“Who Believes in Angels?”: https://open.spotify.com/album/5eS9zcWHCbkOiyXPRiIgg4?si=GfS6MMKgS4iCrcEPnjt-OA

I was talking to a long time radio promotion man yesterday and he said he could hear a hit in a matter of seconds. Sure, he misses occasionally, but very occasionally. And he said he was not the only one, long time professionals have this skill.

I don’t hear a hit on “Who Believes in Angels?”

The second best cut on the album is the title track, “Who Believes in Angels?,” that was released prior to the rest of the album. Elton’s playing the piano in a way that’s reminiscent of “Where to Now St. Peter?,” and it’s so great to hear. And you could say the track is gorgeous, but would I tell you you have to hear it, did I play it more than a couple of times when it was released? No. I guess I expected something more in the pocket when the entire album dropped. I did not find it.

The opening cut is “The Rose of Laura Nyro.” She deserves any attention she can get, she was a legend, at least she’s finally in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But really, her skill with a pop hit, and then with deep, touching stuff on “New York Tendaberry”…that stuff needs to be remembered, and it’s not.

Let’s go to the second album, which includes “Poverty Train.” No Top Forty radio station is going to play it, and they didn’t, however “Eli’s Comin'” was a gargantuan hit for Three Dog Night.

But do I hear a “Poverty Train” or “Eli’s Comin'” on “Who Believes in Angels?”

No.

The press said Elton was a taskmaster, that he wanted to get it right. I was listening to the album and I thought they should have called me, I would have pushed them harder. Or hired Rick Rubin, who doesn’t touch the board but pushes and pushes the acts until the material is good enough. Rick specializes in comeback records, his goal is to get you back into the headspace you were at when you peaked, and he’s very good at it.

Not that “Who Believes in Angels?” isn’t professional.

Then again, this is an LP that needs to be heard on a full-bodied seventies stereo, compressed into earbuds…the richness is lost.

So, I caught the hype for the album.

And I even saw a performance on SNL, where the mix was so awful, you couldn’t hear Elton’s piano.

And I also got a couple of e-mails telling me how great the album was.

But, despite the press, despite it being Elton John and Brandi Carlile, you cannot feel the album in the marketplace. And you can go on Spotify and see the anemic streaming numbers. Almost no one is listening.

Now I’m going to get the e-mail that fans of Elton are older and they buy physical product, just like I got an e-mail earlier saying Kamala lost because of racism, sexism… And this was a guy. How come no one can look at themselves, adjust, see if what they’re doing works?

And I got another e-mail from a Trumper saying:

“The problem with the Democratic ‘elite’ of Coastal ‘elites’ is their insufferable attitudes.

They come off as if they are a higher life form, almost as if what they say comes down from on high.  They are the modern iteration of Moses with the LAW carved by them in stone.  You must obey or they are the Gods who will make you pay the price.

Theirs are the only view allowed, because as domestic Gods, you can’t defy them.”

This guy is right, and what is Democrats’ response… HE’S A KNOW-NOTHING IDIOT! And there you have it.

Just like two famous stars put out an album and very few are listening.

Now I know people who say they don’t care if anybody listens to their music, I don’t believe this, but they say it. But what most musicians want even more than money is to reach the audience, to have them listen to their work, and Elton and Brandi are failing. How could they win?

Who needs an entire album. Can you just create one hit, that I can tell everybody about, a one listen smash? That’s what required of older acts today if they want traction. Yes, a heritage act can have success, but most don’t because the music just isn’t good enough, it’s bad retreads.

Now most people are burned out and past their peak. But Elton wants, Elton NEEDS the success. I wouldn’t have put out this LP without a one listen smash.

The truth is after “Blue Moves,” Elton was in the wilderness. He ultimately signed to Geffen, but had no hits. No, that’s not completely true, there was “Little Jeannie” in 1980. And ultimately “Blue Eyes” and “I’m Still Standing,” even “Sad Songs (Say So Much),” but there were huge spaces between hits, Elton didn’t dominate the conversation.

But then in 1990, he put out a single that recaptured the magic, was Elton to the core, “Club at the End of the Street” from “Sleeping With the Past.” That’s a smash. Don’t look at “Billboard” numbers, if you were alive back then you saw the animated video consistently on MTV.

There’s no “Club at the End of the Street” On “Who Believes in Angels?” Even worse, if there was, the usual lanes of exposure are dead. No dedicated fan listens to terrestrial radio even though everybody involved in that sphere keeps on telling me I’m wrong. They produce statistics, but…I literally can’t find anybody under twenty who listens.

And MTV is dead.

So even if you have a one listen smash, how do you get it started?

Well, sans a one listen smash you’re dead in the water. Kaput. There’ll be some press, some hard core fans will listen, but usually the new music sinks like a stone.

You’ve got to create virality. Not via manipulation, but something so good people HAVE to hear it, HAVE to tell everybody they know about it. Otherwise, it’s a circle jerk.

Harsh words, I know. Even worse, I know everybody involved in this project, and they’re not going to like what I have to say. But the difference with Elton is he’s willing to go back to work, to take another whack. He could create the one listen smash. But when you’re this big everyone tells you you’re great, they never tell you your sh*t stinks. But if you’re not willing to hear it, you’re moribund. How many lame albums has Paul McCartney put out over the past decades. They make you wince. Oh, they’re professional, but there’s no one listen smash.

But there is one great track on “Who Believes in Angels,” the final one, “When This Old World Is Done With Me.” This would bring down the house as the closer if Elton plays live again. Because unlike all his contemporaries, Elton is not acting like he’s twenty, rather he’s much closer to death than birth.

It’s Elton’s story. It’s not obtuse Bernie Taupin lyrics. It’s heartfelt. And you feel it.

“And when this old world is done with me

Just know I came this far

To be broken up in pieces

Scatter me among the stars

When this old world is done with me

When I close my eyes

Release me like an ocean wave

Return me to the tide

Release me like an ocean wave

Return me to the tide”

Elton’s not fighting for remembrance, he’s not concerned with legacy here, he’s been at it, living so long that he knows…ultimately no one is remembered.

But he had a good life:

“I won’t want for nothing

I’ve been alright, I’ve been okay, I’ve been fine

I’ve had clouds of silver linings, complicated mornings

Love that left me wanting and hearts that change my mind

I can feel the cold front

I’ve been chilly, I’ve been frozen, I’ve been warm

I’ve felt sympathy and silence, helping hands and guidance

Happiness and anger since the day that I was born”

Wisdom, what a treat in this brain dead pop music world we live in.

And the piano outro is exquisite, leaves you contemplating your own life in the mood that is set.

But “When This Old World Is Done With Me” is not a one listen smash. It’s not going to convert people who aren’t paying attention, and most aren’t, this is not “My Way.”

Now whenever I express anything but adulation for the work of some legendary star, the blowback is intense. You can’t say that! Don’t you know, he’s Paul McCartney, he’s a BEATLE!

Yes, once. But truly he’s just like you and me. A human being on the planet with more questions than answers.

Anyway, after I listened to “The Rose of Laura Nyro” three times, I liked it more. But that’s an old paradigm, laying down your cash and listening to the album over and over again until you know it by heart. You have to WANT TO LISTEN! How do you make people listen?

It’s got nothing to do with TikTok, endcaps in the physical retail that still exists, it all comes down to the music itself. Elton John has made his bones, people want the new and different. So to gain attention, you have to wow them! Used to be you could work the system to gain exposure, but that no longer works at all.

We’ve got more and more music and less and less that deserves attention.

Forget the marketing. Doesn’t matter if you’re on TV…

I wanted to tell you how great “Who Believes in Angels?” is. Nothing would make me happier. I’m a huge Elton fan. But this album is not quite a dud, but I can’t say YOU HAVE TO HEAR IT!

This same promotion man at the beginning of this story talked about the first time he heard Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” at a company retreat. Talk about a one listen smash… And radio went on it immediately, they couldn’t get enough of it, they play it to this day.

Does your work have this kind of instant appeal?

If not you’re in trouble in today’s marketplace. Because there are just too many options for attention. I can tell you about albums that I heard and couldn’t wait to get home and play in the pre-mobile era. The Beach Boys vibe in “Back in the U.S.S.R.” from the White Album. And then there’s the first four tracks on Rhino Bucket’s debut. If this album came out today, the band would be hard rock gods, because there’s nothing this good in this vein. AC/DC can go on the road and play their hits, but they can’t record songs this good.

And songs this good… Usually come in a bolt of lightning. You have to capture the mood, the essence, immediately. And most people who are not big stars don’t know this. But I talk to stars all the time about their legendary tracks and they almost all come to them IMMEDIATELY, they’re in a zone, they can’t write them down fast enough.

But just like with Kamala and so much more, this is heresy. You don’t want to hear it’s the music, you want to hear it’s Spotify or the labels or even Netflix’s fault that your music is not being heard. But no, IT’S YOUR FAULT!

Sit with that, if that doesn’t make you squirm…

There’s more music than ever, and less and less is worth listening to.

So you put a lot of hard work and money into it, you spent years honing the songs… Who gives a f*ck. Play it for someone who’s not related, who doesn’t inherently care, and if they get up and walk away you know…

As opposed to hearing something once and telling the person who plays it to play it again.

I was talking on SiriuxXM about songs I heard once that I remembered and thought about until they came out on wax. One was “Superstar”…from “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I heard it on underground FM radio, this was long before it became a stage musical.

And Danny Wilde’s “Isn’t It Enough” from his album “The Boyfriend,” which was ultimately a hit for Patty Smyth and Scandal. I was in a meeting with Lionel Conway of Island Publishing and he played it and…

So you’ve got to go back to work, this is the challenge. And not only are you competing with the hits of today, but all the hits of YESTERYEAR!

I’m dying to tell you when I hear something great, see anything great…I watch a streaming series and am so excited that I can’t wait to tell you, and then you watch it too, and tell all your friends about it.

But I can’t tell you how many streaming series I never write about. Some production company spent millions, but it’s not worth your time. Everybody is time-challenged, even babies are overscheduled. But, we’re all still looking for the essence, and the rewards go to those who deliver it.

I could lie and tell you how great “Who Believed in Angels?” is… It would continue to cement my relationship with Elton, and I hear from Brandi now and again, and Andrew Watt was not thrilled that I was not thrilled about that Stones album he produced…listened to that lately?

All of these are professionals, but the bar is higher than ever before.

And we have no problem ignoring you, we’ve got enough on our plate. How can you sneak into our consciousness, how can you make us pay attention?

That’s your job.

A true original.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jamey-johnson/id1316200737?i=1000703857853

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/195da24b-c4f1-4a24-8a78-02b98bb8f5ea/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-jamey-johnson

This is why Kamala lost. She couldn’t read the country, never mind the room.

Ditto on the Democratic brass.

As for Joe Biden…can we get someone digitally literate to run for President, someone young who grew up on the internet?

My favorite e-mails are the ones that complain about TikTok. I respond asking if they’ve ever been on it. NO! I WOULDN’T WASTE TIME ON THAT TRASH! Then how are you going to know what is going on not only there, but amongst the platform’s users?

I don’t understand the diffidence of the left wing elite. This is one of the reasons so many techies leaned Trump in the last election. You’re holier than thou because you went to a good college and have a foreign automobile in the driveway. HUH?

I remember asking my mother what it was like when television came on the scene. I couldn’t imagine not having it. I never got a good answer, but now I know…it was akin to before and after the internet.

As for me… I had no interest in computers. Until I got one to write my newsletter in 1986. I became utterly fascinated. How these things work. And if you sat there long enough, you could figure out the answer to any problem. You can still do that today with Google but people treat computers like cars, they don’t know what’s under the hood, then again, to a great degree they don’t need to.

As for the internet… Jeff Gold at Warner Bros. gave me one of the eight free subscriptions to AOL the company got. But what got me to use the software was when Tower Records’ “Pulse!” magazine printed my home address in 1992 and I started hearing from college students who wanted to communicate via e-mail. I’ll never forget one e-mail thread, this woman was complaining about her boyfriend and after a month I learned SHE’D NEVER MET HIM! That was new back in 1992.

I don’t need to recite all my bona fides, all I’ll say is I fell into it, I was interested.

So the world has been flattened. Celebrities are no better than the hoi polloi. But too many celebrities don’t know this. Hell, I’m not even a celebrity and every day I’ve got incoming that straightens me out, puts me in my place. That doesn’t mean I won’t write what I feel, but I do know that no one likes a show-off.

That was the first stage of Instagram. Facebook is still the same. Look at me, this is where I’ve been, this is what I own! It’s funny, you still see some people doing this on TikTok. My favorite is the woman who said she wanted no men to look at her videos, they were for women… Then she went to Florida to shoot a demo for the “Sports Illustrated” Swimsuit Issue. Yes, there are people that out of touch with themselves. Usually they’ve got a hole in the center that they believe will be filled by fame…but that hole can never be filled.

Gayle King… She’s on TV. Remember when you died to be on TV, when you had friends watch the baseball game to see if they could find you in the stands? Anybody can be on TV these days, it means nothing. And Mr. Beast eclipses all of them and he made it via social media (although he did have a game show on Amazon Prime recently).

So who cares you make happy talk for the brain dead on morning television. Doesn’t Gayle realize we’re laughing at her here?

And now she has broken the cardinal rule of online hate. YOU NEVER RESPOND! How come I know this and she doesn’t? Because she’s in her bubble.

Katy Perry did what Lady Gaga has just done. Out in the wilderness sans recording stardom recently, they both went back to the garden. This isn’t how you do it, YOU GROW! Which is why Gaga’s performances with Tony Bennett were such a hit. She was commercially unsuccessful with her recent record and she milked this… If your goal is just to be famous, you’re going to be hurting soon.

As for Lauren Sanchez… You leave your husband for his best friend? Who you remake into unrecognizability, after having seen the plastic surgeon yourself? Don’t you understand we’re laughing at you? You manipulated a rich nerd to be involved with you, you even broke up a family. Do you know people like this? I do, and one thing is for sure, you want to stay away from them, THEY’RE UNTRUSTWORTHY!

As for Bezos himself… He was deep in a hole for so many years he doesn’t know what is going on in the outside world. Building a yacht to keep up with the Joneses. At least David Geffen is smart. He got so much blowback after posting a pic of himself on his yacht during Covid that he’s been on a media blackout ever since. Furthermore, those who don’t look for attention are the true movers and shakers in this world.

Maybe you don’t care about the all female Blue Origin flight. That’s fine. But the blowback is unbelievable, you can’t miss it. This is a story you want to die if you’re involved. But Gayle King is pouring gasoline on it, keeping it alive.

I went to a private island not long ago. There was only one rule, NO WRITING ABOUT IT AND NO POSTING OF PICTURES!

That person understood the landscape. Then again, he’s a manager of household name acts, he’s been interacting with the public for years.

The world has changed. You won in the old game. Can’t you admit that things are different and adjust? But these people cannot, they don’t want to let go of their shred of celebrity, the aura that they think denotes power. They’re kicking and screaming and won’t let go.

Like Joe Biden.

So it’s no wonder that Trump won. He gave the IMPRESSION that he understood the little guy. Oh, don’t crap on me and say this is not true. Don’t you understand, public relations and media ARE ALL A MANIPULATION! The big game is not for amateurs.

You can win in the new world.

First and foremost you must have authenticity/credibility. And you have to learn to say no, just like the rock stars of yore. If some rich Republican invites you on his jet and you spend a week on his ranch…when this comes out, your credibility is going to be shot.

You’ve got to manage your image 24/7. Remember in the heyday of Facebook when all the young people were taking down tags of themselves? They didn’t want to leave a paper trail, because in the future they wanted to get a job and they didn’t wan to be haunted by the past.

The only reason I’m in touch with the average person is I hear from them each and every day, excoriating me. Do you know how most wealthy or famous people deal with this? THEY DON’T LOOK! They think they’re above it. And then when things go south as a result, they’re stunned.

Life is a learning process. Just because your cohorts say to do something… They may be more out of touch than you.

An eleven minute ride on a rocket ship? Maybe, if there’s almost no publicity. But they were billing it as this big feminist event…

It was like Gal Gadot singing “Imagine” during Covid.

Tone-deaf.

And you can push back, say I don’t understand, that you only read physical books and the smartphone is the devil but…

You’re just turning into your parents. Remember when you’d play your records for them and they’d soon say to take them off?

But the cohort of baby boomers was so large, they took power from their parents.

But now these same people won’t let go. They think since they went to Woodstock, go see the Rolling Stones and iMessage on their phones, they know everything.

Believe me, if the women on the Blue Origin flight knew everything, they never would have signed up to begin with.

Dear Bob –

A few weeks ago, students from one of our “pre-law” clubs on campus asked me if I would be willing to speak to them about this moment in Constitutional time and engage in Q&A from audience members after, and of course, I said yes.

“Are we witnessing a Constitutional Crisis?” they asked.

First, I provided historical examples: President Jackson and Justice Marshall in 1832; Truman and the Steel Mills in 1952; Nixon and Archibald Cox in 1973.  These historical examples, where Executives refused to obey laws passed by Congress and orders issued by Federal Judges, illustrate the topography of Constitutional crisis territory.

“So let’s look at the landmarks before us right now.  Tell me, what do you see?”

The students replied that they were watching the Executive branch attacking a free press; publicly threaten judges who render opinions they disagree with; firing Inspectors general; blackmailing private law firms and universities; unilaterally dissolving and reorganizing Executive agencies without the express authorization of Congress…

Yes – I acknowledged these things were true and that we should all remain vigilant.  But we, as a country, have been through times of crisis before – we have literally waged war against each other, and the Constitution withheld the assaults and trauma.  Future lawyers, you have the capacity to keep the ship afloat.  We are Constitutional Officers of the Court, sworn to protect and defend the charter and its mandates.  Keep the faith!  Hold the line!

But that was two weeks ago.  Before yesterday, one could quibble about whether the technical threshold to Constitutional Crisis-Land had been crossed.

But anyone who cares about the Rule of Law and the Constitution knows that yesterday, in the Oval Office, the Executive branch took a copy of the Constitution to the bathroom and wiped their collective asses with it.

Specifically, on April 10, the United States Supreme Court directed the Trump administration  “to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador” (604 U.S. ____, 2 (2025)).

The government admits this man (visa holder, father of three with no criminal history here or in El Salvador) was illegally deported to the ONE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD the federal courts had already declared he could NOT BE DEPORTED TO.

In a sardonic twist (?), four days later, the President of El Salvador, with whom the United States could communicate, negotiate and “facilitate” the man’s release, is sitting in the Oval Office with President Trump.  Do we see Trump illustrate the art of the deal and facilitate release?

No – instead we see Steven Miller and AG Pam Bondi attempt to law-splain the decision to Grandpa Trump, skip the truth-part of the Court’s order, wad up a fresh copy the Constitution and stuff it in the cracks of the couch.

In sum, we are bearing witness to the programmatic dismantling of the only institutions that have the power to keep, per General McMaster, Trump the Fascist in check.  And everyone who values freedom should be sounding the alarm.

Carrie Archie Russell, JD, PhD

Principal Senior Lecturer

Department of Political Science

Director of Pre-Law Advising

Vanderbilt University

_________________________________________

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In the defense of the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in some of the e-mails below, there is a lot of misinformation. For the accurate story read:

“What to Know About the Mistaken Deportation of a Maryland Man to El Salvador – President Trump’s aides abruptly said the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, had been lawfully sent to a prison in El Salvador, contradicting what officials themselves have said in court filings.”

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/us/politics/abrego-garcia-trump-deportations-el-salvador.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AE8.2X72.O9If_3ChWkCb&smid=url-share

Oh, that can’t be right, it can’t be accurate, it’s in the failing “New York Times”! But in the MAGA bubble…as I write this you have to go down seven rows to see a story about Kilmar on FoxNews.com, and it’s just “Dem senator says he’s going to El Salvador to show solidarity for deported man.”

However, the true headline story today is:

“Judge Scolds Government for Doing ‘Nothing’ to Return Wrongly Deported Man – A federal judge rebuked a Justice Department lawyer during a hearing, saying the government had not facilitated the man’s return despite court orders to do so”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/15/us/trump-news

This is the headline story in the “New York Times,” the “Washington Post,” CNN and the Google News. The “Wall Street Journal” features the story if you click one page down in your browser.

I scrolled and scrolled on the Fox News site and I could not find an article on this hearing.

_________________________________________

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Hi Bob, just got through calling my two senators office. They acted like they didn’t know anything about this due process issue. I gave both an ear full. Told them just what you said about this issue transcending politics. One dropped the facade and agreed that this is an issue that does really need to be addressed. He was at least honest and said Senator Rounds was getting “quite a few calls” about it. The other acted dumb until he got tired of me belittling him for not being up front with me. This was senator Thune’s office. My message for the senator was to stand up for due process and the courts! I also berated him about his meeting tomorrow in my home town. Come to find out it’s only for registered republicans! His answer to why was, they didn’t want their meeting disrupted. After I got done with a diatribe about shutting his constituency out, he was done with me and told he was going to hang up. I know I pissed him off and it was exactly what i trying to do! He hasn’t heard the last of me by a long shot. Speaking of shots, I’m from the land of Kristi Noem. My dog and goat are as good as dead! KEEP FIGHTING!

Russ Wilson

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Bob, put your money where your mouth is, let’s bring him back and deliver him to your front lawn. You’re such a big talker. Will you be his sponsor for citizenship?  Stick to being a “fan boy. “ starf$&@$r. Something you’re an “expert” at.  You’re a miserable, cowardly, big liberal Democrat jaw flapper. Trump has every right to do this. The majority are happy he is removing known violent MS-13 gang members. Do your homework.

David Price

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I love the Pastor Martin Niemöller admonition.

Another take I’ve heard is:
First they came for the media.
After that we don’t know what happened.

John Diliberto

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Absolute gobbledegook

Adam Howell

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Yawn!

Dennis Paulik

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The House Democrats should ALL go en masse to El Salvador and not return until they bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia with them

Buck McWilliams

 

It’s all a con. They’ll never relinquish power. I’ll be surprised if there’s a an election in 2026, or if there is one, if it is a fair election in the great American tradition. More likely,  it will just be Kabuki theatre like in Russia, Turkey or Hungary, where each has changed the rules to ensure the people in power prevail. With their tiny majority in Congress, they can’t take a chance on free and fair elections. That’s why the president has already signed an Executive Order making it much harder for those who might oppose him to vote.

 

It began with flimsy excuses for why they can’t obey court orders. They rank right up there with, “The dog ate my homework.” Once they’ve proven they can get away with it, they’ll transition to just ignoring the courts without excuses.

No one inside the administration will save us this time around. There are no stand-up people in the West Wing. Suck-ups rule. Rubio? Bondi? Stormy Daniels is the only one even remotely qualified for her position.

Jon Sinton

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Yes we must express outrage, but when we protest, you say that it doesn’t move the needle. So what do we do? There obviously are millions of us that oppose this. What has happened to Abrego Garcia is frightening and meanwhile Trump entertains The President of El Salvador (Bukele) who “has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties, and attacked independent media and the political opposition”. Sounds like Trump right? If we allow the sending of innocent’s to these prison’s The Clash need another verse to Washington Bullets. But the Maga’s thinks this is perfectly ok, they don’t seem to believe in due process. Innocent until proven guilty? Not in their playbook. How can we reason with that? Trump is destroying our judicial system, higher education (Critical thinking) and  freedom of speech. He ostracizes the press and the Maga’s just gloat. Meanwhile, I worry about Abrego Garcia and the other innocents in that jail. What can we do?

Kathryn Russ

Nashville, TN

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Very well said, Bob.  Now we need everyone screaming it at the top of our lungs.  This could be us next.

TJackson

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Nice one, Bob.

One problem:

Trump is now the Don.
His rating are the Highest ever.

Now he leads with those who have a university degree.

They have removed all the guardrails.

The law has been trampled.

Good people have capitulated.

The rest are turning away…

MadMax rules America.

Bob Dylan sang ‘With God On Our, Side’

May this prove to be true.

Patric van Blrtk

Cape, Town

South Africa

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The impact of your Liberal diatribes, Bob.

“Polling shows growing number of Republicans identify with the MAGA movement — More than one-third of registered voters identified themselves as MAGA supporters in March’s NBC News poll. That includes 71% of Republicans.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/polling-shows-growing-number-republicans-identify-maga-movement-rcna201071

Jim Willis

_________________________________________

Let’s have a George Floyd style prevision of justice all over again.  Rally the troops, Bob!

“But one single guy who did nothing wrong.”

Being in the US illegally is “doing nothing wrong”?

“This was just one of those examples of an individual that is in the US illegally, is a MS-13 gang associate, with multiple charges and encounters with MS-13 individuals here, trafficking in his background, was found with other MS-13 gang members, and the fact that the liberal left and fake news media are turning Garcia into a media darling is sickening.

George Floyd all over again, Bob.

This is why we have Trump.

Jim Willis

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Bob, thank you for writing today. The country faces a Constitutional crisis, and I’m hoping more speak out.

If MLK lived today, he’d be speaking out like his “Beyond Vietnam” speech: “If the soul of America becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam.” What would he write in 2025?

Yesterday, the president told press he’d like to send “homegrown criminals” (i.e. American citizens) to El Salvador prison with no legal process. When does America acknowledge its 1933 Enabling Act rhetoric now in 2025 terms?

Mike Vial

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We the people!

Never has those words carry more weigh that the present time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anthony Siroka

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I agree with you this is not acceptable.  This guy may be a gang member that should have never been allowed into the US, however, he was allowed to enter.  And the current administration acknowledged their error in deporting him.  I hope he remains safe in his homeland until which time he can be returned to the US and have his day in our court.

What I don’t get is that so many are losing their $hit about this one guy.  While the same folks that had no issues with tens of millions entering the US illegally and committing crimes, killing and raping children, for the last four years. And recently learning that millions were given SS numbers to access benefits.  And from this group, not a peep…not from them, not from legacy media….what changed?

Thanks,

Ed

Edmund J. Kelly

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Thanks for your insightful takes on current events…

What is most ironic about the Kilmar story is that a lot of MAGA folks are fine with it because a) they think they will never be on Niemöller’s list b) they think their guy (or at least the movement) will be in power forever. Whatever executive powers Trump is claiming as his own, the next guy can claim. And the next guy will likely not espouse MAGA values, probably the opposite. And in fact, they may avail themselves of the same awful levers our current president himself has created: a blizzard of executive orders, lists of enemies, forcing universities and law firms to toe an ideological line, deporting right wing “terrorists” as enemies of the state, stripping of due process of anyone who disagrees. EVERYTHING TRUMP DOES, creates a precedent for the next guy. If you’re MAGA, take a long minute and think about the worst possible “next guy” you can think of… It could be someone like AOC or Obama or Bernie with George Soros as the DOGE billionnaire (but in reverse) with 20-something year old DEI or philosophy PhD candidates running amok throughout the government with no restraints and full access to your private data. Chew on that for a second and then think long and hard about whether or not selling out our Constitution and way of life is worth the short term pleasure of owning the libs.

Nothing is permanent. Nothing ever stays the same in this country. What’s good for the goose will be good for the gander. And frankly, I don’t want either side to ever have so much power. I respectfully ask my MAGA friends to join me and millions of others in standing up for the constitution now. When the tables turn (and they certainly will), I solemnly swear that I will join you (my MAGA friends) in defending the constitution as well. I don’t care what your beliefs are, we should all stand up for what is right (and constitutional).

– JP, Long time reader, patriot and supporter of the constitution.

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You Americans need to step up.  It’s not good enough just complaining / making memes of Trump, Musk, Vance etc on social media. It’s just preaching to the choir… For God”s sake, get out in the streets and protest,but in greater hordes than last week. And do it every week, every day.  Go on strike. Boycott products. Fight. Engage in real political movements like in the 60s and 70s. Because what’s happening now is just the beginning. Democracy is being disassembled as we speak. It’s real.

And remember that the real danger is not Trump. He is just an imbecill.  It’s this guy you should look out for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin

Curtis’ Dark Enlightment is the manifest for Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and many other technocrats – people who are gaining more and more power over the the state, economy and the media. And they are supported by republicans such as Bannon and JD Vance (probably the next president as Trump will never last four years).

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

Dark times ahead.

James Körner

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Great “rant”,  Bob — totally on key and completely on point……..

Lance Hicks

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Absolutely right. We either live by Constitutional law or we throw our “exceptionalism” over the side, and we are run just like any other tinhorn strongman state. I was raised in the public schools to believe in COnstitutional law. I was raised on a lot of stuff I now know is crap, but that principle holds up…at least for me. I will never give in.

Joe Lee Henderson

Yonkers NY

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Thank you for speaking up about this. It’s absolutely wrong and we are in for the worst.

Kaveh Rastegar

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Bob. You’ve got this all wrong. CBS reported that 75 percent of the illegally abducted migrants sent to CECOT didn’t have a criminal record.

BRING EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM HOME NOW.

love remains the essential technology

Kate McGee

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Trump and his ICE Brownshirts will come for you …

Dreadful to watch USA being corrupted by this Felon president.

Stay safe Bob

Tim Casey
WA Australia

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Right on Bob,

But this is only but one sad sign of the times.

Trump might try to fool us into thinking he loves America, but he clearly HATES Americans, regardless of their legal status!

He just wants our property.

And in time, the MAGA “suckers and losers” will feel his wrath too as they are already losing their jobs, farms and homes.

Freda Payne? How about we spin some Don McLean?

Bye, bye Miss American Pie…China’s gonna come and eat us alive…

Lee Elliott

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Thank you. Great post. I just don’t get how some people don’t feel the urgency and severity of the situation.  Cinzia Zanetti

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Julie Mason on XM 124 called what Bukele said about how not being able to bring him back to the US “Kabuki theater”.

Mellissa Ward

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Totally agree–Mr. Garcia did have a deportation order although not to El Salvador and the lack of due process is disgusting.  And Andry Romero, a gay makeup artist who used the DHS app to make an appointment for asylum and apparently followed all the rules was sent to the gulag in El Salvador–pure evil.  It is simply disgusting and glad you are amplifying that message.   (Bloomberg media says 87% of the people deported in the first wave to El Salvador have no criminal records).

Jeff Rosen

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Bob – you are absolutely right. Me being outraged is not enough. Every single creative, artistic, celebrity, musical force should be taking a stand. NOW is the time. We need to rise up together. This has gone too far. If we don’t acknowledge what it is and hit back hard – we’re finished. We need JUSTICE. Bring Kilmar home.

Joe Wilford

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Except for the whole “in a notorious, violent, and dangerous prison gang that requires a murder, rape, or other felony to gain membership THEN entered our country illegally” – he’s a complete innocent. “Other than that, did you enjoy the play, Mrs Lincoln?”

Patrick V. Cook

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Add to this the arrest today of Columbia student activist Monson Mahdawi, despite his not being accused of any crime.   Whatever apparently thinly veined threat he allegedly poses to national security (absent the government actually proving such threat via due process ) pales in comparison to the threat to our democracy of the government summarily punishing mere offensive speech.

Do I like what Mahdawi has said, or the fact that he has organized Columbia students the way he had.  Hell no.  That’s not the point.  Free speech matters most when we dislike the content of the speech the most.

There may be a lane for expelling such students through due process.  If someone is in the US legally through a student visa and they engage in conduct that violates university policy such that they are expelled (following the due process dictated by that university for such alleged offenses), then the fundamental basis for that student’s legal right to be in the country in the first place, i.e. the student visa, not longer exists.  In such instances, ICE would have a basis to expel such student from the US for being here without a legal visa (and presumably there is no other legal basis for him to continue to remain in the country on the original visa).

But these expedient shortcuts taken by ICE are not based in the rule of law, but some trumped up excuse to take performative action that panders to a base of supporters.

Scary times indeed.  Jews should remember why we fought to allow the KKK to peacefully march through Skokie.  And why that was such an important victory for all of our freedom.

Richard Levy

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I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s highly unlikely this guy ever gets returned to the US, unless a Democrat administration takes office in the future and brings him back. This press conference today thoroughly explained this guy’s immigration status and why he’s unlikely to return: https://youtu.be/C-BhC0QHDfY. It’s up to you whether you believe what Miller said in this press conference, but it’s probably more accurate that the narrative that the media spun about this guy, which you seem to have accepted at face value.

TCP

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This case is a very bad look for the Trump administration. Emotionally, morally, it smells rotten. Many of your points are completely valid.

However, it’s also not the case on which the left should make its stand…because legally, Mr Garcia has a VERY weak case. There is NO scenario where he ends up living in the US, none, even if the administrative error that led to his landing in prison in El Salvador is fully corrected (which I agree  should happen.)

The level of due process is different in immigration court than in a criminal court. If Mr Garcia were accused of a crime, and being tried in criminal court, he would be entitled to all of the same protections that we are as citizens.

In immigration court, however, the level of due process is lower. In requesting a deportation order, for example, there is no burden of proof on the govt to show that he is a danger, only to show that he came here illegally, which is absolutely unchallenged in this case. He had due process, and a valid deportation order was issued

Then we get to the issue of the withholding order that people mistakenly believe means he shouldn’t have been deported. That is incorrect. It said only that he couldn’t be deported to El Salvador specifically (though he could be deported anywhere else) and was only in effect so long as the danger to him in El Salvador existed (i.e., the gang he claimed was threatening him and his family)

Let’s recap and look at the actual facts, many of which are omitted in the corporate owned press outlets that are full of reporters that have more moral indignation than immigration subject matter expertise.

Mr Garcia came here illegally, by his own admission. He allowed the one year window in which one can make an asylum claim to pass without making such a claim. The judge at his first immigration court deemed  that he was likely an MS-13 member, based on witness testimony including confidential informants. Mr Garcia appealed that decision and the higher level immigration court judge ALSO deemed that he was likely an MS13 gang member.

A legally valid deportation order was issued, and then, virtually on the eve of his deportation Mr Garcia essentially said “wait, I claim asylum. There’s this gang that wants to kill me and my family so you can’t send me back there”.

As a result, the judge then issued a witholding order that said he couldn’t be deported TO EL SALVADOR…for as long as the gang threat to him there existed. It didn’t say that he could not be deported to another country. It didn’t say that he could not be held in a detention facility here in the US. It did not say that he could not be deported back to El Salvador if the threat to him no longer exists/

The Biden administration allowed him to walk out of court and to stay here, undetained.

The Trump administration could have legally deported him to any country OTHER than El Salvador and would be in compliance with the courts. It could also have gone back to the judge who issued the witholding order and credibly argued that the gang threat to Mr Garcia no longer exists given the crack down by El Salvaor’s president.

You and I probably agree that the President of El Salvador is violating human rights in appalling ways to achieve said crack down…but I believe the Trump administration would easily convince the immigration court that the gang which Mr Garcia claims previously threatened him no longer exists. In other words, I think it’s likely they would have easily won an argument to lift the witholding order, which would then give them a clear path to deporting him back to his home country of El Salvador.

And if the administration failed to win that argument, they could still legally deport him to any country other than El Salvador.

Regardless, there is NO scenario where this man is going to live with his wife in MD…none.

I do think we need to follow the letter of the law, and its spirit. All of that said, this is not a highly sympathetic case on which to take a stand.

The Biden administration let millions of unvetted people across the border, and while the overwhelming majority are “good people” looking for a better life, that’s not the ONLY point to focus on.

Some of those millions are criminals, and some of them are very violent criminals. Some of them have killed US citizens and some have secually abused US teens. We can’t just wave an amnesty wand over ten million people once a decade and keep going with the same policies of the last two decades.

Moreover, NONE of the illegal entrants, even the most saintly, should be going to the front of the line ahead of people who are following our legal process for obtaining a green card and citizenship.

This guy has NO right to be here. None. He’s had his due process in immigration court. Now follow the procedures to the letter of the law and deport him wherever, but he shouldn’t be here.

Donald

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I share your outrage regarding Garcia’s deportation, not to mention Trump’s comments today regarding considering deporting also US citizens. The problem is that my hunch is that this was not a “random mistake” but part of a plan. You see Gracia is a citizen of El Salvador, hence self-declared dictator Bukele has full jurisdiction over him once he is in El Salvador. Because of this Trump can claim that he cannot do anything to rectify the “mistake” (of course it is a lie, but a legally difficult to challenge one).

One of the significant problems we have is that unlike the first Trump administration they are thoroughly prepared for the second one and used some rather smart people/lawyers to plan things (e.g., the way to blackmail top notch law firms, like Skadden Arps and Paul Weiss, into submission and to carry their water, etc.). The Democrats’ problem has been that they never plan ahead and when they have power they are afraid to use it. Had Biden named an attorney general worthy of the title (not that incompetent lazy Garland who was afraid of his own shadow) Trump would be in prison not in the WH.

I do not believe that mass protests on the streets would make a difference. In fact, they can be dangerous because on large protests there are often opportunist criminals who start burning/robbing/destroying things (see the BLM protests), and Trump is just waiting for this to declare martial law, which would give him truly dictatorial powers without “interference” from the courts. On the other hand, I do not know what to do now aside of hoping for and working for a big Dem win at the midterms (assuming that midterms will happen). Our country is in a pretty dire situation and the Democrats (many of them caring much more about Gaza and Intifada than our own country and democracy) have a lot to do with it.

Regards: Thomas S.

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I never thought I’d see this happen so fast!

Project 2025 outlined it all.

They’re winning and there must be some push back.

Harvard’s Jewish president basically said F U!  This may be the stake in the ground that starts a rebellion.

-will eggleston

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You mentioned Bill Maher’s most recent show.

If you’ve worked as a reporter like I have, you will notice that Maher was particularly weak – the way the lapdog journalists and access journalists tend to be. He was obviously right to take up the opportunity the meeting presented, and he seemingly did a good job confronting him on his rampant abuse of power, but when you hear Maher’s intonations, they’re noticeably warmer. He contends that yes, Trump is destroying checks and balances and dismantling our constitutional order, but that we should be less worried since he was classy and charismatic to Maher for a moment.

Remember when Dennis Rodman met Kim Jong-Un in North Korea, and when he talked about the visit on George Stephanopoulos’s show, he was GUSHING about how nice he was? Remember when everyone else was trying to remind Rodman that Kim Jong-Un was a vicious tyrant and killer, and Rodman was insisting that wasn’t the Kim Jong-Un he talked to?

Maher’s doing the same thing, and he’s doing it because Trump mustered two hours worth of civility. Reporters have a HUGE tendency to do this same thing – defer to their personal experience of being treated with kindness and class by a public figure instead of trying to truly capture the overall scope and consequence of who they are to everyone else. The truth is, the Trump that took Maher’s ribbing in stride is the same Trump that wants to deport US citizens for the crime of expressing an unwelcome thought. And he talked about Trump in a way that downplayed the seriousness of what’s happening – because Trump was nice to HIM.

Danny Masterson was incredibly nice and classy to me when I met him – but he’s still the same Danny Masterson that got convicted for raping two women, so it hardly means anything.

Garrett Gravley

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I just forwarded your piece to Freda Payne. I’ll let you know if she responds.

Rob Frankel