Just One Thing: Bring him back
US reveals status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was erroneously deported
The Trump administration deported a man whom a judge had specifically ruled was not to be deported to El Salvador.
The man had claimed that he was at risk of injury or death if he returned. I don't know if he was telling the truth but the judge ruled in his favor and the Trump administration 1) has no way to guess whether the guy was telling the truth and 2) must honor the judge's ruling and try to get a new ruling if they think it's wrong.
The administration claims that the Mr Garcia is a member of MS-13 but the only evidence was one claim from an informant...and those people are often HIGHLY incentivized to lie to law enforcement for their own benefit, so the Trump administration really has no idea if the guy is a gang member.
I don't know anything about Garcia. And it does appear that he's an illegal immigrant. But in a couple of big cases here including a ruling by the Supreme Court on the administrations (probably illegal) use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without giving them proper due process, the administration is being shown to ignore the rule of law. Generally, Trump pushes the boundaries of law but abides by federal court decisions. He said recently, when talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, that if a federal Court ordered him to get Garcia back, then he would. But so far, the administration is dragging their feet. For reasons having only to do with the rule of law and wanting to remind people that our system of government is not a monarchy, I'm pretty annoyed with the administration. Get the guy back and then go through whatever the proper legal process is to deport him if you think that doing so is important. Even MAGA must not support Trump breaking the law. No American should support any president breaking the law. Dems supported Biden when he kept trying to reallocate student loan debt to taxpayers. Republicans said, "Stop it...you know that's illegal." Republicans must live up to the same standard if they don't want to be just as hypocritical as Democrats. (For the record, I don't think they care because so few politicians will ever actually suffer any consequences for even the most blatant hypocrisy.
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One More Thing: Throw the book at him...and this could have been so much worse
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Other Stuff
I like this note by Vinay Prasad: Some thoughts on food (It does have some f-bombs in it.)
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Tariff developments since Friday morning. Trump is all chaos all the time which is why I think that it's a slightly better bet to sell the market right now than to buy it.
Welcome exemptions:
Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs | CNN Business
Trump spares smartphones, computers, other electronics from China tariffs | Reuters
Or maybe not:
Trump says no exemption for iPhones and other Chinese-made electronics — suggests new tariff coming
Tariff exemptions for electronics may not last, Commerce secretary says - POLITICO
So here's the executive order specifically naming exceptions to the tariffs: Clarification of Exceptions Under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as Amended – The White House
and here's the president saying there was no exception...dude, which is it?
AND, speaking of trade with China...
This is where China has serious leverage, and where Trump's ridiculous claim that we had all the power over China because we buy more from them than they buy from us shows its stupidity. Sure, the overall quantity of trade is relevant to where the leverage is, but every bit as important is who produces the stuff that the other side MUST have. And rare earth minerals are things that, for now, we MUST have. There are few other places to get them and this is absolutely not a thing we can produce in any important quantities in the US anytime soon, and maybe never. This is both a good demonstration of why 1) we shouldn't be dependent on China for important stuff (a point Trump understands) and 2) we should treat our other trading partners well, even better than they treat us, if we are going to count on them for things we need that we either shouldn't or simply can't produce ourselves.
China Halts Critical Rare Earth Exports as Trade War Intensifies - The New York Times
Same article at different site in case you can't read the NYT version: China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies - The Japan Times
China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies - The Japan Times
MORE ON TRADE
THIS is exactly right: Trump’s Exceptional Tariff Weekend - WSJ
This is the kind of situation that has people crying out for tariffs. But who's going to stand up for the consumers who don't want to be forced to pay 25% more (or whatever the number will be) for shrimp, or for the restaurants who will lose lots of business because potential customers won't pay the new higher price for dinner? Rampant 'shrimp fraud' deals another blow to devastated U.S. shrimpers but tariffs offer new hope - NewsBreak
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Correction from Friday: More likely than I thought that Bennet, not Polis, will choose Bennet’s successor. Which seems a little gross. Michael Bennet is running to be Colorado's next governor
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Such a fun story: How a Secretive Gambler Called ‘The Joker’ Took Down the Texas Lottery - WSJ
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I understand both sides of this issue...it's a REALLY tough call. Yes, the new law and similar restrictions impinge on consumer choice and convenience. AND, whatever independent liquor stores that haven't gone out of business yet had likely invested in the business based on the existing law that didn't (at the time) allow supermarkets to compete with them. My gut instinct is to eliminate government interference and I likely would have been in the minority voting against the bill...but again I do understand those who voted for it. And it's possible that, in a way, this increases consumer choice in the sense that supermarkets tend to have fairly limited selections and tend not to have true experts helping you choose. Also, their economies of scale can prevent them from selling a product from a small producer even if it's a fabulous product that an independent store would love to carry. So if I were gonna argue in favor of the new law it would be that consumers will actually end up with more choices in alcoholic beverages.
Polis signs bill preventing new liquor licenses from being issued to grocery stores
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I bet Witkoff insisted on at least a very short direct chat with an Iranian so that Trump wouldn't look like a liar for claiming there would be direct negotiations, even though almost all of the actual negotiations were indirect: Witkoff spoke briefly with Iranian counterpart amid Trump’s nuclear pressure campaign - POLITICO
However, it looks like the US was happy enough with the results of the talks to continue. This must have Israel rather concerned: Iran, US. talks set to resume in Rome Saturday
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I won't cover this on the show but political nerds will enjoy: Six-Chart Sunday – Crisis Consensus
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I didn’t talk about this crash when it happened because, frankly, it’s just too sad. The stats in this article are somewhat surprising to me. Even though they’re over 2 decades, it still seems like a lot of dead people. FAA says helicopter company involved in NY crash that killed 6 is ceasing operations immediately | AP News
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On a MUCH lighter note, this seems like a fun time: Songkran: The world's biggest water fight
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Missy Woods should go to prison for as long as Michael Clark was in prison: Boulder judge vacates murder conviction after motions cite DNA analyst misconduct
Conviction overturned in 1994 Boulder murder case (may require subscription)
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So far, DOGE is better than nothing but not as much better as I'd like: Nine Charts to Put DOGE Efforts in Perspective | The Epoch Times
That said, DOGE is useful just for shining the spotlight on the insane amount of waste by the federal government. I think DOGE will make it at least somewhat more difficult for Congress to sneak ridiculous spending into the budget...but that doesn't mean they won't try.
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Her line about a straight man is stupid. The thing prisoners are doing with dog training is cool: Rosie O'Donnell admits Lyle Menendez is first 'straight man' she can 'trust' | Fox News
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Hmmm: What's a death cafe? A place to talk about the worst topic in Colorado. - The Colorado Sun
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Does it make me a bad person that I just don't care about this "historic first"? Katy Perry part of celebrity-laden Blue Origin rocket slated to launch Monday
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Coachella stuff:
My first instinct is that this is financially undisciplined, but if it's really that important to you and this is the only way to make it work, and you cut back on your other spending so you don't get in trouble with debt then why not go for it?
Most Coachella Attendees Bought Tickets with BNPL - PaymentsJournal
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Some of the performances looked great, but this not so much: Coachella Camping Rollout Called 'Literal Hell,' Festivalgoers Spend 12 Hours in Line
This move didn't work out too well for whoever this dude is:
Bernie Sanders showed up. I think it's a smart move on his part given that the attendees and performers alike (due to being mostly between their teens and mid-30s) are likely targets/victims of the long-proven-harmful siren song of socialism. If I had been there I would have been annoyed at a politician doing this, but that crowd cheered the stupid old goat.
Bernie Sanders makes guest appearance at Coachella to introduce Clairo
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One more celebrity story on a day that seems to have a lot of them: Jessica Simpson defends drinking snake sperm, describes taste
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Today's Videos
So the other day we were talking about how if you have a cat it might make sense to put your toilet paper on the roll backwards, meaning the paper coming down behind the roll rather than to the front over the top, which everybody knows is the patriotic American way. BUT this video proves that that method does NOT help if you have a baby goat instead of a cat.
This is shockingly interesting