PBC News & Comment: Are You Ready for Joe?

New poll shows Biden stronger than Clinton in matchups with Trump, as NY Times recalls Biden’s racist, unjust crack penalties….
--read the Times story here about Biden and the 1994 crime bill
--my pal Terry Phillips reported 81 Democrats, 136 Republicans and 322 others are running for president, including a 14-year-old from Iowa with nom du guerre Deez Nuts
--Israeli airstrikes hit Syria in response to rockets fired at Golan Heights
--yesterday’s comment about the op-ed directing Trump to look at the DMZ in Korea was followed by news of shelling by North and South over loudspeakers
--one immigration problem that nobody’s talking about is abuse of H1-B visas…in our new in-depth interview, attorney Jim Otto says Disney is firing 700 American IT workers, and replacing them with foreigners
--Obama adds sweeteners to enforcement of Iran deal, as Britain announces it will reopen Tehran embassy
--yesterday’s AP report about “secret deal” for Iran inspecting its own facilities is debunked by James Walsh at alJazeera
--Pentagon is exploring transfer of Gitmo prisoners to military prisons in US, prompting hysterical howls from GOP governors
--tensions rise in St. Louis after autopsy shows black 18-year-old male was shot in the back, conflicting with police account that chief has defended
--in our next Processing Distortion podcast, attorney John Remington Graham challenges the conviction of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev based on “black and white” evidence
--former president Jimmy Carter gave classy, almost-farewell news conference