NEWSMAX — The U.S. economy lost at least $6 billion during the partial shutdown of the federal government due to lost productivity from furloughed workers and economic activity lost to outside business, S&P Global Ratings said on Friday. President Donald Trump agreed on Friday to end the 35-day partial shutdown, the longest in history, without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a border wall.... (more)

NEWSMAX — White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says recent indicators for the U.S. economy show that America is the "hottest economy" in the world. The veteran financial guru and former Ronald Reagan adviser also predicted the next monthly unemployment report could shock naysayers. Kudlow said the economy will snap back from any "glitch" created by partial government shutdown.... (more)

NEWSMAX — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told countries at the United Nations on Saturday to "pick a side" on Venezuela, urging them to back Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and calling for free and fair elections as soon as possible.... (more)

FOX 8 - CLEVELAND — President Donald Trump has donated his salary from the third-quarter of 2018 to the federal agency that researches alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. The White House says Trump donated $100,000 to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcoholism is a personal issue for the president. His older brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 after struggling with alcoholism, and the president has said he learned from his brother's experience.... (more)

THE EPOCH TIMES — President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 25 that he had reached a deal with Congress to reopen the government for 21 days, giving lawmakers a window to negotiate a bipartisan bill that would fund a wall on the southern border. If no measure is passed by Feb. 15, Trump says he will use the executive power afforded to him by the Constitution to secure funding for the border wall.... (more)

WASHINGTON EXAMINER — Senate Republicans are skeptical that Congress will be able to reach agreement on a deal in just three weeks to boost border security that includes funding for a border wall, as President Trump is demanding. On Friday, after Trump agreed to end the shutdown and give Congress a three-week period to find a deal, some were already saying a deal of this magnitude probably requires more time than Congress has.... (more)

NEWSMAX — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the deal that will end the government shutdown but cautioned that Democrats need to hold up their end of the bargain. "I was glad to see today the president's announcement that he and our Democratic colleagues have reached an agreement that will immediately reopen the government while providing the room to negotiate a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security," McConnell said on the Senate floor shortly after Trump announced that a deal had been struck.... (more)

CLIFF KINCAID — The predawn raid on Roger Stone and his arrest are the latest developments in what is an obvious plan to force President Trump from office or impeach him. On the matter of border security, Trump looks weak and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks strong. The deal between the White House and congressional Democrats to negotiate over border security measures is a major loss for Trump. He has become toast for re-election because he has disappointed his base. The question now becomes how long he can survive as president.... (more)

JOSEPH FARAH — You probably didn't hear FBI Director Chris Wray whining about what makes him really mad -- that some of his agents are not working because they're not getting paid during the government shutdown, forcing other agents to cover their assignments.... (more)

DAILY CALLER — White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders openly wondered if the FBI would be raiding the homes of Hillary Clinton, James Comey and James Clapper Friday morning after Roger Stone's indictment.... (more)

DAILY CALLER — Famed libel attorney Lin Wood announced Thursday that he would be representing Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School junior currently at the center of a media firestorm. Wood, who has earned the moniker "Lawyer for the Damned," has made a name for himself taking on media on behalf of those who believe they have been unfairly characterized.... (more)

WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL — A writer for the leftist Nation magazine opined in 2013, "Yes, the Venezuelan president could be a strongman," upon the Venezuelan dictator's death. "But he leaves behind what might be called the most democratic country in the Western Hemisphere."... (more)

BARBARA KRALIS — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has again threatened his people with extreme abortion legislation that only causes a further deChristianization of the state's culture. The degree of Gov. Cuomo's long-held secularization of his Catholic faith and morals continues to increase exponentially due to grave impoverishment of his conscience.... (more)

NEWSMAX — Conservatives are outraged at leaders in New York after the state's legislature approved a bill that makes abortions legal up until a baby's due date. The state's Democrat-led Senate and Assembly passed the Reproductive Health Act on Tuesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, marked the occasion by ordering several New York City landmarks to be lit in pink that evening.... (more)

NEWSMAX — Ohio's new Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, is pledging to sign into law a bill that would make abortions illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. DeWine told radio host Hugh Hewitt he would sign the "heartbeat bill," legislation his predecessor John Kasich, also a Republican, vetoed last month before leaving office.... (more)

DAILY CALLER — The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a paper internally that suggests President Donald Trump may have the authority to use Department of Defense resources to build a wall without obtaining congressional approval or declaring a state of emergency.... (more)

FOX NEWS — Mercedes Schlapp, the White House director of strategic communications, told Fox News on Thursday that President Trump is considering the option to declare a national emergency to force the construction of his long-promised border wall. The move-- which would certainly draw a legal fight-- could, in theory, allow the president to circumvent Congress and end the budget stalemate. Trump has said he wanted $5.6 billion for the project.... (more)

REP. TOM MCCLINTOCK (R-CA) — The term "crisis" is chronically overused by politicians, but the numbers behind the debate over the "border crisis" speak for themselves. Between 16 and 29 million people are now living in the United States illegally, costing American taxpayers more than $100 billion a year.... (more)

TIMES OF ISRAEL — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday night he was postponing his State of the Union address until the partial government shutdown ends, yielding after a week-long showdown with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Following a high-stakes game of dare and double-dare, Trump conceded there was "no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber" and that he was not looking for an alternate option after Pelosi served notice earlier Wednesday that he won't be allowed to deliver the address to a joint session of the US Congress next week.... (more)

NEWSMAX — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to call off President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech is "absurd, petty, and shameful," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday. "Speaker Pelosi's decision not to invite President Trump to deliver the State of the Union address sets a new low for American politics," Graham said in a statement.... (more)

WORLDNETDAILY — An environmental group with Democratic socialist ties is calling on the University of Georgia to ban the popular restaurant Chick-fil-A from campus, calling it an "industrial, white supremacist, imperialist, capitalist cult." Campus Reform reported Athens EarthStrike is targeting Chick-fil-A for its use of non-compostable packaging and unsustainably-sourced poultry, according to the student publication the Red & Black.... (more)

JACK CASHILL — To his credit, National Review editor Rich Lowry has apologized more than once for his and the publication's initial response to the flap at the Lincoln Memorial involving the kids from Covington Catholic. He has much to apologize for. In his initial response, without any apparent fact checking, Lowry commended the knee-jerk mea culpa of the Covington diocese, tweeting, "A necessary and appropriate apology."... (more)

WORLDNETDAILY — Three Muslim residents of Lansing, Michigan, were arrested Monday afternoon for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, the Justice Department announced. A criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan charged that Muse Abdikadir Muse was on his way to Mogidishu, Somalia, to fight for ISIS when he was arrested. Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended him at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after he checked in for a flight.... (more)

FOX NEWS — The White House is still planning to move ahead with next week's scheduled State of the Union address, but the details remain up in the air after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi strongly urged the president to delay the speech or submit it in writing amid the government shutdown fight. According to multiple sources, it remains unclear whether the address scheduled for Jan. 29 will in fact go forward, or what venue it would be in. The White House is even planning for the possibility of a speech outside of Washington.... (more)

FOX NEWS — The call by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for President Trump to postpone his State of the Union address until the partial government shutdown ends has thrown official Washington into an uproar. But the president -- a master of creative thinking -- shouldn't let Pelosi's unprecedented call for him to reschedule his address to a joint meeting of Congress, scheduled for Jan. 29, stop him from communicating to the American people.... (more)