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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump was not in the room during President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union speech, but the Republican presidential front-runner held the center of attention nonetheless. Both Obama’s speech on Tuesday, and for that matter, the Republican response by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, took pains to rebuke Trump, the real-estate mogul whose red-hot rhetoric has endeared him to some and dismayed others in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Consider the combined support for Mr. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and the former neurosurgeon Ben Carson -- all cast by conventional strategists for the "totally unacceptable" role. The three outsiders command two-thirds of Republican support nationally. "Establishment" favorites like Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John R. Kasich remain political weaklings by comparison. Currently, Mr. Cruz holds a small lead in Iowa, and Mr. Trump has a big one in New Hampshire and most everywhere else. One hope for their rivals: a long, destructive siege between the two that opens a path to victory for a third...

"We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined."

At one time in the United States, when storied leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan walked the corridors of the White House, the annual State of the Union actually meant something. Whether delivered as a written report, or in person to a joint session of Congress, the ceremonial act was, as Article II of the U. S. Constitution mandates, an opportunity for the President to "give to the Congress information of the state of the union," as well as recommend policies to fix the issues currently facing the nation. Most importantly, given the stature and respect...

The Baltic Dry hit a new all-time low of 490 on Friday. Again, it’s the same problem as with the commodities: projects of all kinds – oil fields, mines, ships, ports – that were initiated early in the decade to take advantage of anticipated growing Chinese demand, are now coming on-line just as Chinese demand is faltering, leading to global over-capacity, over-supply and a glut of just about everything. It is an ingredient of the recession recipe. A "recession" is the painful process where excessive capacity and supply are cleared from the market.

Bloomberg/Des Moines Register Poll: Cruz 25, Trump 22. Details: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-13/bloomberg-politics-des-moines-register-iowa-poll-january-2016http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/01/13/iowa-poll-cruz-holds-3-point-lead-trump-attacks/78684344/

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Antonio Cromartie, the NY Jets All-Pro cornerback, and his wife are expecting twins, despite the NFL star having reportedly undergone a vasectomy in 2011.According to Page Six, Antonio and Terricka Cromartie who were married in 2008 and are parents to a five-year-old girl and three-year-old boy, were shocked to learn of the pregnancy in October. Terricka spoke with US Weekly magazine saying she didn't tell her husband right away."I was going back and forth in my head how it could even happen. In my head we were good to go, we were having free...

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley defended her response to Tuesday's State of the Union, confirming to TODAY's Matt Lauer she was referring to Donald Trump as one of the "angriest voices" she mentioned. "Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk," she told Matt in an interview Wednesday. Haley angered some conservative pundits with her response to Obama's address by seemingly saving her sharpest criticism for those in her own party, particularly those running for the White House. While never mentioning anyone by name, she urged Republican candidates to tone down divisive rhetoric and urged...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Paul (Paul's Letter to The Romans) 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died-more than that,...

Idaho has been a prime candidate for enacting Constitutional carry for decades.  They have introduced bills that looked promising, but ultimately were bogged down in intramural fights among Republicans.  Last year there were several public demonstrations in favor of Constitutional carry, and consideration of a bill was forced over the Republican leadership.  It failed.  This year may be different.  Speaker Scott Bedke was credited for the bills failure last year.  This year, he thinks it might pass.  From clearwatertribune.com: The Post Register (Idaho Falls, 12/14/15) interviewed Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, and reported, “Bedke said gun legislation is likely....

I have always been taught that if you can't say something nice then keep your mouth shut. After the thread on Sunday from a supporter of one candidate that went way over 200+ posts, I started to feel hatred toward the candidate of the original poster due to how nasty she was toward other candidates. Yes I want my candidate to win, but I don't want to turn others against my candidate and I know there are posters on this forum that are accomplishing that very feat. Can we tone it down a bit! After all we are FREEPERS not...

The arrival of Israel’s fifth Dolphin-class submarine, and second new-generation air independent propulsion platform has doubled the navy’s long-range operational capabilities, a soon-to-be submarine commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. Lt.-Cmdr. M is a former deputy commander of the INS Tannin, Israel’s first air independent propulsion submarine, and is currently training in a submarine command course. Commenting on the arrival of the INS Rahav in Haifa’s submarine dock at Haifa naval base, he said: “Today is a historic day, and the completion of a long process. We have a fleet of submarines – something we’ve been dreaming about having...

A recent forum on fighting poverty, sponsored by the Jack Kemp Foundation and moderated by House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, showed why the Republican Party is America's party of vision. The forum featured six Republican presidential candidates: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee and Marco Rubio. Each responded to questions from Ryan and Scott and weighed in with their ideas for fighting poverty. They delivered a powerful message -- that the most important anti-poverty programs in America are the ideas and values that created the American success-and-prosperity machine from day one....

New York Times columnist David Brooks poses as a moderate who never stoops to being crabbily doctrinaire. He is the very model of a PBS/NPR "conservative" -- defining conservatism in a very 1950s way, as wearing dreary gray suits and liking Ike and Dick Nixon. Go along, and get along with the liberal elites. But as conservatives know all too well, people who pose as "moderates" -- politically and rhetorically -- have a way of losing their sweetly temperate nature when conservatives seriously challenge the liberal order of things. David Brooks is clearly not a moderate or temperate man when...

"According to Russian media, he died from apoplexy on January 10th, 2016. He was found dead after two days. But at least two opposition members including Mr Andrey Malgin expressed their fears that Mr Pribylovsky was, in fact, murdered. Mrs. Anastasia Kirilenko, who was co-operative of Mr. Pribylovsky, revealed on her Facebook, that he worked on a new books about Vladimir Putin in his regime as well as 'who is who' in Ukrainian politics and business for Western audience."

Here at NewsBusters, one of our classification categories under Media Bias is "Sudden Respect." The notion is that all a Republican has to do to win praise from the MSM is to bash fellow Republicans or conservatives. There was a perfect illustration of the phenomenon on today's Morning Joe. In her Republican response to the SOTU, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley counseled Republicans to reject "the siren call of the angriest voices" and urged "welcoming immigrants regardless of race or religion." The shots at Donald Trump and to some extent at Ted Cruz were unmistakeable. Morning Joe loved it. "Welcome...

[snip]It can be risky for a candidate to get ahead of himself. In December 2011, Newt Gingrich, then riding high in the polls, told ABC News, "It's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I'm going to be the nominee." Needless to say, Gingrich did not become the nominee. Voters don't like a candidate who thinks he's got it in the bag. But Trump has been atop the Republican presidential race far longer than Gingrich was. And on board his 757 Tuesday, Trump mixed a sense of caution with a...

The redesigns of the new CPUSA.org website has begun. Our aim is to have an aesthetically beautiful multi-media platform which enhances our ability to build community, provide Marxist education and tools for action. It should be a resource not just for our members but the left and broader movements. We need your help in the design process. Please give us your input! What do you like about the old website? What don't you like about the old website? What is missing or cool about other websites we should consider? What functions and features should we have to make it really...

Michael Hiltzik, a columnist and Los Angeles Times reporter, wrote an article titled "Does a minimum wage raise hurt workers? Economists say: We don't know." Uncertain was his conclusion from a poll conducted by the Initiative on Global Markets, at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, of 42 nationally ranked economists on the question of whether raising the federal minimum wage to $15 over the next five years would reduce employment opportunities for low-wage workers. The Senate Budget Committee's blog says, "Top Economists Are Backing Sen. Bernie Sanders on Establishing a $15 an Hour Minimum Wage." It lists...

On the Republican side, however, the conventional wisdom is dead. The so-called establishment GOP candidates look like they're re-enacting the fight scene in the movie "Anchorman," attacking one another at every turn. What's going on? In the GOP race, the real culprit isn't Donald Trump, it's Jeb Bush. *snip* Jeb Bush, for his part, went into the 2016 campaign with the establishment largely in his pocket. The big donors, his family's political machine and veterans of his brother's White House lined up. So far, so good. But Bush never really bothered to cultivate the right. He even seemed to take...