The Frankish Reich

Economics: where does the US have a comparative advantage over China? Answer: research and education. Not making socks.

No, it's not. The trolling will end, he will be returned. This is not the case they want for a "constitutional crisis."

George Scott, 1B, 6'1", 215 when I had that baseball card. Yeah, it was funny then, it is funny now.

You guys just don't get it. No one cares how tall Trump is. Except Trump. He is known for always wanting to appear to be the tallest person in the room. Wears lifts in his shoes. Didn't want to be photographed next to Barron once Barron got clearly taller than him. And weight: Ronny Jackson's comical physical summary was the most bizarre/wacko such report in the history of medicine. They also clearly adjusted his height/weight to fall just a tick below the "obese" BMI. It's funny because it again reveals how vain, how silly, what ridiculous steps this fat old man will go to in order to assuage his ego. There, @JDHillFan, I explained why it is funny. I understand that mocking your god doesn't sit well with you. But to the rest of us, it is comical.

McCarthy points out, for one, that there is a negotiated agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador in which the U.S. ultimately has control over these detainees. Plus, as understood for years, we would need a formal request from Rubio to his Salvadoran counterpart that Abrego be transferred to U.S. custody for transport back to the U.S. I don't think there's been any such request. A simple matter for Trump, sitting next to Bukele, to say "in the interest of continued good relations, and to ensure compliance with our Supreme Court, we respectfully request that Abrego be transferred to U.S. custody as soon as practicable." Trump and Miller and Bondi are playing games here, obviously with Bukele's help. They should be taking the order seriously, and using their best efforts to make not just logistical but legal arrangements to make the transfer happen as soon as reasonably practicable. I actually believe Bondi's response should subject her to sanctions and possible attorney disciplinary proceedings. It is literally unheard of.

Please read Andrew McCarthy's article in the National Review (link above). He's worked on prisoner return cases. So have I.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/salvadoran-presidents-remarks-do-not-alter-trump-administrations-duty-to-comply-with-court-order-to-facilitate-detainees-return/ This is by Andrew McCarthy, a conservative former U.S. Attorney. Paywalled in general, but you get 3 free articles without signing in. Read it! It may very well be that, legally, Abrego Garcia will never live in the United States again. But the truth is, he has never lived here legally. That, of course, didn’t stop him from living in Maryland for the last six years. That’s because the first Trump administration (a) failed to appeal an immigration judge’s 2019 order prohibiting Abrego Garcia’s repatriation to El Salvador on fear-of-persecution grounds, and (b) allowed him to be released from custody to live and work in Maryland, notwithstanding that federal immigration law calls for illegal aliens to be detained until the conclusion of their removal proceedings.

Remember that Trump used to phone-in to NY talk radio posing as his own press man, "John Barron."

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/on-tariffs-its-good-to-be-tim-cook-5b8f05ad Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.

I'm telling you that it is a term of art in immigration law that is not necessarily limited to the dictionary definition.

Why will no one admit that we like having cheap stuff from China? That's why we buy it, myself included. Wouldn't we be better off if we could buy the new Chinese BYD EVs? By most accounts they are better than comparable Teslas, and far, far cheaper. Passenger vehicles don't strike me as something that is a strong national security concern. Let me buy whatever the eff I want from whomever the eff I want. I notice Elon Musk hates Peter Retarrdo's tariff schemes. Elon Musk's entire core business - Tesla - is built on tariffs, import restrictions, and tax incentives.

Obsessing? No. Laughing.

It is actually a term of art in immigration law. I have never seen any confusion over this previously, which is why this is fake confusion. Again, who said he'll be at liberty in the USA, living "like a citizen?" I'm sure that's what his attorneys want, but he has no such right. Instead of trolling the courts and trying to confuse the American people, Trump should simply call his bluffs: we will bring him back, hold him in custody, and move to reopen his immigration case while also trying to find a third country willing to accept him. He really has no leg to stand on if these things happen. But this administration is all about posturing.

These are my convictions, and apparently they would constitute a hate crime for these MAGAs: 1. The October 7 attack on Israel and Israelis was horrific. It was organized by Hamas, the de facto government of Gaza. Israel's goal to eliminate Hamas was part of its inherent right to self-defense. 2. While many IDF attachs in Gaza are therefore justified, Israel has engaged in targeting of civilian sites without clear links to Hamas militants or leadership, and these attacks violate the rules of war.

Bad choice of photos since Melania no doubt has serious heels on and Barron is, well, freakishly tall

Standing next to Danny DeVito and Michael J. Fox will do that for you.

Yes, the Biden DEI/LGBTQ initiatives were an overreach. It would be perfectly acceptable for the new administration to rescind them (they did). But it is at least as bad - I'd say worse - to now attempt to mandate that universities ensure "viewpoint diversity" (read: conservative) in their faculties/students. That is precisely one of the demands the Trump Administration is making. Do we need "viewpoint diversity" on the faculty of a Catholic college? Are they required to hire/recruit, for example, pro-abortion rights scholars? This is obviously a bridge too far, and a serious infringement on 1st Amendment rights. Harvard is quite correct to do what their lily-livered Ivy sisters (including the barely-Ivy Penn) refused to do: fight on the merits.

And again, even underwater by a couple points in polling by the most favorable pollster, Rasmussen.

I get the confusion, because media reports - largely stemming from interest group/White House spin - have been so poor. We need to separate this guy, Abrego-Garcia, from all the other cases. There is a critical distinction in his case: Trump's Department of Justice, acting through the appointed officials, decided that Abrego-Garcia cannot be deported to El Salvador because he would likely face persecution there. That order remains intact. I'm not sure if Trump's DHS sought further review of that decision, but at any rate, that was a final order of his Attorney General at the time. That's why the new Trump Administration has admitted that he was removed to El Salvador by administrative error. It's not like he has a right to be free from custody in the USA. If he was released from custody (under Trump or Biden or both), well, that was likely a discretionary decision. And the new Trump Administration can go back to the court to ask them to "reopen" and change that decision based on major changes in El Salvador in the last few years, arguing that he no longer has any reason to fear being there. We can also ship him off to any other country that will take him, just not El Salvador unless/until that final order is overturned. But ignoring the court orders and throwing up your hands and saying "sorry, nothing we can do" is shameful. He is in prison in El Salvador based on a program in which the U.S. pays El Salvador to house people deported from the United States. We need to make our best efforts to "facilitate" his return, not pretend that we are suddenly powerless to do anything.

From a poster on the Know-Nothing thread: So ... are universities require to comply with any administration's interpretations of civil rights laws? It strikes me that this is exactly the point Biden's opponents were making: that there is freedom of choice/expression that cannot/should not be controlled by whatever a particular president decides.

Even Rasmussen's tracker has Trump underwater now. And 43% say the country is heading in the right direction. To ask that question is to answer it.

Don't feed the troll. A real conversation will be found in the Fight Fiercely, Harvard thread. Thanks.

Way to bury the lede ... https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/2025/04/15/trump-approval-rating-2025-latest-us-polls/83095426007/

Unless you're Evander Holyfield. Sorry, China is winning. Trump will be reduced to eat biting soon.

Finally, an institution with huevos.