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Baker is representing Paul's neighbor, Rene Boucher, who was charged with attacking Paul.

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"The unfortunate occurrence of November 3 has absolutely nothing to do with either's politics or political agendas," a statement by attorney Matthew Baker said. "It was a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial."

Baker is representing Paul's neighbor, Rene Boucher, who was charged with attacking Paul. In the statement, Baker also noted the two worked together when they "were both practicing physicians."

Paul sustained five rib fractures, including three displaced fractures and bruised lungs after a neighbor allegedly assaulted him while at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, a senior adviser told CNN on Sunday.

"We sincerely hope that Senator Paul is doing well and that these two gentlemen can get back to being neighbors as quickly as possible," Baker's statement Monday said.

Paul also spoke out Sunday about the incident: "‪Kelley and I appreciate the overwhelming support after Friday's unfortunate event," Paul wrote on Facebook. "Thank you for your thoughts and prayers."‬

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attorney: attack on rand paul 'regrettable dispute' - cnnpolitics

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Attorney: Attack on senator 'regrettable dispute'

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"The unfortunate occurrence of November 3 has absolutely nothing to do with either's politics or political agendas," a statement by attorney Matthew Baker said. "It was a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial." Baker is representing Paul's neighbor, Rene Boucher, who was charged with attacking Paul.

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This article talks about legalizing public corruptions.

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"I am convinced that I will be declared not guilty, innocent of all charges," Menendez told reporters heading into court Monday morning.

The Justice Department's 18-count public corruption indictment accuses the senator of accepting over $600,000 in political contributions, free rides on a private jet, and a swanky hotel suite in Paris from Dr. Salomon Melgen.

In exchange, prosecutors say Menendez abused the power of his office by pressuring federal officials in the Obama administration and other career diplomats to help Melgen resolve a number of business disputes.

Jurors continued to hear closing arguments for several hours Monday before retiring to their room to determine the pair's fate.

Addressing the jury in Menendez's defense, attorney Abbe Lowell told jurors that prosecutors had tried to lead them astray with distractions about beach vacations Melgen provided, but never showed any corrupt agreement.

"Be mad now," Lowell said. "You heard a parade of witnesses from prosecutors that told you about no more than fluffy robes, juice and potato chips. ... Expect and demand more from the government when they have the burden to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt."

Lowell urged jurors to focus instead on the "true, honest and lawful" 25-year friendship between Menendez and Melgen, highlighting the $1,000 wedding gift the senator gave to Melgen's daughter.

"People who are taking bribes don't give these kinds of gifts in return," Lowell said. "Criminals in bribe schemes do not introduce their families (or) stay in the same hotel rooms."

In rebuttal remarks, federal prosecutor Peter Koski told jurors that the defense lawyers' friendship defense was a "misdirection."

"Defendants want you to believe that friendship and bribery cannot co-exist -- that is not the law," Koski said. "The issue in this case is not whether Sen. Menendez and Melgen were friends -- the issue is whether they committed a crime together."

Koski also suggested that the defense lawyers had engaged in "sleight of hand" by suggesting Menendez was more focused on the underlying policy issues raised by Melgen's business problems and that testimony from the senator's character witnesses was unpersuasive.

"These weren't character witnesses -- they were political witnesses," Koski said, referring to testimony from GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. "These witnesses saw none of the evidence that you've seen -- do not let the defendants get away with politicizing this case."

'Stream of benefits'

Over the course of eight weeks, the seven-woman, five-man jury heard from 57 witnesses -- including FBI special agents, pilots, ambassadors and former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, as well as a slew of character witnesses in support of Menendez.

Both Menendez and Melgen opted not to testify in their own defense -- a choice the judge explicitly instructed the jury to ignore as the defendants' constitutional right.

Last week, Judge William Walls read over two hours of instructions on the charges to the jury -- a product of lengthy negotiations in light of a 2016 Supreme Court decision unanimously overturning former Gov. Robert McDonnell's conviction and clarifying federal bribery law.

"I'm one of the experimental lambs," Walls said to the attorneys as they haggled over the new bribery requirements, "I think I'm the first trial court to deal with this."

Walls ultimately adopted the prosecution's "stream of benefits" theory for the private flights and other gifts -- where many gifts are exchanged for a variety of political favors over a period of several years -- instead of requiring prosecutors to prove a more direct link between a specific gift followed by a specific political favor.

For the $660,000 in political donations Melgen is accused of making to benefit Menendez in 2012, however, Walls told the jurors they needed to find an "explicit agreement."

"You have to find that the defendants agreed to exchange the contribution for a specified future official action," Walls said. "It is not bribery if you find that the contribution was given and received in exchange for some future unspecified official action."

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menendez jury begins deliberations in bribery trial - cnnpolitics

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"I am convinced that I will be declared not guilty, innocent of all charges," Menendez told reporters heading into court Monday morning. The Justice Department's 18-count public corruption indictment accuses the senator of accepting over $600,000 in political contributions, free rides on a private jet, and a swanky hotel suite in Paris from Dr. Salomon Melgen.

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The House Ways and Means Committee began its work on a massive tax overhaul. Mr Levi and chairman Brady had a disagreement on the bill Republican Levin had on taxes

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rep. levin to chairman: this is utter disgrace - cnn video

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Rep. Levin to chairman: This is utter disgrace - CNN Video

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The House Ways and Means Committee began its work on a massive tax overhaul, but the day quickly devolved into a partisan food fight, with Democrats claiming Republicans were rushing their bill in an effort to score political points.

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Trump and Hilary are still going at it for nothing really. whatever says in public trump disagrees, Vise versa.

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One year after Donald Trump won the White House, we all seem trapped in an endless echo chamber of the 2016 campaign.

Trump keeps attacking Hillary Clinton. Hillary, on her endless book tour, keeps attacking Trump. Donna Brazile is attacking Hillary, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robby Mook and Jennifer Palmieri, and leading Democrats are attacking Brazile for prolonging the agony of their defeat.

"For those who are telling me to shut up...go to hell," the former interim DNC chair told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Why are the media lapping this all up? Why is there still so much public interest in the last election? Why does it feel like the country hasn't moved on?

At a similar point in their presidencies, Barack Obama wasn't talking about John McCain. George W. Bush wasn't talking about Al Gore. Bill Clinton wasn't talking about George H.W. Bush. And Bush 41 wasn't talking about Michael Dukakis. Sure, presidents always blame their predecessors for leaving them a mess, but they don't relitigate the election.

What happened on Nov. 8, 2016 was an earthquake in which the favored Clinton dynasty lost and a bombastic billionaire with no political experience won. But it also gets dragged back into the headlines because of Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Now Trump continues to use Clinton as a foil, but has drawn plenty of flak for repeatedly urging the Justice Department to investigate "Crooked Hillary" for past controversies. And she remains a prime target for conservative media.

Clinton uses her book interviews to keep bashing the president, which keeps her in the news and probably boosts book sales.

(She also pointed to "media guilt" on the "Daily Show," saying journalists have told her they felt free to beat up on her because they thought she would win anyway. I doubt that was a widespread view, and her problem was that Trump did hundreds of campaign interviews while the ultra-cautious Democrat did very few.)

Now Brazile has ripped the scabs off with "Hacks," a scorched-earth book in which she rips Clinton and her team, even calling former campaign manager Jennifer Palmieri the B-word. What's more, she argues that the Clinton camp made her feel like a "slave."

Brazile can say whatever she wants, but she's also trying to distance herself from the 2016 debacle by charging that the Hillary team tilted the playing field in essentially taking over the DNC's daily operations. And there's some attempted image rehab, given that Brazile lost her gigs at CNN and ABC for twice leaking CNN's planned debate questions to the Hillary side.

Many Democrats are furious, and more than 100 former Clinton aides signed a letter saying "we are pretty tired of people who were not part of our campaign telling the world what it was like to be on the inside of our campaign and how we felt about it." The letter also accuses Brazile of buying into "false Russian-fueled propaganda" about Hillary's health, given Donna's claim that after a fainting spell she considered pushing Joe Biden as a replacement for Clinton.

All this might be consigned to the dustbin of history. But Democrats, trying to figure out how to take over the House in 2018, are still fighting over lessons from the last war.

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2016 redux: Why Trump, Clinton and Brazile keep refighting the last war

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One year after Donald Trump won the White House, we all seem trapped in an endless echo chamber of the 2016 campaign. Trump keeps attacking Hillary Clinton. Hillary, on her endless book tour, keeps attacking Trump. Donna Brazile is attacking Hillary, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robby Mook and Jennifer Palmieri, and leading Democrats are attacking Brazile for prolonging the agony of their defeat.

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Trump hopes to reassure in south korrea. Trump has tamped down the bitter back-and-forth, avoiding direct insults of young and brash leader just across the border.

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Saudi Arabia on Monday called the attempted missile attack on Riyadh's main airport this weekend an "act of war" by Iran and vowed to retaliate.

Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been fighting Saudi-backed forces there for several years, claimed responsibility for firing the ballistic missile on Saturday. The missile traveled more than 500 miles before Saudi Arabia intercepted it.

The official Saudi Press Agency charged that debris from the missile proved that it was made in Iran and smuggled into Yemen. American officials have previously charged that Iran has armed the Houthi rebels.

The attempted missile strike was "a blatant act of military aggression by the Iranian regime and could rise to be considered as an act of war," the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia "reserves its right to respond to Iran in the appropriate time and manner, in accordance with international law and based on the right of self-defense," the statement continued.

Speaking to CNN, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir unambiguously charged that Iran had effectively declared war.

"We see this as an act of war," he said. "Iran can not lob missiles at Saudi cities and towns and expect us not to take steps."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi called Saudi Arabia's claims "false, irresponsible, destructive and provocative," according to the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

The dramatic escalation in tension between the two rival nations came just a day after dozens of princes, senior military officers, businessmen and top officials were arrested in a sweeping anti-corruption probe in Saudi Arabia.

The unprecedented arrests were seen as a sign that 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who came to power in June, was seeking to aggressively consolidate power.

Gregg Re is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @gregg_re.

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Saudi Arabia calls missile launch 'act of war' by Iran, vows retaliation

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Saudi Arabia on Monday called the attempted missile attack on Riyadh's main airport this weekend an "act of war" by Iran and vowed to retaliate. Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been fighting Saudi-backed forces there for several years, claimed responsibility for firing the ballistic missile on Saturday.

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Cillizza: Walk me through the arc of these Jeff Hoover allegations and his resignation. How long -- beginning to end? And did he fight it?
Gerth: This was a flash scandal. I think Hoover had some indication that something might be coming for some time and there were a few subtle signs that something was going on with respect to Republican leadership staff, but he received a letter alerting him to the allegations that were being made against him on Oct. 17, and within days he, along with three other Republican House members and his top staffer, were entering into mediation with attorneys for the woman.

On Nov. 3, Hoover met with the GOP House caucus and basically told them nothing -- said he was bound by a confidentiality agreement and little more. House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell held a press conference saying that that the GOP House Caucus fully supported Hoover -- a statement that was patently untrue, which angered some members who had some real problems with what Hoover was alleged to have done and the fact that he still hasn't answered key questions like where did the money to pay the settlement come from.

There was a flurry of activity following that meeting and press conference and the following day, Gov. Matt Bevin took the unprecedented step of calling a press conference on a Saturday, during the University of Kentucky football game against Ole Miss, to call for Hoover to step down. Hoover took the offensive and attacked Bevin and said he would not step down. More members of the House came out against Hoover, however, and by noon on Sunday, he obviously realized that he would not be able to hang on to power.

It doesn't look like he fought the sexual harassment charges very much, considering the speed that he entered into negotiations and the speed at which the confidential agreement -- of which we still don't know the details -- was reached. On the political front, he was defiant until the end when he finally resigned. I think he fought it as best he could but the pressure on him to step down was immense.
Cillizza: Hoover resigned as leader. But he is staying on as a state representative. How much pressure will he be under to leave there too?
Gerth: I don't have a really good feel for this yet but my gut tells me that he's been around for 20 years and is well liked by the Republican caucus and if nothing else, he has bought himself a little bit of time -- at least until the internal review and any sort of law enforcement investigation is finished. What is clear is that his career as a big player in the Kentucky General Assembly is over and it's hard to imagine him -- at least in the short term -- rehabilitating his image.

If any of the investigation turns up more than what we know now, you may well see an effort to push him out of the General Assembly but I would suspect that he would have to make the decision to leave. I don't believe that the Kentucky General Assembly has impeached and removed any office holder since "Honest" Dick Tate, Kentucky's state treasurer who absconded with the state's treasury in 1888. The legislature was prepared to remove an agriculture secretary a few decades ago but he resigned before it could.

And pressure will intensify on him if Republicans start to believe that his continued presence in the legislature will imperil the party's chances to hold onto the state House -- which it won in 2016 for the first time in nearly 100 years -- in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Cillizza: Several other state representatives were involved in this sexual harassment settlement. What's their status?
Gerth: The governor has called for everyone who has signed such a settlement to resign from office but obviously that hasn't happened yet. Two of the members that were named in the settlement are Reps. Michael Meredith and Jim DeCesare. They were committee chairmen but have been ousted. The other member is Rep. Brian Linder.

I think they can, like Hoover, at least hang on for the short term while these investigations are going on. Whether or not they can make it to the end of their terms will likely be determined by what is uncovered in those investigations. It's hard to imagine that they wouldn't see primary challenges in 2018.
Cillizza: What does this mean for the Republican party in Kentucky? Gov. Bevin called for mass resignations of anyone involved. Hoover pushed back on Bevin. Where does this go?
Gerth: It looks like the party could be in civil war following the governor's call and Hoover's defiant response. This is going to make it very difficult for the party to pass anything truly controversial in the short term. Kentucky is trying to deal with a massive state pension crisis and push through some sort of tax reform. It's hard to imagine this happening without Hoover's leadership.

Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne has taken control of the GOP caucus. He's well-liked but he's never been in such a high-profile position. And while he has led on some issues, he's still a bit of an unknown quantity. It's going to be difficult for him to bring together a divided caucus to support Bevin's agenda, especially since there are many House members still loyal to Hoover and could work against Bevin either behind the scenes or publicly.

US Rep. James Comer, who lost to Bevin in the 2015 primary by just 83 votes after a former girlfriend said that he struck her while they dated in college, is a close ally of Hoover as well. He has been considering a primary challenge to Bevin. The question now becomes whether this harms the Comer wing of the GOP -- of which Hoover was a key player -- or if Bevin's call for resignations energizes the Comer base.
Cillizza: Finish this sentence: "The Hoover revelations tell us _______ about the climate in the state legislature and GOP within Kentucky." Now, explain.
Gerth: I'm not sure what word goes there, but what this and how it plays out tells me is that the GOP is settling into being the party of power in Kentucky because they are acting like the old Democratic Party did here while they were in power for so many years -- sexual harassment in the state legislature and intramural infighting in the GOP.

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a sexual harassment scandal just took down a leading republican politician in kentucky - cnnpolitics

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Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

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A sexual harassment scandal just took down a leading Republican politician in Kentucky

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Cillizza: Walk me through the arc of these Jeff Hoover allegations and his resignation. How long -- beginning to end? And did he fight it? Gerth: This was a flash scandal.

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After the tragic situation that happened in Texas trump addresses the gun laws of the united states.

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There are many areas of gun policy that split the country, but majorities in both parties do come together to support several key gun control measures, according to a survey this spring from the Pew Research Center.

Broad majorities of more than eight in 10 Republicans and Democrats (and independents who lean toward each party) support blocking people who are mentally ill and people on federal no-fly or watch lists from buying guns.

Majorities also favor background checks for private and gun show sales, though the number of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents falls slightly to three in four on this potential policy.

And, though only by a slim margin among Republicans, majorities of both parties even back an assault weapons ban and creating a new federal database to track gun sales. (Support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents for these priorities remains around eight in 10, creating a broad gap between the two parties' support.)

Still, polls also show that, when asked a general question about whether to create stricter gun laws, most Republicans oppose that direction, while most Democrats support it. Despite multiple high-profile mass shootings over the last decade, Congress has not passed recent gun control legislation.

Democrats are much more likely to see gun violence as a very big problem, according to Pew's findings.

Questions on increasing the availability of guns -- like allowing concealed carry in more places and allowing teachers in schools to carry -- received the support of majorities of Republicans, but only about a quarter of Democrats.

Two of the five deadliest mass shootings in modern US history have occurred in the last two months. A staggering 58 people were killed and more than 500 were hurt when a shooter opened fire on a Las Vegas concert and at least 26 people were killed in a Texas church on Sunday morning.

President Donald Trump, on a foreign trip to Asia when the Texas shooting occurred, said mental health care should be the priority in the wake of the attack.

"I think that mental health is your problem here," he said at a news conference. "This isn't a guns situation. I mean, we could go into it, but it's a little bit soon to go into it. ... But this is a mental health problem at the highest level."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told CNN on Monday morning that the shooter "sought to get a license to carry a gun in the state of Texas, but the state denied him the ability to get one," stressing that it was still early in the investigation.

This Pew Research Center survey was conducted from March 13-27 and April 4-18, 2017 among 3,930 adults. The margin of sampling error is ±2.8 percentage points for the full sample; it is larger for subgroups like leaned Republicans and leaned Democrats.

UPDATE: This piece has been updated to reflect Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

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gun control policies with majority support in both parties  - cnnpolitics

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Gun control policies with support in both parties

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There are many areas of gun policy that split the country, but majorities in both parties do come together to support several key gun control measures, according to a survey this spring from the Pew Research Center.

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Trump credited his previous bellicose rhetoric and US military strength in the region for the movement.

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With tensions still flaring over the quickening pace of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Trump's visit here marks a critical moment in the US-South Korea alliance -- and a test. Trump has sought to push a more aggressive approach to the North Korean threat, whereas Moon rose to power on a platform of increased dialogue with Pyongyang.

Trump has also been fiercely critical of KORUS, the free trade agreement between the US and South Korea, suggesting earlier this year he might terminate it, and Trump is expected to press Moon for changes to the deal.

Trump kicked off his visit here with a stop at Camp Humphreys, a joint US-South Korean base, where he sat down for lunch with troops from both countries creating a photo opportunity drawing attention to the critical military alliance. Nearly 30,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea.

Trump is not expected to visit the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas during his two-day visit here, making him only the second US president since Ronald Reagan not to visit the DMZ.

A senior White House official said the administration opted for the visit to Camp Humphreys to highlight the military burden-sharing between the two countries and because visits to the DMZ have become a bit "cliché."

Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis have all visit the DMZ this year in separate visits.

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moon set to take questions in seoul - cnnpolitics

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Trump, Moon set to take questions in Seoul

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With tensions still flaring over the quickening pace of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Trump's visit here marks a critical moment in the US-South Korea alliance -- and a test. Trump has sought to push a more aggressive approach to the North Korean threat, whereas Moon rose to power on a platform of increased dialogue with Pyongyang.

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Democrats

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**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up On the roster: What should worry Democrats about Virginia - House GOP looking for fixes to keep tax plan alive - Report: Mueller sweats Flynn - Brazile tells Clinton-allied critics 'go to hell' - Yes, Rocky, you are still a good boy here.**
WHAT SHOULD WORRY DEMOCRATS ABOUT VIRGINIA
Could Democrats really blow the Virginia governor's race? It almost seems like they're trying to find out.

Let's start with an understanding of the stakes in the Old Dominion. If the blue team cannot win in a state Hillary Clinton carried by about six points last year, and where Donald Trump specifically and Republicans in general are about as unpopular as they are in the country as a whole, it would be an epic collapse.

In the series of special House elections Democrats have lost in the past year, each has come with the consoling notion that the Democrat was the underdog and that improved voter intensity on their side was a harbinger of good things to come for the party in 2018.

But this one shouldn't even be close.

The latest Fox News poll shows Democrat Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam with just a 5-point lead over Republican Ed Gillespie, and more than enough undecided voters to throw the race to the GOP.

You would have to say that Northam is still the favorite, but the trend line has not been friendly in the closing weeks. An average of the five most recent methodologically sound polls shows the Democrat with a 5-point lead, down from a 7-point advantage from a month ago.

It's not a collapse, but the Democrats are acting like they really might lose this thing.

There is some precedent for that concern, especially since Gillespie almost stunned the nation with an upset in 2014 against Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. If former RNC chairman Gillespie over-performed on Tuesday in the same fashion he did three years ago, he would win... and there would be a line of Democrats starting from the Alexandria side to jump off the middle of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

A Washington Post poll gives a good insight on the current problem for Democrats. And it happens to be the same one that they have had for a couple of generations.

The survey, conducted with ABC News, shows Democrats leading by 11 points in the so-called generic ballot, a test of which party voters would generally prefer control Congress. That's big, and not far afield of where other surveys have shown the 2018 midterm matchup.

But the Post/ABC pollsters did something interesting. Though we know it is far too early to determine who will be a "likely voter" a year from today, when the pollsters' limited the sample to those respondents who said that they voted in the 2014 midterm election and are certain to do so again, the democratic disadvantage disappears, leaving the two parties basically tied.

Gillespie definitely is thinking about voter intensity. He has run a race praised by former top Trump strategist Steve Bannon as "Trumpism without Trump." Bannon suggests Gillespie's focus on wedge issues and identity politics could be a way forward for the GOP. Broad appeal is no match for identity politics in low turnout elections.

The way Democrats could lose Virginia and fall short of the mark in 2018 is exactly the same way they lost in 2016: Lukewarm support among party loyalists coupled with an uninspired outreach to the blue-collar voters most sympathetic toward the ongoing Republican culture war appeal.

Moderate candidates like Northam face an unhappy Democratic base, which once catered to becomes unwilling to accept reasonable political accommodations. Thus limited, the candidates can't execute the pivot to middle-class suburbanites on a mostly economic message.

If you were betting, you'd still need points to want to take Gillespie on Tuesday. But the dynamics of this race so far should concern Democrats nationally.

If their preferred candidate, running against a Republican who has embraced Trump tactics, cannot win Virginia by a better margin than Clinton did a year before, the much-vaunted Democratic groundswell may never materialize.

THE RULEBOOK: ON SECOND THOUGHT...
"I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous." - Alexander Hamilton
TIME OUT: BIG, BIG, BIG DATA
The Atlantic: "Every big, ambitious project has to start somewhere, and for U.K. Biobank, it was at an office building south of Manchester, where the project convinced its very first volunteer to pee into a cup and donate a tube of blood in 2006. U.K. Biobank would go on to recruit 500,000 volunteers for a massive study on the origins of disease. ... This spring, 11 years after the first volunteer gave up a tube of blood, U.K. Biobank announced it would release its full genetic data set to registered scientists in July. This huge amount of genetic information, combined with the thousands of other characteristics tracked by U.K. Biobank, allows scientists to look for the genetic determinants of virtually any disease. Geneticists marked their calendars. 'We heard stories that people who head groups had canceled holidays,' says Jonathan Marchini, a statistical geneticist at the University of Oxford. 'Everyone has been waiting for this for so long.'"

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with
your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump net job-approval rating:Change from one week ago: up 0.6 points

HOUSE GOP LOOKING FOR FIXES TO KEEP TAX PLAN ALIVE
Reuters: "Facing pockets of discontent in their own Republican ranks, tax negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives will seek this week to brook differences over their far-reaching tax bill and stick to a self-imposed deadline of passage this month. The House tax-writing committee begins revising the bill on Monday with tweaks and some more substantial changes expected to a number of individual and corporate tax proposals. House Republicans last week unveiled the first draft of a 429-page tax bill that, if enacted, would be the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s.

Three contentious issues with the House tax plan - Axios: "Three problems to watch as the House Ways and Means Committee finalizes the Republican tax reform bill this week... The new fault line for big business: an excise tax on cross-border transactions. ... Pro-life groups and social conservative leaders are fighting to save the adoption tax credit, which the GOP bill scraps. Influential social conservative leaders such as Penny Nance and Marjorie Dannenfelser are leading the charge. ... A number of Republicans believe it's political malpractice to eliminate a longstanding tax break for people who have very high medical costs."

REPORT: MUELLER SWEATS FLYNN
NBC News: "Federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser and his son as part of the probe into Russia's intervention in the 2016 election, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. Michael T. Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the federal probe now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Mueller is applying renewed pressure on Flynn following his indictment of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, three sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News."

Judges keeps Manafort, Gates under house arrest - USA Today: "A federal judge on Monday ordered former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates to remain under house arrest with their movements tracked by GPS devices - until they offer up more bail money to assure their future appearances in court. Federal prosecutors, who have leveled a 12-count indictment alleging a complex money laundering and tax fraud conspiracy, said they were 'close' to reaching an agreement with the men's lawyers to free them from home confinement."

More flexibility? Russian lawyer says Trump Jr. hinted at helping oligarchs -Bloomberg: "A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump's oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton's campaign. ... 'Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,' Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law, lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya recalled. 'I understand our side may have messed up, but it'll take a long time to get to the bottom of it,' he added, according to her. ... Veselnitskaya also said Trump Jr. requested financial documents showing that money that allegedly evaded U.S. taxes had gone to Clinton's campaign. She didn't have any and described the 20-minute meeting as a failure."

Wilbur Ross defends ties to Putin cronies - Politico: "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Rosssaid Monday that there is 'nothing whatsoever improper' about the relationship between an international shipping company he holds significant investments in and a Russian energy company whose owners include an oligarch subject to U.S. sanctions and a family member of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Disclosure documents previously filed by Ross show that the commerce secretary holds an investment worth between $2 million and $10 million in partnerships that have a stake in Navigator Holdings, the shipping company, according to The New York Times. Navigator earns millions every year, the Times reported, via business with Sibur, a Russian energy company whose owners include Gennady Timchenko, a friend of Putin's who is subject to U.S. sanctions, and Kirill Shamalov, Putin's son-in-law. 'There's nothing whatsoever improper about Navigator having a relationship with Sibur,' Ross said."

BRAZILE TELLS CLINTON-ALLIED CRITICS 'GO TO HELL'
LA Times: " Donna Brazile, the former interim head of the Democratic National Committee, said on Sunday that she had found 'no evidence' of rigging of the 2016 Democratic presidential contests in Hillary Clinton's favor, though excerpts from her new book have been seized upon by Clinton critics to make that case. Brazile, who temporarily headed the party late in the election cycle, caused a stir with previews of her forthcoming book, 'Hacks,' in which she strongly criticizes Clinton and her staff over a joint fundraising agreement with the party committee. ... But she also said she has no regrets about her scathing assessment of the Clinton campaign's flaws or her account's overall critical tenor, despite strong pushback from Clinton allies. Referring to 'those who are telling me to shut up,' Brazile said: 'You know what I tell them? Go to hell. I'm going to tell my story.'"

Clinton campaign manager says Brazile under 'pressure' from publisher - Daily Caller: "Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook took shots at former Democratic National Committee interim chair Donna Brazile over her claims that Clinton had special control over the DNC. ... Mook had a hard time remaining diplomatic about the whole scandal during a Monday CNN interview, and knocked Brazile for putting her book out around the same time as some key elections. 'I'm sure Donna was under a lot of pressure from her publisher to put her book out on this election week when we have critical elections going on around the country, but I wish she had just put her foot down and said no,' Mook said."

SAUDI PALACE PURGE SAID TO HAVE TRUMP SUPPORT
National security columnist David Ignatius writing at WaPo: "Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says he's cracking down on corruption. But the sweeping arrests of cabinet ministers and senior princes Saturday night looked to many astonished Arab observers like a bold but risky consolidation of power. MBS, as the headstrong 32-year-old ruler is known, struck at some of the kingdom's most prominent business and political names in a new bid to gain political control and drive change in the oil kingdom....MBS is emboldened by strong support from President Trump and his inner circle, who see him as a kindred disrupter of the status quo - at once a wealthy tycoon and a populist insurgent. It was probably no accident that last month, Jared Kushner, Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, made a personal visit to Riyadh. The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy."

Hoity hoosegow - AP: "Reports suggested those detained were being held at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh... A Saudi official told The Associated Press that other five-star hotels across the capital were also being used to hold some of those arrested. The Ritz Carlton had no availability for bookings until Dec. 1, 2017 - a possible sign that an investigation of this scale could take weeks."

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The 10 Most Vulnerable Senators in 2018 - Roll Call

White House sends Bannon protégé to pitch DACA deal to nationalist media - Daily Beast

Rand Paul recovering from 5 broken ribs after beating by neighbor at Kentucky home - Fox News

First GOPer to lead Kentucky House since 1921 steps down over harassment claim - Lexington Herald-Leader

AUDIBLE: A HANDS-ON LEADER
"He will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States." - President Trump to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the possibility of responding to a North Korean nuclear missile launch.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
"What is Gillespie's problem with President Trump? What could he possibly have to lose by campaigning with him? It's an insult to real conservatives in southern VA when our own candidates refuse to show the proper respect. I for one would have attended a Gillespie/Trump rally and know several dozen others who would be enthusiastic to turn out to vote had there been a real alliance. Now, since Gillespie appears to care more about what the liberals in NoVa think than actual conservatives, it's rubbed me and a lot of people I know the wrong way."- Ted Gladdis, Boones Mill, Va.
[ Ed. Note: I would imagine, Mr. Gladdis, that Gillespie is less concerned about which way you are rubbed and more concerned about which way you vote. If he can still count on your vote but has simultaneously managed to make himself palatable to moderate voters with misgivings about Trump then he has succeeded in his strategy. It's the same way Ralph Northam probably feels about hardcore liberals. He's fine if they hold their noses when they vote for him.]

"Chris, I hate to say it but I see the GOP tax plan going the same way as healthcare. And why wouldn't it? Remember when conservatives actually pretended to care about deficits? Where are the offsets in wasteful spending? Enough of this nonsense about eliminating deductions that benefit hard working Americans. Show me welfare reform. The worst part is you have people putting out the "growth pays for itself" myth again. They sound like Democrats! Where is the fiscal restraint? And if they finally get some backbone and cut spending, will the John McCain's of the world be too scared of the political ramifications to vote for it?" - Susan Dunbaugh, Oshkosh, Wis.
[ Ed. Note: I suspect you're right about the fate of this proposal. That doesn't mean that there won't be some alternative tax plan that emerges later, perhaps from the Senate. We've talked before about the ways in which the GOP's refusal to address spending has made taxes such a difficult lift. But I also think they have another problem: they're raising taxes on some people. I think there was probably considerable appetite for a bold plan that involved moving toward a much simpler, flatter system. The GOP has instead just picked a different set of winners and losers, including a dose of class-resentment. Overly rigid policy principles can make it harder to pass legislation, but an insufficiency of principles can be just as detrimental. As with ObamaCare, at a certain point the whole exercise becomes just about the exercise of political power for its own sake, i.e. "we need a win." And that's an unconvincing argument to make when asking lawmakers to act against their own constituents' narrow interests.]

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

YES, ROCKY, YOU ARE STILL A GOOD BOY
Telegraph [U.K.]: " Rosalyn Edwards was working in her kitchen on [Oct. 25], when she suddenly started to hear strange noises. When she turned around she was stunned to discover her Border collie puppy, Rocky, had proudly led nine sheep into her house. The seven-month-old sheepdog-in-training had taken advantage of an open gate to usher the sheep through into the Edwards' home in Devon via the back door. Mrs. Edwards, 40, said: 'I thought it was funny at the time, but then there was quite a lot of wee, poo and mud everywhere. It took me a little while to clean it all up. 'My son and husband had gone out into the field, and the gate was left open. Rocky got them out and led them to the house. ... Mrs. Edwards added: 'Rocky did look quite pleased with himself, but he's going to need more training.'"

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Dave Sweet contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

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What should worry Democrats about Virginia

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Will Democrats make the same mistakes in Virginia that lost them the Presidency?

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She said she was told she had violated the company's social media policy, and said the company in turn fired her. She said that she what doing what she felt.

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Juli Briskman, a former member of the marketing team at Akima LLC, was riding her bike as the presidential motorcade passed by, transporting Trump from his golf course back to the White House.

"My finger said what I was feeling," Briskman said. "I'm angry and I'm frustrated."

She flipped off the motorcade twice, and after the moment went viral, she told her employer.

"I thought that it would probably get back to my company eventually," Briskman said in an interview with CNN's Jeanne Moos.

She said she was told she had violated the company's social media policy, and said the company in turn fired her.

"I said, 'Well, that was me,'" Briskman told Moos, recalling her conversation with her former company's HR representative.

Briskman said she had been at the company for about 6½ months before the incident, and was working in the marketing department.

She added that she's "really not" the bird-flipping type.

"Health care doesn't pass, but you try to dismantle it from the inside," Briskman said. "Five-hundred people get shot in Las Vegas; you're doing nothing about it. You know, white supremacists have this big march and hurt a bunch of people down in Charlottesville and you call them good people."

CNN's Sophie Tatum contributed to this report.

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woman who flipped off trump says she was fired for it - cnnpolitics

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Woman who flipped off Trump says she was fired for it

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Juli Briskman, a former member of the marketing team at Akima LLC, was riding her bike as the presidential motorcade passed by, transporting Trump from his golf course back to the White House. "My finger said what I was feeling," Briskman said. "I'm angry and I'm frustrated."

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Trump sides with democrats on debit limit 

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Trump sides with democrats on debit limit 

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Trump is living up to his reputation for unpredictability met at the White House with congressional leaders from both parties and overruled Republicans and U.S. on debit limits.

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(by Richard Cowan, Roberta Rampton, Reuters) - President Donald Trump forged a surprising deal with Democrats in Congress on Wednesday to extend the U.S. debt limit [debt ceiling - see "Background" below questions] and provide government funding until Dec. 15, embracing his political adversaries and blindsiding fellow Republicans in a rare bipartisan accord.

President Trump, living up to his reputation for unpredictability, met at the White House with congressional leaders from both parties and overruled Republicans and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who wanted a longer-term debt-limit extension rather than the three-month Democratic proposal the president embraced.

"We could have done a one-year deal today," Mnuchin told reporters aboard Air Force One later in the day en route back to Washington from an event in North Dakota where Trump spoke about taxes.

Mnuchin said Trump chose a short-term deal to keep his options open on possibly raising military funding later this year, suggesting a longer-term government funding deal might have blocked that.

President Trump is very focused on military spending, "particularly with what's going on in North Korea and other parts of the world today," Mnuchin said. "The president wasn't willing to give up his need for additional military spending."

If passed by the Republican-led Congress, the three-month agreement would avert a default on U.S. government debt, keep the government funded at the outset of the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 and provide aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey.

"It was a really good moment of some bipartisanship and getting things done," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said.

Less than an hour before the meeting, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan had called the Democratic proposal that President Trump later embraced a "ridiculous and disgraceful" idea that would "play politics with the debt ceiling."

Even with the three-month extension of the debt limit, a Senate Republican aide told reporters that nothing in the tentative deal would stop the Treasury Department from using its powers to extend the deadline, depending on revenue flow. In the past, the debt limit deadline has been extended for several months under those powers.

... Washington has suffered through bitter partisanship that has at times left the U.S. capital dysfunctional under Donald Trump and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. ...

The party in power, in this case Republicans, often argues for the longest debt limit increase as possible for two reasons. First, it protects members of Congress from casting multiple votes on the politically unpopular legislation over a short period of time, especially in the run-up to the 2018 congressional elections. Second, it helps stabilize markets.

Even though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, [they have] yet to [pass] of any major legislation [pushed by President Trump]. ...

The House on Wednesday approved roughly $8 billion in initial emergency aid for relief and rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey, which tore into Texas on Aug. 25, with the measure now going to the Senate.

"Our No. 1 priority was getting funding for Harvey," Mnuchin said. "To get the funding for Harvey, we needed to extend the debt limit."

Excerpted from the Reuters .com article by Cowan and Rampton. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from Thomson Reuters.
Questions

1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)

2. What was President Trump's motive for making a deal with Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to raise the debt ceiling? List his 3 reasons for doing so, according to Secretary Mnuchin and adviser Marc Short.

3. What will be the result of the three-month extension on the debt ceiling? (list 3 outcomes)

4. What is surprising about the Republican control of both houses of Congress?

5. a) Read the "Background" below. What overall changes will the President include in his tax reform?
b) Ask a parent: do you oppose or support President Trump's tax reform plan? Please explain your answer.

6. Watch the second video under "Resources" of former Republican governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee discussing President Trump's surprising deal with Democrat lawmakers.
a) Why did President Trump do so, according to Gov. Huckabee?
b) What point does Gov. Huckabee make about the Republicans in Congress?
c) Do you agree with Huckabee's assertion? Explain your answer.

Free Answers - Sign-up here to receive a daily email with answers.

Background

Excerpted from an AP report by Jill Colvin at ABCNews:
President Trump traveled to North Dakota yesterday after the meeting with congressional leaders at the White House in which the president sided with Democrats on a deal to fund the government and raise the federal borrowing limit [debt ceiling] for three months, all aimed at expediting money for Harvey relief.

Marc Short, Trump's top legislative adviser, told reporters aboard Air Force One that "helping to clear the decks in September enables us to focus on tax reform for the American people. We need to get the economy growing again and that's what the president focused on."

The President used the event to talk about his tax plan, but its details are still to be determined. He said he'd be getting into "great detail" on the plan in the next two weeks.
Overall, it calls for a major simplification of the tax code and lowering personal rates, especially for the middle class, by raising the standard deduction, among other changes, and lowering business taxes to about 15 percent.

"It's your money, not the government's money," Trump said.

Trump emphasized that the last time Congress passed a major tax overhaul, under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Democrats signed on.

"Both of the Reagan tax cuts were passed by a Democratic majority in the House, a Democratic speaker, and a vast majority of Democrats in the Senate, including a Democratic senator from the great state of North Dakota," Trump said. "So it can happen. ..."

"If Democrats don't want to bring back your jobs, raise your pay and help America win - voters should deliver a clear message: Do your job to deliver for America, or find a new job," he said.

WHAT IS THE DEBT CEILING? (from a 9/6 Reuters report by Amanda Becker)
The "debt ceiling" is a legal cap on how much money the U.S. government can borrow through bonds and other debt issued by the U.S. Treasury. It now stands at about $19.8 trillion, very close to the actual national debt.

Once the ceiling is hit, Congress must raise it. If it does not, the government cannot keep borrowing. This matters because the government spends more than it collects in taxes and Washington continually borrows money to cover its bills. Legislation to raise the debt limit will need to be adopted by early October at the very latest.

The Treasury, however, has said that Congress must increase the debt ceiling by Sept. 29. Since March, the Treasury has been using "extraordinary measures" (which it has done regularly) to stave off hitting the ceiling and likely could be stave off default a few more weeks by using such extraordinary measures, analysts have said.

WHAT IF THE CEILING IS NOT RAISED?

If the debt ceiling is not raised and the government can no longer pay its bills, default would result, along with a likely downgrade in the U.S. credit rating.

This has never happened before, but there have been some close calls. A standoff (between President Obama and Republicans) in August 2011 cost the country its top-notch bond rating from the credit ratings agency Standard & Poors and caused the most jarring two weeks in financial markets since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.

Resources

Watch a news report:

Watch former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee discuss this issue:

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Trump sides with Democrats on debt limit

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(by Richard Cowan, Roberta Rampton, Reuters) - President Donald Trump forged a surprising deal with Democrats in Congress on Wednesday to extend the U.S. debt limit [debt ceiling - see "Background" below questions] and provide government funding until Dec. 15, embracing his political adversaries and blindsiding fellow Republicans in a rare bipartisan accord.

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Congress new bill is to allow states to have less trees in the forest to prevent forest fires.

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(by Chris White, The Daily Caller) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Western states introduced a bill Thursday allowing forest managers to thin overgrown woods that are potential tinderboxes for wildfires.

Republican Sen. Michael Crapo of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon are expected to propose a compromise measure between Republicans [who support] thinning and Democrats wary of loggers.

Congress would direct the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior to treat the areas at risk of wildfires. Forest managers would then be able to thin out the pine forests near populated areas, while doing controlled burns in rural areas.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington joined Wyden and Crapo's proposal, which also calls for evaluation reviews of any wildfire that burns more than 100,000 acres.

"It's time to create new tools to reduce fire risk and help better protect our communities," Cantwell said in a press statement to reporters. "By targeting our most vulnerable pine forests, this science-based pilot program gives the Forest Service tools to address fire in our most vulnerable forests and prioritizes cross-laminated timber."

(Republicans Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho also support the bill. Risch, who serves on the natural resources panel, said the nation needs to "actively manage our forests to reduce the fuel available for fires to burn.")

The proposal came as Western wildfires showed no sign of slowing down. Raging fires have blasted more than 200,000 acres in Northern California and killed at least 40 people. Similar wildfires have scorched Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

California has also experienced deadly fires in the past. Wildfires barreled through the state in 1991, killing 25 people, and in 1933, killing 29. This recent spate of fires, however, has been deadlier than any other fire or group of fires in the state's history.

Thousands of homes and businesses have been reduced to ash. Hundreds of people are still missing after fires swept through and leveled whole neighborhoods without warning, driven by hurricane-force winds.

(The forest-management bill won praise from a range of timber industry, firefighting and conservation groups, including the National Wildlife Federation, the American Forest Resource Council and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.)
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the The Daily Caller.
Questions

1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)

2. What two government agencies would Congress give direction to if the bill was passed into law?

3. What would forest managers then be authorized to do under the new law?

4. What groups approved of the forest-management bill?

5. A 1999 report issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) entitled Catastrophic Wildfire Threats, said "39 million acres on national forests in the interior West are at high risk of catastrophic wildfire" due to unnatural and excessive tree density, massive buildup of undergrowth, disease and insect infestation.
Read the excerpt under "Background" from an Oct. 13 Daily Signal report by Jarrett Stepman.
Some say global warming / climate change is causing wildfires. Others say extreme environmental laws that impose policies preventing the clearing undergrowth, etc. is the cause.
Do you think the forest management bill is necessary? Explain your answer.

Free Answers - Sign-up here to receive a daily email with answers.

Background

The Forest Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) manages 193 million acres of land across the United States. The agency has 28,000 employees and annual outlays of more than $7 billion. Forest Service lands are managed for multiple uses, including timber harvesting, recreation, grazing, and fish and wildlife habitats.
Ways to slow the long-term trend of growing numbers of major wildfires:
While some argue that climate change is to blame for the uptick in fires, it's also worth considering the drastic changes in forest management that have occurred over the last four decades: It has been argued that these changes are driving the surge in huge fires.

The U.S. Forest Service, which is tasked with managing public wildland, once had success in minimizing widespread fires in the early 20th century.

But many of these successful methods were abandoned in large part because of efforts by environmental activists.

In a May congressional hearing, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said:

"Forty-five years ago, we began imposing laws that have made the management of our forests all but impossible."

He went on to say that federal authorities have done a poor job of implementing methods to reduce the number of deadly fires, and that this has been devastating for America's wildlands.

"Time and again, we see vivid boundaries between the young, healthy, growing forests managed by state, local, and private landholders, and the choked, dying, or burned federal forests," McClintock said. "The laws of the past 45 years have not only failed to protect the forest environment - they have done immeasurable harm to our forests."

In a recent House address, McClintock pinned the blame of poor forest management on bad 1970s laws, like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. He said these laws "have resulted in endlessly time-consuming and cost-prohibitive restrictions and requirements that have made the scientific management of our forests virtually impossible."

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has promoted a change to forest management policies, calling for a more aggressive approach to reduce the excess vegetation that has made the fires worse.

Members of the Western Caucus have proposed legislation to dramatically change the way forests are managed. If passed, this bill would give power back to local authorities and allow for more aggressive forest thinning without subjecting them to the most onerous of environmental reviews. (from an Oct. 13 report by Jarrett Stepman at the conservative DailySignal )

Read a 2015 commentary "Devastating Fires Show Forest Management Reforms Are Badly Needed" at the libertarian reason.org.

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Congress proposes allowing states to thin out forests before fires consume everything

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(by Chris White, The Daily Caller) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Western states introduced a bill Thursday allowing forest managers to thin overgrown woods that are potential tinderboxes for wildfires. Republican Sen. Michael Crapo of Idaho and Democratic Sen.

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Almost all members of Congress take advantage of pork barrel spending. meaning politician tries to benefit people constituents in order to maintain their support and vote.x

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Answer(s)

1. A pun is an amusing use of a word or phrase that has more than one meaning or that sounds like another word (dictionary.cambridge.org)
OR
A pun is the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound (Merriam-Webster .com)

2. The woman has no problem buying a large number of super-sized pork products (the groceries she likes), but when her child asks for one smaller box of something, she angrily says she doesn't have enough money to pay for it.
Almost all members of Congress take advantage of pork barrel spending - they add "pork" to bills.
Businessdictionary .com defines pork-barrel spending as: the act of using government funds on local projects that are primarily used to bring more money to a specific representative's district. Basically the politician tries to benefit his/her constituents in order to maintain their support and vote.

Cartoonist Steve Kelley is implying that Congress has no problem using taxpayer money for their pork spending, but when the president wants to cut taxes to help taxpayers, Congress says they can't afford to lose any of that revenue.

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Answer(s) 1. A pun is an amusing use of a word or phrase that has more than one meaning or that sounds like another word (dictionary.cambridge.org) OR A pun is the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound (Merriam-Webster .com) 2.

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Texas gunman killed his grandmother in-law and 25 other church members 

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Texas gunman killed his grandmother in-law and 25 other church members 

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He broke the law by caring a gun and also killing multiple people in a church.

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authorities: texas church shooter had three gunshot wounds - cnn

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Authorities: Texas church shooter had three gunshot wounds

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Texas church gunman Devin Kelley killed his grandmother-in-law, Lula White, in the massacre Sunday, multiple friends told CNN.