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
Acorns
/28 Comments/in Environment/by emptywheelBoth Susie and Joe linked to this story saying there are no acorns this year.
As the story points out, though, that’s true for just some parts of the country.
Simmons has a theory about the wet and dry cycles. But many skeptics say oaks in other regions are producing plenty of acorns, and the acorn bust here is nothing more than the extreme of a natural boom-and-bust cycle.
We’ve got 5 mature oaks
Fold The Holder Nomination
/101 Comments/in Democrats, Law, Obama Administration, Terrorism/by emptywheelThe meme that has been floated by Glenn Greenwald and several others that Eric Holder’s involvement in the Chiquita matter is just principled, zealous representation of his client akin to the heroic souls that have taken the mantle of defending Gitmo detainees. I admire Glenn Greenwald’s writing and respect his work immensely, but I take pretty big issue with this position. In fact, Eric Holder was closer to a mob consigliere than principled criminal defender.
The Big 2.5 on Main Street
/60 Comments/in automobiles/by emptywheelI’ve been talking about the bloat among the ranks of the American manufacturers’ car dealerships in just about every post I do on the auto crisis. My premise is two-fold. First, one of the big problems the Big Two and a Half have in restoring their brands to credibility–even though the quality of their cars now matches the Japanese–is that there are too many dealerships out there given the number of
Girlz Out Loud
/8 Comments/in Press and Media/by emptywheelJust so you know, I’m still watching the Sunday show line-ups to see whether all the smart girlz who were on during the election still get invited back.
And FWIW, we’ve got two girlz of significance this week: Laura Bush (well, I’m not going to tune in, but she is a girl and she’ll be on before pickling hour), and Claire McCaskill.
Still in Turkey Coma Open Thread
/39 Comments/in Culture/by emptywheelI should say “back in turkey coma” since I just had a hot turkey sandwich and feel a giant nap coming on.
The turkey, btw, was absolutely superb–those crazies who think turkey doesn’t taste good are like Sunday school teachers who poo poo sex because, well, let’s just say they were never really credible experts.