What an odd coupling: 84 year old Rupert Murdoch and 59 year old Jerry Hall (former Texas model and mother of 4 children with Mick Jagger) have gotten married. All ten of their children from prior relationships participated.

Murdoch, the Chairman of Fox News, is reportedly worth more than 12 billion. Her net worth is reportedly 15 million.

Hall and Jagger were married in a ceremony in Bali in 1990 but it was later ruled invalid. (They split in 1999.)

The Rolling Stones are performing in Peru this weekend.

The world will never move on from OJ Simpson. Here's the newest development with the testing of the knife a cop held onto reportedly found at OJ's Buckingham estate.

Added: Somehow I missed the highlight of the debate: Donald announced he has a big schlong. (Background here.)

I've been "watching" the Republican debate in Michigan in the background while trying to write a response to a Government motion in a heroin case allegedly involving a Mexican cartel. It's much more interesting to me than the debate, but the debate is so loud and ugly and contentious, it interrupted my concentration several times, sometimes for minutes. [More...]

The U.S. says it has captured an ISIS operative. This would be the first since Umm Sayyaf.

Like Umm Sayyaf, the Pentagon plans to question the operative and then turn him over to the Iraqis or Kurds for prosecution. At least the White House has no plans to fly these operatives here for prosecution.

Defense Department officials said that the United States had no plans to hold the detainee or others indefinitely, and that they would be handed over to Iraqi or Kurdish authorities after they have been interviewed. The officials said they did not intend to establish a long-term American facility to hold Islamic State detainees, and Obama administration officials ruled out sending any to the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Of course, that could change should a Republican be in the White House next year.

Ben Carson says he sees no path forward and will forgo Thursday's Republican debate:

Mr. Carson stopped short of suspending his campaign and said he would provide more details on Friday, but after his dismal showing on Super Tuesday, his campaign is effectively over.

Trump finally takes the stage, 40 minutes late. Christie opens for him, saying nothing of import. Trump begins with it's so good to be at Mar a Lago again. He congratulates Ted Cruz for Texas (but doesn't mention Oklahoma, which was also called for Cruz before he took the stage.) He says it was a tough night for Rubio. Trump says he will spend a lot of time in Florida, and reminds us how many employees he has there. He goes into Henny Penny mode, America is falling apart. (Christie, now standing behind him, grins like a little kid when Trump mentions his name three times. He looked genuinely happy for five seconds.) [More...]

Final Update 10:00 pm: Fox calls Vermont for Donald Trump. Kasich was two points behind. Why is this the final update? Results are apparently over. Even Fox just switched from analysts to clueless pundits.

Update: 9:30 pm: Hillary wins Massachusetts. Bernie wins Minnesota. Trump won MA on the Republican side, with Rubio coming in a pretty close second. Alaska's polls close in 30 minutes. Vermont is still too close to call, but with 80% of the vote in, Trump is now ahead of Kasich by 2 points.

Fox says Rubio fell short of Cruz in the delegate count tonight. Rubio got shut out of delegates in Texas and Alabama because he didn't get 20% of the vote. But, Rubio got only one delegate less than Trump in Virginia. Fox's number cruncher (think John King on CNN) takes a looks forward to the next two weeks. Florida is 99 delegates, winner take all. Ohio has 66 delegates. Kasich is a threat there. He won 86 of 88 counties in his last election. He won in Ohio's heavily Democratic counties.

Update 9:00 pm: Bernie Sanders wins Colorado, where he spent over a million dollars on ads. He's well ahead of Hillary in Minnesota. Marco Rubio wins Minnesota -- his first victory. Cruz came in second, and Trump third. [More...]

Here's a thread for all topics related to Super Tuesday.

The Republican party is imploding at the realization that it's been hijacked by Donald Trump. So many news articles are leading with the question of whether it's too late to stop him, or how he has turned the presidential primaries into a reality show, and how debased the conversation has become, as he's managed to drag his opponents with him into the mud. Others are questioning whether Republican legislators will be able to back him or work with him.

I'm not sure it matters whether Trump is the ultimate nominee. It seems like he's already shot the party through its heart. [More...]

Justice Clarence Thomas asked questions of a government lawyer during oral arguments yesterday. It was the first time in 10 years he's asked a question. What was the case? A gun rights case.

"Ms. Eisenstein, one question," Thomas said. "This is a misdemeanor violation. It suspends a constitutional right. Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?"

What misdemeanor is that? The federal law that prohibits someone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence in state court from owning a firearm.The case is Voisine v. United States.

A new season of The Voice begins. The Bachelor is close to wrapping up. James Corden should have some funny commentary on the Oscars tonight.

In more important news, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled Apple does not have to decrypt an iPhone (not really a surprise.) [More...]

For those not watching the Oscars, or tuning in afterwards, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

(If you're not into the Oscars, Season 2 of La Viuda Negra (about Griselda Blanco) begins tonight on Unimas, with English subtitles. A 2 hour recap of the first season is starting right now.)

Final Update: Here is a transcript of Chris Rock's opening monologue.

The Oscars are about to begin. Who looked great on the Red Carpet? Lady Gaga and Charlize Theron are getting lots of press. I agree, they both looked terrific.

Will Leonard DiCaprio take home Best Actor?

I haven't seen most of the films, but that won't stop me from commenting on the show.

This is a thread for all things Oscar and movie related. Updates below: [More...]

Hillary Clinton won South Carolina in a landslide. She did especially well among African Americans.

About 6 in 10 voters in South Carolina's Democratic primary were black, by far the largest proportion of African-Americans in any of the contests so far. And nearly 9 in 10 black voters supported Clinton.

As one African-American voter told the L.A. Times, "It's Hillary's turn now."[More...]

Last week it was former Mexican President Vicente Fox who said he wasn't to pay for Trump's F*cking Border Wall." Today it was former Mexican President Felipe Calderon complaining about Trump and his "white supremacism."

Trump’s political rhetoric was “racist” and evocative of the Nazi dictator.

“This logic of praising the white supremacy is not just anti-immigration,” Calderon said. “He is acting and speaking out against immigrants that have a different skin color than he does, it is frankly racist and [he is] exploiting feelings like Hitler did in his time,” Calderon said.

[More...]