Free Republic

The conventional wisdom doesn’t apply to such an unconventional nominee.Donald Trump won the Republican presidential nomination in part because his primary campaign message was far more in tune with an angry electorate than that of his rivals. However, Trump’s winning campaign was also helped mightily by a “Fatal Eight” set of miscalculations made by the opposition. These key mistakes included treating Trump as a mere celebrity rather than a serious candidate, failing to strategically attack the fledgling Trump candidacy in its crib, refusing to recognize that a candidate with a solid base can win in a crowded field even with...

Politico reports that nervous Democrats are warning the next batch of leaked documents could contain information planted by Russia: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is among those sounding that alarm, echoing security experts who say Russian security services have been known to doctor documents and images or bury fictitious, damaging details amid genuine information. For hackers to resort to such tactics would be highly unusual, but security specialists say it’s a realistic extension of Moscow’s robust information warfare efforts. This story is entirely self-serving for Democrats. It lays the groundwork for them to suggest anything embarrassing that turns up in...

Story to follow! ABC News Twitter feed........ ABC News Politics ‏@ABCPolitics 8m8 minutes ago NEW: Gov. @ScottWalker activates Wisconsin National Guard to assist Milwaukee police upon request:

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has requested the mobilization of the National Guard in the wake of violence that erupted in the City of Milwaukee late Saturday, August 13th and early Sunday, August 14th. Clarke made the request after consulting with Gov. Scott Walker and Major Gen. Donald Dunbar of the Wisconsin National Guard. Clarke said the following in a statement as part of a news release: “We cannot allow for a repeat of what happened (Saturday) night. I am going to utilize all available resources to accomplish that.”

The RNC, the Republican Party elite, is currently dealing with the consequences of its own stupidity (which I would have used as the title, if I hadn’t used it before.) Their hatred for Donald Trump is not based on ideology, personality or even a genuine concern that Trump is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. It is the far more understandable sense that Trump’s success has rendered them irrelevant, that Trump has literally stolen the Republican Party from under their noses. And that is precisely what Trump has done. They are caught between a number of options, all bad for them...

A FEW OBSERVATIONS: Trump endorsed Paul Ryan, John McCain and Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. I guess even a Non-Political Politician has to play the Game somewhat, if he or she hopes to win. And if this is part of the Game Trump has to play to get these two Political creatures (Ryan and McCain) off his back – SO BE IT. But personally, I wouldn’t have endorsed either of them. But I’m not about to join the crowd of Trump Second Guessers. As you all know, who read this BLOG regularly, I have ZERO regard for John McCain,...

"A message from Devan Cierra Ebert, who other attendees confirmed to be the mother at the Ashburn rally, was shared on Facebook. In her statement, she said, “Mr. Trump NEVER kicked me or my child out of the Briar Woods High School, Trump rally.” “The media has severely blown this out of proportion and made it out to be something that it wasn’t and is clearly using this as political gain for the Democratic Party. I hope this message sheds light to what really happened,” she said. No one from the press spoke with the mother before running their stories,...

Hillary Clinton comes up $2.2 trillion short in paying for her policy agenda, despite hiking taxes by $1.3 trillion, according to a new analysis of the Democratic nominee’s campaign platform. The American Action Forum, a center-right policy institute, released a report Thursday finding Clinton’s domestic agenda would “have a dramatic effect on the federal budget.”

No Debates, No Open Press Events, Declining Fox News: Paul Ryan Running Scared in Final Days Ahead of Primary Election JANESVILLE, Wisconsin — House Speaker Paul Ryan’s policy record is collapsing among voters here under scrutiny from Republican challenger Paul Nehlen, so badly that Ryan is refusing to appear even on the Fox News Channel.

The national union that represents 7,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers claims that House Speaker Paul Ryan is playing a role in the national immigration crisis by not voicing strong support for law enforcement's war on the administration's open-border practices.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed a plan on Tuesday to spend more than $500 billion on America’s infrastructure. Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur looks at the plan and where the money might come from on “Bloomberg ‹GO›.” (Source: Bloomberg) (Article by The Associated Press) Read more at: bloomberg.com

Video at link"

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s newly-announced running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, has a history of embracing Islamists. He appointed a Hamas supporter to a state immigration commission; spoke at a dinner honoring a Muslim Brotherhood terror suspect; and received donations from well-known Islamist groups. Appointing a Muslim Brotherhood Front Leader Who Supports Hamas In 2007, Kaine was the Governor of Virginia and, of all people, chose Muslim American Society (MAS) President Esam Omeish to the state’s Immigration Commission. A Muslim organization against Islamism criticized the appointment and reckless lack of vetting. Federal prosecutors said in a 2008 court filing...

LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Harry Reid admits to violating election law, but FEC won’t prosecute. The Federal Election Commission, which considered legal action against former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for joking about fundraising, won’t punish Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid for admitting to violating an election law. The reason: It’s not worth the effort. The agency voted 4-0 against pursuing action after FEC lawyers wrote a four-page memo that said Reid’s fundraising committee admitted to failing to comply with an election law requirement, but that it wasn’t worth the time or money to prosecute. Boy, people in...

There’s more “Clinton Cash” trouble for Hillary. A report out Monday, “From Russia With Money — Hillary Clinton, the Russian Reset and Cronyism,” raises serious questions about the cash connections between the Clintons and participants in the State Department’s failed five-year effort to improve, or “reset,” US-Russia relations during Hillary’s reign as secretary of state. Key players in a main component of the reset — a Moscow-based Silicon Valley-styled campus for developing biomed, space, nuclear and IT technologies called “Skolkovo” — poured tens of millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation, the

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/07/30/hillary-clinton-bus-tour-kaine-pennsylvania-midwest/87801650/

“Why do I have to get involved with Putin? I have nothing to do with Putin. I’ve never spoken to him. I don’t know anything about him other than he will respect me. He doesn’t respect our president. And if it is Russia—which it’s probably not, nobody knows who it is—but if it is Russia, it’s really bad for a different reason, because it shows how little respect they have for our country, when they would hack into a major party and get everything. But it would be interesting to see—I will tell you this—Russia, if you’re listening, I hope...

Following Donald Trump’s unusual mid-Democratic National Convention press conference Wednesday, two schools of thought quickly formed among political observers. Liberals and conservative Trump critics saw his comments, particularly his call for Russia to hack and release Hillary Clinton’s personal emails, as disastrous and disqualifying. Some argued that the Republican nominee felt the need to act out because the media was so focused on the Democrats. “Trump’s statement is impossible to defend on the merits,” wrote Dara Lind of Vox. “But it’s actually really easy to understand why he made it: Donald Trump hasn’t been in the news yet all week.”...

And I think that, so many times, white — non-college-education — educated white males have voted Republican. They voted against their own economic interests because of guns, because of gays, and because of God, the three G’s, God being the woman’s right to choose. --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Judy Woodruff in an interview Wednesday What Nancy Pelosi said isn't necessarily a new idea: the theory that white, working class men vote Republican because of social issues and -- from Democrats' perspective -- to the detriment of their economic interests. But it is worth taking a closer look...

Leaked emails in the recent Democratic National Committee (DNC) Wikileaks hack reveal that DNC officials view Common Core as a political “third rail” and want party members to avoid talking about it. Well, sometimes, at least. The remarks were made by DNC deputy communications director Eric Walker while discussing a planned video that would denounced the GOP as hostile to teachers. Walker was highly critical of a part of the video that would mention Common Core, and said it had to go at all costs. “Common Core is a political third rail that we should not be touching at all....