It's a jail day for me, open thread for you.

All topics welcome, but speaking of TV: Has anyone been watching the Viceland shows? Vice launched its own channel at the end of February and has about 8 shows. From what I've read (no time for links right now) the network is geared towards millenials and the first month ratings via cable were not good. (There are many ways to watch.)

I actually liked F*ck That's Delicious, with rapper Action Bronson. It's part of their "Munchies" series. I never heard of him before. Physically, he resembles one of the guys in Duck Dynasty. But he's from Queens, NY, as are his buddies who also tour with him, so any similarity ends there.

Anyway, Action used to be a chef before he broke his leg and became a rapper. His show is about the guys traveling around the world, bonding with each other, eating really good food at locally owned places (in very copious quantities), getting into the local culture of wherever they are, smoking weed and having fun. There are six or seven episodes as of now, I watched six. [More...]

Abu Firas al-Suri, a longtime al Qaida veteran who relocated from Yemen to Syria in 2012-2013, and became a spokesman for AQ's Syrian branch Jabhat al Nusra, has reportedly been killed in an airstrike in Idlib.

He was very outspoken in his opposition to both ISIS and the United States. It's not entirely clear whose strike killed him (U.S., Russia or Syria.)

The Department of Justice announced last week it was forming task forces in 10 districts to combat fraud and elder abuse in nursing homes.

These teams will bring together federal, state and local prosecutors, law enforcement, and agencies that provide services to the elderly, to coordinate and enhance efforts to pursue nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.

“Millions of seniors count on nursing homes to provide them with quality care and to treat them with dignity and respect when they are most vulnerable,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “Yet, all too often we have found nursing home owners or operators who put their own economic gain before the needs of their residents. These task forces will help ensure that we are working closely with all relevant parties to protect the elderly.”

[More...]

The Aspen Daily News has a funny article about Trump getting the naming rights to Sardy Field (Aspen's airport) and his plans to turn it into an international hub. It's an April Fool's joke.

There's even a photo of the new airport, topped with a Donald-style mane of hair. There's more about his plans to outlaw hiking, take on environmentalists and erect a statue of himself in Carbondale.

Trump is also seeking naming opportunities elsewhere in the Roaring Fork Valley. He has already approached Carbondale about placing a statue depicting himself as a Roman god in the town’s roundabout, and Glenwood Springs concerning the design of the Grand Avenue Bridge, which would be shaped like his p*nis.

[More...]

Speaking of Ted Cruz (okay, so nobody here was), he was on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. I only saw the last five minutes -- Kimmel was giving him some kind of quiz with uninteresting questions like what was the first concert he went to. He seemed much more relaxed than he does on the campaign trail -- almost like a pleasant person. And for the first time, his makeup didn't make him look like Grandpa Munster. Given his terrible position on issues, that's scary.

One of his stories seemed like a whopper. Another seemed mis-remembered, at best, and manufactured, at worst. Both were extremely unlikely to have happened the way he described. I think he has memory problems or truth issues -- neither one is good for someone who is running for President. At least if he's gonna make stuff up, he should make the stories credible. These two incidents he recounted were not. [More...]

Thread.

I'm on twitter if you want to read my pithy takes on the election. @armandodkos.

We all know Susan Sarandon is familiar with driving off a cliff. That's what she's advocating in her latest interview. The days of Thelma and Louise are long gone.

Skip her, and watch the CBS primetime time special tonight of James Corden and the Late Late Show's Primetime Karaoke.

Here's a screengrab of JLo from tonight's show. [More...]

Last night this happened:

This part really caught attention:

“Really,” Sarandon said, adding that “some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in, things will really explode.” Asked if she thinks that’s “dangerous,” she replied, “It’s dangerous to think that we can continue the way we are with the militarized police force, with privatized prisons, with the death penalty, with the low minimum wage, threats to women’s rights and think you can’t do something huge to turn that around.”

To quote Sarandon herself, this is incredibly naive and egotistical. But the real question is for Bernie Sanders - he has to disavow this. If he doesn't, then we know what he is about - basically nihilism.

I'm so excited that Senor de Los Cielos returns tonight for season 4. It's on Telemundo and has English captioning. At 8:00 (MT), you can watch a special that recaps the first three seasons. At 9:00, the first episode of Season 4 begins.

Here's my recap of the last season from the finale.

On the recap episode tonight: This is not a show that hesitates to kill off beloved characters, which adds to the suspense, but it's sad watching because some were so good and such a central part of the show for seasons, and it's a reminder we won't be seeing them again.

Thread.

Happy Easter, to everyone celebrating today.

Does anyone have a Surface Book? Is it worth more than $2k? Does the 13.3 inch screen seem bigger because it has such a thin bezel (or for whatever reason) or is it wysiwyg?

There are so few computer stores around here (everything is online other than a small kiosk in two local malls)that you can't even test them out before you buy -- keyboard feel, screen size and weight matter a lot to many besides me, I'd bet.

For those of you online, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

At least 13 police raids took place in Brussels today. 9 were arrested, 5 have already been released.

I've seen four official ISIS videos (I'm not linking to them) of the Belgian attacks released in the last two days. One common theme is there is more to come.

The effect of Saturday's caucus and primary voting in WA, Alaska and Hawaii varies depending on the media source.

Those influenced by Sanders' peeps (shorthand for people)claim the results mattered. This Associated Press news article disagrees.

After noting that Hillary didn't expect to win in Washington, Hawaii or Alaska, and thus didn't spend any resources there, it reports Hillary retains a substantial delegate lead, which when added to super-delegate votes, makes it very, very tough for Bernie to have a chance at winning.

[More...]

How much do the Rolling Stones appreciate Cuba? Here's their message in Spanish.

At their historic free concert in Havana tonight, they opened with Jumpin Jack Flash. Cuban officials expected 500k to attend. The stage the Stones shipped to Havana for the concert was the length of a city block. Then there's the gear (which included 10 huge video screens by the stage):

Organizers told Billboard that the high-tech production meant importing gear in 61 sea containers and a packed Boeing 747.

The Cuban contribution to the technical side of the concert was decidedly lower-key. As nearly everywhere else in Cuba, there was no wifi signal at the sports complex, and as the crowds grew even cellphones stopped working.

No wonder there's been few live updates on Twitter -- few Cubans can access it, given their limited internet access.

The Pope, meanwhile, wanted the Stones concert halted because it was Good Friday. I'm glad he didn't prevail. (The article has the video of their plane landing and them disembarking. Pretty cool.) [More...]

A live press conference with Gen. Carter on Iraq and Syria with the Pentagon is taking place here. Carter says the tide is turning and we've blocked off the main routes between Northern Iraq and Syria. He says we targeted and killed top ISIS leaders.

American forces are there advising and supporting Iraqi. There will be increased support for Iraqis in Mosul. We will advise and enable.Carter and others will be asking Obama to increase the number of U.S. troops going to Iraq to "advise' the Iraqis.

Yet he denies it's a ground troops operation. Denies it's a fundamental shift. Reporters are skeptical and keep asking how this is different from a ground war. It's a pretty permanent position. The U.S. military is directly involved with the Iraqis. This is what we've been doing in the past months and what we'll be doing in the coming months. What started in Ramadi will continue to Mosul. This is our strategy.

He's arguing for an alternative prison to Gitmo saying it's not safe to release Gitmo

A reporter says there are 5,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. Carter says 3,800. The difference is in the counting techniques. There's more than 3,800 he admits.