emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social

Coverage of American authoritarianism with a focus on legal cases. An American-Irish in Limerick, Ireland.

Legendary potty mouth!

Reposted by emptywheel
andreapitzer.bsky.social's profile picture
Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social
1h
I've studied so many concentration camps through history that held vulnerable people in just this kind of crowded squalor. You demonize people, you demand more arrests, this is what you get. It already has its own budget and its own momentum, and is on track to go much further, unless we stop it.
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Reposted by emptywheel
roryjohnston.bsky.social's profile picture
Rory Johnston @roryjohnston.bsky.social
2h
Oh... my God.

My first tweet to be stolen by the President of the United States 😅
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🔥 I took a couple of days to compile this long analysis.

The elections in Hungary tomorrow are seismic, globally. So I cover:

- The rise of Orbán
- Orbán’s weakening
- The emergence of Péter Magyar
- The election battle
- The JD Vance visit
- What it all means for Hungary, the EU, Putin & Trump
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I don't think Wolff is the primary target of Melania's ire, but he is one target and may limit Melania's ability to respond to Amanda Ungaro.
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Appalling behaviour from those with agendas other than concern over fuel prices. The Muslim Sisters of Éire do incredible work feeding and helping unhoused people.

Please donate to them if you can. msoe.ie/donate/
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A reminder that Polymarket is still shite even if you like what it is telling you.
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Two days ago, I couldn't find the fucking tractor protests on Xitter.
Then I started to find it in my feeds, but not in Elon's algo.
Now, about half the "For You" slop is Irish tractor protests.
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@charliesavage.bsky.social is suing to liberate:
1) The interim Durham Report that was meant to be a hit job in 2020
2) Nora Dannehy's response
3) The classified annex to the Report that revealed the entire thing was based on RU disinformation

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.661666/gov.uscourts.nysd.661666.1.0.pdf
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Reposted by emptywheel
dermotcasey.bsky.social's profile picture
Dermot Casey @dermotcasey.bsky.social
16h
I think one of my visceral reactions to the protesters is because they are bullies. Loud, boorish bullies. And I have no time for bullies. The irony is Trump caused the global crisis, and miniTrumps are causing the local one.
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On the one hand, Trump is promising to give Hungary financial support the EU already gives them.

On the other hand, Putin is preparing to claim that if Orbán loses, it is bc the EU intervened.
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The funny thing about this is that the EU already does this, they think of Hungary as their Mexico where they can get cars built on the cheap. The problem is that even in spite of that their economy is stagnant.
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www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41824655.html The timeline suggested in this article would seem to suggest the newly minted entity that convened to coordinate the shutdown is so saavy and rational that they sent an email from an unknown organisation to government depts on the Wednesday before Easter break.
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Reup: One key sign that Trump's Fraud Task Force is about framing Dems is that he included Scott Brady on it, the guy who helped criminally frame Joe and Hunter Biden.

emptywheel.net/2026/04/10/the-fraud-behind-trumps-fraud-task-force/
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Reposted by emptywheel
gregsargent.bsky.social's profile picture
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social
18h
In his tirade against MAGA war critics, Trump blasted Alex Jones for calling Sandy Hook a hoax.

This seemed odd. So I went back and checked. At the time Trump hailed Jones as "amazing" and rebuffed demands that he denounce lies about the shooting.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/208951/trump-maga-war-critics-alex-jones-surprise-admission
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Reposted by emptywheel
nicolesandler.bsky.social's profile picture
Nicole Sandler @nicolesandler.bsky.social
19h
We made it to Emptywheel Friday! Marcy Wheeler @emptywheel.bsky.social joins me each Fri to recap the important news of the week-including D'ump's mental health, Malaria's immigration etc! Join us 3ET/12PT at youtu.be/xRNKXoiFi1M, nicolesandler.com, emptywheel.net, pod, nicolesandler.substack.com
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Peterr talks about how stupid it was for Trump to pick a fight with Pope Bob in the first place.

emptywheel.net/2026/04/10/poor-tactics-make-any-strategy-impossible-vatican-edition/
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The remaining defendants in the Don Lemon case have filed (as two other sets have already done) to get GJ transcripts. This one focuses more on the legal problems with the indictment, as here when accusing protestors of violating the 1A of churchgoers.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102.491.0.pdf
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The tractor "protests" in Ireland are having the same effect that Iran is in Hormuz.
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Jeffries and Schumer are intent on calling a WPA vote, and that would have the effect of peeling off a few members in both house.

But you need a larger narrative that GOP refusal to do its job enabled a catastrophic war.
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OR the fact that he has rid his White House of either experts or grown up advisors.

OR the fact that they let him go to war w/o fully briefing before and during.

It's that accountability that matters, one way or another.

And impeachment/25A can be a tool to force that accountability.
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I think the discussion over 25A and impeachment gets at a larger reality. You can argue both sides of either tactic, but the underlying problem is NO ONE is really holding the GOP accountable for letting Trump send his son-in-law on a diplomat's errand EVEN AFTER his incompetence led to war OR
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Much of the rest of this maps out DOJ's inconsistent approach to Jan6.

I half wonder whether this is an attempt to corner DOJ into an estoppel position.

For example, WHAT IF Cole knows the bombs were tied to Jan6, and can prove that? THEN does he get a pardon?
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DOJ says Cole couldn't have been involved in Jan6 bc he didn't travel there on Jan6.

Well, neither did Enrique Tarrio or Jeremy Bertino.
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In DOJ's response to accused pipe bomber Brian Cole's bid to say he qualifies for a pardon, they reveal that his devices were all reinstalled the day before his arrest.

And also, he was searching anarchist cookbook in 2016.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.288125/gov.uscourts.dcd.288125.62.0.pdf
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How a researcher got AI to corroborate the existence of a fake disease.

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y
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The guy investigated for years for conspiring with Russia (who may have gotten not one, but TWO pardons for his ties to Russia) interceded to make sure Trump didn't fire Tulsi.

Great.

Just great.

www.axios.com/2026/04/10/trump-tulsi-gabbard-roger-stone
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I think the certainty that people like Steve Bannon and Mike Roman are involved just went up astronomically.
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Thinking I should start a running total of the number of stories that basically say, "Trump 2.0: COVID effects without (yet) a pandemic."
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