Phil Bredesen holds double-digit lead over Marsha Blackburn in US Senate race, new MTSU poll shows  —  Former Gov. Phil Bredesen has a 10-point lead over U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, according to a new poll from Middle Tennessee State University.

‘You Hate America!’:  How the ‘Caravan’ Story Exploded on the Right  —  WASHINGTON — It was the kind of story destined to take a dark turn through the conservative news media and grab President Trump's attention: A vast horde of migrants was making its way through Mexico toward the United States, and no one was stopping them.

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Mercer backed a secretive group that worked with Facebook, Google to target anti-Muslim ads at swing voters  —  As the final weeks of the 2016 elections ticked down, voters in swing states like Nevada and North Carolina began seeing eerie promotional travel ads …

Top EPA ethics official says he lacked key facts about Pruitt's condo rental … The Environmental Protection Agency's top ethics official said Wednesday that he lacked key facts when he concluded recently that Administrator Scott Pruitt's rental lease with a lobbyist last year did not violate any federal gift rules.

Trump's Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan  —  Twitter troll “Ricky Vaughn” had a bigger influence on the 2016 election than NBC News and the Drudge Report.  Here's who he really is.  —  Who is Ricky Vaughn?

Former Trump aide approved ‘black ops’ to help Ukraine president  —  Exclusive: Paul Manafort authorised secret media operation that sought to discredit key opponent of then Ukrainian president … Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort authorised a secret media operation …

Here's Don Jr. Talking About How It Sucks To Be At The Playboy Mansion With A Pregnant Wife  —  Has the president's son ever contemplated killing his dad for the money?  He once talked about that on the radio!  —  In January 2007, Adam Carolla broadcast his radio show, “The Adam Carolla Show …

Stuck in Third Place, Should CNN Abandon Its “Food Fight” Formula?  —  Despite its down-the-middle news brand, the network trails rivals Fox News and MSNBC in viewers and weathers daily attacks from the White House as critics bemoan a “clash model” of staging partisan debates that's now “outmoded.”

The case for extreme worry  —  To White House insiders, this is the most dangerous phase of Donald Trump's presidency so far, from the brewing trade war with China that he denies is a trade war, to the perilously spontaneous summit with North Korea.  —  The big picture: Checks are being ignored …

Everyone Got The Pulse Massacre Story Completely Wrong  —  And another, smaller injustice was obscured: the sadistic prosecution of Noor Salman.  —  Every mass tragedy begets a frantic search for answers, for a common understanding of what happened, for a narrative, and the 2016 Pulse massacre was no different.

Police Fatally Shoot a Brooklyn Man After Falsely Believing He Had a Gun  —  New York City police officers shot and killed a black man who was known to be mentally ill on a Brooklyn street corner on Wednesday afternoon after he pointed what the officers believed was a gun at them, the authorities said.

Rex Tillerson's $12 million army of consultants  —  It was one of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's core goals: radically reshaping the State Department to make it leaner, cheaper and modernized to the standards of a former private-sector CEO.  —  Now that Tillerson has been fired …

Ex-fiancee says Las Vegas GOP campaign adviser made her his slave  —  GOP consultant Benjamin Sparks (Photo obtained by Las Vegas Review-Journal)  —  GOP consultant Benjamin Sparks is pictured in this undated photo obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  Sparks is accused of sexually enslaving and battering his ex fiancee.

Anchorage's vote-by-mail election was supposed to boost turnout.  It shattered a record.  —  Turnout in Anchorage's first vote-by-mail election was the highest in the city's history, buoyed by a wave of last-minute votes, according to new data released Wednesday.

Statement issued on behalf of Yulia Skripal  —  BST  —  Statement issued on behalf of Yulia Skripal, aged 33 years:  —  “I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily.  I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.

Land for the Taking  —  The day after the meeting, Mr. Hamoud, a Sunni, returned to work and found that his department was now staffed 100 percent by Sunnis, the sect of Islam practiced by the militants.  The Shia and Christian colleagues who previously shared his office had all fled.

‘Have you ever seen luxury like this?’:  Trump moonlights as dinner host  —  It turns out that President Donald Trump loves to throw a good dinner party.  —  The president is known for his after-hours cellphone calls and his late-night cable news habit, but several times a month …

The Left's Year of Magical Thinking  —  It's Wednesday, November 7, 2018, and the Democrats have awakened to the taste of ashes in their mouths.  Despite the poll numbers and the pattern of history, Republicans have somehow managed to keep their losses small enough to retain control of the House.

Massive United States-Saudi Infrastructure Fund Struggles to Get Going  —  Last May, the private equity firm Blackstone announced that it was creating a $40 billion fund that would invest in infrastructure projects in the United States.  The fund's largest backer was the government of Saudi Arabia …

The Guy Who Wrote The Book On The Deep State Wishes Trumpworld Would Shut Up About The Deep State  —  Mike Lofgren wrote the book on the deep state — literally.  —  The longtime Republican aide, who worked for three decades on Capitol Hill, published The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution …

A Georgia city proclaimed April as Confederate History Month.  Then came the n-word. … A former elected official used the n-word several times during a public meeting, offending a black member of a Georgia city's board of commissioners.  —  The tense exchange between the two men happened …

The woman who got fired for flipping off President Trump just sued her former employer … Juli Briskman, the Virginia cyclist who flipped off the presidential motorcade and lost her job last fall, doesn't think we should be afraid to speak our minds.  —  That's why she went to court Wednesday …

Rudy Giuliani's wife files for divorce  —  Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and his wife of more than a decade are calling it quits.  —  “It is with great sadness I can confirm that Judith and I are divorcing,” the former presidential candidate said in a statement to The New York Post.

Sinclair Stations Pushed Bill That Its Top Investor Lobbied For  —  In 2017, Bank of New York Mellon (BK) spent $320,000 on lobbying that included pursuit of the tax cuts ultimately passed in December, lobbying disclosure forms show.  Bank of New York Mellon, also known as BNY Mellon …

How Bill O'Reilly Silenced His Accusers  —  Settlement agreements between Bill O'Reilly and two of his accusers — made public for the first time on Wednesday — filled in previously unknown details about tactics employed by the former Fox News host to silence women who came forward with sexual harassment allegations against him.

The Preeminent Fundraising Group For Democratic Women Is Stuck In The Middle Of The Party's Wars  —  Some progressives believe EMILY's List has outlived its usefulness and is now functioning as just another branch of the Democratic establishment.  —  Reporting From Washington, DC

IRS agent pleads not guilty to aggravated rape, other charges for allegedly assaulting intern  —  An Internal Revenue Service agent got a 21-year-old intern drunk last July and then allegedly handcuffed her in his government-issued car in Boston before shoving “his service weapon deep into her mouth” …

West U councilwoman accused of yelling obscenities at teen wearing Trump shirt  —  HOUSTON - Investigators at the Harris County Precinct One Constable's Office on Wednesday filed a disorderly conduct charge against West University Place Councilwoman Kellye Burke, after accusations that she berated …

WOAI anchor Delaine Mathieu on Sinclair promos: ‘This was awful’  —  WOAI anchorwoman Delaine Mathieu wrote on Facebook Tuesday that it was “awful” having to deliver promos mandated by parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group that seemed to echo the views of President Trump.