As you’re making a synchronous request, that should be
function getRemote() { return $.ajax({ type: "GET", url: remote_url, async: false }).responseText; }
Example – http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/#example-3
PLEASE NOTE: Setting async property to false is deprecated and in the process of being removed (link). Many browsers including Firefox and Chrome have already started to print a warning in the console if you use this:
Chrome:
Synchronous XMLHttpRequest on the main thread is deprecated because of its detrimental effects to the end user’s experience. For more help, check https://xhr.spec.whatwg.org/.
Firefox:
Synchronous XMLHttpRequest on the main thread is deprecated because of its detrimental effects to the end user’s experience. For more help http://xhr.spec.whatwg.org/