Free Republic

Over the last 20 years, budget reconciliation has been used as a powerful tool to bypass filibusters and accomplish priority issues for the majority party with only 50 votes in the Senate. ...That is why I (Rep. Bradley Byrne) am introducing a bill, the Fifty Votes for the Wall Act, that I am confident could meet the requirements of budget reconciliation and survive the Byrd Rule’s tests. The bill creates a new mandatory spending program, providing up to $25 billion, to fully fund President Trump’s border wall.

If you're a regular reader, this trend doesn't come as a surprise.  We've been tracking and flagging it since the Kavanaugh ordeal, which galvanized legions of previously-disengaged or underwhelmed GOP-leaning voters.  We've demonstrated how that impact has continued to reverberate, particularly in Senate races.  And now, the mainstream conventional wisdom appears to be catching up.  Charlie Cook, who leads the vaunted Cook Political Report, is out with a new detailed analysis pointing to a clear uptick in Republicans' fortunes: Charlie Cook: “One question that keeps coming back up is whether those who led the out-of-control demonstrations on Capitol Hill against...

First lady Melania Trump's airplane reportedly was forced to return to Andrews Air Force Base after a smoke condition developed in the jet while it was en route to Philadelphia. Problem aboard First Lady's plane, returning to @Andrews_JBA. Press pool aboard reports "thin haze of smoke" was visible and the smell of something burning. Passengers given wet towels to breathe through. Told a "mechanical issue" was detected.

Facing the prospect of bruising electoral defeat in congressional elections, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won’t accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates. In a wide-ranging interview three weeks before Election Day, Trump told The Associated Press he senses voter enthusiasm rivaling 2016 and he expressed cautious optimism that his most loyal supporters will vote even when he is not on the ballot. He dismissed suggestions that he might take responsibility, as his predecessor did, for midterm losses or view the outcome as...

The concerted efforts now underway to derail the improved relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia established by the Trump administration are unhelpful at best and dangerous to America’s national and economic security at worst. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a reformer trying to modernize his country. The steps he has taken so far are unprecedented. Letting that progress fall victim to mistakes by his government and attacks from opponents would be a massive mistake. The death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi – a critic of the Saudi government, who has not been heard from since he...

New York (CNN Business)Corporate America is coming to Wall Street's rescue. The Dow soared 548 points, or 2.2%, on Tuesday as investors cheered fat profits from major companies and relative calm in the bond market. The huge rally, the Dow's best day since March, helped the index recover a chunk of last week's hefty losses. Tech stocks, the biggest losers during the market turmoil, raced back to life. The Nasdaq spiked nearly 3%, while the S&P 500 advanced 2.2%. Investors piled back into tech darlings. Amazon, Facebook and Netflix closed sharply higher.

The U.S. is back on top as the most competitive country in the world, regaining the No. 1 spot for the first time since 2008 in an index produced by the World Economic Forum, which said the country could still do better on social issues. America climbed one place in the rankings of 140 countries, with the top five rounded out by Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. All five countries’ scores rose from 2017, with the U.S. notching the second-biggest gain after Japan’s. The top spot hasn’t gone to the U.S. since the financial crisis stalled output and triggered a...

President Donald Trump will rally supporters in Houston, Texas, next Monday, according to a statement from his campaign. The event is scheduled to be held at NRG Arena, a location that can seat 8,000 people. “The President looks forward to celebrating the booming Trump economy that’s delivering new jobs and bigger paychecks to the hardworking men and women across the Lone Star State,” the Chief Operating Officer for the Trump campaign said in a statement to reporters. Trump promised to campaign in Texas to help Sen. Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign after the well-funded Beto O’Rourke sparked hopes from Democrats looking...

(CNN) - President Donald Trump's allies are increasingly embracing his argument that Democrats have become a "mob" heading into the final stretch of the midterm election, echoing his incendiary language in the hopes of motivating Republican voters to head to the polls in just three weeks. America First Policies, the non-profit arm of the political action committee aligned with Trump, will launch a multi-state ad buy Tuesday aimed at turning out voters across 15 states with competitive Senate or congressional races. The $1.2 million digital campaign's first spot, titled "Division by Intimidation," will feature Democrats and protesters engaging in the...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions unleashed a blistering assault on federal judges Monday, saying anti-Trump bias has led some to abandon their role as legal referees and become “political actors” erecting roadblocks to the president’s policies. In unusually stark language, Mr. Sessions suggested judges could soon face “calls for their replacement” if they don’t cool it. He blasted one judge who called the president’s policy toward illegal immigrants “heartless,” and said another judge put “the inner workings of a Cabinet secretary’s mind” on trial to pave a path to block the government from asking about citizenship on the 2020 census. “Once...

As an initial step, the two Koreas are seeking to pull out 11 guard posts within a 1km radius of the Military Demarcation Line by the end of 2018. North Korea, South Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC) held their first three-way talks on Tuesday to discuss demilitarising the border as the two Koreas push for peace, Seoul’s defence ministry said. The two Koreas agreed during September’s summit in Pyongyang to form a tripartite consultation with the UNC, which overlaps with US forces in the South and overseas affairs in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), to facilitate their plan to...

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch released his own DNA test on Twitter Monday evening in response to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren doing the same to prove she has Native American ancestry. Hatch, 84, tweeted, “DNA Test Results 1/1032 T-Rex. The rest: other dinosaurs.” The Boston Globe originally claimed on Monday that the DNA test revealed Warren was somewhere between 1/32 and 1/512 Native American, however they then corrected their story saying the numbers are actually between 1/64 and 1/1,024. Warren’s claims of Native American heritage have long been a point of contention between the Massachusetts Democrat and President Trump....

The key to voter enthusiasm in this midterm cycle may be the same as it is in real estate: Location, location, location. ABC News’ Rick Klein takes a look at the current generic-ballot polling from the latest Washington Post/ABC partnership and notes that the double-digit Democratic lead would normally spell curtains for the GOP. However, Klein points out that almost all of it comes in districts well in hand for Democrats — and that the battleground looks different: If this was a national referendum on President Donald Trump, he’d be set for a thumping, or a shellacking, or whatever word...

John Roberts John Roberts @johnrobertsFox Judge dismisses Stormy Daniels defamation suit against ⁦@realDonaldTrump ⁩ - says he is entitled to legal fees from plaintiff 5:35 PM · Oct 15, 2018

The Cherokee Nation issued a statement Monday on Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's DNA test results. Sen. Warren released her DNA report in response to President Donald Trump taunting her for her saying she was part Native American. Sen. Warren released her 23 and Me report and it stated that "the great majority of (Warren's) identifiable ancestry is European." However, the report adds, "The analysis also identified 5 genetic segments as Native American in origin at high confidence." This afternoon the Cherokee Nation released a statement that said in part that DNA tests are useless in determining tribal citizenship and people...

She’s the Richard Blumenthal of intersectionality, minus the apology. Do you want to know what media bias looks like? Earlier today, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren released DNA test results that confirmed that she misled employers, students, and the public about her Native American heritage for years. Bizarrely, all too many members of the media treated the results as vindicating her. Down is up. Black is white. The imperatives of the resistance apparently dictate propping up a liar — as long as she might be able to beat President Trump in 2020. Here are the facts. For an extended period of...

The Trump administration, after threatening to withhold funds for Seattle in retaliation for the city’s immigration policies, has agreed to hand over the money, according to Mayor Jenny Durkan and City Attorney Pete Holmes. Seattle and nearby jurisdictions have been approved for $657,975 in Justice Assistance Grant funds, the U.S. Department of Justice said in an Oct. 10 letter to the city. Durkan and Holmes are declaring the news a victory for Seattle and its policies, ... ~snip “Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions blinked, Seattle won and public safety prevailed,” Durkan said in a statement over the weekend. The Trump...

Katie mentioned this story earlier -- but having written about Sen. Warren's stolen privilege in my book, I wanted to take a crack at this new information, too.  In case you missed it, Warren has released a new "fact" sheet about her supposed Native American heritage, along with an online video: My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 15, 2018 Conspicuously absent from this mini-film? Any actual...

The President talked over Lesley Stahl in a relentless blast of rhetoric that seemed more rally than interview ......the President’s interview had effectively the same impact as a rally; it allowed him to bulldoze his chief enemy, the media, while airing his own points at ceaseless length..... Lesley Stahl’s interview with Trump was an undeniable get; he’d been scarce on mainstream media since around the time he appeared on tape with NBC’s Lester Holt and indicated he’d fired former FBI Director James Comey in part due to the Russia investigation. But the interview seemed governed by two motives, both of...