The Frankish Reich

Agreed. Time to give up on the minor league off-season football concept. I've always said the only way it works is if the teams are affiliated with NFL teams. The Syracuse Bills or something stupid like that, functioning as a kind of football AAA or NBA G League - some players on a two-way contract, some ringers. That gets me interested in seeing what kind of talent my team has at the minor league level. But there's a whole host of reasons why that model doesn't work, with the CBA being the prime one.

Law prof Steve Vladeck (read his Substack! He's great. Written for lawyers but understandable by informed non-lawyers) provides a little sanity here: There are a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation out there about what Trump has and hasn’t done, and given that I’ve covered these topics before, it seemed worth a quick explainer on why this move is a big deal—but why it also is not as drastic an escalation (or abuse) as many had feared, at least not yet. The TL;DR here is that Trump has not (yet) invoked the Insurrection Act, which means that the 2000 additional troops that will soon be brought to bear will not be allowed to engage in ordinary law enforcement activities without violating a different law—the Posse Comitatus Act. All that these troops will be able to do is provide a form of force protection and other logistical support for ICE personnel. Whether that, in turn, leads to further escalation is the bigger issue (and, indeed, may be the very purpose of their deployment). But at least as I’m writing this, we’re not there yet. That's a critical point. Right now, the National Guard troops cannot engage in law enforcement activities. They are limited to a support role. Use of the Insurrection Act would bring us into a whole new era. Let's hope we don't get there. https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/156-federalizing-the-california-national

So Trump allowed a drug-addled Musk to have nearly unfettered access to all federal government systems. And allowed that same guy to unilaterally make the call on hirings, firings, and agency shutdowns. But the Biden Administration was the one run by the unfit elderly man. Got it.

I will grudgingly agree here. And it is a both sides problem. Our society only very recently crossed the F word barrier. I can't say we're better off for it.

I don't see the case here for federalizing the guard. Not yet at least. Other law enforcement (border patrol) have been deployed, and nearly all of the dangerous stuff was in that weird little municipality of Paramount, which I'd never even heard of before this. This should be considered an extreme step reserved for truly extreme situations.

Nice work, lefties, giving Trump the opportunity to escape the Musk fallout and hanging-by-a-thread Big Beautiful Abomination news cycle. You know he loves this. As for federalizing the National Guard: somehow it still surprises me that these righty "constitutionalists" and states rights advocates abandon all objectivity and become cheerleaders for sending in the troops as soon as their leader calls for it. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/posse-comitatus-act-explained

Who's the trans "woman" here trying to squeeze his fat belly into that belt?

1. Glad they brought him back. Was the TN prosecution a face-saving mechanism for getting him back? A real, good chance of winning prosecution? Time will tell. I'm skeptical of the viability of the charges because the U.S. Attorney resigned rather than sign off on it. 2. Legal issues: to be guilty of transporting aliens, you need to have at least constructive knowledge that the transportees are illegally present. Based on the Biden Administration's actions at the border - something I did not and do not support - there's probably a good chance these transporters didn't sneak in undetected, but rather were released from Border Patrol custody with a Notice to Appear in immigration court somewhere. And that "somewhere" may have been where Abrego was headed. In other words: "illegal aliens" allowed to remain in the United States, so not really illegal in the common sense of the word. 3. Fact issues: time has passed, it won't be easy for the new Acting U.S. Attorney to find witnesses, etc. In other words, this never would have been prosecuted today (June 2025) if the U.S. government hadn't made a mistake by prematurely deporting him to El Salvador. Make of that what you will.

A recurring feature for PPP readers. Today: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/06/07/elon-musk-third-party-andrew-yang-interview-00392288 Andrew Yang has reached out to Elon Musk with a sales pitch: Let’s build a third party together

I was a prosecutor. My name was right there on the papers. I stood up and stated it for the court. Defendants - accused of everything from immigration violations to drug trafficking to planning terrorist acts - knew exactly who I was and what I looked like. It comes with the job. If people don't like it, as Elon would say, good luck to them in a more productive job in the private sector.

Thanks. It’s nice to see a clear answer clearly explained. We will have to agree to disagree on names/faces/badge numbers. They literally signed up for this, and face masks/hoodies pulled forward/sunglasses to mask identity are not part of this country’s law enforcement tradition, nor should they be part of its present or future.

I'm not sure what people mean by "doxxed" in the context of a law enforcement officer. They ought to have a name and a badge. If they do, well, there's no such thing as doxxing that info that should be ought there in public. If people are posting photos of their families, home addresses, etc. that's a different story. But law enforcement officers, unless working undercover, should be easily identifiable. I don't know how this assumption that they should be able to keep their names and faces secret started, but it's an erroneous assumption.

Well, if we can't have Peter Thiel's buttboy, I guess that'll do.

I think the BBB passes with some face-saving tweaks, first in the Senate version, then in some House conference changes. Maybe MJT and others will have a chance to read it. "We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it." Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

"Real job" as in "not a budding politician's job." Think congressional staffer, something like that. That's all.

No. If that's a dig at AOC, well, I'd never vote for her for other reasons. But the fact that she once had a real job is a feature, not a bug.

Can’t make this sh!t up

Yeah they really pay-op’d the Dems this time. amazing the crap they’ll believe.

I agree. Even setting aside environmental concerns, EV technology is the future. Basically no maintenance. Faster. Better. The long range thing is the only issue holding them back, but that will come. A nudge in the EV direction strikes me as good policy for all of those reasons.

Weird take from Dinesh: "given the current makeup of Congress." The current makeup of Congress is a reflection of the current makeup of the Trump Republican coalition. For example, you can't severely cut Medicaid without pissing off all of Josh Hawley's Missouri voters. You can't eliminate the SALT deduction without losing seats in NYS. It is true that this is the difference in governing vs. philosophizing, but that's not a particularly profound point.

I finally leased an EV (not a Tesla, although I considered one) because the incentives/rebates just made it too damn cheap to consider anything else. I think it's great. Never buy gas for trips around town. Still have an ICE for roadtrips. This seems to be the most popular combination for EV adopters in my neck of the woods.

This is why Ukraine cannot be occupied. Guerrilla warfare for the 21st century.

I thought he was referring to the Epstein Pedo Files.

9/11: 19 of 20 terrorists from Saudi Arabia. Saudi not on the new banned visa list. 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack: terrorists from Pakistan or Pakistani background. Pakistanis not banned. Boston Marathon bombers: of Russian/Chechneyan origin. Russians not banned. Boulder pyro attack: Egyptian who lived in Kuwait for 17 years. Neither Egyptians not Kuwaitis banned. Hey, close enough! Trump in a nutshell. All performative symbolic outrage signifying nothing.