the announcement that Attorney General William Barr would hold a news conference Thursday morning to release the much-anticipated 400-page report of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Both Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — who determined the evidence in the report was not sufficient to prosecute President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice — will be speaking to the press, Law&Crime reported.
But many Twitter posters have already made up their minds.
“There is absolutely no reason for Barr to be holding a press conference to take questions on a report no one has yet had a chance to read and digest,” lamented national security lawyer Bradley Moss. “This is stupid.”
Matthew Miller, an analyst on MSNBC, tweeted Barr “needs to get out of the way,” while pundit Cheri Jacobus derided the news conference as Barr providing “fodder for his own impeachment.”
Democrat partisan Scott Dworkin tweeted “enough with the games and pro-Trump propaganda.”
Newsweek columnist Seth Abramson declared, “This is bad,” saying “it suggests Barr will again say or do something to prove that he is essentially marketing stoogee for the Trump administration.”
Source: NewsMax America
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