Note:
(a) "令习还意想不到的是，美方还当面提出了两个问题，一个是在习访美前夕的9月3日，纽约联邦南区法院立案受理中国访民马永田、孙元鹏状告中国国家主席习近平“有组织酷刑”，两人都因在中国的房产被强拆，上访无门反遭刑拘逼害，因而到美国 '洋上访。' 虽然立案对习本人无任何实质影响，但在白宫被当面提出来质询，未免有失国格。"
(i) Americans often can not tell which name (out of two) is Chinese surname. I have seen it many times, even in newspapers whose reporters, frequently based in China, should have known better (then again, they often relies on interpreters, unable to speak local languages).
(ii) 立案 is nothing in Taiwan and US; every case can 立案 (in Taiwan at least; and every CIVIL case in US, because Taiwanese can filed a criminal case in Taiwanese court though criminal courts there treat such cases with contempt).
(iii) Yongtian v Jinping et al. US District Court for the Southern District of New York (in Manhattan), Civil Action No 15-06968-AT-GWG https://www.pacermonitor.com/pub ... ian_v_Jinping_et_al
(A) The plaintiff is MA Yongtian. The defendants are Xi Jinping and others.
(B) This docket is compiled latest first, though the COURT docket is chronological (earliest first).
(C) The docket number is followed by district judge randomly assigned (Analisa Torres in this case, whose initial is AT). In this case, district judge the next day (Sept 4, 2015) assigned it to a magistrate judge (Gabriel W Gorenstein, whose initial is GWG). HOWEVER, any party may turn down the referral and insists on district judge.
(D) United States magistrate judge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_magistrate_judge
(While district judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate for lifetime tenure, magistrate judges are appointed by a majority vote of the federal district judges of a particular district and serve terms of eight years if full-time, or four years if part-time, and may be reappointed [no term limit])
(E) At the end of docket entries, the “moh” and “Blain, Jennifer” are deputy clerk (clerk = 書記官 in Taiwan), where moh is the initial (in the order of first, middle and last name) whereas another deputy clerk’s last name is Blain.
(F) Take notice that US Department of Justice on Sept 5, 2015 filed "NOTICE of Suggestion of Immunity Submitted by the United States of America" -- correctly stating that under federal law (of the United States), a foreign head (as well as a foreign nation) is immune from civil actions (which is merely common law ("The king can do no wrong") and international law (sovereign immunity).
(b) If I were Mr Xi, I would have guffawed when confronted with Mr Ma's lawsuit. In fact, many a China's official has been sued in US by Chinese, every of them is dismissed in no time. So I have doubt about veracity of this 博闻社 report. Besides, what are the sources of the report? In Taiwan, reporters there have been known to make things up. That is why British singer Elton John. while in Taiwan, called them "pigs" (repeated two more times).
guffaw (n, vi) : "a loud and boisterous laugh" = laugh out loud