Two authoritarians walk into an Oval Office. No, that's not the set up for a joke. It's reality playing out right in front of our eyes. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that a man mistakenly sent from America to a famously abusive El Salvadorian prison should be returned. The worst case scenario was that the Trump administration would make believe that the decision was out of their hands and pretend to leave the decision up to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. And here we are. Bukele told reporters he would not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia. "How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States? ... Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous." Trump then turned to Bukele and said of the assembled reporters: "They'd love to have a criminal released into our country. These are sick people." NBC: President of El Salvador says he won't return mistakenly deported man to US. 2Give it the Old College TrySome good news from the attack on higher eduction. Harvard Will Fight Trump’s Demands. From University President Alan M. Garber: "No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue." Oh yeah, we live in America. 3Paramount Rushmore"President Donald Trump bitterly attacked '60 Minutes' shortly after the CBS newsmagazine broadcast stories on Ukraine and Greenland on Sunday, saying the network was out of control and should 'pay a big price' for going after him." The big question here is not how 60 Minutes will respond. They'll keep reporting. The big question is how CBS owner Paramount will respond. The same goes for the big corporate owners of other major media brands. They have big dollars at stake and their news orgs are a rounding error. 4It's Your Funeral"One Saturday morning in August of 2021, more than 200 people assembled in an Arlington church for the funeral of Richard Hanneman, a onetime Capitol Hill staffer and longtime trade association executive who died of lung cancer at the age of 78. Four of Hanneman’s seven children spoke at the service. So did two of his grandchildren and his best friend...But the most compelling presence was the third speaker on the program, a white-haired man in a dark suit. Dick Hanneman himself." Dan Pink in WaPo (Gift Article): Why not attend your own funeral? (I hate going to out to social events. The one good thing about death is that it provides a perfect excuse to RSVP No.) 5Extra, ExtraChiplash: Tariffs on Tariffs off. Over the weekend, tariff exceptions were made for phones and electronics, which was good news for Apple. By Monday, new chip tariffs were being threatened that would be bad news for Apple. Welcome to another day of market whiplash. Meanwhile, more and more CEOs are expecting a recession. 6Bottom of the NewsViewers of the White Lotus watched a scene that featured what looked like the world's biggest squirt gun fight. Apparently, it's a real thing. Songkran: The world's biggest water fight. (Wait, so squirting is real?)
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