Saudi Hit Squad:The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was not a one-off operation for a team of operators working for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,The NY Timesreports. Bin Salman used the team to watch, kidnap, and torture dissenters for more than  a year before the killing of Khashoggi  in the Kingdom’s embassy in Istanbul, the paper reports according to American officials who have read classified intelligence.   

 The Timessays some of the missions were carried out by members of the same team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi last October. Bin Salman has claimed that it was a rogue operation carried out without his knowledge, but intelligence officials believe it was part of a concerted campaign including at least a dozen operations against perceived opponents of bin Salman. They even give the team a name, the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group. 

 Some of the operations involved forcibly returning Saudis from other Arab countries and detaining and abusing prisoners in palaces belonging to the crown prince and his father, King Salman, The Timesreports.

 President Trump has said he takes bin Salman at his word that he had nothing to do with the Khashoggi killing.

Black Box:Information from the black box aboard the Ethiopian airliner that crashed killing 157 people suggests that the accident has great similarity to the crash of an Indonesian jetliner last October.

 Ethiopia’s transport minister gave few details in the announcement, but it’s clear that the findings in both accidents will present deep trouble for Boeing which depends on the Max 8 and 9 for about a third of its sales.

 Both planes that crashed were Boeing 737 Max 8s on which the pilots appeared to be fighting a computer system that put the plane into a dive.

  CNN reports that American pilots have reported some incidents in which the Max 8 autopilot put the nose down and they had to turn off the system. One complaint described the flight manual as “criminally insufficient.”

Under Water:Heavy rains and spring snowmelt have caused what’s being described as “historic” flooding in the Midwest from Nebraska to Wisconsin. The worst of it is in Nebraska and Iowa, cutting off some towns and inundating others. Two deaths were reported and two men are missing. At least 300 people were rescued in Nebraska alone.

The Gathering Crowd:New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is now formally part of the Democratic parade of candidates running for president in 2020. There are 16 Democrats running, but who’s counting? There are more to come. 

  Gillibrand said in her announcement video that the national anthem poses the question: “Will brave win?” She said, “Brave doesn’t pit people against each other. Brave doesn’t put money over lives. Brave doesn’t spread hate. Cloud truth. Build a wall. That’s what fear does.”

  Gillibrand appears to be planning to take her fight straight to Donald Trump. She said her debut speech as a candidate will be next Sunday in front of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York.

Too Far to the Right:Fox News, the national purveyor of political ignorance, hatred, and division, has suspended its fire breathing host Jeanine Pirrofrom her prime time show for questioning the patriotism of a Muslim congresswoman.

  Opining about Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on March 9th, Pirro asked, “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Shariah law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”

  Fear of the extreme form of Muslim law has long been one of the dog whistles of the far right. 

  Pirro has been a big booster of President Trump. Her ex-husband, who went to prison for being a crook, used to work for Trump. The President jumped in with a tweet saying, “Bring back @JudgeJeaninePirro. The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country.

  Now really, does he think Fox suspended Pirro because they were listening to “Radical Left Democrats” or because they were actually listening to Pirro?

The Obit Page:Dick Dale, the loud and frenetic guitarist who claims to have invented surf music before the Beach Boys released their first hit, has died at age 81. He played so hard he used to actually shred guitar picks. 

  Dale did “Miserlou” and “Let’s Go Trippin.’” You may not know the titles, but you’ve heard the songs. In the first “Beach Party” movie, Annette Funicello danced in the sand to Dick Dale and the Del-Tones playing “Secret Surfing Spot.”

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