Donald Trump's Lead Slashed in South Carolina: Poll  —  Donald Trump is now leading Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary by 5 points — down from his 16-point lead in the state a month ago, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.

In 2002, Donald Trump Said He Supported Invading Iraq  —  “Are you for invading Iraq?”  Howard Stern asked him, and Trump answered, “Yeah, I guess so.”  —  w.soundcloud.com  —  For months, Donald Trump has claimed that he opposed the Iraq War before the invasion began — as an example of his great judgment on foreign policy issues.

Harper Lee dead at age of 89: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author passes away  —  Nelle Harper Lee, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 for her book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has died at the age of 89, multiple sources in her hometown of Monroeville, including the mayor's office, confirmed Friday morning.

A Deck of Cards Could Determine Some Nevada Caucus Results  —  When in Las Vegas ... what better way to break a tie in a political caucus than a deck of cards?  —  On Friday, the Nevada Democratic Party released answers to frequently asked questions ahead of the caucuses on Saturday.

Biden hints at centrist Supreme Court pick  —  Echoing some recent Republican arguments about judicial nominations, Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday suggested that President Barack Obama will not nominate a staunch liberal to replace Justice Antonin Scalia at a time when the ideological balance of the Supreme Court is up in the air.

Bernie's brother: Media can't decide if Clinton is ‘terrible rapist’ or ‘nice rapist’  —  Bernie Sanders's elder brother rips Bill Clinton in a new interview, suggesting the media is too focused debating whether the former president is a “terrible rapist” or “nice rapist.”

‘El Papa’ embraces Raul Castro but calls Donald Trump anti-Christian!  —  Last Sunday, Pope Francis was in Mexico visiting sick children in hospitals.  It was amazing to watch him holding the little kids and praying with their mothers.  As a Catholic, I was so proud of “El Papa.”

Caitlyn Jenner draws laughs, tears up during Penn speech: 'I'm not a role model' … - BILLY PENN ORIGINALS  — How Jim Kenney wants to make Philly roads safer: Vision Zero and ‘Complete Streets’  — Did the state Supreme Court mortally wound Philly's controversial School Reform Commission?

GOP Sen. Murkowski Backtracks On Giving Obama's SCOTUS Nom A Hearing  —  Moderate GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK), one of the few Republicans initially willing to break ranks on whether President Obama's nominee to succeed Antonin Scalia should be considered, reversed course Thursday evening.

Scalia was an intellectual phony: Can we please stop calling him a brilliant jurist?  —  No one wants to disrespect the dead.  But we disrespect the truth to hail his legal mind and phony, grand principles  —  George Orwell once noted that when an English politician dies …

Democratic party fundraising effort helps Clinton find new donors, too  —  Behind the scenes at the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in Minneapolis last August, campaign officials for Hillary Clinton were making a hard sell to the state parties.

The media is misleading the public on Syria  —  COVERAGE OF the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press.  Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why.  —  For three years, violent militants have run Aleppo.