Closing the tabs ...
Democratic strategist James Carville said Wednesday the party’s "top agenda" needs to be focused on retrieving deported El Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"People say, ‘Well, should we really fight on this turf or should we fight more on ordinary people?’ This we should fight on. You can't pivot to an economic issue. This is why we think we're a country," Carville said on his "Politics War Room" podcast. ...
"There's real wisdom in that and history has taught us that. First, they came for him, and then we're going to say no right there. We got to keep fighting this. I think this is worthy of being at the top agenda of things that we're going to fight over is get this guy back home," Carville said.
Ed: Good luck with that. I expected a bit more realism from Carville of all people.
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My message to @ChrisVanHollen:
— Patty Morin (@PattyMorin) April 17, 2025
Why does this illegal immigrant have more rights than my daughter, Rachel Morin, did?
You represent me as the US Senator from Maryland and you have barely even acknowledged my daughter and the brutal death that she endured because of another… pic.twitter.com/kuw8Y7I3vI
Ed: Democrats should be listening tp Patty Morin rather than James Carville. Or Chris Van Hollen, for that matter.
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First, Garcia remains detainable and deportable, even if he is eventually returned to the United States. In principle, he could be deported to any country other than El Salvador—and he might even be deported back to El Salvador if a court determines that the 2019 withholding order is no longer valid. (There is an argument that the withholding order has been invalidated by the fact that MS-13 is now a designated terrorist organization.)
Second, this case is not the bombshell threat to due process that Trump opponents are claiming. Garcia has had a lot of process—several different immigration hearings. Contrary to what you may have read, this is not a case where the administration is claiming a right to deport anyone it chooses without ever giving that person a right to be heard. The administration should not have deported Garcia to El Salvador contrary to the withholding order, and once this “administrative error” was discovered, the administration should have owned it and corrected it.
Nevertheless, this case involves an acknowledged illegal alien who was found by an immigration judge to be a member of a criminal gang now designated a terrorist organization, and that judge’s finding was upheld on appeal.
Ed: It's amazing to me to see Democrats lose their minds over this. It was sloppy work by the White House, to be sure, but Abrego Garcia is still an illegal alien that was returned to his proper country of origin. Jed Rubenfeld is a rare voice of reason.
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How pathetic.
— Ben (@AndStrats) April 17, 2025
You can't even get into prison. https://t.co/CB9faHZ7tk
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The Trump administration has created a lose-lose situation for many of America's educational institutions, as it pressures universities to meet its demands or risk losing funding and tax-exempt status.
Why it matters: Universities have two options — capitulate or push back — both of which could ignite backlash and damage higher education's already flailing reputation.
Ed: It's been lose-lose for Harvard, certainly. And it will be for years at this rate. Capitulation in this instance means complying with the administration's interpretation of civil-rights laws, which is what has always been a condition for receiving federal funds.
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.@RahmEmanuel told me he warned Biden's inner circle "in no uncertain terms" what would happen if ran for reelection. pic.twitter.com/7SN51RFUHt
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) April 17, 2025
Ed: Read more about Rahm Emanuel's answers to the question of Biden's cognitive failures at Tara Palmeri's Substack. She didn't let Emanuel shine her on, at least.
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As the letter was just released this past Monday, it is unclear how Columbians will respond. Many students- the more vocal ones, at least—have consistently expressed disappointment, frustration, and even anger with the administration over their refusal to issue a statement in support of Mahmoud Khalil. Especially now with the arrest of Mohsen Mahdawi—which the letter did not explicitly mention—this portion of students seems likely to retain these feelings. I, however, have been encouraged by the administration’s decision to support international students without declaring unique support for Mahmoud Khalil (or Mahdawi, for that matter).
Like President Shipman’s acknowledgement that some federal demands are just, this attitude suggests there remains a level of reason within the university administration that many of us have feared no longer exists. As we know, Khalil is a non-US citizen who has, amongst other things, led (and negotiated on behalf of) a movement openly and proudly dedicated to the destruction of the United States—the very country he aspires to join and that has graciously hosted him for a number of years. Mahdawi—a 30-something-year-old undergraduate who co-founded Columbia’s “Palestinian Student Union” with Khalil—has a similar if not identical case.
For these reasons, neither student—or, former student in Khalil’s case—should be defended by the university. In fact, it would be bizarre for the university to support these students—and others like them—given that the students themselves and the movement they have led apparently do not support Columbia. Not only has their movement consistently disparaged the university (both verbally and through physical destruction of property), but they have called for the “total eradication of Western civilization,” which Columbia has been designed to uphold.
Ed: This is an excellent point. Why are we obligated to host radicals agitating for the destruction of Western civilization and our institutions?
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SAVE Act Voter Suppression?? Not Even Close. 🗳️
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) April 17, 2025
This week, @BasedMikeLee debunked Hillary Clinton’s claim that the SAVE Act would prevent married women from being able to vote easily.
Not only was Clinton’s claim baseless, it exemplified the Left’s fear-mongering tactics that… pic.twitter.com/0WI3Gjgsrj
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The Texas House of Representatives voted early Thursday morning to create one of the largest taxpayer-funded school voucher programs, a hard-fought victory for private school choice activists as they turn their attention to a nationwide voucher push.
The measure still has some legislative hurdles to clear before Gov. Greg Abbott signs it into law, but the House vote — 85 to 63 — secured a win that was decades in the making, propelled by the governor’s hardball politics last year. It was also a significant defeat for Democrats, teachers’ unions and some rural conservatives who had long worried that taxpayer-funded private-school vouchers would strain public school budgets.
The program would be capped at $1 billion in its first year, but could grow quickly, potentially reaching an estimated $4.5 billion a year by 2030.
Ed: This was a huge win for Greg Abbott, who had to fight his fellow Republicans to get this passed. Abbott pushed for primary challenges against some incumbent Republicans who refused to pass school choice, and he got them bounced out of office without losing any of the seats. The message finally got through.
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🤣President Trump just gave a hilarious answer on egg prices to the fake news media!
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 17, 2025
"I came in and they hit me with eggs. I just got there! I was here for one week and they started screaming, eggs have gone through the roof!"
"They were screaming at me, the press, the fake… pic.twitter.com/SIBv1YPWmF
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