Update: Harrison Ford's son says he's battered from the plane crash but but will be alright. We're sending good thoughts his way.

Syria killed the top leaders of Jabhat al-Nusra today in a drone attack in Idlib. Among those killed: Military commander Abu Humam al-Shami. Reports say others killed include Abu Musab al-Palestinian, Abu Omar al-Kurdi, and Abu Bara al-Ansari. While locals said the U.S. launched the strikes, the U.S. said it hasn't struck Idlib in the past 24 hours. The attacks may be retaliation for yesterday's bombing of the Syrian Air Defense intelligence headquarters. But Al Nusrah says leader al-Shami was killed in Idlib on Feb. 27, so the U.S. denials about today don't matter.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The headline of an article in Australia's The Independent today reads:

Welcome to 'Execution Island' – the Indonesian holiday resort where foreigners are sent to die

I can't remember another case when the media around the world, in news articles, not just commentary, used such strong words in reporting on an upcoming execution, as it has with Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. [More...]

Here's the police chief of Densepar, Indonesia, Djoko Hari Utomoposing, posing for his "happy snap" with Andrew Chan, on the Wings Air plane en route to the death island where Chan, Myuran and 8 others will be killed.

The photos were released to the media by the police. The Chief, who appears to be staring right into the camera, says:

The House has subpoenaed Hillary Clinton's emails.

Use of a private email system wasn't against the law. There was no prohibition on using a private email account for official business, as long as the emails are preserved. There's no indication she reviewed classified information via email. There's no indication (unlike with Dick Cheney, Gov. Scott Walker, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush) any emails are missing, hidden or intentionally destroyed. During the Bush Administration, 22 million emails went missing.[More...]

Here are some quotes from reporters in the courtroom who listened to Judy Clarke's opening statement in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial: Catherine Parrotta, Fox News and Jim Armstrong of WBZ (CBS):

"We meet in the most tragic of circumstances."

The circumstances that bring us here today still are difficult to grasp, are incomprehensible, are inexcusable.

For the next several weeks we are all going to come face to face with unbearable grief. We're going to see it, feel it, and agonize with every witness

"We will not sidestep Tsarnaev's responsibility for his actions" [More...]

The jury has been selected and opening arguments begin tomorrow in the death penalty trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, charged with the Boston Marathon bombings. According to media reports, all of the 18 jurors and alternates are white. (More than 1,300 people were initially summoned for potential jury service in the case.)

The defense filed a motion a few weeks ago challenging the jury pool, saying the juror groups had been reordered by the court resulting in a statistically lower pool of minority jurors. [More...]

DOJ's report on its six month investigation into police practices in Ferguson, MO will be released today. Here's what it finds, according to the New York Times.

The Ferguson Police Department was routinely violating the constitutional rights of its black residents.

Ferguson's population is one-third white.

85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of tickets and 93 percent of arrests. In cases like jaywalking, which often hinge on police discretion, blacks accounted for 95 percent of all arrests.

This is not just a Ferguson problem, but a national problem. You see it every day in courtrooms across America. [More...]

Our last open thread is over-filled. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Just another day in Paradise. Escorted by two fighter jets carrying live missiles, commercial budget airline Wings Air, owned by Lion Air, today flew Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from Bali to Cilacap, where they were then taken by ferry to Nusakambangan, Indonesia’s death island where within days, they and 8 other convicted drug offenders will be driven at midnight to a killing field, tied to wooden posts and shot to death simultaneously.

According to news reports, Andrew and Myuran were silent as they were led to an armored vehicle to be taken to the airport, but thanked the guards as they left for their treatment during the decade they spent at Bali's hellhole Kerobokan prison.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says "We are frankly revolted." He says there's little chance of a change of heart, and Indonesia is just digging in its heels. [More...]

Section 1311 of the Affordable Care Act (PDF) ("Obamacare") provides, in part, as follows:

Each State shall, not later than January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange (referred to in this title as an ‘‘Exchange’’) for the State [. . . .]

Read literally and in isolation, this provision requires states to establish "exchanges." There is no escape clause provided in Section 1311. However, such a provision would violate the rule established in Printz v. United States, in which Justice Scalia, writing for the court, stated that "the forced participation of the States' executive in the actual administration of a federal program" violates the Constitution's federalism provisions.

More on the flip.

Looks like we need a new open thread. Here's one, all topics welcome.

The British media and the U.S. media have something in common: When a spontaneous event occurs and they get caught flat-footed, in a race to compete with other news organizations, they throw traditional vetting rules out the window and report whatever they are told, reliable or not. They rummage through every type of record, not only of the individual, but their families and associates, every scrap of online information, seek out people who have had not contact with the named individual for 10 or more years and report their information as fact, ignoring even the most basic inconsistencies. In essence, they decide the person is a monster, and then report anything, true or not, that points in that direction. [More...]