CNN is airing a Republican presidential town hall in South Carolina.

John Kasich is on now. I think he's the only non-crazed Republican in the race. But I happened to see him last night on Stephen Colbert's show and he seemed really off. Tonight he seems really tired.

He also said last night that the debates are worthless -- nothing more than sound bites. He said the town halls are the only worthwhile events.

He's got Martin O'Malley syndrome -- mentioning his experience as a state governor way too often.

Update: Did Jeb Bush have laser surgery or get contact lenses? He looked better with glasses.[More...]

My blogging hiatus is officially over. Everything is unpacked and the place is clean. All that is left is finding someone to hang my art and I'm not in any hurry. The place looks great -- just like I expected it would five months ago when I first moved.

What else I've been doing while not blogging: I'm almost done testing out my new Dell Inspiron laptop. I really wanted the new Vaio Canvas or Flip or upcoming Vaio S, or even the Dell XPS 15, but they were $1,000 more than the Inspiron (for the same features. ) The trade-off and sacrifice was weight -- the Inspiron weighs 6 pounds and feels like 8 (probably since I'm used to my Sony Vaio which weighs 4 pounds.) [More...]

Maybe it was a slow news day, but CNN really seemed to want to crank up this story about the Pope's criticism of Donald Trump on immigration and make it have legs:

Asked if American Catholics should vote for someone with Trump's views, Francis said, "I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt."

Much ado about nothing. Slightly more entertaining was Trumps' statement that the Vatican is in ISIS' cross-hairs and ripe for an attack, and that after it gets attacked, it will realize that had Trump been President, the attack would never have happened because ISIS would have been taken out. [More....]

Apple says no to turning over encyrption key on San Bernadino shooters' phone.

To hack the phone, the FBI wants Apple to build a new version of its iOS software that Cook claims bypasses the iPhone's security features and creates "the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession."

"The US government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create," Cook wrote in an open letter posted on Apple's website. "They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone."

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Grammy's started at 6 pm here -- way too early, I missed the first 45 minutes. I tuned in during a Lionel Ritchie segment.

At least I didn't miss the Glenn Frey tribute.

Why did "Girl Crush" get a standing ovation?

This is a thread for all things Grammy's and music related. Updates below [More...]

On Scalia and his legacy, I wrote this.

The issue of replacing Scalia, Kagro and I did this. Starting at the 40 minute mark, I think David and I discuss this in a manner that, imnsho, you won't find anywhere else. Take a listen.

From our heart to yours....Happy Valentine's Day.

I'm about to watch Vinyl, the new HBO series produced by Martin Scorcese and Mick Jagger.

One third through unpacking...all TVs and computers are working.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

You'll have heard this by now.

The big issues - President Obama will nominate a replacement. The GOP Senate will not vote or confirm the nominee. What will this mean?

Discuss.

It's moving day here. I'm beyond exhausted. I also have to figure out how to hook up my cable.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: This may be the second time I have ever rated a Comcast employee a 10. "Linda" was incredible -- patience, knowledge, the whole 9 yards. The connections were so screwed up, I had the coax going from the wall to the modem instead of from the wall to the single end of the splitter and from one side of the double end of the splitter to the X1 box. Everything was working fine on Monday when the movers disconnected the TV and took it out of the house so the floor people could rip out and replace the hardwood floors.

Thread.

Sorry everyone, I just found out there's a Democratic debate tonight. Here's a thread to discuss it.

Update: I watched almost all of it. Here's the transcript. My view: Oddest Bernie Sanders comments: Dragging out Henry Kissinger for criticism over Kissinger's actions during Vietnam and Cambodia. He said Hillary mentioned Kissinger in a book she wrote. Who cares about Henry Kissinger today? Was he just reminding us someone is older than him?

Bernie thinks the campaign is about more than electing a president. He thinks it's about a political revolution. He's wrong. It's about who is going to be President. That's it. Bernie Sanders is not a movement. He's an established politician running for office. That's all there is, folks. [More...]

Like BTD, I'm busy at work. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

I spent the day battling Wall Street banks in court today.

Open Thread.

I'm buried with work and really have no clue what's going on today anyway.

Talk NH here.

NH primary is today.