Posts - emptywheel

Is there a Mueller aspect to the gagging of Julian Assange?

Culture, Guns

Parkland and the Twittered Revolt

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April 1, 2018

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Rayne

Marvel at the teen survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. They are leading a revolution -- but note the platform they're using to best effect.

Michael Flynn's "Revolution"

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March 30, 2018

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Rayne

Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn spoke in front of the Young Americans for Freedom a week after the 2016 election. His language is worth noting; why did he call the campaign a "revolution"?

Culture, Economics, Ed, Ideas and Ideology, Left Theory

What Happened To The Cultural Elites: Changes in the Conditions of Production

20 Comments

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March 30, 2018

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Ed Walker

The production of culture is largely under the control of corporations and institutions. Brain workers do not control their own production.

Mueller Prepares to Reveal the First Cards in the Hack-and-Leak Conspiracy

195 Comments

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March 28, 2018

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Mueller just revealed that at the same time GRU was tampering in our election, GRU was conspiring with Trump's campaign manager to hide how they had conspired to tamper in Ukrainian democracy as well. Monday, he's likely to disclose far more.

2016 Presidential Election, Class War, Fuckstickery, Racism, Trump Administration, We Are All Fucked

Wilbur Ross Lets His Inner Trumpian George Wallace Bigot Freak Flag Fly

55 Comments

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March 27, 2018

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There is one thing consistent with the Trump Administration and America's past. Rank bigotry propagated by old white men in power.

2016 Presidential Election

Does NSC Consider the Skripal Assassination Attempt to Be Election Related?

112 Comments

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March 26, 2018

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Rod Rosenstein was among the people Trump consulted Friday on whether to expel Russian diplomats in response to the Sergei Skripal assassination attempt. Does that mean the attack is viewed to be related to the Mueller investigation?

2016 Presidential Election, Financial Fraud, Press and Media, Trump Administration, We Are All Fucked

Stormy Weather Ahead

64 Comments

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March 25, 2018

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As you may have heard, there is an interview on CBS 60 Minutes tonight of former Trump paramour Stormy Daniels. In the last 48 hours, there have been a slew of Stormy biographies. From the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. All worth…

Economics

The New Bezzle

49 Comments

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March 25, 2018

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Ed Walker

How big is the bezzle? Economists don't want to know.

2016 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Mueller Probe

The Papadopoulos Interfax Interview and Another Syria Data Point

64 Comments

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March 24, 2018

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WaPo's report on the more substantial role George Papadopoulos had on the Trump campaign that the organization admits shows that in a September interview Papadopoulos shared with one of his Russian interlocutors, even the campaign flack wanted to emphasize Trump's willingness to work with the Russians on Syria.

Formula One, Trash Talk

Down Under F1 Trash Talk

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March 24, 2018

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Welp, we have not had a Trash Talk thread here in a while. Since the Super Bowl by my guess. So, maybe it is time, and consider this an open thread because I know not all share the historical love of Formula One that this blog does. The Circus…

Cybersecurity

John Bolton Will Get to Start His Iran War Because Nine Iranians Stole Academic Dissertations

62 Comments

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March 23, 2018

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Rod Rosenstein just indicted nine Iranians for stealing, among other things, academic dissertations. How long until soon to be National Security Advisor John Bolton uses these stolen dissertations to start a war with Iran?

2016 Presidential Election, Cybersecurity, emptywheel, Mueller Probe, Russian hacks

The Daily Beast Guccifer Scoop and Those GRU Officers Sanctioned Last Week

64 Comments

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March 22, 2018

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The Daily Beast reports that Guccifer 2.0 has been tracked to a named GRU officer. We may actually know that officer's name: Grigoriy Viktorovich Mokchanov. In any case, that report would provide one reason why Roger Stone was so squirrelly when address Guccifer 2.0 a few weeks ago.

Buried Amid the John Dowd News, Mueller's Team Seems to Think Trump Knows about the June 9 Meeting

75 Comments

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March 22, 2018

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Amid the frenzy over the shake-up in Trump's legal team, almost no one noticed that Mueller's team thinks Trump may know something substantive about the circumstances surrounding the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

Law, Trump Administration

Dowd And Out

60 Comments

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March 22, 2018

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John Dowd is not just a bull in a china shop, he is a raging bull in a china shop. He blows things up. Still, he is a longtime, and big time, defense lawyer. He can be more than abrasive, but, unlike Jay Sekulow, he is a serious lawyer. And…

2016 Presidential Election, Financial Fraud, Mueller Probe, Neoliberalism

The Very Globalized Forces Manipulating the Anti-Globalist President

21 Comments

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March 22, 2018

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Donald Trump has generated the support of angry white voters by claiming to oppose "globalists," a racialized term for the downsides of globalization. But in reality, the friendly and adversarial oligarchs behind Trump's policy choices are using the tools of globalization to purchase influence over him.

Iran-Contra Cover-Up King Doesn't Address Sessions' Other Lies, or Conspiracy-in-Chief

27 Comments

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March 21, 2018

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Jeff Sessions' lawyer, Chuck Cooper, sucked at defending anti-gay bigotry, but he's skilled at executive branch cover-ups. That's why his carefully worded statement about whether the Attorney General was still being investigated is so telling.

The GOP PAC-thetic Effort to Disclaim Cambridge Analytica

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March 21, 2018

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For months, the GOP has insisted that the Trump campaign's ties to Cambridge Analytica didn't last very long (though they occurred during a key part of the Russian operation). But that says nothing about the Mercer PAC's ties to CA and whether the two entities succeeded in maintaining the legally required firewall.

Mueller Probe

"DO NOT CONGRATULATE:" Putin Does a Victory Lap -- Over Rex Tillerson

91 Comments

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March 21, 2018

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Yesterday's Russian victory lap over receiving congratulations from Trump doesn't surprise me that much. What surprises me is Putin's victory lap over getting Rex Tillerson fired the day after the Secretary of State condemned Russia for trying to assassinate Sergei Skripal.

Trump's Legal Team: "If the Law and the Facts Are Against You, Pound the Table and Yell Like Hell”

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March 20, 2018

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Carl Sandberg once said, “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell." Trump's hiring of Joseph Di Genova while pretending he's hiring far better lawyers suggests he's at that terminal table-pounding stage.