Author Archive for: emptywheel
About emptywheel
Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Entries by emptywheel
Liz Cheney: I’m Proud My Daddy Is the Prime Mover of Torture
/83 Comments/in Torture/by emptywheelThe biggest piece of news from this exchange? Liz Cheney’s assertion that (only) two of the three detainees who were waterboarded (speaking of Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) provided valuable intelligence. Or, to put it another way, Rahin al-Nashiri did not provide valuable intelligence.
Jerrold Nadler: We Must Investigate Torture … and Fix State Secrets
/47 Comments/in Torture/by emptywheelJane and I had a chat yesterday with Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties to talk about his call for a special prosecutor to investigate the torture program. Chairman Nadler was clear: “You don’t have much choice under the law–you have to investigate.” The law requires, he explained, that such allegations be investigated.
Bush DOJ Reunion Tour
/12 Comments/in Law/by emptywheelI’m posting this just to make sure I don’t forget about it.
John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general during President Bush’s first term — and noted singer of “Let the Eagle Soar” (YouTube clip here) — is spreading his wings. Today Ashcroft (pictured, right) announced that his law and consulting firm, The Ashcroft Group, is opening four new offices across the country, each to be led by Bush-appointed U.S.
Ponzi Nation, TARP Edition
/in Economics/by emptywheelSmall potatoes, as far as Ponzi schemse goes. But by making claims you’re investing in TARP funds? That’s gets you on the Ponzi nation list for sure.
Federal authorities this morning announced that Gordon B. Grigg of Franklin has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud, after operating a Ponzi scheme that dated back to 1996.
Joining U.S.