Kilmar Abrego Garcia is Free - For Now

On Friday, a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia on the basis that his prosecution was "vindictive".

Consider what I wrote in June 2025 concerning the now dismissed charges:

After insisting he had no authority to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, El Salvadoran President Nayid Bukele did exactly that at the behest of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Abrego Garcia suddenly stands accused of smuggling thousands of migrants into the United States over a period of nearly a decade. 

Funny, if Abrego Garcia had actually done such a thing that he would have been charged with such offenses instead of being deported. 

The charges appear to be, for lack of a better term, "Trumped" up.

After all, if the Trump Admin could prove Abrego Garcia was a human smuggler then why try to deport him to Uganda? As I argued back in August 2025, such an effort indicated they didn't have a case against Abrego Garcia.

And now a federal judge agrees.

Of course, DoJ will appeal the ruling and could potentially get the charges reinstated.  

Let us also consider the vindictive nature of the Trump Administration. There is a good chance that the Trump Administration might try some other shenanigans against Abrego Garcia up to and including murder.

Complicating matters is Costa Rica's offer to take in Abrego Garcia and give him legal status. So long as the Trump Administration remains in power, they will pursue Abrego Garcia. At this point, going to Costa Rica might be the best option to end this ordeal. However, a monkey wrench could be thrown into those plans should an appeals court give the DoJ leave to reinstate the charges. 

When a government operates out of vindictiveness then it is not operating in good faith. Thus far, the judicial branch has been able to keep the Trump Administration in check where it concerns at Abrego Garcia. But perhaps the DoJ's appeal could come before a judge who wants to the Trump Administration's bidding instead of keeping it in check.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his family face a difficult decision. Either try to resume their lives in this country knowing full well that this ordeal can start all over again or start all over again in Costa Rica. 

But for the moment Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free and that counts for something.

A Thought for Kyle Busch

I have some thoughts I'd like to share about the sudden passing of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch.

While I do not follow NASCAR or motorsports in general, I was certainly aware of Kyle Busch's success and his reputation as NASCAR's bad boy. 

Less than two weeks before his death, Busch was actively racing having finished 8th at Watkins Glen, winning the Craftsman Truck Series and competed in the NASCAR All-Star Race in Dover. The Dover race took place four days before Busch's death. 

During the Watkins Glen race, Busch was experiencing a sinus cold and his symptoms got worse in the days which followed until he became non-responsive and coughing up blood on Thursday while in a racing simulator preparing for the Coca Cola 600 which took place today in Charlotte.

Busch's death was caused by pneumonia complicated by sepsis. This means his immune system was attacking his healthy organs causing multiple organ failure. Sepsis can complicate any number of conditions including kidney stones. Given my own history of kidney stones, I know this is something of which I am at risk should it ever occur again.

Of course, the key is seeking medical attention as soon as possible. Yet there is a natural tendency to resist doing so. One does not want to disrupt our routine or not fulfill our obligations. There is a tendency among healthy people to think they are healthy. There is also the fear that you will seek treatment, and the doctors and nurses will tell you that nothing is wrong. But, at some point, your body will tell you that you're not going anywhere. Unfortunately, by the time that message is delivered, it might be too late.

Kyle Busch was only 41. While he had a 25-year racing career, he still had most of his whole life ahead of him. Instead, he leaves behind a wife and two children aged 11 and 4, respectively. 

Given the rigorous schedule and harsh conditions which drivers endure, one can only hope that NASCAR will implement a regime of regular wellness checkups to prevent what happened to Kyle Busch from happening to anyone else. R.I.P.

Charlie Moore Was a Stalwart For The Milwaukee Brewers

Former MLB catcher & outfielder Charlie Moore, who played 14 of his 15 big-league seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, has passed away. The announcement was made by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame which inducted him last year. Moore was 72.

Moore was a fifth-round draft pick by the Brewers in 1971 out of high school. His MLB debut came as a September call up in 1973. From 1974 through 1976, Moore was the team's backup catcher to Darrell Porter. In 1977, Moore would get the opportunity to be the number one catcher after the Brewers traded Porter to the Kansas City Royals. This would be Moore's job for most of the next five seasons (save for some time in 1978 when he platooned with Buck Martinez). 

Although Moore was not a power hitter, he had a decent bat hitting a career high .300 in 1979. On October 1, 1980, Moore had the greatest game of his career when he became the only player in MLB history to hit for the cycle and steal two bases. 

Prior to the 1981 season, the Brewers acquired future Hall of Fame catcher Ted Simmons from the St. Louis Cardinals. Moore graciously accepted a move to right field:

I had always done what the organization told me to do. Whatever I can do to help the team win, that’s what I try to do, in whatever role they want me to play.

The Brewers would make the post-season for the first time in 1981 and then win the AL pennant in 1982. Moore hit .354 (17 for 48) across two post-seasons with 3 RBI. Yet Moore's most memorable post-season moment came with the glove, or more precisely, his throwing arm. During the deciding Game 5 of the 1982 ALCS against the California Angels, Moore threw out future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson at third base. Mr. October should have thought twice about running on Moore who had 13 outfield assists in the regular season.

Although the Brewers could not replicate their winning form in 1983, Moore had a career high 150 hits and 49 RBI. In 1985, Moore was again the team's number one catcher although by 1986 he would be platooning with veteran catcher Rick Cerone.

Moore would finish his big-league career with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 as a backup to Ernie Whitt. In 15 MLB seasons, Moore played in 1334 games collecting 1052 hits for a lifetime batting average of .261 with 36 HR and 408 RBI. He also had 51 career stolen bases which is pretty decent for a player who sent most of his career crouched down behind the plate,

Yet what is most impressive are his contributions to the Brewers. His 1283 games played in Milwaukee is sixth on the team's all-time list while his 1029 hits is 11th in team history with Christian Yelich only having passed him into the Top 10 late last season. Moore has a place on the team's Wall of Honor at Miller Park.

Charlie Moore will be remembered as a stalwart of the Milwaukee Brewers of the 1970s and 1980s. R.I.P.

Conservatives Should Stop Pretending That Trump Had Nothing To Do With Colbert's Cancellation

 

Over the past several days, conservative writers such as Jeffrey M. McCall, Tom Purcell of Townhall.com, and NRO's Armond White have celebrated the end of Late Night with Stephen Colbert. 

The common denominator between these pieces is twofold.

First, that Colbert was cancelled strictly for financial reasons due to the high cost of producing his show.

Second, that Colbert's overtly political brand of comedy alienated half of America's viewers.

Nonsense.

For starters, Colbert had been the number one rated late night talk show for nine consecutive years. 

Let us also remember that FOX News has a late-night show in the form of Greg Gutfeld who has an equally political brand of comedy. Yet somehow McCall, Purcell and White make no mention of him. Would that be because they agree with Gutfeld's politics and object to Colbert because he hold views contrary to their own?

Now I understand that Colbert's political humor isn't for everyone. Indeed, I pointed that out myself when I wrote a piece for NRO back in 2017 concerning the 25th anniversary of Johnny Carson's retirement from The Tonight Show. 

Yet whether you agree or disagree with his brand of humor, Stephen Colbert no longer has a late-night talk show on CBS for one reason.

President Trump.

When the cancellation was announced in July 2025, I wrote:

The network cited an unspecified "financial decision" as the reason for its cancellation as it evidently will withdraw from late night TV altogether.

I would hazard a guess that its "financial decision" is to appease President Trump so the administration will approve Paramount's merger with Skydance. Earlier this week, Colbert was publicly critical of CBS' parent company Paramount for settling Trump's frivolous lawsuit against 60 Minutes and the network at the beginning of the month. That will not help Paramount's standing with Trump.

There is really no other reason for CBS to pull the plug on Colbert. It is a ratings juggernaut. But the merger is a higher priority. Giving $16 million to the Trump Presidential Library (an oxymoron if there ever was one) is but a drop in the bucket. Trump is going to want a lot more. He wants a scalp and Stephen Colbert's will do just nicely given he is a persistent thorn in the President's side. 

Indeed, Trump not only celebrated Colbert's network TV demise but hoped for his other late-night colleagues to be removed from the airwaves. 

Trump made similar remarks when CBS announced Colbert's cancellation last summer:

Let me put it another way. Does anyone honestly believe that CBS would have cancelled Colbert had we elected Kamala Harris?

With that, I will cede that one of my takes in that post did not age so well:

What CBS will do after the late local news is anyone's guess although I would not be shocked if someone in the MAGAverse like Charlie Kirk got a time slot. 

Less than 2 months later, Kirk would be felled by an assassin's bullet.

In any event, Colbert's slot has been taken over by Byron Allen, a veteran comedian and successful media mogul. I'm old enough to remember Allen from his days on Real People. For his part, Allen has said there is enough political humor on late-night TV. I have no objection to this statement. Political humor has never been part of Allen's schtick. So, why start now? Yet it would not surprise if CBS either lured Gutfeld or eventually replaced Allen with a MAGA friendly host. After all, they've done it at their anchor desk.

Of course, Colbert will be just fine. He will be co-writing the next Lord of the Rings film with his son, Peter McGee.

But conservatives ought to stop pretending that President Trump had nothing to with Stephen Colbert's removal from CBS' late-night lineup. To do otherwise is simply dishonest and disingenuous. 

An Afternoon & Evening at The Brattle: Kings of the Road, Ghost World & Massacre at Central High

 

With Memorial Day weekend being unseasonably cool, I spent most of Saturday at The Brattle Theatre picking where I left off last night following the 50th anniversary screening of Taxi Driver. 

Today, I saw three films which had very little in common with each other - Kings of the Road, Ghost World and Massacre at Central High. The only thing which connected them is these films are commemorating anniversaries. Both Kings of the Road and Massacre at Central High are commemorating their 50th anniversaries this year while Ghost World commemorates its 25th anniversary.

Kings of the Road (1976)

Of the three films, I was most interested in seeing Kings of the Road for the simple reason that it is directed by Wim Wenders. Of course, Wenders directed Paris, Texas which is among my favorite films of all-time. I have also viewed Wings of Desire.

Kings of the Road has elements of both Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire. Like the latter, Kings of the Road is filmed in black and white. Like the former, Kings of the Road shows both the beauty and bleakness of the outdoor landscape in both rural and urban settings. I can also see why Wenders recruited Ry Cooder because much of the background music is played on acoustic slide guitar. 

The two main characters portrayed by German actors Rüdiger Vogler and Hanns Zischler spend extended amounts of time not engaging in dialogue when they are together. Vogler plays a traveling film projectionist who aids Zischler who drives his car into the river. Both men are individualists who keep drifting apart yet their wills bring themselves back to the other until it is time for them to permanently go their separate ways.

Two things about Kings of the Road will stay with me. The first was the lack of adult women in the film. In just under 3 hours, there were only 2 adult women in the entire film. The first woman isn't introduced until halfway through the film and was played by Lisa Kreuzer (who was married to Wenders at the time). Kreuzer plays a potential love interest for the traveling film projectionist as she turns out to be a ticket taker in an adult movie theatre. 

The second thing which will forever stay with me was seeing the act of defecation on film. That I cannot unsee. 

Ghost World (2001)

I can be grateful that no one involved in the making of Ghost World defecated on film.

My curiosity regarding this film was that it included the likes of Steve Buscemi, Bob Babalan, Ileana Douglas, an uncredited Terri Garr and a young Scarlett Johannson - two years before her breakthrough role in Lost in Translation. Johannson was the co-lead in the film with Thora Birch portraying two high school graduates trying to figure out what to do with their lives. The two have been inseparable since childhood but a rift develops when Johannson's character focuses on employment while Birch's character slowly becomes obsessed with an older, socially awkward record collector played by Buscemi. 

As time goes on, Birch's character proceeds, often unintentionally, to make the lives of everyone around worse. In the end, she acquires enough self-awareness to conclude that it is best for all parties concerned that she leaves town and start over.

Both Birch and Johannson give good performances. It is astounding to me that Birch, while a steadily working actress, has not enjoyed the same level of stardom as Johannson. Unfortunately, film is a visual medium, and Johannson is more conventionally attractive than Birch. It isn't to say that Birch isn't attractive but not in the way casting directors view beauty. Which is a shame. But such is life.

Massacre at Central High (1976)

What drew me to this film was the presence of Andrew Stevens (the son of actress Stella Stevens) who was in arguably the worst episode of Columbo to ever air. Other familiar names include Robert Carradine who sadly took his own life back in February and Lani O'Grady, who would later join the cast of the hit ABC sitcom Eight is Enough. On yet another sad note, O'Grady would die of a drug overdose in 2001 at the age of 46.

However, the lead here was a fellow named Derrel Maury whose face I recognized but could not remember where I saw him. Well, now I know I saw him on some episodes of Happy Days and the short-lived Joanie Loves Chachi where he was part of the main cast.

In any case, Maury plays a new student at Central High named David who is a friend of Mark (played by Stevens). Much to David's chagrin, Mark has fallen into with three student bullies who run the school. Eventually, David takes out the bullies when they attempt to rape two female students played by O'Grady and Cheryl Smith. Alas, the bullies get their revenge by slamming a car he is fixing on his leg forcing its amputation.

Following David's recovery, he swiftly kills the three bullies in brutal fashion which gives the bullied students a new lease on life. However, that lease would be a short-term one when the bullied students turn out to be every bit as cruel as the bullies they once despised. So, Robert sets about killing them one-by-one. 

I must say this made for an unconventional plot device. The problem was with its execution as much of the acting was over the top. Meanwhile, the killings, while gruesome, were greeted with derisive laughter. What was also glaringly absent was the lack of both parents and teachers. It was as if the students, or at least the bullies, ran the high school themselves. 

Then there was also the gratuitous nudity. OK, that wasn't so bad.

Nor was the film nearly as horrible as Bad Girls Go to Hell or Marty Supreme.

Even if some aspect films of the film were shitty, there was no on-screen defecation. 

When it comes to Memorial Day weekend, I don't want to be couped up at home. And if the weather isn't conducive to being outdoors for an extended period of time, then 7½ hours at the Brattle isn't a bad way to spend a Saturday on a holiday weekend.

Thoughts on Taxi Driver at 50: How Many Travis Bickles Roam The Earth?

I began Memorial Day weekend by attending a 50th anniversary screening of Taxi Driver at the Brattle Theatre.

The screening was sold out with many in attendance were born in this century. Several Gen Zers came by and asked what the lineup was for and when Taxi Driver was uttered, they understood. They may not have seen the film, but they know Robert DeNiro and 'You talkin' to me?'. They also understand the significance of Martin Scorsese. 

I have seen Taxi Driver on TV on a number of occasions and, more recently, have delved into the perspective of YouTube movie reactors such as CineBinge and Popcorn in Bed. But until tonight, I had never viewed it on the big screen.

Based on the reactions I heard following the screening, people were most impressed by the musical score composed by Bernard Herrmann. It proved to be his epitaph as he died on Christmas Eve, 1975 only hours after completing his final work. He would be posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

For me what truly resonated was Travis Bickle's ruminations on loneliness and trying to fit into the world.

Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person like other people.

Travis Bickle did think he was becoming a person like other people in his pursuit of Betsy, the beautiful presidential campaign worker played by Cybil Shepherd. He thought he was being like other people when he took Betsy to a movie yet could not fathom why she would object be taken to an adult movie theatre in Times Square.

When Betsy rejects Travis' overtures, he plans to assassinate Charles Palantine, the presidential candidate for whom she works as an act of revenge. Of course, his violent impulses are ultimately turned towards good when he rescues Iris, a child prostitute played by Jodie Foster. 

Bickle is wounded and gets commendation for his actions effectively becoming a person like other people. Yet, at the same time, one cannot help if he is living vicariously and is idealizing what he has become as when Betsy takes a ride in Travis' cab and praises him for saving Iris. 

In the 50 years since Taxi Driver was released, how many Travis Bickles have roamed the Earth to escape loneliness in pursuit of trying to be like other people?

Unfortunately, far too many. The assassination of John Lennon, the attempted assassination of President Reagan and numerous mass shooters. 

Of course, not all Travis Bickles end up becoming killers much less wanting to act out that desire. But those Travis Bickles aren't sure how to escape loneliness to become a person like other people and many never will.

Is AOC Holding Dirty Water or Playing a Dirty Trick?

 

During a congressional hearing today, AOC questioned Jessica Kramer, an Assistant Administrator for Water at the EPA. During her questioning, AOC held up a couple of jars of discolored water which she claimed came from Morgan County, Georgia (about 215 miles northwest of Atlanta) where Meta is building a data center. AOC further claims the jars of discolored water is drinking water.

For her part, Kramer said there had been concerns about water availability (i.e. water pressure re: household appliances) but had been unaware of any issues concerning drinking water in the area arising from Meta's construction of the data center. However, Kramer agreed to conduct a review.

When I saw this, I could not help but think of this scene from Erin Brockovich. I wouldn't be surprised if AOC saw it too and got some inspiration.

From where I sit, I have no way of knowing what AOC is holding is drinking water from Morgan County, Georgia. It's possible that might be the case. But quite frankly just because AOC says she is holding a jar of contaminated drinking water from Morgan County, Georgia, doesn't mean that is true. How do we know that this jar didn't come from the Potomac River?

Any half-decent lawyer would want to know the following:

a) Where was the water obtained?

b) When was it obtained?

c) Who obtained the water and what was the chain of custody which followed?

d) How long before the hearing did AOC's office acquire these jars of water?

e) Where were these jars of water stored between their acquisition and the hearing?

f) Were these jars stored in a secure area?

g) Who in AOC's office had access to these jars?

If there is impartial evidence which substantiates AOC's claims, then fine. Yet somehow, I very much doubt that AOC or her staff would be forthcoming concerning these questions.