NBC

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'.

If you’re the U.S. military and you killed 22 people while intentionally bombing a Doctors Without Border hospital in Afghanistan, what do you do next? First, you deny all requests for an independent investigation. Check. Second, you go to the scene of the war crime and destroy evidence. Check mate.

Here is what happened: a whistleblower who worked for the Federal Whistleblower Protection Program was fired for blowing the whistle on his employer: the very agency that was supposed to protect him.

With the latest swarm of mass shootings still in the headlines, and of course the ubiquitous call for gun control/prohibition, the Supreme Court's decision this week on whether it will hear a challenge to a suburban Chicago law banning firearms commonly known as assault weapons seems more critical than ever. As NBC News notes, if the court agrees to hear the case, it would cast a shadow over similar bans in seven states; but declining to take it up would boost efforts to impose such bans elsewhere.

• Central Bankers Urge Fed to Get On With Interest-Rate Increase (WSJ)
• Bond Market Casualties Leading Biggest S&P 500 Revival Since '11 (BBG)... on hopes of more easing
• U.S. Patrols to Test China’s Pledge on South China Sea Islands (WSJ)
• Merkel Under Fire: German Conservatives Deeply Split over Refugees (Spiegel)
• Assault Weapons Ban Before U.S. Supreme Court (NBC)
• Hedge Funds Are Playing 'Dangerous Game' With Copper (BBG)

Earlier today, around 10am local time, Turkey’s capital Ankara, was rocked by two blasts which according to NBC killed over 52 demonstrators, who had gathered for a peace march, as the country grapples with mounting security threats just three weeks before snap elections. The explosions also wounded more than 120 people, the Turkish Interior Ministry said. The cause of the blasts was unclear, the ministry said, adding that it had launched an investigation.

In what seems like a nervous populist move amid Bernie Sanders' gains, Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped rather stunningly to oppose President Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership. Despite supporting the bill at least 45 times, as CNN's Jake Tapper points out, Clinton told PBS' Judy Woodruff Wednesday in Iowa that, "As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it." It's also a departure from the Clinton legacy, as CNN notes, it was President Bill Clinton who, two decades ago, signed the first mega-regional pact: the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Unfortunately, we are used to politicians saying whatever they think they need to say to be elected president, and falling way short of their campaign promises on the job. Even scarier would be the notion of selling America to the craftiest bidder. The election may be more than a year away, but isn’t it time to dig beneath the carefully crafted persona that is Trump and unearth the person and the full spectrum of his business dealings? To see the real Donald Trump is to plunge into all the conflicts of interest he denies, the financial tricks he dispenses, the crucial details he obfuscates, and the flimflam he offers up day in, day out.

While the US coast guard and search and rescue teams scour the Caribbean seas around the Bahamas for traces of debris from the missing cargo ship El Faro, which disappeared in the eye of Hurricane Joaquin with 33 mostly American crew members aboard more than three days ago, another tragedy struck moments ago when as AP reported an Amtrak train derailed in central Vermont near Northfield. It isn't immediately clear whether there are any injuries.

Following the biggest plunge in biotech stocks in 2015 - some have speculated that the real goal of Shkreli's actions was to profit by shorting the biotech sector ahead of the selling which his action would have unleashed - and an epic public outcry against the diminutive "hedge fund" manager, NBC reported moments ago that "the pharmaceutical company boss under fire for increasing the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent said Tuesday he will lower the cost of the life-saving medication."

• Pressure builds on Volkswagen CEO as emissions-cheating probe spreads (Reuters)
• Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Relates to 11 Million Cars (WSJ)
• Volkswagen Emissions Investigations Should Widen to Entire Auto Industry, Officials Say (WSJ)
• Germany's Bosch makes VW's U.S. diesel components (Reuters)
• Volkswagen scandal will have personnel consequences - state economy minister (Reuters)
• Glencore Falls to Record as Mining Shares Lead Stock Losses (BBG)
• Despite Slump, China’s Xi Jinping Pledges Economic Reforms (WSJ)

While Mr. Dimon's view - "Amerca has the best hand ever dealt right now." is certainly uplifting, it is a bit delusional. But of course, give any person a billion dollars and they will likely become just as detached from economic realities. Does America have "greatest hand ever dealt." The data certainly doesn't suggest such. However, that can change. We just have to stop hoping that we can magically cure a debt problem by adding more debt and then shuffling it between Central Banks.