As the media focuses on the Trump protesters at his rally last night in Orange County, CA, I hope it doesn't overlook what Trump is saying -- to cheers of his supporters. For one thing, he's back to advocating torture. The LA Times reports on what it calls his "raw" performance.

Donald Trump put his roughest edges on display Thursday night in Costa Mesa as he opened his California primary campaign with a raw performance highlighting his hard-line views on illegal immigration and torture while trashing an array of rivals.

He criticized Ted Cruz for not supporting torture: [More...]

A state psychologist has concluded that Robert Lewis Dear Jr., accused in Colorado's Planned Parenthood shootings, is incompetent to stand trial (unable to assist in his own defense and understand the nature of the charges and consequences.)

Dear faces 179 counts — including eight charges of first- degree murder — for the Nov. 27, 2015, attack at the Colorado Springs clinic. The 57-year-old is accused of killing University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Police Officer Garrett Swasey, Ke'Arre Stewart, 29, and Jennifer Markovsky, 35.

If the Judge agrees, Dear, Jr. will be sent to the State Hospital for treatment to restore his competency. At an earlier hearing, Dear, Jr. announced his guilt.

Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane seem to think that the Democratic nomination isn't about nominating a Democrat. (scroll down to 7:45 am entry.) They think non-Democrats should be allowed to dictate who the Democratic nominee should be:

In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Thursday, Jane Sanders noted that Bernie Sanders won Rhode Island on Tuesday, which was an open primary, allowing independents as well as Democrats to vote for her husband.

"If you close the primary and you only have people who have been in the Democratic Party for years, what you are doing is effectively shutting the door on the millions of people that Bernie has brought in to the political process during this election," she said.

This isn't rocket science. There's a Democratic nominee and a Republican nominee. The Democrats nominate a Democrat and the Republicans nominate a Republican. If an outsider wants to participate, he can run as a third party candidate after being nominated by that party. [More...]

A House Committee has passed a bill requiring women to register for the draft upon turning 18.

Women would be required to register for the military draft under a House committee bill that comes just months after the Defense Department lifted all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units. A divided Armed Services Committee backed the provision in a sweeping defense policy bill that the full House will consider next month...

Total defense spending package in the overall bill: $602 billion.

War is not the answer. Either is the draft (which we haven't had since 1973.)

Syed Raheel Farook is the older brother of San Bernadino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Syed Raheel, the elder brother, served in the U.S. Navy from 2003 to 2007, with distinction, earning medals in the "Global War on Terrorism." He is married to Tatiana (Chernykh) Farook. Tatiana has a sister named Mariya Chernykh. The sisters are from Russia and emigrated here. Mariya is married to Enrique Marquez, who was charged with providing guns to Syed Rizwan Farook and marriage fraud. The Government alleges he paid Mariya Chernykh to marry him and the marriage was a sham marriage. They never lived together.

Now the Government has charged Mariya, Syed Raheel and Tatiana with marriage fraud conspiracyincluding making false statements under oath . The conspiracy charge carries a maximum 5 year sentence. There are a total of five counts to the indictment. According to the FBI, Syed and Tatiana took staged photos of Enrique and Mariya's wedding and lied to the FBI.[More...]

Reuters reports the Supreme Court seems inclined to toss the bribery conviction for former VA Republican Governor Bob McDonnell (short backgrounder from trial here):

During the one-hour argument, several of the eight justices signaled that McDonnell's acceptance of $177,000 in luxury gifts and sweetheart loans from a businessman seeking to promote a dietary supplement did not constitute a criminal act.

They voiced concern that the broad interpretation of U.S. anti-corruption law used by federal prosecutors could criminalize numerous commonplace actions by politicians.

[More...]

Donald Trump laid out his foreign policy agenda today. It's being bashed by Republicans and Democrats alike. On the car radio, the CNN commentator I happened to hear criticized everything about it, from his halting delivery (his teleprompter skills are apparently not ready for prime time) to his use of the slogan "America First" (a throwback to the much criticized 1930's isolationist policy).

Trump’s use of an expression so dated and discredited reflects his willingness to dip into the past for catch phrases that, no matter their historical baggage, can still appeal to voters.

More on that era at the New York Times here. (The CNN commentator said the America First policy led us into WWII (a view espoused here) showing that Trump doesn't even understand the phrase.

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright rips his points apart on Twitter. Former Trump rival Lindsay Graham: [More...]

Is the Sanders' campaign taking its final breaths? The Sanders campaign has laid off hundreds of workers. Sanders today insisted he's still in the race.

Sanders told supporters at a rally at Purdue University in Indiana Wednesday that he was "in this campaign to win and become the Democratic nominee," and said, "If we do not win, we intend to win every delegate that we can so that when we go to Philadelphia in July we're going to have the votes to put together the strongest progressive agenda that any political party has ever seen."

Interestingly, Politico, which first reported the story, doesn't use his exact words and conveys a different impression to the reader, adding the word "primarily." [More...]

Listening to Donald Trump "soil himself yet again" (as one CNN commentator put it last night) in his extended personal attack on Hillary Clinton during his victory tirade, I couldn't help but wonder what a debate between the two of them would look like.

How do you respond to someone who calls you "crooked", a criminal, unfit to be running for office, lacking in stamina, having nothing going for her but gender, etc?

Trump really is uncouth. I can't remember a candidate for national office in my lifetime who made personal attacks like these against an opponent. Sometimes you just want to take a shower after listening to him. And when he's not being uncouth, he's using bizarre statistics and exaggerating his importance. [More...]

At the end of Trump's victory tirade tonight, just after he said goodbye, I heard the first five notes of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up." Did he pay the Stones or get their permission to use the song? When asked about it in February, the Stones said he never asked permission.

I doubt the Stones would let him use their music. They should send a "cease and desist order" telling him they have no sympathy for the devil. (Or maybe release a new version changing some lines. How about, "I'm a man of wealth and shame." )[More...]

Update: Bernie Sanders issued a statement tonight congratulating Hillary Clinton on her victory. Instead of talking about going to the convention to win the nomination, his statement says his supporters will go to the convention to influence the party platform.

John King on CNN says the math is now impossible for Bernie Sanders, "barring a miracle." He said even though tonight's numbers don't put her over the top, the multiple wins will likely "lock in" the super-delegates. (or something like that, I thought he was a little less articulate than usual.)

Update: Hillary wins Connecticut. So she took four of five states.

Update: Hillary wins PA. I haven't heard her speech yet, but CNN said she praised Bernie Sanders. Over at Fox, Joe Trippi says Hillary would have an easier time beating Cruz than Trump because he's so unpredictable. Karl Rove agrees, but says Trump will either win big or lose big.

As of 8:35 pm, Hillary has won Maryland and Delaware.

Bernie Sanders is ahead in Rhode Island. CT is much closer, with them taking turns in the lead.

Hillary has a pretty big lead in Pennsylvania, but it's early.

Update: According to Fox News' number cruncher, Trump didn't just win five states tonight, he won every county in every one of the five states.

Update: Why does no one ask what Trump promised Chris Christie? He's standing in his usual place behind Trump with his mouth open. I don't think Trump's dumb enough to make him Veep -- I just hope in the unlikely event Trump actually succeeds on his mission, it's not Attorney General.

Trump needs a hair colorist and make up artist who know how to deal with TV lighting. The top of his hair is bright yellow and he's got those racoon white circles around his eyes that look like concealer (but could be goggle marks from a tanning machine session.) With all his money, not to mention the hair and makeup talent in New York, you would think he wouldn't look like such an amateur.

****

Donald Trump has won all five states voting today. No matter what happens on the Democratic side, this will be tonight's headline.