Free Republic

President Trump suspended a plan to have the military escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Saudi Arabian officials warned Riyadh would not allow the US to use its airspace or air bases to support the initiative.“Project Freedom,” which the president announced Sunday evening, was paused Tuesday following pushback from the Gulf nation — as well as a phone conversation between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that did not resolve the issue, NBC News reported. The military operation had been intended to stop Iran from blocking the vital waterway, through which at least one-fifth of...

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Scarcely had Donald Trump even packed his last bags and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was already throwing his final daggers at the president’s back, cutting deals with the Democrats, meeting behind closed doors with Sen. Chuck Schumer. It’s the final step. The “four legs good, two legs bad” has successfully shifted to “four legs better.” For those who aren’t familiar: The phrases come from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” the fictional account of a barnyard uprising against the oppressive humans. The rebellion, buoyed by the phrase “four legs good, two legs bad” — as a means of keeping the...

Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said in an interview with The 19th‘s Amanda Becker that while President Donald Trump has “the right” to exhaust his legal challenges, it looked like Joe Biden “will prevail.” Conway said, “Well, The president wants to exhaust all of his legal avenues, as he has made clear many times. His team is doing that. I see in the papers they are doing that, going to different states and trying to do that. And of course, that is his right.”

And just when you thought the budget saga couldn't get any more bizarre. If this were the Olympics and even if you hated it, you'd have to score some style points on the acrobatic budget maneuver unveiled this afternoon. Democrats, frustrated with GOP refusals to vote for any tax increase to erase any part of the state's fiscal problems, have now decided to push forward a budget plan that includes $9.3 billion worth of new revenues... revenues they say don't require a single Republican vote. Fasten your seatbelt. Here goes: Democrats say the plan (which legislative attorneys have reportedly vetted)...