NBC Poll: Clinton Would Trounce Trump But Lose to Rubio, Carson  —  Hillary Clinton would defeat Ted Cruz and trounce Donald Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head general election matchup, but she would lose to Marco Rubio or Ben Carson, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

Negotiating the Whirlwind  —  John Kerry, the sixty-eighth Secretary of State of the United States, was born to a temperament of wintry rectitude.  He is descended from the Winthrops, who helped found the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the Forbeses, a Brahmin clan that made its money in railways …

The Siege of Miami  —  The city of Miami Beach floods on such a predictable basis that if, out of curiosity or sheer perversity, a person wants to she can plan a visit to coincide with an inundation.  Knowing the tides would be high around the time of the “super blood moon,” in late September …

Plumber's old truck spotted in ISIS video  —  A Texas plumber who was flooded with threats after his old truck — still emblazoned with his company's name — was seen driven by ISIS thugs in Syria has armed himself and is suing a Ford dealer.  —  Mark Oberholtzer of Mark-1 Plumbing …

The Kochs' war on poverty  —  The political operation created by the billionaire conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch is quietly investing millions of dollars in programs to win over an unlikely demographic target for their brand of small-government conservatism ― poor people.

Americans Name Terrorism as No. 1 U.S. Problem  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, Americans are now more likely to name terrorism as the top issue facing the U.S. than to name any other issue — including those that have typically topped …

Republican Billionaires Just Can't Seem to Buy This Election  —  Money has poured into the political system.  And yet spending the cash haul effectively has never been more difficult. … You'd think buying an election would be easy.  This is, after all, the rough pitch …