"One in five inmates in federal prison are foreign-born, of which 92 percent are unlawfully present in the United States, according to a recently released report.

"The report, produced jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, shows that of 58,766 'known or suspected aliens' in custody between the Bureau of Prisons and United States Marshal facilities, 37,557 are confirmed non-citizens. Of that number, 35,334 (a full 94 percent) were illegally present in the United States. It's worth noting that DHS data returns are incomplete, because state prisons and local jails, where nearly 90 percent of the U.S. incarcerated population is held, do not routinely provide such data to the federal government."

"Lost in the Democratic, media driven catharsis of what happened in state legislative races in Virginia this week, and last November, is the series of recent Republican victories in places as cobalt blue as Massachusetts in recent weeks. Even this week, Republicans won a special election outside Tampa, where Democrats hold a higher registration advantage.

"With state legislative Republicans at all-time highs after the 2016 elections, the political goalposts have moved so far to the right (nearly 1000 state legislative seats flipped to Republican under President Obama), there should be plenty of opportunities for Democrats to reclaim momentum, and they haven't. In the last quarter of 2017, it has been Republicans flipping blue seats to red -- three of them in the bluest states in the country. With better candidates, now backed by a solid tax reform package, Republicans will continue to win in blue areas in 2018.

"The Democrats, and their allies on shows like 'Morning Joe,' suggest that what has happened in Virginia alone is the beginning of something bigger. All that happened in Virginia is that a blue state voted blue. It has been three election cycles since Republicans won their only statewide seat of the Obama-era in Virginia."

"Last week, former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice -- she of the infamously shifting Benghazi explanations -- published an op-ed in the New York Times dedicated to the proposition that Trump's 'America first' foreign policy has 'relinquish[ed] the nation's moral authority in these difficult times.' According to Rice, Trump has shifted away from seizing 'opportunities to expand prosperity, freedom and security' around the globe.

"Yet when confronted with protests in Iran, it was Trump, not Obama, who took the hard-line approach in support of freedom.

"In the past few days, thousands of Iranians have marched against the terrorist regime in Tehran. As of this writing, twelve of these Iranians have been murdered by the country's Revolutionary Guard. Trump has tweeted his support for the protesters, spoken out in their favor, and made clear that he'd love to see them topple the regime itself.

"Contrast Trump's behavior with that of the Obama administration, which deliberately ignored anti-regime protests in 2009, choosing instead to cozy favor with the regime and maximize Tehran's regional power. The administration even went so far as to give Tehran a legal pathway to a nuclear weapon. Obama stated that while he was 'troubled' by violence against the protesters, it was 'up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be,' and he hoped 'to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran.'"

"We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Good tidings we bring to you and your kin; We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

"Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday's seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.

"While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday's HPSCI session.

"The issuance of a subpoena against the Justice Department's top lawyer could provoke a new constitutional clash between the two branches, even worse than the months-long tug of war over documents and witnesses that has already led House Speaker Paul Ryan to accuse DOJ and FBI of 'stonewalling' and HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to threaten contempt-of-Congress citations against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

'"It's hard to know who's telling us the truth,' said one House investigator after McCabe's questioning."

"It won't be official until the House does its re-vote on Wednesday, but Senate passage of the tax-cut bill was the last real hurdle: Taxes are about to come down for all Americans except a few top earners in high-tax states.

"And the business tax cuts should get the US economy roaring again. The Obama doldrums are really, truly over.

"Hysterics from Democrats and most of the media have the public doubting it's a win for the average Joe. But moderates will come around when they see their first paycheck of the new year, get a new job or a raise or see other benefits of the coming boom."

"...[E]ven limiting oneself to contemplation of the most obvious accomplishments, Trump should be credited, in his first year, with cutting taxes, nearly wiping a potent foreign enemy off the map, and placing excellent jurists on the federal bench.

"The wails of his opponents, most comically and hyperbolically represented by the cry of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that the tax bill is 'Armageddon' and 'the end of the world,' amply demonstrate that Trump, far from having no accomplishments, is getting rather a lot done."

"In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation.

"The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities.

"Over the next eight years, agents working out of a top-secret DEA facility in Chantilly, Virginia, used wiretaps, undercover operations and informants to map Hezbollah's illicit networks, with the help of 30 U.S. and foreign security agencies.

"They followed cocaine shipments, some from Latin America to West Africa and on to Europe and the Middle East, and others through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States. They tracked the river of dirty cash as it was laundered by, among other tactics, buying American used cars and shipping them to Africa. And with the help of some key cooperating witnesses, the agents traced the conspiracy, they believed, to the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran.

"But as Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the conspiracy, Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participants who in many cases spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy, and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests."

Read entire article here

"It's this close: Republicans in the House and Senate have struck a $1.5 trillion tax-cut deal that could put the economy on a fast track for years.

"All they need is to put the final touches on the bill and pass it in both chambers. President Trump could sign it by Christmas.

"That would be a major win -- not just for Trump and the GOP, but for America. ...

"This is no time for spoilers. Americans need this tax cut. Pass it, guys -- now."

"[Y]ounger readers may not recall how ruthless the Clinton administration was in attacking independent counsel Ken Starr, who investigated former President Bill Clinton's obvious perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. The Clintons were violent counterpunchers before Trump was, and they made sure anyone who tried to hold them accountable paid the price for such insolence.

"Clinton officials such as James Carville and Paul Begala regularly took to cable television shows to attack Starr personally and viciously. The Clinton White House polled daily on Starr's reputation and practiced every method to bring his approval down, effectively turning him into a partisan punching bag rather than a lawman.

"Trump and his White House have not stooped to the Clintons' level and we hope they don't."