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.
As Gretchen Morgenson tells it, the headline story from an FHFA Inspector General report on a $1.35B deal Freddie Mac made last year with Bank of America is that the analysis behind the deal was flawed. Freddie Mac used a flawed analysis when it accepted $1.35 billion from Bank of America to settle claims that […]
Someone down at Occupy Wall Street noted that a bunch of food trucks are gathering around the protest. Four of them would be able to take orders for the protesters. So if you want to feed those trying to hold the banksters accountable, call one of these food trucks. Lemongrass Grill – Thai – 212.809.8038 […]
That would be me, sucking tritium, living as I do about 70 miles away from a nuclear plant in South Haven, MI, that just released some radioactive steam. (h/t wizardkitten) Entergy’s Palisades nuclear plant near South Haven is venting radioactive steam into the environment as part of an unplanned shutdown triggered by an electrical accident. […]
This is a post I could have written (in fact, I think I did here, here, here, and here). One difference, however, is that the author of this post is a government insider, State Department Foreign Service Officer Peter Van Buren. The State Department and its Bureau of Diplomatic Security never took responsibility for their […]
What place does this sound like? Ruling elites … do not see climate change as an immediate threat to their authority. They therefore feel free to take an opportunistic attitude toward climate change, supporting climate change mitigation policies that have collateral economic or political benefits to their particular interests. Though it could be, it is […]
[youtube]moD2JnGTToA[/youtube] The Lieutenant Deputy Inspector who pepper-sprayed a kettled, defenseless woman has been identified as Anthony Bologna. He was IDed, in part, by a lawyer representing one of the people Bologna improperly arrested during the 2004 RNC. The Guardian has learned that the officer, named by activists as deputy inspector Anthony Bologna, stands accused of […]
It looks like the CIA may have gotten hit by another double agent in the attack on its Afghan station yesterday. “What is unique in the Obama administration is their decision that in spite of the disagreements on the political level, the military and intelligence relationship which benefits both sides will not be spoiled by […]
Peter Orszag opines from the politically sheltered comfort of his gig at Citigroup that we have too much democracy. I’ll say more about specific claims he makes below, but first, let me point out a fundamental problem with his argument. He suggests we need to establish institutions insulated from our so-called polarization to tackle the […]
[youtube]_zJp8hZTRiE[/youtube] One of the highlights of Netroots Nation this year was Van Jones’ way-too-early keynote. He offered a speech–and an organizing opportunity, Rebuild the Dream Movement–that addressed a lot of the angst of progressives. Since that time, there have been a series of Rebuild the Dream meetings, but it has yet to take off in […]
[youtube]moD2JnGTToA[/youtube] The NYPD made the news yesterday twice. First, for their over-reaction to the Occupy Wall Street protests. In the video above, street cops corral some women with orange mesh, so another cop–in the white shirt–could mace them. As the NYPD was bullying people for exercising their First Amendment rights, Commissioner Ray Kelly was on […]