Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 8/27

[SVPete]

Surprise: Federal Court Slaps Down Walz Over ICE Agent Extradition

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/08/26/surprise-federal-court-slaps-down-walz-over-ice-agent-extradition-n3818401

Last week, I called this a "nonsense lawsuit." I was not at all convinced a judge would see it the same way. As it turns out, federal district court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. didn't exactly agree with me, but tossed out Tim Walz' lawsuit to force the extradition of an ICE agent from Texas nonetheless.

Judge Rodriguez didn't actually address jurisdiction. He just ruled that Greg Abbott hadn't abused his discretion to review the extradition request very, very carefully, as the New York Times reports:

The case pitted one of the country’s most prominent Democratic governors against a leading Republican, and it raised a question that federal courts have wrestled with only a handful of times before: How much discretion do governors have over extradition requests from another state?

Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas sided with the Republican, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, finding that Minnesota had not proven that Mr. Abbott had acted inappropriately in waiting to act on the extradition request.

The ruling by Judge Rodriguez, who was appointed by President Trump, means that the immigration agent, Christian Castro, could be released from a Texas jail on Thursday after three months in custody. Texas law limits detention on extradition warrants to 90 days.

...
The case does involve serious allegations against Castro, however:

Mr. Castro was accused of shooting and wounding Julio C. Sosa-Celis, the roommate of the migrant who had fled. The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed that Mr. Castro had fired a shot in self-defense after enduring a sustained assault that involved a broom and a shovel.

Days after the shooting, Mr. Sosa-Celis and his roommate, who are both from Venezuela, were charged in federal court with assaulting a law enforcement officer. Federal prosecutors dismissed the case in February after investigators determined, based on a video of the encounter, that Mr. Castro had likely lied about the events that led to the shooting.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Decided to 'Mess With Texas' — and He Just Lost

https://redstate.com/kyle-becker/2026/08/26/governor-tim-walz-just-messed-with-texas-and-lost-n2206119

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has suffered yet another setback in his crusade to make Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers appear like lawless savages roaming the land and striking terror into innocent “undocumented” immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. on Wednesday denied Minnesota’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would have forced Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to sign an extradition warrant for ICE agent Christian Castro. Alternatively, the TRO would have required Cameron County authorities to keep Castro locked up until Abbott acted.
...
Castro, an ICE agent, was charged in Minnesota after a January 14 enforcement operation ended with him firing a shot through the front door of a home and injuring a man in the leg.

Hennepin County authorities later charged Castro with four felony counts of second-degree assault and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime.
...
The judge found that Minnesota’s lawsuit was premature because Abbott had not actually denied the request.

“The record before the Court, however, reveals that Governor Abbott has not denied the request for a rendition warrant,” Rodriguez wrote.

Instead, Abbott had directed the Texas Secretary of State to investigate whether Castro qualified as a “fugitive” under the extradition laws — a step the judge noted is expressly permitted under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act.
...
“Minnesota cannot premise its causes of action on the allegation that Governor Abbott may violate those authorities in the future; it must prove that a violation has already occurred,” he wrote.

ICE agent accused of shooting immigrant, coverup released from jail, following ruling

https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/ice-agent-accused-shooting-immigrant-and-covering-it-released-following-ruling

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged in Minnesota with shooting a Venezuelan immigrant and lying about it was released from a Texas jail on Thursday morning, after a federal judge blocked Minnesota's attempt to extradite him.
...
Abbott countered that he was not obligated because Castro was not fleeing justice by leaving Minnesota since he was called back to Texas by ICE.

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled that Abbott was within his authority to review Castro’s eligibility for extradition, and he found no evidence the governor was acting in bad faith.

Walz's minions are claiming that Castro fled MN to escape justice. IRL, Castro had been posted and living in TX, was temporarily deployed to MN, and ICE called Castro back to TX. This ruling has nothing to do with the merits of the case against Castro (which looks weak and/or over-charged), and he may eventually face trial in MN. What got squashed by this court ruling was Walz's anti-ICE theater of claiming Castro was a fugitive from justice.

[SVPete]

Man arrested after police find guillotine in his pickup truck near US Capitol

https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/man-arrested-aftter-police-find-guillotine-his-pickup-truck-near-us-capitol

U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday arrested a man they say was hauling around a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck.

Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, California, was arrested on suspicion of “carrying a dangerous weapon” and being in possession of the guillotine, Capitol Police said.

Officers noticed a pickup truck illegally parked just after 3 p.m., when they spotted the execution device in the bed of the vehicle. Investigators are going through Le's background to learn more about why he drove from California to Washington, D.C.

Julian, CA is ~50 miles ENE of San Diego, about half way between SD and the Salton Sea. I'm going to guess from his presence near the FBI building that Le is unhappy with Federal laws being enforced. Or maybe that was where he found space to park.

[SVPete]

Mayor of crime-ridden Gary, Indiana claims power outages are racist—utility crews trying to make repairs were shot at

https://thepostmillennial.com/mayor-crime-ridden-gary-indiana-claims-power-outages-are-racist-utility-crews-trying-to-make-repairs-were-shot-at

As power restoration efforts continue in Gary, Indiana, with some homes going nearly two weeks without electricity following a severe storm, the city’s mayor suggested during an appearance on Don Lemon’s podcast that racism is to blame for the extended outages, with the city being majority black.

Lemon said, “This is to me—It feels like neglect. Do you think that some of that neglect came from, comes from, or is happening—If you feel that way—it may be in part because Gary is a black working-class city?”

Mayor Eddie Melton said he agreed “100%.” He added, “I believe a couple things are at play here.” He said that during the restoration process, the utility company, which he said he previously worked for “so I know about the process,” Gary was not listed on the restoration timeframe list from NIPSCO, a northern Indiana utility company.
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During restoration efforts, a NIPSCO vehicle was struck by gunfire in Gary. Authorities said the incident took place on Friday, August 14, with no injuries being reported. NIPSCO said that restoration efforts were being temporarily paused at that time to ensure crew members’ safety, per NBC 5.

NIPSCO’s website stated that as of Wednesday morning, restoration efforts following the August 11 storm “are substantially complete.” 785 customers were without power across NIPSCO’s service area as of early Wednesday morning, with roughly 500 of those customers being located in Gary.

The Mayor of Gary is black, as are city council members. What have they been doing to assist in clearing the fallen trees so power can be restored? The CEO of NIPSCO is black. Whether the company's response has been excellent or terrible, how is the response "racism"? Since the thuglings who shot at NIPSCO employees working on restoring power are probably black, how was that racism.

Has the Governor of Indiana brought in assistance, maybe the Indiana National Guard (civil engineering and security!)?

The race-baiters are trying to bray "Racism!" and find a path to blame Trump, but, as usual, the facts don't support either narrative.

[SVPete]

On the Way Out, It’s 100% TDS

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/on-the-way-out-its-100-tds.php

Tim Walz is Minnesota’s lame duck governor. He announced to run for a third term, but the national party pulled the plug on him exactly as they did on Joe Biden, and Walz is now playing out the string amid growing unpopularity.

So what is a lame duck Democrat to do, when he has no accomplishments to boast of? Attack Donald Trump 24/7. Thus:

(From embedded Tim Walz X post, https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2091918367862968675

When a group of YMCA campers needed to be rescued during the wildfires on our northern border, it was Canada who immediately helped. Not a word from Trump.

POLITICO @politico
Aug 24
Trump announces 50 percent tariff increase on Canada for vehicles, steel after trade talks collapse dlvr.it/TV8V8d

What the YMCA campers have to do with tariffs is anyone’s guess. But what is Walz talking about? An incident last month when two groups of YMCA campers were rescued, not “on our northern border,” but in “remote” Ontario:

ONTARIO, Canada. (Northern News Now) – Gov. Tim Walz said two groups of YMCA campers from Minnesota are in the process of being rescued after becoming stranded in a remote area of Ontario where wildfires are burning.

Per a retort to Timmy's snark, "a remote area of Ontario" was ~175 miles from Canada's border with MN, not "on our northern border".

[SVPete]

Pentagon Finds 'Hidden' Files on Afghan War's End

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/pentagon-afghanistan-stashed/2026/08/26/id/1267367/

Pentagon officials said Wednesday they had uncovered classified documents that were "stashed" and hidden in safes that may shed new light on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under former President Joe Biden.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who chairs a special panel reviewing the August 2021 withdrawal, said investigators found material that should have been disclosed but was instead concealed.

"The deeper we look, the more there is to look at," Parnell said in a video posted to social media. "We are finding things that we did not expect."


Parnell said the panel had "recovered highly relevant classified documents — material that should have been disclosed — stashed and hidden away in safes where they would not be found."

"And after the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them," he added.

Parnell did not disclose what the documents contain or who allegedly hid them.

My guess, with zero significant evidence, is that the files document cluelessness, stupidity, and lack of planning, and who the irresponsible parties were for each. As usual, my guess and a Hamilton will get you a latte' and change at Dutch Bros.