National

The Economist: “First, as a billionaire, he will not run out of money to finance his campaign. Second, he faces so many Republican opponents that he could grab the nomination with only a modest plurality of the vote. The smart money still says that Republicans will eventually unite behind a mainstream candidate, as they always have in the past. But the world cannot take this for granted. Demagogues in other countries sometimes win elections, and there is no compelling reason why America should always be immune.”

Lord knows the guy has been through a lot, I'm not saying he hasn't. I'm simply pointing out that he is now 1,000 times more earnest than everyone else running…

I watched Selma the other day. It was awful. I cried for the negroes. Why couldn't they just listen to George Wallace, the FBI and LBJ? Why couldn't they wait to vote while we waged war in Vietnam for those people's freedoms, I'll never understand. But I’m glad it happened when it did so we as a nation could move on from that horrendous week in our history. It truly was an awful week. At least as it appeared from the safety of my basement on my 55” Panasonic Plasma with surround dolby 7.1 Bose speakers. It was frightening watching those negroes fight for their rights. I even saw flashes of the Confederate flag being shown. Actual photos from that awful week. I can’t imagine how those white people must have felt, only being able to wave their symbol of freedom and defenseless to those “activists”! So why is racism dead Donviti? And why do you get to declare it?

First Read on whether Biden is running (hint: he's not): “The truest signals of Biden’s 2016 plans are 1) setting up some sort of fundraising committee, and 2) hiring staff who could work on a campaign. And after a month of intense speculation about Biden’s White House intentions, he still has done neither. Remember, having a sitting vice president traveling to Iowa or New Hampshire for campaign events would cost tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars per day. So Biden can’t run on the cheap.”

It was only a matter of time before someone with some balls used the Bible to invoke war and not peace. It was done after 9/11 when we attacked that nation that attacked us. Er Nation that held training camps that attacked us. Errrrr, nation that allegedly funded the nation of the nation that in fact was the nation they actually came from that had really bad bombs that were never found. Anyway...This time an avid DL reader has sent in a tip (not all of the tip, but most of the tip) that says Chris Coons after much deliberation was able to find the scripture that says we can "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran" and can stop mamby-pansying around like Obama. Here it is....

Paul Krugman notes that while Donald Trump “doesn’t exude presidential dignity, he’s seeking the nomination of a party that once considered it a great idea to put George W. Bush in a flight suit and have him land on an aircraft carrier.”

“The point is that those predicting Mr. Trump’s imminent political demise are ignoring the lessons of recent history, which tell us that poseurs with a knack for public relations can con the public for a very long time. Someday The Donald will have his Katrina moment, when voters see him for who he really is. But don’t count on it happening any time soon.”

JPMorgan Chase settled a lawsuit accusing it of putting its interests ahead of an historic church endowed by descendants of drug company founder Eli Lilly and mismanaging its trust accounts. Lawyers for the bank and the Christ Church Cathedral told a federal judge in Indianapolis on Friday they reached an agreement, according to a court filing. Settlement details weren't included in court records. The church, founded in 1837 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places according to its website, accused JPMorgan of causing its trusts to lose about $13 million in value from July 2004 to December 2013. The losses flowed from the bank's decisions to "purchase over 177 different investment products, mostly from itself, using church funds," according to a complaint filed two years ago.

There's a special place in hell for this bank. And yes they will go to hell, because corporations are people and Hell has a special place for anything that that is deemed human (yet soulless) by America. Must I remind you that they are one of Delaware's largest employers.

Click here to view the webast. It is worth noting that Senator Casey of Pennsylvania, widely expected to be a no, along with Chris Coons, has just announced that he will vote yes. So perhaps Senator Coons will surprise me here with a good decision. UPDATE: Coons is a yes. I take back everything I have said about him. Good for him. And good for America. From the Washington Post:

Coons's decision, coming in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, delivered a powerful blow to opponents of the plan because the Delaware Democrat had previously voiced some of the deepest skepticism about the controversial deal. It came as Casey announced support for the deal and left Obama needing just one more vote in the Senate to claim victory. Coons reached his decision after many weeks of deliberation that included long talks with top administration officials — including his political mentor, Vice President Biden — and an exchange of letters with President Obama that codified the assurances he received about the pact's implementation. "We are better off trying diplomacy first," Coons told The Washington Post in an exclusive interview.

“There is no war on women – there may be a war on what’s inside of women, but there is no war on women in this country.” — Ben Carson, quoted by The Hill. Well then. 2016, the year Republicans finally got honest. "Yes, we are bigots. Yes, we are racists. And yes, we want to control a woman's choices."