Limited redactions, sure — but not entirely sealed discovery. The reason this suit hasn’t been (collusively) closed, thus far is because dozens of individual humans were maimed (on land, and in the water) — and in the case of the floating razor wire barriers, at least two people… perished, in the frigid Rio Grande waters of January 2022.
We, the people are entitled to know what Abbott did, either at Trump’s bidding, or on his own — as a lawless autocrat… that got these people killed and injured.
So, either the press, or the ACLU (or yours truly, if need be) will move the able USDC Judge not to hide this clear evidence of malevolence from “we, the people”. That is well settled black letter federal law. These are… our courts, not Abbott’s. And, NOT Trump’s. Here’s the poorly argued (and likely collusive) joint federal / Texas state motion to close it up:
…Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule CV-26 of the Local Rules of the Western District of Texas, the parties jointly move this Court for entry of the attached Stipulation and Proposed Order Regarding Discovery Procedures and Confidential Information to govern the use and disposition of information and documents produced in discovery in this action.
The parties anticipate that the discovery to be sought will include requests for information and documents of a confidential nature, including information protected by federal privacy laws, information that is law enforcement sensitive, and personally identifying information of non-parties to this action. The parties therefore stipulate and agree to entry of the attached Stipulation and Proposed Order Regarding Discovery Procedures and Confidential Information….
I’ll wait a tick, to see if this fails — if it does not, I will intercede. Onward.
The ICE agents claimed (falsely, it turns out) that they had a warrant in open court, but never produced it. It very likely was all just a lie — encouraged by the now disgraced and departed Greg Bovino. [See at right, from Fall of last year.]
In any event, this married family man (here on papers, but detained) will be back home — with his family, by Labor Day. But he was lawlessly detained for over a year. These people are… deplorable. I will link the order, but not name the detained man here, for safety’s sake. Here’s that:
…It is also apparent that the I-200 referenced in CCP’s I-213 is not the I-200 that defendants produced. The I-213 states that officers ran a records check on CCP after they identified him at the ICE office on October 10; discovered that he had an order of removal; an I200 warrant was issued by SDDO (Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer) Waldschmidt on scene; and that CCP was arrested pursuant to this warrant and his order of removal. The I200, by contrast, is dated October 9, 2025; was signed by SDDO T. Janowski; and was served on CCP on October 9, 2025. Although the Court pointed out these issues concerning the I-200s during the August 18 hearing and sought an answer to the question of how CCP would have been served with an I-200 arrest warrant on October 9 when he was not arrested until October 10 (Dckt. #502 at 6-7), defense counsel’s supplemental response did not provide an answer. Nor did defendants produce the I-200 purportedly issued by SDDO Waldschmidt, and the Court finds that the failure to produce this warrant is evidence that it does not exist. Castanon Nava, 806 F.Supp.3d at 856 (citing cases).
Given the unreliability of the I-213 and the Court’s inference that the I-200 warrant purportedly issued by SDDO Waldschmidt does not exist, the Court finds that CCP was subjected to a warrantless arrest on October 10, 2025. The Court further finds that defendants lacked probable cause that CCP was a risk to flee before a warrant could be obtained given the abundant evidence known by ICE that he was not a flight risk. In particular, the I-213 reflects that CCP is married with a wife and child in the U.S; he is employed; he has no felony convictions; and that he voluntarily appeared at the ICE office for his check-in appointment.
For these reasons, the Court finds that plaintiffs have proven by a preponderance of the evidence that ICE officers subjected CCP to a warrantless arrest without probable cause that he posed a risk of escape before a warrant could be obtained.
Accordingly, CCP is entitled to relief under the Consent Decree, and he shall be released without bond and without conditions no later than the close of business on Friday, August 28, 2026. Defendants shall certify their compliance with the terms of this Order by Tuesday, September 1, 2026….
Now you know — onward, resolutely. We must lawfully resist (in the courts) lawless thuggery and tyranny, from MAGA arms of federal enforcers. Period.
This is — by now — old hat: the spat dates back to the end of WWI. And this suit is over a decade old.
There are or were dozens of similar suits dotting the globe. Hopefully, a global mediated settlement will be reached:
…Re: Merck & Co., Inc., et al. v. Merck KGaA, Civil Action No. 16-266 (ES/MAH)
Dear Judge Hammer:
This firm, along with Sidley Austin LLP, represents Plaintiffs Merck & Co., Inc. and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. in the above-referenced matter. We write on behalf of all parties to follow up on our joint letter regarding a mediation date pursuant to the Court’s March 9, 2026 Order (ECF Nos. 322, 326).
We have a mediation scheduled with Judge Hochberg on September 16-18, 2026. As appropriate, an additional mediation day may occur on October 27, 2026.
We thank the Court for its consideration.
Respectfully submitted….
So it goes — it would certainly make sense for both sides to settle rather than run multi-billion dollar exposures, on their respective trademarks / intellectual property. But I’ve been saying that for over a decade. Maybe they are finally really listening, as trial nears. Onward, smiling.
Once again — for at least the fifth time, across Tangerine 1.0 and 2.0, Baby-T has been TRO-ed or enjoined, from using the US Post Office as a means of political intimidation. [The legacy graphic at right is from Tangerine 1.0, as old DeJoy tried some similar lawlessness — and was thwarted by a WA State federal court. I won’t bother to make a new graphic — Trump’s lawlessness here is simply… obvious — again. And now a Boston federal court has said so, again — after a DC one did a month ago.]
Here is the very well-reasoned ruling. It will be affirmed as the law of the land, but not until after Novemebr will it reach the Supremes (so the purported rule will not impact the mid-terms):
…On emergency review, on August 24, 2026, the United States Supreme Court concluded that this court lacked jurisdiction to review challenges to the EO’s constitutionality where it was speculative as to whether the USPS would (1) propose a rule; (2) weigh the comments; and (3) issue a final rule consistent with the EO’s directives. Trump v. California, 609 U.S. __, 2026 WL 2473573, at *4 (Aug. 24, 2026) (per curiam). . . . The Supreme Court explicitly noted, however, that the disposition of the government’s emergency application “does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful[….]”
[Almost immediately,] the USPS [has] gone ahead and noticed a proposed rule, solicited and reviewed comments, and issued a Final Rule. See 91 Fed. Reg. 54966….
[Under the proposed final rule,] State or local election officials must submit their ballot envelope and return envelope designs to the USPS for approval, id.; and (3) after obtaining approval of the return ballot envelopes, but precludes election officials from uploading voter information until the USPS approves the ballot envelopes and return ballot envelopes. 91 Fed. Reg. at 54991 (DMM 705.24.4.2(f)). And where a State or local election official does not obtain envelope and return envelope design approval, or does not upload voter information, or does not include unique intelligent mail barcodes on ballot envelopes, the USPS will not mail ballots to voters. 91 Fed. Reg. at 54991 ballot envelope and return envelope designs, State or local election officials must input each voter’s information into a USPS-run electronic portal, 91 Fed. Reg. at 549991 (DMM 705.24.4.2).
The Final Rule provides no timeline for USPS’s approval of ballot envelopes and return ballot envelopes, but precludes election officials from uploading voter information until the USPS approves the ballot envelopes and return ballot envelopes. 91 Fed. Reg. at 54991 (DMM 705.24.4.2(f)). And where a State or local election official does not obtain envelope and return envelope design approval, or does not upload voter information, or does not include unique intelligent mail barcodes on ballot envelopes, the USPS will not mail ballots to voters. 91 Fed. Reg. at 54991….
Plaintiff States promptly challenged the Final Rule in a new action, and Plaintiff Organizations promptly supplemented their complaint to add allegations regarding the Final Rule. In the pending motions, both groups of Plaintiffs seek preliminary injunctive relief and request that the court stay Defendants’ implementation of the Final Rule, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65….
Defendants now claim that Plaintiffs are too late “because appellate review in the ordinary course would come too late for the 2026 midterms.” But the question is not when appellate review will be completed. The issue before the court is whether Plaintiffs have met the traditional standards for emergency relief…. [And so, the court TROs the inane rule.]
Updated — 08.28.2026 PM: Yawn. Silly Trumpers have appealed a “TEMPORARY” restraining order. This sort of brainless gambit has failed them repeatedly before. But they never learn. That’s the whole Friday night update — you cannot appeal a temporary order, knuckleheads. Only final orders may be appealed, silly rabbits. End, update.
It is as plain as the nose on your face — as a matter of black letter federal law — that the Post Office cannot be used by 1600 Penn to change state and local law, on mail in voting (to suppress votes from less mobile humans).
That is not a federal concern, at all — unless the mail-in process is disenfranchising protected classes of would-be voters — and then, it is the sole province of the DoJ. Here, Tangerine would purport to stand the law on its head, to stop lawful votes from being counted. Insane — but onward, resolutely just the same. Ever, onward.
Hinderaker preposterously believes that he is exonerated from all the evil that Tangerine 1.0 and 2.0 have wrought, simply because once in a while, he might mildly scold him.
Hinderaker and Trump do have one thing in common: they both are increasingly senile, and delusional.
That would matter very little for a has been Minnesota racists’ racist lawyer, who is independently wealthy, and about whom no one cares any more.
But that guy admits he voted for this monster three times. Even though this monster takes a 1940s era, widely-published / idiot chart ranking the presidents, doesn’t even bother to update it for Kennedy or Reagan, or Nixon or Eisenhower — nor even either of the Bush presidencies… and then proclaims hisssself the “greatest president in US history”.
This sort of BS is exactly what John voted for. Thrice. This was all widely known — the “manchurian cantaloupe” has always just been a venial, small-minded criminal.
And for Hinderaker to suggest otherwise… just makes him not only a liar but a very stupidly transparent liar.
I will offer only the below pull-quote, to explain what the words at the top of the building mean.
The crowd provides incredibly positive, joyous energy — but the rest of the wonder… you will have to discover for yourself, if you can score a ticket:
…What Are These Words?
Out these windows, Chicago’s South and West sides unfold.
It’s an image framed by what President Obama has called some of the most important words of his presidency — capturing his idea of what America can, and should, be.
You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention.
Unencumbered by what is, and ready to seize what ought to be. Everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed.
America is not the project of any one person. The single-most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.” “We The People.” “We Shall Overcome.” “Yes We Can.” That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone.
Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.
— President Barack Obama
Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015….
Onward, grinning… and grinning, widely. But, you’ll likely not depart without shedding at least a few tears — some of joy; some of sorrow, for what’s been lost. But we will “run this back” — that, I vow. Onward.
The Lord knows, we need additional approaches, inside Ituri and Bas-Uele — in DRC, with over 5,500 now afflicted, and over 2,700 dead — and still expanding rather wildly.
Basing its approach on the Zaire model that worked well in prior outbreaks, Egyptian Minipharm (with the assist of its German unit, called ProBioGen) is now ready to test a new vaccine candidate against Bundibugyo, on the ground. Here’s all that, from Fierce BioTech — as ever:
…The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has committed up to $16.5 million to push Minapharm’s Bundibugyo vaccine candidate into the clinic, furthering its response to the Ebola outbreak.
In recent months, more than 2,700 people have died in the Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seeking to suppress what is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, CEPI called (PDF) for proposals from companies with promising vaccine candidates against the pathogen.
Minapharm answered the call. Working with its Berlin-based unit ProBioGen, the Egyptian drugmaker is developing a vaccine candidate based on the modified vaccinia Ankara platform. A similar technology has provided long-term immunity against Zaire ebolavirus, a related pathogen….
Now you know — and the Obama Center is well-worth a cross country trip — if you can secure timed admission tix. I’ll have more here later, including some sample imagery. Smile… a lovely morning here.
Using only a very small craft, and a low Earth orbital trajectory — this lil’ guy is both very economical, and very efficient. It will help inform future JWST passes of these exo-wonders, looking for liquid water signatures at the most promising of them. Do read the Goddard Spcelight introduction — and watch the clever YouTube, below.
My tickets for four hours inside the Obama Presidential Library are up today at noon — so I’ll have more on that, tomorrow — but in the mean-time, this will likely be today’s only entry. Here’s Goddard’s blog:
…The results of the mission will lay a firm foundation for interpreting measurements by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, as well as future observatories focused on finding habitable worlds. In fact, Pandora’s near-infrared detector is a spare originally developed for Webb.
“The spacecraft is healthy and all of the instruments are performing as well as we could have hoped,” said Jordan Karburn, Pandora’s deputy project manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. “Our team’s hard work throughout the commissioning process has paid off, and we can now confidently start science….”
Launched into low Earth orbit on Jan. 11, Pandora is an ambitious small satellite (SmallSat) funded by NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program. Pioneers are designed to explore compelling questions about the universe with fast-paced, low-cost missions that require a higher-than-usual tolerance for failure.
Three factors make Pandora unique. It carries a novel all-aluminum telescope about 18 inches (45 centimeters) in diameter, it will study planets and their host stars simultaneously in both visible and infrared light, and it will observe targets for a much longer time than flagship observatories like Webb are able to….
Now almost two decades in the planning-to-execution, this excellent deep space science project is. . . ready to take to the inky black depths, about one million miles from home.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Musk rocket will perform to specs on this lift. Here’s the latest, on scheduling:
…NASA and SpaceX are targeting Roman’s liftoff for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch coverage begins at 6:20 a.m….
Named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will pair sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope. Its crisp, sweeping surveys will help scientists investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterize exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from our own solar system to the edge of the observable universe.
After launch and separation from the rocket, Roman will travel to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, about one million miles from Earth. The mission has a five-year primary lifetime with a goal of operating for 10 years, and Roman’s science data will be publicly available after processing….
Now you know, on a flawlessly cool and sunny day. here — with baby grrls coming over for after school fun this evening! Woot!
This nonsense suit, nominally filed by some whyte crisis actors who never lived in Evanston. . . just keeps dragging on (since 2024 at this point, on a program for which applications closed in 2021). But all the while, we in Evanston (we people of good will) go about our lawful, sane and compassionate official business.
We will dutifully ignore the Fitton-financed morons — as well as the MAGA USA in Chicago (Boutros) who writes and files far-right political tracts, instead of any actual legal briefs, in this matter at least. Trust that.
And, trust that yours truly will be sitting in the courtroom, in the Dirksen federal building — on the morning below:
…MINUTE entry before the Honorable John F. Kness:
At the Court’s instance and in view of the parties’ briefing on Defendant’s motion to bifurcate discovery [45] and the US’s motion to intervene as a plaintiff [48], the hearing set for 8/25/2026 is stricken and reset to 10/7/2026 at 10:00 A.M….
Onward — with just two weeks, until a month in the EU… Nice, France — then Florence, Italy… then Rome, or Paris (depending on weather, mostly — but back by October 2, even if I am in Northern Ireland for a few days). Smile.
This simply cannot stand.The parties anticipate that the discovery to be sought will include requests for information and documents of a confidential nature, including information protected by federal privacy laws, information that is law enforcement sensitive, and personally identifying information of non-parties to this action. The parties therefore stipulate and agree to entry of the attached Stipulation and Proposed Order Regarding Discovery Procedures and Confidential Information….
