When This Old World Is Done With Me is his best track in decades. Whether it's a hit or not is meaningless. It's perfection.
Russ Turk
___________________________________
This is a really good one.
I tend to agree with most of what you said here. I really wanted the Elton/Brandi collection of songs to be terrific. I listened to the whole thing (or at least extended pieces of each song. ) I was struck by how exceptionally professional it was. They sound good, they sing great, the production is bright and sparkling—albeit mildly predictable.
The problem is the songs aren't that great. I think that's part of the problem with lots and lots of music. It's available today. The songs just aren't that good.
Rik Shafer
___________________________________
Much respect to both of them but after listening to what you considered the best two songs...
I turned it off and undoubtedly won't listen again.
Sad, but true.
David G.
___________________________________
Harsh but very true.
Will Eggleston
___________________________________
"I don't hear a hit on "Who Believes in Angels?"
Nope.
Alicia Etchison
___________________________________
I'm that same promo guy. You get maybe 8 seconds then I'm out.
I do like yungblud and DC Fontaines. They pop off. Otherwise I listen to Tex Mex n Latin Music. It's fun and makes you happy. These days that's a miracle.
Martin Schwartz
___________________________________
I had to laugh at your opening line. Speaking as a former rock radio program director, I never met a label promo guy who didn't think he had golden ears.
Beau Phillips
___________________________________
New York Tendaberry came out when I was 2, I didn't hear it until I was 22- it still stands as one of the best, most complete albums I have ever heard.
Dave Richards
___________________________________
What I love about your posts is that you have a real talent to remind me of why I love music- it's not the sound, the playing expertise, the popularity, etc., it's the heart and the emotion. Keep on bringing it brother.
Marty Jogensen
___________________________________
You said, "I don't hear a hit on "Who Believes in Angels?'" which means, you thought you would?!
Elton. Legend. Icon. Aside from the Dua "sample"… it's been more than a decade for a hit. Probably way longer. I can't bother to google.
Brandi. Astounding vocalist. Damn good writer a la Joni. Hits?
I can't believe you spent this much time devoted to this non-story.
And yet, it'll get 8 Grammys nominations and mean nothing. And thanks for telling us "MTV is dead," again. Has been for 20 years.
Pop music is dead - is the story. Dua, Weeknd, Miley, Lizzo - all tanked lately. Where's the Gaga push for what's a GREAT pop album? If you're really listening - and watching tour sales - only Kylie Minogue, 56, is keeping it alive.
Jerry J. Sharell
___________________________________
Wow! What a great from the gut read… or should I see important read.
Best,
Robby Vee
___________________________________
Truthfully I can't say... 'cause I stopped listening after about three songs. It just wasn't doing it for me.
I had a listen to 'When This Old World Is Done With Me' just now because you mentioned it. Sorry, but for me the vocal sounds as if he's trying too hard.
I know, it's easy to criticize. Normally I don't. I know how hard it is to make something. I love Elton, especially his spirit.
One of the best concerts I ever attended was his gig in the National Stadium in Dublin... just himself and Ray Cooper on percussion. Two hours plus of pure magic.
Barry McCabe
___________________________________
Just keep telling your truth.
Joe D'Ambrosio
___________________________________
I agree with you. Overall, I like the album but it's not something I want to listen to repeatedly. Still, I have much love and respect for Elton and Brandi.
On another note, streaming, have you watched the Black Mirror episode "Eulogy"? Talk about some great storytelling. Paul Giamatti is fantastic!
Regards,
Chris Adams
___________________________________
Yeah, Bob. Stones album did nothing for me and I really wanted to hear something great. Was puzzled by all the raves at the time. Meanwhile, Steal Wheels, Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon sound better than ever. Go, as they say, figure.
Richard Pachter
___________________________________
Rhino Bucket!
I signed them to EMI Publishing around 1989. Loved them. Didn't care that they sounded so much like AC/DC that one reviewer said "You have to hand it to Rhino Bucket. They own every AC/DC album, and they've obviously never listened to anything else."
AC/DC seemed to be creatively dead at the time, so I thought there was a hole in the market. Then around the same time as the debut Rhino Bucket album was released, AC/DC released Razors Edge with Thunderstruck and Money Talks. Ooops …..
Best,
Michael McCarty
___________________________________
The holy dove that visited BC when she was writing her best songs 20 years ago no longer visits. Now it's BC™, a business with a philanthropy arm (to offset taxes?) and a winery. Once someone stops waking up in the middle of the night to write down the scripture as it comes to them in flames and instead starts writing for the brand, for the marketing department, for the optics…. We all know what those songs sound like. BC has been comparing herself to Elton John in her live shows for years. This seems like the kind of thing she wanted on her resume. Not exactly divinely inspired.
You mention that it's a pro album. It's almost too pro. It's full of clichés, hackneyed Elton modulations and cadences. It's self-satisfied. Elton's voice is autotune-corrected. It's like watching the Carol King show on broadway rather than listen to Aretha sing Natural Woman.
It's been said a million times, but it's hard for very successful artists to put out real hits. Maybe the holy dove prefers to visit the hungry, the nameless, the seekers.
Mitchell Maddox
___________________________________
There is a Bill Monroe song titled, "My Last Days on Earth." To me, it expresses the same feeling as Elton's lyrics to "When This Old World Is Done With Me"
It is nice, sometimes, to hear/see art that looks at life from the perspective of someone who has been here a while.
James Riley
___________________________________
I love your point about Rick Rubin. Case in point is Johnny Cash. I wasn't much interested in "the man in black" before he collaborated with Rubin. Now those records are some of my favorites of any genre. For me, he made Cash immortal.
And I remember the first time I heard "More than a Feeling." It just grabbed me, grabbed everyone, apparently. Doesn't happen often.
Sam Folmar
___________________________________
Thank you. This was an incredibly disappointing album.
Ron Fuller
___________________________________
On point. Plenty of pedigree and polish here. Just no magic. Art is elusive, but you sure know it when you hear it, and when you don't.
Peter Barsocchini
___________________________________
Wow, Bob! Bravo for being brave enough to state the facts.
I too find myself yearning many times recently-and maybe the last 10-20 years for more of exactly what you stated.
Onward in musical -and life passion!!
Stephen Bond Garvan / Garvan Management
___________________________________
In this case they can get it heard so all they needed was one thing.
A great hook!
They blew it.
Leigh Goldstein
___________________________________
Thing is, I doubt he's doing it to make a hit. He's probably doing it to do what he does. Like you do. And they probably had fun bouncing sounds off each other.
I know Rick Rubin has been able to squeeze fresh juice outta people in the past, but I also wonder why musicians would want someone producing who doesn't know how to engineer or play music. Whatever gets you thru the night…
I'm curious to hear these tracks tho thanks to you.
Geronimo Son
___________________________________
Thanks for the note on the new album from Brandi and Elton. It prompted me to listen to it with diminished expectations and that paid off.
Not that my expectations would have been that high to begin with. I haven't been interested in Elton John since the 70's. He was huge and then he was irrelevant to me as I went off in my pursuit of punk and then new wave and then......
And Brandi? She's amazing but she's not a hit maker. Never was, never will be. That's a big part of her appeal to me: she does what she wants to and has stayed true to that forever. Does that make her the Bernie Sanders of music?
So, I was pleased to find that this album is a collaboration and to my ears it's more of a Brandi/Elton mix than an Elton/Brandi mix. That would have been the easy default: put the superstar out front. Thank god they are equals instead. And Brandi really shines instead of playing second fiddle.
"Swing for the Fences" got my foot tapping. That's the song that I would have selected as the "single". But, of course, Brandi takes the lead so there's that. Gotta put Elton out front for the single even though the album is at its best when the two of them harmonize and rock.
And they do have chemistry together. That's pretty cool.
Is it a f*cking great album? No, it's not. But it's much better than I thought it would be. And I like it a little bit more each time that I listen to it.
All the best,
Chuck Mackie
___________________________________
Wow! Rhino Bucket, I thought my friends and I were the only ones who heard that album! Seemed like it when they came through SF. Still can't
believe that never hit. I'm going to have to dig through my CD boxes. It sounds SO much better than Spotify et al.
-Vadim
___________________________________
David Crosbys For Free. His last album. I can listen to that from front to back over and over again. He had never really reached me before. His greatest career making work was about 10 years ahead of my time. But 'For Free'? That's a magic album.
Dua Lipas' 'Future Nostalgia' - it's already 5 years old but 'Levitating' was a one-listen smash, only made better by DaBaby. My wife loved it and the entire album is in heavy rotation on a Friday evening at our house. Then Dua did that thing with Elton. That's really good. People talked about that song.
Harry Styles. His one-listen smash was 'As It Was' that whole album is pretty good, it got 'Watermelon Sugar' back into rotation for us. I bet I like the next thing he does, I like that he's not saturating me with garbage in the meantime.
Teddy Swims. He's got a couple great original songs. Makes me dig into his catalog for more. His Shania Twain cover of 'You're Still the One' is a testimony to great song writing. I tell people about that all the time.
David Essex's 'Rock On' is my personal favorite forgotten gem that was recently revived just to hear on my amazing real life stereo. And 'Cars' by Gary Newman, 'Relax' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood…
You should come over next Friday night. We'll have fun.
Kind regards,
Rob Whittaker
___________________________________
When this album first was announced, Paul Sinclair over at Super Deluxe Editionpromoted it with a splash page on his site, along with SDE doing an 'exclusive' release in Atmos and 5.1 on BluRay -
https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/elton-john-brandi-carlile-who-believes-in-angels-sde-exclusive-blu-ray/
If you scroll down to the comments, you'll see folks opinions - most agree with you about the ho-hum nature of this release. There's even a few comments about Andrew Watt not having the Midas touch.
"While another coup to get this for the SDE Surround Series, this is not for meThis doesn't meet my criteria for purchasing. It is hard to learn to like new material now I am past 60, unless it is one of my favorite artists and I put the time into it. I know nothing of Brandi Carlile and with Elton audibly past his prime, this one is not for me."
"Not sure about the album but the Dolby Atmos mix will probably sound a lot more dynamic than the stereo mix – Andrew Watt seems hell bent on being the next Rick Rubin (i.e. good from a creative standpoint, horrible from a sonic one)."
"Every record that has name Andrew Watt as a producer is hard pass from me. He spoiled the Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds totally. It was the first Stones album in 45 years i didn't bought."
"Hackney Diamond sounds godawful, even on vinyl. I played it twice and my ears hurt so much that I will never play it again."
Now keep in mind Bob, these are audiophile nerds (and I count myself among them) that are obsessive over equipment, sonics and the playback medium. Vinyl rules, yes, but 5.1 and now Dolby Atmos make immersive audio worth investing in and obsessing over. 12 channels of audio at 48kHz/16 bit uncompressed - wow!
But if even they don't want this record with all the bells and whistles of this special SDE release because the songs just don't resonate... what hope is there for the rest of the market?
-Gil Griffith
___________________________________
Brilliant piece. As a huge Elton fan, Captain Fantastic is tattooed on my arm, I think you're bang on. Not every album was great. Other than those few 80s hits you mentioned I skipped a decade with Elton until Lion King. I love the fact that he's still recording and trying things. I've seen the band live many times and was fortunate to meet Elton in Oshawa Ontario of all places once. But for me it's about the memories of the great songs that I create playlists for on Spotify. Because I know longer own any music, I rent it monthly and that's ok. And yes McCartney has had many stiffs but nobody who's in the game that long bats 1000. Not in any industry
Ross Winters
___________________________________
But did you see the network special (I know, I know, 'network' = bad word in the Lefsetz-sphere) w/ Elton and Brandi debuting the album live in front of a celebrity-filled crowd in London? Yeesh, I winced with all of the Elton fawning & worshipping going on. Almost sure Elton wasn't a fan of it either. (Bet the editor of that special had to do ALOT of work.) But hey, silver lining? You just hepped me to RHINO BUCKET! After reading your missive, I did a quick YouTube play of the debut album and fell hard for it. Dug deep on Discogs to find a reasonably-priced vinyl copy from...wait for it...Australia. Ironic that I had to order a debut album from a Van Nuys band that sounds like Australia's AC/DC and have it shipped from 'down under' back to me here in Burbank. But for this neanderthal of a vinyl fanatic? Totally worth the effort. Appreciate the hot tip, Bob! Cheers, Mark Atherlay, Burbank, CA.
___________________________________
I watched Elton and Brandi Carlile on SNL. In my opinion they sucked but that didn't stop me from watching their two hour special the next Monday. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
I have never been a fan of Brandi's. She tries way too hard. I know, I know…her Joni stuff. But it's a no for me.
So I started taking notes while watching the show, (I write a music post every Saturday on Facebook.). The first thing I wrote was "sounds like music for a Disney movie". What's interesting is later, they showed a clip of Brandi and Elton rehearsing and Elton said, "Is it too Lion King?".
Yes brother…didn't you have advisors to tell you that? – I'm right here baby!
I will say that Elton still sounded incredible – like no other. And his piano playing obviously is next level – he is the maestro. I loved hearing him sing his (albeit, overplayed) songs but what's wrong with the odd deep track EJ? Ugh!
As my sister-in-law, said : I like old Elton, that's about it. Me too!
Elton, when asked how he wants to be remembered, said: "I don't want Crocodile f*cking Rock written on my tombstone. I just want it to say, I was a great dad". That, I loved.
And now I will go spin my Captain Fantastic album.
Shari Siskind
Toronto
___________________________________
I just listened to it on Apple Music. How great is that. I read your article and can go and listen to the whole album without leaving my recliner. I liked two songs, "Never too late" and "someone to belong too". They had pop hooks, and pleasing melodies ok lyrics and were easy listening and I added them to a new playlist, along with "A little light". These three I will enjoy even more as they become more familiar. All the others were ok, but for me, now 80 years young, and a former music reviewer for alternate print media, they sounded like two super star talents trying too hard to be relevant using today's studio created packaged sound.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of both artists and especially Elton. In the 60s I was the manager of a San Francisco department store, The Emporium's TV and music area. Every week to boost album sales I would put in the front of the department on a rack, my pick of favorite albums. When "Mad Man across the Water" first came out I was so enamored with the album and especially "Tiny Dancer" that I filled the rack that held ten Albums with only this one. Plus, I started playing the album in the department for background music, which was not allowed in the store. Well, we sold out immediately and I called our music distributor to send me more and more. To shorten the story, I got an award from our music distributor for selling the most of that album in a month, even more than Tower Records. Plus the store manager let me continue to play albums as background music in the department.
Alan Segal
___________________________________
Hey! The comment about your relationship with Elton at the end reminded me of this paragraph I read in the Financial Times this past weekend; "Kissinger was a juggler; Brzezinski a boxer. When the latter accused Kissinger of "acrobatics" during the Nixon years, they nearly fell out. In spite of their often irascible disputes, the Republican and Democratic sparring partners never stinted on dinners at Sans Souci, a French restaurant (since closed) near the White House. You went there to be seen. "One always learns more from 'friendly critics' than from uncritical friends," Kissinger wrote to Brzezinski after one such meal in the early 1970s. It is hard to imagine such a garrulous frenemyship in today's Washington. "
Maybe Elton has a thick enough skin to know that you are a "friendly critic".
Take care, Bob.
Michael Craig
___________________________________
You're probably right about everything re: a one listen it.
Of course in your mind you're right about everything.
If you do not believe it,
just ask yourself.
I don't understand artists obsession with the "album format" either.
But …..
"They should've just hired me. "
The arrogance and hubris
After all those classic albums you've produced with one listen hits.
How can Elton and Brandi not have understood.
I mean they might've used Rick Rubin
But not choosing you.
Unbelievable
Cranky Old Uncle Bob rides agin
Keep setting the world straight.
Jack Haynes
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Friday, 18 April 2025
Final San Francisco Sound-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in tomorrow April 19th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Bent Chetler 100
https://www.atomic.com/en-us/shop/product/bent-100-aa6650.html#color=37703
1
These are FANTASTIC soft snow skis.
Welcome to closing weekend at Vail, where we are in the midst of a raging snowstorm after two weeks of unseasonably high temperatures. Colorado is not like Vermont. Where you eke out your last runs on narrow white ribbons while the landscape around you comes awake from the winter and is finally turning green. No, Vail closes with plenty of snow, they're just lacking CUSTOMERS!
People can't wait to get out on the hill in November and December when conditions are shaky, but when there's plenty of snow in the spring, they're contemplating golf and...
But this week has been much more crowded than the previous few. Because of the Mexicans. From Mexico. Vail caters to them. They're here for Easter break. And they're RICH!
Little kids wearing Bogner clothing. High class brand names everywhere. Sometimes you feel like an alien in your own town.
Not that it's really crowded. Is there ever truly a lift line? But like I said, it was empty and now that they've closed down two-thirds of the mountain...
Yes, they do that to save money.
Anyway, today I took out the Bent Chetlers. Wary of the conditions. Afraid they would be the legendary dust on crust. That's a term all dedicated skiers know and are afraid of. When it's rock solid underneath, with just a smattering of snow flakes on top. It's even worse in the spring, because the surface underneath has melted, refrozen and is not smooth and...
It wasn't that bad, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that you could not feel the crust underneath.
I was thinking of taking out the Peak 104s, because they hold like motherf*ckers. But none of my skis are as lively and playful as the Bent Chetler 100s, and they'd been utterly fantastic in the crud we'd had, so...
I donned them. And kept thinking about writing about them, and here we are.
I'd been planning to post a review all season, but I wanted to ski them in all conditions, I wanted to get a definitive take. But riding the lift today I felt if I wrote about skis...that would be tone-deaf in light of the political turmoil in our nation. But then I was riding Chair 3, and the flakes were coming down and Mother Nature didn't seem to care about the folly of men, so I said to myself what the f*ck, I'll put fingers to keyboard, because if I wait...I might never be inspired again.
2
So Chris Benchetler wanted to send me a pair of his skis. He's got his own model, the Bent Chetler, with Atomic. Chris used to be with K2, but Atomic gave him a lot of opportunity, and Chris can now live off the royalties alone.
What made the model was the 120. Which you really don't need inbounds, at a resort.
Okay, let me explain how this works. Skis have lengths and waists. The lengths are in centimeters and the widths are in millimeters.
Before the shaped ski revolution of the nineties and early two thousands, we all skied on narrow waisted boards, oftentimes in the sixtysomething range. But then snowboarding became all the rage. And innovative ski makers decided to learn a lesson from the upstarts, they started infusing skis with radical sidecuts.
Now skis always had sidecuts. And expert skiers could use these to their advantage. You laid the ski up on edge, and you carved a turn. Very few people could do this. But now with shaped skis, EVERYBODY can do it. There's a plethora of great skiers on the mountain. If you mastered the skills of yore you could complain, except that the shaped skis render such a better experience.
Presently there's a debate how wide you should go. Commentators want the public to go shorter, for more maneuverability and fewer injuries. Not that the public listens, they still want wide boards and...
If you go to Sun Valley, which gets very little snow (there's a ton of snowmaking), the runs are usually firm and everybody skis on narrow skis. Furthermore, that's what they sell in the shops.
In the old days, every shop had every model. Now, no shop has every brand and model. You might read about a ski but be unable to buy it.
And in Vail, it's nearly impossible to find a ski for sale or rent that's narrower than eightysomething at the waist. Because Vail is vast and broad and...
Vail didn't used to compete with Aspen. John Glenn implored Felice's parents to buy a condo here after burning out on the scene in Sun Valley, where every Hollywood celebrity went if they weren't in Aspen.
But Aspen is different from Sun Valley. Sun Valley is relatively quiet. Whereas...
Aspen is a scene. Hippies through the seventies, then the wealthy moved in and...
Aspen is a great town with great skiing, but it's inconvenient. There are four separate mountains and getting to them...
Vail is all of a piece. It's all connected.
And it's relatively flat. That's the beef amongst elite skiers, Willy Schaeffler, the legendary ski coach at DU, pooh-poohed the mountain because of its lack of steepness.
But it turns out that most people don't want steep slopes.
And Vail has the Back Bowls. They may call them bowls at a few other ski areas, but there's no comparison in the U.S. Whistler? Whistler has some great bowls. But otherwise, you have to go to Europe for skiing like this. Vast and wide open. Legendary.
And then they added Blue Sky Basin and sealed the deal.
Vail is close to Denver, you can come for the day, even though now the traffic is horrendous, whereas you wouldn't do this with Aspen, it's too far.
And Vail has turned into a megalopolis, an endless valley of development. And the original village is a copy of Zermatt, and there's an ersatz element.
But... Vail has a legendary bump run, Highline, which is never groomed. And if you want something steeper, you can go to Beaver Creek next door, but no one ever does. The locals ski Vail, they drive right by Beaver Creek for the sheer quantity of terrain, the greater quantity of snow and...
That's Vail.
3
The standard Vail ski is 100mm. Actually, somewhere between 94 and 100. Because at this width, you can ski all the terrain Vail has to offer. From groomers to deep powder. A ski of this width is not perfect for almost anything, except for a few inches of powder, but it's a great compromise, because when you go either narrower or wider that ski will be bad in the powder/crud or on the groomers respectively.
So when you read about the need to go to narrow skis... Maybe at your ski area, but not in Vail.
And the truth is dedicated skiers have a quiver of skis. Multiple pairs for multiple conditions. I know you can't fathom that but...
Why not have a dedicated powder ski. I've got my 116 K2s which are great.
And I've got another K2, the 108ti Mindbender which is a dream. It turns like a much narrower ski, but will plow through almost everything. I don't use it as a groomer ski, but it's just fine on groomers on days where the powder becomes skied out or I'm making a few runs with people afraid of...
Oh, despite all the hoopla about powder, the average skier is afraid of it.
But it gets worse. Unless you go helicopter skiing, if you get in line before the lift opens and rush you'll get one untracked run, if you're a student of the mountain and lucky, maybe two. And the powder is not always like in the movies. The snow can be heavy and...
The best powder in the country is in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons in Utah. Because of the low moisture content.
But at Alta and Snowbird the powder gets skied out nearly immediately. Vail is so vast you can always find untracked, or good crud, even days after a storm, even though you might have to go into the trees. Then again, despite Steamboat being famous for tree skiing, there are TONS of trees to ski in at Vail.
And in the middle of February, we got 50" of snow in a matter of days. At times it was so deep that it became overwhelming, I was on my 108s jus wishing I was on my 116s.
Equipment makes a difference, skis make a difference, then again I can't tell you how many avid skiers are terrible. Because they learned in the pre-shaped ski era and refuse to utilize the modern sidecut, or they never took lessons, I'm a big believer in lessons.
But the better you are, the more advantage you can take of equipment. And the boots! They're more comfortable than ever before. Not that they're always so comfortable.
But if you've got a great pair of boots with great response, which usually means a tight fit, you can take advantage of the skis and...
4
I purchased a new pair of boots this season, the new Lange RS130. This was the first time the boot was redesigned in years! And for the first time, it could be designed from the ground up, without needing to be able to be tweaked for the detuned RX model. Last year Lange introduced the Shadow, a true revolution, and if you're a good recreational skier, I'd check it out, not that every boot fits every foot, but the Shadow is legendary for being comfortable.
The new Lange RS130s replaced my old Lange RS130s, whose liners were wearing out. They were the best boots I ever had. But the new ones...
Let's just say I've wrestled with a few fit issues, but the performance is amazing, OFF THE CHARTS!
I've got two pairs of K2 Mindbenders, the only difference is the paint job. But the new ones turn so much better than the old ones. It didn't make any sense. But a couple of days ago I took the old ones out with the new boots and VOILA!, it's the boots!
But no one likes to admit that equipment makes such a difference. Mikaela Shiffrin goes through 80 pairs of skis a year but if you start talking about having multiple pairs the hoi polloi says it makes no difference, that it's about the skier.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Which is why I took out those old 99mm K2 Mindbenders the other day, the ones with the old paint job. You see the Bent Chetlers... When I skied them in the bumps, the forebody of the skis...just didn't come around, just didn't flex like I wanted them to. Was it me or the skis?
Turned out it was the skis. The Mindbenders didn't get thrown by the bumps, the forebody flexed. And now we finally get to the point.
5
Chris Benchetler wanted to send me a pair of his 110 Grateful Dead skis. Thanks Chris, fantastic, but I've already got a pair of 108s and 110s and how often do I go out on a ski this width anyway, I'd prefer it if you sent me your 100s.
And then there was the issue of length, because the Bent Chetlers have a turned up tail and a shorter running surface for the same listed length. My everyday skis tend to be 172s or so. But we decided the 179 Bent Chetlers would be best. Thank god, anything shorter... Yes, skis can be too short. As a matter of fact, many ski on skis that are not long enough. But those details are for another day.
And I got the skis and then the bindings and I took them out on a bright sunny day in February and...I HATED THEM!
I mean you start on a new pair of skis on the groomers, to get a feel, and I just couldn't get a feel for the Bent Chetlers. They just didn't carve like any other ski. I was tempted to go back to the ski valet and change them out, but I figured best to ski them in every condition to be sure.
And I made it back to Blue Sky Basin, which is so far that it closes just after two PM, so people can make it back to the base, but is a so-called "wilderness" experience. With more features like rocks and trees left in the landscape, and less grooming.
So I pointed the Bent Chetlers down In the Wuides, a broad usually windswept slope that narrows into a bump field and...
WHAT A REVELATION!
I could throw the Bent Chetlers through the bumps, through the crud, better than any other pair of skis I had.
And then I took them into truly terrible snow from Siberia into Mongolia Bowl, where no one in their right mind would go, where there was a combination of deep bumps and untracked and a surface that had sat in the sun too long and...I could throw the skis around with confidence.
But every day?
The Bent Chetlers were not for me.
6
But then it got hot. Almost a month ago. I've still got the blister on my lip as testimony. And looking for a bit of variety, I took out the Bent Chetlers. And in the spring crud? PHENOMENAL!
Okay, crud is cut-up powder. Spring crud? It's like a slurpee. But in places the slurpee can be inches deep.
The Bent Chetlers just plowed through this stuff. Furthermore, THEY WERE FUN!
Fun, playful.
At this point in time, the most popular brands of skis are Nordica and Blizzard. Their signature models, the Enforcers and the Anomalys, are like tanks. Stiff, two layers of metal. They're steady, they'll plow through anything. They're not quite dead, but they are not my idea of a good ski.
If you're happy on these models, more to you. Then again, you probably haven't skied on anything else. You just bought what was popular.
I like a livelier ski, with more pop.
As for the Bent Chetlers... They have no metal! Metal speaks to torsional rigidity, it's what allows your ski to hold on the hard snow. Which is one reason the Bent Chetlers are not so great on the hard snow.
But they're light... Not that lightness is everything, I'm actually against it, the best boots are heavy and I've found light skis to be too skittish. But the thing with the Bent Chetler 100s is...you can just throw them around, they bounce, they're FUN!
Yes, skiing is fun with any equipment, but with the Bent Chetlers you get this elation, this smile on your face, this happiness, that you will never ever get with the Enforcer or Anomaly. You feel the skis swing, you feel like you're dancing. You're cutting and slashing down the mountain with almost no effort. Feeling like you're the only person on the hill who is having this experience, that everybody else is missing out.
So today, I finally skied the Bent Chetlers in powder/crud. UNBELIEVABLE! They just plow through the stuff with no effort. Like I said, I've got a lot of skis, but nothing like this. They made this condition nearly effortless. And I kept thinking how I was going to tell you, and now I have, but with an unbelievably lengthy digressive intro.
7
The Bent Chetler 100 is really a soft snow ski. Unless you ski where it's soft all the time, it's best as a second pair of skis. Especially if you're on the east coast.
But now I realize I missed out. Because I can envision what the Bent Chetler 110 is like. I'm thinking about skiing down Forever in Sun Down Bowl (named such because Pepi Gramshammer skied it and said it went on FOREVER) in nearly two feet of powder on my K2 108s back in February, and now I know it would be so much easier on the Bent Chetlers.
Not that the Bent Chetlers are a secret. Some people say it's the best-selling ski available. (Then again, there are five models in the family.) Not that you see so many in Vail. But every once in a while, someone looks me in the eye and says "You're on Bent Chetlers." Because insiders, those with a quiver, those who study the game, they're hip to the ski. There's an aura, a magic to the Bent Chetlers.
But they're different from anything else.
I'm still a bit flummoxed by the somewhat stiff forebody. I guess it was designed this way for powder and crud, maybe this is evidence of no compromise. But the competition has a more even flex.
Not that the Bent Chetlers are stiff.
8
Okay. I've skied on the Bent Chetlers for about 20 days. But I haven't communicated with Chris about them. I don't want him to think I'm ungrateful. But I didn't want to weigh in until I had a total read on the skis. It took me a while to figure them out.
But skiing in the crud these past two weeks and the powder today...
I couldn't hold back. They're the best skis in these conditions I've ever been on!
But they're not made for every condition. Or should I say there are better skis for other conditions.
Which is why you must have multiple pairs, a quiver.
But people will say you're rich.
Like when I mentioned my Langes a month or so ago, I got an e-mail saying I was a turd, because everyone knows you buy your ski boots at a discount in the spring. Maybe amateurs... Because there's an issue of INVENTORY! I could barely get my RS130s in early December, they had to be trucked from another store.
Everybody's got an opinion.
And everybody's got preferences.
Don't ski, doesn't matter to me. Buy the usual logic, it's cold and expensive and you could get hurt.
But skiing has never been cheaper. And the experience has never been better, with the high-speed lifts and the shaped skis and...
You're missing out.
On the elation and the thrill.
I can talk about this forever, and I think I just did!
--
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1
These are FANTASTIC soft snow skis.
Welcome to closing weekend at Vail, where we are in the midst of a raging snowstorm after two weeks of unseasonably high temperatures. Colorado is not like Vermont. Where you eke out your last runs on narrow white ribbons while the landscape around you comes awake from the winter and is finally turning green. No, Vail closes with plenty of snow, they're just lacking CUSTOMERS!
People can't wait to get out on the hill in November and December when conditions are shaky, but when there's plenty of snow in the spring, they're contemplating golf and...
But this week has been much more crowded than the previous few. Because of the Mexicans. From Mexico. Vail caters to them. They're here for Easter break. And they're RICH!
Little kids wearing Bogner clothing. High class brand names everywhere. Sometimes you feel like an alien in your own town.
Not that it's really crowded. Is there ever truly a lift line? But like I said, it was empty and now that they've closed down two-thirds of the mountain...
Yes, they do that to save money.
Anyway, today I took out the Bent Chetlers. Wary of the conditions. Afraid they would be the legendary dust on crust. That's a term all dedicated skiers know and are afraid of. When it's rock solid underneath, with just a smattering of snow flakes on top. It's even worse in the spring, because the surface underneath has melted, refrozen and is not smooth and...
It wasn't that bad, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that you could not feel the crust underneath.
I was thinking of taking out the Peak 104s, because they hold like motherf*ckers. But none of my skis are as lively and playful as the Bent Chetler 100s, and they'd been utterly fantastic in the crud we'd had, so...
I donned them. And kept thinking about writing about them, and here we are.
I'd been planning to post a review all season, but I wanted to ski them in all conditions, I wanted to get a definitive take. But riding the lift today I felt if I wrote about skis...that would be tone-deaf in light of the political turmoil in our nation. But then I was riding Chair 3, and the flakes were coming down and Mother Nature didn't seem to care about the folly of men, so I said to myself what the f*ck, I'll put fingers to keyboard, because if I wait...I might never be inspired again.
2
So Chris Benchetler wanted to send me a pair of his skis. He's got his own model, the Bent Chetler, with Atomic. Chris used to be with K2, but Atomic gave him a lot of opportunity, and Chris can now live off the royalties alone.
What made the model was the 120. Which you really don't need inbounds, at a resort.
Okay, let me explain how this works. Skis have lengths and waists. The lengths are in centimeters and the widths are in millimeters.
Before the shaped ski revolution of the nineties and early two thousands, we all skied on narrow waisted boards, oftentimes in the sixtysomething range. But then snowboarding became all the rage. And innovative ski makers decided to learn a lesson from the upstarts, they started infusing skis with radical sidecuts.
Now skis always had sidecuts. And expert skiers could use these to their advantage. You laid the ski up on edge, and you carved a turn. Very few people could do this. But now with shaped skis, EVERYBODY can do it. There's a plethora of great skiers on the mountain. If you mastered the skills of yore you could complain, except that the shaped skis render such a better experience.
Presently there's a debate how wide you should go. Commentators want the public to go shorter, for more maneuverability and fewer injuries. Not that the public listens, they still want wide boards and...
If you go to Sun Valley, which gets very little snow (there's a ton of snowmaking), the runs are usually firm and everybody skis on narrow skis. Furthermore, that's what they sell in the shops.
In the old days, every shop had every model. Now, no shop has every brand and model. You might read about a ski but be unable to buy it.
And in Vail, it's nearly impossible to find a ski for sale or rent that's narrower than eightysomething at the waist. Because Vail is vast and broad and...
Vail didn't used to compete with Aspen. John Glenn implored Felice's parents to buy a condo here after burning out on the scene in Sun Valley, where every Hollywood celebrity went if they weren't in Aspen.
But Aspen is different from Sun Valley. Sun Valley is relatively quiet. Whereas...
Aspen is a scene. Hippies through the seventies, then the wealthy moved in and...
Aspen is a great town with great skiing, but it's inconvenient. There are four separate mountains and getting to them...
Vail is all of a piece. It's all connected.
And it's relatively flat. That's the beef amongst elite skiers, Willy Schaeffler, the legendary ski coach at DU, pooh-poohed the mountain because of its lack of steepness.
But it turns out that most people don't want steep slopes.
And Vail has the Back Bowls. They may call them bowls at a few other ski areas, but there's no comparison in the U.S. Whistler? Whistler has some great bowls. But otherwise, you have to go to Europe for skiing like this. Vast and wide open. Legendary.
And then they added Blue Sky Basin and sealed the deal.
Vail is close to Denver, you can come for the day, even though now the traffic is horrendous, whereas you wouldn't do this with Aspen, it's too far.
And Vail has turned into a megalopolis, an endless valley of development. And the original village is a copy of Zermatt, and there's an ersatz element.
But... Vail has a legendary bump run, Highline, which is never groomed. And if you want something steeper, you can go to Beaver Creek next door, but no one ever does. The locals ski Vail, they drive right by Beaver Creek for the sheer quantity of terrain, the greater quantity of snow and...
That's Vail.
3
The standard Vail ski is 100mm. Actually, somewhere between 94 and 100. Because at this width, you can ski all the terrain Vail has to offer. From groomers to deep powder. A ski of this width is not perfect for almost anything, except for a few inches of powder, but it's a great compromise, because when you go either narrower or wider that ski will be bad in the powder/crud or on the groomers respectively.
So when you read about the need to go to narrow skis... Maybe at your ski area, but not in Vail.
And the truth is dedicated skiers have a quiver of skis. Multiple pairs for multiple conditions. I know you can't fathom that but...
Why not have a dedicated powder ski. I've got my 116 K2s which are great.
And I've got another K2, the 108ti Mindbender which is a dream. It turns like a much narrower ski, but will plow through almost everything. I don't use it as a groomer ski, but it's just fine on groomers on days where the powder becomes skied out or I'm making a few runs with people afraid of...
Oh, despite all the hoopla about powder, the average skier is afraid of it.
But it gets worse. Unless you go helicopter skiing, if you get in line before the lift opens and rush you'll get one untracked run, if you're a student of the mountain and lucky, maybe two. And the powder is not always like in the movies. The snow can be heavy and...
The best powder in the country is in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons in Utah. Because of the low moisture content.
But at Alta and Snowbird the powder gets skied out nearly immediately. Vail is so vast you can always find untracked, or good crud, even days after a storm, even though you might have to go into the trees. Then again, despite Steamboat being famous for tree skiing, there are TONS of trees to ski in at Vail.
And in the middle of February, we got 50" of snow in a matter of days. At times it was so deep that it became overwhelming, I was on my 108s jus wishing I was on my 116s.
Equipment makes a difference, skis make a difference, then again I can't tell you how many avid skiers are terrible. Because they learned in the pre-shaped ski era and refuse to utilize the modern sidecut, or they never took lessons, I'm a big believer in lessons.
But the better you are, the more advantage you can take of equipment. And the boots! They're more comfortable than ever before. Not that they're always so comfortable.
But if you've got a great pair of boots with great response, which usually means a tight fit, you can take advantage of the skis and...
4
I purchased a new pair of boots this season, the new Lange RS130. This was the first time the boot was redesigned in years! And for the first time, it could be designed from the ground up, without needing to be able to be tweaked for the detuned RX model. Last year Lange introduced the Shadow, a true revolution, and if you're a good recreational skier, I'd check it out, not that every boot fits every foot, but the Shadow is legendary for being comfortable.
The new Lange RS130s replaced my old Lange RS130s, whose liners were wearing out. They were the best boots I ever had. But the new ones...
Let's just say I've wrestled with a few fit issues, but the performance is amazing, OFF THE CHARTS!
I've got two pairs of K2 Mindbenders, the only difference is the paint job. But the new ones turn so much better than the old ones. It didn't make any sense. But a couple of days ago I took the old ones out with the new boots and VOILA!, it's the boots!
But no one likes to admit that equipment makes such a difference. Mikaela Shiffrin goes through 80 pairs of skis a year but if you start talking about having multiple pairs the hoi polloi says it makes no difference, that it's about the skier.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Which is why I took out those old 99mm K2 Mindbenders the other day, the ones with the old paint job. You see the Bent Chetlers... When I skied them in the bumps, the forebody of the skis...just didn't come around, just didn't flex like I wanted them to. Was it me or the skis?
Turned out it was the skis. The Mindbenders didn't get thrown by the bumps, the forebody flexed. And now we finally get to the point.
5
Chris Benchetler wanted to send me a pair of his 110 Grateful Dead skis. Thanks Chris, fantastic, but I've already got a pair of 108s and 110s and how often do I go out on a ski this width anyway, I'd prefer it if you sent me your 100s.
And then there was the issue of length, because the Bent Chetlers have a turned up tail and a shorter running surface for the same listed length. My everyday skis tend to be 172s or so. But we decided the 179 Bent Chetlers would be best. Thank god, anything shorter... Yes, skis can be too short. As a matter of fact, many ski on skis that are not long enough. But those details are for another day.
And I got the skis and then the bindings and I took them out on a bright sunny day in February and...I HATED THEM!
I mean you start on a new pair of skis on the groomers, to get a feel, and I just couldn't get a feel for the Bent Chetlers. They just didn't carve like any other ski. I was tempted to go back to the ski valet and change them out, but I figured best to ski them in every condition to be sure.
And I made it back to Blue Sky Basin, which is so far that it closes just after two PM, so people can make it back to the base, but is a so-called "wilderness" experience. With more features like rocks and trees left in the landscape, and less grooming.
So I pointed the Bent Chetlers down In the Wuides, a broad usually windswept slope that narrows into a bump field and...
WHAT A REVELATION!
I could throw the Bent Chetlers through the bumps, through the crud, better than any other pair of skis I had.
And then I took them into truly terrible snow from Siberia into Mongolia Bowl, where no one in their right mind would go, where there was a combination of deep bumps and untracked and a surface that had sat in the sun too long and...I could throw the skis around with confidence.
But every day?
The Bent Chetlers were not for me.
6
But then it got hot. Almost a month ago. I've still got the blister on my lip as testimony. And looking for a bit of variety, I took out the Bent Chetlers. And in the spring crud? PHENOMENAL!
Okay, crud is cut-up powder. Spring crud? It's like a slurpee. But in places the slurpee can be inches deep.
The Bent Chetlers just plowed through this stuff. Furthermore, THEY WERE FUN!
Fun, playful.
At this point in time, the most popular brands of skis are Nordica and Blizzard. Their signature models, the Enforcers and the Anomalys, are like tanks. Stiff, two layers of metal. They're steady, they'll plow through anything. They're not quite dead, but they are not my idea of a good ski.
If you're happy on these models, more to you. Then again, you probably haven't skied on anything else. You just bought what was popular.
I like a livelier ski, with more pop.
As for the Bent Chetlers... They have no metal! Metal speaks to torsional rigidity, it's what allows your ski to hold on the hard snow. Which is one reason the Bent Chetlers are not so great on the hard snow.
But they're light... Not that lightness is everything, I'm actually against it, the best boots are heavy and I've found light skis to be too skittish. But the thing with the Bent Chetler 100s is...you can just throw them around, they bounce, they're FUN!
Yes, skiing is fun with any equipment, but with the Bent Chetlers you get this elation, this smile on your face, this happiness, that you will never ever get with the Enforcer or Anomaly. You feel the skis swing, you feel like you're dancing. You're cutting and slashing down the mountain with almost no effort. Feeling like you're the only person on the hill who is having this experience, that everybody else is missing out.
So today, I finally skied the Bent Chetlers in powder/crud. UNBELIEVABLE! They just plow through the stuff with no effort. Like I said, I've got a lot of skis, but nothing like this. They made this condition nearly effortless. And I kept thinking how I was going to tell you, and now I have, but with an unbelievably lengthy digressive intro.
7
The Bent Chetler 100 is really a soft snow ski. Unless you ski where it's soft all the time, it's best as a second pair of skis. Especially if you're on the east coast.
But now I realize I missed out. Because I can envision what the Bent Chetler 110 is like. I'm thinking about skiing down Forever in Sun Down Bowl (named such because Pepi Gramshammer skied it and said it went on FOREVER) in nearly two feet of powder on my K2 108s back in February, and now I know it would be so much easier on the Bent Chetlers.
Not that the Bent Chetlers are a secret. Some people say it's the best-selling ski available. (Then again, there are five models in the family.) Not that you see so many in Vail. But every once in a while, someone looks me in the eye and says "You're on Bent Chetlers." Because insiders, those with a quiver, those who study the game, they're hip to the ski. There's an aura, a magic to the Bent Chetlers.
But they're different from anything else.
I'm still a bit flummoxed by the somewhat stiff forebody. I guess it was designed this way for powder and crud, maybe this is evidence of no compromise. But the competition has a more even flex.
Not that the Bent Chetlers are stiff.
8
Okay. I've skied on the Bent Chetlers for about 20 days. But I haven't communicated with Chris about them. I don't want him to think I'm ungrateful. But I didn't want to weigh in until I had a total read on the skis. It took me a while to figure them out.
But skiing in the crud these past two weeks and the powder today...
I couldn't hold back. They're the best skis in these conditions I've ever been on!
But they're not made for every condition. Or should I say there are better skis for other conditions.
Which is why you must have multiple pairs, a quiver.
But people will say you're rich.
Like when I mentioned my Langes a month or so ago, I got an e-mail saying I was a turd, because everyone knows you buy your ski boots at a discount in the spring. Maybe amateurs... Because there's an issue of INVENTORY! I could barely get my RS130s in early December, they had to be trucked from another store.
Everybody's got an opinion.
And everybody's got preferences.
Don't ski, doesn't matter to me. Buy the usual logic, it's cold and expensive and you could get hurt.
But skiing has never been cheaper. And the experience has never been better, with the high-speed lifts and the shaped skis and...
You're missing out.
On the elation and the thrill.
I can talk about this forever, and I think I just did!
--
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--
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Thursday, 17 April 2025
The Elton/Brandi Album
"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.
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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.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Jamey Johnson-This Week's Podcast
A true original.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jamey-johnson/id1316200737?i=1000703857853
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pESrPiXLewLktwEUe5RU4?si=Gaj2b5o_TC-X2N40vEfNyQ
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/jamey-johnson-272769896/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/195da24b-c4f1-4a24-8a78-02b98bb8f5ea/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-jamey-johnson
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jamey-johnson/id1316200737?i=1000703857853
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pESrPiXLewLktwEUe5RU4?si=Gaj2b5o_TC-X2N40vEfNyQ
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/jamey-johnson-272769896/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/195da24b-c4f1-4a24-8a78-02b98bb8f5ea/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-jamey-johnson
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Blue Origin Backlash
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.
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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.
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Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Re-Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia
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
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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
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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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
I just forwarded your piece to Freda Payne. I'll let you know if she responds.
Rob Frankel
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
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
Absolute gobbledegook
Adam Howell
_________________________________________
Yawn!
Dennis Paulik
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
Very well said, Bob. Now we need everyone screaming it at the top of our lungs. This could be us next.
TJackson
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
We the people!
Never has those words carry more weigh that the present time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anthony Siroka
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
Great "rant", Bob — totally on key and completely on point……..
Lance Hicks
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
Thank you for speaking up about this. It's absolutely wrong and we are in for the worst.
Kaveh Rastegar
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
Thank you. Great post. I just don't get how some people don't feel the urgency and severity of the situation. Cinzia Zanetti
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
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
_________________________________________
I just forwarded your piece to Freda Payne. I'll let you know if she responds.
Rob Frankel
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