Yuge: Donald Trump told The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and a fellow reporter that the US is headed toward a “very massive recession,” and that if he is elected President he could eliminate the country’s $19 trillion debt in eight years in office. Trump said that in his first 100 days, he would cut taxes, “renegotiate trade deals and renegotiate military deals,” including America’s role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Trump also said that he would make the world respect the US and its leader. Asked how, he said, through an “aura of personality.”

Trump has shocked the political world saying anything that comes to mind, no matter how politically incorrect he has been. He said that his closest family, including his children, have urged him to be more “presidential.”

Trump is trailing in the polls in Wisconsin, but he told Fox News this morning that he thinks he will win the Republican nomination even if he doesn’t take Wisconsin.

Nation: Two people are reported dead after an Amtrak train from New York to Savannah hit a backhoe on the tracks this morning and derailed. The train carried 341 passengers and seven crew members.

Amtrak service has been suspended between New York and Philadelphia.

Blood Feud: Dozens of people are reported dead in an outburst of warfare between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been controlled by ethnic-Armenian separatists since a war that ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan said it came under came under artillery attack, but Armenia claims that Azerbaijan had launched a “massive attack” with tanks, artillery and helicopters. At east one Azerbaijani helicopter was shot down.

Russia, which sells arms to both governments, called for everyone to cool it and Azerbaijan declared a unilateral ceasefire today.

Permawar: Syrian troops report they found a mass grave containing at least 40 bodies in Palmyra, which was recently abandoned by Islamic State fighters. The grave contained men, women, and children. Some had been beheaded and others shot. By one estimate, ISIS executed 280 people while occupying the ancient city.

NCAA: Villanova crushed Oklahoma and North Carolina eliminated the upstart Syracuse to reach the final pairing in men’s NCAA basketball.

The NCAA women’s Final Four play today. UConn is in its 9^th consecutive semi-final gunning for their 4^th straight championship.

Yes, They Said It:

John Kasich: “If I were, not president, if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers’ lounges where they sit together and worry about ‘woe is us’.”

Ted Cruz: “I’m a Christian and I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m not going to hide that and treat if like it’s something you can’t admit publicly and acknowledge it’s an important part of who you are.

But I also think that those in politics have an obligation not to wear their faith on their sleeve.”

Sarah Palin: “Trump talks rationally.”

-30-