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U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday after China announced it will halve tariffs on U.S. imports totaling about $75 billion. China’s finance ministry said the tariff cut was timed in conjunction with a U.S. decision last month to halve tariffs on roughly $120 billion worth of Chinese products. Tariffs on some U.S. goods will be cut from 10% to 5%, and from 5% to 2.5% on others, which will take effect on Feb. 14. That decision was made as part of a broader “phase one” trade deal between China and the U.S. The agreement put the U.S.-China trade war,...

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz filed an ethics complaint against Nancy Pelosi that said the House Speaker possibly violated numerous House rules — and maybe even broke the law — by tearing up a copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech. The Florida legislator sent a letter to the House Committee on Ethics requesting they open an investigation and shared the missive on Twitter. Gaetz wrote that “Speaker Pelosi’s gesture was deeply offensive and appears to violate clauses 1 and 2 of House Rule XXIII,” which dictate the House’s official code of conduct. “Her behaviour does not ‘reflect creditably...

As the Senate is set to vote Wednesday on the removal from office of President Trump — with acquittal all but assured — Republicans are already plotting to expunge the impeachment if they retake the House. With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi having publicly stated that Trump’s “impeachment will last forever,” Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who would be in line to be speaker if Republicans regain the majority in November, offering an alternative. “This is the fastest, weakest, most political impeachment in history,” McCarthy told the New York Post on Wednesday. “I don’t think it should stay on...

Morning "Praying always." Ephesians 6:18 What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our sin. He heard us. But when he had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the promise, for deliverance in...

It's Trump's fault! Red-faced Iowa Democrats have zeroed in on a new culprit for the botched caucuses that may cost the Hawkeye State its time-honored role as the kickoff to presidential races. After first blaming an app for the inability to declare Monday night, a problem that still lingers even as frustrated candidates have packed up and moved on to New Hampshire for the nation's first primary, the state party is blaming the president's supporters. Workers manning the phones in Iowa after the state's disastrous caucus on Monday reportedly claim that President Trump backers flooded the hotline number for precinct...

Tired of all this WINNING yet? – The S&P 500 closed at a new record high on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial average surged by 483 points, and the NASDAQ also recorded significant gains. The markets were buoyed by the acquittal of President Donald Trump by the Senate along with positive indications of progress in developing a vaccine for the Coronavirus. The WINNING is glorious. In other news, Mitt Romney is still a LOOOOOOOOOOOSER. – The junior Senator from Utah finally managed to secure a place in history, albeit alongside fellow American loooooooosers like Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr,...

Amazing numbers here.. Over 80% of independents approved, as well as 30% of democrats!

... Democrats are expected to pass a package of labor union-backed policies through the House even though the chances that the Senate will consider the bill are roughly nil. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) would insert new language into the National Labor Relations Act to compel the payment of union dues even by non-members working in unionized professions. That means the passage of the PRO Act would effectively undo so-called "right to work" laws on the books in many states.* The PRO Act would also implement a veritable grab bag of policies that labor unions have...

EU Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret issued a meticulous statement following last night's ramming attack that wounded twelve Golani soldiers, and today's abortive Temple Mount shooting attack where a policeman was lightly wounded and the attacker was killed. Giaufret tweeted: "Following with concern the rise of tensions and spike of violence. My thoughts are with the families of victims and I wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured. Violence is never justified." Palestinian Media Watch Legal Strategies head IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Adv. Maurice Hirsch anwered the EU Ambassador, saying: "If violence is never justified, why does the...

If you have called a help center recently and got an English speaker, welcome to a glorious new segment of the Trump Economy. Talking to a few recruiters and my own research revealed this interesting phenomenon. Companies are still outsourcing their call centers, but, they’re now using US outsourcing companies. This, in itself, is cause for celebration. But, it’s much more than that. Many of the agents to whom you are speaking are working from their own homes. It makes superb business sense. Brick and mortar is expensive. The cost of insurance alone is astronomical these days. But, it’s not...

A common experience in public schools is when some smart aleck decides to waste everyone’s time by pulling the fire alarm. The people in charge have to take it seriously. There’d be hell to pay if there was a fire and it was ignored. So, everybody has to file outside, usually in the rain or cold. Then the teachers have to check the whole school before the business of learning can resume. Or as close to learning as can be achieved in public schools these days. Since October, that’s what’s been going on in Washington. Nancy Pelosi decided it would...

“Assault weapon” under proposed Florida ballot initiative. Courtesy Dean Weingarten The Florida referendum to ban common rifles and shotguns as “assault weapons” has failed to gather enough signatures to appear on the 2020 ballot. From tampabay.com: To make it on the November ballot, organizers had to gather 766,200 verified signatures by today. The organizers fell well short with just 147,304, according to the Secretary of State. 147,304 signatures is a bit more than 19% of the required number.  Signatures are valid for two years.The ban proponents started to gather signatures on 28 November 2018. They have until 27 November 2020,...

So,most miserable three days in the history of the Democratic Party. I’m not laughing, really I’m not! You know how sometimes you have a bad day when nothing goes right? Well, these super-achievers managed to triple that streak. They are achievers in the same sense Hoover Snort Biden is an achiever.Let’s start with Monday, February 3rd and the Iowa Caucuses. In their defense, it wasn’t like they had four years to get prepared to handle…counting. Oh wait, they did have four years to handle…counting. Okay, well, then in their defense they went to unionized failing government schools, so counting...

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Hillary Clinton has refused to rule out taking on the job of Vice President if the Democrats win the election in November. The former Secretary of State, who has run two failed campaigns to become president herself, said she 'probably won't be asked' to take the role by whoever becomes the Democrat nominee this time around. But, speaking to Ellen DeGeneres on her chat show, she added 'never say never' - recalling how she turned down Obama's offer of leading the State Department twice, before accepting the role and serving for four years. **SNIP** Instead, she said: 'You've got to...

YOUTUBE:(1min) Nancy PelosI ' pre-ripped' pages of Trump's SOTU speech, video shows

In federal court and on the Senate floor, lawyers for President Donald Trump have argued that the U.S. Constitution confers on a president broad protection from scrutiny by Congress, prosecutors and the judiciary for his actions. This expansive view of presidential powers may have helped the Republican president win acquittal on Wednesday in his Senate impeachment trial, but a raft of court rulings due in the coming weeks and months could have an even more profound impact on setting the parameters for a president’s authority.

A terrorist who attacked a police officer in Jerusalem's Old City has died of wounds suffered when he was neutralized by the officer. The officer has been sent to Shaare Zedek Hospital with light ...

Eddy Arnold provides our tune today: I'll Hold You In My Heart (1947). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

With the death of Kirk Douglas I cannot help but recall the creation of my screenplay I wrote for him and his son Michael.Back in 1978 I was out in Hollywood trying to peddle two of my screenplays and auditioning for any acting jobs I could. One of those auditions was for as a day player on The China Syndrome of which I did not get but did get to read before Michael Douglas as he was the producer-- My agent at the time back in Dallas, called me a week or so after that, saying she had heard that...