The Better Story

Our history as a nation is inspiring, just not in the way we were taught.
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The "Diligent" Proud Boys Jury: "Can we also get a stapler, please?"

The jury in the Proud Boys sedition trial asked a question yesterday that might make or break the sedition count against the defendants.

Joe Tacopina Complains about Woke Jonathan Swift

Given Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina's complaint that he's not in on the shared joke of Swift's A Modest Proposal, I hope some nice mother in Florida with a sense of humor will make the Modest Proposal that Swift be banned under Ron DeSantis' anti-woke censorship laws for being -- as a canonical work of English culture -- too woke.
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Where the Trump Investigations Stand: The January 6 Conspiracies

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emptywheel
Jack Smith seems largely done with two of three prongs to his January 6 investigation: the fake electors and the obstruction of the vote certification. But the third -- the wire fraud -- may be important to proving corrupt purpose of the obstruction.
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Where the Trump Investigations Stand: Stolen Documents

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emptywheel
If Jack Smith decides to charge Trump in the stolen documents investigation, where to charge him may be one of the most difficult decisions.

Where the Trump Investigations Stand: Georgia

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emptywheel
In the investigation into Trump's efforts overturn the 2020 Georgia election, Fani Willis has signalled she'll ask the grand jury to consider charges between July 11 and September 1.

The Tax Aspects Of The Massive Fox Settlement With Dominion

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bmaz
Yes, Fox will get a write off for their massive settlement with Dominion. That is okay, but maybe the structure of our tax code should be rethought.
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How Did Intended Victim Mike Pence Testify?

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emptywheel
As a million outlets have reported, 21 months after Merrick Garland set up a framework that could obtain a for waiver executive privilege for January 6 without violating DOJ contact guidelines, 15 months after all January 6 investigations had…
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"Lock Him Up!" Trump Calls on Congress to Halt the Criminal Investigation into Joe Biden

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emptywheel
After winning the 2016 election by calling, non-stop, to Lock her up!, Donald J Trump has asked Congress to intervene to end the criminal investigation into his opponent for mishandling classified information.
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The Conspiracy Beliefs Leading People to Leak

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emptywheel
In a conversation explaining to an undercover FBI Agent why he wanted to share information with Russia, a doctor alleged to have leaked medical records from Fort Bragg claimed that the Biden Administration hates Russia because Obama is was intimidated by Putin.

States Rights

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Ed Walker
SCOTUS enforces the ideas of the Founders, and ignores the Reconstruction Amendments.

Jack Teixeira's February 2022 Logs

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emptywheel
The logs from searches Jack Teixeira did of government files start two days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine ... but he asked one of the Discord kids to delete everything from that same month.
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THE BIG FINISH: The Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial goes to the jury

A contentious trial comes to an end and a jury now deliberates the fate of five Proud Boys facing multiple charges including seditious conspiracy in what has been the Justice Department's longest Jan. 6 trial to date.
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Prosecutorial Discretion in the Age of Shitlords and "Psychological loldongs Terrorism"

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emptywheel
Among the questions presented by the alt-right chat rooms from 2016 presented at the Douglass Mackey trial are, what happened to Weev after he boasted of the shitposter influence up until Trump got the nomination.
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Daylight Come, and He Got to Go Home

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Peterr
The jam session in heaven is going to be epic tonight, because daylight came and Harry Belafonte has gone home.

James Gordon Meek and Merrick Garland's "Suspect Exception"

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emptywheel
The case against James Gordon Meek, in which an investigative reporter gets arrested for a crime entirely unrelated to his reporting, raises important questions about the application of Merrick Garland's media policy.
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Employer Rupert Murdoch Turned Out to Be a More Important Tucker Carlson "Spy" Than the NSA

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emptywheel
While it's not yet clear what specific things Tucker said in the privacy of a Fox News server got him fired, it seems clear that Fox's review of those statements as part of multiple legal discovery efforts had a more immediate impact on him than the NSA review of his communications with a back channel to Putin.

The Shadow Docket

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bmaz
Go forth and buy The Shadow Docket by Steve Vladeck.
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