NBC

"Yesterday we held five funerals, but there are still 55 bodies at the morgue," exclaims Lesbos' mayor Spyros Galinos, adding "Who could have anticipated such a carnage in the Aegean?"

The mainstream media is cock-a-hoop after CNBC-parent NBC and Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal reveal a new national poll that shows notjust Trump being beaten in 2nd place by Ben Carson (who is currently on a book tour) but also shows Marco Rubio surging (from 4% to 11%) if one wanted to spin it that way. Softly-spoken Carson, with 29% of the GOP primary voters polled, is ahead of Trump (23%) for the first time in the campaign, tripling his support since July (and as WSJ reports is the first Republican to top 50% when voters 2nd and 3rd choice are combined). On the other side of the scale, Bush's support is collapsing as Cruz and Rubio accelerate.

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"U.S. intelligence analysts believe it could have been some kind of explosion on the aircraft itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb."

President Obama has just unleashed a new executive order to remove admission of a criminal history from job applications, or in The White House's words, to reduce potential discrimination against former convicts in the hiring process for federal government employees. As NBC News reports, this is a further step towards what many criminal justice reformers call "ban the box" – the effort to eliminate requirements that job applicants check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record - and continues Obama’s emphasis on assisting criminals who want to re-enter society as part of his continuing agenda items from his "My Brother’s Keeper Task Force."

"I have lost so much money on people like him and I'm done dealing with it. They take the food right out of my mouth," exclaims Uber-driver Edward Caban after being assaulted by a passenger, "I don't feel safe driving for Uber any more... The quality of the passengers has gone down over the last couple of weeks and I know a lot of drivers will agree with me."

"Russia and Iran have very similar objectives in that they both want to eject U.S. influence from Iraq. Any success that the militias have bolsters that goal."

Nearly a year after CNBC said it would no longer rely on Nielsen to measure its daytime audience (due to the collapse in viewership we had previously profiled), it has managed to do it again, only this time slamming not the financial cheerleading cable network but its Comcast affiliate, NBC News, whom its just cost hundreds of millions in advertising revenues after moments ago Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus announced he was suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016.

Fuku-Youku-Nuku

Don't call us, we'll call you: "This is an Iraqi affair and the government did not ask the U.S. Department of Defense to be involved in direct operations. We have enough soldiers on the ground."

First it was wildfires, then it was unprecedented flooding, and now it is earthquakes.  In the past two weeks alone, more than 400 earthquakes have shaken San Ramon – a small city that sits approximately 45 miles east of San Francisco.  Never before have so many earthquakes been recorded in that area in such a short span of time. 

“I think he's now mounting a serious campaign,” a South Carolina Republican said. “His stump speech had matured and even though the novelty of his candidacy is wearing off, his straight talk is appealing to people who are so sick of being lied to by the political class.”

Having become an overnight social and industry outcast, at least Turing Pharma's Martin Shkreli had one thing going for him: a business model that afforded him solid margins, because despite promising to cut the price of the scandalous Daraprim, Turing did not do that. Now, however, even that may be in jeopardy following news that San Diego-based specialty drug maker Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, says it can make a close, customized version of Daraprim for a paltry $1 a pill, NBC reports. That's a big contrast to the $750-a-dose that Shkreli said Turing was going to start charging for the same drug. 

The Donald, crushing the hopes of the status quo, has extended his lead among GOP Primary voters with 25% of the support (up from 21% in September). However, the latest WSJ/NBC poll finds Ben Carson coming on strong with 22% support. Aside from Rubio (13%, up from 11%), and Jeb hovering at 8%, this leaves "the rest" of the crowd lagging horribly with Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, and John Kasich looking to go the way of 'the Walker'.