MOSCOW TERROR: The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall last night in which 115 people were killed and 100 or more were wounded.  Russian authorities say four attackers are in custody.

  The gunmen dressed in camouflage opened fire and threw fire bombs inside Crocus City Hall, a concert venue inside a mall on the outskirts of Moscow. In addition to the killings and woundings, the building was left engulfed in flames. Investigators said they believe the number of dead will rise as they search the rubble. 

  “The people in the hall lay down on the floor to escape the shooting, and stayed there for 15-20 minutes, after which they began to crawl out.,” state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

  The shooting took place minutes before a sold-out 8 pm performance by a rock band in the hall with 6,200 seats

  US officials told journalists on the condition of anonymity that they believe the attack was carried out by the Islamic State in Khorasan, a branch of the terrorist group active in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. The US had warned Russia in advance that that they believed some kind of attack was coming.

  While there’s world sympathy for Russia, the terrorist attack came on the same day that 165 Russian missiles and drones rained down on Ukraine, amounting to what the US ambassador to Ukraine, said was “the largest attack against Ukraine’s energy grid since the start of Russia’s war.”

KEEP CALM: After months of rumor and speculation about her absence from public life following unspecified abdominal surgery in January, Britain’s Princess Kate Middleton revealed yesterday that she’s being treated for cancer. She did not say what variety.

  In a video announcement the princess wore a horizontal striped blue and white sweater and jeans as she sat on a garden bench. She looked thin and a little pale but described herself as being “well.” The royals keep things private and are unlikely to release much more information for the time being. She spent two weeks in the hospital following the surgery, indicating that it was a pretty serious operation.

  The princess said her cancer was discovered through the unrelated abdominal surgery. Doctors with no relation to her case have commented that it’s not an uncommon occurrence.

  Kate’s father in law, King Charles, has also been treated for an unspecified cancer. 

IN THE HOUSE: The Senate last night overwhelmingly approved a $1.2 trillion spending bill to keep the government open.

  Earlier, Democrats in the House pitched in to pass the bill, causing Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to threaten removal of Speaker Mike Johnson, who’s held the office only since October.

  Greene filed a motion to vacate … what she called a warning to Johnson.

“I’m saying the clock has started.,” she said. “It’s time for our conference to choose a new speaker.” She would have to call it to a vote for anything to happen.

  If Johnson is replaced it would be the third speaker for the chaos Congress in 14 months. Speaking to reporters on the capitol steps, Greene said this is the third time Johnson has knuckled under to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government from closing, what she called a Democrat rather than a Republican bill.  She said, “This is a betrayal of the American people, this is a betrayal of Republican voters.” 

  The viciousness of Republican politics in the House has moved another member to resign. Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin announced that he’s leaving on April 19^th, a strategic date with no time for an election to replace him and leaving the Republican majority with a one-vote margin.

ORANGE ALERT:  Donald Trump closed a merger deal for his Truth Social media company allowing it to go public and enriching his personal holdings by as much as $3 billion. It remains to be seen whether he can leverage that to post a $465 bond or cash by Monday to head off seizure of his assets in New York to pay his business fraud judgement. He can’t sell any shares for six months.

THE SPIN RACK: New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor yesterday that what’s happening in Gaza under Israeli attack and food blockade amounts to a genocide. “It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents,” she said. “It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.” — Police in Nashville recovered the body of missing Missouri college student Riley Strain in the Cumberland River and said there appeared to be no evidence of foul play. Strain was last seen on surveillance video stumbling drunk or drugged on the street. — Ronna McDaniel, the ousted chair of the Republican National Committee, has joined MSNBC as a political commentator. — A new Indiana law fostered by Republican legislators allows universities to revoke tenure if if a professor does not promote so-called “intellectual diversity” in the classroom. What the bill’s authors want is more conservative opinions in class discussion.

BELOW THE FOLD: The ejected, disgraced, and indicted former Republican Rep. George Santos from Long Island announced yesterday that he wants nothing more to do with the Republican Party. 

  Santos, who has been criminally charged with stealing money from political donors and created a fantasy life story to be elected to Congress, said in a post on Twitter/X that, “I, in good conscience, cannot affiliate myself with a party that stands for nothing and falls for everything.” George Santos doesn’t want to be in a club that would have him as a member.