Birds of a Feather: The Republican presidential candidates have flocked to South Carolina where their party’s next primary vote is scheduled for Feb. 20^th. They’ll be missing former Hewlett Packard executive Carly Fiorina, who dropped out after scoring only 4.1 percent of the New Hampshire vote, and Chris Christie, who only went as far south as home in New Jersey. And it looks as if Ben Carson, if he stays in, will not qualify for Saturday night’s debate on CBS.

South Carolina could be a rough time for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who now has the target on his chest after his second-place finish in New Hampshire. Kasich has been proud of running a clean campaign — “We never went negative because we have more good to sell” — but his restraint is likely to be tested as he faces inevitable attacks.

Hollywood Punditry: Analyzing presidential politics, comedian Bill Maher writes in The Hollywood Reporter that Bernie Sanders is succeeding “because he is putting on the table something we’ve never seen before: the idea that America could be more like a Western European democracy, quasi-socialist … where you pay more in taxes, but you get more: free health care and free college.

He goes on, “And poor, poor Hillary Clinton. I mean she just is such a Charlie Brown figure. I could see the nomination slipping away from her again … I think she is unfairly demonized and has been for her entire career. I personally don’t think she is dishonest. And yet the hatred for her is just amazing — the hatred on the right and the abandonment on the left.”

The Sue Me State: The Justice Department plans to sue the city of Ferguson, Mo. after the city council rejected a carefully negotiated agreement to overhaul the city’s police and justice system because it looked too expensive. The federal lawsuit to force compliance could end up costing Ferguson much more.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Ferguson residents “have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer.”

Patriot Games: The FBI has surrounded the last four holdouts occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, who say they may give themselves up today. Yesterday authorities in Portland arrested Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher whose sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy were leaders of the occupation. The older Bundy has refused to pay his cattle grazing fees for more than 20 years. He’s being charged with impeding federal authorities for the 2014 standoff at his Nevada ranch.

Law and Order: Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty yesterday to lying to federal investigators about an effort to intimidate an FBI agent looking into practices in the county jail. Baca could spend time in prison.

California sheriff departments are sometimes the dregs of law enforcement. Neighboring Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, once a national hero for cracking a kidnapping case, was convicted of corruption and went to prison in 2011.

Higher Ed: The college newspaper advisor at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Maryland was fired after the paper published an embarrassing but accurate quotation of the college president. In an article about a plan to weed out struggling freshmen to improve retention rates, The Mountain Echo quotes college president Simon Newman telling a colleague, “This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies.”

Newman does not deny the quote, but newspaper advisor Ed Egan, who didn’t write the article, was fired for violating the “code of conduct and acceptable use policies.” No further explanation. Newman used to be an executive in private equity and was hired to whip the college into financial shape.

On Broadway: Harper Lee’s timeless novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” is headed to Broadway in 2017. Producer Scott Rudin has hired television power scribe Aaron Sorkin to write the play. Together they made the movies “The Social Network,” “Moneyball,” and “Steve Jobs.” Sorkin as a writer tends to make all his characters sound alike, speaking in clipped speech known as “Sorkinese.” Let’s just hope Atticus Finch continues to speak in plain English, maybe like Gregory Peck.

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