DHS today, following Donald Trump's Executive Order on public safety in January, released an ICE report with a week's worth of numbers for detainers requested and their outcome. The report is called "a Declined Detainer Outcome Report."

The Declined Detainer Outcome Report is a weekly report that shows those jurisdictions with the highest volume of declined detainers, and includes a list of sample crimes associated with those released individuals. This report is mandated by the president’s executive order “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.”

The full report, covering 1/28 to 2/3/17 is here.

The report is merely an attempt to create a shaming list. Non-compliance with an ICE detainer request is nothing to be ashamed of. ICE detainer requests are just that -- requests -- they are not orders, and compliance is voluntary. [More...]

There were anti-Trump protests in Aspen today where the Trump siblings and their children, along with their Secret Service entourage, are visiting for a family holiday.

The Aspen Times reports Donald Trump's adult children are visiting Aspen (with their 8 children) this weekend, along with their Secret Service Agent entourage, which are estimated to include 100 agents.

Props to Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo who says his agency will not be providing security for the Trump kids' vacation:

the U.S. Secret Service has not contacted him about the visit, DiSalvo said. Regardless, he said he would not offer his department’s aid for their visit.

“We’re doing absolutely nothing,” DiSalvo said of assisting the Secret Service. “Our responsibility is to the president and the first lady, not friends or family members.”

The Secret Service signed a contract with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club (which teaches local young children to ski) for $12, 208.25, but it looks like they fudged on what it was for: The contract says rental ski equipment and clothing, but the club doesn't rent ski equipment. And the Club's director says he doesn't know anything about the contract. And, get this, the contract had a phony phone and fax number. [More...]

The media is all agog over an upcoming hearing over Trump's ridiculous wiretap claims. I could care less. It's another distraction. Far more important things are at stake right now -- like our hard-earned dollars that he wants to throw away in support of his right-wing, Unamerican agenda.

What everyone should be doing is calling, writing, and emailing their elected representatives in Congress to demand they reject Trump's supplemental funding request for $33 billion which he just submitted to the House on Friday, March 16. Here is Trump's letter to Congress and the breakdown of the numbers from the White House Budget Office explaining what he is asking for.[More...]

I have had nothing to say about Donald Trump or his Administration the past few days. He's become a boring distraction, and an non-entertaining one at that.

In the long run, Trump won't make a bit of difference in the world, unless he manages to get us all blown up with his bloviating and incompetence.

It is beyond disappointing that each of his trips to his hotel in Palm Beach cost the U.S. $3 million in security, and beyond selfish that security costs for his wife and son who can't be inconvenienced to change schools in the middle of the year cost taxpayers $1 million a day. The two reactions the man and his family provoke: wanting to shower or retch. [More...]

Chuck Berry has died at age 90. What a legend and what an enormous talent. In this video, watch him dance at about 1:17 in.

R.I.P. Chuck Berry

A federal judge in Hawaii has issued a nationwide order blocking Trump's new immigration order.

The Judge issued his 43 page Order two hours after the hearing ended. The opinion is here.[More...]

Who doesn't put ketchup on steak? They go together like coffee and milk, peanut butter and jelly, pork chops and applesauce. The only steaks I don't eat with ketchup are those in fajitas and Thai and Vietnamese steak salads (the chili-lime sauce is great.) Hamburgers and meatloaf go with ketchup, why not steak? (I'd never put it on a hotdog though, beef or not, and I never go near mayonnaise on anything. Grossest food ever.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead today. The opposition to Daylight Savings Time seems to be growing. I don't get the fuss over it. I like it, especially in the spring because it means it doesn't get dark at 5:00 p.m. any more. I don't see the difference between sleeping 6, 7 or 8 hours. It all feels the same to me (as opposed to 3 hours vs. 7 or 8 hours, which I can feel.)

Nor am I afraid of loss of melatonin from the blue light on my cable box. And I like to see the city lights out my bedroom window as I fall asleep and the morning light -- blackout shades remind me of the 1980's and Las Vegas hotels.

But that's just me. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Donald Trump personally summoned U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to Trump Tower after the election and asked him to stay on as U.S. Attorney. He agreed. Jeff Sessions also asked him to stay on and he said he would.

Today, he's fired. Bharara confirmed the firing on his twitter account.

I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life.

Trump now gets another label: Double-crosser.[More...]

Today was the longest court hearing I've had in years -- 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. I forgot how exhausting it can be at the end of the day. Happily, the TL kid and his fiancee and their new puppy are coming for dinner, bringing Chinese food and all I have to do is make the Mojitos.

I haven't seen any news, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Outspoken criminal defense lawyer and civil rights champion Lynne Stewart has passed away at age 77 following her years long struggle with cancer. A NY federal judge granted a motion by the Government for compassionate release on Dec. 31, 2013, due to her terminal condition. Just a few months earlier, he had ruled that he could not grant her release without a request from the Bureau of Prisons. The U.S. Attorney in NY filed a request from the Bureau of Prisons.

Last month, her client in the case that resulted in her conviction and imprisonment, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, (the "Blind Sheikh") died in prison where he was serving a life sentence for conspiring to blow up NYC landmarks. The cause of death was heart disease and diabetes, according to officials at Butner, North Carolina, where he was incarcerated. He was 78 and had been imprisoned since 1995: [More...]

As the Iraqis take back Mosul, a diminished but not extinct ISIS continues to operate on other fronts. Today it released Rumiyah 7, the seventh issue of its English magazine. Some takeaways:

No two Muslims would disagree that preparing for jihad for the cause of Allah is an obligation. Allah urged people to this duty in His book when He said, “Prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged” (Al-Anfal 60). So there is no doubt that preparation is a factor that contributes to victory and success against the enemy.

By Allah’s grace, the soldiers of the Khilafah have complied with this divine command. They prepared as much as Allah has made possible for them, a good amount of which the enemy has seen, and what is coming is more severe and bitter, by Allah’s permission.

[More...]