China announces it seeks 'calm' end to trade war, as markets tank and currency hits 11-year flatline

China signaled on Monday it was now seeking a "calm" end to its ongoing trade war with the U.S., as Asian markets crumbled and China's currency plummeted to an 11-year low following the latest tariffs on $550 billion in Chinese goods announced last Friday by the Trump administration.
Trump said Monday that officials from China called U.S. officials and expressed interest to "get back to the table,” The Wall Street Journal reported. He called the discussions a “very positive development.”
“They want to make a deal. That’s a great thing,” he said.
News of the possible opening in negotiations came shortly after President Trump threatened to declare a national emergency that would result in American businesses freezing their relationships with China. Trump's tariff barrage on Friday was a response to China imposing its own retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods.
At the Group of Seven summit in France on Sunday, White House officials rejected suggestions the president was wavering and insisted that his only regret was not implementing even more tariffs on China. Trump wrote on Twitter that world leaders at the G-7 were "laughing" at all the inaccurate media coverage of the gathering.
In response, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told a state-controlled newspaper on Monday that "China is willing to resolve its trade dispute with the United States through calm negotiations and resolutely opposes the escalation of the conflict," Reuters first reported, citing a transcript of his remarks provided by the Chinese government. Liu is China's top trade negotiator.

A currency trader watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Speaking at a technology conference in China, Liu added: “We believe that the escalation of the trade war is not beneficial for China, the United States, nor to the interests of the people of the world."
“We welcome enterprises from all over the world, including the United States, to invest and operate in China,” Liu said. “We will continue to create a good investment environment, protect intellectual property rights, promote the development of smart intelligent industries with our market open, resolutely oppose technological blockades and protectionism, and strive to protect the completeness of the supply chain.”
Asian shares tumbled early Monday, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 started plummeting as soon as trading began and stood at 20,234.87 in the morning session, down 2.3 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.5 percent to 6,427.20. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.7 percent to 1,916.14. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 3.3 percent to 25,309.37, while the Shanghai Composite was down 1.2 percent at 2,862.87.
The yuan also slipped to 7.1487 to the dollar, weeks after the Treasury Department formally designated China a currency manipulator. The Treasury Department said it will work with the International Monetary Fund to try to rectify the “unfair competitive advantage created by China’s latest actions.”
"The gloves are coming off on both sides and as such yuan depreciation is an obvious cushion against US tariffs," Mitul Kotecha, an economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, told Bloomberg News.
There are several reasons why China's central bank would want to allow the yuan to drop, including to help struggling local exporters who want their products to be less expensive for international purchasers. People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang, however, has insisted China does not "engage in competitive devaluation."
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that if "China would agree to a fair and balanced relationship, we would sign that deal in a second."
Stephen Innes, managing partner at Valour Markets in Singapore, compared the difficulty of assessing the volatile market situation to reading tea leaves.
"Nobody understands where the president is coming from," he said, adding that the best thing Trump can do for market stability is to "keep quiet."
"The problem that we're faced right now is that we are making a lot of assumptions ahead of the economic realities."

A computer screen shows images of Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump as a currency trader works at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The market is now dominated by fears of a portending U.S. recession, although the American economy is actually holding up, and much of the U.S. economy is made up of consumption, Innes said. If interest rates come down, he added, consumer spending is likely to go up, working as a buffer for the economy.
"What the market's really waiting for is for them to drop interest rates," Innes said. "Right now, we are still sitting on that uncertainty."
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Sunday that Democrats should not criticize Trump for taking on China over trade as they have complained for years about Beijing’s policies but done nothing. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y,  for example, has urged Trump to fight China aggressively.
“Every Democrat and every Republican of note has said China cheats,” Graham said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “The Democrats for years have been claiming that China should be stood up to, now Trump is and we’ve just got to accept the pain that comes with standing up to China.”
U.S. markets have also taken something of a beating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 600 points Friday after the latest escalation in the trade war between the U.S. and China rattled investors. The broad sell-off sent the S&P 500 to its fourth straight weekly loss.
The tumbling began after Trump responded angrily on Twitter following China's announcement of new tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods. In one of his tweets he "hereby ordered" U.S. companies with operations in China to consider moving them to other countries — including the U.S.
Trump also said he'd respond directly to the tariffs — and after the market closed he delivered, announcing that the U.S. would increase existing tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30 percent from 25 percent, and that new tariffs on another $300 billion of imports would be 15 percent instead of 10 percent.
"Starting on October 1st, the 250 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, currently being taxed at 25 percent, will be taxed at 30 percent," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Additionally, the remaining 300 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, that was being taxed from September 1st at 10 percent, will now be taxed at 15 percent. Thank you for your attention to this matter!".
Zhu Huani of Mizuho Bank in Singapore said what he called Trump's "tariff tantrum" was setting off "the sense that tariffs could continue to rise," with the "the unpredictability of timing and extent of these trade actions risk accentuating the paralysis of business decisions and big-ticket business spending."
"No matter which way you cut the cake, it is nearly impossible to construct a bullish, or even neutral scenario for equity markets today," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda.
Trump also said Friday morning that he was "ordering" UPS, Federal Express and Amazon to block any deliveries from China of the powerful opioid drug fentanyl. The stocks of all three companies fell as traders tried to assess the possible implications.
The president has also raged against Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell for his continued refusal to cut interest rates, at one point saying: "My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel (sic) or [China's] Chairman Xi [Jinping]?"
That outburst came after Powell, speaking to central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., gave vague assurances that the Fed "will act as appropriate" to sustain the nation's economic expansion. While the phrasing was widely seen as meaning interest rate cuts, he offered no hint of whether or how many reductions might be coming the rest of the year.
Some analysts, however, are confident the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this year.
A quarter-point rate cut reduction in September is considered all but certain.
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer, Joseph Wulfsohn, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Islam Cartoons

Rep. Omar, Rep. Tlaib Israel trip planned by antisemite, pro-terror group

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:58 AM PT — Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar recently held a press conference to address ties with an anti-Semitic group as well as recent travel restrictions imposed on the two lawmakers.
On Monday, the congresswomen discussed Miftah, the anti-Israel group that promised to sponsor Tlaib’s trip. Miftah reportedly has a long history of anti-Israel and pro-terrorist sentiments similar to those held by Tlaib and company.
“All I can do as my city’s granddaughter, as the granddaughter of a woman who lives in occupied territories, is to elevate her voice by exposing the truth the only way I know how, as my Detroit Public Schools teacher taught me, by humanizing the pain of oppression congresswoman,” stated Tlaib.
The so-called “truth” she touts, however, seems to align with rhetoric of the organization, which has downplayed suicide bombings of Israeli citizens and has described the actions of terrorists as “sacrificing their lives for the cause.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., right, consoles and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., as Tlaib talked about Israel’s refusal to allow them to visit the country during a news conference Monday, Aug. 19, 2019 at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Tlaib claims she did not chose the organization to sponsor her trip, and that Miftah has sponsored trips made by five other Congress members. Omar and Tlaib argued the scrutiny over the organization are distractions that have nothing to do with their agenda. During the press conference, Omar seemed to instigate anti-Israel sentiments by questioning the lifesaving aid Israel receives from the U.S.
Tlaib and Omar were barred from visiting Israel due to their public support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement, who’s objective is to eliminate Israel as a nation. The Israeli government defended their decision to block the members of Congress by pointing to pro-terrorist activist group Miftah sponsoring the trip. Tlaib was later allowed to visit her grandmother on the West Bank, but rejected the invitation.

Miftah .......  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miftah_Ismail

In latest gaffe, Biden places King, Kennedy assassinations in ‘the late ’70s’

Poor old Joe is a no go :-(

 

Joe Biden's claim that he was a civils rights leader could be the biggest problem for the Democratic presidential candidate, says Alana Goodman, investigative political reporter at the Washington Examiner.

They say if you can remember the 1960s, you probably weren’t there.
Well, Joe Biden missed by about a decade Tuesday evening when he mentioned two significant events of the 1960s: the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
The gaffe came during a speech in Iowa, while the 76-year-old Biden was comparing the years of his young adulthood to the current day.
“Just like in my generation, when I got out of school, when Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King had been assassinated in the ’70s, the late ’70s when I got engaged … ,” Biden recalled.
But King and Kennedy were murdered in 1968, about two months apart.
It was just the latest in a series of slip-ups for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential frontrunner.
Last Friday at a fundraiser in his home state of Delaware, Biden confused Burlington, Iowa, and Burlington, Vt., while trying to remember where he had given a campaign speech. The towns are about 1,100 miles apart.
Earlier this month, Biden said “poor kids” are just as smart as “white kids,” and last weekend he mistakenly said he met with survivors of the February 2018 Parkland, Fla., school shooting while vice president -- even though he had left office more than a year before the attack.
He has also confused former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for Theresa May twice since May.
Biden’s press secretary told CNN the focus on Biden's blunders is a “press narrative, not a voter narrative."
Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this story.

Sen. Markey apologizes to Rep. Kennedy for 'insensitivity' of aide's mental-health retweet

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., found himself apologizing Tuesday after a top campaign aide retweeted a message about "mental health issues" in the family of Rep. Joe Kennedy, a potenial challenger for Markey's Senate seat.
The retweet -- which Markey termed "unacceptable" -- came just three weeks after Kennedy's young cousin, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, died of an apparent drug overdose.
The Markey aide, Paul Tencher, retweeted a post by attorney James S. Henry, who asserted that Markey "is a great Senator," while Kennedy "should focus on his family's considerable mental health issues" -- seeming to reference the cousin's death.
After Markey learned of the retweet, he issued the following statement:
"To show such insensitivity for those experiencing mental health issues is extremely offensive to me. This action by a member of my campaign is unacceptable,” Markey said, according to the Washington Examiner.  “It in no way reflects my commitment to the issue of mental health treatment and the eradication of stigma that so many families suffer. I deeply apologize to Congressman Kennedy and his entire family.”

"To show such insensitivity for those experiencing mental health issues is extremely offensive to me. ... I deeply apologize to Congressman Kennedy and his entire family.”
— Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Markey added that he had spoken with the congressman directly about the matter.
The 38-year-old Kennedy --  a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy -- is considering a primary challenge in 2020 against the 73-year-old Markey, the New York Times reported Saturday. The paper cited an unnamed Democratic official who said Kennedy would decide on a candidacy in the coming weeks.
Kennedy previously stated he planned to seek a fifth term in the House, representing Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District, Boston.com reported.
Saoirse Kennedy Hill died Aug. 1 at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. In 2016, she wrote a column in the Deerfield Scroll, a student-run newspaper, discussing her quiet mental health struggles. Her grandfather was the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
On Sunday, Tencher apologized for disseminating tweet amid backlash. The tweet’s author, attorney Henry, deleted the original message, the Washington Examiner reported.
"I absolutely take it back. It was a mistake. My apologies," Tencher said on Twitter. "That tweet was despicable and abhorrent. This person should be banned from twitter."
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.

California county fair employees squandered tax dollars on illegal travel, lavish meals: audit

State Auditor Elaine Howle discusses the audit her office released that found the California State University system did not disclose $1.5 billion in discretionary reserves while it raised tuition and cut employees' pay, during a joint legislative committee hearing in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. (Associated Press)

California county fair employees squandered hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on unofficial travel, extravagant meals and alcohol, an audit report shows.
The State Auditor’s Office released a report titled "Gross Mismanagement Led to the Misuse of State Resources and Multiple Violations of State Laws” that details how employees of a district agricultural association, funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, wasted the state funds.
The wasteful district agricultural association wasn’t named in the report in an effort to protect whistleblowers, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“We can’t provide the specific district agricultural association because doing so, would essentially disclose the identity of some of individuals we discuss,” spokeswoman Margarita Fernandez told the outlet.

There are 54 district agricultural associations in California that organize fairs and other events, all of which are overseen by the state Department of Food and Agriculture. The associations used to be supported by the state general fund, though that ended in 2011, yet the associations have continued to use state’s equipment and other resources.
“We found that the association’s chief executive officer and maintenance supervisor grossly mismanaged state resources and neglected their duties to ensure that employees comply with state laws governing supervision and time and attendance reporting,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in the report.
“Examples of the improper acts we found include employees taking home state property and misusing state resources, drinking alcohol on state grounds, a lack of critical internal controls to prevent inappropriate and excessive travel-related purchases, unnecessary charges for interest and late fees, and a waste of state funds.”

“Examples of the improper acts we found include employees taking home state property and misusing state resources, drinking alcohol on state grounds, a lack of critical internal controls to prevent inappropriate and excessive travel-related purchases, unnecessary charges for interest and late fees, and a waste of state funds.”
— Audit report

The audit found that between 2016 and 2018 there were over $318,000 in financial discrepancies, including more than $132,000 worth of credit card purchases without receipts, over $30,000 for excessive and unauthorized travel expenses, about $2,000 in “wasteful tips that far exceeded the maximum allowable reimbursement rate,” and more than $1,200 in “inappropriate purchases of alcohol.”
The employees were especially keen to use credit cards to pay for lavish dinners, with one receipt showing the association paying $400 for five butcher’s cuts, $125 for a lobster surf dinner, $95 for a lobster tail, and more than $600 in alcohol, including one $96 bottle of wine, the newspaper reported.
The unnamed association also allowed several association maintenance employees to work side jobs during their regular shift work – all while collecting pay from the association.
The report also found that the maintenance supervisor routinely used a state-owned vehicle to commute from home to work, and for personal business. When asked about it, the supervisor said that he took the truck home “at most two times a week” to pick up work materials.
The association defended itself by claiming that a 2011 staff reduction left the workplace and employees “stretched” and resulted in inadequate training for the remaining staffers.

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President Trump decision to end DACA was lawful, Justice Department says

The Justice Department submitted a legal brief to the Supreme Court Monday that stated President Trump acted lawfully when he decided to end the Obama-era immigration program known as DACA in September of 2017, according to a new report.
The Department of Homeland Security, “correctly, and at a minimum reasonably, concluded that DACA is unlawful,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court late Monday.
The Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments in November. A ruling is expected in the presidential election year, putting the high court at the center of one of the most politically charged issues of debates. A decision in favor of Trump would allow for the president to deport more than one million young adults residing in the U.S. under DACA protection, the New York Times reported.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was created under an executive order in 2012. The program gives some illegal immigrants -- known as "Dreamers" -- who were brought to the United States as children-- the opportunity to receive a renewable two-year reprieve from deportation and become eligible for a work permit.
In 2017, the Trump administration announced its plan to phase out the program, but federal courts have ruled that the phase-out could not apply retroactively and that the program should be restarted.
The White House fought back on those decisions, saying the president has broad authority over immigration enforcement policy. Federal appeals courts around the country have rejected efforts by the federal government to move ahead with phasing out the Obama-era program.
DACA proponents have also argued that Trump’s planned termination of the program violates federal law requiring adequate notice-and-comment periods before certain federal rules are changed, as well as other constitutional equal protection and due process guarantees.
A decision from the Supreme Court to end DACA could galvanize young Americans to ensure Trump does not see another four years in the White House, the Times report stated. On the other hand, if the Court chooses to continue the Obama-era program, conservatives could argue Trump needs another four years to fulfill his campaign promises on immigration.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.