The Securities and Exchange Commission, virtually moribund for the last decade while giant vampire squids looted local, state and union pension funds and misled investors, has finally chosen to take on Goldman Sachs for conning everyone. Who knew?

If Douglas E. Schoen and Patrick H. Caddell hadn’t identified themselves as “Democratic pollsters,” I would’ve thought their op-ed — which is about how Obama and the Democrats can avoid a “bloodbath” in November — was a first-rate piece of concern-trolling by someone like Karl Rove or Glenn Reynolds. Because that’s exactly the way it reads.

An appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court by National Court judge Balthazar Garzón was denied last month, and in May he must appear before the Supreme Court itself. The charges? That Garzón violated his jurisdictional authority by investigating mass murder that took place under the rule of fascist dictator Francisco Franco.

The Republicans are perhaps trying to use the Volcker rule as a poison pill, but it really would be the significant way to reduce the political power of the financial sector and end the practice of “too politically connected to fail,” which is the bigger problem. No less than three Federal Reserve regional bank presidents are calling for breaking up the banks, and even Sheila Bair’s FDIC, whose interview was passed around by Democratic operatives yesterday, said the day before that Too Big To Fail banks “pose unique concentrated risks” and should be forced to give more FDIC deposit insurance into the system.

Hospital visitation is important, and this is a compassionate order. But it’s a small step in the grand scheme of things, one that the President has offered in the past in place of movement on marriage equality or repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. AmericaBlog’s Joe Subday, reacting to this order, said he’d rather the President get around to those weightier issues.

Emails released Thursday look like they could be some of the 13 documents USDOJ special prosecutor John Durham withheld in the ACLU’s FOIA.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Thursday night speech to the Constitution Project was in the classic telling-hard-truths-to-your-base mold. Unfortunately Holder will never win the respect of the base by rebuking the only people who are willing to support him and who are invested in his success.

Totally grassroots!

The Tea Partiers…whatever.

Bob Dylan — Hurricane featuring Scarlet Rivera on violin.