We respond…
This is what John Hinderaker hopes his minions never see:
Yep. Tangerine 2.0 is running worse that he ran — as his-self, in 2017 — and far worse than Dark Brandon, even in his waning days.
Of course, at this point Mr. Obama was plus 12 in both of his terms. Hilarious.
Onward, old Johnnie.
There are federal civ. pro. rules, about redacting home addresses of non-public figures in court filings.
DHS not only didn’t bother with that — but posted the underlying 2021 document directly to X, as a pdf file — making it available to every MAGA nut out there — and every whyte supremacist. [But I repeat myself.] Here’s the press coverage tonight:
…Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she began fearing for her safety and the safety of her three children after the Department of Homeland Security shared a protective order from 2021 that prominently featured her address to the department’s 2.4 million followers on X.
“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” she told The Washington Post. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”
“Look, Kilmar is not perfect — nobody is,” [his esposa told] The Washington Post. “Day by day, you grow. Every day, you learn. And he was trying his best for me, for our kids, for our future….”
Honestly, now I am rooting for the kind and gentle Irish, or Canadians to offer them sanctuary, and passage — and a new life. This America is just a too-hateful place, at the moment — under Noem, Rubio and Tangerine 2.0. Who are these deplorable a-holes?! They have toddlers — and now they are forced by Noem into… hiding?! Damn. Out.
नमस्ते
Updated @ 8:15 PM EDT: It is all under seal at the moment, but stay tuned, because I expect she will rule later tonight — denying all stays. and although the actual pleadings are sealed, it seems a fair inference now, given an agreed by all parties stay… to guess that either the government is in the process of returning Mr. Abrego Garcia to the Maryland area, or the United States (at least), or has negotiated a settlement with him — that allows for him to be safely transported to some other nation that will host him (France, Canada, Mexico or… Ireland?!). We shall see.
I make this guess because there is no sworn Mazzaro status update tonight — as to his particulars (it was due at 5 PM).
That would at least arguably imply that inside the sealed motions is a discussion of the steps that are being taken either to get him home here — or on, to another friendly country.
Still, a man is being wrongly held in a foreign land, and the government well-knows it is able (and ordered by the Supremes!) to bring him back here. But it is — to this moment, defying Supreme Court orders, now. This simply will NOT do.
…The Court has reviewed Defendants’ Motion to Stay (ECF No. 101) and Plaintiffs’ Response (ECF No. 102).
With the agreement of the parties, the Court hereby ORDERS that discovery shall be stayed (ECF Nos. 61 & 79) until April 30, 2025, at 5:00 PM….
[More, as it becomes available.]
Onward — but that’s seven days’ reprieve — to get him stateside.
नमस्ते
UPDATE: The 4 PM letter reads — in pertinent part — thus:
..In response to the Court’s text order from today, ECF 208, Petitioner respectfully states
the following:a. There are no future hearings currently scheduled before the immigration judge in Louisiana and Petitioner cannot predict if or when the immigration judge will schedule any future hearings. In an ordinary case, Petitioner’s counsel would expect one or two additional hearings to be scheduled regarding the government’s alleged second ground of removability and, subsequently, regarding Petitioner’s applications for immigration relief.
b. Petitioner is unable to hazard a guess as to the timing of the immigration judge’s decision on the government’s alleged second ground of removability. At the April 11 hearing, the immigration judge granted the government additional time, until today, April 23, to submit any additional evidence in support of its alleged second ground of removability and for Petitioner to submit any evidence related to the second charge and any applications for relief he may be seeking. Immigration Hearing (Apr. 11, 2025), audio at 01:38:20. When the immigration judge acts on that evidence, and whether or when she might order any additional hearings, is within the immigration judge’s discretion….
End update.
Overall, this is good news — the admin. law judge is not rushing any additional removability hearings — down in Jena. But Mr. Khalil remains in custody without being granted any real, on the merits hearing — on any detention-eligible charges.
Check back here after 5 PM Central [I’m off-grid for a bit, now] as we will post the update (due at 4 PM Eastern), here.
…TEXT ORDER:
The Petitioner [Counsel for Mr. Khalil] shall file a succinct letter before 4:00pm today.
It shall provide the Court with an update as to
(a) when the Petitioner has his next appearance before the immigration judge and
(b) the earliest moment when, in the Petitioner’s judgment, the immigration judge may make a decision as to the second ground of removability.
Tomorrow, before noon, the parties shall file a joint letter that attaches all immigration court filings that have not previously been conveyed to the Court.
So Ordered by Judge Michael E. Farbiarz on 4/23/2025….
Now you know. This is what effective judicial oversight of executive overreaching looks like. Thank you, judiciary branch!
नमस्ते
This is all very good mpox relief news — as front line health workers are among those most at risk, in any viral outbreak.
And. . . yet and still — it reminds us that — with USAID still sidelined, the outbreak will last longer, and be more lethal… as a direct consequence, than if we were there, shoulder to shoulder with the people in Freetown. Here’s the story:
…In late March, 61,300 eagerly-awaited mpox vaccines began to roll out in Sierra Leone in a vaccine drive that would prioritise health workers and contacts of mpox patients, and offer a dose of protection to the country’s most exposed.
The viral infection has killed three and sickened more than 477 since Sierra Leone’s mpox emergency was declared in January. The 26-bed mpox ward at 34 Military Hospital, a cutting-edge infectious disease facility on Freetown’s Wilberforce Military Base with a record of successfully tackling hard-hitters like Ebola, COVID-19 and Lassa Fever, has been operating at capacity for weeks.
For the nurses and doctors staffing the unit, that has meant working under the constant risk of infection. But the arrival of the vaccines – 58,300 of which were sent by Gavi, with the remainder donated by the Republic of Ireland – brought a measure of relief. On the hospital’s campus one recent morning, more than 100 health workers dressed in nurse’s scrubs and military uniforms lined up to receive the jab….
Now, the 34 Military Hospital is the focal point for testing and treating Sierra Leone’s mounting tally of mpox patients. Thirty-eight of them have so far recovered and been released, but with the epidemic still growing, and beds on the mpox ward limited in number, more and more patients have needed to be passed on to the newly-established Police and Jui treatment centres….
Now you know — with much more ahead, yet this afternoon — on the various “No human is illegal” fronts — in federal courtrooms dotting the nation.
नमस्ते
This was published late evening, on Earth Day — by the able USDC Judge Sweeney, in the federal district courthouse, in Denver. And it’s a peach!
Again, Team Tangerine sought to mis-apply a “war power” statute — contorting it beyond recognition — to run deportation pogroms. This gambit is now enjoined, nationwide. Here’s a bit of the powerfully-reasoned 65 pager:
…According to Petitioners, the Proclamation exceeds the President’s “statutory authority in three critical respects.” ECF No. 2 at 11. First, there is no “invasion or predatory incursion.” Id. Second, any purported invasion is not perpetuated by a “foreign government or nation.” Id. And third, there is “no process to contest whether an individual falls within the Proclamation.” Id. Skepticism of the Proclamation’s contrary findings is required, Petitioners urge, to the point of satisfying their first TRO burden. Id.; see also M.G., 117 F.4th at 1238. The Court agrees.
Petitioners’ first argument, see ECF No. 2 at 12, proceeds from a straightforward premise. The President’s authority under the Proclamation is “vested” under the Act. The Act demands, as a “statutory requirement,” an “invasion or predatory incursion.” ECF No. 12; 50 U.S.C. § 21. And because the Act’s “text and history” use these terms “to refer to military actions indicative of an actual or impending war” — not “mass illegal migration” or “criminal activities” — the Act cannot sustain the Proclamation. ECF No. 2 at 12-13. The Court agrees with Petitioners….
Excellent! And Musk will now need to step away from 1600 Penn / DOGE — since Tesla’s Q1 results reveal a company… in free-fall. That is about 75% of Elon’s remaining net worth — and he owes the independent public shareholders his full time efforts, under applicable fiduciary duty doctrines there now.
As I say… excellent, indeed.
नमस्ते
Just a few lines on this: as it is silly, in spades — but John still wants people to see him as the guy who took down Dan Rather, and now, 60 Minutes.
The problem is that all his supposed “heroism” was… um, a quarter century ago — and trivial at that.
Still, he clout-chases / claims fame — when a guy leaves 60 Minutes… in 2025.
Hilariously… sad.
Well — as they say in the old Spaghetti Westerns… “there will be… blood.”
And it will likely come from the stupid, gullible, and inexperienced political appointee attorneys who’ve stood up in court for Noem and Rubio and Trump — and defiled their oaths of candor and good faith advocacy, before the federal judge, here. Damn. There’s much more in this barbed eight page rebuke of an order tonight — but here’s the sharpest end of Judge Xinis’ stick:
…Defendants [Trump / Noem / Rubio] — and their counsel — well know that the falsehood lies not in any supposed “premise,” but in their continued mischaracterization of the Supreme Court’s Order. That Order made clear that this Court “properly required the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” See Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 604 U.S. –– (2025), slip op. at 2; see also Abrego Garcia v. Noem, No. 25-1404, 2025 WL 1135112, at *1 (4th Cir. Apr. 17, 2025). Defendants’ objection reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations. The objection is overruled.
Defendants are therefore ordered to supplement their answers in full compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Their answers must include facts responsive to the requests, not oblique and incomplete, non-specific characterizations. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(3) (requiring that each interrogatory be answered “fully”)….
Equally specious, Defendants’ objections on the grounds of privilege are rejected. Defendants invoke in name only a range of protections — attorney-client privilege, the work-product doctrine, the deliberative process privilege, the state secrets privilege, and an undefined “governmental privilege” — without providing any supporting information or analysis. As Defendants and their counsel know, the proponent of a privilege must demonstrate the legal and factual bases to invoke the protections that such privilege affords….
Given that this Court expressly warned Defendants and their counsel to adhere strictly to their discovery obligations, see Hr’g Tr. 11:24–12:2, Apr. 16, 2025 (“Because in fairness, Mr. Ensign, [if] you’re not going to answer the questions that the plaintiffs put within the scope of my order, then you’ll justify why. You’ll cite privilege, you’ll follow the rules, I’ll make a determination.”), their boilerplate, non-particularized objections are presumptively invalid and reflect a willful refusal to comply with this Court’s Discovery Order and governing rules. ECF No. 79. Although Defendants state now that they are willing to “meet and confer” with counsel about the production of such a log, ECF No. 98-1 at 23, their repeated refusals to meet and confer about much of anything else undermine the reliability of this assertion. ECF No. 98 at 2. The Court thus finds this offer was not made in good faith.
Nor does the Court find Defendants’ protestations regarding the abbreviated time-line persuasive. For weeks, Defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders….
[This all] ends now. If Defendants want to preserve their privilege claims, they must support them with the required detail. Otherwise, they will lose the protections they failed to properly invoke. Accordingly, by no later than 6:00 PM [tomorrow] on April 23, 2025, Defendants shall supplement their answers and responses to provide the specific legal and factual bases for each asserted privilege and produce a privilege log that fully complies with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court’s Local Rules….
Given the context of this case, Defendants have failed to respond in good faith, and their refusal to do so can only be viewed as willful and intentional noncompliance. Defendants must supplement their answer to include all individuals involved as requested in this interrogatory….
[Garcia’s counsel is entitled to know] the complete factual bases for Defendants’ assertion that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, Defendants’ relevancy and scope objections are rejected. Defendants have previously articulated in their daily updates as to Abrego Garcia’s custodial status and his potential return that DHS would eventually take Abrego Garcia into custody and either remove him to another country or terminate withholding of removal because of his purported “membership in MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organization.” ECF No. 77 at 2. Defendants cannot invoke the moniker of MS-13 as responsive to the Court’s previous order, ECF No. 77 at 1–2, then object to follow-up interrogatories seeking the factual bases for the same. Defendants must supplement this answer….
Stay tuned — for fireworks, tomorrow at 5 PM EDT — after the second day of Mr. Mazzaro’s deposition. Today was the first one. Out, grinning.
नमस्ते
I think he’s only been ahead of — or… on deadline — once twice, in the ten days… since this ordered reporting was started. Update — at about 7 PM Eastern time, a one page declaration was submitted, saying that this status report was filed under seal and within the chambers of the judge exclusively.
Honestly, that could mean almost anything. But I will be hopeful that that means Mr. Abrego Garcia is either on his way home already, or will be shortly, due to a negotiated agreement. Sigh.
…Defendants provide Notice that Defendants submitted today’s daily status report to the Court confidentially and under seal for in camera review….
More here, as and when… we get it….
Separately, the able judge has ordered the government to answer all outstanding discovery requests by 6 PM EDT, tomorrow, and also had Mr. Garcia’s counsel narrow a couple of their discovery requests. Those are due by 9 PM this evening. Stay tuned.
नमस्ते
As ever, Hinderaker this afternoon is burping about the fact that the New York Times missed a preposition in a quote — and then corrected it. Promptly.
What he completely ignores, but what all of us in the sentient world know… Is that Donald Trump said over and over again on the campaign trail that he would bring peace to Ukraine (sometimes he said within 24 hours), but most of the time, he said within 30 days.
Month four is now ending. And peace seems quite a distance beyond where it was on Joe Biden’s watch. This is so because Donald Trump is both irrational and impulsive.
And the essential truth of the NYT reporting remains: Trump seems to favor Putin in these negotiations rather than the freedom fighters in Ukraine.
Trump has said more than once that the war is “the fault” of Ukraine. In point of fact, Putin invaded Ukraine.
So — ever pedantic, John points to the splinter — in someone’s eye while he ignores the lumber in his own.
What a putz.
Powerline Lies... 