John Boehner talks election, time in office  —  “You can call me boner, beaner, jackass, happy to answer to almost anything,” said former Speaker of the House John Boehner as he took the stage at CEMEX Auditorium on Wednesday evening.  Boehner joined David M. Kennedy, faculty director …

Commentary: Yes, Donald Trump can beat Hillary Clinton  —  How would Donald Trump fare in a general election against Hillary Clinton?  The conventional wisdom is that he wouldn't stand a chance.  The GOP is divided.  His campaign, despite a recent spate of landslide primary wins, appears to have its own civil war going on.

With Fiorina pick, Cruz's H-1B stance now in question  —  In 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) emerged as one of the Senate's top H-1B visa supporters, and argued for a 500% H-1B visa cap increase.  But during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Cruz had a conversion.

Bernie Sanders to Cut Hundreds of Staff Members and Turn to California  —  WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Senator Bernie Sanders is planning to lay off “hundreds” of campaign staffers across the country and focus much of his remaining effort on winning California, he said in an interview Wednesday.

Will Ferrell to Play Former President Ronald Reagan in New Movie (EXCLUSIVE) … Having already famously portrayed former President George W. Bush in various comedy sketches, Will Ferrell is now setting his sights on another former commander in chief.  —  Sources tell Variety Ferrell …

Trump fails to impress foreign-policy experts  —  In his address to an elite, invitation-only Washington foreign policy audience Wednesday, Donald Trump promised that, as president, he would restore a “coherent” vision to America's role in the world.  —  But across the ideological spectrum …

Prince's Death: Local Investigators Ask for DEA's Help on Case  —  The county sheriff investigating the death of Prince is asking for help from the Drug Enforcement Administration, federal law enforcement officials told NBC News on Wednesday.  —  The officials say prescription painkillers …

Defense bill would require women to register for draft  —  Women would have to register for the draft under an amendment added to an annual defense bill Wednesday.  —  “If we want equality in this country, if we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated …

President Obama Weighs His Economic Legacy  —  Eight years after the financial crisis, unemployment is at 5 percent, deficits are down and G.D.P. is growing.  Why do so many voters feel left behind?  The president has a theory.  —  Two months ago, across an assembly-room table in a factory …

Secret Service Plans to Raise White House Fence by 5 Feet  —  Secret Service: ‘Current fence simply is not adequate for a modern era’  —  The U.S. Secret Service plans to raise the height of the White House security fence by 5 feet and add a new concrete foundation to reduce the risk of fence-jumpers …

Biden makes surprise trip to Baghdad  —  Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, in an unannounced trip designed to address the political turmoil in Iraq.  —  Biden plans to meet with a number of senior Iraqi officials, according to two senior administration officials …

Democratic Strategist: Trump Will Beat Hillary Like ‘A Baby Seal’  —  Democratic strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders believes Donald Trump will beat Hillary like a “baby seal,” and that working class whites who haven't already left the Democratic Party for cultural reasons will due so now for economic ones.

The Quiet American  —  Paul Manafort made a career out of stealthily reinventing the world's nastiest tyrants as noble defenders of freedom.  Getting Donald Trump elected will be a cinch.  —  Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's palace, is impressive by the standards of Palm Beach …

Play the ‘woman card’ and reap these ‘rewards’!  —  “Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote.  The only thing she's got going is the woman's card,” Trump said Tuesday night, after winning 5 primaries.  —  Ah yes, the woman's card.

Yale Defies Calls to Rename Calhoun College  —  Despite fervent student protests, the president of Yale announced on Wednesday that the university would keep the name of a residential college named for the 19th-century politician and white supremacist John C. Calhoun.

Ex-RNC chairman: Trump is the ‘presumptive nominee’  —  Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele says presidential candidate Donald Trump  —  should be called the GOP's “presumptive nominee.”  —  “He calls himself the presumptive nominee, what should we call him?”

ICE releases 19,723 criminal illegals, 208 convicted of murder, 900 of sex crimes  —  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in 2015 decided not to deport but release 19,723 criminal illegal immigrants, including 208 convicted of murder, over 900 convicted of sex crimes and 12,307 …

Daniel Loeb warns of hedge fund ‘killing field’  —  One of the most powerful US hedge fund managers believes that the industry is in “first innings of a washout” after a string of disastrous market calls inflicted steep losses on many funds.  —  Daniel Loeb's stark comments …