"As we reported last night, National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn has resigned because the Trump administration says it lost confidence in him. The story boils down to this: Flynn had phone contact with the Russian ambassador in late December while Barack Obama was still president. According to leaks from the intelligence agencies, Flynn discussed Mr. Obama's sanctions against Russia. General Flynn denied that to Vice President Mike Pence. It is not a crime for Mr. Flynn to informally talk with the Russian Ambassador before Donald Trump took office, but it is highly inappropriate if policy was discussed. The FBI is still investigating the whole Russian situation and that's all we know at this point. But lack of facts doesn't stop the anti-Trump press from whipping up hysteria. The Trump-haters are fervently hoping that they can link the Trump campaign to the Russian hackers who disrupted the Clinton campaign. If they cannot achieve that, they would like to have General Flynn tell the world that Donald Trump ordered him to call the Russian ambassador. So that's the media game plan. On Tuesday the bombast on our cable competition was actually humorous. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman compared the Russian hacking to war, saying it 'was a 9/11 scale event' and a 'Pearl Harbor scale event.' This is just madness, but there are millions of Trump haters who will sit there and watch this kind of bilge. Summing up, there is no credible evidence at this point that the Trump campaign cooperated with the Russians in the hacking of the Clinton campaign and there is no credible evidence that General Flynn was directed to do anything. Yet the anti-Trump media is spending hours talking trash. Hard news reporters should be looking into all the Russian intrusions, including the Flynn situation. And if those reporters uncover evidence of wrongdoing, it should be presented. But speculation by the media is garbage."

The Factor invited feedback from veteran Washington journalist Bob Woodward. "The hard news reporters should keep digging on this," Woodward agreed. "It does not make sense to me that General Flynn misled about this one thing and that was a firing offense. All my alarm bells went off - why is he gone for this? I think the alarm bells also went off for a lot of reporters, who are now asking the questions about what is really going on. So let's get the facts, the White House should conduct an inquiry and put it all out." The Factor agreed, adding, "Nobody knows the facts, this is all speculation right now."

Geraldo Rivera and Eric Bolling entered the No Spin Zone for a highly contentious discussion about the Flynn firing. "President Trump feels that General Flynn was treated unfairly by the press," Bolling opined, "and I do, too. The press is taking Flynn apart because of his conversations with Russia, which I don't think amount to a hill of beans. He's been excoriated in the press." But Rivera strongly implied that General Flynn may be guilty of more than just misleading Vice President Pence. "If you did not complain about hacks and leaks when they were damaging to Hillary Clinton, you have no right to complain about the hacks and leaks that took down General Flynn. There are also sources saying there were people in the Trump campaign who were in repeated conversation with Russian intelligence." The Factor accused Rivera of failing to give Flynn the presumption of innocence: "You're using anonymous sources with no facts to back it up. You can't convict on anonymous sources!"

What's going on in the stock markets lately, which keep rising for no apparent reason? The Factor posed that question to Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs. "There is the prospect of a tax cut," Dobbs said, "and there are real earnings being delivered by companies. So there is some substance to what we are watching. But the more this bull market continues, the more the risks rise. Stocks are at very high prices and investors should weigh the potential risks."

President Trump had a very friendly meeting Wednesday with Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose relationship with President Obama was famously chilly. Fox News analyst Karl Rove examined the political ramifications. "Since the onset of the New Deal," he observed, "Jews have tended to vote overwhelmingly Democratic. They were comfortable doing that because Democratic nominees were reliably pro-Israel, but that changed under President Obama. Donald Trump is authentically pro-Israel and this issue is also very important to evangelical Christians, who were a big part of his primary and general election victories."

Dennis Miller again lamented the ideological divide that is infecting modern America. "Let me quote the great Buffalo Springfield," he began. "There's something happening here and what it is is all too clear. We're going through a divorce that is getting 'War of the Roses' ugly, and it been filed in court as the deplorables vs. the insufferables. We are basically incompatible and some of the things the Democrats are doing are scaring the hell out of me. They've turned into Dr. Strangelove - every day I wake up and they're completely hawkish on Russia. Meanwhile, Schumer is now in the dirty tricks squad, he'll do anything to screw up this president. Do you think the country was even this polarized prior to the Civil War, it's as rough as we have seen it!"

Martha MacCallum looked at a disturbing story out of Baltimore involving 18-year-old multiple felon Curtis Deal, who was set free by Judge Nicole Taylor even though the prosecution warned that he was dangerous. One day later, Deal was shot and killed by a cop when he pointed a loaded handgun at the officer. "He was a heroin dealer," MacCallum reported, "and he had been arrested three times in the past few months. The judge let him go because she said he should go back to school and join the Army. But the safest thing for him and the community would have been for him to be put in jail. An officer could easily have been killed in this incident." The Factor concluded, "If you are a judge and you have a guy come in three times in 30 days on gun and heroin charges, and you let him go, you should not be sitting on any bench."

Ryan Harris, San Jose, Costa Rica: "Mark Cuban was good at telling us how nothing will work under President Trump. Perhaps he can then tell us how President Obama's great policies led Trump to the White House."

Tom Gibson, Wabasha, MN: "Hey, Bill, why have a successful guy like Mark Cuban on if you're not going to let him elaborate on his points? You might have learned something."

Peter Gillman, Melbourne, Australia: "O'Reilly, you and the Fox News team are enraged at the media attacks on Donald Trump. Have you forgotten how you smeared President Obama for eight years?"

Some people just don't go anywhere without their bottle of water, but you don't really need constant round-the-clock hydration. Ingesting water is a good thing, but just drink when you're thirsty and leave the huge bottle in the car.