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Shutdown talks stalled – POLITICO
Shutdown talks stalled – POLITICO

Lawmakers remain at an impasse over how much money to provide to fund President Donald Trump’s request for a border wall. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Government Shutdown

A stopgap Homeland Security bill is being discussed now.

Negotiations to avert another government shutdown have stalled, leaving lawmakers in the same place they’ve been for months.

Although lawmakers were optimistic going into the weekend about reaching a border security deal and funding the government past Feb. 15, negotiators are now discussing a stopgap Homeland Security bill, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Story Continued Below

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) acknowledged Sunday that negotiations have stalled and put the odds of getting a deal at 50-50.

“We’ve got some problems with the Democrats dealing with ICE,” Shelby told Fox News’ Chris Wallace, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I’m not confident we’re going to get there, I’m hoping we will get there.”

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one of the negotiators, appeared slightly more optimistic.

“We are not to a point where we can announce a deal, negotiations are still going on,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.“ There are good people on this committee so I have confidence that hopefully we will get something done very soon.”

Tester added that negotiations “negotiations seldom go smooth all the way through.”

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said President Donald Trump is not ruling out another government shutdown.

“The government shutdown is technically still on the table,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.“ “We do not want it to come to that, but that option is still open to the president and will remain so.”

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mulvaney added: “Let’s say that the hardcore left wing of the Democrat Party prevails this negotiation and they put a bill on the president’s desk with, say, zero money for the wall or $800 million, some absurdly low number. How does he sign that? He cannot in good faith sign that.“

Democratic conferees planned to talk on the phone Sunday morning to discuss the next steps, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

“I would say all is not lost but it’s certainly not the place anybody wanted to be,” said a congressional source familiar with the talks.

Negotiations reached an impasse Saturday, primarily over detention beds, the source said. Democratic negotiators offered a deal to their Republican counterparts, but Republicans are refusing to negotiate until Democrats take back their demand for a cap on the number of beds, the source added

There are no talks scheduled.

Lawmakers are discussing the possibility of a year-long continuing resolution bill but so far discussions have not led to a proposal that both House Democrats and Senate Republicans could get on board with, the source said.

The impasse in negotiations adds pressure on party leaders and the White House, who will have to step in if the conference members can’t quickly resolve their differences over detention beds and border barrier funding.

The discussion comes after the longest government shutdown in history. President Donald Trump has insisted for money to fund his border wall, demanding for $5.7 billion. But lawmakers remain at an impasse over how much money to provide to fund the border barrier.

Last week, conservative lawmakers said Trump would accept around $2 billion, but Democrats have so far rejected that amount.

Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/10/government-shutdown-talks-hit-snag-1160924

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White House chief of staff Mulvaney won’t rule out possibility of another shutdown – NBC News
White House chief of staff Mulvaney won’t rule out possibility of another shutdown – NBC News

WASHINGTON — Five days ahead of the latest funding deadline, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that he “absolutely cannot” rule out the possibility of another partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t come to an agreement that includes substantial funding for a border wall.

Mulvaney blamed the uncertainty on congressional Democrats, arguing that the party appears torn between the “hardcore, left wing” that sees any funding for President Donald Trump’s signature border wall as a non-starter, and a more moderate faction that appears open to compromise.

“Let’s say the hardcore, left wing of the Democrat Party prevails in this negotiation and they put a bill on the president’s desk with, say, zero money for the wall, or $800 million, an absurdly low number. How does he sign that?” Mulvaney told “Meet the Press.”

“You cannot take a shutdown off the table and you cannot take $5.7 billion off the table,” he added of Trump’s initial price tag for the wall.

But he said that the “most likely outcome” is that Congress strikes a deal palatable enough to win the president’s signature.

“If you end up someplace in the middle, yes, then what you’ll probably see is the president say, ‘Yes, okay. And then I’ll go find the money someplace else'” to fully fund a wall.

Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that “talks are stalled” and that there’s a “50/50 chance” that Congress can reach a deal to avoid shutting the government down for the second time in two months.

The wall remains the largest sticking point in these negotiations. Trump still says the wall is necessary. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far held firm on her party’s opposition to its funding.

And a senior Democratic aide told NBC that there are other major debates yet to be solved, including a Democratic push to trade funding for new border barriers for a limit on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s detention beds as a way to push back at the administration’s border policies.

Republicans and Democrats have until Feb. 15 to find an agreement thanks to last month’s deal that lifted the historic 35-day partial shutdown.

Even if Congress ultimately passes something Trump supports, Mulvaney described any deal as the beginning not the end, of Trump’s efforts to build the wall he believes is necessary to secure America’s southern border. One option that’s been floated by the president and his allies is declaring a national emergency to secure the funding, but it’s unclear whether that would survive a legal challenge.

“The president really does believe that there is a national security crisis and a humanitarian crisis at the border, and he will do something about it. So whether or not he gets $1.6 billion from Congress, whether or not he gets $2.5 [billion] or $5.7 [billion], he’s going to do whatever he legally can to secure that border,” he said.

“There are pots of money where all presidents have access to without a national emergency. And there are ones that he will not have access to without that declaration.”

Ben Kamisar

Ben Kamisar is a political writer for NBC News. 

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/white-house-chief-staff-mulvaney-won-t-rule-out-possibility-n969801

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South Korea to Pay More Under New Military Deal With U.S. – The Wall Street Journal
South Korea to Pay More Under New Military Deal With U.S. – The Wall Street Journal

SEOUL—The U.S. and South Korea signed a one-year deal outlining the shared costs of their military alliance on Sunday, removing a potential distraction ahead of the second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for late this month.

Seoul will pay roughly $920 million this year for the 28,500 U.S. military personnel stationed in the country, according to officials from both countries. That represents an increase of about 8% from what Seoul paid in 2018. South Korea foots about half of the…

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-to-pay-more-under-new-military-deal-with-u-s-11549794220

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Trail of Tears: Trump Accused of Joking About Native American Genocide in Tweet Mocking Senator Warren – Newsweek
Trail of Tears: Trump Accused of Joking About Native American Genocide in Tweet Mocking Senator Warren – Newsweek

President Donald Trump has been accused of joking about the 19th century Trail of Tears on which thousands of Native Americans died, after posting a tweet mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s formal announcement of her candidacy for the U.S. presidency. 

Soon after the Massachusetts senator launched her presidential bid on Saturday, the president renewed his attacks on her claims to have Native American ancestry. 

“Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President,” he wrote on Twitter. “Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!”

President Donald Trump, beneath a portrait of populist President Andrew Jackson, speaks before the swearing-in of Rex Tillerson as 69th secretary of state in the Oval Office of the White House on February 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. Getty Images

The capped up word ‘Trail’ was read by critics as an allusion to the Trail of Tears, which saw thousands of Native Americans forcibly relocated from their lands in the American southeast to reservations in Oklahoma after the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Thousands died of exposure, hunger and disease before they could reach their destination. 

The forced relocation was begun under the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, whose portrait adorns Trump’s Oval Office and who the president has hailed as an inspiration for his own populist, nativist policies. 

On Twitter, the president was criticised for joking about the deaths.

“4,000 Native Americans died on the Trail of Tears due to forced relocations under the Andrew Jackson administration. Trump decided to honor Navajo code talker vets in front of Andrew “Indian Killer” Jackson’s portrait last year because of course. Now this…” tweeted New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali.

Other criticised a tweet by Donald Trump Jr., who in response to his father’s message wrote “savage” — which critics claim was used as another crude racial slur. 

He added: “I love my president.”

“Trump jokes about genocide… His son laughs… There is no limit to the immorality and indecency of these people,” tweeted Andrew Stroelheim of charity Human Rights Watch.

Others defended the president, claiming that his ignorance of history means he probably in unaware of the Trail of Tears. 

“Yes, because Trump is noted for his knowledge of 19th century American history vis a vis the native population. Jeez,” tweeted senior Fox News analyst Brit Hume. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Senator Warren’s campaign also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Trump has previously faced criticism for using racially denigrating terms to taunt Warren, who apologised after undertaking a DNA test last year to confirm her claims of Native American ancestry. 

In a statement earlier this year she said she now understood the difference between DNA information indicating a Native American ancestor and membership of a Native American tribal nation. 

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/trail-tears-trump-accused-joking-about-native-american-genocide-tweet-mocking-1325481

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White House reportedly launches manhunt for the leaker who released his private schedule – AOL
White House reportedly launches manhunt for the leaker who released his private schedule – AOL

 

  • The leak of President Donald Trump’s private schedule sparked a manhunt for the individual responsible for its release, according to Politico.
  • The White House tapped into the services of the IT office and is believed to have made progress in searching for its suspect.
  • According to one White House official, the suspect is reportedly likely to be a career government worker, rather than a Trump-appointee.

The leak of President Donald Trump’s private schedules dating back to the 2018 November midterm elections sparked a manhunt for the individual responsible for its release, according to Politico report published Friday.

The White House tapped into the services of the IT office and is believed to have made progress in its search, people familiar with the development said to Politico. 

Trump’s private schedule, which is different from the publicly available copy, detailed how the president spends his day. Trump was reportedly incensed by the leak and is aware of the search for the one responsible.

Related: Donald Trump holds rally in Tampa, Florida




The trove of information, first published by Axios, revealed Trump that an unprecedented amount of time was labeled “Executive Time” — a period in which Trump watches TV, reads newspapers, tweets, and makes phone calls.

The leaked schedule is not all-inclusive and does not show some of the meetings Trump attended. One White House official also noted that there was a different, more secretive schedule laying out all of Trump’s calls and meetings, Politico reported.

“We all have much bigger things to worry about and much bigger things that are going on,” one White House official told Politico. “So it’s not that big of a deal. but [sic] it’s more just unnecessary, and it was just a petty thing to do.”

“If you’re leaking the schedule, what else could you be leaking or what other information,” the official added.

Unflattering leaks and reports have constantly flowed out of the Trump White House, much to the consternation of officials. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly attempted to clamp down on the leaks by taking several precautions, including conducting sweeps to collect personal devices and banning cell phones at the West Wing.

One particular leak in May attracted bipartisan condemnation and embarrassment. White House special assistant Kelly Sadler was reported to have made an off-hand comment about Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was recovering from brain cancer treatment. McCain voiced his concern over Gina Haspel serving as CIA director, an opinion Sadler had reportedly brushed off in a meeting because “he’s dying, anyway.”

 

More from Business Insider:

Ivanka Trump says she will only talk about policy when she thinks the same thing as her dad

‘Pathetic and telling’: Meghan McCain responds after Trump reportedly taunted John McCain after his death

One of Melania Trump’s State of the Union guests is a 6th-grader named Joshua Trump she says gets bullied because of his name

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/02/09/trumps-white-house-launches-manhunt-leaker-released-private-schedule/23665491/

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Virginia Lt. Gov.’s accuser willing to testify at impeachment hearings: lawyers | TheHill – The Hill
Virginia Lt. Gov.’s accuser willing to testify at impeachment hearings: lawyers | TheHill – The Hill

Lawyers representing a college professor who alleged Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) sexually assaulted her say their client is willing to testify at impeachment proceedings or to cooperate with law enforcement in an investigation of her claims.

In a statement Saturday night, attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks write that Vanessa Tyson is “fully prepared” to testify under oath on her claim that Fairfax assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

“In response to two credible claims of sexual assault, by women with no connection to one another, Lt. Governor Fairfax has claimed that the women lied about what he insists were
consensual sexual encounters and has baselessly and callously attempted to discredit these women,” Katz and Banks write.

“We are confident that once the Virginia legislature hears Dr. Tyson’s harrowing account of this sexual assault, the testimony of many corroborating witnesses, and evidence of his attempts to mislead the public about The Washington Post’s decision not to run a story in 2018, it will conclude that he lacks the character, fitness and credibility to serve in any capacity,” they continue.

The statement from Tyson’s attorneys come as multiple prominent Democrats including top 2020 presidential contenders such as Sen. Kirsten GillibrandKirsten Elizabeth GillibrandVirginia Lt. Gov.’s accuser willing to testify at impeachment hearings: lawyers Rob Lowe mocks Warren over Native American ancestry claims Trump makes Native American joke about Warren campaign announcement: ‘See you on the campaign TRAIL’ MORE (D-N.Y.) have called for Fairfax’s resignation following a second woman’s allegations of rape against Fairfax that became public this week.

A Democratic member of Virginia’s House of Delegates said Friday that the legislature plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Fairfax unless he steps down. The allegations against the lieutenant governor come as Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam (D), and Attorney General Mark Herring (D) face their own scandals over admissions of past use of blackface.

“On Monday, I will be introducing articles of impeachment for Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax if he has not resigned before then,” Del. Patrick Hope (D) wrote on Twitter.

Fairfax was also removed from his post as chairman of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association (DLGA) on Friday following the second accusation against him.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/429297-virginia-lt-govs-accuser-willing-to-testify-at-impeachment-hearings

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Rob Lowe deletes Elizabeth Warren ‘chief’ joke after Hollywood backlash – Fox News
Rob Lowe deletes Elizabeth Warren ‘chief’ joke after Hollywood backlash – Fox News

Rob Lowe’s tweet about Sen. Elizabeth Warren was not well-received by some in Hollywood. (Reuters)

Actor Rob Lowe removed a Twitter post that poked fun at U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Saturday out of concern that “some peeps got upset.”

Earlier in the day, Lowe responded on the social media platform after the Massachusetts Democrat officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign with a kickoff event in Lawrence, Mass.

“Elizabeth Warren would bring a whole new meaning to Commander in ‘Chief,’” Lowe wrote in the now-deleted post, in an apparent reference to the controversy over Warren’s claims of Native American heritage.

ROB LOWE ADMITS HE’S ‘VAIN AS F–K,’ ‘FUNNELED ADDICTION INTO EXERCISE

But many social media users – including fellow Hollywood actors — were not amused.

“What a raw blow!” “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill wrote.

“That’s not funny,” actor Vincent D’Onofrio added.

“Don’t. Jesus,” “Hot in Cleveland” star Valerie Bertinelli chimed in.

“Just when I was liking Rob Lowe after his moving comments about being his mom’s caretaker — he takes a page from Trump. Ick,” former NBC correspondent Soledad O’Brien wrote.

ROB LOWE DEFENDS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, CALLS CALIFORNIA COLLEGE’S INITIAL BAN ‘IDIOCY’

Other users defended Lowe.

“Rob Lowe was just joking,” one user wrote. “Everybody is so sensitive these days. Just a bunch of snowflakes! #ElizabethWarren2020 is the person who lied about her race for votes.”

“Rob Lowe has no f—ing rights,” another commented. “he isn’t protected under the constitution. i said what i said.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Another user retweeted the image of the State Bar of Texas registration card, on which Warren had identified herself as “American Indian.”

The senator recently apologized for claiming Native American ancestry on the 1986 card, hinting that other documents with a similar claim may exist.

Ultimately, Lowe decided it was best to remove the post.

“I deleted my Elizabeth Warren tweet,” he wrote. “It was a joke and some peeps got upset, and that’s never my intention. On the GOOD side: I just got to use the Oxford comma!”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/rob-lowe-deletes-elizabeth-warren-chief-joke-after-hollywood-backlash

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Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters
Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its joint ventures to deposit oil sales proceeds in an account recently opened at Russia’s Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

PDVSA’s move comes after the United States imposed tough, new financial sanctions on Jan. 28 aimed at blocking Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s access to the country’s oil revenue.

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido said recently that a fund would be established to accept proceeds from sales of Venezuelan oil.

The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as the nation’s legitimate head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet seeking to foment a coup.

PDVSA also has begun pressing its foreign partners holding stakes in joint ventures in its key Orinoco Belt producing area to formally decide whether they will continue with the projects, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.

The joint venture partners include Norway’s Equinor ASA, U.S.-based Chevron Corp and France’s Total SA.

“We would like to make formal your knowledge of new banking instructions to make payments in U.S. dollars or euros,” wrote PDVSA’s finance vice president, Fernando De Quintal, in a letter dated Feb. 8 to the PDVSA unit that supervises its joint ventures.

Even after a first round of financial sanctions in 2017, PDVSA’s joint ventures managed to maintain bank accounts in the United States and Europe to receive proceeds from oil sales. They also used correspondent banks in the United States and Europe to shift money to PDVSA’s accounts in China.

State-run PDVSA several weeks ago informed customers of the new banking instructions and has begun moving the accounts of its joint ventures, which can export crude separately. The decision was made amid tension with some of its partners, which have withdrawn staff from Caracas since U.S. sanctions were imposed in January.

The sanctions gave U.S. oil companies working in Venezuela, including Chevron and oil service firms Halliburton Co, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes and Schlumberger NV, a deadline to halt all operations in the South American country.

The European Union has encouraged member countries to recognize a new temporary government led by Guaido until new elections can be held. Europe also has said it could impose financial sanctions to bar Maduro from having access to oil revenue coming from the region.

Related Coverage

Maduro has overseen an economic collapse in the oil-rich OPEC country that has left many Venezuelans malnourished and struggling to find medicine, sparking the exodus of an estimated 3 million Venezuelans.

Sanctions designed to deprive Maduro of oil revenue have left an armada of loaded oil tankers off Venezuela’s coasts that have not been discharged by PDVSA’s customers due to payment issues. The bottleneck has caused problems for PDVSA to continue producing and refining oil without imported diluents and components.

PDVSA also ordered its Petrocedeno joint venture with Equinor and Total to halt extra-heavy oil output and upgrading due to a lack of naphtha needed to make the production exportable, as the sanctions prohibit U.S. suppliers of the fuel from exporting to Venezuela.

Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Corina Pons in Caracas; editing by Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-pdvsa-banks-exclus/exclusive-venezuela-shifts-oil-ventures-accounts-to-russian-bank-document-sources-idUSKCN1PY0N3

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Obama Health Official Rips Trump’s Doctor As ‘An Instrument Of His Lies’ – HuffPost
Obama Health Official Rips Trump’s Doctor As ‘An Instrument Of His Lies’ – HuffPost

On Friday, the president made a four-hour visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where his doctor, Sean Conley, performed his check-up with 11 other specialists.

Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-physical-exam-results_us_5c5fc94ae4b0910c63f13435

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Virginia lieutenant governor on sexual assault allegations: ‘The interactions were consensual’ – CNN
Virginia lieutenant governor on sexual assault allegations: ‘The interactions were consensual’ – CNN

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By Sophie Tatum

Updated 7:55 PM ET, Sat February 9, 2019

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Washington (CNN)The embattled lieutenant governor of Virginia released a statement on Saturday, denying recent allegations of sexual assault and rape as the state continues to find its top Democratic leaders embroiled in scandal.

    CNN’s Ryan Nobles, Dan Merica, Caroline Kelly and Dana Bash contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/09/politics/virginia-lieutenant-governor-sexual-assault/index.html

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Trump Revives Racist ‘Pocahontas’ Slur Against Warren, Donald Jr. Responds: ‘Savage!’ – HuffPost
Trump Revives Racist ‘Pocahontas’ Slur Against Warren, Donald Jr. Responds: ‘Savage!’ – HuffPost

Several who responded on Twitter to Trump’s last line, “See you on the campaign TRAIL Liz,” saw it as a callous reference to the “Trail of Tears,” a brutal series of forced government relocations of Native American in the southwest beginning in 1830 that resulted in countless deaths.

Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-pocahontas-donald-jr-savage_us_5c5f792de4b0f9e1b17dd52c

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The mysterious case of AOC’s scrubbed ‘Green New Deal’ details – Washington Examiner
The mysterious case of AOC’s scrubbed ‘Green New Deal’ details – Washington Examiner

On Feb. 5, the congressional office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted a new blog entry under “energy issues” detailing her “Green New Deal” proposal and answering “frequently asked questions.”

The page, announcing an 8:30 a.m. launch on Feb. 7, is now gone, and a top adviser suggested Friday it was actually authored and distributed by the GOP.

By the afternoon of Feb. 7, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., removed the document from her website without explanation but following backlash and even ridicule over the radical plans outlined within it, including a call to “eliminate emissions from cows or air travel” — which would functionally ban the latter — and to provide “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.”

The document vanished just hours after Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., formally unveiled a “Green New Deal” resolution that has so far attracted 67 Democratic co-sponsors in the House. It’s a nonbinding measure that is less detailed than the now-deleted FAQ document but calls for a complete and speedy overhaul of the nation’s energy, transportation, and farming sectors in order to eliminate carbon emissions in the coming decades.

The communications staff has so far not responded to an inquiry about the now-missing blog post.

But on Saturday morning, chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti tweeted that the FAQ page was indeed posted by the Ocasio-Cortez staff but was done so in error. He called the page “an early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesn’t represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake (idea was to wait for launch, monitor q’s, and rewrite that FAQ before publishing).”

Ocasio-Cortez later Saturday admitted the same, tweeting at a Washington Post reporter, “There was also a draft version that got uploaded + taken down. There’s also draft versions floating out there.”

[Related: Ocasio-Cortez unveils her ‘Green New Deal’]

A policy adviser to Ocasio-Cortez, though, told Fox News Friday night that the claims were some kind of hoax perpetuated by Republicans.

Robert Hockett, professor of law and finance at Cornell University, appearing on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” called the contents of the now-missing blog post “some kind of document that somebody other than us has been circulating.”

Hockett said Ocasio-Cortez does not endorse the idea of paying people “unwilling to work” and does not want to ban airplane travel.

He said Ocasio-Cortez “tweeted it out to laugh at it.”

He added, “It seems apparently some Republicans have put it out there.”

Hockett may have been referring to the Ocasio-Cortez Friday tweet of a doctored version of the blog post by frequent tweeter and humorist David Burge and others that called for recycling urine to conserve water.

“When your #GreenNewDeal legislation is so strong that the GOP has to resort to circulating false versions, but the real one nets 70 House cosponsors on Day 1 and all Dem presidential candidates sign on anyway,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

Ocasio-Cortez again referred to “doctored versions” in her Saturday tweet, though she did not address why the original post on her website, which initially said “we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast” and was apparently later updated to instead include the emissions language, was edited and removed.

Chakrabarti tweeted a link Saturday to the green economy group New Consensus, which has authored an “explainer” of the Green New deal. “Don’t worry,” New Consensus tweeted. “Policy deets are coming.”

As for the blog post, it has not been restored to her congressional website as of Saturday morning but is available via archive and its text saved online.

There are no new entries under the site’s “Energy Issues” section, just a picture of an oil rig, where the post once appeared. The page at the original web address for the post says “Page Not Found.”

[Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests 60, 70 percent tax rate for the rich to pay for ‘Green New Deal’]

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/the-mysterious-case-of-aocs-scrubbed-green-new-deal-details

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Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters
Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its joint ventures to deposit oil sales proceeds in an account recently opened at Russia’s Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

PDVSA’s move comes after the United States imposed tough, new financial sanctions on Jan. 28 aimed at blocking Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s access to the country’s oil revenue.

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido said recently that a fund would be established to accept proceeds from sales of Venezuelan oil.

The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as the nation’s legitimate head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet seeking to foment a coup.

PDVSA also has begun pressing its foreign partners holding stakes in joint ventures in its key Orinoco Belt producing area to formally decide whether they will continue with the projects, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.

The joint venture partners include Norway’s Equinor ASA, U.S.-based Chevron Corp and France’s Total SA.

“We would like to make formal your knowledge of new banking instructions to make payments in U.S. dollars or euros,” wrote PDVSA’s finance vice president, Fernando De Quintal, in a letter dated Feb. 8 to the PDVSA unit that supervises its joint ventures.

Even after a first round of financial sanctions in 2017, PDVSA’s joint ventures managed to maintain bank accounts in the United States and Europe to receive proceeds from oil sales. They also used correspondent banks in the United States and Europe to shift money to PDVSA’s accounts in China.

State-run PDVSA several weeks ago informed customers of the new banking instructions and has begun moving the accounts of its joint ventures, which can export crude separately. The decision was made amid tension with some of its partners, which have withdrawn staff from Caracas since U.S. sanctions were imposed in January.

The sanctions gave U.S. oil companies working in Venezuela, including Chevron and oil service firms Halliburton Co, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes and Schlumberger NV, a deadline to halt all operations in the South American country.

The European Union has encouraged member countries to recognize a new temporary government led by Guaido until new elections can be held. Europe also has said it could impose financial sanctions to bar Maduro from having access to oil revenue coming from the region.

Maduro has overseen an economic collapse in the oil-rich OPEC country that has left many Venezuelans malnourished and struggling to find medicine, sparking the exodus of an estimated 3 million Venezuelans.

Sanctions designed to deprive Maduro of oil revenue have left an armada of loaded oil tankers off Venezuela’s coasts that have not been discharged by PDVSA’s customers due to payment issues. The bottleneck has caused problems for PDVSA to continue producing and refining oil without imported diluents and components.

PDVSA also ordered its Petrocedeno joint venture with Equinor and Total to halt extra-heavy oil output and upgrading due to a lack of naphtha needed to make the production exportable, as the sanctions prohibit U.S. suppliers of the fuel from exporting to Venezuela.

Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Corina Pons in Caracas; editing by Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-pdvsa-banks-exclus/exclusive-venezuela-shifts-oil-ventures-accounts-to-russian-bank-document-sources-idUSKCN1PY0N3

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Valerie Reyes called her mom in panic. She vanished within days and her body was found in a suitcase. – CNN
Valerie Reyes called her mom in panic. She vanished within days and her body was found in a suitcase. – CNN

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By Nicole Chavez, CNN

Updated 9:55 PM ET, Sat February 9, 2019

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

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a year in prison for capturing images of a US Naval facility in Key West, Florida.”,”descriptionText”:”A 20-year-old Chinese student named Zhao Qianli was sentenced to a year in prison for capturing images of a US Naval facility in Key West, Florida.”},{“title”:”Study: E-cigarette maker Juul triggers nicotine ‘arms race'”,”duration”:”03:40″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/health/2019/02/07/e-cigarettes-juul-nicotine-arms-race-sanjay-gupta-pkg-vpx-newday.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”health/2019/02/07/e-cigarettes-juul-nicotine-arms-race-sanjay-gupta-pkg-vpx-newday.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/180802111613-juul-vape-debate-00000000-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/health/2019/02/07/e-cigarettes-juul-nicotine-arms-race-sanjay-gupta-pkg-vpx-newday.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”The use of e-cigarettes has become controversial due to a lack of evidence on their efficacy as anti-smoking aids and warnings about possible long-term health effects.”,”descriptionText”:”The use of e-cigarettes has become controversial due to a lack of evidence on their efficacy as anti-smoking aids and warnings about possible long-term health effects.”},{“title”:”Scandals engulf top three Virginia democratic officials”,”duration”:”02:42″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/07/virginia-dems-politics-jason-carroll-newday-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/07/virginia-dems-politics-jason-carroll-newday-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190204141030-justin-fairfax-virginia-02022019-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/07/virginia-dems-politics-jason-carroll-newday-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Virginia politics descended further into chaos and Democrats in the capital grew more dismayed by the possibility that a trio of scandals involving their top three statewide officials had laid waste to years of work building up the Democratic Party in the commonwealth. 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(CNN)Days before her body was found inside a suitcase near a Connecticut road, Valerie Reyes called her mother terrified someone would kill her.

      CNN’s Evan Simko-Bednarski, Ray Sanchez, Madeline Holcombe and Sarah Jorgensen contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/09/us/valerie-reyes-greenwich-dead/index.html

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    Five minors, ages 12 to 16, charged in fatal shooting of Nashville musician – The Washington Post
    Five minors, ages 12 to 16, charged in fatal shooting of Nashville musician – The Washington Post

    Alex Horton

    February 9 at 6:58 PM

    The group sat inside a stolen Chevrolet pickup when they spotted musician Kyle Yorlets outside his home in Nashville.

    They approached Yorlets, 24, and he gave up his wallet, authorities said. They also wanted his keys. Yorlets refused and was fatally shot, a Nashville Police Department investigation has found.


    Kyle Yorlets, who was shot and killed Feb. 7. (Matt Blum)

    Five minors — two boys and three girls — were charged with criminal homicide Friday in the death of Yorlets, which has shocked the local music community.

    They range in age from 12 to 16. Police released booking photos and the names of three of those charged because they are older than 13. The Washington Post does not name suspects under the age of 18 unless a judge or magistrate has ordered that they be tried as adults.

    Yorlets was the lead singer and songwriter for Carverton, a pop-punk band whose first album is scheduled for release next month.

    “We are in a state of shock and are having to grasp the reality that is now in front of us. We are heartbroken,” the band said in a statement Friday. “Our condolences for his family and loved ones and all the lives that he touched. We will never forget Kyle, and though he is gone too soon his legacy is here to stay.”

    Authorities are seeking to try the group as adults. The attorney for the youngest — a 12-year-old girl — said her client has cooperated and did not belong in an adult court, the Tennessean reported.

    Assistant District Attorney Stacy Miller disagreed in a juvenile court hearing Friday.

    “She didn’t run from there, and she didn’t call the police,” Miller said, according to the Tennessean. “She’s as guilty as they are.”

    Police recovered two stolen, loaded pistols after tracking the juveniles to a Walmart. Their involvement in the case started Thursday, as they searched for the 12-year-old, who had run away from home, police spokesman Don Aaron said.

    Investigators found Snapchat photos of the girl in a car with other young people and guns, Aaron said, according to the Tennessean.

    [Police relaunch search for ‘the Doodler,’ a serial killer who sketched his victims first]

    Yorlets was one of four children raised on a farm in Pennsylvania. His mother, Deb Yorlets, told PennLive that Kyle began singing at a young age.

    “He was extremely passionate about music. Everyone who met him was amazed and loved him,” she said. “It’s just so senseless what has happened.”

    News of Yorlets’s death spread quickly in the tightknit music community in Nashville, said John Ferguson, the father of a bandmate. Many young upstart musicians work in the food industry, and owners there have reached out to provide food for family gatherings. A memorial service is planned for Monday, Ferguson told The Post on Saturday.

    Carverton had released a single and a music video. Their debut album, “Chasing Sounds,” is scheduled for release in late March.

    A single, “Try To,” will be played at the memorial service. It is an autobiographical song by Yorlets, said Ferguson, who started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Yorlets’s family.

    The band was growing its local presence and was looking forward to the album’s release, he said.

    “I told the band, ‘The album shows songwriting maturity,’ ” Ferguson said, thanks in large part to Yorlets.

    Read more:

    Signs commemorating death of Bijan Ghaisar stolen from shooting site

    Workers found a suitcase next to a quiet Connecticut road. A woman’s body was inside.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/02/09/five-people-ages-charged-fatal-shooting-nashville-musician/

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    Protesters Rally Against Sackler Family at NYC’s Met Museum – The Daily Beast
    Protesters Rally Against Sackler Family at NYC’s Met Museum – The Daily Beast
    30 views no comments
    Trump needles new presidential candidate Warren on Native American claims – Fox News
    Trump needles new presidential candidate Warren on Native American claims – Fox News
    Video

    Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren announces her 2020 presidential campaign

    President Trump wasted little time Saturday before needling newly declared presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren over her controversial efforts to align herself with Native Americans.

    Warren, Democratic Massachusetts senator, officially announced her candidacy on Saturday in Lawrence. Touting a progressive agenda, she didn’t refer to recent controversies over her longstanding claims about having a Native American heritage.

    WARREN OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES 2020 BID FOR WHITE HOUSE

    No matter. Within hours, Trump made it clear he was happy to reference the issue himself, even if she wouldn’t. He did so on Twitter, where he made light of Warren and threw down a campaign gauntlet.

    “Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President,” Trump wrote early Saturday evening .”Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!”

    WARREN APOLOGIZES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN CLAIM, SIGNALS THERE MAY BE OTHER DOCS OUT THERE

    Earlier in the day, in announcing her candidacy, Warren didn’t name-check the president, but she did reference him, saying “the man in the White House is not the cause of what’s broken, he’s just the latest and most extreme symptom of what’s gone wrong in America.”

    She also talked of her roots in Oklahoma. saying “when my daddy had a heart attack, my family nearly tumbled over the financial cliff.”

    One thing she didn’t mention, though, was her claims of Native American ancestry, which first came to the fore during her 2012 victory over then-Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

    Her October release of a DNA test, meant to bolster her longstanding claims in hopes of settling the controversy before she launched a presidential bid, was widely panned. The move was intended to rebut Trump’s controversial taunts of Warren as “Pocahontas.” Instead, her use of a genetic test to prove ethnicity spurred controversy that seemed to blunt any argument she sought to make.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

    The taking of the DNA test also angered some tribal leaders of the Cherokee Nation, which resulted in an apology by Warren to the tribe. And she apologized again in the last couple of days after the surfacing of a 1986 registration card for the Texas state bar showed that she had written “American Indian” as her race. The inability to put the controversy to rest has proved to be a distraction to Warren, threatening to cast a shadow over her presidential announcement.

    Video

    Minutes before her announcement, Trump’s 202 campaign tagged Warren as a fraud.

    “Elizabeth Warren has already been exposed as a fraud by the Native Americans she impersonated and disrespected to advance her professional career, and the people of Massachusetts she deceived to get elected,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. “The American people will reject her dishonest campaign and socialist ideas like the Green New Deal, that will raise taxes, kill jobs and crush America’s middle-class. Only under President Trump’s leadership will America continue to grow safer, secure and more prosperous.”

    Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-needles-new-presidential-candidate-warren-over-native-american-claims

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    Justin Fairfax Puts Virginia Democrats in Bind on Impeachment – The New York Times
    Justin Fairfax Puts Virginia Democrats in Bind on Impeachment – The New York Times

    “It’s unrealistic to expect politicians to have lived perfect lives — the general public doesn’t expect that, and they are much more forgiving than the Twitter outrage mob,” said Elisabeth Smith, a Democratic strategist, singling out Mr. Herring. “If anything, we’ve learned the importance of taking a step back and taking a deep breath before demanding these guys’ heads on a plate.”

    But there is far less sympathy among black lawmakers in the Capitol for the governor, who has flip-flopped about whether he was in a racist photo that appeared on his medical school yearbook page.

    “Northam called me Friday night and took ownership of that photo and said, ‘I’m sorry, that’s me in the photo,’” recalled Ms. Herring, who is not related to the attorney general. “Then, Saturday, moonwalks it back, and then adds some more pain with the description about how he needs to only put a light coat of shoe polish on because it’s hard to get off. He doesn’t get it.”

    For Ms. Herring and other legislators, the controversies over blackface were painful reminders of the state’s not-so-distant past and its lingering prejudices. Ms. Herring said she had often thought about a particular red glow from her childhood: what she saw when a cross burned outside her Georgia home when she was 9.

    And just a few blocks north of Virginia’s elegant state capitol, several black Richmonders were downright suspicious of Mr. Northam. The Virginia crisis began a week ago Friday when Mr. Northam’s yearbook page surfaced on a conservative website, with one photo featuring a man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes, and Mr. Northam said he was in the photo and then, a day later, said he was not. Now it is Mr. Fairfax who is under far more pressure to resign or get impeached than Mr. Northam.

    Deon Wright, 42, said he did not know what to think about the various parts of the political crisis. But one thing is certain, Mr. Wright said: “You’re more able to survive as a white man in America who wore blackface than as a black man that’s facing #MeToo accusations.”

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/us/politics/justin-fairfax-virginia-impeachment.html

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    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Green New Deal’ would run up massive debt. That’s how we already pay for perpetual war – Washington Examiner
    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Green New Deal’ would run up massive debt. That’s how we already pay for perpetual war – Washington Examiner

    When self-described socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., released her “Green New Deal” Thursday, it was a full-blown leftist buffet.

    “The new Green Deal isn’t a plan. It’s a socialist Christmas list,” explained the Washington Examiner’s Phil Klein. “The Green New Deal, so far as it exists in the form of a nonbinding resolution, isn’t merely confined to addressing climate change; it also calls for tackling jobs, food, healthcare, housing, employment, infrastructure, transportation, education, and a whole host of issues.”

    As conservatives and others rightly mock the “Green New Deal” for its impracticality, Bloomberg’s Noah Smith came up with a rough cost: about $6.6 trillion annually. “That’s more than three times as much as the federal government collects in tax revenue, and equal to about 34 percent of the U.S.’s entire gross domestic product,” Smith notes.

    What’s Ocasio-Cortez’s solution to pay for this? More deficit spending! Print more money!

    Many laughed, but this isn’t much different from how the U.S. already pays for perpetual war.

    In 2016, when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Washington politicians “wasted $6 trillion on wars in the Middle East,” he was addressing the exorbitant cost of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere that just never seem to end.

    Just one week before Ocasio-Cortez revealed her green manifesto, a bipartisan majority in the Senate came together to rebuke President Trump for wanting to bring home American troops from Syria and Afghanistan. With the largest national deficit in years in 2018 and a national debt that just hit $22 trillion (the national debt was less than $7 trillion when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003), apparently most senators believe we can still afford to stay abroad indefinitely.

    The Pentagon says the U.S. spends about $45 billion a year to keep American soldiers in Afghanistan and $15.3 billion in Syria. This might not be as high as the spending seen at the heights of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but America’s increasing deficits and debt remind us this is still money we don’t have. These are also wars most Americans no longer want to fight and that the general leading the mission in Afghanistan admits can’t be won militarily.

    It’s amusing how math changes along with politicians’ priorities. Republicans who always demand increased Pentagon spending say they can’t find $70 billion for food stamps. Democrats who agree with Republicans that America’s wars should never end say they can’t even find $5 billion for a border wall.

    But they can always find money for war.

    And virtually every Washington hawk will defend this spending the same way: America’s national security is too important to skimp on.

    This is exactly what Ocasio-Cortez and her progressive friends will say about saving the planet from climate change. Or healthcare. Or housing. Or education. Or any of the many other liberal agenda items Democrats would spend billions if not trillions on if they only could. (Not to mention, it’s not exactly clear how the current U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Syria actually enhances national security).

    It might sound reasonable to many Americans that their government should be spending on healthcare instead of costly wars in places they can’t find on a map. In fact, don’t be surprised if a number of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders who have already backed the “Green New Deal” make that case.

    Ocasio-Cortez already has.

    Fiscal conservatives and libertarians make the case that the U.S. can’t really afford endless war or government healthcare because the money doesn’t exist.

    Obviously, what Ocasio-Cortez would like to spend on her progressive agenda would significantly dwarf what the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cost. Her annual budget, according to Bloomberg, has roughly the same price tag as 17 years of fighting in the Middle East.

    But saying her big government is laughable compared to our current big government is not a good argument for those who imagine themselves to be fiscally responsible.

    By all means, continue mocking the “Green New Deal” for all the policy and fiscal lunacy that it is. But don’t pretend that Ocasio-Cortez’s ideas to fund it are that different from how Washington operates every day.

    Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’ s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-green-new-deal-would-run-up-massive-debt-thats-already-how-we-pay-for-perpetual-war

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    Average tax refunds down 8.4 percent as angry taxpayers vent on social media – AOL
    Average tax refunds down 8.4 percent as angry taxpayers vent on social media – AOL

    Average tax refunds were down last week 8.4 percent for the first week of the tax season over the same time last year, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Dipping refunds are inflaming a growing army of taxpayers stunned by the consequences of the Trump administration’s tax law — and the effects of the partial government shutdown.

    The average refund check paid out so far has been $1,865, down from $2,035 at the same point in 2018, according to IRS data. Low-income taxpayers often file early to pocket the money as soon as possible. Many taxpayers count on the refunds to make important payments, or spend the money on things like home repairs, a vacation or a car.

    The IRS had estimated it would issue about 2.3 percent fewer refunds this year as a result of the changes in the federal tax law, according to Bloomberg. MSNBC reports that 30 million Americans will owe the IRS money this year — 3 million more than before Trump’s tax law.

    “There are going to be a lot of unhappy people over the next month,” Edward Karl of the American Institute of CPAs told Politico. “Taxpayers want a large refund.” Some 71 percent of taxpayers received refunds last year worth about $3,000 on average, according to Karl.

    Scads of taxpayers are complaining on Twitter that they have always received a refund — but now owe the IRS instead.

    The number of refunds sent out by the IRS was also down — about 24 percent — as the agency struggled to get up to speed after the government shutdown. The agency sent out about 4.67 million tax refunds in the week ending Feb. 1, compared with about 6.17 million in the same period in 2018, according to IRS data.

    This year’s filing season, which began two days after the shutdown ended on Jan. 25, is complicated because it’s the first after the 2017 tax law was enacted. Though President Donald Trump boasted that the new code would be so simplified that people could file their taxes on a postcard, that’s not the case. 

    In addition, the changes complicated payroll withholding, so that not enough money was withheld by employers in many cases, meaning that people now owe more taxes. The new law also capped IRS deductions for paid state and local taxes, including real estate taxes, resulting in a nasty surprise for many filers. Several other deductions are no longer allowed.

    The frustrations will likely continue to fuel support for plans to boost taxes on the ultra-wealthy. A poll last month found that nearly 60 percent of registered voters support a plan by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to impose a 70 percent marginal tax rate on the portion of annual income that exceeds $10 million a year.

    Twitter is filling up with complaints from people whose situation has changed radically.

    California

    State income tax: 1% to 13.3% 

    Maine

    State income tax: 5.8% to 10.15%

    Oregon

    State income tax: 5% to 9.9%

    Minnesota

    State income tax: 5.35% to 9.85%

    Iowa

    State income tax: 0.36% to 8.98%

    New Jersey

    State income tax: 1.4% to 8.97%

    Vermont

    State income tax: 3.55% to 8.95%

    Washington, DC

    State income tax: 4% to 8.95%

    New York

    State income tax: 4% to 8.82%

    Hawaii

    State income tax: 1.4% to 8.25%

    Wisconsin

    State income tax: 4% to 7.65%

    Idaho

    State income tax: 1.6% to 7.4%

    South Carolina

    State income tax: 0% to 7%

    Connecticut

    State income tax: 3% to 6.99%

    Arkansas

    State income tax: 0.9% to 6.9%

    Montana

    State income tax: 1% to 6.9%

    Nebraska

    State income tax: 2.46% to 6.84%

    Delaware

    State income tax: 2.2% to 6.6%

    West Virginia

    State income tax: 3% to 6.5%

    Georgia

    State income tax: 1% to 6%

    Kentucky

    State income tax: 2% to 6%

    Louisiana

    State income tax: 2% to 6%

    Missouri

    State income tax: 1.5% to 6%

    Rhode Island

    State income tax: 3.75% to 5.99%

    Maryland

    State income tax: 2% to 5.75%

    North Carolina

    State income tax: 5.75%

    Virginia

    State income tax: 2% to 5.75%

    Oklahoma

    State income tax: 0.5% to 5.25%

    Massachusetts

    State income tax: 5.1%

    Alabama

    State income tax: 2% to 5%

    Mississippi

    State income tax: 3% to 5%

    Utah

    State income tax: 5%

    Ohio

    State income tax: 0.495% to 4.997%

    New Mexico

    State income tax: 1.7% to 4.9%

    Colorado

    State income tax: 4.63%

    Kansas

    State income tax: 2.7% to 4.6%

    Arizona

    State income tax: 2.59% to 4.54%

    Michigan

    State income tax: 4.25%

    Illinois

    State income tax: 3.75%

    Indiana

    State income tax: 3.3%

    Pennsylvania

    State income tax: 3.07%

    North Dakota

    State income tax: 1.1% to 2.9%




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    Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2019/02/09/average-tax-refunds-down-84-percent-as-angry-taxpayers-vent-on-twitter/23665728/

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    Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters
    Exclusive: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank – document, sources – Reuters

    CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its joint ventures to deposit oil sales proceeds in an account recently opened at Russia’s Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

    PDVSA’s move comes after the United States imposed tough, new financial sanctions on Jan. 28 aimed at blocking Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s access to the country’s oil revenue.

    Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido said recently that a fund would be established to accept proceeds from sales of Venezuelan oil.

    The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as the nation’s legitimate head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet seeking to foment a coup.

    PDVSA also has begun pressing its foreign partners holding stakes in joint ventures in its key Orinoco Belt producing area to formally decide whether they will continue with the projects, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.

    The joint venture partners include Norway’s Equinor ASA, U.S.-based Chevron Corp and France’s Total SA.

    “We would like to make formal your knowledge of new banking instructions to make payments in U.S. dollars or euros,” wrote PDVSA’s finance vice president, Fernando De Quintal, in a letter dated Feb. 8 to the PDVSA unit that supervises its joint ventures.

    Even after a first round of financial sanctions in 2017, PDVSA’s joint ventures managed to maintain bank accounts in the United States and Europe to receive proceeds from oil sales. They also used correspondent banks in the United States and Europe to shift money to PDVSA’s accounts in China.

    State-run PDVSA several weeks ago informed customers of the new banking instructions and has begun moving the accounts of its joint ventures, which can export crude separately. The decision was made amid tension with some of its partners, which have withdrawn staff from Caracas since U.S. sanctions were imposed in January.

    The sanctions gave U.S. oil companies working in Venezuela, including Chevron and oil service firms Halliburton Co, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes and Schlumberger NV, a deadline to halt all operations in the South American country.

    The European Union has encouraged member countries to recognize a new temporary government led by Guaido until new elections can be held. Europe also has said it could impose financial sanctions to bar Maduro from having access to oil revenue coming from the region.

    Maduro has overseen an economic collapse in the oil-rich OPEC country that has left many Venezuelans malnourished and struggling to find medicine, sparking the exodus of an estimated 3 million Venezuelans.

    Sanctions designed to deprive Maduro of oil revenue have left an armada of loaded oil tankers off Venezuela’s coasts that have not been discharged by PDVSA’s customers due to payment issues. The bottleneck has caused problems for PDVSA to continue producing and refining oil without imported diluents and components.

    PDVSA also ordered its Petrocedeno joint venture with Equinor and Total to halt extra-heavy oil output and upgrading due to a lack of naphtha needed to make the production exportable, as the sanctions prohibit U.S. suppliers of the fuel from exporting to Venezuela.

    Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Corina Pons in Caracas; editing by Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse

    Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-pdvsa-banks-exclus/exclusive-venezuela-shifts-oil-ventures-accounts-to-russian-bank-document-sources-idUSKCN1PY0N3

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