Crosstalk: February 12, 2018

​Jim featured these stories and more on this week's edition of the 'Round-Up':

--President Trump signed a massive budget package early today that will lift spending caps while funding the government through March 23rd. It's the second largest spending increase in a decade, second only to the Obama stimulus.
--Senator Rand Paul outraged that the 400 billion dollar bipartisan spending plan adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the nation's 20 trillion dollar debt.
--House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized politicians for not welcoming vulnerable immigrant children in spite of the fact that she supports the destruction of millions of unborn children.
--The White House plans to request 3 billion dollars in funding for President Trump's long promised southern border wall.
--People from around the world gathered in Washington, DC, yesterday morning for the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast.
--House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says there is evidence of collusion with Russia during the 2016 election but it's not with the Trump campaign.
--Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel says that the text messages between senior FBI official Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who at the time were involved in an extramarital affair, are blowing the lid off a DOJ/FBI coverup that has the potential of being the biggest political scandal in American history.
--Of the 11 FISA court-appointed judges, 10 of them were appointed by Obama, including Rudolph Contreras, that granted the FISA warrant after another judge rejected it.
--Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, a friend and donor to Obama and Clinton, is hiring an army of more than 50 political operatives in a major campaign to help Democrats get control of the U.S. House this year and remove Trump from power.
--A presidential tracking poll from Rasmussen has Trump's approval rating at 48%. On February 8 of 2010 under President Obama, his approval rating was 46% and his disapproval rating was 54%. This means Trump is tracking 2 points higher than Obama, and that's with a media that's 80% negative regarding the current presidency.
--Fewer Americans than expected filed for unemployment benefits last week.
--The British Oil and Gas company known as BP is increasing investment in the U.S. after the lowering of tax rates under President Trump.
--A senior Department of Transportation official derided Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for his refusal to confirm the nation's top railroad safety regulator and suggested the partisan obstruction is placing rail passengers at risk.
--Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress that the U.S. will deploy some small nuclear weapons on 2 new missiles to counter growing threats posed by Russia and China.
--China is reportedly moving missile defense batteries and troops closer to its border with North Korea, a potential sign that Beijing anticipates either a large refugee wave or a military disturbance triggered by Kim Jong-Un.
--Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to launch a new cyber-space and digital economy bureau.
--In a historic first, the Army conducted a live fire exercise with a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle armed with a fifty caliber machine gun.
--Iran announced Monday it's begun the mass producing of a new weaponized drone that carries smart bombs capable of precision strikes.
--The Israeli Defense Force is preparing for the largest parachuting exercise in recent years due to the tension near the northern border.
--Child Evangelism Fellowship won a permanent injunction against an Indiana School District.