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'Picking on' Volkswagen: Why Follow Dieselgate?

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Rayne
One of our commenters described my attention to Dieselgate as 'picking on' Volkswagen. It's not as if there haven't been scandalous problems with other automotive industry manufacturers, like General Motors' ignition switches or Takata's airbag…
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9/11: A Story of Attacks, Horror, Victims, Heroes and Jingoistic Shame

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bmaz
September 11, 2001 is now 15 years in the mirror of life. Like the two Kennedy assassinations, the Moonshot and a few other events in life, it is one of those "yeah I remember where I was when..." moments. Personally, being on west coast time,…
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America's War against Terror Drugs Justice

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emptywheel
This line appears somewhere in the middle of a substantial story on the impunity the US gave right wing Colombian paramilitaries for cooperation in drug prosecutions: On Sept. 10, 2001, a day before his attention turned elsewhere, Secretary…
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Are You Ready For Some Football? Week One Trash Talk

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bmaz
We may have started Trash Talk last weekend because of college football, but we start it in earnest this weekend because not only are the student athletes back in action, the NFL regular season is officially underway. Now, before getting…
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Wherein Mose Allison Presaged The Blight Of The Donald Trump Mouth

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bmaz
One of my favorite artists of all time, going back decades, is Mose Allison. Turns out Mose wrote a song about Donald J. Trump decades before the intellectual and political blight actually arrived. Mose always was way ahead of his time. Trump…
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Hillary Clinton's Three Devices

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emptywheel
I really don't want to get bogged down in the Hillary email story. But given the ongoing discussions about whether claims she used the personal server to avoid oversight have merit, I did two more things. First, I did this timeline. Without…
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Thursday: Alien Occupation

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Rayne
Since I missed a Monday post with a movie clip I think I'll whip out a golden oldie for today's post. This movie -- especially this particular scene -- still gets to me 37 years after it was first released. The 'chestburster' as scene is…
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The Misunderstandings of the Anti-Transparency Hillary-Exonerating Left

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emptywheel
It wasn't enough for Matt Yglesias to write a widely mocked piece calling for less transparency, now Kevin Drum has too. It all makes you wonder whether there's some LISTERV somewhere -- the successor to JOURNOLIST, from which leaked emails…
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Guccifer 1's Potentially Russian IP Address

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emptywheel
I'm a bit late to the FBI report on Hillary's emails. I'm reading it now for all the details that don't serve to reinforce one's assumptions about Hillary's email scandal (as the report honestly can do for all sides). But I wanted to point…
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Tuesday: In a Season of Crime

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Rayne
Ride the train, I'm far from home In a season of crime, none need atone I kissed your face -- excerpt, Sue (or In a Season of Crime) by David Bowie Bowie left us an amazing parting shot with his 25th and final album, Blackstar. The cut…
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Jim Comey Impugns Pot Smokers Again

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emptywheel
Reason reports that the American Legion just passed a resolution calling on Congress to reclassify cannabis. One of the potential medical values of medical marijuana is as a treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And in what…
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FBI's Fancy Bear Cyber Structure

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emptywheel
Back in July, I noted this passage in the latest DOJ IG report on FBI's cyber prioritization. According to the FBI, computer intrusion matters Involving national security are the highest priority matters investigated by the FBI Cyber Division.…
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The Return of Football Trash Talk: Brady Versus the Ess Eee See

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bmaz
Oh, hai there, I am back from a very busy day at the law biz and then a long night at friend's 60th birthday party. Complete with mini Michael Buble knockoff. Dude had everything but the voice recorded, and then sang the vocals. Weird. Anyway,…
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In Attempted Hit Piece, NYT Makes Putin Hero of Defeating TPP

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emptywheel
In an remarkable hit piece NYT spent over 5,000 words yesterday trying to prove that all of WikiLeaks' leaks are motivated from a desire to benefit Russia. That of course took some doing. It required ignoring the evidence of the other potential…
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SEKRIT Memo: Ix-Nay on the Artians-May

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emptywheel
A mere two days ago, we got tantalizing news of sentient life in space. An international team of scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is investigating mysterious signal spikes emitting from a 6.3-billion-year-old…
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Wednesday: If I Had a Heart

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Rayne
Crushed and filled with all I found Underneath and inside Just to come around More, give me more, give me more -- excerpt, If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray Today's featured single is from Fever Ray's eponymous debut album 'Fever Ray',…
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Breaking: Russians Claim They've Found Extraterrestrial Life to Tamper with Our Elections

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emptywheel
Russians secretly found what might be a sign of life coming from a star 95 light years away and people are in a tizzy. An international team of scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is investigating mysterious…
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Monday: A Different Ark

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Rayne
[Caution: some content in this video is NSFW] Today's Monday Movie is a short film by Patrick Cederberg published three years ago. This short reflects the love life of a youth whose age is close to that of my two kids. A few things have changed…
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Thursday: Only You

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Rayne
Sometimes when I go exploring for music I find something I like but it's a complete mystery how it came to be. I can't tell you much of anything about this artist -- only that he's German, he's repped by a company in the Netherlands, and his…
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Takedowns of Shadow Brokers Files Affirm Files as Stolen

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emptywheel
I've been wondering something. Almost immediately after the Shadow Brokers posted their Equation Group files, GitHub, Reddit, and Tumblr took down the postings of the actual files. In retrospect, it reminded me of the way Wikileaks was booted…
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