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emptywheel

@emptywheel@mastodon.social

mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06

Abundant posts about civil liberties, national security, and US legal cases. Full-length posts at emptywheel.net. Warning: High propensity for potty-mouthed outbursts on TV.

Immigrant to Ireland (I married well). Find me in Limerick.

#USPolitics #CivilLiberties #USLegal #LawFedi #Law #Politics

66833 Followers

484 Following

22 Posts

Joined May 01, 2022

Digital Home:

https://www.emptywheel.net/mastodon-verification/

Brick and Mortar Home:

Limerick, Ireland

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/emptywheel

Verified by Presscheck.org:

https://presscheck.org/journalists/marcy-wheeler

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

Elon Musk's Machine for Fascism: A One-Stop Shop for Disinformation and Violence

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/11/01/elon-musks-machine-for-fascism-a-one-stop-shop-for-disinformation-and-violence/

emptywheel

Elon Musk's Machine for Fascism: A One-Stop Shop for Disinformation and Violence - emptywheel

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, one of Trump's most gleeful supporters, has set up a one-stop shop: Joining false claims about the election with networks of fascists who'll take to the streets.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

Jeff Bezos' Manifesto of Impotence

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/29/jeff-bezos-manifesto-of-impotence/

emptywheel

Jeff Bezos' Manifesto of Impotence - emptywheel

Reality is in fact on the ballot this year, the race remains neck and neck, and you, Jeff Bezos, decided to go down without a fight.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 36mo ago

A little table to help confused journalists deal with a busy news day.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 29mo ago

How We Got to a Place Where Right Wingers Cheer Stealing Nuclear Documents

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/05/08/how-we-got-to-a-place-where-right-wingers-cheer-stealing-nuclear-documents/

emptywheel

How We Got to a Place Where Right Wingers Cheer Stealing Nuclear Documents - emptywheel

Trump's propaganda machine has drowned out facts and replaced it with grievance. And until something starts cutting through that grievance, mere trials aren't going to fix this.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

Kamala Harris against Despair

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/21/kamala-harris-against-despair/

emptywheel

Kamala Harris against Despair - emptywheel

When Maria Shriver asked Kamala Harris how she deals with the stress of this election, Harris responded by giving a powerful speech against despair.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

When an Older White Catholic Man Admits, "This Toxicity that Exists Is Really Embarrassing"

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/22/when-an-older-white-catholic-man-admits-this-toxicity-that-exists-is-really-embarrassing/

emptywheel

When an Older White Catholic Man Admits, "This Toxicity that Exists Is Really Embarrassing" - emptywheel

I don't know whether Kamala Harris' campaigning on a Constitution over party pitch with Liz Cheney will work. I don't know if it'll be enough to win this election. What I do know is that neither Harris nor Cheney are mistaking the enormity of the task, of trying to break the authoritarianism of a party that has overwhelmed voters with a blanket of disinformation and dehumanization.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

Putin Has Convinced Trump He's Keeping Trump's Weakness Secret

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/10/donald-trump-bednurse-to-vladimir-putin/

emptywheel

Putin Has Convinced Trump He's Keeping Trump's Weakness Secret - emptywheel

Russia's 2016 intelligence operation and its aftermath may be the most successful intelligence operation in recent history, because Vladimir Putin has gotten Trump to believe that his KGB handler is hiding the proof he's got of how weak Trump is.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

Jack Smith Takes Up the Aid and Abet Theory Endorsed by Judge Amit Mehta in 2022

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/16/jack-smith-takes-up-the-aid-and-abet-theory-endorsed-by-judge-amit-mehta-in-2022/

emptywheel

Jack Smith Takes Up the Aid and Abet Theory Endorsed by Judge Amit Mehta in 2022 - emptywheel

Back in February 2022, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that it was at least plausible to hold Trump liable for the assaults of cops on January 6 via an aid and abet theory of liability. In Jack Smith's response to Trump's attempt to get his indictment thrown out based on the Fischer decision Smith adopts that theory of liability.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

Hen in the Fox House: Jorge Velázquez and Ramiro González Better Served Democracy than Bret Baier

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/17/hen-in-the-fox-house-kamala-harris-alludes-to-what-you-and-i-both-know/

emptywheel

Hen in the Fox House: Jorge Velázquez and Ramiro González Better Served Democracy than Bret Baier - emptywheel

Bret Baier's interview of Kamala Harris was probably only the third most important TV yesterday. On Univision, before a viewing audience that includes far more undecided swing voters, Trump refused to answer three questions few journalists have ever asked him, including why he did nothing as his rioters attacked the Capitol and how mass deportation will lead food prices to rise.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

Trump's GOP Is Running on a Platform of Freeing Seditionists and Cop Assailants

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/18/trumps-gop-is-running-on-a-platform-of-freeing-seditionists-and-cop-assailants/

emptywheel

Trump's GOP Is Running on a Platform of Freeing Seditionists and Cop Assailants - emptywheel

The Republican Party's candidate for President is running on a platform of freeing cop assailants and seditionists.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

Secret Documents! The Ten Month Privilege Fight Whingers Claim Didn't Happen

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/29/secret-documents-the-ten-month-privilege-fight-whingers-claim-didnt-happen/

emptywheel

Secret Documents! The Ten Month Privilege Fight Whingers Claim Didn't Happen - emptywheel

Documents liberated by Politico confirm the privilege fights over testimony of Trump aides in the January 6 investigation lasted from June 15, 2022 through April 27, 2023.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 38mo ago

The Various Kinds of Georgia Crimes in the RICO Indictment

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/15/the-various-kinds-of-georgia-crimes-in-the-rico-indictment/

emptywheel

The Various Kinds of Georgia Crimes in the RICO Indictment - emptywheel

The Georgia RICO charge is built of national overt acts. But it is built on 40 charges designed to protect the integrity of government and elections in Georgia.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 39mo ago

Walt Nauta and the Single Box

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/07/07/walt-nauta-and-the-single-box/

emptywheel

Walt Nauta and the Single Box - emptywheel

One thing appears in the Trump indictment that doesn't appear in the search warrant affidavit from last year: on May 22, 2022, Walt Nauta spent half an hour in the storage closet, then left with a single box.

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emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

Machine for Fascism: The Two Stephens

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/13/machine-for-fascism-the-two-stephens/

emptywheel

Machine for Fascism: The Two Stephens - emptywheel

Back in June, Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon argued that Trump had to be permitted to make false claims that stoke political violence as part of his campaign. That strategy has become painfully clear in recent days.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

How to Read the Immunity Appendix

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/20/how-to-read-the-immunity-appendix/

emptywheel

How to Read the Immunity Appendix - emptywheel

Most of the evidence in the appendix to Jack Smith's immunity filing remains sealed. But by understanding how the four volumes work, we can understand most of what appears in it.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

So Help Me God: Lawyers, Encryption, and Insurrection

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/22/lawyers-encryption-and-insurrection/

emptywheel

So Help Me God: Lawyers, Encryption, and Insurrection - emptywheel

Volume III of the Appendix to Jack Smith's immunity brief starts with what are likely texts obtained from Mike Roman and Boris Epshteyn's phones, both of which were seized in September 2022. There are reasons to suspect that Smith faced a delay in accessing texts from both those phones.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 38mo ago

"They Spoke Often:" It Took the Fash-Friendly FBI Over Two Months to Document the Lies Their Informant, Joe Biggs, Told them

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/18/they-spoke-often-it-took-the-fash-friendly-fbi-over-two-months-to-document-the-lies-their-informant-joe-biggs-told-them/

emptywheel

"They Spoke Often:" It Took the Fash-Friendly FBI Over Two Months to Document the Lies Their Informant, Joe Biggs, Told them - emptywheel

As a 302 included in Joe Biggs' sentencing package makes clear, the reason the FBI didn't warn against January 6 is because the terrorists who planned it were the FBI's people.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 38mo ago

Trump's Federated Conspiracies and Racketeering: How Georgia and the Federal Charges May Interact

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/15/trumps-federated-conspiracies-and-racketeering-how-georgia-and-the-federal-charges-may-interact/

emptywheel

Trump's Federated Conspiracies and Racketeering: How Georgia and the Federal Charges May Interact - emptywheel

The way in which Trump's two election theft indictments interact will pose a real prisoner's dilemma, especially for people like Sidney Powell and Mark Meadows.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 38mo ago

Judge Cannon Blows Off Concerns about Walt Nauta's Conflicted Representation

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/07/judge-cannon-blows-off-concerns-about-walt-nautas-conflicted-representation/

emptywheel

Judge Cannon Blows Off Concerns about Walt Nauta's Conflicted Representation - emptywheel

Aileen Cannon is delaying any review of whether Stan Woodward's representation of Walt Nauta poses a conflict.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 39mo ago

Jay Bratt to Chris Kise: You Already Made that Frivolous Presidential Records Act Argument

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/07/13/jay-bratt-to-chris-kise-you-already-made-that-frivolous-presidential-records-act-argument/

emptywheel

Jay Bratt to Chris Kise: You Already Made that Frivolous Presidential Records Act Argument - emptywheel

In a filing rebutting Trump's claim to need an indefinite delay of his trial, Jay Bratt reminded Chris Kise that he already made the frivolous Presidential Records Act argument he claims he needs more time to make.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 23mo ago

The Disappearing Cheshire Cat I Found in the Rabbit Hole Where Lee Chatfield Was Hiding

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/23/the-disappearing-cheshire-cat-i-found-in-the-rabbit-hole-where-lee-chatfield-was-hiding/

emptywheel

The Disappearing Cheshire Cat I Found in the Rabbit Hole Where Lee Chatfield Was Hiding - emptywheel

After I set off searching for Lee Chatfield's interview with Jack Smith, I also discovered 30-some pages of a Ronna McDaniel interview and a very specific ask that Michigan Republicans throw out my vote for Joe Biden.

emptywheel @emptywheel@mastodon.social

· 24mo ago

@timo21@mastodon.sdf.org Undoubtedly true. And they don't even have to be MAGAts, though we known MAGAts are doing just that. They could even be cowed by what Trump has already done. @GottaLaff@mastodon.social