ISIS claimed responsibility for today's suicide attack in Kabul outside an intelligence agency. Only civilian passersby were killed.

The blast comes a week after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a training facility of the same agency, the National Directorate for Security, in Kabul that ended when the attackers were killed before causing significant casualties.

It was an attack by ISIS' newly formed Wilayat Kashmir. The group announced its presence with a 13 minute video. The version I saw was on a Russian website and had English translation at the bottom. [More...]

From Matt Lauer's apology today:

“Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed,” Mr. Lauer wrote in a message issued by his public relations team. “I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly.”

“There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions,” Mr. Lauer wrote. “To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry. As I am writing this I realize the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC.”

His statement ends with: [More...]

Democrats won from coast to coast yesterday.

In addition to Dems taking both Governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, it was a day of firsts: The first transgender legislator in Virgina.

The first Sikh Mayor in Hoboken, NJ. And Charlote, NC elects its first African-American Mayor.

This does not bode well for Donald Trump. Aside from the election results, which are impossible to disassociate from unhappiness with his occupancy of the oval office, there's this: [More...]

"If I hadn't blown the whole thing years ago,
I might not be alone
Tomorrow we can drive around this town
Let the cops chase us around"

Donald Trump can't read. The charges against his aides extend into 2016 and 2017 -- they were not just "years ago."

Love this song by the Gin Blossoms.

I'm on my third keyboard this week, the lag time whenever I type is absurd. I have no idea what's wrong with my Dell desktop computer but it's seriously affecting my blogging. I'm off to the jail anyway, so it won't matter this afternoon.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The entire national media seems to be playing a game of Old Maid trying to figure out who is going to draw the last Queen in Bob Mueller's probe of darlings in his Russian nursery.

It appears someone will be brought before the Court Monday on an new Indictment. I'm not clear on whether it's one person or more, whether there will be a perp walk and public shaming arrest or a simple surrender to the Pretrial Services office, followed by an appearance in court for a first advisement and bond release, arraignment (or both.)

It seems to me the leaks are from defense counsel who have been given a heads-up to have their client show up at the courthouse, marshal's office or pretrial services office. (The days of public perp walks and shaming arrests, preferred by Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie when they were U.S. Attorneys, are long gone, and would give Trump and his followers something to whine about forever, distracting from whatever message Mueller is trying to send with this news. [More...]

I'm off to see American Made. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: American Made was much better than I expected. Movie theaters sure are different these days. (I go to the movies about once a year or less.) When we bought our tickets at the window (not in advance) we got to pick assigned seats. All the seats were recliners where you pressed a button to extend and keep your legs raised. The seats had tray tables, not just drink holders. There were only about 20 people in the theater (and not many people milling around the 15 plex theater) so I guess 4pm on Mondays is a good time to go to the movies.

And yes, even if you are not a Tom Cruise fan (and I'm pretty lukewarm on him usually), he's really good in this film.

The Las Vegas shooter is down. There was only one shooter. There were no bombs at other hotels. 20 people are dead and up to one hundred are injured.

The shooter was a local resident. Police say he died. He was shooting from a room on the 32ndfloor of the Mandalay Bay. Police are looking for his companion, Mari Lou Daniely or Danelly, a 4'11" Asian female.

Police also searched two vehicles, associated with the shooter:a Hyundai Tucson Nevada/114B40 and a Chrysler Pacifica Nevada/79D401.

Authorities do not believe the motive is terrorism, despite ISIS threatening Las Vegas in a video in 2015.

NASA's eclipse site is here.

The eclipse in Denver will begin at 10:23 a.m. and finish at 1:14 p.m. Colorado is only getting a 75% partial view. Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas are among the states that will experience the totality. Wyoming, which has a population of 600,000, is expecting another 600,000 people toll converge on the state to witness the event.

According to CDOT (Colorado Dept. of Transportation) all our highways, north and south, east and west, will be filled with people headed to and from Wyoming and Nebraska from Colorado and New Mexico (for whom we are likely to be a pass-through state.) CDOT says this may be the most significant traffic event of the year. The worst will be after the eclipse on Monday, when everyone leaves to go home, wherever that may be:

Imagine 6 Denver Broncos games all getting out at the same time on the same highway to go home.

[More...]

Trump's going to the Middle East. With Melania, Jared and Ivanka. Trump is going first to Saudi Arabia and then to Israel and then to Italy.

Israeli news reports Trump is expected to have an entourage of 1,000 people.

It sounds like he wanted to give a sermon on the mount: Israeli news says Trump was considering making a speech from the the ancient mountain fortress of the Masada ruins in the Negev desert.

Happy Easter to all who are celebrating.

Alec Baldwin returned to Saturday Night Live last night. I missed it but the video is here.

I watched all 15 episodes of "Ingobernable" this weekend on Netflix, with actress Kate del Castillo as the First Lady of Mexico, on the run after being framed for the murder of her husband. It's about corruption and extra-judicial killings inside and outside the Government. It incorporates a fictionalized version of the disappearance of the 43 students in Guerrero, Mexico (changing the location to the barrio of Tepito near Mexico City and the number to 39), castigates the DEA and CIA for being white collar criminals and no different than the cartels, and blames the U.S. and its insatiable demand for drugs for the violence in Mexico.

If you have Netflix, watch the President's planned speech (available with subtitles) in Episode 6. It's a good reminder our war on drugs, about to be ramped up by Jefferson Sessions, is not only a failure at home, but abroad. (Sessions is not just so last year, but so last generation. Clueless beyond hope.)[More....]

I've been completely uninterested in writing about Donald Trump this week. He just sucks the positive energy out of everything. The reality may be that our country is now being run by a family of three blind mice, with no relevant experience, and their under-informed, uber-wealthy and in several instances, seemingly ethically-challenged advisers, but it doesn't mean I have to pay attention. I'm content to point out when he makes a global laughing stock of himself and exposes his lack of insight and preparedness to preside over anything other than a golf ball.[More...]

The media is all agog over an upcoming hearing over Trump's ridiculous wiretap claims. I could care less. It's another distraction. Far more important things are at stake right now -- like our hard-earned dollars that he wants to throw away in support of his right-wing, Unamerican agenda.

What everyone should be doing is calling, writing, and emailing their elected representatives in Congress to demand they reject Trump's supplemental funding request for $33 billion which he just submitted to the House on Friday, March 16. Here is Trump's letter to Congress and the breakdown of the numbers from the White House Budget Office explaining what he is asking for.[More...]