Anonymous ID: e7901d Feb. 22, 2020, 4:49 a.m. No.8215992   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6013

FBI agents search home, business of Tennessee state senator

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal authorities in Tennessee conducted searches Friday at the home and business addresses of Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, the FBI said.

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Joel Siskovic confirmed that agents executed search warrants at two locations in Memphis. They are listed as addresses for Robinson's residence and her nursing school, Healthcare Institute Inc.

 

The FBI declined to discuss any additional details of the searches and the U.S. attorney's office in Memphis said it “will not comment on the nature or progress of any FBI activities before charges are publicly filed.”

 

No one responded Friday to a knock on the door of the school, which sits in a strip mall in southeast Memphis.

 

Robinson didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Her legislative office forwarded a request to a Senate Democratic Caucus spokesman.

 

“We’ve been made aware of the investigation and have received no indication that it relates to the legislature or her legislative service,”said Brandon Puttbrese, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Caucus. “Because the investigation is ongoing, we will not be making additional statements and will defer any further questions to Sen. Robinson’s attorney."

 

Puttbrese also said the caucus' thoughts are with Robinson and her family. Robinson was elected to the state Senate out of a Memphis district in 2018.

 

Edward L. Stanton II of Butler Snow LLP emailed a statement saying only that he had been retained by Robinson “in connection with today's events.”

 

The school's website says it received a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a certified nursing assistant program focused on geriatric populations and educational programs.

 

The school was founded in January 2015. Its certified nursing assistant program was introduced that July. The school also includes phlebotomy and electrocardiographic technician instruction.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-agents-search-home-business-203608695.html

Anonymous ID: e7901d Feb. 22, 2020, 4:56 a.m. No.8216009   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6013 >>6174

Taj Mahal but no trade deal for Trump in India

 

Ahmedabad (India) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump will open the world's biggest cricket stadium and watch the sun set at the famed Taj Mahal during a lightning visit to India starting Monday, but behind the spectacular optics he is expected to face a protectionist counter-punch on trade.

 

Trump's blossoming bromance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that will be on show again belies prickly relations, particularly over commerce, with both men ramping up protectionist measures.

 

Experts say this has hurt US efforts to make India a strategic counterweight to China, while Trump's mediation offer in the long-running Kashmir dispute with Pakistan has annoyed New Delhi.

 

"We're not treated very well by India, but I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot," Trump, 73, said before his maiden official visit to the nation of 1.3 billion with First Lady Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

 

The US president arrives in the western state of Gujarat where Modi's record while chief minister as a reformer and flag-bearer of Hindu nationalism catapulted him to the national stage in 2014.

 

Trump told a rally on Thursday that "six to 10 million people" would be along the route of his motorcade, but this appears to be a misunderstanding. Organisers said there will be tens of thousands.

 

A 700-metre (-yard) wall has been built, allegedly to hide a slum, while construction workers have been rushing to complete the Sardar Patel Stadium.

 

It will be rammed with around 100,000 people for an event dubbed "Namaste Trump", payback for a "Howdy, Modi" rally in Houston last year in front of some of America's vast Indian diaspora.

 

  • Pizza cheese -

 

The Trumps will then fly to the Taj Mahal, the white marble "jewel of Muslim art" according to UNESCO, but afterwards it will be down to business in New Delhi on Tuesday.

 

Reports suggest Trump and Modi may agree a modest trade pact covering items including imports of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and US dairy products such as pizza cheese, as well as a number of defence and other deals.

 

But this will fall short of the comprehensive agreement the world's largest economy and the planet's biggest democracy have been seeking for years.

 

Tanvi Madan from the Brookings Institution said the lack of progress on trade was the "big missing deliverable", forcing both sides to focus more on the "great optics" of the visit.

 

Trade relations have worsened as Trump's "America First" strategy to reduce the US trade deficit bumps up against Modi's "Make in India" drive as Asia's third-largest economy flags.

 

Although small fry compared to his trade war with China, Trump in 2018 levelled tariffs on steel and aluminium from India – and elsewhere – and in June stripped India of its preferential trade status.

 

Delhi responded with hiked duties on a raft of US agricultural goods such as almonds, and restricted imports of certain medical devices. More tariffs were announced in the recent budget.

 

"We're doing a very big trade deal with India," Trump said before the visit but conceded it may not be done before US elections in November.

 

This was echoed on Thursday by India's foreign ministry which said it did not want to "rush into a deal".

 

And there are other sources of mutual irritation.

 

Trump and Modi may ink a $2.4-billion deal for US helicopters, but overall when it comes to arms, Russia remains India's biggest supplier.

 

A US decision is outstanding on whether to slap sanctions on New Delhi for its planned purchase of Russia's S-400 missile defence system.

 

Energy-hungry India was also irked by US pressure to stop buying Iranian oil, while Delhi's plans to force foreign firms to store Indian consumers' personal data inside the country has also worried US businesses.

 

India has bristled at criticism in Washington about its recent security and communications lockdown in Kashmir, as well as of a contentious new citizenship law seen as anti-Muslim.

 

But Harsh Pant from the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi said Trump coming to India sends an important signal to other countries that relations remain "close" despite these differences.

 

"To be fair to India, they have managed Trump much better than others including key US allies like Japan, Australia and other Western European countries," Pant told AFP

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/taj-mahal-no-trade-deal-trump-india-031149062.html

Anonymous ID: e7901d Feb. 22, 2020, 5:13 a.m. No.8216052   🗄️.is 🔗kun

==US elections 2020

Barack Obama isn't running in 2020 – so why is he in all the campaign ads?

Democratic candidates have been vying to link themselves to the popular former president in their television spots==

 

As Democrats vote in Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, they do so having been inundated with an ad from Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign featuring Barack Obama praising her.

 

Days later in South Carolina, when Democrats go to vote, they will have been bombarded by four different Democratic presidential campaigns with ads suggesting Obama favors each campaign’s candidate the most.

 

But the former president has not endorsed any candidate in the primary and is not expected to anytime soon. No candidate has directly asked for Obama’s endorsement either.

 

Still, the trend of campaigns featuring the popular former Democratic president praising their candidates is a sign of how influential the specter of Obama remains in this primary. It is also an indicator of the value of appearing to carry the Obama mantle.

 

Full article https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/22/barack-obama-democrats-tv-ads-2020-warren-biden-bloomberg

Anonymous ID: e7901d Feb. 22, 2020, 5:22 a.m. No.8216076   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6174

Tracking George Soros' Portfolio - Q4 2019 Update

 

Soros' 13F portfolio value decreased from $3.61B to $3.09B this quarter. The number of positions decreased from 175 to 173.

 

Soros increased NortonLifeLock, Archer-Daniels-Midland, and Vistra Energy while reducing VICI Properties.

 

Liberty Broadband at ~23% of the portfolio is by far the largest position.

 

This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to George Soros' 13F stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on George Soros' regulatory 13F Form filed on 02/14/2020. Please visit our Tracking Soros Fund Management Holdings article for an idea on his investment philosophy and our previous update for the fund's moves during Q3 2019.

 

Soros Fund Management invests globally and the long positions in the US market reported in the 13F filings represent ~15% of the overall portfolio. The 13F portfolio value decreased ~14% this quarter from $3.61B to $3.09B. The number of positions decreased from 175 to 173. Very small stock positions and large debt holdings together account for ~36% of the 13F holdings. The investments are diversified with a large number of very small equity positions, a small number of large equity positions, and a few large debt holdings. The focus of this article is on the larger equity positions. The top three individual stocks held are Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDK), VICI Properties (NYSE:VICI), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL). To learn about Soros' distinct trading style and philosophy, check out his "The Alchemy of Finance" and other works.

 

Read full article here https://seekingalpha.com/article/4326161-tracking-george-soros-portfolio-q4-2019-update