School Shooting: Two teenagers are dead and 12 other people wounded after a 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at a rural Kentucky high school. Two of the wounded were hit in the head. The shooter was captured and is being charged with murder.

The dead were a boy and a girl, both 15. At the outset of shooting students ran for it, some of them as far as a mile to a McDonald’s restaurant.

The school, Marshall County High School, is located in Benton, roughly 120 miles northwest of Nashville, Tenn. Sadly, some news outlets are reporting this as “the first” fatal school shooting of 2018.

The Russia Thing: Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for several hours last week by the Special Counsel’s office looking into Russian election meddling, The NY Times reports. He submitted to questioning voluntarily without subpoena.

Sessions appears to be the first cabinet member interviewed. The attorney general recused himself from the Russia investigation because he was part of President Trump’s campaign, and that led to the appointment of the Special Counsel. One element they are now looking into is whether President Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.

It’s also been revealed that former FBI Director James Comey has been interviewed about memos he wrote detailing his conversations with President Trump.

Yesterday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the President has not fired Special Counsel Robert Mueller in part because the reaction that would have in the press.

Takeback: After offering last week to pay for President Trump’s southern border wall in exchange for the protection of young illegal immigrants, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said the wall is now off the negotiating table. Although the President has asked for $18 billion for the wall, Schumer is reported to have offered $25 billion to build it.

Last night the President tweeted, “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, an immigration hardliner, said, “They just shut the government down over amnesty, and so I don’t think Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats are interested in securing the border.”

It’s all going to come to a head again in just over two weeks.

The Envelope: The sci-fi fantasy “The Shape of Water” topped the Oscar field with 13 nominations for the 90^th Academy Awards. It’s about a mute janitor who falls in love with a sea creature held captive in a water tank.

“Dunkirk” got eight nominations and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was named in seven categories. All three were nominated for Best Picture.

Rounding out the nine nominees for Best Picture are “Call Me by Your Name,” “Darkest Hour,” “Get Out,” “Lady Bird,” “Phantom Thread” and “The Post.”

Jordan Peele became the first black person to hit the trifecta with nominations for best picture, director and screenplay for his social commentary horror pic, “Get Out.”

Trade War: The Trump administration says it plans to place tariffs on washing machines and solar panels. The “America First” policy hits mostly South Korea and China. Both countries have objected.

It’s pretty stiff. The first 1.2 million imported washing machines in the first year will have a 20 percent tariff levied on them, and would be a 50% tariff on machines above that number. Tariffs on solar cells will be 30 percent.

The policy came partly in response to complaints by Whirlpool, which makes washing machines, and two US manufacturers of solar panels. Tariffs almost always bring retaliation. Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Corp., which will be hit hard, might just consider walking away from plans to expanding or build washing-machine plants in the US.

Econ 101: Despite the new federal tax cut and making a $3.3 billion profit last year, the Kimberley-Clark Corporation, maker of things like Kleenex and diapers, says it is closing 10 manufacturing plants and letting go 5,500 employees. The company cited a “challenging environment.” At the same time, the company announced that it is increasing its dividend to stockholders.

Kabul: The State Department now reports that several Americans were among the 22 people killed when Taliban gunmen took over the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul last weekend. It took 14 hours for Afghan forces to re-tale the hotel, killing six militants.

The Obit Page: Hugh Masekela the South African trumpeter and anti-apartheid activist who spent 30 years in exile, has died at age 78. He was a leader in South African jazz, breaking into his country’s music scene in the 1950s. Few people in the US knew who he was until 1968 when his upbeat piece “Grazing in the Grass” featuring trumpet and a cowbell hit the top of the music charts.

His song about the jailed anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela became an anthem for the movement:

Bring Back Nelson Mandela!
Bring him Back all to
Soweto.
I want to see him walking
down the street in South Africa – Tomorrow.”

Road Rage: The Guardian reports that in an effort to cut down on road rage, scientists are working on making a car that will have sensors that detect the driver’s emotions. If the car detects that the driver is tired or stressed, it would then issue alerts and even take over the wheel in extreme situations.

From the Top: The Rev. Franklin Graham, the evangelist carrying on for his father, Billy, said last night on CNN that he thinks God made Donald Trump President. “I believe Donald Trump is a good man and I believe he’s President of the United States for a reason. I think God put him there.”

We need a Special Counsel to investigate God’s interference with the 2016 election.

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