The Frankish Reich

Is it Finals Week? Can we get some extra time to study??

Was there a tariff on Diggs' coat? Why is this^^ here?

I think I found someone who doesn't really mind being called a commie. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/04/30/putin-renames-volgograd-airport-stalingrad-to-honor-wwii-battle-a88920 And the put up a new statue of Stalin. Communist nostalgia! The real kind.

Tranlation: Less (sic; should be fewer; I blame declining standards at Princeton, letting in mediocre white jocks) Generals = fewer high-level people to tell Trump he can't/shouldn't do stupid things.

What a surprise. The Alien Enemies Act declaration was based on total bs, contradicted by Trump's own administration. Oh yeah, he's lying to us. All the time. Thank you Tulsi. You will be fired. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/us/trump-venezuela-gang-ties-spy-memo.html

Matthew 16:18. FWIW. Well, they’re all inventions. FWIW.

It’s too expensive. And it would ruin a tourist attraction (kind of a boring one if you ask me). For a time I worked deep in the California desert and occasionally had to go to some max security prisons. Believe me, they do the same job a lot cheaper. If you escape from on of those, unless an accomplice is waiting in a car you will be found fast, or you’ll die hiding. Brutal landscape.

VP Jar-Jar.

Thanks. I met her husband a few times during the course of national security prosecutions Nice guy and hard worker.

My experience in a quite different context with the Saudis. What I'm saying here is "let them fight their own fight" should apply equally to them as to Ukrainians? As to the Baltics, who fear that they are next in Putin's reconquista? We have legitimate U.S. interests in conflicts and conflict avoidance all over the world, and I think this fight - even a proxy battle we're involved in vs. the Houthis - shows that an isolationist America First/no involvement in foreign conflicts is simply naive and dangerous, and that everyone except JD Vance understands that.

NEVER SAW THIS COMING: WHITE HOUSE "CLARIFIES" TARIFF ON FOREIGN-FILMED MOVIES https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/white-house-clarifies-trump-movie-tariff-1236207216/ Among other productions, it appears that America's Leading Antisemite is planning to film another Christ movie abroad. Dumbest President in history? I think so.

Oops, looks like the gang that couldn't shoot straight once again missed something; most incompetent administration in history.

Saudi can defend itself and its interests, I mean, at least in theory, right?

So our current illegal aliens are just like the Redcoats sent by Order of King George. Yeah, right.

As far as geopolitical risks to the U.S.: given our energy independence/dominance, I'd say that the Russian New Imperialism is a much more serious one. I notice that oil imports (other than Venezuela) were not tariffed. Why not? If you want to encourage U.S. production and marginalize the Middle East as a threat to U.S. security, that would seem to me to be the best solution. After all, a cartel is kind of the definition of a manipulated market. But I guess Trump couldn't stomach the fear of increased prices at the pump. Off topic, Sherpa, and probably belongs in the tariffs thread: would you expect tariffs on European (and other) wine imports to impact your wine business? My guess is that they won't, and that world trade in wine and encourages the development of wine aficionados (to use a snobby term) and is ultimately good for small producers everywhere, and that something like tariffs on foreign wine will be counterproductive. Maybe it would help at the very low end, but I can't see any help for smaller or boutique U.S. wineries. Thoughts?

Well they did require due process, so they didn't make it impossible, just a little more fair. Sorry if you don't like it; maybe this isn't the country and constitution for you?

There's really no good reason why the Republican House and Republican Senate haven't proposed making certain immigration "reforms" - like this one - the law by proposing a new statute. Could you get half a dozen Dem Senators on record supporting this, or even a more robust (maybe $5,000) payment? I'm sure you could. You'd also want a new law saying that if you take the deal and leave on time your previous unauthorized stay would be pardoned if you try to come back legally. I don't oppose this in principle, but I do oppose how they want to do it. Will we ever get serious proposals rather than tweet-friendly press releases?

I agree. Just mocking the Trump/Vance line on why the U.S. doesn't have a national security interest in what happens in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

Don Novello, who played Guido on SNL, was a really funny guy. His "Lazlo Letters" were hilarious at the time, at least to me as a kid in high school. Maybe they haven't aged well. Neither have I.

Well, maybe the Los Angeles Dodgers are a private company and not collectively the President of the United States? Seems like a difference to me.

How about explaining why the Great USA, the Country of Energy Dominance, has a Dog in this fight, given that Europe should Take Care of Defending Itself against DeNazification Exercises. Or as JD Vance texted to Jeffrey Goldberg and others: it is Europe that overwhelmingly depends on the Suez/Red Sea trade, maybe they should defend commerce there.

That's just a stunning (and I'd say deliberate) misreading of the constitution. Even setting aside the citizens vs. aliens thing, it is clear that the 5th Amendment applies to things other than "a criminal defendant facing prosecution." Again, just read the 5th Amendment: "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." Arresting and detaining an alien deprives him of "liberty" whether it is for a criminal or civil proceeding. That has been clearly established. Disgusting ignorance, or more likely, an attempt to convince the ignorant MAGAs of the constitutionality of arrest and detention and deportation without any due process whatsoever.

Thanks for the clarification. We need both!

Or in other words (pictures), this: