Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

First Syria. Now Trump's military bombs Afghanistan with the biggest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. The purpose: Taking out a tunnel system created by ISIS's Wilayat Khorasan. (Note: ISIS in the Khorasan is not the same as al Qaeda's group of fighters from the Khorasan region.)

ISIS's Khorasan Wilayat is primarily in the Nangarhar and Kunar provinces. ISIS announced its formation in 2015.

We bring the mujahideen the good news of the Islamic State’s expansion to Khorasan (a region encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other nearby lands). Therefore, we call upon all the mujahideen in Khorasan to join the caravan of the Khilafah [caliphate] and abandon disunity and factionalism.

The Beltran-Leyvas have been at war with El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel since 2008 when Alfredo Beltran-Leyva was arrested and his brother Arturo (the leader of their group) blamed El Chapo. Arturo was gunned down by police in 2009. Another brother Carlos was arrested in 2010. Alfredo was extradited to the District of Columbia in 2014, where in 2016, he pleaded guilty without a plea agreement. Last week, he was sentenced to life in prison.

The last remaining brother is Hector Beltran-Leyva. He was arrested at a restaurant in San Miguel Allende in 2014. Although he has many cases opened against him in Mexico (29 according to some reports), a court favorably ruled on a U.S. request for his extradition in August, 2016. He is charged in the District of Colombia (separately from his brother) and the Eastern District of New York. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) approved the extradition on September 26, 2016. Not surprisingly, Hector appealed.

Yesterday, an appeals court in Mexico granted Hector protection against the extradition order and sent the case back to the trial court. Why? [More...]

On the opening days of Passover, and the anniversary of the U.S. liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp (4/11/1945) Sean Spicer dug himself a hole on the Holocaust. He's still apologizing.

His two biggest gaffes: saying Hitler didn't gas his own people and referring to Hitler's death camps as "Holocaust Centers" (as if they are stores located in shopping malls.) The correct term is killing centers. There were also, of course, concentration camps.) [More...]

NPR says Donald Trump is no longer backing Steve Bannon in interviews, which it takes as a signal that Bannon is soon to be out of a job.

The reason, like with other departed Trump aides, is a clash with family members, particularly Prince Jared.

And so we learn Trump has another unappealing trait: The inability to be loyal to anyone who is not related to him. (Which seems to be more fealty than loyalty.) Among his roadside-kill: Chris Christie, Corey Lewandowski, even Rudy Giuliani (That's not to say he showed anything but bad judgment in picking them -- only that once he did, he dropped them the minute they ran into bad weather.) Here's what he said about Bannon:

"I like Steve, but you have to remember, he was not involved in my campaign until very late," Trump said. "I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn't know Steve. I'm my own strategist, and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary."

[More...]

United Airlines has issued this apology for dragging an unwilling passenger off an overbooked plane to make room for some employees. His lawyer says he is now in the hospital recovering from his injuries. (No link to news articles because I could not find a single one without video.)

I stopped flying years ago -- it simply was too unpleasant, time-consuming and not worth the hassle or expense -- so I had no idea the airlines could do what United did: After offering $400, then $800, without getting enough takers, it can pick four passengers "randomly" and make them deplane, using police if necessary. First, that's no better than buying a stand-by seat. .

Second, I don't buy that the selection is random. Does anyone believe the airline would kick off a first class passenger already seated? I wonder if they didn't just pick the four passengers who paid the least for their seats and were not frequent flier members.

What's next? Will hotels overbook rooms, and when you're fast asleep in the bed, come knocking at the door with a cop in tow, telling you to vacate your paid-for room for another customer? I wouldn't be surprised. When you allow a few rich companies to dominate an industry, whether it's airlines, cable tv, internet or gas and electric companies, John and Jane Citizen get screwed. [More...]

Update: Sessions may have been misquoted.

Simply unacceptable comments by Jefferson Sessions. Pretty soon I will refuse to preface his name with the words "Attorney General." He doesn't deserve the respect that has traditionally accompanied the title.

He also returned to a common theme from the Trump campaign by saying drug cartels and criminal gangs are turning American cities into “war zones” by raping and killing innocent people.

“It is here, on this sliver of land, where we first take our stand against this filth,” he said.

I wonder how many AUSA's will have the courage to quit and refuse to be part of implementing Sessions' and Trump's filthy agenda.

Neil Gorsuch was sworn in today as Supreme Court Justice.

I continue to have no interest in writing about Donald Trump. I haven't read a single article about him or his family since the day he dropped missiles on Syria. That his son now feels entitled to consider a run for NY Governor is laughable.

What I am reading: news in other countries, particularly, Mexico and the latest arrests of allegedly corrupt cops, prosecutors and politicians.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Mike Sorrentino, aka "Mike the Situation", who played himself on the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, and his brother Marc were indicted for tax crimes in 2014 in New Jersey. Today, a Superseding Indictment was returned charging him and his brother with additional crimes.

From the DOJ Press Release which notes that an Indictment is just an accusation: [More...]

Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, speaking at a Women's conference:

Mrs. Clinton grew particularly forceful in condemning Syria’s recent chemical attack and called for a strong military response to confront President Bashar al-Assad and “take out his airfields.”

Hours later, Trump announced airstrikes on Syria.

They are both wrong in my view. We should not be attacking Syria. At the very least, he should have sought congressional approval.

Donald Trump should not be allowed to make any major decisions about the country, we are not living on a reality TV show. He doesn't know what he's doing. Donald Trump provokes that feeling you get riding backwards down an up escalator.

ISIS is undoubtedly cheering Trump's play right into their hands. I can't watch, this won't end well for us.

I have band-aids on two of my typing fingers making it cumbersome to type. I've been reading instead, mostly about the life sentence given to Alfredo-Beltran Leyva on his guilty plea yesterday and Ivan Reyes-Arzate, the Mexican high level police officer in the Sensitive Investigations Unit who allegedly shared information he received from the DEA and gave it to cartel members to help them avoid getting arrested.

Until I can type more about them, and other stuff, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

ISIS has released an official 37 minute audio statement in Arabic by spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer. It is ISIS's first reference to Donald Trump since he acquired a desk in the Oval Office.
He said the United States is "being run by an idiot".

"America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye." "... There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is," he said in a recording released on Tuesday on messaging network Telegram.

Al-Muhajir called for more attacks on the U.S., Russia and Europe. The name of the statement translates to "Patience, the promise of Go-d is truth". (Others have it as "So be patient. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth")

The statement was released through the al-Furqan Foundation, which publishes many of ISIS's most important audio & video releases.

The blast at the St Petersburg train station was reportedly a homemade bomb of TNT with shrapnel. At least ten people died.

So far,leaders of several countries have sent their condolences to Russia. Where's Trump? He isn't mentioned. In fact, when given the opportunity to say something, he declined:

When a reporter asked Trump if he contacted the Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the terrorist attack in the metro St. Petersburg, [Trump] did not say anything.

Democrats are close to having the required votes to defeat Neil Gorsuch. Republicans will then change the rules to allow passage by 51 votes (the nuclear option.)

If that means that radical right justices like William Pryor can be confirmed by 51 votes, I am not in favor of the filibuster. Trump may get to name several supreme court judges over the next few years, if he stays in office that long, and the damage he will do to the Supreme Court and federal judiciary where there are 100 vacancies, is enormous. I'm not a supporter of Gorsuch or his opinions, but he's not in the same league as William Pryor (or John Yoo, for that matter -- how long before his name comes up?)

More than 250 people, including at least 60 children, have been killed by the huge mudslides in Mocoa, Colombia.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has been in Moca since yesterday, and he's tweeting continuous updates. The heads of dozens of countries have expressed their condolences to the people of Colombia. Many have offered aid, including China. One country prominently missing from Santos' twitter feed: the United States. Where's Donald Trump?

What does the State Department have to say about Colombia in its website and Twitter pages? Nothing so far. [More..]