Patterico's Pontifications

Hello.

Dana (3484c2) — 3/28/2025 @ 8:40 am

Here’s why Usha and JD canceled all public appearances in Greenland.

US officials have reportedly been traveling around the Danish-controlled territory looking for locals who wanted to receive a visit from the Second Lady, according to a report from Danish TV 2.

Greenlanders’ response? No thanks.

Residents aren’t the only ones snubbing the Second Lady ahead of her high-profile visit to the island; Tupilak Travel, which is based in Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk, initially said it would host Usha Vance, but pulled out on Thursday.

In a post on Facebook, the company said that the US Consulate called and asked if it wanted the visit, and the company initially said yes, but then backed out.

“After closer consideration, however, we have now informed the consulate that we do not want her visit, as we cannot accept the underlying agenda and will not be part of the press show that, quite, of course, comes with it. No thanks to nice visit… Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,” the company said.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 8:58 am

Petrova’s attorney says this is not the persecution it may seem:

A Russian scientist working at Harvard Medical School has been detained by federal immigration officials, according to her attorney who said the feds are “just doing their job.”

Kseniia Petrova is being held at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Louisiana after she was taken into custody at Boston Logan Airport after returning from a personal trip to France on Feb. 16.

Her research visa was revoked because she did not properly declare frog embryos she had brought back to the country, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Petrova — who was arrested in Russia in 2022 for speaking out against the Ukraine war — was given the option to be sent back to her native country and be barred from re-entering the US for five years or return to France and apply for a new visa, the student paper reported.

She chose France, but when she told a CBP officer that she feared persecution back in her home country, the agency detained her instead, according to a petition filed by her attorney, Gregory Romanovsky.

NY Post

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:03 am

Musk is proving the dangers of being in the public eye with Asperger’s. Not knowing when to back off is a problem.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:07 am

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 8:58 am

To paraphrase the late Congressman John Schmitz, I don’t care that Vance went to Greenland, I only wish he doesn’t come back.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:23 am

Musk is proving the dangers of being in the public eye with Asperger’s. Not knowing when to back off is a problem.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:07 am

How so? Like every American multi-billionaire he has the right to speak out and spend his money as he sees fit.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:26 am

How so?

Because he thinks this is productive when it’s the opposite. Not being able to read a room is not good for a politician, which is what he is trying to become.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 9:52 am

He suffers from a common “smart guy”(tm) fallacy: That if people don’t like his idea it’s probably because they don’t understand his idea and the problem can be addressed by additional explanation.

Time123 (35446f) — 3/28/2025 @ 10:27 am

There was a book written 60 years ago called Night of Camp David, where the president spoke to a young vice president about taking over Canada. Only in this book of fiction, the vice president thought the president was insane, then he notified Congress and the Cabinet, who also thought he was insane.
Upon realizing that he was actually insane, the president resigned.
If only our absurd reality tracked an author’s 1960s fiction.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 10:40 am

gives the observatory authorization and funding for six additional weeks to complete the transfer of its repository to the European Union’s law enforcement agency, EUROPOL, to assist in the prosecution of crimes inside and outside Ukraine.

This must be reversed in the long term, not just the short term.

It is a temporary extension. What they did here was not render everything they did up until this point, a waste. It’s to be carried on by EUROPOL and others.

It’s being eliminated partly on the grounds this was duplicative and nevertheless incomplete. (Maybe also so that Trump can maintain his posture/pretense of neutrality)

Of course, if you really want to investigate something, it is best to have competition. This is something not often realized. It’s too often considered a form of waste.

At least some people in government prevented all this work from being thrown out, and wanted to pursue this.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 10:50 am

Hamas in a rare display of public anger against the militant group.

There were also some demonstrations earlier in 20923 before the attacks. They also had the slogan then “We want to live” because some people were malnourished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Want_to_Live_movement

Initially, the movement was critical of Hamas, but did not call for its ousting, fearing that it would be an impossible demand.[6] Instead, they focused on material changes such as reduced taxation and lower prices of necessities, as well as a Fatah–Hamas reconciliation and new elections.[6][7] Multiple organizers of the movement, including Palestinian lawyer Moumen Al-Natour,[citation needed] were arrested and detained, charged with “collaborating with hostile foreign entities, in violation of domestic law”. Several were referred to military courts.[8] After lobbying and popular and international advocacy campaigns, Al-Natour was released.[citation needed]…In late July and early August 2023, the movement again led in-person protests in response to the accidental killing of a man by authorities in Khan Yunis.[12][13][14] Hamas responded to the protests with increased security, and arrested several demonstrators and journalists covering the demonstrations.[13][14]

They were not too repressive, because they were receiving money from the Palestinian Authority and others, (with the approval of Israel, which thought they were being successfully bribed in effect) and because they wanted to concentrate on planning war crimes, war, and acts of terrorism against Israel.

Israel’s attacks on the Hamas leadership (they have killed, since the start, 9 members out of 17 members of the Hamas Politburo that were in Gaza) plus their promise of leniency toward the population, may be having an effect.

The protests are getting bigger, and they say (at least in places in the section of Gaza Hamas is in) that Hamas is going into people’s houses (some are left) and stealing food.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:00 am

Kevin @ 3,

There’s more to the frog story than what the Post published. Read at the link I provided in the post.

Dana (ddbf5e) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:02 am

The Trump administration abruptly pulled funding last week for a research grant meant to protect pregnant women from domestic violence because it was categorized as a “DEI” study.

The National Institute of Health grant funded a two-year project to create a training program for early career clinicians to measure intimate partner violence and pregnancy. The leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women in the U.S. is homicide by an abusive partner. Perinatal women are more than twice as likely to be murdered than to die from sepsis, hypertensive disorders or hemorrhage.

DEI!!!!!

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:06 am

Wait, misspelled it. DIE!!!

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:06 am

The Guardian article did not mention her being offered the option of being deported to France and ten when she accepted that, the option being withdrawn. (Maybe French bureaucracy did not immediately accept or they found she had no residence permit for France?)

Although the legal penalty for improperly importing this non-toxic, non-hazardous frog material is simply a fine of up to $500, Peshkin said, immigration officers decided to deny Petrova re-entry to the US.

This is part of Trump’s stupid crackdown on immigration.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:14 am

I just added another news item to the post.

Dana (c10cc7) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:17 am

The condoms for Gaza turned out to be intended for a province in Mozambique called Gaza, except that wasn’t true either.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/politics/some-of-the-things-that-i-say-will-be-incorrect-musk-backs-away-from-false-claim-of-usd50-million-for-gaza-condoms/index.html

Mozambique wasn’t getting $50 million in condoms, either

The journalist who asked Musk about the condoms story on Tuesday said to him that fact checks had found the condoms were not for the Palestinian territory of Gaza but for the African country of Mozambique, which has a province called Gaza.

That prompted Musk to say — after acknowledging he sometimes makes inaccurate comments — that “I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms to anywhere, frankly.”

But Musk was led astray here. There was also no plan to spend $50 million on condoms for Mozambique.

Federal figures show that USAID condom aid totaled about $8 million worldwide in the 2023 fiscal year, the last year for which data is available, and that no condoms at all went to Mozambique. Mozambique, which is among the countries with the highest prevalence of HIV, received about $5.4 million worth of non-condom contraceptives that year from USAID.

So why would anyone mention Mozambique in the context of this inaccurate claim about tens of millions in nonexistent condom aid? Some social media users theorized that the White House made the claim about condoms for the Palestinian territory of Gaza because it had gotten confused by federal records showing that a health project in Mozambique’s Gaza (and another province there) has been supported by $84 million in US funding.

What actually happened behind the scenes at the White House remains unclear. Regardless, the US-funded Mozambique initiative is a major, multi-pronged effort to address HIV and tuberculosis — not a dump of condoms.

The Administration cut off medical aid but then restored treatment for HIV and TB. That would be because they must have been warned about the possibility of interrupted treatment creating drug resistent varieties.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:23 am

Why the Dow has plummeted today (down 744 at the time of this comment), because Trump’s stupid tariffs have consequences.

Fox: 35% of all the components of core inflation are now growing at 5% or faster per year. Peak COVID was at 40%. You are in that range where too many goods are rising at too fast of a price.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:41 am

https://www.newser.com/story/366314/for-years-exec-compiled-list-of-peoples-verbal-gaffes.html`

The Wall Street Journal reports on the retiring of a Ford sales exec whose farewell email to colleagues came with an unusual attachment—a list of more than 2,200 verbal gaffes he catalogued over the years during meetings and conversations, with details on who said it and when. It seems that Mike O’Brien wrote down his first such mistake on a whiteboard in 2014, and his “Board Words” then became legend. Some of the examples cited:

“We need to make sure dealers have some skin in the teeth.”

“We need to talk about the elephant in the closet.”

Musk Scrubs Post Offering $2M to Wisconsin Voters Alex Jones Is Getting Divorced Again Cars Are About to Get Even More Expensive Somebody Keyed His Tesla. He’s Suing for $1M Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Deportations Resume Trump Order Ends Union Rights in Federal Agencies Clinton Has a One-Word Take on Trump Administration Inflation Comes in Hotter Than Expected Iconic Film Fest Ditches Utah After Nearly 5 Decades Trump Targets ‘Improper Ideology’ at Smithsonian Trump Administration Probes Stanford and UC Admissions Former US Attorney Who Died at 43 Had Epilepsy: Family
US /
malapropism
For Years, Exec Compiled a List of Co-Workers’ Malapropisms
‘Board Words’ became a lighthearted hit at Ford

By John Johnson
Posted Mar 28, 2025 9:05 AM CDT

For Years, Exec Compiled List of People’s Verbal Gaffes
(Getty / Aleksandra Ghilenkova)
The Wall Street Journal reports on the retiring of a Ford sales exec whose farewell email to colleagues came with an unusual attachment—a list of more than 2,200 verbal gaffes he catalogued over the years during meetings and conversations, with details on who said it and when. It seems that Mike O’Brien wrote down his first such mistake on a whiteboard in 2014, and his “Board Words” then became legend. Some of the examples cited:

“We need to make sure dealers have some skin in the teeth.”
“We need to talk about the elephant in the closet.”
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“Let’s not reinvent the ocean.”
“Too many cooks in the soup.”
“I’m not trying to beat a dead horse to death.”
“We have a better program, but the competition has more foot on the ground,” the company’s US head of sales once said in a meeting, before quickly realizing he was going to make the list. “Wait, is it ‘feet on the ground’? Dammit O’Brien!” Musk Scrubs Post Offering $2M to Wisconsin Voters Alex Jones Is Getting Divorced Again Cars Are About to Get Even More Expensive Somebody Keyed His Tesla. He’s Suing for $1M Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Deportations Resume Trump Order Ends Union Rights in Federal Agencies Clinton Has a One-Word Take on Trump Administration Inflation Comes in Hotter Than Expected Iconic Film Fest Ditches Utah After Nearly 5 Decades Trump Targets ‘Improper Ideology’ at Smithsonian Trump Administration Probes Stanford and UC Admissions Former US Attorney Who Died at 43 Had Epilepsy: Family
US /
malapropism
For Years, Exec Compiled a List of Co-Workers’ Malapropisms
‘Board Words’ became a lighthearted hit at Ford

By John Johnson
Posted Mar 28, 2025 9:05 AM CDT

For Years, Exec Compiled List of People’s Verbal Gaffes
(Getty / Aleksandra Ghilenkova)
The Wall Street Journal reports on the retiring of a Ford sales exec whose farewell email to colleagues came with an unusual attachment—a list of more than 2,200 verbal gaffes he catalogued over the years during meetings and conversations, with details on who said it and when. It seems that Mike O’Brien wrote down his first such mistake on a whiteboard in 2014, and his “Board Words” then became legend. Some of the examples cited:

“We need to make sure dealers have some skin in the teeth.”

“We need to talk about the elephant in the closet.”

“Let’s not reinvent the ocean.”

“Too many cooks in the soup.”

“I’m not trying to beat a dead horse to death.”

“We have a better program, but the competition has more foot on the ground,” the company’s US head of sales once said in a meeting, before quickly realizing he was going to make the list. “Wait, is it ‘feet on the ground’? Dammit O’Brien!”

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:55 am

Trump just said he had a good conversation with Carney

https://www.newser.com/story/366382/trump-on-call-with-canadas-carney-extremely-productive.html

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:57 am

Sinking like a rock:

Consumers took a gloomier view of the economy in March, according to the University of Michigan’s monthly survey, a slide that economists fear might depress spending and investment.

The survey’s headline index came in at 57 this month, the lowest level since 2022. That marked a decline from 64.7 in February and 79.4 a year ago. Data published earlier this month had shown a preliminary reading of 57.9.

Two-thirds of consumers said they expect higher unemployment in the next year, the highest reading since 2009.

Most of the concern in the survey centered on a darkening outlook for the economy’s path ahead. The survey’s index of consumer expectations fell by 18% from February. ……..
…………..
The potential for higher inflation remains a key concern among people surveyed by the University of Michigan. Respondents said in March they think prices will rise by 5% over the next year, up from 2.8% expected inflation at the end of 2024. On Friday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric for inflation rose back to 2.8% for the 12 months through February, excluding volatile food and energy prices, according to the Commerce Department’s monthly personal-spending report.

“There’s a very broad consensus that the outlook has weakened compared with February,” said Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director. “Consumers are worried about a whole bunch of things at this point,” she added, citing downbeat survey responses about employment, inflation and personal finances.
……………

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:59 am

I just added a seventh news item to the post.

Dana (f5a833) — 3/28/2025 @ 12:22 pm

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:59 am

More gloom:

………..
The Conference Board’s monthly survey showed that forward-looking expectations for income, business and labor-market conditions dropped to the lowest level in 12 years. Expectations fell to an index level of 65.2, below the threshold of 80 that often signals a recession, the Conference Board said.

Meanwhile, the survey’s broader headline index fell to 92.9, down 7.2 points from a month earlier, marking the fourth straight month of declines. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the index to land at 93.5 in March.

Sentiment among businesses and households alike has darkened in recent months, with many respondents across recent surveys citing concerns that the Trump administration’s fast-changing tariff plans could disrupt the economy. ……….

Analysts have been keeping a close eye on consumer surveys because of fears that a gloomy mood could presage a real economic slowdown………..
………..
………..(A) Philadelphia Fed survey of nonmanufacturing companies in the reserve bank’s mid-Atlantic district showed sharply lower business activity in March.
………….

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 12:29 pm

Re sixth news item:

Rank has its privileges.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 12:32 pm

Trump just said he had a good conversation with Carney

If Carney and the Liberals win the next election, they will have Donald Trump to thank. Carney is taking a much more aggressive stance against Trump, and has said he will not negotiate with the United States until it stops talking about annexation.

And it seems to be working.

At the beginning of 2025, polls showed the Liberals with a 16% approval, which was 3 points less than their worst electoral defeat in 157 years. At that time the Conservatives were polling at 45% and the NDP at 21%.

How things have changed in a few months.

According to the CBC election poll averages, the Liberals lead with 40.8% (with a 71% probability of receiving a majority in Parliament); followed by the Conservatives at 37.5 (1% probability) and the NDP at 9.2%.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 1:05 pm

About the new Syrian regime, if those saying they’re working for Sharaa would stop murdering Alawites and Christians such, then maybe he’ll have a chance.

Syrians are faced with a peculiar predicament: They have little choice but to trust a former terrorist with one of the most daunting state-building jobs in history. The risks of violence and religious hatred that he and his allies embody are now more vivid than ever. But the fact remains that Sharaa is Syria’s most powerful figure and its best shot at unity. He proved the point just after the massacres on the coast in March by reaching a deal to extend his government’s sovereignty to the Kurdish northeast, the last major region to resist his authority.

The task before Sharaa is staggering in its scale. It starts with the reconstruction of a pulverized country that is destitute and still cut off from the world by the sanctions levied against the Assad regime. Sharaa must convince the West that he is a reliable partner, despite the jihadist noises that some of his subordinates still make. He must also complete the job of taming and disarming the country’s disparate rebel factions, some of them jihadists with fresh Syrian blood on their hands. If he fails, Syria could collapse into anarchy and become an open field for all kinds of terrorist groups, including the ISIS militants now lurking in its far corners. That would pose a threat well beyond the Middle East.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle of all is overcoming the past. For almost six decades, Syrians have been taught to hate and fear one another. The Assad regime recruited Syrians to spy on one another and built an archipelago of prisons where torture and extrajudicial murder were the norm. This was the cauldron that spilled over during Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011, led to the rise of the Islamic State, and left more than half a million dead and millions more living abroad as refugees.
The one thing holding Syria together now is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has taken on the near-impossible job of teaching his people to trust one another again. It is an unlikely role for a former jihadist. But he has projected himself as a model of renewal and reconciliation, a violent man who has transformed into a figure of peace and forgiveness.

If Sharaa can show that he’s good enough to build a better Syria, then sanctions could be lifted.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 1:56 pm

How Putin spreads his disinformation in Africe…ghost writers.

Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada, according to his social media profiles, is a political and military analyst from CAR who now lives in Paris. He’s published at least 75 articles, mainly about the political situation in Francophone Africa.

He focuses on the role of Russia, France and the United Nations, and his articles have headlines like: “The reasons for anti-French sentiment in West Africa” and “France’s jealousy of the successes of the Russian presence in Mali”.

Analysing the articles, a clear viewpoint comes across in almost all of them – one that presents French influence in Africa as detrimental for the continent and the presence of Russian soldiers as beneficial.

But, on closer inspection, some things do not add up about Dongobada.

An analysis by the I-Unit shows that Dongobada’s first article appeared in February 2021 with no evidence of him existing before that.

He claims to be a political and military expert, yet has no links to any university, think tank or private institution, and there are no research papers or academic publications under his name.

Dongobada seems to exist only on social media – specifically Facebook and X – and as a writer for outlets across French-speaking Africa, from Senegal to Mali and Cameroon to Burkina Faso. Al Jazeera reached out to several of the outlets that published him. None the I-Unit spoke to had ever talked to Dongobada directly.

And then there are the profile pictures he uses on social media.

Dongobada doesn’t just look like Jean-Claude Sendeoli, the teacher and referee whose funeral was held in September 2020. Dongobada’s X and Facebook profiles use one of Sendeoli’s photos from 2017 (flipped right to left), indicating it was simply taken from the deceased man’s Facebook page.

“Someone, whether a state or a nonstate actor, is using the identity of someone who’s died to do their own propaganda,” said Michael Amoah, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, whose research looks at postcolonial politics and power transitions in Africa.

Disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz said she was “quite surprised they chose someone who has died instead of just using the profile of a living person or potentially using artificial intelligence” to construct the false identity.

An analysis showed that Dongobada is not the only seemingly nonexistent person to write for Francophone African media: The I-Unit identified more than 15 writers and at least 200 articles published since early 2021.

Some of the writers, but not all, had bylines in the paid-for articles Koutele submitted to outlets for publication. Most of the writers call themselves freelance journalists in their newspaper bios with some – like Dongobada – self-identifying as analysts or experts. However, for each of them, there is no employment history and, in many cases, no social media profile or other evidence to indicate they are a real person.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 2:43 pm

Matt Taibi has good article on how hillary clinton damaged the democrat party with her corporate greed. Read it over at ACE. In 2016 Bernie Sanders was hurting clinton’s campaign over her corporate greed. To counter Sanders she ignored working class economic populism instead appealing to liberal women and donors with aristocratic social justice issues. Attacking Sanders by saying if I broke up all the banks how would that end racism, sexism and homophobia? It worked ;but at a cost of losing working class issues.

asset (5c85c8) — 3/28/2025 @ 3:16 pm

This could explain many things:

[Hannah] Davis is one of an estimated 20 million Americans and 400 million people worldwide who have had long covid, in which symptoms persist or newly develop more than three months after a coronavirus infection.

Neurocognitive symptoms of long covid are among the most common, affecting 18 to 36 percent of patients — and among the most devastating. Many people have reported cognitive disabilities, with some having to stop working.

(Links omitted.)

Jim Miller (197ca3) — 3/28/2025 @ 3:18 pm

Russia Is Chasing a Deal to Keep Its Military Bases in Syria:

Days before the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, Russia said the Syrian rebels advancing on Damascus were terrorists. Now, with those rebels in power, Moscow senses an opportunity to both expand its economic footprint in Syria and hold on to its military bases there.
……….
In one of the first concrete signs of warming ties between the two sides, Russia last month delivered the equivalent of $23 million in Syrian currency at official rates to the central bank in Damascus. Moscow printed the banknotes for Syria’s cash-starved economy when most other countries had refused due to fear of sanctions, Syrian and European officials said.

The cash injection came as Qatar and Saudi Arabia held off in providing the millions of dollars in budgetary assistance they had discussed providing to the new regime, these people said. They said those countries are awaiting clarity from Washington over whether U.S. sanctions against the former jihadists now in charge will be lifted.

Moscow, itself under U.S. and European sanctions over its war in Ukraine, has no such qualms.
………….
Private negotiations have spanned an array of topics, including billions of dollars in cash and investments into gas fields and ports, a potential apology by Moscow for its role in bombing civilians and even a request by the new Syrian authorities for the extradition of Assad. The Russian side refused to discuss the request to deliver the former dictator, according to European and Syrian officials briefed on the talks.
…………
By contrast, the Trump administration has yet to develop a plan for the new regime, former U.S. diplomat David Schenker said. “The U.S.’s lack of engagement in Syria makes it difficult to oppose a Russian return,” said Schenker, who led the State Department’s Near East department during the first Trump administration.
…………
Damascus has been careful to frame its negotiations with Russia as an attempt to get compensation for the suffering and destruction wrought by Russian forces during the ferocious bombing campaigns conducted in its support of the Assad regime.
…………..
…………Putin had also said Russia was ready to discuss the terms of agreements signed between Russia and Assad’s Syria, Damascus said, a key demand of the new Syrian government, according to people familiar with the talks.

Those contracts include a new phase in the construction of the Tartus port, which has been put on hold; the development of giant natural-gas offshore concessions, phosphates mines and hydrocarbon fields in the Palmyra area; as well as the construction of a fertilizer plant in Homs, in central Syria.

In effect, the talks have revived Russia’s vast and longstanding economic ambitions in Syria.
………….

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:07 pm

Rip Murdock, at 25: funny how talking about annexing your neighbor pisses them off and causes them to rally around the politicians who will tell you to go f- yourself.

aphrael (003dd9) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:11 pm

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/03/28/wowsahs-elon-and-the-dogers-formally-introduce-themselves-n3801255

Elon Musk’s and some of his DOGE members being interviewed by Bret Baier was extremely informative. Anyone with an open mind and not just purely anti-Trump needs to understand the work they are doing is going to help America.

NJRob (0a91ae) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:53 pm

So that’s how the orange hue happens.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:53 pm

Indeed, good.
It’s a full-scale terrible deal for Ukraine and an extortion by the American Baddie state.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:55 pm

aphrael (003dd9) — 3/28/2025 @ 4:11 pm

Yeah, it’s shocking.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 6:46 pm

He suffers from a common “smart guy”(tm) fallacy

Shorter: “More cowbell”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:05 pm

This is part of Trump’s stupid crackdown on immigration.

Why is it stupid, Sammy? Do you think that we can handle 5 million immigrants a year forever? Also, why do think we have all these homeless, shantytowns and insufficient infrastructure? For extra credit, what should all those out of work tradesmen do to compete with $5/hr under the table competitors?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:09 pm

You are in that range where too many goods are rising at too fast of a price.

Paul, I’ve been saying the time will come when there is a preference cascade against Trump and all his works. Probably led by the former MAGA types.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:12 pm

One would think that the higher the rank and the more serious the error, the more serious the consequences.

All this in only 7 weeks. We’re going to be exhausted by the end of summer.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:16 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:12 pm

I was hoping for that in July 2018 at Helsinki, Kevin, so I have no expectations until there’s a critical mass of Republicans in the Senate who will vote to convict, and I’ve seen none of that.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:20 pm

Just a reminder that the Espionage Act doesn’t consider whether information is “classified”, it covers national defense materials, which is what was contained in Waltz-Hegseth chat group.

Related, Hegseth should not have brought his third wife to a meeting where national defense information was discussed.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions.

One of the meetings, a high-level discussion at the Pentagon on March 6 between Hegseth and U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey, took place at a sensitive moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, one day after the U.S. said it had cut off military intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The group that met at the Pentagon, which included Adm. Tony Radakin, the head of the U.K.’s armed forces, discussed the U.S. rationale behind that decision, as well as future military collaboration between the two allies, according to people familiar with the meeting.

A secretary can invite anyone to meetings with visiting counterparts, but attendee lists are usually carefully limited to those who need to be there and attendees are typically expected to possess security clearances given the delicate nature of the discussions, according to defense officials and people familiar with the meeting. There is often security near the meeting space to keep away uninvited attendees.

It’s just more amateur hour by this amateur-hour SecDef.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:32 pm

Paul, I’ve been saying the time will come when there is a preference cascade against Trump and all his works. Probably led by the former MAGA types.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:12 pm

An absolute fantasy. The Republicans in Congress are dancing with the one who brought them to power.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:50 pm

Paul, I’ve been saying the time will come when there is a preference cascade against Trump and all his works. Probably led by the former MAGA types.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:12 pm

And if that time comes, it will probably be too late; and anyway what would change? Vance would become President, and I doubt there would be any policy changes.

Rip Murdock (f259db) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:56 pm

In faux noise interview with his punks musk says he has about had about enough of winning and will leave maybe in may. That won’t save tesla.

asset (8ea772) — 3/28/2025 @ 11:25 pm

The hypocrisy is this…

Russia never repaid the U.S. the value of military aid produced during WW2 under lend-lease

The Russians repaid less than 1%. As said in thread, “They didn’t say ‘thank you’ either but act like they won alone. Plus they went on to invade eastern Europe.”

Meantime, the latest revision of Trump-Ukraine mineral deal could’ve been written by Putin, given that it’s worse for Ukraine.

Zelensky: We’ve received a revised mineral deal from the U.S.- it’s radically different. Strangely, some clauses both sides already rejected have resurfaced 1/

Zelensky: The U.S. has made it official – future aid won’t be free. But Ukraine does not and will not treat past military support as debt. 2/

More here.

Ukraine will not sign a minerals deal with the U.S. if it threatens its accession to the European Union, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 28.

Zelensky’s remarks came a day after details of a new alleged draft of a mineral agreement between Kyiv and Washington emerged. The Financial Times reported on March 27 that the latest version of the agreement proposed by the U.S. includes terms that would grant Washington unprecedented control over Ukraine’s natural resources through a joint investment fund.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:26 am

If you haven’t, read Rick Reilly’s Commander in Cheat. You will find, for example, a good way to cut down on government spending: cut down on the Loser’s golf. Each trip costs us close to half a million dollars.

And you will find this in the “Afterword” to the paperback edition:

After all these kinds of calls [about Trump cheating], I’d always ask the follow-up question: What did Trump say when you confronted him?

Three times I heard the exact same answer: Trump would turn in mock anger and declare, “I cheat on my wives. I cheat on my taxes. You don’t think I’m going to cheat at golf? On my own course?”

I think it fair to conclude that his attacks on the IRS are intended, in part, to making cheating on taxes less risky.

Jim Miller (63a4a6) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:28 am

I know Jim usually does the cartoon thing, but here’s one.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 8:01 am

Good for UC Davis Law, for dissolving their Jew-hating student association and taking their money back.

UC Davis dissolved the Law Students Association after the group passed a resolution that would institute an association-wide academic and fiscal boycott of Israel for its “ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine.”

UC Davis School of Law Dean Jessica Berg announced Monday that UC Davis suspended operations of LSA and directed law school administrators to take control of the association’s funds, which amounts to $40,000, according to university spokesperson Bill Kisliuk.

Kisliuk said that LSA “knowingly violated” University of California policy that requires student government organizations to support activities on a “viewpoint-neutral” basis.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 8:17 am

Just a reminder that the Espionage Act doesn’t consider whether information is “classified”, it covers national defense materials, which is what was contained in Waltz-Hegseth chat group.

Related, Hegseth should not have brought his third wife to a meeting where national defense information was discussed.

It’s just more amateur hour by this amateur-hour SecDef.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:32 pm

Please link to your outrage and suggestions that Jill Biden should be charged with Espionage for all the cabinet meetings she attended.

I’ll wait before I accuse you of the usual partisan hypocrisy.

NJRob (2b0706) — 3/29/2025 @ 8:42 am

Please link to your outrage and suggestions that Jill Biden should be charged with Espionage for all the cabinet meetings she attended.

Cabinet meetings are public events, Rob, with media pool cameras and reporters and everything.

Do you have actual evidence that Jill Biden was in a room with defense officials who are discussing classified national defense matters?
Or are you parroting something that a right-winger told you?

Cite your claim, preferably with link(s) and facts.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 8:49 am

So you got nothing and are just sealioning.

Got ir.

NJRob (2b0706) — 3/29/2025 @ 8:54 am

Nice and dishonest burden-shifting, Rob.

You made the claim, so you back it up.

So answer the question…Do you have actual evidence that Jill Biden was in a room with defense officials who were discussing classified national defense matters?

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 9:02 am

The stock markets so far under the Trump Administration, since his inauguration:

DJIA: -2,442 pts; -5.54%

NASDAQ: -2,434; -12.32%

S & P 500: -469; -7.75%

Russell 2000: -293; -12.68%

From the indexes high point during the same period:

DJIA: -3,290 pts; -7.73%

NASDAQ: -2,734; -13.36%

S & P 500: -564; -9.17%

Russell 2000: -293; -12.68%

Based on WSJ advance charts for each index.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 9:15 am

Here’s another “Tren de Aragua gang member” who was abducted and taken to an El Salvadoran gulag with zero due process.

Reyes Mota is among the hundreds of Venezuelans that the Trump administration deported earlier this month through the use of extraordinary wartime powers based on a 1798 law. The administration sent them to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, claiming they are members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

But the 24-year-old father does not have a criminal record in Venezuela. His U.S. immigration detention records are riddled with mistakes, raising questions about how reliable they are. He does not have tattoos and his family members deny he has any gang ties.

“He’s not a gang member, judge,” Prada said.

Had Reyes Mota still been in the United States, the hearing related to his asylum request would have been a commonplace matter. But his absence showcases the remarkable nature of the Venezuelans’ deportation to El Salvador. As lawyers argue the deportation flights were unlawful and violated a federal judge’s order, the immigration court system is navigating the case of an asylum seeker with pending immigration proceedings whom the Trump administration flew to another country without due process.

To summarize…

No criminal record
No tattoos
No due process
Father [step] of a 9 year old, loving pet owner
Family insistent that he has no gang affiliations
Sent to prison camp

The conservative take should be that denying immigrants due process, whether they’re here legally or illegally, is un-American and unpatriotic, because conservatives should be all about due process, the Constitution and the rule of law, but what happened to Mota isn’t conservative, it’s right-wing, authoritarian and fascist.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 9:15 am

DOGE should look into this.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:22 am

Dr. Gorski has a thorough takedown of the non-credible David Geier, who RFK Jr. chose to run a study on the connection between vaccines and autism. I wonder how many CDC and NIH studies have been run by folks who only hold bachelor’s degrees, but Geier is one of them.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:28 am

While RFK Jr. promoted an anti-vax crank to run an anti-vax study, he fired the architect of Operation War Speed because the scientist rejected the HHS Secretary’s bullshyte about measles vaccines.

“It is unconscionable with measles outbreaks to not have a full-throated endorsement of measles vaccinations,” Marks told The Post.

The FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Two former FDA commissioners praised Marks on Friday night, highlighting his work at the agency. Marks helped conceive of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program to accelerate the development of coronavirus vaccines, which has been credited with helping end the threat of the covid-19 pandemic. A December 2022 study by the Commonwealth Fund, a health-care foundation, estimated that coronavirus vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million U.S. hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:34 am

While RFK Jr. promoted an anti-vax crank to run an anti-vax study, he fired the architect of Operation War Speed because the scientist rejected the HHS Secretary’s bullshyte about measles vaccines.

Paul, what about Bob Smith Jr. ESQ, who…I can’t…

Rob, please, can you tell us why this is such a great idea.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:56 am

I have no expectations until there’s a critical mass of Republicans in the Senate who will vote to convict, and I’ve seen none of that.

That’s what happens in a preference cascade. Nixon won 49 states in November 1972, but would have lost in a landslide 18 months later.

It won’t be about foreign policy. Never is. It will be about the wrecked economy and the failure of deportation. When those Senators find themselves up against the wall defending Trump’s recklessness, they will “get their minds right.”

Unless one expects tariffs, rando deportation, and expansionist threats to help MAGA voters, Trump is not going to do well. And Vance has tied himself to Trump.

The only thing that will save him is the appearance of partisan obstruction and sabotage by the Democrats.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:59 am

While JD Vance has insulted fellow NATO member Denmark for “not being a good ally,” the US was not a good ally to Denmark in 1968, when a jet containing four hydrogen bombs crashed into the fjord next to Thule airbase.

Fifty years ago, on Jan. 21, 1968, the Cold War grew significantly colder. It was on this day that an American B-52G Stratofortress bomber, carrying four nuclear bombs, crashed onto the sea ice of Wolstenholme Fjord in the northwest corner of Greenland, one of the coldest places on Earth. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the Danes were not pleased.

The bomber – call sign HOBO 28 – had crashed due to human error. One of the crew members had stuffed some seat cushions in front of a heating vent, and they subsequently caught fire. The smoke quickly became so thick that the crew needed to eject. Six of the 7 crew members parachuted out safely before the plane crashed onto the frozen fjord 7 miles west of Thule Air Base – America’s most northern military base, 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

The island of Greenland, situated about halfway between Washington D.C. and Moscow, has strategic importance to the American military – so much so that the United States had, in 1946, made an unsuccessful bid to buy it from Denmark. Nevertheless, Denmark, a strong ally of the United States, did allow the American military to operate an air base at Thule.

The crash severely strained the United States’ relationship with Denmark, since Denmark’s 1957 nuclear-free zone policy had prohibited the presence of any nuclear weapons in Denmark or its territories. The Thule crash revealed that the United States had actually been routinely flying planes carrying nuclear bombs over Greenland, and one of those illicit flights had now resulted in the radioactive contamination of a fjord.

The radioactivity was released because the nuclear warheads had been compromised. The impact from the crash and the subsequent fire had broken open the weapons and released their radioactive contents, but luckily, there was no nuclear detonation.

To be specific, HOBO 28’s nuclear weapons were actually hydrogen bombs. As I explain in my book, “Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation,” a hydrogen bomb (or H-bomb) is a second-generation type of nuclear weapon that is much more powerful than the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those two bombs were “fission” bombs – bombs that get their energy from the splitting (fission) of very large atoms (such as uranium and plutonium) into smaller atoms.

In contrast, HOBO 28’s bombs were fusion bombs – bombs that get their energy from the union (fusion) of the very small nuclei of hydrogen atoms. Each of the four Mark 28 F1 hydrogen bombs that HOBO 28 carried were nearly 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (1,400 kilotons versus 15 kilotons).

Fusion bombs release so much more energy than fission bombs that it’s hard to comprehend. For example, if a fission bomb like Hiroshima’s were dropped on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., it’s likely that the White House (about 1.5 miles away) would suffer little direct damage. In contrast, if just one of the Mark 28 F1 hydrogen bombs were dropped on the Capitol building, it would destroy the White House as well as everything else in Washington, D.C. (a destructive radius of about 7.5 miles). It is for this reason that North Korea’s recent claim of achieving hydrogen bomb capabilities is so very worrisome.

The US wanted to leave the mess be, but the Danes insisted that we clean our mess up if we want to continue having an airbase there, so we did the right thing and cleaned it up.

In 2025, Denmark will be spending 2.5% of their GDP on defense, well above the agreed-upon 2% threshold, which is what good allies do.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:00 am

The Republicans in Congress are dancing with the one who brought them to power.

No, the Democrats brought them to a massive 3-vote majority.

And, Rip, let’s save you some typing. Just call this your Objection #1.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:00 am

The stock markets so far under the Trump Administration, since his inauguration

In Reagan’s first year the DJIA was down over 20%.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:07 am

O, Canada!

..……..
A new analysis released Thursday by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce detailed the areas most dependent on exports to Canada, with San Antonio and Detroit topping the list of 41 U.S. metro areas. The findings show that the United States’ 25% tariffs on Canada and Canada’s retaliations could inflict meaningful damage in key states for U.S. politics.

The analysis was conducted before the Republican president announced Wednesday that he was placing additional 25% tariffs on imported autos and parts starting on April 3.
………..
Nearly half of what San Antonio exports, with its aerospace, auto and energy sectors, goes to Canada. About 40% of what the auto-driven Detroit area exports also goes to Canada. Trump’s wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were crucial for his overall victory in November’s presidential election — and Milwaukee and Pittsburgh also rank in the top 10 for exposure to a trade war with Canada.

Other cities most dependent on exports to Canada include Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; Chicago; and Cleveland. All of those states aside from Illinois backed Trump in the last election.
…………

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:09 am

In Reagan’s first year the DJIA was down over 20%.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:07 am

Events 40 years ago are irrelevant.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:11 am

The Republicans in Congress are dancing with the one who brought them to power.

No, the Democrats brought them to a massive 3-vote majority.

And, Rip, let’s save you some typing. Just call this your Objection #1.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:00 am

A three vote majority is still a majority. To paraphrase President Trump, he could shoot someone on Pennsylvania Avenue and still not get impeached.

And my Objection #2, that impeaching Trump will result in President Vance, with no changes to policy?

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:16 am

In Reagan’s first year the DJIA was down over 20%.

False.
On Inauguration Day 2021, the Dow was 951 and dropped 8.0% to 875 at year-end.

Trump’s Dow went from 44,026 on Inauguration Day to 41,584, a 5.5% drop.
For Reagan over the same time period, the Dow rose 4.6%, to 995, when our economy was between recessions.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:23 am

The conservative take should be that denying immigrants due process, whether they’re here legally or illegally, is un-American and unpatriotic

Agreed, but how much process is due? Clearly this man got very little, if any, but I’d be concerned if everyone got a trial and three appeals before they lost, too.

Immigration cases are messy due to varying degrees of residence: Someone just over the border is not quite a resident, nor are tourists. And at the border even citizens have reduced rights.

From what we’ve been seeing, though, Trump’s use of a wartime law, coupled with “Trust us”, isn’t going to work.

————

What we really need is for Congress, now under the gun, to actually pass a workable immigration bill to replace the largely-gamed and largely-ignored one we have now.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:24 am

……..I’ve been saying the time will come when there is a preference cascade against Trump and all his works. Probably led by the former MAGA types.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/28/2025 @ 7:12 pm

The idea that Republicans will impeach and remove President Trump over (nonexistent) policy differences is your companion hobby horse to overturning INS v. Chada. As unlikely as that might seem (given it was based on the Constitution and not a statutory interpretation), it has a better chance of happening than Trump being impeached.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:25 am

For Reagan over the same time period, the Dow rose 4.6%, to 995, when our economy was between recessions.

Then in July it went into recession and the Dow was down about 20% by year-end. Both presidents followed feckless administrations and the economy Reagan inherited was worse. People were relieved at the change in 1981 (and 2017, actually).

This time seems different. I was not defending Trump, but trying to put things in perspective: The Dow is an imperfect measure of political mood.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:30 am

it has a better chance of happening than Trump being impeached.

Wait until the GOP loses 5 or more senate seats in 2026 and 8 or so more GOP senators are at risk in 2028. The Democrat House will push the issue with bells on, putting the question to the GOP: Is this the hill you want to die on?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:35 am

>Wait until the GOP loses 5 or more senate seats in 2026

Have you *seen* the 2026 Senate map?

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:38 am

The conservative take should be that denying immigrants due process, whether they’re here legally or illegally, is un-American and unpatriotic

Agreed, but how much process is due? Clearly this man got very little, if any, but I’d be concerned if everyone got a trial and three appeals before they lost, too.
……….

Asked and answered.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:38 am

Because in *most* of those states, even if they’re unhappy with Trump, people will see that the alternative is *a Democrat* and stick with the Republican — the Democratic party is just that toxic a brand.

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:42 am

The Dow is an imperfect measure of political mood.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:30 am

What it is now showing are business fears over Trump’s tariff policies, not necessarily the overall political mood.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:47 am

BS Paul. You’re spinning as usual.

NJRob (2b0706) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:48 am

No it’s not Rip. The DOW is coming off its own addiction to Uncle Sugar as the government finally tries to reduce expenditures after blowing smoke for the past 40 years.

NJRob (2b0706) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:49 am

When has a Congress impeached a President over midterm election results?

Is this a prediction that you’re willing to die on?

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:49 am

In Reagan’s first year the DJIA was down over 20%.

False.
On Inauguration Day 2021, the Dow was 951 and dropped 8.0% to 875 at year-end.

I’m sure you mean 1981. OK. I got this from an imperfect chart.

A better chart (of the S&P 500 which is a better measure anyway) shows it took until August 11, 1982 for the S&P to hit a nadir. It was 131 on Jan 20th ’81 and 102 on Aug 11 ’82, a drop of 23%. It then rose and was 137 at the mid-term election. The GOP still lost 26 House seats.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:53 am

The Democrat House will push the issue with bells on, putting the question to the GOP: Is this the hill you want to die on?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:35 am

Any resolution will be deep-sixed like the Myorakas impeachment. And why would the Democrats impeach Trump and make Vance president and the prohibitive front runner in 2028?

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:57 am

Have you *seen* the 2026 Senate map?

You mean the one where 8 GOP Senators got under 55% of the vote last time? How well will they do if the economy is in tatters due to these tariffs? Especially those heavily dependent on agriculture (Kansas and Iowa for sure, and both Carolinas, Texas and Mississippi have a lot) which will see many farm foreclosures when export markets close.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:05 pm

Democrats impeach Trump and make Vance president and the prohibitive front runner in 2028

1) Anything that works against Trump works on mini-Me. Agnew didn’t save Nixon.
2) If they can impeach Trump, they’d be fine with mini-Me being the GOP candidate.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:08 pm

O, Canada II:

………
After President Trump said he would impose tariffs on Canada, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to change their vacation plans to focus on exploring sites within the country. It worked.

Canadian residents returned from 13% fewer trips by air to the U.S. in February than they did a year ago, according to preliminary data from Statistics Canada. Land-border crossings fell, too, with Statistics Canada reporting February’s Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. dropped 23% from a year earlier.
………….
More than the tariff threats, Canadians say Trump’s threats of annexation have infuriated and scared them, so much so that they won’t cross the border to spend time or money. Recent news about lengthy detentions for tourists and green-card holders has further deterred would-be travelers.

A boycott by the top international visitor threatens to upend local economies across the U.S. Canadians made about 20.2 million visits to the U.S. in 2024. Even a 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean $2 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses, according to the U.S. Travel Association trade group.

The administration has held firm on its messaging. “Canadians will no longer have to worry about the inconveniences of international travel when they become American citizens as residents of our cherished 51st state,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
………..
The Canadian airlines have reduced their seat capacity to the U.S. by an average of 6.1% for April, May and June, compared with their Jan. 31 schedules, according to Cirium, an aviation-analytics company.

Canadian arrivals declined 9.4% in February to Las Vegas, compared with a year ago, federal air-travel data show, and dropped 11% for Newark and the New York airports. But the decline wasn’t universal. Arrivals to Phoenix rose 15% year-over-year.
…………
Bridge traffic for the four bridges that connect into Erie and Niagara County is down 14% for February compared with a year ago, says Patrick Kaler, chief executive of Visit Buffalo Niagara. Canadian traffic to the destination’s website is down 52% since the tariff discussion began.

Canadians make up 35% to 40% of annual visitation to Buffalo. ………..
…………

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:09 pm

When has a Congress impeached a President over midterm election results?

Do you think it would have helped Nixon to have the 1974 mid-terms in the rear-view?

Your whole argument is that the Congressional GOP is utterly afraid of what Trump’s wrath can do to them. Suppose they fear his support more?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:11 pm

No it’s not Rip. The DOW is coming off its own addiction to Uncle Sugar as the government finally tries to reduce expenditures after blowing smoke for the past 40 years.

NJRob (2b0706) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:49 am

That remains to be seen pending further court and congressional decisions.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:11 pm

Then in July it went into recession and the Dow was down about 20% by year-end.

Sigh.
The Dow was 968 on 7/1/1981, the official start of the recession, and was 875 at year-end, which is 9.6% lower.

The lowest point of the Dow in 1981 was on Sept 24th at 836, when the recession was well underway, which is 12.1% lower than Inauguration Day and 13.6% lower than the start of the recession.

Reagan obviously inherited a worse situation because we had stagflation, a recession in the first half of 1980 and we still had high inflation (12.5% in 1980, lowering to 8.9% in 1981) and high interest rates (18.9% fed funds rate in Dec-1980). Those were much more economically perilous times.

Trump basically has no excuse.
In 4th quarter 2024, we had 2.4% GDP growth, 500k new jobs, 4.1% unemployment and 2.9% inflation in December, and a lowering fed funds rate, to 4.75% in Sep-2024.

Despite these favorable economic conditions, Trump can easily take us into recession if he insists on continuing his economic and foreign policy stupidity.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:18 pm

Your whole argument is that the Congressional GOP is utterly afraid of what Trump’s wrath can do to them. Suppose they fear his support more?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:11 pm

I don’t think the Congressional GOP is necessarily afraid of Trump; for the most part they support what he has been doing. They may disagree with his tactics (though no one has really objected to DOGE’s approach), but overall they have been supportive. Why would they impeach him at all?

The only members of Congress that are afraid of Trump are those that never supported him in the first place (a distinct minority of Republicans.)

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:21 pm

BS Paul. You’re spinning as usual.

You’re still burden-shifting, bub.

Again, you made a claim, so it’s on you, the claimer, to back up what you say, and you haven’t. Instead, you burden-shifted and now you’re gaslighting to cover your own spin.

This is the 3rd time I’m asking, so man up for once and answer it.

Do you have actual evidence that Jill Biden was in a room with defense officials who are discussing classified national defense matters?
Or are you parroting something that a right-winger told you?

Try using actual facts, not the “alt” kind.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:23 pm

1) Anything that works against Trump works on mini-Me. Agnew didn’t save Nixon.

2) If they can impeach Trump, they’d be fine with mini-Me being the GOP candidate.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:08 pm

1) Nor did Gerald Ford.

2) A big (and a non-existent) if. Pure speculation.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:28 pm

The most painful tariff of all:

President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on softwood lumber risk disrupting the supply chain for something nobody wants to be caught without: toilet paper.

……….. While Trump advocates for new tariffs partly to bolster US manufacturing, they may also hit the availability of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp, or NBSK, a key component in making toilet paper and paper towels.

NBSK constitutes about 30% of standard US bathroom tissue and half of a typical paper towel, and is currently sourced primarily from Canada, said Brian McClay, chairman of TTOBMA, which tracks the global pulp market. He added that the US imported about 2 million tons of Canadian NBSK last year, highlighting the longstanding reliance of American paper-goods producers on pulp from their northern neighbor.
………….
Trump has long promoted tariffs as a tool to bring manufacturing back to the US, and he’s repeatedly said his country doesn’t need Canadian lumber. But that stance doesn’t account for the specific qualities of Canadian softwood pulp, which industry executives say can’t be easily substituted with American alternatives. NBSK is prized for its tensile strength.
………….
If import taxes on lumber exceed 50%, as they’re currently on track to, “that’s going to put some sawmills out of business, and that’ll reduce the supply of wood chips,” McClay said. “Because we don’t really cut trees for making pulp in Canada, we depend on residual chips from sawmills. It would certainly boost the cost and probably reduce output.”
………….
Amid a long-running trade dispute, the US currently applies duties totaling more than 14% on Canadian lumber. One of them is set to increase this year, taking the cumulative burden to almost 27%, according to a US Department of Commerce proposal. The White House’s threatened 25% tariffs on many Canadian goods would mean import taxes totaling about 52%.

And that’s before the conclusion of a Trump-ordered investigation into national security concerns around lumber imports, which could mean even more tariffs.
………..

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:41 pm

Agreed, but how much process is due?

Google AI says that…

“Due” in “due process” refers to the requirement that legal matters be resolved according to established rules and principles, ensuring fairness and the protection of individual rights.

…which sounds reasonable. The government should be able to prove (1) whether the detained person is here legally or illegally and (2) whether said person is in said gang.
We know of at least a handful of cases where neither is true and, IMO, it should be enough for a judge or a Circuit Court to order the return of these individuals from an El Salvadoran penal colony to ascertain their actual status.

Paul Montagu (97a04c) — 3/29/2025 @ 12:52 pm

So you got nothing and are just sealioning.

Sealioning is defined as…

Sealioning refers to the disingenuous action by a commenter of making an ostensible effort to engage in sincere and serious civil debate, usually by asking persistent questions of the other commenter. These questions are phrased in a way that may come off as an effort to learn and engage with the subject at hand, but are really intended to erode the goodwill of the person to whom they are replying, to get them to appear impatient or to lash out, and therefore come off as unreasonable.

You confronted me, Rob, and you clearly don’t understand the term, because I have no interest in being civil with a lying right-wing hack like you. I responded after you attacked me with your factless lie about Jill Biden, demanding that I link to something for which there was no basis.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 2:11 pm

Pure speculation.

Yes, it is my opinion not historic fact. But then I don’t dress up my opinions with polling, as if polls predict anything other than current speculation.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:00 pm

Yes, it is my opinion not historic fact. But then I don’t dress up my opinions with polling, as if polls predict anything other than current speculation.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:00 pm

Nor is your opinion based on any contemporary facts. I have never said polls predict the future, but they are guides to what the electorate thinks at a point in time.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:05 pm

The fact is that as of today, Trump still has a mortal lock (92% approval) among Republican voters; and until that changes, no Republican senator or congressman would consider impeachment.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:11 pm

“Due” in “due process” refers to the requirement that legal matters be resolved according to established rules

There are a number of court decisions in the past (and no doubt more in the immediate future) that deal with due process as it applies to immigration and non-citizens in various situations.

A person attempting to enter gets almost cursory due process, subject almost entirely to the examiner’s interest.

A person collected in reasonable proximity to the border with indications of unlawful entry gets maybe a bit more, but not a lot. Mostly related to whether his entry was recent.

A person who claims asylum after entry, gets at least a hearing on his claim.

A person who has been in-country illegally, or via a waiver, for several years gets quite a bit of due process.

A person who entered legally in normal order (e.g. not on parole or waiving of rules) gets full due process with respect to any claim of the state. However, unlike a citizen they CAN be deported.

A lot of line drawing.

In the case of the people being sent to El Salvador, the problems seem mostly to be in determining if they were indeed in the class asserted. It’s not so much the idea of removing dangerous felons quickly that bothers me, but the abuse of the trust that the administration demands and clearly doesn’t deserve. How hard can it be to interpose an independent fact-checker in the process? It’s got to be easier than having to fight this in federal court.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:13 pm

>How hard can it be to interpose an independent fact-checker in the process?

The entire point is clearly to *not* do that, to establish that they have the power to not do that, so that the same power can be used in other situations and instances.

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:24 pm

The fact is that as of today, Trump still has a mortal lock (92% approval) among Republican voters; and until that changes, no Republican senator or congressman would consider impeachment.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:11 pm

Which probably explains the lack of pushback by the Republican Congress; along with their general agreement with Trump and DOGE’s actions.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:25 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:13 pm

Can’t disagree.
For the ones who are established as illegals, the decision then is whether to send them to an El Salvadoran prison for the gang members or back to Venezuela for the non gang members.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:32 pm

Trump still has a mortal lock (92% approval) among Republican voters

And all I have ever said is I expect that will change as his actions harm his supporters, as they must. Even now, we see little support of these tariffs among people here, although in a MAGA environment they would either assert support or mumble a lot.

Across the political spectrum support is about what you’d expect, but tariffs have been losing favor in all groups in recent months.

Deportations seem to be both limited, when more were promised, and fouled up by administration overreach and bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Downsizing government has taken all kinds of wrong turns, with most of DOGE interested in noise and retail wins, rather than functional reorganization. Laying off the worst 5% in a department that is 95% useless is stupid. It’s like throwing the worst deck chairs off the Titanic.

Acting like mindless frat boys in the pursuit of terrorists also doesn’t help.

But, I could be wrong. What have they done that is going well?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:32 pm

How hard can it be to interpose an independent fact-checker in the process?

The immigration courts, which would make these determinations, are hopelessly.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:39 pm

Correction:

How hard can it be to interpose an independent fact-checker in the process?

The immigration courts, which would make these determinations, are hopelessly backlogged.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:39 pm

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:42 pm

It also seems that Trump is attempting to otherize dissent, to convince society that the dissenters are outliers, maybe a bit nuts, and are perceived to be wrong by all “right-thinking people.” Ultimately to get people to self-censor and keep their misgivings to themselves, a process called “preference falsification.”

This is not that unusual — the Left did this for years with DEI and gender fluidity and Trump’s election was how that brittle situation came undone.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:42 pm

What have they done that is going well?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:32 pm

Deportations have barely begun; let’s see what happens in six months or a year. Hopefully by the end of the numbers will exceed 1 million.

USAID and the Department of Education have both been quickly eliminated, both of which have been longstanding Republican goals.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:48 pm

The immigration courts, which would make these determinations, are hopelessly backlogged.

I am not suggesting that path at all. The immigration courts are hopelessly backlogged because they refuse to change in the face of a changed environment. Most of the determinations they are being asked to make are simple ones, but they insist on using a complicated process to evaluate them.

How hard can it be to determine wither someone’s body is covered by tattoos of a given type, or to review arrest records, and do it in a short period of time? A jury of 3 citizens — for example — picked though voir dire or similar, could sort out a stream of potentials fairly quickly and their presence would deter stupid cop tricks.

Is that “enough” due process? It sure would have been enough for some of these folks to be home right now instead of in a Central American hellhole.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:50 pm

Hopefully by the end of a year the numbers will exceed 1 million.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:51 pm

USAID and the Department of Education have both been quickly eliminated, both of which have been longstanding Republican goals.

Except for those portions of both that have to be preserved (throwing out the student loan repayment group would not do), the ongoing court cases, and the fact that it will take Congress to effect any resolution, with any number of GOP senators drawing the line at killing the filibuster.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:53 pm

This should not be a surprise:

The Trump administration on Friday pushed out Peter Marks, the nation’s top vaccine regulator and an architect of the U.S. program to rapidly develop coronavirus vaccines, a move that comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues his overhaul of the nation’s health and science agencies amid a worsening U.S. outbreak of measles.

Marks, who joined the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 and had overseen its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research since 2016, was offered the choice to resign or be fired, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive situation.

RFKJr is going to get a lot of people killed, most of them Americans.

(He’s made a lot of money from his anti-vaccine stands.)

Jim Miller (f5725e) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:54 pm

Given the demonstrated competence of the MAGA leadership, I expect that those student loan records are going to have an accident anyway. Malicious compliance.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:55 pm

(He’s made a lot of money from his anti-vaccine stands.)

I wonder how much he’ll have to kick up.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:56 pm

Is that “enough” due process? It sure would have been enough for some of these folks to be home right now instead of in a Central American hellhole.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:50 pm

I’m sure Congress will get around to setting up such a system any day now.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:56 pm

RFKJr is going to get a lot of people killed, most of them Americans.

He’s already killed a lot of older Americans who won’t get a vaccine for newer flu strains. They just don’t know they’re dead yet.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:57 pm

I’m sure Congress will get around to setting up such a system any day now.

Why does it take Congress? Does the law not allow the administration to take care it is executing the law correctly?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:58 pm

Is that “enough” due process? It sure would have been enough for some of these folks to be home right now instead of in a Central American hellhole.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:50 pm

As you know, not according to current Supreme Court precedents.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:00 pm

Why does it take Congress? Does the law not allow the administration to take care it is executing the law correctly?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:58 pm

The president (nominally) needs a law to execute, which needs the approval of Congress. There’s nothing in the Constitution that delegates the congressional power to set up courts to the executive branch.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:08 pm

Rip, we are talking about the quick deportation of “Enemy Aliens” for which no court has jurisdiction. The administration cannot double check what it’s minions are doing? Is this your argument?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:10 pm

Or did I miss a goalpost move?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:11 pm

> This is not that unusual

I don’t recall the left issuing executive orders punishing law firms, or threatening to revoke all federal funding from universities if they didn’t put particular academic programs into receivership, or kicking wire services out of the press pool.

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:11 pm

Regarding Timothy Snyder, I think he’s foolishly overreacting by moving to Canada, that it’s cowardly to flee the US instead of staying here and fighting the brave fight for our freedoms.

But that said, he’s right about the stupidity of Trump-Vance wanting to conquer Canada and Greenland.

Even today, Trump is doubling down on taking Greenland against Greenland’s will, which is quite Putinist, fascist and makes our country the Baddie.

“We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” Trump said.

He added that there’s a “good possibility that we could do it without military force” but that “I don’t take anything off the table.”

Trump’s unrelenting territorial ambitions on Greenland and Canada are absurd, insane and malevolent. Snyder…

The base at Pituffik (formerly Thule) only exists because Denmark permitted the United States to build it at a sensitive time. It has served the United States for decades as a central part of its nuclear armory and then as an early-warning system against Soviet and then Russian nuclear attack.

When Vance says that Denmark is not protecting Greenland and the base, he is wishing away generations of cooperation, as well as the NATO alliance itself. Denmark was a founding member of NATO, and it is already American’s job to defend Denmark and Greenland, just as it is Denmark’s job (as with other members) to defend the United States.
[…]
The threat in the Arctic invoked by Vance is Russia; and of course defending against a Russian attack is the NATO mission. But right now the United States is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine. No one is doing more to contain the Russian threat than Ukraine. Indeed, Ukraine is in effect fulfilling the entire NATO mission, right now, by absorbing a huge Russian attack. But Vance opposes helping Ukraine, spreads Russian propaganda about Ukraine, and is best known for yelling at Ukraine’s president in the Oval Office. On the base, Vance blamed the killing in Ukraine on Biden rather than on Putin, which is grotesque. Vance claimed that there is now an energy cease-fire in place between Russia and Ukraine; in fact, Russia violated it immediately. Russia is now preparing a massive spring offensive against Ukraine; the response of Musk-Trump has been to ignore this larger reality completely while allowing Biden-era aid to Ukraine to come to an end. Denmark meanwhile has given more than four times as much aid to Ukraine, per capita, as does the United States.

Greenland, Denmark, and the United States have been enmeshed in complex and effective security arrangements, touching on the gravest scenarios, for the better part of a century. Arctic security, an issue discovered by Trump and Vance very recently, was a preoccuption for decades during and after the cold war. There are only a couple hundred Americans at Pituffik where once there were ten thousand; there is only that one US base on the island where once there were a dozen; but that is American policy, not Denmark’s fault.

We really do have a problem taking responsibility. The United States has fallen well behind its allies and its rivals in the Arctic, in part because members of Vance’s political party denied for decades the reality of global warming, which has made it hard for the U.S. Navy to persuade Congress of the need to commission icebreakers. The United States only has two functional arctic icebreakers; the Biden administration was intending to cooperate with Canada, which has some, and with Finland, which builds lots, in order to compete with Russia, which has the most. That common plan would have allowed the United States to surpass Russia in icebreaking capacity. This is one of countless examples of how cooperation with NATO allies benefits the United States. It is not clear what will happen with that arrangement now that Trump and Vance define Canada, like Denmark, as a rival or even as an enemy. Presumably it will break down, leaving Russia dominant.

As with everything Musk-Trump does, however, the cui bono question about imperialism in Greenland is easy to answer: Russia benefits. Putin cannot contain his delight with American imperialism over Greenland. In generating artificial crises in relations with both Denmark and Canada, America’s two closest allies these last eighty years, the Trump people cut America loose from security gains and create a chaos in which Russia benefits.

The American imperialism directed towards Denmark and Canada is not just morally wrong. It is strategically disastrous. The United States has nothing to gain from it, and much to lose. There is nothing that Americans cannot get from Denmark or Canada through alliance. The very existence of the base at Pituffik shows that. Within the atmosphere of friendship that has prevailed the last eighty years, all of the mineral resources of Canada and Greenland can be traded for on good terms, or for that matter explored by American companies. The only way to put all of this easy access in doubt was to follow the course that Musk-Trump have chosen: trade wars with Canada and Europe, and the threat of actual wars and annexations. Musk-Trump are creating the bloodily moronic situation in which the United States will have to fight wars to get the things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking. And of course wars rarely turn out the way one expects.

Much effort is spent trying to extract a doctrine from all this. But there is none. It is just senselessness that benefits America’s enemies.

There’s a reason why Trump golfed with the Finnish president today, because we need him to sell us icebreakers.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:19 pm

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 2:11 pm

You didn’t answer, but instead tried to demand I answer your questions over and over again.

You got caught. And you know it.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:36 pm

Rip, we are talking about the quick deportation of “Enemy Aliens” for which no court has jurisdiction.

My argument is that those who were deported to El Salvador were not “enemy aliens” under a plain reading of the Alien Enemies Act; see Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson’s concurring opinion here.

The Alien Enemies Act (AEA) contains two provisions: a conditional clause and an operative clause. The conditional clause limits the AEA’s substantive authority to conflicts between the United States and a foreign power. Specifically, there must be (i) “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or” (ii) an “invasion or predatory incursion [] perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government,”

My emphasis.

As such, they were covered by the existing Supreme Court precedents regarding due process for illegal immigrants.

Rip Murdock (8e6618) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:41 pm

You didn’t answer, but instead tried to demand I answer your questions over and over again.

You didn’t ask a question, sh-t for brains. You made a demand based on a factless bogus premise, so thanks again for confirming your lying asshole status.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:42 pm

Things are going great in the democratic party. Do you know hard it is to get tofu eating snowflake moderates who support the corporate establishment donor class stooges who run the democrat party angry enough to want to through them out for AOC?

asset (6296f5) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:47 pm

This bears repeating, Rob, because you clearly don’t understand what cabinet meetings are about. They are PUBLIC EVENTS, where media is in attendance, so of course no one there is going to talk about classified intel, and you have no evidence that anything classified was spoken. About the only thing said in cabinet meetings is embarrassingly cringeworthy gushing for the president.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/29/2025 @ 6:49 pm

I don’t recall the left issuing executive orders punishing law firms, or threatening to revoke all federal funding from universities if they didn’t put particular academic programs into receivership, or kicking wire services out of the press pool.

The first IS unusual (and will be stopped). Federal funds have been threatened before. All those men’s schools that went coed in the 90’s, for example. Title IX also made universities change athletic programs — women’s basketball wasn’t a thing.

Seemingly every president has kicked someone out of the press pool, sometimes for reasons as petty as Trump’s.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:13 pm

But that said, he’s right about the stupidity of Trump-Vance wanting to conquer Canada and Greenland.

It is pretty dumb. Not sure where it falls on the Trump-dumbness scale though.

Recent I found out why the US bought Alaska from Russia. Seward wanted to isolate Canada strategically and wanted to get Greenland, too, but an election intervened. Post-Civil War, where Britain had threatened to intervene, was not a high point of US-Canada relations.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:17 pm

“invasion or predatory incursion [] perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government,”

As this regards Venezuela and gang incursions, you are assuming facts not in evidence.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:21 pm

“invasion or predatory incursion [] perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government,”

As this regards Venezuela and gang incursions, you are assuming facts not in evidence.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:21 pm

So is the Trump Administration.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:29 pm

But there is no evidence (at least made public by the Administration) that the Venezuelan government is behind Tren de Aragua. Absent that, the Alien Enemies Act is not applicable.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:32 pm

” Title IX also made universities change athletic programs — women’s basketball wasn’t a thing.”

It’s going to be ironically funny when the party of “saving women’s sports” ends up destroying them.

Davethulhu (f81813) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:36 pm

I feel sorry for the never trumpers here. No party just wandering out in the wilderness. By your own accounts 90% of republicans support trump who proved it was a hollow shell run by the wealthy 10% who could buy party outcomes. Then came trump who you couldn’t buy and he invited in the white trash southern democrats to take over the party. (Actually reagan invited them in 1980 southern strategy) They had no $ or leader till trump. AOC and the left are doing the same to the donors who run the democrat party. No more can we all get along and let the wealthy run things.

asset (9a0c8d) — 3/29/2025 @ 9:16 pm

Rip Murdock – the link between the venezuelan government and TdA is one of the few things I *do* believe the Trump administration on.

But I absolutely agree as a matter of process that they need to make the argument to a court.

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 10:35 pm

But I absolutely agree as a matter of process that they need to make the argument to a court.

Maduro is on double secret probation.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 12:08 am

So much for that Trump promise that “prices would begin to come down on the first day of his presidency”.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he “couldn’t care less” if car prices spike because of his 25 percent tariffs on auto imports, saying the levies will prompt more people to buy American cars.

Sadly, there were people who believed the pathological liar.

(There was a poll in the UK showing that most voters do not understand that “reducing inflation” means slower price increases, not prices falling. I would not be surprised if the same is true here.)

Jim Miller (fd3dcd) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:19 am

He will abandon the tariffs once his crime syndicate can no longer make money by shorting this sector of the stock market, and he will switch to another scheme.

nk (252fcc) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:37 am

Bulls make money; and bears makes money; and pigs make money if they have their pet grifter in the White House roiling large sectors of the economy.

nk (252fcc) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:50 am

What happens to the loyal sheep?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 7:23 am

Rip Murdock – the link between the venezuelan government and TdA is one of the few things I *do* believe the Trump administration on.

How did the Administration prove that link?

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 7:33 am

RIP actor Richard Chamberlain (90):

………
Chamberlain’s All-American matinee idol looks stood in the way of his acting career at times until he proved himself onstage in a highly lauded production of “Hamlet” and other Shakespearean turns. It was not enough, however, to propel him to a major big-screen career. He starred in several notable films including “Petulia,” “The Three Musketeers,” “The Music Lovers” and Peter Weir’s “The Last Wave.” But his forte continued to be the small screen, where he played everyone from England’s Edward VIII and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald to World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg.
………….
But he is best remembered as the ambitious Australian priest in the high-rated TV miniseries adaptation of Colleen McCullough’s weighty romance novel “The Thorn Birds.”

“Shogun,” based on James Clavell’s novel, was also a strong miniseries vehicle for Chamberlain in 1980. In the wake of these successes, he commanded top dollar for his television services through to 1996’s sequel to “The Thorn Birds,” titled “The Missing Years.”

MGM put the young Chamberlain under contract in the early 1960s and assigned him the role of Dr. Kildare, based on the popular film series that had starred Lew Ayres. The hourlong medical drama, co-starring Raymond Massey, debuted in fall 1961 and was an immediate hit, running through 1966.
………..

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 7:45 am

What happens to the loyal sheep?

The ones who are contemplating retiring in the near future are going to be royally screwed. The younger ones may have time for their retirement accounts and pension plans to recover, but they may not have jobs to retire from.

nk (252fcc) — 3/30/2025 @ 8:19 am

the link between the venezuelan government and TdA is one of the few things I *do* believe the Trump administration on.

I don’t believe Trump, for reasons.

But American intelligence agencies circulated findings last month that stand starkly at odds with Mr. Trump’s claims, according to officials familiar with the matter. The document, dated Feb. 26, summarized the shared judgment of the nation’s spy agencies that the gang was not controlled by the Venezuelan government.

The disclosure calls into question the credibility of Mr. Trump’s basis for invoking a rarely used wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to transfer a group of Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador last weekend, with no due process.

The intelligence community assessment concluded that the gang, Tren de Aragua, was not directed by Venezuela’s government or committing crimes in the United States on its orders, according to the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Analysts put that conclusion at a “moderate” confidence level, the officials said, because of a limited volume of available reporting about the gang. Most of the intelligence community, including the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, agreed with that assessment.

Only one agency, the F.B.I., partly dissented. It maintained the gang has a connection to the administration of Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, based on information the other agencies did not find credible.

Also, neither Venezuelan nor TdA showed up in Trump’s 2025 National Threat Assessment.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/30/2025 @ 8:20 am

RIP singer/songwriter Jesse Collin Young (80):

…………
(He) started performing in Greenwich Village in 1961, releasing his first album, The Soul of a City Boy, in 1964. In the mid-Sixties, Young and Jerry Corbitt formed a duo and toured as the Youngbloods. Eventually, Lowell “Banana” Levinger and Joe Bauer joined the group, and they became the house band at the Café Au Go Go in the Village.

The group’s 1967 eponymous album contained the song “Get Together,” which didn’t receive much attention at the time. Two years later, in 1969, when the Youngbloods’ version of “Get Together” appeared in a public service announcement for the National Council of Christians and Jews, the Youngbloods’ song took off and became the anthem of a generation advocating for love, peace, and justice.

After the Youngbloods broke up in 1972, Young embarked on a solo career, releasing eighteen albums from the early 1970s through his most recent in 2020, including, among others, Song for Juli (1973), Light Shine (1974), Songbird (1975), and The Perfect Stranger (1982).
…………

Paragraph breaks added.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 10:00 am

“invasion or predatory incursion [] perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government,”

As this regards Venezuela and gang incursions, you are assuming facts not in evidence.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 7:21 pm

See Paul’s post 140; apparently the Trump administration is also assuming “facts not in evidence.”

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 10:07 am

USAID and the Department of Education have both been quickly eliminated, both of which have been longstanding Republican goals.

Except for those portions of both that have to be preserved (throwing out the student loan repayment group would not do), the ongoing court cases, and the fact that it will take Congress to effect any resolution, with any number of GOP senators drawing the line at killing the filibuster.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/29/2025 @ 5:53 pm

If Congress fails to include the agencies in next year’s budget, they will be effectively eliminated, no matter what a court says.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 10:53 am

Hmmm, maybe the problem really is with the fascist who thinks he can run for a 3rd term…

There have been 46 cases in which federal judges have blocked Trump policies.

The rulings in those cases have come from 39 different judges appointed by 5 different presidents of both parties to 11 different district courts in 7 different circuits.

Maybe it’s not the judges?

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/30/2025 @ 11:55 am

So much for that Trump promise that “prices would begin to come down on the first day of his presidency”.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he “couldn’t care less” if car prices spike because of his 25 percent tariffs on auto imports, saying the levies will prompt more people to buy American cars.

………..
Jim Miller (fd3dcd) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:19 am

But Trump does care enough about possible tariff-induced inflation by threatening US automakers if they raise their prices to cover the tariffs:

When President Trump convened CEOs of some of the country’s top automakers for a call earlier this month, he issued a warning: They better not raise car prices because of tariffs.

Trump told the executives that the White House would look unfavorably on such a move, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices, people with knowledge of the call said.

Instead, Trump said, they should be grateful for his elimination of what he called former President Joe Biden’s electric-vehicle mandate, which involved subsidies and emissions requirements to encourage electric-car production. He made a lengthy pitch for how they would actually benefit from tariffs, two people on the call said, adding that he was bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. and was better for their industry than previous presidents.

The tariffs would be “great,” Trump said, according to one of the people.

……….. Most automakers depend on parts and materials from other countries to make cars, including vehicles assembled in the U.S.
………….
Detroit’s automakers and industry suppliers in particular have made clear there is little they can do but raise prices in the face of tariffs. Bringing more factories back to the U.S.—a tenet of Trump’s tariff strategy—can take years for car companies to make happen.
…………..
…………..(V)ehicle prices could rise 11% to 12% to offset the tariffs, Morgan Stanley analysts said Thursday in a note.

It is unclear what the Trump administration could do if automakers raise their prices. Trump has targeted disfavored law firms with executive orders, and automakers rely on federal regulators for critical approvals.
………….

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 12:54 pm

President Says He’s ‘Not Joking’ About a Possible Third Term

How well did that work for the President in “Civil War”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 1:27 pm

The younger ones may have time for their retirement accounts and pension plans to recover, but they may not have jobs to retire from.

The better plan is to have your house paid for before you start betting the stocks.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 1:38 pm

>The better plan is to have your house paid for before you start betting the stocks.

GenX and millenial retirement — for those who have it — depends heavily on 401k, which is *much better* if you contribute money regularly starting early.

Telling people to pay off their mortgage before contributing to their 401k isn’t a great idea.

aphrael (4b49cd) — 3/30/2025 @ 1:51 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 1:27 pm

I can see how Trump can have a third term, and he wouldn’t have to run a campaign.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 2:15 pm

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 12:54 pm

The WSJ editorial board isn’t amused:

………..
At least (President Trump) recognizes in private that his tariffs aren’t cost-free for business or consumers, which wasn’t previously clear. But like his Democratic predecessors, he apparently thinks he can browbeat CEOs to cover up for them.
……….
During last year’s campaign, Kamala Harris proposed letting the Federal Trade Commission dun food companies that raise prices too much. Mr. Trump responded by noting that “after causing catastrophic inflation, Comrade Kamala announced that she wants to institute socialist price controls.”

Well, now Mr. Trump seems to be imitating Comrade Kamala to prevent catastrophic price increases from his auto tariffs.…….

Lower-priced sedans, which are mostly imported from Mexico, South Korea and Japan, will be hit hardest by the tariffs. But auto makers may spread the tariff costs across other vehicles, including popular pick-ups and SUVs made in the U.S. If higher prices reduce demand, the companies may lay off workers. Will Mr. Trump threaten those that do?

Businesses were optimistic when Mr. Trump returned to the Oval Office because they thought he understood how markets work. They may have been mistaken.
########<

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 2:28 pm

Telling people to pay off their mortgage before contributing to their 401k isn’t a great idea.

Didn’t say that. I said “betting on stocks.” Lots of things to put your 401(k) money into — cash, bonds, conservative funds. Having seen three market crashes and a number of corrections, some of which I avoided and some not, the only really reliable investment was the house with 7-figure equity. Just my experience.

Everyone figures they will outguess the market, few do.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 2:30 pm

I can see how Trump can have a third term, and he wouldn’t have to run a campaign.

I can see how he could start a civil war, too. Doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 2:31 pm

Hmmm, maybe the problem really is with the fascist who thinks he can run for a 3rd term…

Not just a third term, but a third…Reich.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/30/2025 @ 2:39 pm

Not just a third term, but a third…Reich

You are in a rut.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 3:08 pm

When the rise of MAGA ceases to mirror that of the NAZI’s, I’ll stop pointing.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/30/2025 @ 3:26 pm

> Doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Does Trump strike you as a man who is resistant to bad ideas?

aphrael (4b49cd) — 3/30/2025 @ 3:44 pm

Does Trump strike you as a man who is resistant to bad ideas?

No. However he’s not alone. Biden’s opening the border and running for re-election while senile weren’t great either. Nor was pushing the envelope on deficit spending for either of them. The only good idea Trump 1 had (getting vaccines out fast) Trump 2 is running away from.

Neither man covered himself with glory over Ukraine either. Too little, too late vs Russia is our friend.

I could get pessimistic given more of this.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 4:06 pm

Trump’s executive order on voting seems to ignore a lot of law

President Trump has finally issued an executive order on election administration.
………..
The order (Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections) has a fair bit of technical language, but, at a high level, it:

1) Overrides existing federal law (the National Voter Registration Act, “NVRA”) and requires documented proof of citizenship on federal voter registration forms. Federal law had previously required only that the voter attest citizenship status.

2) Strips federal funding from states that allow mail-in ballots to be received after Election Day. Currently, some states (including California) allow ballots to be received after Election Day if they are postmarked by Election Day.

3) Orders DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) and the Department of Homeland Security to review each state’s voter registration list—something previously left to the states.

4) Requires various federal departments and agencies to share more data with the states and authorizes the attorney general to strongarm states into sharing data with each other

5) Refocuses the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (“EAC”) on the president’s agenda

…………..
……….(T)he process of governance matters. And in this executive order, the process is ugly. The president pretends as if we don’t have a Congress, and he rides roughshod over the states.

Congress is the lawmaking branch of the federal government. But this executive order expressly overrides federal law, created by Congress, as to the citizenship requirements in the NVRA. Also, the EAC is a congressionally created body that gets its authority and scope from the Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”). But the president ignores that.

The president also ignores the concept of federalism and that election administration is the domain of states. For a long time, all Americans, but especially conservatives, have celebrated states as “the laboratories of democracy.”

But in this executive order, the president bemoans “the American patchwork of voting methods” and praises the nationalized systems in Germany and Canada. The order also instructs various federal officers and agencies—the attorney general, the Department of Homeland Security, or the EAC—to cudgel states into standardizing their laws.
…………

And:

The order is full of unfunded mandates that create more work for election officials and, if enacted, would leave taxpayers footing the bill. For example, while the extent of the effect of the order on EAC’s Voluntary Voting System Guidelines is uncertain, if every jurisdiction in the country were to adopt the proposed standards it would cost $3 billion to replace election equipment. The measures throughout the order would be extraordinarily costly and challenging for rural jurisdictions in particular.

There are also constitutional concerns, as the Constitution grants states the authority to regulate the “time, place and manner” of elections, unless Congress passes a law. In addition, the EO may run afoul of the “ anti-commandeering” principle, which says state or local governments can’t be compelled to enforce nor punished for not enforcing federal laws.

In addition, the Election Assistance Commission is an independent, four- member agency, (who require Senate confirmation), so any decision requires three votes.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 4:09 pm

Not to mention that the Democrats have their own list of election reforms. They couldn’t get them through Congress despite media shaming of recalcitrant Republicans.

Does Trump think he’s going to be President forever? [rhetorical]

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:04 pm

Weekend Update, on Jeffrey Goldberg being on NSA Waltz’s cell phone contact list.

“Waltz later explained, this was his real explanation, that the journalist’s number must have gotten, quote, sucked onto his phone. Worse, he then tried to get rid of the number by saying, Siri, how do I suck the journalist off?”

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:04 pm

[T]he EO may run afoul of the “ anti-commandeering” principle, which says state or local governments can’t be compelled to enforce nor punished for not enforcing federal laws.

Why was I driving 55 then?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:05 pm

Worse, he then tried to get rid of the number by saying, Siri, how do I suck the journalist off?”

A question Siri gets all the time, and has a ready and detailed answer.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:06 pm

Why was I driving 55 then?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:05 pm

Between 1973 and 1995 there was a national speed limit law (limited to four-lane divided highways) in response to the oil crisis and later highway safety; states that did not comply faced the loss of federal funding for highway repairs. It was widely ignored. The law was upheld by the Ninth Circuit in 1989; I couldn’t find any evidence it was appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court did uphold a similar arrangement in South Dakota v. Dole (1987), a 7-2 decision involving minimum drinking ages and highway funds. Interestingly, the two votes against were Brennan and O’Connor with Scalia joining the majority.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:00 pm

>Why was I driving 55 then?

Because Congress threatened to withhold all highway funding otherwise.

Congress can bribe states and threaten them with revocation of funding, but they cannot directly *compel* states to carry out federal programs.

_South Dakota v Dole_ (https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/86-260) explains how this works with respect to the spending clause, while _Printz v US_ (https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-1478) is probably the best known modern explanation of the underlying principle.

aphrael (4b49cd) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:02 pm

Because Congress threatened to withhold all highway funding otherwise.

I know. I just have trouble with the “anti-commandeering” thing as a result. It sounds like the states were compelled to enforce the federal law and/or punished for failing to do so. Maybe “compel” has nuances I can’t see.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:28 pm

As I expected…

Two U.S. officials also said that Waltz has created and hosted multiple other sensitive national-security conversations on Signal with cabinet members, including separate threads on how to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine as well as military operations. They declined to address if any classified information was posted in those chats.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:29 pm

Wisconsin citizens plan to make a citizens arrest on elon musk for trying to buy the election. (DU)

asset (2d27b1) — 3/30/2025 @ 8:36 pm

Marine Le Pen Found Guilty of Embezzlement by French Court

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election.

The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Ms. Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who was widely seen as a front-runner in the 2027 race, despite three past failed bids.

Ms. Le Pen, 56, has long denied any wrongdoing in the case, which involved accusations that her party, the National Rally, illegally used several million euros in European Parliament funds for party expenses between 2004 and 2016.

Her political fate remained unclear as she awaited sentencing from the judge, who will decide if her conviction is accompanied by an immediate ban on her running for public office.

The case, which hinges on whether the Parliament funds had to be spent only on Parliament business and not ancillary party business has been very divisive in France. Politicians across the political spectrum say that banning Le Pen from politics would destabilize and perhaps delegitimatize the French Republic. The prosecutors are adamant that the full penalties should be applied even before any appeals are considered.

Le Pen, for her part, is NOT attempting to use the case as Donald Trump did with his NY case and refrains from attacking the judges or prosecutors. Still, the comparisons write themselves.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 3:29 am

No mention of leftists firebombing Republican offices. Why am I not surprised.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:48 am

@169, Rob, I hadn’t heard about it until you posted it. A shame you’re unwilling to link news stories or provide commentary beyond complaining that other people aren’t talking about what you want them to talk about.

Time (fa37bb) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:33 am

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/03/31/yes-the-left-is-100-behind-domestic-terrorism-n3801312

And more domestic. terrorism on the left.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:36 am

Hey Time,

maybe that says more about you and the places you frequent for news that you never hear about leftist attacks that happen over and over again.

Food for thought.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:36 am

No mention of leftists firebombing Republican offices. Why am I not surprised.

You haven’t linked to Jill Biden getting intelligence briefings. Why am I not surprised.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:40 am

The French have become modern day Soviet’s as has much of Europe where they ban the leading parties from running for office because they’d win opposing the will of the communist state.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:14 am

Paul,

you’re full of crap as usual. I showed you were and will continue to show you are.

Go like your own posts under another false name BirdDog.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:15 am

you’re full of crap as usual. I showed you were and will continue to show you are.

You showed nothing, Rob, except that you’re a lying right-wing hack, because you refuse to back up what you say.

BTW, “BirdDog” is a pseudonym, you stupid sh-t, just like Paul Montagu is a pseudonym.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:30 am

No mention of leftists firebombing Republican offices. Why am I not surprised.

I knew about it, it was here in ABQ. Minor damage to the entryway. Typical incompetent leftists. A lot of outrage, of course. Everyone wants to be a victim these days.

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_b2ea1f1c-5933-403b-8035-2dafcabaa79e.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block

The Republican Party of New Mexico’s entryway was destroyed by what party chairwoman Amy Barela described as a “deliberate act of arson” in a news release Sunday morning.

It is unclear if there are any suspects.

“This horrific attack, fueled by hatred and intolerance, is a direct assault on our values, freedoms, and our right to political expression,” Barela said.

No injuries were reported.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue spokesperson Jason Fejer told the Journal that it is an “active arson investigation.” Barela said investigators told her that a Molotov cocktail was used to start the fire.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:33 am

Le Pen banned from 2027 election over technical violation of law.

A French court convicted Marine Le Pen of misusing European Union funds, banning her from the next presidential election in a ruling that shakes the country’s political landscape.

Judges handed down a sentence Monday that bars Le Pen from seeking public office for the next five years, upending France’s political order and thrusting her far-right party into limbo. Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence. Half of that term was suspended, judges said, adding that she could serve the remaining two years by using an electronic bracelet or other alternatives to jail time.

The ruling takes Le Pen out of contention for the 2027 race, when President Emmanuel Macron finishes his second and final term and she was expected to be the front-runner.

The court ruled that Le Pen and other members of her party illegally used 4.4 million euros, equivalent to $4.8 million, in EU funding that was earmarked for assistants helping lawmakers in the European Parliament with their work. Instead, judges said, Le Pen and her lawmakers used the money to pay party staffers who weren’t involved in work for the parliament.

Judges applied “provisional execution” to Le Pen’s ban, which means that it takes effect immediately, even if she appeals Monday’s ruling. Her prison sentence, meanwhile, remains suspended while any appeals are under way. The appeals process in France can be lengthy, making it unclear if Le Pen can overturn the ruling before the 2027 election….

Le Pen had sat impassively in the courtroom for most of the verdict, occasionally shaking her head. But once it became clear the court was banning her from running for office with immediate effect, she stood up and walked out of the tribunal without speaking to reporters outside.

Earlier in the trial, Le Pen denied the charges, testifying in court that it was appropriate for the assistants to perform other party-related work because they were political aides, not direct employees of the European Parliament.

Whatever you think of Le Pen, the EU rulers, not satisfied with a regime that locks out most challengers to the Establishment, are now disenfranchising voters who seek alternatives. Their system is becoming more and more brittle with each step away from democracy. If not ballots, what?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:42 am

#167 (asset on a citizens arrest Musk):

This is a very bad idea. The citizens re likely to get beat to a pulp by security before they get near him. Plus, we here in Georgia kind of poisoned the whole citizens arrest thing by using it to justify the murder of a black guy who was criminally jogging in the wrong neighborhood. We aren’t quite at the revolutionary rise up phase yet, though Trump is working hard to get us there.

If the attorney general had authorized the arrest of Musk for buying votes and followed through — that would have been interesting. That would require a state AG with a willingness to take on the DoJ and maybe the military and a state police and national guard willing to back him up.

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:51 am

As for France, Rob, you’re just compounding the absurd with the “French have become modern day Soviet’s”, just as the right-wing MAGA movement has descended into the absurd.

France is a free democracy, with a “moderately free” economy (by right-wing Heritage Foundation standards, ranked “most free” by the Fraser Institute Index) and a free press. You weren’t an adult in the Soviet era, so maybe you missed the fact that Soviet Russia was a totalitarian dictatorship with a command-and-control economy, with no speech or press freedoms and no civil liberties or political rights.

Do you know which country is a better comparison as “modern day Soviet’s”?
Putin’s Russia. Even though it’s not communist, Putin’s economy isn’t free, and of course he runs an authoritarian dictatorship like any other Russian ruler in the past century.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:57 am

That would require a state AG with a willingness to take on the DoJ and maybe the military and a state police and national guard willing to back him up.

Unlikely, as using force against the federal government would be an insurrection.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:57 am

I know. I just have trouble with the “anti-commandeering” thing as a result. It sounds like the states were compelled to enforce the federal law and/or punished for failing to do so. Maybe “compel” has nuances I can’t see.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 6:28 pm

The national speed limit law and South Dakota v. Dole involved the “anti-coercion” doctrine under the spending clause; not the “anti-commandeering” doctrine under the Tenth Amendment. Two different things.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:59 am

Putin does far worse with respect to locking up political opponents, who also have problems navigating high windows. But that does not mean pretextual prosecutions are the hallmark of democracy.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:59 am

Hey Time,

maybe that says more about you and the places you frequent for news that you never hear about leftist attacks that happen over and over again.

Food for thought.

NJRob (21b567) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:36 am

Or that I hadn’t been reading a lot of news over the weekend. The NM thing happened yesterday and I wasn’t online much…

Food for thought. Hey can you link the source of the accusation you made about Jill Biden attending Classified Briefings? I haven’t followed your conversation with Paul that closely but it wounds interesting and google doesn’t show anything about it….

Time (fa37bb) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:00 am

Link to the “anti-commandeering” doctrine under the 10th Amendment.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:00 am

Kevin, that’s horrific. I hope the perps are caught and punished to the full extent of the law. Anything going on there to make NM especially contentious right now?

Time (9b53b0) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:02 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:42 am

As a general rule, should governments ignore criminal behavior by their political opponents for fear of disenfranchising voters?

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:03 am

Anything going on there to make NM especially contentious right now?

NM is a 55-45 state right now. The governor is to the left of Newsom. The previous 2 term governor was a Republican and there is a strong libertarian streak outside the (3) metro areas. The state legislature is openly gerrymandered, after rejecting the citizen’s commission plan utterly with court backing.

And then there’s Trump.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:10 am

As a general rule, should governments ignore criminal behavior by their political opponents for fear of disenfranchising voters?

This was something that had been an open practice, with party workers serving the European Parliament and the Party simultaneously. It had been going of for several decades. But now it was suddenly a problem. It was a pretextual prosecution hidden behind a veneer of “Rule of Law.” The point is that the Establishment feared Le Pen and found a way to remove her. They would have tolerated it in one of their own.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:14 am

If the attorney general had authorized the arrest of Musk for buying votes and followed through — that would have been interesting. That would require a state AG with a willingness to take on the DoJ and maybe the military and a state police and national guard willing to back him up.

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:51 am
——————————-

That would require a state AG with a willingness to take on the DoJ and maybe the military and a state police and national guard willing to back him up.

Unlikely, as using force against the federal government would be an insurrection.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 7:57 am

You truncated Appalled’s paragraph by quoting only the second sentence of the paragraph. Why would arresting Musk be considered an act of “insurrection”?

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:18 am

“Criminal behavior” covers a wide array of things. The question you should be asking yourself is if governments should suddenly find previously-tolerated behavior criminal when their opponents get uppity?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:18 am

Why would arresting Musk be considered an act of “insurrection”?

In itself? No. But the suggestion that the AG would have to resist the military takes it to a different level. The better questions is “why does Appalled think the military would oppose the arrest?”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:20 am

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:14 am

The same has been said about the Trump (and NYC Adams) prosecutions.

Again, as a general rule, should governments avoid prosecuting political opponents who commit crimes for fear of disenfranchising their voters?

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:22 am

Kevin, I haven’t really dug into the French thing. What little I’ve read was that she committed some kind of financial wrongdoing and the punishment was in line with the law….was that not the correct conclusion?

Time (fa37bb) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:22 am

Why would arresting Musk be considered an act of “insurrection”?

In itself? No. But the suggestion that the AG would have to resist the military takes it to a different level. The better questions is “why does Appalled think the military would oppose the arrest?”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:20 am

I suppose that Trump could order the military to intervene, but I that would be unlikely. The suggestion was a bit over the top.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:26 am

BTW, the arson of the GOP office in NM was covered by that socialist rag The Dispatch.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:28 am

Unsurprisingly, Russia and China have taken the lead in providing rescue teams and humanitarian aid in response to the devastating earthquake in Myanmar.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:57 am

@73

Because in *most* of those states, even if they’re unhappy with Trump, people will see that the alternative is *a Democrat* and stick with the Republican — the Democratic party is just that toxic a brand.

aphrael (fedd4d) — 3/29/2025 @ 11:42 am

Me inserting a Don Draper meeting “hear me out” meme…

So… hear me out.

To all those former GOP voters who left or is leaving the GOP party due to Trumpism.

Become Democrats.

Pull that party to the left to cancel out the rapid, insane leftist that’s currently dragging the party to the dumpster.

I’m in blood red Missouri and I’m considering registering as a Democrat just to advocate more centrist Democrats.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:02 am

@146 P

resident Says He’s ‘Not Joking’ About a Possible Third Term

How well did that work for the President in “Civil War”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 1:27 pm

He’s absolutely trolling because it would require a constitutional amendment.

He knows that’s not happening, as you’d have a better chance at winning the powerball than getting anything passed via constitutional amendment.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:10 am

This is not quite “stagflation”, but we are getting closer to it than I like:

Economic growth in the first quarter was just 0.3%, according to CNBC’s Rapid Update which tallied the forecasts of 14 economists.
. . .
Policy uncertainty and new sweeping tariffs from the Trump administration are combining to create a stagflationary outlook for the U.S. economy in the latest CNBC Rapid Update.

For the record: Thanks to social security’s automatic increases, stagflation would have little effect on me personally. But I worry about the effects on the poor, especially the young.

Jim Miller (354c0e) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:11 am

@155

When the rise of MAGA ceases to mirror that of the NAZI’s, I’ll stop pointing.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/30/2025 @ 3:26 pm

The irony here is that the “brownshirt” tactics are done by the left/Democrats.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:12 am

@161 <

em>[T]he EO may run afoul of the “ anti-commandeering” principle, which says state or local governments can’t be compelled to enforce nor punished for not enforcing federal laws.

Why was I driving 55 then?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:05 pm

Thats…a very good point.

The feds can insert riders into just about any federal dollars.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:13 am

I’ve read that Trump is not trolling re a third term. How he would do it: Either JD Vance or Don Jr. would run for prez and Trump as veep. If one wins, then they step down and Trump becomes prez. Or Trump is installed as Speaker, and the same scenario as above, they step down and Trump assumes the presidency.

I think it’s foolish to assume that he won’t try to be installed in the WH again. He loves nothing more than power. Especially if it’s unchecked.

Dana (bb7b54) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:32 am

@203

I’ve read that Trump is not trolling re a third term. How he would do it: Either JD Vance or Don Jr. would run for prez and Trump as veep. If one wins, then they step down and Trump becomes prez. Or Trump is installed as Speaker, and the same scenario as above, they step down and Trump assumes the presidency.

I think it’s foolish to assume that he won’t try to be installed in the WH again. He loves nothing more than power. Especially if it’s unchecked.

Dana (bb7b54) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:32 am

Yeah no. That’s textbook Trump trolling.

I wish Trump wouldn’t troll as its beneath the office. But, he’s a grade-A arsehole who relishes trolling because it keeps him in the news.

JD Vance, or anyone else, isn’t going to step down if that person wins office.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:06 am

Either JD Vance or Don Jr. would run for prez and Trump as veep.

Wouldn’t work amendment. In taking this way Trump is hoping that most people won’t find the clause.

It’s another one of his faulty legal arguments. He’s trying to postpone becoming a lame duck.

Speaker wouldn’t work either because if anyone in the line of succession is ineligible for president he is skipped although source is not so clear.It might be statutory,

Sammy Finkelman (c3413d) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:13 am

* wouldn’t work see 12th amendment

Sammy Finkelman (c3413d) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:14 am

There are far easier ways for Trump to serve a third term as President without going through an election or passing a constitutional amendment.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:19 am

Why was I driving 55 then?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/30/2025 @ 5:05 pm

Thats…a very good point.

The feds can insert riders into just about any federal dollars.

whembly (b7cc46) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:13 am

No, it’s not. See here.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:26 am

Because in *most* of those states, even if they’re unhappy with Trump, people will see that the alternative is *a Democrat* and stick with the Republican — the Democratic party is just that toxic a brand.

It is so toxic that people chose Donald Trump instead.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:28 am

> JD Vance, or anyone else, isn’t going to step down if that person wins office.

And yet Medvedev was perfectly happy to let Putin call the shots when they switched jobs. There’s no reason that couldn’t happen here, too.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:37 am

(The Democrat brand) is so toxic that people chose Donald Trump instead.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:28 am

By the barest of majorities:

Donald Trump-77,302,580 votes; 49.8%

Kamala Harris-75,017,613 votes; 48.3%

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:37 am

> ineligible for president

this is where we get to the text of the amendment.

> No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

(emphasis added).

The 22d amendment makes Trump ineligible to be *elected* again. But there’s a strong legal argument that it does *not* make him ineligible to become President through any of the means that allow someone to become President without being elected.

If you go by *intent*, sure, then he is prohibited. But if you’re just going by the *text* without using any extraneous evidence as to the meaning of the text, then the text clearly only applies to election.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:46 am

Rip Murdock — sure, but my point was that in a lot of the states where Kevin is saying “the Republicans could lose this Senate seat”, the idea is absurd because in those states the Democratic brand is too toxic for that to be possible, no matter how bad things get.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:49 am

I wish Trump wouldn’t troll as its beneath the office. But, he’s a grade-A arsehole who relishes trolling because it keeps him in the news.

He knows how the play the media and that’s a fact. He gives the media something new to sell detergent with and they, in turn, stop talking about how Little Batista revoked the visa of a Fulbright Scholar for writing an op-ed.

nk (866d73) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:22 am

> I wish Trump wouldn’t troll as its beneath the office.

Perhaps, but a huge percentage of your allies *love it* when he trolls because it gets leftists riled up and there’s nothing as satisfying as riling up leftists.

We shouldn’t be kind and friendly to one another, that’s the fruit of the sin of empathy. We should be cruel and mean to people until they learn their lesson and become like us.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:35 am

Since my name was being batted around in my absence…

Like the Pennsylvania AG, the Wisconsin AG attempted to get a court to enjoin Musk from handing out bucks to sign one of his petitions and attend one of his rallies. This wasn’t successful.

I suggested that a possible approach is that the AG directly arrest Musk for illegal conduct. I don’t know if buying votes in the way he was doing it in Wisconsin was illegal. (If not, oh well).

If Musk were arrested and detained under Wisconsin law — I think all of the resources of the Federal government would be aimed at the Wisconsin AG, including force. Sorry if that seems hyperbolic — but it would make great TV.

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:27 pm

The 22d amendment makes Trump ineligible to be *elected* again. But there’s a strong legal argument that it does *not* make him ineligible to become President through any of the means that allow someone to become President without being elected.

It doesn’t, but consider the 12th amendment from 1804:

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-12

Last sentence:

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

So the vice presidency is not a loophole.

A possible loophole is lower in the line of succession.

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-20/

…and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

But I think Congress has excluded anyone not eligible.

There are minimum qualifications for president,

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

But the 22nd amendment is a separate provision not covered by the Article II language.

An easier loophole is simply Trump acting as Chief of Staff and the legal president deferring to him. A little like Musk firing people.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:35 pm

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:27 pm

I suggested that a possible approach is that the AG directly arrest Musk for illegal conduct. I don’t know if buying votes in the way he was doing it in Wisconsin was illegal. (If not, oh well).

Musk is not buying votes. He’s not even trying to (by for example, requiring a picture of a marked ballot and even then he can’t be sure that the vote was ultimately cast.

Musk is buying the act of voting (plus signing on to a general petition about how a judge should act, which does not promise to vote for anyone).

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:38 pm

An easier loophole is simply Trump acting as Chief of Staff and the legal president deferring to him. A little like Musk firing people.

Like they claim happened with Biden, sort of, except they do not claim to know who might have been making the actual decisions.

Or with Woodrow Wilson from September 1919 till the end of his term.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:41 pm

210. aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:37 am

And yet Medvedev was perfectly happy to let Putin call the shots when they switched jobs. There’s no reason that couldn’t happen here, too.

Trump is not backed by a political organization that occasionally murders people.

He’s not close to being the Political Boss of the United States.

And if he were he wouldn’t necessarily need to be elected to anything!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_boss

In the politics of the United States of America, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous officeholders in that unit are subordinate to the single boss in party affairs. Bosses may base their power on the support of numerous voters, usually organized voting blocs, and manage a coalition of these blocs and various other stakeholders. When the party wins, they typically control appointments in their unit, and have a voice at the higher levels.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:46 pm

>constitutionally ineligible to the office of President

right, this is entirely the linguistic debate.

The 22d amendment makes Trump constitutionally ineligible to *be elected*. Is that the same thing as being constitutionally ineligible *to the office of President*?

This is an ambiguity in language big enough to drive a Mack truck through.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:47 pm

This is well known, so it is safe to use Artificial Intelligence.

https://www.google.com/search?q=drive+55+supreme+court&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1156US1156&oq=drive+55+supreme+court&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRifBdIBCTg2NDFqMWoxNagCCLACAfEF9X5EjJYOPsc&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

About South Dakota vs Dole:

The Supreme Court’s Ruling:

The Supreme Court, in South Dakota v. Dole, ruled in favor of the federal government, upholding the law.

Reasoning:

The Court stated that Congress could condition its spending on states meeting certain requirements, as long as those conditions were related to the purpose of the spending (in this case, highway safety) and were not unduly coercive.
Significance:

The case established a precedent for the use of “conditional spending” by the federal government, allowing Congress to encourage states to adopt certain policies by tying federal funding to those policies.

Actually, the Supreme Court punted

Now Trump can’t cut off all education aid to Maine because they do not comply, let us say, with Olympic rules or whatever especially since Congress never legislated that.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:53 pm

>Now Trump can’t cut off all education aid to Maine because they do not comply, let us say, with Olympic rules or whatever especially since Congress never legislated that.

Well, that gets into a different constitutional argument:is the executive required to spend money the legislature has appropriated, on the things the legislature has commanded the money to be spent?

The Trump administration clearly believes the answer to this is “no”.

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:54 pm

aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:47 pm

The 22d amendment makes Trump constitutionally ineligible to *be elected*. Is that the same thing as being constitutionally ineligible *to the office of President*?

And the 12th amendment (separate election of the Vice President) makes the Vice-President constitutionally ineligible to anyone not eligible to that of president.

But what about Acting President?

But then why does a political boss powerful enough to command a presidential and vice presidential resignation need to hold any office at all?

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 12:58 pm

Marine le Pen is accused of and was convicted of, while she was a member of the European Parliament, using misusing EU funds to pay staffers with her National Rally party who did not work in the jobs that were covered by the EU appropriation.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:02 pm

I don’t know about Jill Biden but Secretary of Defense Hegseth let his wife attend otherwise classified briefings.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/29/pete-hegseth-wife-jennifer-foreign-defense-official-meetings

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:05 pm

We shouldn’t be kind and friendly to one another, that’s the fruit of the sin of empathy. We should be cruel and mean to people until they learn their lesson and become like us.
aphrael (c7e41c) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:35 am

Touching: Libs Spell Out ‘Coexist’ With Burning Teslas

lloyd (1762b5) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:10 pm

Re: France, In the United States we don’t disqualify anyone from running for office easily. Not so in many other countries.

Marin le Pen could see this coming for months at least.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:14 pm

I think y’all are overthinking it. If Trump decides he wants a 3rd term, he’s just going to run again and defy anyone to stop him.

Davethulhu (14e9e4) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:16 pm

#227

What does Elon spell with his flaming Tesla stock certificates?

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:22 pm

I think one of the perks of the presidency, in Donald Trump’s eyes is being constantly interviewed and his statements quoted.

This is why he appears to be one of the most open presidencies.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:37 pm

The 22d amendment makes Trump ineligible to be *elected* again. But there’s a strong legal argument that it does *not* make him ineligible to become President through any of the means that allow someone to become President without being elected.

If you go by *intent*, sure, then he is prohibited. But if you’re just going by the *text* without using any extraneous evidence as to the meaning of the text, then the text clearly only applies to election.

I believe that courts would find that succession to the office is limited to those eligible to be elected.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:52 pm

By the barest of majorities

Your point? Mine was that, were it not for the toxicity of the alternative, Donald Trump would have been drubbed. Besides, he won 58% of the electoral vote, which is all that matters.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:55 pm

If Musk were arrested and detained under Wisconsin law — I think all of the resources of the Federal government would be aimed at the Wisconsin AG, including force. Sorry if that seems hyperbolic — but it would make great TV.

Well, if THAT happened then the gloves would truly be off and Empire would be upon us.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:58 pm

@169 SO? In 2020 phoenix democrat office fire bombed and 2021 travis co. 2022 california. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. these were just the first three listings on google.

asset (20fe3b) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:01 pm

This does not appear to b quite correct:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/us/politics/trump-deportations-judge-order.html

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy, who sits in Boston, ordered the government to give migrants a chance to contest their removal to a so-called third country under a federal law that limits deportations to places where the deportees’ “life or freedom would be threatened.” He also cited a United Nations treaty against torture.

The federal law linked to is here:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1231

The imprisonment has to be for persecutory reasons , not merely without any pretense of due process of law , and the Attorney General has to determine that although failure by the AG
can be contested.

On the other hand the alien normally has the right to choose his destination.

Now here the United States government is paying the government of El Salvador to imprison them there.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/17/us-news/us-paying-el-salvador-6m-to-jail-venezuela-gang-suspects-pennies-on-the-dollar

The Trump administration is paying roughly $6 million for El Salvador to jail the 238 Venezuelan gang suspects deported Sunday, according to the White House.

That works out to roughly $25,000 per detainee — a 43% discount on average US prison costs.

“It was approximately $6 million to El Salvador for the detention of these foreign terrorists,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her regular briefing Monday.

“I would point out that is pennies on the dollar in comparison to the cost of life and the cost it would impose on the American taxpayer to house these terrorists and maximum security prisons here in the United States of America.”

Leavitt quoted the lyrics of the hit song “Closing Time,” saying the Venezuelans “don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

It’s different with African sent to Panama etc. They are not locked up there.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:05 pm

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:55 pm

were it not for the toxicity of the alternative, Donald Trump would have been drubbed.

The same thing goes for the possible coming election of Andrew Cuomo as mayor of New York City.

And for the general unacceptability of the Republican Party to a majority of New Yorkers.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:08 pm

Lousiana voters reject republican ballot issue by 60% It begins. Next up floriduh.

asset (20fe3b) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:10 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acting_President_of_the_United_States#:~:text=Constitutional%20provisions,-Eligibility&text=At%20the%20time%20of%20taking,for%20at%20least%20fourteen%20years.

Section 3 of the Twentieth Amendment declares that if the president-elect dies before their term begins, the vice president-elect becomes president on Inauguration Day and serves for the full term to which the president-elect was elected, and also that, if on Inauguration Day, a president has not been chosen or the president-elect does not qualify for the presidency, the vice president-elect acts as president until a president is chosen or the president-elect qualifies. It also authorizes Congress to provide for instances in which neither a president-elect nor a vice president-elect have qualified.[4] Acting on this authority, Congress incorporated “failure to qualify” as a possible condition for presidential succession into the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.[5]

I think, at a minimum, Congress would have to amend this law in order to make it possible for Donald rump to slip into the presidency again by an indirect route.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:13 pm

Trumlp was shown a poll that showed the Republican winning Waltz’s seat in Florida by only 3% Of course, this is too big a drop by Bayesian analysis.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:14 pm

Trump is turning against Putin. It sounds like he is afraid he is being played for a fool.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-angry-putin-zelenskyy-iran-sanctions-rcna198729

Agence France-Presse reported that Putin on Friday called for a transitional government to be put in place in Ukraine, which could effectively push out Zelenskyy.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said in an early-morning phone call with NBC News on Sunday.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:19 pm

Well, that gets into a different constitutional argument:is the executive required to spend money the legislature has appropriated, on the things the legislature has commanded the money to be spent?

The proper answer is “maybe”, or perhaps “mostly” but it runs up against 1) reality and 2) continuing resolutions.

Sometimes an expenditure becomes unnecessary, or even counter-productive. A line item for foreign aid to a country now at war with us, or an expenditure to find a cure for a disease, since cured, would be two examples.

Sometimes an election turns on issues where previous allocations had been made in the alternative; sometimes these are years old, shambling onward in continuing resolutions.

The real argument here is not “a president should not have discretion” but that THIS president’s use of discretion is questionable.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:19 pm

Some people in Gaza are afraid of a ceasefire, even though some people are being killed, because that would enable Hamas to come out into the open and attack them.

The =probable terms : Egypt proposed the remaining American and 4 dead Americans to be released.

Israel wants at least 11 live prisoners and no more than 7 weeks guaranteed and no concessions on the future of Gaza.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:22 pm

From, 1904 through 2000 (or you might say 2004) Missouri was a bellwether state, won by the presidential candidate who won the presidential election with the exception of the Presidential lection of 1956, of all things, because that year Harry S Truman campaigned heavily for Adlai Stevenson.

It wasn’t duplicated elsewhere.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:28 pm

And for the general unacceptability of the Republican Party to a majority of New Yorkers.

Or California. The national GOP is not necessarily the state GOP, and all issues are local, but in this media-driven society that is not always clear to the voters.

I know for a fact that many centrist Californians do not see any alternative to the Democratic Party, even in the age of jungle primaries. They may reject the excesses of the Left but they are not so affected by them that they want to embrace a party they view as more toxic on the Right.

It also matters that the local media does nothing to alter views.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:30 pm

There have been 46 cases in which federal judges have blocked Trump policies.

Also I think something like 86 (64 see below) times in his first term.

They usually omit that statistic.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/23/us-news/lower-courts-blocking-trumps-executive-orders-at-much-higher-rate-than-predecessors/

The lower courts have slapped at least 15 national injunctions against Trump so far this year.

That drastically outpaces the six against former President George W. Bush during his entire presidency and the 12 against former President Barack Obama and the 14 against former President Joe Biden for their whole time in office, too, according to a tally from Harvard Law Review…

….In his first term, Trump signed 220 executive orders, a figure in line with the other three presidents, according to the American Presidency Project.

He has signed more than 90 since the start of his second term, the Federal Register says.

In the past, lower court rulings were more tailored to the case before them. But in recent years, the courts have become increasingly comfortable making their injunctions take effect nationwide.

Such injunctions have hamstrung Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship and a whole host of other policies he’s pursued.

https://cbs12.com/news/nation-world/unelected-judges-vs-trump-how-the-courts-are-dictating-his-presidency-injunctions-legislation-rulings-immigration-healthcare-sanctuary-cities

In February alone, judges issued 15 nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration, surpassing the total faced by Presidents Bush, Obama, and Biden throughout their entire terms, according to the Harvard Law Review. During Trump’s last term, his agenda encountered 64 such injunctions, with 86% of these challenges coming from judges appointed by Democratic presidents.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:36 pm

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/books/fletcher-knebel-1965-novel-night-of-camp-david-president-trump.html

A couple of months ago, prominent political pundits began buzzing about a provocative book by a Washington journalist.

The book — which raised questions about what Congressional leaders should do if the president was mentally unstable and unfit for office — wasn’t a new expose about the Trump administration. It was a 1965 political thriller by Fletcher Knebel.

The novel, “Night of Camp David,” features an unhinged American president who falls prey to his own paranoia and conspiratorial fantasies, as people around him struggle to rein in his worst impulses. (A critic called the book “too plausible for comfort” in a review published in The New York Times in 1965 — the same year that Congress passed the 25th Amendment, which provides a mechanism for removing a president who is deemed unfit to serve.)

Now, more than 50 years after it was released, “Night of Camp David” is getting a new life. Later this month, Vintage Books, a Penguin Random House imprint, is rereleasing the novel, as a paperback, e-book and audiobook…

…The novel centers on a young Iowa senator who grows worried about the president’s mental health when he is summoned to Camp David in the middle of the night. During deranged monologues, the president — a liberal Democrat named Mark Hollenbach — rants about his perceived political enemies and imaginary plots against him. He rails against the media and accuses a newspaper columnist of leading a “conspiracy” to discredit him. He tries to undo America’s longstanding alliances with Western Europe, and arranges “a high-level conference with the Soviet Premiere that could damage our national security,” according to The New York Times review. (Bizarrely, there’s even a Supreme Court justice in the novel whose last name is Cavanaugh.)

Not really that close to reality.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:39 pm

@236: The problem with all of this is the availability of endless process and appeal, or even just the intensity of the process being prohibitive. As someone pointed out, the existing immigration courts are hopelessly constipated, making ANY attempt to address a problem that built over decades impossible.

I still like Gingrich’s 2012 proposal (which would require Congresses to act): All otherwise unsorted immigrants to apply for permanent status. Then local ad hoc boards (analogous to draft boards) to review applications based on local conditions, individuals’ connection to the community and time-in-country and decide on action. It may not be as thorough as one wants (neither were draft boards) but it is a process that can be made reasonably fair and can wade through the millions of cases in a reasonable time.

Certainly better than what Trump is doing.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:44 pm

The Knebel book’s president — who had been overwhelmingly successful in his first term and was expected to win a second handily — actually wanted to annex Western Europe and Canada going forward. It’s not a bad book, actually, and not as dated as many 1960’s political thrillers are (Knebel’s Dark Horse being badly so).

Note that Fletcher Knebel was co-author of the classic “Seven Days in May”, another book that has currency.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:50 pm

The parallels that the new publisher of “Night of Camp David” is trying to draw are strained. Having actually read the book a couple years ago, it’s not the president’s policies or public persona that are worrisome to his protege Congressman, but his flights of paranoia and apparent instability in private. Think Nixon or Johnson, not Trump.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:57 pm

WSJ on Le Pen:

Lawfare à la Francaise

Her crime is said to involve misuse and embezzlement of allowances provided for members of the European Parliament to hire assistants. She allegedly diverted the money for party purposes rather than parliamentary uses, though there’s conceivably overlap between the two. Ms. Le Pen has denied wrongdoing.

All of which means the case bears two hallmarks of modern political lawfare, which is that the details are a legal stretch and will be incomprehensible to most voters who lack the time or inclination to parse complex regulations governing political expenditures…

And that’s before you get to selective enforcement: Other members of the European Parliament have stumbled over the vague financial rules at issue in this case. Follow the Money, an investigative news outlet, reported that, between 2019 and 2022, 139 European lawmakers, nearly one in five, likely misused the allowance that supposedly tripped up Ms. Le Pen. In the National Rally case, prosecutors dredged up allegations related to transactions as long ago as 2004.

In most of those European Parliament cases, the controversy ended after the lawmakers repaid the money. Le Monde reports that Ms. Le Pen repaid €330,000 in 2023 with no admission of guilt. Yet French prosecutors and the court have now thrown the book at Ms. Le Pen and also imposed a €2 million fine on National Rally.

Unfavored groups have long known what happens when the courts get hold of them. Whether it is minorities or dissidents, the full majesty of the Law comes down hard where it often arrives much softer for Establishment groups.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 3:15 pm

I think y’all are overthinking it. If Trump decides he wants a 3rd term, he’s just going to run again and defy anyone to stop him.

Davethulhu (14e9e4) — 3/31/2025 @ 1:16 pm

I agree, but I don’t think Trump needs to finesse the various parts of the Constitution to run for a third term-he would just stage a coup. He wouldn’t be the only one in history to go from being elected to seizing power unilaterally.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 4:06 pm

There are US military assets in virtually every metropolitan area, and along federalizing the National Guard, Trump would be able to instantly put down any protests with brute force.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 4:15 pm

I wish Trump wouldn’t troll as its beneath the office.

Any dignity deserved to the Office of the President of the United States is a reflection on how it’s treated by whomever is the current occupant; which has been pretty piss-poor over the last 60 years (and in general over the last 200+ years.) The persons who conducted themselves with dignity while serving as President are few and far between.

Trump’s trolling will never stop; it’s part of his nature.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:00 pm

There are US military assets in virtually every metropolitan area, and along federalizing the National Guard, Trump would be able to instantly put down any protests with brute force.

Assuming the military followed him. Didn’t work in South Korea. Is their oath to the Constitution or to the President? It would start a civil war and places like California would seek foreign help and get it.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:06 pm

Note that Fletcher Knebel was co-author of the classic “Seven Days in May”, another book that has currency.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 2:50 pm

One of my favorite films, with a screenplay by Rod Serling.

But I don’t think we are going to see a liberal military coup against President Trump. More likely Trump’s generals (and Republicans in Congress) would back a coup instituted by him; it depends how many of existing military leadership he can replace before 2028.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:07 pm

There are US military assets in virtually every metropolitan area, and along federalizing the National Guard, Trump would be able to instantly put down any protests with brute force.

Assuming the military followed him……

Call it a training exercise, as it was in Seven Days in May.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:10 pm

It would start a civil war and places like California would seek foreign help and get it.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:06 pm

Overwhelming force and mass arrests of a state’s leadership would scotch any organized resistance. And since California has sel-disarmed, any resistance would be futile. Northeastern California would join in the coup.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:14 pm

Blue state capitals would be the first targets for mass arrests and incarceration of politicians to prevent any organized resistance.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:16 pm

California would seek foreign help and get it.

How? I would assume that California ports would be blockaded or destroyed, the airports occupied, and the border with Mexico sealed off. It’s not hard for the military to do so.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:24 pm

California would seek foreign help and get it.

From where-Canada? I dare say that Russia and China would back a Trump coup, saying “welcome to the club.”

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:28 pm

Reality check, please? Trump was born on June 14, 1946.

nk (add08f) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:59 pm

They say.

nk (add08f) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:00 pm

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/03/why-do-democrats-love-violence.php

The coordinated attacks on Teslas, Tesla drivers and Tesla dealers represent one of the most appalling political developments of recent years. These attacks are coordinated, organized and financed: yesterday was proclaimed a “global day of action” by the “Tesla Takedown” movement. CNN found the violence exciting.

As do, apparently, 100% of Democratic politicians. I hadn’t seen any Democratic officeholders condemn the violence, so I thought I must have missed it. But no: the Google search “Democrats condemn Tesla attacks” turns up zero instances of any such criticism.

Today, Senate Democrats made it official that they support arson, firing of bullets into Tesla dealerships, and violence and threats of violence against Tesla drivers. Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn introduced a resolution condemning the anti-Tesla violence. It contained nothing that any reasonable person could object to:

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate condemns the horrific acts of violence, arson, and domestic terrorism committed against electric vehicles, car dealerships, and charging stations throughout the United States.

But it was too much for Democrats to swallow: they killed the resolution.

Too much to ask the Democrats to tell their brownshirts to stop. And silence from all thkse who demanded we condemn Jan 6th as an insurrection over and over again.

Disgusting.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:22 pm

nk (add08f) — 3/31/2025 @ 5:59 pm

Your point? Just because he will be 82 doesn’t quench the lust for power; he’d just a late beginner.

I do agree this Trump third term/coup fantasy camp, but anything is possible.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:23 pm

One can argue that what killed the Tesla resolution (and many other good legislation) is the filibuster, which the Republicans can remove on their own.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:27 pm

But it does create great publicity against the Democrats.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:43 pm

Heh.

Take a good look Zelensky: This is how you properly dress when meeting our president.

Even Peter Doocy said this…

I stand by my comment here: that Biden never appeared next to someone dressed like they are about to be shot out of a cannon!

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:36 pm

Paul, I guess Kid Rock didn’t get the billion $$ in aid and weapons he was asking for.

lloyd (dd2d14) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:40 pm

Call it a training exercise, as it was in Seven Days in May.

Or a Preakness pool.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:54 pm

Overwhelming force and mass arrests of a state’s leadership would scotch any organized resistance.

Yeah, the nuking of East LA would settle things, all right. You and Roger Taney on “last words”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:55 pm

Donald Trump is our Savior, our hero.
He is the noblest being in the whole wide world.
For Trump we live,
For Trump we die.
Our Trump is our Lord
Who rules a brave new world.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:06 pm

@264 Brown shirts? Antifa has all but disappeared. Democrat leadership schumer, jefferies d.n.c. et.al. take their orders from the donor class to do as little as possible so they get their tax cuts. The base of the democrat party wants to fight ;but only have the squad ready to fight. The organizing comes from the bottom up not top down. You are the perfect example of what sun tzu was writing about you know neither yourself or your enemy. If you want to know what is happening in the democrat party ask me.

asset (af7e9c) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:17 pm

Coup? Some in the military and civilian would support it. (see 7 days in may) Most would be horrified and many would resist.

asset (af7e9c) — 3/31/2025 @ 9:21 pm

Kevin, you don’t need to nuke LA. Just arrest the Democrats in the California legislature on charges of conspiracy to aid terrorists, deport them to the El Salvador ah prison, and threaten anyone else organizing resistance with the same treatment.

aphrael (dbf41f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:16 pm

threaten anyone else organizing resistance with the same treatment.

Forty million of them? And how are you going to stop people from organizing? Shut down cell towers and the Internet? They’ll all starve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:21 pm

As a general rule, should governments ignore criminal behavior by their political opponents for fear of disenfranchising voters?

After some thought, I’m going to answer that YES.

People talk about the “Rule of Law” as if it was a concept that trumps all. But in this case other other competing principle is “the Consent of the governed.” Does that not matter? Suppose the two are in conflict; what does our revolutionary founding suggest as the answer?

In the case of Donald Trump, I think we got it right. There was some damage to the Rule of Law in his election, but the alternative would have been more damaging to the concept of the People’s control of their government.

And France and Romania and, likely, Germany have it wrong.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:29 pm

And, should someone attempt to seize control of the American government, that same belief in the consent of the governed will defeat them. Trump may order his generals to roll the tanks, but many will not, or roll them the other way.

And God help us, should that last more than a moment, a civil war will descend; not people versus government but neighbor against neighbor with all the horror that entails.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:34 pm

Paul, I guess Kid Rock didn’t get the billion $$ in aid and weapons he was asking for.

You and Kid Rock are with Trump, and Trump is with the terrorists, and so are y’all with the terrorists.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:38 pm

The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing Monday that it had grabbed a Maryland father with protected legal status and mistakenly deported him to El Salvador, but said that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to order his return from the megaprison where he’s now locked up.

The case appears to be the first time the Trump administration has admitted to errors when it sent three planeloads of Salvadoran and Venezuelan deportees to El Salvador’s grim “Terrorism Confinement Center” on March 15. Attorneys for several Venezuelan deportees have said that the Trump administration falsely labeled their clients as gang members because of their tattoos. Trump officials have disputed those claims.

But in Monday’s court filing, attorneys for the government admitted that the Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was deported accidentally. “Although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the government told the court. Trump lawyers said the court has no ability to bring him back now that Abrego Garcia is in Salvadoran custody.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge. He is asking the court to order the Trump administration to ask for Abrego Garcia’s return and, if necessary, to withhold payment to the Salvadoran government, which says it’s charging the United States $6 million a year to jail U.S. deportees.

Trump administration attorneys told the court to dismiss the request on multiple grounds, including that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family.

“They claim that the court is powerless to order any relief,’’ Sandoval-Moshenberg told me. “If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless—all of them—because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done.”

link

Davethulhu (2c0c01) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:40 pm

There’s more to this “Maryland father” story. He as an illegal and MS-13 gang member.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:43 pm

“There’s more to this “Maryland father” story. He as an illegal and MS-13 gang member.”

what is your point, exactly? He has apparently kept his nose clean for the last 6 years and has asylum status. He was supposed to be safe from deportation without 1) a hearing and 2) especially not to El Salvador.

Davethulhu (2c0c01) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:59 pm

The actual evidence for his gang membership is also pretty sketchy, read this thread from your link: thread

Davethulhu (2c0c01) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:10 pm

My point is he was an illegal and MS-13 gang member. Not the guy I want in my country.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:21 pm

My point is he was an illegal and MS-13 gang member. Not the guy I want in my country.

This is the whole “first they came for…” thing. The American experiment works specifically because the worst of us still have rights…because it’s not about them, it’s about our values.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:26 pm

“My point is he was an illegal and MS-13 gang member. Not the guy I want in my country.”

Gotta say I’m surprised you don’t believe in due process, Paul. I thought better of you.

Davethulhu (2c0c01) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:27 pm

“My point is he was an illegal and MS-13 gang member. Not the guy I want in my country.”

Gotta say I’m surprised you don’t believe in due process, Paul. I thought better of you.

That IS “due process” — illegal and gang member. We kick legal immigrants out for drunk driving.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:33 pm

“That IS “due process” — illegal and gang member. We kick legal immigrants out for drunk driving.”

Read the article, please.

Davethulhu (2c0c01) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:37 pm

If he’s those things, there is a legal process. The solution isn’t to ignore the laws and constitution because it’s hard.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 3/31/2025 @ 11:37 pm

This is the whole “first they came for…” thing.

His status was already judged six years ago. He has no right to be here.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 4/1/2025 @ 12:12 am

Bottom line, I have more sympathy for those who did the right thing and came here by legal channels and had no gang affiliations.

Paul Montagu (7be35d) — 4/1/2025 @ 12:23 am

Nobody is asking for your sympathy

Davethulhu (6b8fe6) — 4/1/2025 @ 12:33 am

“Kill them all! God will know His own.” (“Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.” Direct translation: “Kill them, for the Lord knows those that are His”.) — Papal Legate and Abbot Arnaud Amalric, at the massacre of 20,000 people in the city of Beziers, 1209

The point of due process is to ascertain that the person you are sending to a konzentrantionslager really is illegal and a gang member.

And this is America, or so I’ve heard. So there’s a little bit more to it.

Yes, it is a crime to enter and remain illegally and a person can be imprisoned for it.

But our Constitution says that the way we do that is through a judge and jury, in the judicial district in which the crime was committed, by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

And it does not end there. The Constitution also says that we will not impose cruel and unusual punishments and there are laws, case and statutory, which govern the treatment of the convicted person while in the hands of the government.

A Girl, A Dog, A Goat, And A Gun, and her Ho Man and Baby Batista, might be able to claim some grace if all they had done was kick the illegals out with a “Begone, and never darken my towels again”.

But they sent the people to a foreign prison. A prison. Like you know, like where they are prisoners all locked up and everything.

Hmm?

nk (5efbd4) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:43 am

I’ll say this. No, he shouldn’t have been sent to an El Salvadoran penal colony.
Deported? Yes. Imprisoned? No.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:34 am

We need to work harder on that “life” thing:

From 2009 to 2019, avoidable mortality increased by an average of 33 deaths per 100,000 people across the United States, according to an article published in JAMA last week.

In the same decade that avoidable deaths increased in the United States, they dropped by an average of nearly 23 deaths per 100,000 across all other countries in the study. Among countries in the European Union, there was an average decrease of 25 avoidable deaths per 100,000 people from 2009 to 2019.

Drugs are the main reason for the increase in the US. In my opinion, neither president during that time period, had an effective strategy against drug abuse.

Jim Miller (3f1b02) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:39 am

“I’ll say this. No, he shouldn’t have been sent to an El Salvadoran penal colony.
Deported? Yes. Imprisoned? No.”

From Patterico on Twitter:

Why are you citing a May 22, 2019 order regarding a decision in a bond hearing and not the October 10, 2019 order of the judge granting him protection from deportation? https://t.co/FJaRprjAl6

https://x.com/Patterico/status/1907089717637652692

tl;dr not a gang member

Davethulhu (35f265) — 4/1/2025 @ 8:30 am

Hungary pursued policies similar to those Musk and the Loser are now doing. How has that worked out? Poorly.

Hungary is now one of the poorest countries, and possibly the poorest, in the European Union. Industrial production is falling year-over-year. Productivity is close to the lowest in the region. Unemployment is creeping upward. Despite the ruling party’s loud talk about traditional values, the population is shrinking. Perhaps that’s because young people don’t want to have children in a place where two-thirds of the citizens describe the national education system as “bad,” and where hospital departments are closing because so many doctors have moved abroad. Maybe talented people don’t want to stay in a country perceived as the most corrupt in the EU for three years in a row. Even the Index of Economic Freedom—which is published by the Heritage Foundation, the MAGA-affiliated think tank that produced Project 2025—puts Hungary at the bottom of the EU in its rankings of government integrity.

Some numbers here.

Jim Miller (8106bf) — 4/1/2025 @ 9:40 am

Overwhelming force and mass arrests of a state’s leadership would scotch any organized resistance.

Yeah, the nuking of East LA would settle things, all right. You and Roger Taney on “last words”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 8:55 pm

.

I don’t think the capital of California is in East LA. The US military has plenty of conventional weapons so nuclear weapons are unnecessary.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 9:53 am

threaten anyone else organizing resistance with the same treatment.

Forty million of them? And how are you going to stop people from organizing? Shut down cell towers and the Internet? They’ll all starve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 3/31/2025 @ 10:21 pm

Secret police; informers; mass arrests and detentions without trial; midnight disappearances; suspending habeas corpus; monitoring phone and Internet networks, etc. all tried and true methods of control. Most people would not resist; and as I pointed out, California has self-disarmed, and those with firearms would more likely than not support such a regime. You give Californians too much credit.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 10:00 am

NJRob (eb56c3) — 3/31/2025 @ 6:22 pm

Too much to ask the Democrats to tell their brownshirts to stop.

The Democrats don’t seem to want to lose any voters or volunteers or contributions. This is bad.

And silence from all those who demanded we condemn Jan 6th as an insurrection over and over again.

They claimed that Trump in a debate in 2020 didn’t tell the Proud Boys clearly enough not to do anything.

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-donald-trump-chris-wallace-0b32339da25fbc9e8b7c7c7066a1db0f

President Donald Trump on Tuesday didn’t condemn white supremacist groups and their role in violence in some American cities this summer, branding it solely a “left-wing” problem and telling one far-right extremist group to “stand back and stand by.”

“Almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing,” said Trump, whose exchange with Democrat Joe Biden left the extremist group Proud Boys celebrating what some of its members saw as tacit approval.

He was responding to a question from debate moderator Chris Wallace, who asked the president if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups that have shown up at some protests.

Wallace specifically mentioned Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a white teenager was charged with killing two protesters during demonstrations over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. Trump has repeatedly blamed “antifa,” which stands for the anti-fascist movement.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/1/2025 @ 2:11 pm

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:34 am

Deported? Yes. Imprisoned? No.

It’s the other way around.

A person who cannot be deported to a safe place may be imprisoned in the United States (as long as it is not for too long) but not deported. Of course he is subject to criminal prosecution if applicable.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/1/2025 @ 2:14 pm

Since he is a citizen of EL Salvador, the Unites Sates may not even be paying the country to take him.

But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t easily retrieve him by diplomatic means.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/1/2025 @ 2:19 pm

About the special elections today in Florida:

……..There are four (special election) vacancies: two from Democratic representatives who passed away in March and two in Florida from Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz. That’s a 50/50 split between open Democratic and Republican seats, but Republicans have consistently underperformed in special elections post-2024. …….

……..Trump won Florida’s 1st congressional district (the district vacated by Matt Gaetz) by 37 points in 2024 and its 6th district (Waltz’s former district) by 30. But so far, things are much tighter than those numbers would suggest. The early vote in FL-1 is R +19 compared with R +40 in 2024; in FL-6, it’s R +9 versus R +25 in 2024. Fundraising is also lopsided in favor of the Democrats for both races. Josh Weil — the Democratic candidate in FL-6— has raised more than 10 times as much as Randy Fine, the Republican. (Although Elon Musk’s super PAC is trying to even the odds.)

Now, Florida’s 1st is still almost certainly a safe Republican hold — although the Republican margin could shrink dramatically relative to 2024. But the 6th district could just perhaps shift enough to give Democrats a fighting chance. Beyond the spending difference, lagging Republican early turnout, and a Libertarian candidate in the race, Fine is not a good candidate. If you don’t want to take our word for it, listen to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis:
……….
Special elections are hard to poll accurately, but the polls that have been released also look bad for Fine. A survey from St. Pete Polls had Fine leading by only 4 points (48 percent vs. 44 percent). And in an internal Republican poll from Fabrizio Ward, Fine trailed Weil by 3 points (41 percent vs. 44 percent).

Now if we assume Democrats win the two special elections they are defending and Republicans hold Florida’s 1st, that would bring the composition of the House to 219 R vs. 215 D. That razor-thin margin would get even thinner if Fine loses in the 6th district — which we can’t stress enough, is still unlikely. ……..
………..
………..Since 1973, about 35 percent of special House elections have been triggered by the death or illness of a member of Congress. And another 34 percent happened because House members took new jobs — they joined the executive branch, were appointed to a Senate seat, took a job in the private sector, etc.

Scandals are the next-most frequent cause of vacancies, representing 16 percent of special elections. The rest were either due to legal or procedural issues (overturned results, mid-cycle redistricting) or other reasons (personal reasons, a sick family member, etc.).
………..
………..(Rep. Elise) Stefanik is from an increasingly red district in Upstate New York: Trump won it by 21 points in 2024. If the White House is worried about a special election there, it’s safe to say that they won’t be nominating too many House members to the executive branch before 2026. And that same logic holds for Republican members taking other jobs, resigning because of scandals, or for other personal reasons. Trump is lenient about personal indiscretions, and House Republicans will heavily discourage members from leaving for any reason, including scandal.
…………
But Tuesday’s special elections in Florida can still provide useful signals. First, watch for the degree to which the Democratic candidates overperform. If they significantly close the gap with Republicans, the chance of the House flipping — conditional on enough Republican seats opening up — is presumably higher. And second, if Fine loses — again, this probably won’t happen — then Democrats will be one seat closer to retaking the majority.
……….
……….(P)ulling Stefanik’s nomination is an acknowledgment of political gravity for a White House that often seeks to defy it. ………
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 3:16 pm

Doge investigating how democrat congress people became wealthy after entering congress. (ACE)

asset (76af0f) — 4/1/2025 @ 3:31 pm

Secret police; informers; mass arrests and detentions without trial; midnight disappearances; suspending habeas corpus; monitoring phone and Internet networks, etc. all tried and true methods of control. Most people would not resist

And the economy craters and, again, people starve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:52 pm

Cory Booker breaks Strom Thurmond’s filibuster record. On Thurmond he said:

“There’s a room in the Senate named after Strom Thurmond,” said Booker. He paused. “To hate him is wrong. Maybe my ego got too caught up and if I stood here maybe, maybe, just maybe I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand. I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech.”

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:53 pm

Republicans win both FL House seats.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:55 pm

Secret police; informers; mass arrests and detentions without trial; midnight disappearances; suspending habeas corpus; monitoring phone and Internet networks, etc. all tried and true methods of control. Most people would not resist

And the economy craters and, again, people starve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:52 pm

I never said it was going to be a rose garden.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 6:02 pm

Secret police; informers; mass arrests and detentions without trial; midnight disappearances; suspending habeas corpus; monitoring phone and Internet networks, etc. all tried and true methods of control. Most people would not resist

And the economy craters and, again, people starve.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:52 pm

Leaders concerned with retaining power by extra-constitutional means have very little regard for the “people” to begin with.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 6:05 pm

Republicans win both FL House seats.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/1/2025 @ 5:55 pm

By far narrower margins than Trump.

Trump won Florida’s 1st congressional district (the district vacated by Matt Gaetz) by 37 points in 2024 and its 6th district (Waltz’s former district) by 30.

With 99% of the vote counted, Patronis won the 1st Congressional District by 15 points (-22 points behind Trump’s margin) and Fine won the 6th Congressional District by 18 (-12 points behind.)

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/1/2025 @ 6:15 pm

Judge Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, overcoming $25M spent by Elon Musk.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:28 pm

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:28 pm

With 69% of the votes counted, Crawford leads Brad Schimel 55% to 44%.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:38 pm

Crawford 56% Musk vote buying 44% nuff said!

asset (155833) — 4/1/2025 @ 7:56 pm

> And the economy craters and, again, people starve.

But it’s only libtard traitors, so the rest of the country doesn’t really care, and MAGA cheers.

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/1/2025 @ 8:39 pm

Besides, watching it be done to California will bring home the message that it could be them, if they step out of line.

This tactic has worked in many other places. There’s no reason it wouldn’t work here, too.

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/1/2025 @ 8:40 pm

Actual Nazi Struggling To Stand Out Now That Everyone Is A Nazi.

lloyd (13d522) — 4/1/2025 @ 8:52 pm

RIP actor Val Kilmer aka “Iceman” (65).

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/1/2025 @ 10:05 pm

Damn, only 65.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/1/2025 @ 10:13 pm

Damn, only 65.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/1/2025 @ 10:13 pm

For the past few years Kilmer suffered from throat cancer; but he seemed pretty brave about it. He released a documentary (Val) in 2021 about his life and career which I can recommend.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/1/2025 @ 10:30 pm

@316, Typical of the modern right to be heavily concerned with the plight of Nazi’s. 😉 But good for the Bee to understand what their audience cares about most. 😉

Just to be 100% clear the statement above are intended entirely as jokes and not actual accusations.

Time (e138b1) — 4/2/2025 @ 5:59 am

I loved him in Tombstone.

Time (e138b1) — 4/2/2025 @ 5:59 am

Typical of Time to engage in smears and have zero sense of humor.

Just to be 100% clear, the above are intended entirely as jokes and not actual accusations.

lloyd (13d522) — 4/2/2025 @ 6:08 am

RIP actor Bruce Glover (92); best known for playing the assassin Mr. Wint (along with Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd) in Diamonds Are Forever; as well as the Walking Tall films and Chinatown. Father of actor Crispin Glover.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/2/2025 @ 7:00 am

The bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams have been dismissed “with prejudice,” which means they cannot be refilled at a later date.

Rip Murdock (75b245) — 4/2/2025 @ 7:05 am

Judge Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, with the assistance of $25M spent by Elon Musk.

FIFY

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 7:31 am

Nobody knows.
More cognitive decline.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:02 am

Lloyd, The Babylon B thing was funny. I liked it and was playing along by keeping the joke going.

Time (ce14ab) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:09 am

The coexist people are burning things again was better, but this one was pretty good.

Time (ce14ab) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:09 am

Trump dismissing the charges against Adam‘s is such a load of crap.

“We won’t prosecute people when it is politically advantageous for us to not do so” is just completely corrupt

Time (ce14ab) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:11 am

Should be “because” not “when”.

Time (ce14ab) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:47 am

@329

“We will prosecute people when it is politically advantageous for us ~~to not do so~~” is just completely righteous.

-Anti-Trumpers

FIFY

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/2/2025 @ 8:51 am

Trump dismissing the charges against Adam‘s is such a load of crap.

Since Judge Ho conceded he had no authority to order the Justice Department to continue the prosecution, dismissing it “with prejudice” was probably the best alternative. He also questioned DOJ’s rationale for dismissing the case:

………….
………….DOJ’s first asserted rationale for dismissing this case—that it has been tainted by “appearances of impropriety,” —is unsupported by any objective evidence. Rather, the record before the Court indicates that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who worked on this case followed all appropriate Justice Department guidelines. There is no evidence-zero-that they had any improper motives. Indeed, DOJ’s memorandum directing dismissal of this case took care to note that it did not “call[] into question the integrity and efforts of the line prosecutors responsible for the case,” or the efforts of the U.S. Attorney leading the office at the time of the memorandum. And DOJ’s assertion that this case—which was brought nine months before the 2025 New York City mayoral primary election—somehow amounts to election interference lacks any support in Justice Department guidelines or past practice. In fact, the timing of this case is entirely consistent with prior public corruption prosecutions. All of this suggests that the “appearances of impropriety” rationale is not just thin, but pretextual.

As for the immigration enforcement rationale, to the extent that DOJ suggests that Mayor Adams is unable to assist with immigration enforcement while this case is ongoing, such an assertion is similarly unsubstantiated. Indeed, shortly after DOJ made the decision to seek dismissal of the case- -and while the Indictment was still pending—the Mayor announced that he would permit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to operate at the Rikers Island Jail Complex, an act that appears to be contrary to New York City law. In other words, the record does not show that this case has impaired Mayor Adams in his immigration enforcement efforts…………
…………

Footnotes and motion references omitted.

DOJ was trying to be too cute by half; they got what they wanted (dismissal) but not their sword of Damocles hanging over Adams.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:23 am

Ugh:

Tesla’s global vehicle deliveries fell 13% in the first quarter from a year ago, further evidence that a growing consumer backlash against the brand and Chief Executive Elon Musk is hurting the automaker’s business.
……….
Tesla shares fell slightly early Wednesday following the release of its latest delivery figures. By midday, shares were up about 4% following a report in Politico that said President Trump has told members of his cabinet that Musk will soon return to his companies and step back from his role at the White House.
……….
Global vehicle deliveries were weighed down by significant declines in some of Tesla’s biggest markets, data from governments and research firms show. The company doesn’t break out regional results.
………..
In Germany, home to Tesla’s European factory, new-vehicle registrations fell 76.3% in February compared with the same period last year, according to the country’s Motor Transport Authority.

In the U.S., sales fell 2% in the first two months of the year, according to research firm Wards Intelligence.

U.S. sales results posted by major automakers on Tuesday were mixed. General Motors and Hyundai Motor had strong gains—up 17% and 11%, respectively—while Ford Motor’s sales fell 1% and Jeep maker Stellantis’s deliveries dropped 12%.
……….
Traditional automakers including General Motors and Kia have rolled out new electric vehicles, which has reduced Tesla’s market share even as EV sales grow. Also, the March release of Tesla’s refreshed Model Y SUV may have led potential buyers to postpone their purchases until later in the year, analysts said.

Last year, Tesla reported its first annual decline in deliveries in more than a decade, with global deliveries falling 1%. ……….

In California, where Teslas are among the bestselling vehicles, new vehicle registrations of Teslas fell 11.6% in the state in 2024.
……….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:33 am

@331 You seem to have forgotten that the charges against trump were well predicated….or at least that we disagree on that point.

But what’s not up for disagreement is that the DOJ openly stated they were dropping the charges against Eric Adam’s because it was politically advantageous for them to do so. A sad thing you’re apparently OK with.

Time (e138b1) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:37 am

Oh, you innocent babes in the woods.

Dismissals without prejudice are disfavored and denied for all the reasons Judge Ho gave and more. It was not going to fly from the very beginning.

Trump got what he wanted for Adams, a pardon for everything that was alleged or could have been alleged in the indictment, with the judge’s signature on it instead of his own.

“Don’t blame me, I wanted to keep the case open; blame the judge.”

nk (1c35f1) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:51 am

Congress trying to do its job:

Republicans could be poised to deal a symbolic blow to President Donald Trump’s trade policy, with several GOP senators indicating they planned to join Democrats in a Tuesday vote to block blanket tariffs on Canada.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she plans to back the resolution led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would terminate the national emergency Trump declared last month, citing fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. Trump has used that declaration to justify 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on America’s northern neighbor and leading trade partner — duties that Trump has threatened to start levying later this week.
………..
Collins is poised to join GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is a co-sponsor of Kaine’s resolution and a strong opponent of tariffs. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa — one of many farm-state Republicans who has raised particular concerns about the Canadian tariffs — also said he was undecided on the Kaine resolution. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who has also expressed concerns about Trump’s tariff plans for North American neighbors, expressed tentative support for the effort Monday; a spokesperson said Tuesday he would vote against Kaine’s resolution.
………..
If all 47 members of the Democratic caucus back Kaine’s resolution, which is coauthored by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia, at least four Republicans would have to join on for Senate approval. However, it’s likely the resolution never comes up in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson moved earlier this month to block the ability of tariff critics to force a floor vote on ending the kind of national emergencies Trump is citing to levy the tariffs.

Still, losing the vote on Tuesday would represent the most significant rebuke to Trump that congressional Republicans have yet mustered in his second term. GOP lawmakers have otherwise been compliant with his brash agenda of making slash-and-burn spending cuts and upending America’s foreign relationships.
………..

Grassley and Tillis have since announced they will vote “no.”

Needless to say, President Trump is not amused:

President Donald Trump called on four Senate Republicans known for bucking the White House to vote down a congressional resolution attempting to end his steep tariffs against Canada.
………
Trump accused Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of “playing with the lives of the American people and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels.”

The resolution, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), is co-sponsored by a Republican, Paul. This week, Collins said she would support the resolution. While McConnell and Murkowski have not signaled they would back it, they have publicly criticized the 25% tariffs against Canada set in place by Trump on Feb. 1 that went into effect on March 4.
………..
Trump said the resolution was “just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans” and urged residents from the senators’ states to contact the lawmakers and “get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals.”

“Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty. What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why?” the president said in a post to Truth Social early Wednesday morning.

The four GOP senators “will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy,” he added.
……….

McConnell has said he will vote “yes”; but Murkowski has not said how she will vote on the resolution.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:54 am

Not sure why my post 336 is in moderation.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:56 am

@334

@331 You seem to have forgotten that the charges against trump were well predicated….or at least that we disagree on that point.

Oh we absolutely disagree on whether it’s well predicated.

But what’s not up for disagreement is that the DOJ openly stated they were dropping the charges against Eric Adam’s because it was politically advantageous for them to do so. A sad thing you’re apparently OK with.

Time (e138b1) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:37 am

Please show me where I’ve said I’m OK with that.

I’ve acknowledged, that the executives get to set priorities and make determinations whether or not to continue any cases that was started by the previous administration.

That includes, weighing whether or not if the alleged crime is worthy of prosecution due to finite resources and time.

To me, that’s part of the underbelly, “icky” politics.

FWIW, I agree with this judge’s decision to dismiss with prejudice too.

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:57 am

#335 — nk

Really? I took Trump/Justice Department at face value — they wanted to hang this looming conviction over him. The nakedly transactional nature is just so very Trump.

Appalled (f0dcf0) — 4/2/2025 @ 10:40 am

Wembley it honestly seems like you’re going to twist yourself in knots to say that it’s fine what they did with respect to Adams but that you don’t really support it. Seems like a morally bankrupt position to me.

Time (a017eb) — 4/2/2025 @ 10:57 am

Also, Taking your initial response to my comment as an indication that you support what they did seems like a reasonable conclusion on my part.

Time (a017eb) — 4/2/2025 @ 10:59 am

I agree with Appalled. There were public statements by the head of DHS that if Adam’s tried to back out on his commitments, they could bring the charges again. Seemed clear to me that they were attempting to use this to compel his cooperation with their political initiatives. Which per Wembly is an acceptable use of government power.

Time (a017eb) — 4/2/2025 @ 11:03 am

> There were public statements by the head of DHS that if Adam’s tried to back out on his commitments, they could bring the charges again. Seemed clear to me that they were attempting to use this to compel his cooperation with their political initiatives.

Honestly in my opinion any *lawyer* who participated in that should be disbarred, full stop. And it means dismissing with prejudice was the only reasonable form of dismissal here.

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/2/2025 @ 11:41 am

@340

Wembley it honestly seems like you’re going to twist yourself in knots to say that it’s fine what they did with respect to Adams but that you don’t really support it. Seems like a morally bankrupt position to me.

Time (a017eb) — 4/2/2025 @ 10:57 am

How so?

Please explain.

I’m fine with them dropping the case.

I’m fine with the judge dismissing with prejudice.

I don’t have to agree 100% what this administration does to make a generalized statement that I prefer this administration to what would have been a disastrous Harris/Walz administration.

So, please elaborate.

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:07 pm

@343

> There were public statements by the head of DHS that if Adam’s tried to back out on his commitments, they could bring the charges again. Seemed clear to me that they were attempting to use this to compel his cooperation with their political initiatives.

Honestly in my opinion any *lawyer* who participated in that should be disbarred, full stop. And it means dismissing with prejudice was the only reasonable form of dismissal here.

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/2/2025 @ 11:41 am

Here me out on this…

Prosecutors compels defendants to cooperate all the time.

Here, you’re making a distinction whereas, on the one side, it’s done in pursuit of justice…and on the other side, it’s done to advance political initiate that voters mandated.

Is there really a difference?

I mean, I can certainly see a corruption angle, if say that was done to Adams to give some preferential treatment to Trump’s son and their companies, that he wouldn’t have otherwise done.

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:13 pm

@334

the charges against trump were well predicated

LOL No

But what’s not up for disagreement is that the DOJ openly stated they were dropping the charges against Eric Adam’s because it was politically advantageous for them to do so. A sad thing you’re apparently OK with.
Time (e138b1) — 4/2/2025 @ 9:37 am

I think your only problem is that it was done “openly.” If you want to pretend this hasn’t been going on for many decades, that’s on you.

Once again, Trump is at least being transparent about how the sausage gets made. It sucks that he isn’t into Kabuki, but maybe your outrage should be directed elsewhere.

lloyd (4be8ec) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:19 pm

Using the threat of prosecution to compel adherence to a political program is an abuse of power and an ethical violation, absolutely.

It makes law enforcement not about *enforcing the law* but about *enforcing adherence to political views*. It turns the rule of law on its head.

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:22 pm

aphrael (54f68d) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:22 pm

A great point, for those born yesterday.

lloyd (4be8ec) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:24 pm

For those not born yesterday:

Will Michael Flynn Plead Guilty And Cooperate To Protect His Son?

lloyd (4be8ec) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:29 pm

Nevertrump, having set an example, is outraged others are following it.

lloyd (4be8ec) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:33 pm

Hamas couldn’t keep up their lies about casualties forever.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:51 pm

As expected, there were lots of Signal chats by NSA Waltz, 20 at latest count.

National security adviser Mike Waltz’s team regularly set up chats on Signal to coordinate official work on issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, Middle East policy, Africa and Europe, according to four people who have been personally added to Signal chats.

Two of the people said they were in or have direct knowledge of at least 20 such chats. All four said they saw instances of sensitive information being discussed.

It’s a more extensive use of the app than previously reported and sheds new light on how commonly the Trump administration’s national security team relies on Signal, a publicly available messaging app, to conduct its work.

“Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal,” said one of the people. All four were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the private chats.

Veteran national security officials have warned the practice potentially violates regulations on protecting sensitive national security information from foreign adversaries and federal recordkeeping laws if the chats are automatically deleted.

Of course Trump’s pet AG won’t investigate, because the Trump Mafia don’t investigate itself.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/2/2025 @ 12:59 pm

Meanwhile, Trump announces extra high tariffs on top of already high tariffs. Stock futures down. Gold up. Are you ready for the nearly random national sales tax?

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:01 pm

A recession is now guaranteed, how bad is the question.

Colonel Klink (ret) (96f56a) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:09 pm

My fix – an Amendment

* The power to lay and collect Duties and Imposts (herein called Tariffs) is an enumerated power, reserved to Congress.

* Whenever Congress by statute permits the Executive to choose the amounts, targets and timing of any Tariffs, Congress reserves the power to veto such decisions by a majority vote of either House.

* Such a veto must occur within 30 days of the announcement of such Tariffs, or, if Congress is not in session when they are announced, within 30 days of the start of their next session.

* Congress may revoke any specific Executive Tariff authority previously granted by a majority vote of both Houses.

As an amendment, the President would have no direct say, although it requires a supermajority in each House to be presented to the states.

Would this happen? Maybe not right this moment, but President Trump is becoming a cautionary tale on this subject. Each tariff he’s announced has a separate group that is harmed and relying on party loyalty won’t be enough. Many red states have significant agricultural interests that rely on exports. All states will see significant damage to their export markets and their Congressfolk would be so informed.

At the state level, it would pass more easily, as they are insulated from the wrath of Donald.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:31 pm

Or maybe we’re just all stuck on this bus to Hell.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:32 pm

Whembly, will reply when I get more time. Dont mean to ignore you, but on my phone and need a keyboard.

Time (38ed42) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:33 pm

Democrat party drops to 21% approval as democrats join in contempt of their party leaders like schumer/jefferies.

asset (cc4dec) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:39 pm

I would love to see the courts trike these tariffs down as arbitrary and capricious, or perhaps the whole structure as offensive to the separation of powers.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:56 pm

Judge Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, with the assistance of $25M spent by Elon Musk.

FIFY

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 7:31 am

Actually yesterday’s election results fall within the norm for contested Wisconsin Supreme Court races. For example, see 2023, 2020, 2018, and 2015 here. The only recent exception to the rule is 2019.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:02 pm

I would love to see the courts trike these tariffs down as arbitrary and capricious, or perhaps the whole structure as offensive to the separation of powers.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/2/2025 @ 2:56 pm

Someone (with standing, of course) will need to sue first.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:03 pm

Trump’s new tariff regime sucks pretty bad. It’s Smoot-Hawley on Red Bull.

Fun fact: after today’s announcement, the average tariff for the US is now 29%, nearly 50% above the infamous 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff (which was set at an average of 19-20%). It’s the highest tariff rate since the 29.3% Dingley Tariff of 1897.

Hello recession.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:12 pm

Ouch!

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis escalated his attacks against Randy Fine on Wednesday, blaming the representative-elect’s “unique problems” for a special election victory he said should have been won by a higher margin.

Appearing at a press conference in Ocala, Florida, the day after the election, DeSantis argued that President Donald Trump’s involvement in the 6th District race pushed Fine over the line. He added voters had not wanted to support Fine, who Trump had endorsed, and that the president “really had to bail him out in the end.”

“These are voters who didn’t like Randy Fine,” DeSantis said, “but who basically are like, ‘You know what? We’re going to take one for the team. The president needs another vote up there, and so we’re going to do it.’”
………..
……….Tuesday’s 6th District contest was still widely seen as an underperformance, including by DeSantis. The governor and Trump saw over 30-point victories in the district in 2022 and 2024, respectively, and the state has become more red since. DeSantis also said he didn’t begrudge Patronis because no outside groups had to come in to help during the closing days of his campaign. The governor made similar comments on Fox News Channel on Wednesday morning.

Asked whether he had a response, Fine shared a post on X, which included a video of the governor’s criticisms and the statement: “A dying star burns hottest before it fades into oblivion. I’m focused on working with @realDonaldTrump to stop Democrats from taking this country backwards, not working with them. Let’s go.”
………
While DeSantis sent an email to Young Republicans about the race, he otherwise “did nothing for Randy,” (a national GOP operative with ties to the Fine campaign) said.

“Casey and Ron were nowhere to be found,” the person said. “They got more earned media around their attacks than the Democrats did. They say all these nice things about the president, then do everything they can to cripple the president’s agenda.”
……….
DeSantis had already been criticizing Fine in the closing days of the race, but his comments Wednesday marked his sharpest remarks yet. He called Fine a “squish,” pointing to how Fine voted in favor of a gun safety bill following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and raising the fact Fine had been at the forefront of a bill on illegal immigration in Florida that the governor thought wasn’t strong enough.
……….
“Just the way he conducts himself is somebody — he repels people,” DeSantis said. ………
###########

Brutal.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:29 pm

It’s gonna be a rough day tomorrow on Wall Street:

U.S. stock futures cratered as President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs of at least 10% and even higher for some countries, raising the risks of a global trade war that hits the already sputtering U.S. economy.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 963 points, or 2.3%. S&P 500 futures dropped 3.4%. Nasdaq-100 futures lost 4.2%.

Shares of multinational companies tumbled in extended trading. Nike lost 7% and Apple dropped 6%. Shares of big sellers of imported goods were among the hardest hit. Five Below lost 11% and Gap plunged 12%. Tech shares dropped in an overall risk-off mood, with Nvidia off 4% and Tesla down 5%.
………..
What’s likely spooking traders is that these rates will end up being much higher than expected for many nations. For example, the effective tariff rate for China will now be 54% when accounting for the new reciprocal rate and duties already levied against the country, the White House clarified to CNBC. Traders had hoped a 10%-to-20% rate would be a universally applied cap, not a minimum starting point.

“What was delivered was as haphazard as anything this administration has done to date, and the level of complication on top of the ultimate level of new tariffs is worse than had been feared and not yet priced into the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management.
……….
Extrapolating the losses in after hours Wednesday trading, the S&P 500 is on course to fall back into a correction during regular hours trading Thursday.
##########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:39 pm

A South Korea example.

They list the tariff rate for South Korea as 50%. The actual rate for US goods is 0.79%

South Korea’s WTO tariff rate (13.4%) is much higher than the US (3.3%) but that is never applied because we have a free trade agreement.

Paul Montagu (b69d31) — 4/2/2025 @ 3:49 pm

Wembley, your position on Eric Adams appears to be as follows;
-You do not think the decision to drop the charges was a good one. You do not appear to believe the charges were brought for improper reasons, Or that those charges did not merit investigation and prosecution.
-You seem fine with the Trump administration‘s decision to drop those charges for the reasons stated: That the charges would interfere with his ability to run for reelection, that the charges would interfere with his ability to support the Trump administration initiatives, and not included in court filings, but included in public statements by the head of the Department of Homeland Security that the threat of the charges in the future would ensure his continued compliance.

So from this, it appears that you think this decision was not a good one, but was a legal one because the administration does have the legal right to set priorities, and there is no clear limitation on this right. The argument that this prosecution was not a good use of government resources Is not one that I’ve seen the administration make. You have historically been very clear about things you think that are right and wrong. The only times in the past I’ve noticed you be reluctant to say bluntly that you think something is wrong is when doing so would provide criticism to your team, or provide support for your political opponents. So I am concluding based on the totality of your commenting that that you do not think this was a good or moral decision.

So if I were to flatten your position down further, I would conclude that you do not think this is right, but you do think this is legal.

I think you and I may share some similar hobbies from the past, so I’ll put it into those terms supporting something because it hears to the letter of the law is lawful. Supporting something immoral Because it is in your interest is evil so I would say your alignment on this matter is lawful evil or morally bankrupt.

At this point, I want to take pains to say that I don’t think a person is defined by the worst thing they did or the worst opinion that they hold and that in viewing a person’s character, you need to look at the whole of the person. Based on everything I know about you I did not believe you to be overall an evil person. I just think your position in this matter is morally bankrupt.

Time (f4dec1) — 4/3/2025 @ 9:17 am

@366

Wembley, your position on Eric Adams appears to be as follows;
-You do not think the decision to drop the charges was a good one. You do not appear to believe the charges were brought for improper reasons, Or that those charges did not merit investigation and prosecution.

No…my issue, was the appearance of impropriety of the timing the Biden DOJ decision to charge Adams. This was done when Adams was challenging the Biden Administration’s immigration’s policies.

It’s true that the DOJ’s investigation started way before that.

But, despite this Judge or the SDNY prosecutor’s protestation that there were no evidence of political influence… I don’t believe them.

It would be trivial for them to cover any political influence, as a CYA, under the pretense that these prosecutors are non-political civil servants, or some similar arguments.

-You seem fine with the Trump administration‘s decision to drop those charges for the reasons stated: That the charges would interfere with his ability to run for reelection, that the charges would interfere with his ability to support the Trump administration initiatives, and not included in court filings, but included in public statements by the head of the Department of Homeland Security that the threat of the charges in the future would ensure his continued compliance.

Correct. I’m fine with current administration making a determination whether or not to continue ongoing cases.

So from this, it appears that you think this decision was not a good one, but was a legal one because the administration does have the legal right to set priorities, and there is no clear limitation on this right.

I don’t feel that strongly, but what I disagreed with current DOJ’s position was to ask for a dismissal without prejudice. Meaning, on a technical basis, they were advocating for a position that they’ll drop it “for now”, but someone *could* resurrect the charges at some point in the future.

The reason why I disagreed, is that I believe that it was obvious that the Biden DOJ charged Adams in retaliation for his advocacy against the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

As such, no matter how viable such charges are, it’s the fruit of a poisoned tree for me.

The way to stop politically-biased prosecutions, is to render the original allegation unchargable. (ie, dismissal with prejudice, pardons, etc). Make it so that, the DOJ wasted their time and be part of public record that they weren’t successful.

That is why, the Biden prosecutors flip their sh!t. They took a reputational loss in this.

The argument that this prosecution was not a good use of government resources Is not one that I’ve seen the administration make.

True. But, that’s the underlining basis for any prosecutions.

Is it worth that juice to squeeze based on resources available. Not everything said in such deliberations is made public.

You have historically been very clear about things you think that are right and wrong. The only times in the past I’ve noticed you be reluctant to say bluntly that you think something is wrong is when doing so would provide criticism to your team, or provide support for your political opponents. So I am concluding based on the totality of your commenting that that you do not think this was a good or moral decision.

Morality has nothing to do it.

As I explained earlier, I’m fine with the dismissal. I’m actually okay, with this judge dismissal with prejudice. The difference here, while the outcomes are the same, is that my rational is different as explained.

So if I were to flatten your position down further, I would conclude that you do not think this is right, but you do think this is legal.

I really only disagreed with the “without prejudice” of the Trump’s DOJ request.

As far as the other rationale, ie, fostering a relationship with the NY City major to advance certain agendas… I don’t see it as a manner as corruption as you and others are advocating.

I think you and I may share some similar hobbies from the past, so I’ll put it into those terms supporting something because it hears to the letter of the law is lawful.

Heh… you should know, that in MTG it’s not about the rules…it’s a matter of convincing your opponent that your interpretation of the rules is the correct one.

Supporting something immoral Because it is in your interest is evil so I would say your alignment on this matter is lawful evil or morally bankrupt.

You still haven’t adequately explain WHY it is immoral. You just claim it is so.

Is it, because you view the Trump DOJ requesting a dismissal w/o prejudice as some sort of quid pro quo? or a Sword of Damocles?

I can certainly see that argument.

Trump DOJ must weigh whether seeking justice (campaign violations) supersedes with the idea of advancing their preferred policies goals with an agreeable NYC mayor.

The crime being alleged, also deserves consideration.

At this point, I want to take pains to say that I don’t think a person is defined by the worst thing they did or the worst opinion that they hold and that in viewing a person’s character, you need to look at the whole of the person. Based on everything I know about you I did not believe you to be overall an evil person. I just think your position in this matter is morally bankrupt.

Time (f4dec1) — 4/3/2025 @ 9:17 am

And here, we just have to agree to disagree.

I criticize “my side” all the time. I’m just not that motivated to scrutinize “my side” as I would when it’s Democrats. That’s human nature.

I’m also, cognizant, that whatever “bad” or “distasteful” event by GOP/Trump that arises… I’m also mindful that whatever this *is*, it’s still far more desirable than a Harris/Walz administration.

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/3/2025 @ 11:48 am

But, despite this Judge or the SDNY prosecutor’s protestation that there were no evidence of political influence… I don’t believe them.

It would be trivial for them to cover any political influence, as a CYA, under the pretense that these prosecutors are non-political civil servants, or some similar arguments.

Do you have any evidence that this was politically motivated? Other than Adam’s had said something critical of Biden? The new DOJ has not made that assertion, and IIRC stated that they didn’t believe that was the case.

You still haven’t adequately explain WHY it is immoral. You just claim it is so.

I believe using prosecutorial powers to coerce people to support you politically an abuse of power, corrupt, and immoral.

It’s immoral for the president to let the Mayor get away with accepting tens of thousands of dollars of bribes from a foreign government in exchange for political support.

Do you have any limiting principle? I’ll pick an extreme example. By your logic it would be acceptable for Biden to refuse to prosecute Sen Menendez because he’s a political ally. Or for X to allow Y to commit Rape/Murder/Canibalism for the same reasons.

Those are more extreme, but it’s the same principle.

Time (f4dec1) — 4/3/2025 @ 12:26 pm

Or rather, lack of principle. It’s also contrary to 200+ years of precedent to say “I will not prosecute criminals if they support me politically.”

Time (f4dec1) — 4/3/2025 @ 12:31 pm

#368

But, despite this Judge or the SDNY prosecutor’s protestation that there were no evidence of political influence… I don’t believe them.

It would be trivial for them to cover any political influence, as a CYA, under the pretense that these prosecutors are non-political civil servants, or some similar arguments.

Do you have any evidence that this was politically motivated? Other than Adam’s had said something critical of Biden? The new DOJ has not made that assertion, and IIRC stated that they didn’t believe that was the case.

The Trump DOJ has indeed asserted that it was politically motivated.

You still haven’t adequately explain WHY it is immoral. You just claim it is so.

I believe using prosecutorial powers to coerce people to support you politically an abuse of power, corrupt, and immoral.

It’s immoral for the president to let the Mayor get away with accepting tens of thousands of dollars of bribes from a foreign government in exchange for political support.

Do you have any limiting principle? I’ll pick an extreme example. By your logic it would be acceptable for Biden to refuse to prosecute Sen Menendez because he’s a political ally. Or for X to allow Y to commit Rape/Murder/Canibalism for the same reasons.

Those are more extreme, but it’s the same principle.

They are not the same principle and I refuse to accept your premise.

The limiting principle is factoring in the allegation, the likelihood of success and does it warrant to expend the finite resources to pursue.

whembly (b7cc46) — 4/3/2025 @ 1:29 pm

Whaley seemed to be arguing from a different side of facts. You’re such a good girl.

To the best of my knowledge, the Trump DOJ took pains to assert that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the prosecutors. That would seem contrary to the idea that it was politically motivated and not a properly predicated investigation and prosecution

You can accept their word for what they did or not. Doesn’t change what they said.

Time (55999a) — 4/3/2025 @ 2:48 pm

If you remember the first Bob Menendez case and the Bridgegate fiasco (yeah, both from New Jersey), doing something sleazy for political reasons is not a crime under the federal corruption law.

Hung jury and dismissal by the DOJ for Bob Menendez; reversal on appeal for Chris Christie’s aide.

“Politically motivated” as opposed to e.g. a Trump Tower in Ankara (there’s already a pair in Istanbul) is the safest alibi.

But if you really believe that Trump wants Eric Adams for his Judas goat to lead the illegals of Rikers Island back across the Rio Grande, well, that’s okay too.

nk (62c296) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:19 pm

It’s also contrary to 200+ years of precedent to say “I will not prosecute criminals if they support me politically.”

Hmmm. Marc Rich, Bebe Rebozo, LBJ’s wiretappers, anyone from Chicago, Reconstruction carpetbaggers and the entire Gilded Age on line 3.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:24 pm

Oh, yeah, and the Solid South’s Klan.

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:24 pm

Someone (with standing, of course) will need to sue first.

Anyone who pays a tariff has standing. Of course, they’d have to be willing to endure Trump’s thugs and lawyers (birm).

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:28 pm

Trump wanted a Democrat to say he agreed with him, even if he did little. Today Eric Adams announced he is running as an independent. He was sure to lose the primary.

He doesn’t have much better chances this way unless a “progressive” aligned with supporters of Hamas and the DSA and Working Families Party (and also pro crime) wins the Dem primary but it will probably be the killer of patients in nursing homes Andrew Cuomo (and that episode is over)

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:37 pm

Jessica Tisch (whose appointment was half forced on Mayor Eric Adams) has a tremendous record as police commissioner. I wonder what she would be able to do without a handicap.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:39 pm

@373 “Aint America great! You can get all the justice you can afford!” Orenthal James Simpson.

asset (7c67b9) — 4/3/2025 @ 3:51 pm

“Aint America great! You can get all the justice you can afford!” Orenthal James Simpson.

“I bet to differ” Alphonse Capone

Kevin M (a9545f) — 4/3/2025 @ 4:45 pm

“You gotta know the righta peoples. Iffa you know the righta peoples everything come uppa roses.” — Vito “Cool Lips” Chericola, Chicago’s Mafia Boss (fictional)

nk (62c296) — 4/3/2025 @ 5:36 pm

Congratulations to Mommy, who has just become a mommy — at 97.

A rare Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoise who is estimated to be 97 has become the oldest known first-time mother of her species, according to officials at Philadelphia Zoo.

Mommy, who has lived most of her life at the Pennsylvania institution, and Abrazzo, a roughly 96-year-old of the same reptilian stripe, are the new parents to four hatchlings. The newborns bumped the population of Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoises in U.S. facilities to 48.

This is another example of our many environmental achievements, which we hear little about.

Jim Miller (048540) — 4/4/2025 @ 4:52 am

3/28/2025

Weekend Open Thread

381 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

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