A group of 20 tourists, from Britain, South Africa, India and other places have been deported from China for watching video clips promoting terrorism in their hotel room. China says they were terrorism clips.

The group, which included a 68 and 74 year old couple from London were on day 30 of a 47 day tour. They had visited the Genghis Kahn mauseleum in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The next day they went to the airport to fly to the next leg of their trip (Xian), when they were detained and ultimately deported.

"The group is a mixture of multi-faith men and women from Islamic, Christian and Hindu religions who knew each other well and had travelled the world together in the past, including Israel and the USA.

What they had actually watched (not that it should make a difference what they watch in the privacy of their hotel room): a documentary on Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. [More...]

So glad it's Friday. I've got another jail day and am spending all my free hours trying to figure out why my new Dell desktop has a black screen. It's okay in safe mode but I can't even log into it in regular mode. Do they still have computer gurus who make house calls?

James Holmes was found guilty, no suprise there. A shooting of marines by someone born in Kuwait was all I heard on the car today.

El Chapo is still free.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'll be at the jail the rest of the day. I'll have another El Chapo post up tonight. For those of you who are more interested in other topics, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the tunnel that went between Chapo's prison shower and the house over a mile away.

Here's one with showing the light:

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I'm sure everyone has seen this video by now of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pacing in his cell before disappearing while bending down over the hole in his shower floor.

Two questions: Why did they release this photo of him when he clearly has hair in the video?

The photos of his jail cell are very disturbing. It is a filthy horrid place. Who wouldn't want to escape from this hellhole prison? [More....]

I'm busy at work, and in my spare moments, only following news about El Chapo. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama has issued 46 grants of clemency to drug offenders.

“These men and women were not hardened criminals. But the overwhelming majority had to be sentenced to at least 20 years,” he said, noting that in his letters to them he made sure they needed to make different choices now that they were free.”But I believe that at its heart, America’s a nation of second chances. And I believe these folks deserve their second chance.”

This isn't even on my front page of Google News, I had to search for it. Google needs a new algorythm or whatever they use to decide what's important enough for the front page and top stories.

Blog de Narco has received three photograghs purporting to show Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera after his escape from Altiplano prison in Almaloya de Juarez. While it cannot verify the photos, it did use software that established they were not edited or photo-shopped.

[More....]

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has done it again! He's escaped from the high security prison in Altiplano, through a tunnel. Several prison workers are being held.

The articles say if he makes it home to Culiacan in the mountains, he's unlikely to be captured. [More...]

The tunnel was built from a 50 centimeter hole in the shower. It then widened, and extended for a mile. It was about 33 feet deep.

President Nieto is in France, and his Administration will be very embarrassed by this.

Our last open thread is full, here's a new one, all topics welcome. Please try not to hog the thread so everyone has the opportunity to start new discussions. There's no reason for anyone to comment 20 or 30 times in a single thread. It's called blog-clogging. And no insults to each other please.

Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of news site Rai al-Youm and the author of several books on Islamic extremism including this new book on ISIS, has a column today about how the West still doesn't comprehend ISIS.

He says The West and the invasion of Iraq are responsible for the creation and expansion of ISIS. ISIS is a bigger threat than al Qaida ever was, but we cannot defeat ISIS militarily.

The defense has wrapped up its case in the Aurora theater shooting trial of James Homes. The jury will decide whether he was insane at the time of his killing rampage.

After playing jurors a video of the defendant naked and running head-long into a cell wall, and another of him thrashing around in restraints at a hospital, the defense rested.

The prosecution said it would not present any rebuttal case. Attorneys from both sides will make closing arguments on Tuesday