It’s Political: Hillary Clinton this week appears to be running for the third term of the Obama presidency, saying Bernie Sanders “has called the president weak, a disappointment. He does not support, the way I do, building on the progress the president has made.”

Really?

Clinton also accused Sanders, who was active and arrested in the 1960s civil rights movement, of focusing on economic fairness at the expense of racial justice, as if one is not related to the other. She also said he has attacked Obamacare which, she said, has helped African Americans more than any other group. Actually, it’s white Americans followed by Hispanic Americans, but Clinton is courting the black vote in the South Carolina and Nevada primaries.

PolitiComedy: In the comedic moments of the political week, Republican candidate Ted Cruz had to pull a television ad for his South Carolina campaign because it featured a soft-core porn actress name Amy Lindsay who used to play in such movies as Bikini Airways and Radio Erotica. Now the funny thing here is the Bible Belt is the biggest consumer of porn and Ted Cruz’s ad was probably the most boring performance they ever saw by Amy Lindsay.

Donald Trump, who said he’d stop using profanity in the campaign stump and then used it anyway, asked via Twitter, “How can Ted Cruz be an Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?”

Not dissuaded, Cruz opened a Christian rock concert with a prayer. “Welcome to Winter Jam — and to God be the glory.”

Cruz is focused on trying to be funny through the avatars of his commercials. One of them features a Hillary figure destroying a computer with a baseball bat, alluding to her Email foibles. Another features three boys playing with a Donald Trump action figure. One asks, “What does he do?” and another boy says, “He pretends to be a Republican.” As Jeb! Bush said when one of his lines fell flat, “Please clap.” This is why Stephen Colbert escaped South Carolina on the Underground Railroad so he could go to New York where they know what’s funny.

Permawar: Syrian dictator Bahsar al-Assad vows that despite a “cessation of fire” agreed by Russia and the US, he will re-take all the territory under rebel control after five years of civil war. Assad told Agence France Presse he believes in negotiating, “However, if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria.” Assad dismisses the rebels as “terrorists” as though he has no idea why they want to end his brutal regime.

The ceasefire, or whatever it may be, is not compulsory for any of the battling parties, and wouldn’t take effect for a week. Russia says it’s going to continue bombing terrorist groups, which so far has included rebels backed by the US.

Three Strikes: For the first time in its history, Major League Baseball has banned a player for life for the use of performance enhancing drugs. NY Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia failed a drug test for the third time in a year. For his two previous failed tests, Mejia was suspended for 242 games. The first time he said, “I can honestly say I have no idea how a banned substance ended up in my system.”

Governing vs. Running: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who during his late presidential campaign said, “we have no other option but to make the hard choices, cut federal spending and fundamentally reduce the size of this government,” has asked the federal government to cover most of the $83 million in damages caused by the January blizzard.

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