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Dear JD Gordon [and Jared]: Mueller Has 17 Prosecutors; White House Obstruction Accounts for Just One

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emptywheel
JD Gordon wants you to know that his anonymous alter ego didn't "collude" with Russia. He also wants you to think Mueller is only investigating obstruction. But that doesn't explain what the other 16 prosecutors are doing.
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Feinstein's Homework Assignments

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emptywheel
While Devin Nunes has been getting all the headlines for trying to muck up the Mueller investigation, Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein are increasingly at odds, as well. First there was the Grassley-Lindsey Graham bogus referral of Christopher…
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How Did Don McGahn Threaten to Quit without Telling Trump?

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emptywheel
How did McGahn's threat to quit if Trump fired Mueller work if he never told Trump about it?
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The Increasing Panic Surrounding Devin Nunes' "Extraordinarily Reckless" Plan to Release Memo

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emptywheel
Republicans are really rolling out the stops to try to dissuade Devin Nunes from releasing his memo without giving FBI and DOJ a chance to vet it for sources and methods.
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Why Did Trump Tweet an "In the Ball Park" Accurate Number for Hillary's Total Staffers on June 9, 2016?

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emptywheel
Just 40 minutes after the beginning of the June 9 Trump Tower meeting, Donald Trump tweeted about emails. More interestingly, perhaps, he included a number that showed he had ball park accurate information of how many staffers Hillary had.

The Gizmo™: Correlation Doesn't Equal Adversary Nation

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emptywheel
We need to stop letting The Gizmo™ set off panics every time RT and Sputnik pick up a right wing meme.
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On the Sessions and Trump Interviews: It's Not Just Obstruction of Justice

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emptywheel
The report that Jeff Sessions has been and Trump soon will be interviewed by Mueller's team has been taken as yet another sign this is all about obstruction of justice. There's no reason to think that.
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"Notwithstanding": How Congress Enabled Chuck Hagel and Ash Carter to Keep Child Rape and Torture from Disrupting Forever War

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Jim White
After a victim of child rape by Afghan forces killed three Marines in Afghanistan in 2015, Congress asked SIGAR to investigate how Afghan units continue to receive funding in light of known human rights abuses. Congress has enabled violation of the Leahy laws that prevent such funding by stating that funds to Afghan forces can be provided "notwithstanding any other provision of law".
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The Government Built Its Criminal Case against MalwareTech Off Incidental Collection

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emptywheel
Because so much of the evidence against Marcus Hutchins (AKA MalwareTech) is incidental, the government says it doesn't have to turn it over.
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Sergei Millian and the Simpson Testimony

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emptywheel
In a weird non-sequitur in his HPSCI testimony, Glenn Simpson connected Sergei Millian, alleged to be one of the sources for Christopher Steele's dossier, with the leak of the dossier to BuzzFeed.

Symbolic Violence In Neoliberalism

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Ed Walker
Edited to provide an index to posts in this series. On Pierre Bourdieu Part 1: Vocabulary On Pierre Courdieu Part 2: Systems of Domination On Pierre Bourdieu Part 3: Habitus The Political Gift Economy On Pierre Bourdieu Part 4: Symbolic…
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Under Tom's Thumb Conference Championship Trash Talk 2018

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bmaz
Here we are in the penultimate weekend of the professional football season for 2017-2018. The final four. And, usually, a far better weekend of football than that of the Super Bowl. The early game is Jacksonville at New England. There has…
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Mueller Wants to Delay Telling Manafort and Gates What Other Crimes It Knows They Committed

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emptywheel
The Mueller team doesn't want to have to spend the next 8 months informing Paul Manafort and Rick Gates every time it finds a new crime it wants to mention at trial.
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Steve King Just Voted to Subject Americans to "Worse than Watergate"

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emptywheel
Not a single of the Republicans squawking most loudly about Devin Nunes' hack document claiming abuse at the FBI voted the way you'd expect if they really believed what they were saying.
[Photo: National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, MD via Wikimedia]

Jack Goldsmith and Susan Hennessey Run Cover for Those Giving Jeff Sessions Unreviewable Authority to Criminalize Dissent

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emptywheel
Susan Hennessey and Jack Goldsmith tried to excuse the Trump opponents voting to give Jeff Sessions more tools to crack down on brown people and dissenters. But they don't address the most problematic new tools that the 702 reauthorization gives Sessions.

Has Hal Martin Finally Gotten the Government to Admit He Didn't Feed Shadow Brokers?

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emptywheel
After Hal Martin threatened to use classified information in his sentencing process, the government seems to have grown more willing to discuss a plea deal.

On Pierre Bourdieu Part 4: Symbolic Capital

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Ed Walker
The exercise of power requires justification. Symbolic capital provides validation.
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The June 9 Trump Tower Limited Hangout

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emptywheel
I believe some part of the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting discussed a quid pro quo exchanging sanctions relief for dirt that Guccifer 2.0 delivered a week later.

The 702 Capitulations: a Real Measure of the "Deep State"

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emptywheel
Heads the "Deep State" wins, tails democratic oversight fails. That's what we've learned from the push to reauthorize Section 702.
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Let the Pro-Oprah Resistance Beware: Scam in Progress?

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Rayne
A majority of Americans are really frustrated right now but they shouldn't let their guard down at the first sign of hope. They're at risk of being harvested by unscrupulous entities.
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