EmptyWheel Nails The Kushner Crime Families… To The Wall. [Assisted, By Tangerine 2.0]

She nails it… cold, here this morning.

Jared is not a savvy businessman. He is a corrupt rent-seeker; nothing more. Like his daddy before him, and like his father in law.

But as EW points out, Trump has arguably made him the bag-man for most of the family graft — payable from foreign frenemies.

And he and his pops are only too happy to… oblige. Do go read it all.

It is disgusting — and extremely well-told, by her.

Onward.

The “Mechanics” Order: Habeas Release — By 5 PM EST Today — For Abrego…

As of 3 PM EST, Noem has filed no appeal. Seems he will be able to head to an undisclosed location inside Maryland, tonight, accompanied by pre-trial services, to set up his “at home” monitoring. Excellent. [Of course, for his — and his family’s — security, we will not disclose the moment of his release, nor that location.]

Here it all is — pretty plainly laid out, by USDC Judge Paula Xinis:

…Petitioner Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s Petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 at ECF No. 1 is hereby GRANTED;

2. Respondents SHALL release Abrego Garcia from ICE custody immediately;

3. Respondents SHALL notify Abrego Garcia’s counsel of the exact time and location of his release no fewer than four hours prior to releasing him, and notify the Court of the status of Abrego Garcia’s release by email to chambers no later than 5:00 p.m. today, Thursday, December 11, 2025;

4. A representative of the United States Pretrial Services Office for this District SHALL separately contact Abrego Garcia’s criminal counsel with further instruction for installation on the release conditions previously imposed in… United States v. Abrego Garcia, No. 3:25-CR-00115-1 (M.D. Tenn.);

5. Respondents SHALL immediately transmit this Order and the accompanying Memorandum Opinion to all relevant officers, agents, and employees under their control and who are involved in this matter and [in]… United States v. Abrego Garcia, No. 3:25-CR-00115-1 (M.D. Tenn.)….

6. Within a week of the date of this Order, by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 18, 2025, the parties SHALL submit a joint status report as to the parties’ position regarding resolution of Respondents’ pending motion to dissolve at ECF No. 72 [the motion by Noem to dissolve the injunction, and continue with detention / deportation mechanics]; and

7. The Clerk is DIRECTED to transmit a copy of this Order to all counsel of record.

December 11, 2025: /s/ Paula Xinis,
United States District Judge

Excellent… just… excellent.

नमस्ते

[U: Full Opinion Now, Linked.] Breaking: USDC Judge Xinis in Maryland Orders Abrego’s Immediate Release!

Certainly, the Noemites will appeal more in a few minutes. It comes as a 31 page opinion.

He still must wear an ankle monitor and remain at home under the Nashville orders, from this past Summer — but I don’t think Noem can lawfully keep him in Pennsylvania — away from his Maryland family, any longer, after tonight. Here’s that Judge Xinis banger:

…But nothing suggests [his 2019 administrative proceedings judge] ordered Abrego Garcia removed to El Salvador. In fact, the withholding decision twice erroneously suggested that the stated country of removal from which Abrego Garcia sought relief was Guatemala. Id. at 9 (“DHS has failed to carry their burden to show that there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened….”); id. at 14 (“DHS has not shown there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened, or that internal relocation is possible and reasonable under the circumstances.”). The withholding decision also included a separate “order” that did not command Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador or anywhere else….

For the next six years, Abrego Garcia lived and worked in Maryland subject to an ICE order of supervision. Abrego Garcia I, ECF No. 1-3. See also ECF No. 32-10 (employment authorization identification card); ECF No. 33 (order of supervision). But on March 12, 2025, while driving with his son in the car, ICE agents pulled over Abrego Garcia and arrested him. Abrego I, ECF No. 31 at 4. Three days later, Respondents forcibly expelled him, along with 252 Venezuelan and Salvadoran nationals, to El Salvador where they were detained in the Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT”)….

In response, on March 24, 2025, Abrego Garcia filed suit in this Court and separately moved for an injunction directing Respondents to secure his immediate release from CECOT and his return to the United States. Abrego I, ECF Nos. 1 & 2. On April 4, 2025, the Court granted such relief, ordering Respondents to “facilitate and effectuate” his return to the United States….

[O]n June 6, 2025, Respondents paroled Abrego Garcia to the United States after securing a federal indictment in the Middle District of Tennessee, a matter that is itself under scrutiny for vindictive and selective prosecution….

Meanwhile, during plea negotiations in the criminal case, Costa Rica offered to grant Abrego Garcia residency as a refugee. ECF No. 1-3; ECF No. 1-7; Tennessee Criminal Matter, ECF No. 114-1. Official correspondence dated August 21, 2025, from Costa Rica’s Minister of Public Security Mario E. Zamora Cordero (“Zamora Cordero”), confirmed [this]….

At the hearing on November 20, it became evident that once again, Respondents defied this Court’s orders…. They simply refused to prepare and produce a witness with knowledge to testify in any meaningful way. Cantú candidly admitted, for example, that he had no prior involvement in Abrego Garcia’s case and spent approximately five minutes preparing to testify. See ECF No. 107 at 33:3–4, 39:5–9. Cantú also shared that none of Respondents’ attorneys had discussed this Court’s order with him or showed him its contents. See id. at 42:1–24. Nor did Cantú understand the purpose of his testimony….

Despite this tortured history, Abrego Garcia’s arguments in favor of release are quite simple. He contends that his detention is without lawful authority because Respondents have no final order of removal authorizing as much under the third-country removal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1231. Thus, says Abrego Garcia, his release is compelled. [This court agrees.]

Abrego Garcia’s case demands judicial intervention to ensure that Respondents choose constitutionally permissible means of implementing the INA. Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 695. Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper. Separately, Respondents’ conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer….

The Court orders Respondents to release Abrego Garcia from ICE custody immediately. Thereafter, he will receive instruction from the United States Pretrial Services Office as to installation on the release conditions previously imposed in his [Nashville] case….

Sanity makes a comeback! Let Hinderaker’s whining… begin. I. Don’t. Care.

नमस्ते

In Abrego Garcia’s Case, The Document-Disclosure Log-Jam… Is Breaking-Up — In Nashville… Thanks To USDC Judge Waverly Crenshaw!

It still is likely to be into the third week of January 2026, before we see an evidentiary hearing, proper now.

But make no mistake — this is headed toward an outright dismissal order, in favor of Abrego Garcia. Here’s the latest order to issue out from yesterday’s sealed ex-parte hearing [text only]:

…ORDER as to Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia:

Having considered the Government’s Motion for Partial Reconsideration of the Order entered 12/3/2025 (Doc. No. [245]) and having reviewed six documents with bate numbers 000007 through 000012, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion.

The Court has redacted the six documents, identified during the hearing as Collective Exhibit A, that shall be produced immediately to Defendant.

On or before 12/17/2025, the parties shall file their position with a supporting memorandum of law on whether the Memorandum Opinion and Order (Doc. No. [241]) should remain under seal.

Signed by District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr on 12/10/2025….

Now you know. When it ultimately happens down in Music City, in mid-January 2026, you may trust that I will be live in Courtroom 3D, to blog it all.

And as irony might have it, that might turn out to be the day of, or after King Day 2026 (Q.: do the Nashville courts observe the federal MLK holiday, and stay closed? We will find out.) Smile — onward.

नमस्ते

[U] So… I Will Likely Forward A Copy Of This Post To USDC Judge Cote’s Chambers… And To The FTC’s Offices In Manhattan…

UPDATED: 12.13.2025 AM — The stock of Q/C Technologies, which was at $7.93 a few days before Martin signed on as a strategic advisor… is now at $4.77, on the NASDAQ — it has nearly been cut in half in the three days since he joined the team. Charming. End, updated portion.

I admit that I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, trying to figure out what — exactly it is — that the ’34 Act reporting company calling itself QC Technologies actually… does.

It sent out splashy press releases a few weeks ago saying it was now focusing on the development of “quantum class” computing solutions that would rely on photonic / speed of light technology (whatever that might mean!) the company had licensed in… from… somewhere. Fine.

BUT… TNF Pharmaceuticals (which was only a name change — not a dissolution, or divestiture) still maintains an active website, promoting the drugs-in-development at right.

Martin is being paid $150,000 a year (in cash) to act as a strategic advisor to this company — and getting warrants and restricted stock, vesting over time.

So, as far as I can tell — and I did some looking — I looked in the official SEC filings, as well… the company has nowhere said it has divested the pharmaceuticals R&D businesses, nor that it has ceased all work on those “med pot/CBD” projects. [The TNF website still makes health claims for them, too.]

My point? The final orders the FTC won before USDC Judge Cote in 2021-22, in Manhattan (and subsequently affirmed by the US Supreme Court) expressly prohibit Martin from acting in any paid form, for any company in the pharmaceuticals businesses.

He cannot simply change the company’s name — as say they are “de-emphasizing” the medical pot development biz… in order to take cash for helping to sell on or close out these pharmaceutical clinical trial projects. This is exactly what his USDC final injunctions / FTC banning-orders forbid him from doing.

Look — I get it: just last week, his supposed portfolio of pharma related and computing related stock investments (and shorts) — one he was crowing about, daily on his YouTube live-streams… utterly imploded. Went to zero (on a stupidly specific short he put on, against a drug development co.), and he was outright liquidated — for margin calls. [Just like in 2014-15, right?!]

He is flat out of cash flow runway. So, he needs to feed his baby, and pay his rent, in New York. So he signs on to a serial failure of a public company. For cash. But he cannot violate his lifetime banning order, in doing so.

Onward, resolutely.

See ya’ in the funny papers, man.

नमस्ते

Ahh… It Was Well-Past Its NASA-Rated Engineering Life-Span, At Mars… But Would Be An Important Loss (If Permanent)…

Some truly regular readers may recall that about eight years ago, the team at NASA | JPL burned the engines for a bit, to lift Maven to an orbit that would be safely above the tiny moon Phobos’ orbital path… and that went quite smoothly. The craft… sailed onward.

It is (I suppose) possible that it was struck by an entirely new space rock (too small to see, from 40 million miles off), whilst traversing the dark side (relative to our radio signals) of Mars, in early December of 2025. NASA engineers were never able to re-acquire a signal [after it peeked out from sailing behind Barsoom, this last time]. Maybe the circuits just succumbed to space radiation. We may never know. But here’s to hopin’ this twisty lil’ guy wakes up, and dials home, again:

…NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, in orbit around Mars, experienced a loss of signal with ground stations on Earth on Dec. 6. Telemetry from MAVEN had showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind the Red Planet. After the spacecraft emerged from behind Mars, NASA’s Deep Space Network did not observe a signal.

The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation. More information will be shared once it becomes available.

The MAVEN spacecraft launched in November 2013 and entered Mars’ orbit in September 2014. The mission’s goal is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space. Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of the Red Planet’s atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The spacecraft also serves as a communications relay station for rovers on the Martian surface. Last year, MAVEN celebrated its 10th anniversary in orbit at Mars….

We do use three other spacecraft for relay of comms, from Mars — so this is/was a redundant capability — but it still will be missed, as it reduces the data speeds and increases latency, for commands, at various points in the orbital path — of Barsoom. Keep a good thought, will you?

नमस्ते

Some European Space Agency News: A Super-Speedy, And Gargantuan Blast — From The Black Hole At The Center Of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3783, 130 Million Light Years Off…

Last night, I re-watched an episode of the PBS series called Nova, on black hole detection (originally aired in 2018). . . and as luck would have it, the European Space Agency has a great new bit of interstellar science — about the so-called super-massives [weighing in at over 70 million times the mass of our Sun!], and their ability to generate vast jets, travelling at one-fifth the speed of light.

This discovery was made by XRISM’s Resolve instrument — and indicates that such blasts can form in under a few hours, and dissipate, just as rapidly.

[Of course, since the vast x-ray emissions from it are just reaching us today, this cataclysmic event occurred about 130 million years ago — not more than eye-blink though, on the cosmic time-scales.] Here’s the latest from ESA — on all that:

…Leading X-ray space telescopes XMM-Newton and XRISM have spotted an extraordinary blast from a supermassive black hole. In a matter of hours, the gravitational monster whipped up powerful winds, flinging material out into space at eye-watering speeds of 60,000 km per second.

The gigantic black hole lurks within NGC 3783, a beautiful spiral galaxy imaged recently by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers spotted a bright X-ray flare erupt from the black hole before swiftly fading away. As it faded, fast winds emerged, raging at one-fifth of the speed of light….

“We’ve not watched a black hole create winds this speedily before,” says lead researcher Liyi Gu at Space Research Organisation Netherlands (SRON). “For the first time, we’ve seen how a rapid burst of X-ray light from a black hole immediately triggers ultra-fast winds, with these winds forming in just a single day….”

Now you know… what an infinitesimal, fragile, and ethereal beauty our sparkling blue life-raft is… in all of this, right? Amazing!

Do take good care of one another, as it may turn out that this and now, is all we will ever be, or have. I seriously doubt we are unique in all the Universe, but a single blast like this would wipe out potentially hundreds of millions of civilizations (were they out there — anywhere near NGC 3783, some 130 million years ago). We are so very… lucky, indeed.

नमस्ते

This Is Not Just A Win For Gov. Newsom — This Is A Win For The Notion Of… Limited Federal Powers, As Framed By The Founders Of Our Nation.

This clearly-correct precedent will (of course) be appealed by Tangerine 2.0 — but the troops are once again solely under the control of the California CoC, one Gavin Newsom.

There will be no staying this injunction. And this precedent will effectively end the Illinois litigation, while setting the Supremes on a course to have to address a likely split in the Circuits, between 7 and 9, among others on the one hand, and the Fifth on the other. Here’s USDC Senior Judge Breyer’s excellent opinion, just handed down:

…The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances….

Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one. Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, Defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way — let alone significantly. What’s more, Defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops. In response to Plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin this conduct, Defendants take the position that, after a valid initial federalization, all subsequent re-federalizations are completely, and forever, unreviewable by the courts. Defendants’ position is contrary to law.

Accordingly, the Court ENJOINS Defendants’ federalization of California National Guard troops….

Section 12406 “authorizes federalization only when one of its factual predicates is presently satisfied.” Reply at 1 (emphasis in original) (citing Portland FOFCOL at 37). Accordingly, each affirmative order authorizing federalization — whether a subsequent, distinct federalization or what Defendants call an extension — must comply with Section 12406’s exigency requirements at the time it is effectuated…. [and that — the Noemites / Trumpians / Millerites and Feds have not done.]

Excellent news. Onward resolutely — the Illinois version remains pending at the Supremes, for a decision, at any time. Grin.

नमस्ते

[UPDATE: Now Down ~28% @ Lunchtime!] QCLC Stock Down Almost 20%, Since Shkreli Was Named As A “Strategic” Advisor… Grin.

Here on Wednesday morning — the stock has fallen another nearly 5%, after losing ~13% in yesterday’s session.

The day before the announcement, it had traded as high as $7.93 on the NASDAQ, and it now sits at $6.28, as I write this at 9:45 am Eastern. I guess savvy capitalists realize Martin Shkreli’s “advice” may (once again) include felonious behavior — and that rarely works out well, for the company involved. Here’s the financial rag’s story, from yesterday:

…Shares of Q/C Technologies, Inc. (QCLS) crashed over 13% in volatile trading on Tuesday, after the company appointed Martin Shkreli as a strategic advisor.

Earlier in the session, QCLS had climbed more than 11%. However, trading was twice halted within the first 15 minutes of the market opening….

Yep — do be careful out there. It all comes with a sincere H/T, to my SEC visitors as of 8:30 am Eastern. Do take a look folks! Onward, grinning.

नमस्ते

Once Again, Noem And Stephen Miller Are Appealing An Order To Treat CHILDREN Humanely. They Cannot Be Held In Adult Jails For Over 72 Hours, Ever — Especially When ICE / BP Sees So Few Of Them.

Let that sink in. Just as in Tangerine 1.0, when Trump contended in the Ninth Cir. that children did not need toothbrushes, soap or water(!?) — now he is appealing an order to move kids to more “school like” facilities within 72 hours at the outside, and in any event, as soon as possibile — out of windowless CPB adult jail cells.

Who are these… truly horrible… human beings? What is wrong with them?! These are kids — many not even 11 years old yet. Jesus. See this latest pleading, with attached sworn declarations, in the now 40 years old Flores class action litigation, in the able USDC Judge Dolly Gee’s courtroom in LA:

…[The Noemite/Miller/Tangerine] Defendants attempt to minimize the import of its no-release policy by presenting it as a percentage of the whole, 4.87% represents a staggering 154 children detained in squalid CBP conditions for over 72 hours in September alone, with the highest time in custody reaching over a month. Kahn Decl. ¶ 3. This is despite continued low numbers of border encounters. The JC CBP Report indicates that only approximately 105 children crossed the border each day of September, on average. Id.

October data is just as troubling, with 115 children detained in CBP custody over 72 hours. Kahn Decl. ¶ 4. As detailed in the table below, the longest detention in October was 29 days. Id. Based on this data, at least one child spent nearly a month in the barren, jail-like conditions of CBP. Thirty-six children were detained for over five days, eighteen of whom were detained over a week, five of whom were detained for over ten days, and three of whom were detained for over two weeks. Given the low numbers of children crossing the border, Defendants provide no reasonable justification for forcing any child to stay detained in the harsh conditions of a windowless CBP cell for weeks or a month….

This is a central failure of what was [at least in the JFK / Camelot 1962 mythology] that “shining beacon on a hill” nation: how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters. Damn. Out.

नमस्ते