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Image caption A 38-acre area in Derry is being searched by the PSNI

A bomb, a handgun and ammunition linked to dissident republicans have been found in a search in Londonderry, police have said.

They were recovered in an operation that lasted two days and covered 38 acres at Ballymagroarty.

PSNI Superintendent Gordon McCalmont said "rigorous forensic examination" would be carried out on the weapons.

"The despicable criminals using this area for terrorist purposes are reckless," he said.

They "continually put our community at risk," he added.

Supt McCalmont said the dissidents were a "dangerous minority" and he appealed to the community to support police by giving information.

Supt McCalmont said the objects being stored in the area "could pose a real and substantial danger to our community".

"This operation has been designed to find these items and take them away from those who would wish to use them to kill, injure and bring destruction to our streets," he said.

Justice Minister Naomi Long said those who were responsible for the weapons were "intent on bringing Northern Ireland back to the dark days of violence".

"Leaving such items anywhere, but in particular near a housing estate, poses a real danger to everyone who lives in the area," she said.

"The police have undoubtedly saved lives today and their actions keep people safe. They do this without fear or favour, despite being under threat themselves.

"Their actions are in stark contrast to the callous and malicious behaviour of those who would seek to use potentially lethal weapons to control their own communities through fear and violence."

The PSNI thanked those living in the local area for their patience.

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood hit out at those responsible.

"How many times do the people of Derry have to reject those intent on causing murder and mayhem on our streets before they get the message?" he said.

"The use of violence in the pursuit of political goals is not only immoral, it is a failed strategy.

"Those who continue to engage in violence have nothing to offer the people of this city or this island."

Sinn Fin MLA Martina Anderson welcomed news of the weapons find.

"There is no place for this type of activity in our community," she said.

"Armed gangs offer nothing to our society and need to end their futile actions against the community immediately."

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Londonderry: Bomb and gun linked to dissident republicans - BBC News

Republican state Rep. Gary Clary of Clemson has accepted a position with a GOP group that opposes President Donald Trump.

Clary, a former judge who is not running for reelection, will serve as legislative outreach chairman for National Republicans. On its Twitter page, the group describes itself as "Reagan-Bush Republicans, working for Trump's defeat."

In an interview Tuesday, Clary said he will try to help Republican candidates who are worried about associating themselves with Trump.

South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick emailed a statement Tuesday afternoon about Clary's move.

This is less surprising than the sun coming up in the morning," McKissick said. "Its the kind of antics you see from someone on the way out the door when they don't have to stand before primary voters anymore.

Clary said he supported former Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 GOP primaries that ended withTrump's nomination. Clary said he did not back Trump because of how hetreated women, the press, minorities, the disabled.

Rep. Gary Clary R-Pickens, during a press conference introducing a civil asset forfeiture reform bill at the Statehouse on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

Clary said he hoped that Trump would "truly be a leader" after winning the general election, but he said that has not happened.

I have just been disappointed in his antics and his actions," Clary said. "It is hard for me to look at the party that we all built in this state and see that it has just been hijacked by someone who cares more about personal power than for anything else.

National Republicans was founded by former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and political strategist Andy Nilsson, who is a North Carolina native. Clary said Orr and Nilsson approached him a few weeks ago about accepting a volunteer post with the group.

In an interview Monday with Charlotte radio station WFAE, Orr said that he and a growing number of Republicanshave concluded that Trump "should not be reelected."

"He is a danger to the county," Orr said.

"People are coming out of the woodwork because they understand in so many ways the abject failure that Trump's administration has been," said Orr, adding that the White House "ignored the pandemic warnings and the country is paying the price both health-wise and economically."

Clary said he sees the National Republican group as "a way for other voices to be heard."

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM

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South Carolina representative joins Republican group that wants to defeat President Trump - Greenville News

Putting a twist on Ronald Reagans iconic and optimistic political ad, Morning in America, Republicans who hope to block President Donald Trumps reelection will begin airing an ad highlighting what they say is his inept response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 60-second Mourning in America from the Lincoln Project highlights what it calls Trumps failure and how hes left states including Iowa weaker, sicker and teetering on the verge of economic turmoil.

In a time of deep suffering and loss, Donald Trump continues with his failed leadership and his inability to put the country before himself, said Jennifer Horn, co-founder of the Lincoln Project.

The ad will begin airing Wednesday in the Sioux City television market.

The Washington, D.C.-based Lincoln Project describes its mission as defeating both Trump and Trumpism. While the group has many policy differences with Democrats, the Lincoln Project argues that electing Democrats who support the Constitution over Republicans who do not is a worthy effort.

Its advisers include several GOP consultants as well as George Conway, the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.

The ad contrasts Reagans 1984 Morning in America commercial that highlighted what his campaign saw as the positive impact of his first term and presented his optimistic vision of an America that was prosperous and peaceful.

Trumps dangerous incompetence has directly hurt the people of Iowa, Horn said. Across the country, too many Americans are mourning the loss of people they love the most. Millions have lost their livelihood and their security. Trump and his administration failed at every turn to take the response to COVID-19 seriously until it was too late; now we face a collective mourning for the America we once knew.

In Iowa, there have been more than 15,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and 367 deaths.

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However, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Preya Samsundar pushed back, saying that Democrats and Republicans alike have praised President Trump for his continued work to combat the coronavirus.

Whether its providing relief for Iowa families, farmers, or small business owners, President Trumps bold leadership is a reminder to the Hawkeye State that their safety and economic security is his number one priority, she said.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com

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Republicans hoping to oust Trump launch ad in Iowa - The Gazette

Polling information is very concerning, just as it was in 2016 when Trump ultimately won Michigan, said Jase Bolger, a former state House speaker. But, he added, 2020 is anything but normal. So, yeah, I dont like what I see in polling now. But, polling now wont decide the election in the fall.

Recent surveys have also shown Trump behind in Pennsylvania, where Republicans suffered across-the-board losses in 2018. State House Speaker Mike Turzai, however, argued the presidents populist approach would play well in industrial and manufacturing-heavy parts of the state and that voters would respond well to a message of economic recovery.

He thinks Trump can reverse the suburban losses Republicans suffered in the 2018 midterms, but urged the president to stick to an uplifting pitch.

The president has to stay positive in his economic message, Turzai said. I think if he does that he can be quite successful, and I think hell win Pennsylvania.

Others see reason for worry. Former Pennsylvania Rep. Phil English said the states Democratic governor would face backlash for his management of the coronavirus but that voters would likely focus any frustrations toward national Republicans in power.

I think there is too much blame-mongering going on, but that is predictable and I think that is going to complicate the political landscape for Republicans in Pennsylvania because theyre the party with the White House, so all negatives are going to first be set at their direction, said English.

Trump was the first GOP candidate to win Wisconsin since 1984. He prevailed by less than 1 percentage point, making it perhaps the most competitive of the Rust Belt states. The president has taken a keen interest in Wisconsin and campaigned aggressively for the GOP candidate in last weeks special election for a Republican-leaning congressional seat.

Tommy Thompson, who was Wisconsins longest-serving governor, said Trump would need to visit the state frequently. He urged Trump to focus on winning over female voters whom he's long struggled with, and to winning back the slice of senior voters who've soured on him during the pandemic.

Trump has got to come into Wisconsin and spend some quality time here, and more than once, said Thompson.

Trump campaign officials say their battleground polling has seen an uptick since the president scaled back his rambling daily briefings. They point to a recent CNN survey of 15 key states showing the president with an advantage. Trump was briefed last week on what advisers described as improving numbers.

The reelection campaign is engaging in a massive effort to take down Biden. It recently launched a TV and digital offensive centered largely around the former vice presidents dealings with China, where the virus originated. Trump's political operation has also been making calls to battleground voters making the case that Biden is soft on the authoritarian country.

Trump is also stepping up his public appearances, with trips to Arizona and Pennsylvania the past few weeks.

In our own data, President Trump is in solid shape in all our key states. We have only just begun to define Joe Biden using his own record, particularly on his softness on China, and its working, said Trump 2020 spokesman Tim Murtaugh. There is tremendous enthusiasm behind the president and he has built an unstoppable juggernaut of a campaign.

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Swing-state Republicans warn Trump's reelection is on shaky ground - POLITICO

Cash-hemorrhaging U.S. states hoping for help from Washington face a daunting hurdle: Republican party opposition to bailing out states they say were profligate before the coronavirus crisis. And many of those states have voted Democratic in election years.

But a look at data on state budget balances and rainy day funds shows those at the top and at the bottom of the rankings were a mix of both red and blue electoral states.

And while the states with the most under-funded pensions were indeed more likely to be Democratic-led ones, the nations most shaky pension system belongs to Kentucky, home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

I actually dont think it is red state-blue state thing, as much as it might be politically convenient to frame it that way. Its really a question of moral hazard, said Rohit Kumar, U.S. tax policy services leader with audit and consulting firm PWC. Kumar worked for McConnell for 11 years and served as his domestic policy director.

But President Trump, in an April 27 Tweet, was less diplomatic. Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?

See: Coronavirus update: New outbreaks reported in states that plan to reopen soon as Trump says testing overrated

The call from states for money, though, has actually been bipartisan.

A May 13 letter from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, and Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, asked for $500 billion in aid. And data from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trust shows many states were headed into the recession in decent budget shape.

According to a Pew analysis of National State Budget Officers data, 34 states had higher rainy day reserve funds at the end of 2019 than they had before the last recession. The median amount of those funds was enough to pay for 27.9 days worth of state operations, Pew said.

States had total reserves, not just rainy day funds, totaling about 13% of annual spending, up from 11% before the last recession, said Michael Leachman, vice president for state fiscal policy with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Its hard to argue states werent prepared or overspending, if you look at that data, he said.

The biggest rainy day funds were those states with oil or mineral production, like Wyoming, with almost 400 days of reserves, Alaska and North Dakota. The other two in the top five were New Mexico and Texas.

At the other end of the spectrum, Kansas and Illinois had zero days of reserves, the lowest of the 50 states. They were followed by Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Kentucky.

Kumar said Republicans worry any money sent to states will be used, either directly or indirectly, to prop up under-funded state employee pension plans. That view was echoed by Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican and former governor.

We sit here and live within our means, and then New York, Illinois and California and other states dont, and were supposed to go bail them out? Thats not right, he told reporters last week.

Pew data released in 2019 for pensions in 2017 actually had New York with the fourth-best funded pension, at a funded ratio of 94.5%. The funded ratio is the amount of assets on hand in proportion total projected liabilities. Floridas funded ratio in 2017 was 15th among the states.

Wisconsin had the highest ratio, at 102.6%, followed by South Dakota, Tennessee, New York and Idaho. In descending order, the least funded state pensions belonged to Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and Kentucky. Kentuckys funded ratio was just 33.9%, while Illinois was 38.4%.

Kumar said the focus on pensions shows their concern is less about how individual states vote.

The Kentucky data, to me, is a proving point for that premise, he said.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Leachman said pensions should not be part of the debate over state aid. States have short-term needs that will require cash, like responding to the coronavirus epidemic and avoiding layoffs of critical employees, while the pension issue is a long-term one.

We can talk about some of the pension long-term liability issues that some states have, but its a distraction from what has caused the fiscal crisis that states face in funding their basic public services right now, which is why the states need the fiscal relief, he said.

Only 4.7% of state general funds are used to make states required contributions to their pension plans, he said.

See: States reopen after coronavirus lockdowns: New Jersey, Delaware beaches to reopen for holiday weekend

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Republicans say they dont want to target wasteful states, but what are they going to do with red states on that list? - MarketWatch