Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

The #RedforEd teachers’ movement continued to step up its 2020 political engagement with a rally Monday afternoon in Tallahassee, the capital of the battleground state of Florida.

Though it was an official school day for public schools in Florida, a crowd of several thousand teachers and supporters, most wearing the movement’s trademark red t-shirts, rallied to “Take on Tallahassee” where they highlighted their demands for more pay and more school funding to the Florida State Legislature, which returns to session on Tuesday.

Last week in Minnesota, “The #RedforEd teachers’ movement confirmed it is a purely political movement designed to help elect Democrats and stop the re-election of President Donald Trump in 2020.

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[“We’re proud to have teachers as our top donors by occupation because they hold the key to a more prosperous future for younger generations.” –Sen. Bernie Sanders]

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today announced a more than $1 billion tax relief proposal to make it more affordable for retirees to stay in Maryland. This legislation, which would lower taxes for more than 230,000 Marylanders, is the biggest tax reduction in Maryland in more than two decades.

“People who have been lifelong Marylanders and have contributed so much, and still have more to offer, are moving to other states for one reason—our state’s sky-high retirement taxes,” said Governor Hogan. “When I first ran for governor, I said that once we solved the budget crisis and turned our economy around I wanted to eventually reach the point where we could eliminate all retirement taxes just as other states have done. That is still our goal, and this tax cut is a major step toward achieving it.”

The Retirement Tax Reduction Act of 2020 will cut retirement taxes for Marylanders by more than $1 billion over five years. This legislation will eliminate all state tax on the first $50,000 of income for retirees making up to $100,000 in federally adjusted gross income. Retirees with Maryland income up to $50,000 will pay no state tax whatsoever in the state of Maryland. This tax reduction will be phased in over five years, beginning in FY22.

“This legislation will provide tax relief to 230,000 Marylanders, is the largest tax reduction in Maryland in more than two decades, and it will keep tens of thousands of Maryland retirees from being forced to flee our state,” the governor continued. “As long as I am governor, I will continue to fight to make it easier for Maryland families, small businesses, and retirees to stay in our state, and to make it easier for all Marylanders to keep more of their hard-earned money.”

Over the last five years, Governor Hogan has led an historic economic turnaround, with the state going from losing 100,000 jobs prior to taking office to gaining 140,000 jobs. More businesses are open and more people are working than ever before in the history of the state. The governor has already delivered $1.25 billion in tax, toll, and fee relief for hardworking families, retirees, and small businesses.

Despite this progress, a recent survey found that Maryland is the worst state for retirees, ranking near the bottom in affordability. Since taking office, Governor Hogan has taken numerous steps to fulfill his commitment to eliminate state income taxes on all retirement income.

In addition to today’s announcement, the governor has introduced the Hometown Heroes Act of 2020 to exempt law enforcement, fire, rescue, corrections, and emergency response personnel from state tax on all retirement income specific to their service in those professions. This is the fifth year that Governor Hogan has introduced legislation to eliminate state taxes on the retirement income of first responders. In 2017, the governor was proud to enact the Hometown Heroes benefit so that first responders can exempt the first $15,000 of their retirement income from state taxes. This year, he is again pushing to fully exempt all retirement income for these occupations and to lower the age of eligibility from 55 to 50.

The governor has also announced legislation to eliminate all state taxes on retirement income received as a result of military service. In 2015, the governor enacted legislation to increase the tax exemption on military retiree pensions from $5,000 to $10,000 for retirees 65 years or older, and in 2018, he again enacted legislation that increased the exemption by 50% to $15,000 and lowered the eligibility age to 55.

Former Trump National Security Advisor and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn filed a motion Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea as part of a plea deal in the Russia inquiry, according to his lawyer Sidney Powell.

She tweeted:

“We just filed a Motion to Withdraw the plea of @GenFlynn because the government acted in bad faith, with vindictiveness, and breached the plea agreement pursuant to which he has cooperated fully at great personal expense and “held back nothing” according to #prosecuters until @GenFlynn refused to LIE on demand from #prosecutors in EDVA in Rafiekian case.”

Powell also said in a statement sent to OANN’s Jack Posobiec:

“Gen. Flynn is innocent of all charges, the government’s allegations are false, and evidence the government released only recently needs to be reviewed and addressed. Mr. Flynn was always truthful, and future filings will make that clear. Gen. Flynn has been targeted by vindictive and unprincipled prosecutors.”

She argued that Flynn upheld his end of the plea deal in being truthful, but the government did not uphold its end and tried to coerce Flynn to lie.

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America’s “leading newspapers” are aiding China’s communist regime by running the oppressive government’s propaganda, respected watchdog organization Freedom House reported.

The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New York Times have all run paid supplements from China Daily, the Chinese government’s state media arm. The paid supplements, dubbed “China Watch,” are designed to look like real news articles.

The paid supplements are a way in which Chinese state media “exploit foreign media outlets,” Freedom House warned in its report, “Beijing’s Global Megaphone.”

“In the case of the Washington Post and some other publications, China Watch also appears as an online feature, further blurring the lines between Chinese state media content and the host outlet’s own reporting,” the report noted.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to all three newspapers to ask if they would commit to cease running the paid supplements, given the Chinese regime’s persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, and whether they would disclose how much revenue they received from the Chinese advertisements.

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A bill proposed in the New Hampshire statehouse would limit participation in women’s sports to only biological females and has sparked accusations of discrimination from advocates for transgender rights in the state.

“I am a commonsense mom and a woman, and I don’t have to put quote marks around it,” Victoria Galla said during a public hearing on House Bill 1251, according to the Union-Leader. “When I hear people put quote marks around it, that is insulting to me as a woman. If you are endorsing transgender kids, you are endorsing child abuse.”

Proponents of the bill argued allowing biological males to compete in womens sports is unfair and takes spots on school teams away from women.

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A Wisconsin appeals court ordered the state on Jan. 14 to temporarily halt the removal of more than 200,000 people from its voter registration rolls for failing to answer questions about their addresses.

The removal of as many as 209,000 names was put on hold a day after an Ozaukee County judge found three members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt of court for ignoring an order he gave in December 2019.

An appeals court judge also blocked the contempt finding in a separate order, putting on hold a decision that fined the three Democratic members $250 a day each until they voted to purge the names.

The appeals court on Jan. 14 ordered that the lower court’s order against the commissioners and a Dec. 13 order to purge the names from voter rolls be “stayed until further order of this court,” the court clerk wrote.

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CLAIM: President Donald Trump wants to cancel health insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

VERDICT: False. Trump supports repealing Obamacare but has always backed coverage for pre-existing conditions.

CNN moderator Abby Phillip stated several false or contested claims as facts at the Democrat debate on Tuesday night.

One was the claim that President Trump wants to end health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions, simply because the president also supports a court challenge to Obamacare. In fact, while repealing the individual mandate of Obamacare, and backing a full “repeal and replace,” Trump has always insisted on covering people with pre-existing health conditions.

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Michael Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, has filed a Motion to Withdraw his Guilty Plea, arguing the government breached its obligations under the plea agreement the retired general had entered with the special counsel’s office in late 2017. Prosecutors had promised in that plea agreement to “file a departure motion pursuant to Section 5K1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines” if Flynn provided substantial assistance to the government.

The government kept that pledge—until it didn’t.

On December 4, 2018, prosecutors working for the special counsel’s office filed a Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing, stating that the government has moved for a downward departure pursuant to Section 5K1.1, to reflect Flynn’s “substantial assistance to the government.”

Section 5K1.1 authorizes a judge to depart from the sentencing guideline—a set of standards used to assess an appropriate sentencing range for a defendant—if the government files a motion “stating that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense . . .” A court cannot depart from the guidelines under Section 5K1.1, unless the prosecution files such a motion.

The government re-iterated its position on December 18, 2018, at Flynn’s originally scheduled sentencing hearing. “Mr. Flynn should receive probation,” prosecutors said, with lawyer Brandon Van Grack, who represented the special counsel’s office, “thoroughly prais[ing] Mr. Flynn, telling the court: ‘I’d like to highlight that General Flynn has held nothing back, nothing in his extensive cooperation with the Special Counsel’s Office. He’s answered every question that’s been asked. I believe they feel that he’s answered them truthfully, and he has. He’s complied with every request that’s been made, as has his counsel. Nothing has been held back.”

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CNN’s bias was in full force Tuesday evening during the seventh Democratic debate, particularly in the way the moderators clearly favored Sen. Elizabeth Warren over Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Moderator Abby Phillip asked Sanders about the private meeting he had with Warren in which he allegedly told her (according to the network’s reporting) that he didn’t think a woman could win the election.

The Vermont senator said the idea he would believe that is “incomprehensible” and pointed to footage of him from 30 years ago talking about how a woman could become president of the United States.

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