Meanwhile, The Pace Of US War Crimes In Afghanistan Accelerates Dramatically

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Jim White
Night raids carried out by CIA-trained paramilitary groups in Afghanistan have become more frequent--and more deadly--under Donald Trump. A new report from Human Rights Watch labels many of the things they found as war crimes.
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Three Things: Double, Double, Toil and Rubble

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Rayne
Happy Halloween to all our ghouls and goblins. We have plenty of tricks and not too many treats before us today, including the House resolution approving continuation of an impeachment inquiry.
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The Republican Closing Argument against Impeachment Is Personally Implicated in the Scandal

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emptywheel
Kevin McCarthy, who became Majority Leader with the support of two men already indicted for the influence operation behind the impeachment inquiry, is the face of opposition to impeachment.
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The Ellipses and the Recordings, Plural, of Joe Biden

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emptywheel
For some reason, the NYT thinks Trump referred to more than one recording of Biden talking corruption. It is not at all unreasonable to imagine he knows of classified recordings.
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Emmet Sullivan Just Learning of Sidney Powell's Bait-and-Switch

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emptywheel
Sidney Powell has already won the first battle on her stunt to have Flynn's guilty pleas thrown out, because Emmet Sullivan has not decided to ignore all her new pleadings. But if this goes wrong, it could go horribly wrong for her.
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Alexander Vindman Proves That Working Within System Works Even While Derek Harvey Works To Destroy It

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Jim White
It's hard to imagine two more polar opposites than Alexander Vindman and Derek Harvey. Vindman is a patriot committed to the security of the US and working within the system while Harvey is willing to sell out US security to whatever wingnut is willing to pay him and to bypass every safeguard built into the system.
[Photo: Emily Morter via Unsplash]
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Laura Cooper's Forgotten Deposition

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Rayne
What was it about Cooper's anticipated testimony last week which required such a big dog-and-pony show to suck up media attention to propel the GOP's misdirection while cutting into Cooper's deposition?
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How Sidney Powell Misrepresents Her Evidence in Her Fake Brady Motion

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emptywheel
With one possible exception, virtually every argument Sidney Powell made in an inflammatory bid to get Mike Flynn's guilty pleas thrown out crumbles on close scrutiny.
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Sidney Powell Accuses Mike Flynn of Lying to the FBI on January 24, 2017

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emptywheel
In a motion arguing that only people who have an animus against Mike Flynn would accuse him of lying to the FBI, she accuses him of lying to the FBI.

Egalitarianism and Markets

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Ed Walker
Why is the mudsill ideology dominant in the US?
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Gorey Trash Talk

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bmaz
Halloween is upon us! So some Gore is in order. No, not that kind, you ghouls, the Frank Gore kind. With 134 more yards, Frank will move ahead of Barry Sanders and into third place on the all time NFL rushing list. That is saying something,…
Horowitz
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DOJ's Inspector General (and 70 Colleagues) Says DOJ's Lawyers Fucked Up

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emptywheel
The letter to OLC from CIGIE head Michael Horowitz -- who just happens to be DOJ's Inspector General -- is as interesting for tactical reasons as for its content.
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13 Routine Aspects of FBI Investigations Sidney Powell Says Should Not Be Used with Mike Flynn

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emptywheel
Last night Sidney Powell submitted what procedurally is called her "reply" brief in a bid to compel Brady production. Even if her object were to obtain Brady, this is best thought as her opening bid, as it for the first time she presents this…
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Main Justice Now Looking for the Evidence in Plain Sight They Ignored in August

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emptywheel
After I laid out evidence that DOJ could not have taken the most basic investigative steps FBI takes when it receives a tip like the whistleblower complaint, Main Justice has now decided they were investigating those things all along.
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How Trump Put Volodymyr Zelensky in a Public Box, After All

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emptywheel
Contrary to what people think, Trump got what he wanted from Volodymyr Zelensky: to put him in a "public box" participating in corruption while labeling it the opposite.
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Alex Mooney's Hilarious Self-Own

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Jim White
When Matt Gaetz's stormtroopers stormed the access point to the SCIF yesterday, Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) provided the most hilarious evidence of how he violated the prohibition against recording even in the hallway that accesses the more secure portion of the SCIF.
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If the AG Is Involved in a Foreign Influence Operation, Does He Have to Register with Himself?

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emptywheel
A CNN scoop--that Rudy and his grifters, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman--were on the way to Vienna for a Sean Hannity interview with Viktor Shokin--raises the import of the meeting between Bill Barr and Rupert Murdoch that evening considerably.
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White House Putting Political Appointees in Charge of Presidential Records Act Compliance

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emptywheel
In the wake of allegations that he has hidden highly damning records on a Top Secret server, Trump's White House is moving to put political appointees in charge of the networks ensuring compliance with the Presidential Records Act.
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GOP Republicans Stage Brooks Brothers Riot 2.0 to Emasculate Their Own Power of the Purse

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emptywheel
Over 20 Republican members of Congress are staging a riot so as to be able to trade away the most important authority of the House of Representatives, the power of the purse.
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