Emptywheel

Marcy Wheeler is a freelance journalist focused on issues related to national security and civil liberties. She writes under the name emptywheel on her personal blog and contributes to various publications such as Motherboard, the New Republic, and Al Jazeera. Additionally, she often shares her insights on television and radio programs. Marcy is the author of "Anatomy of Deceit," which provides an overview of the CIA leak investigation, and she gained attention for her live coverage of the Scooter Libby trial. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the House Fourth Amendment Caucus and serves as a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. Marcy has also been honored as an Internet Human Rights hero by AccessNow. Since 2007, Marcy has dedicated herself to blogging full time. She is particularly recognized for her live coverage of the Scooter Libby trial and her reporting on the number of times Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding. Moreover, she has been ahead of the curve in uncovering government surveillance practices long before they were made public. Marcy holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she studied "feuilleton," a brief, conversational format in journalism that has been significant during periods of increased censorship. In addition to her academic pursuits, she has provided documentation consulting for companies in the automotive, technology, and energy sectors. Recently, Marcy, along with her spouse and their dog June Bug, relocated to Ireland.

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Sell Your Tesla Dump Your Stock

1 month ago | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

That was one of the chants at the #TeslaTakedown event I attended in Chicago last Saturday. But selling your Tesla car is not easy. There isn’t much of a market for used Teslas in this area. There’s a similar problem in Boston. And Seattle. It seems to be a world-wide problem. Perhaps Trump will single-handedly create a market for used Teslas among his cult. That would be great, since only a few years ago they were crazy angry about libtards driving electric vehicles.
NOAA: The Biggest Little Agency in America

1 month ago | emptywheel.net | Quinn Norton

What We are Quietly Losing in All the TumultLast week the ghouls of DOGE came to gut NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) by firing all the probationary employees, because they were the easiest to fire. It was terrible, but it won’t be their last visit.
Conclusion To Series On Individuality

1 month ago | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

A stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly by the chain of their own ideas; it is at the stable point of reason that he secures the end of the chain; this link is all the stronger in that we do not know of what it is made and we believe it to be our own work; despair and time eat away the bonds of iron and steel, but they are powerless against the habitual union of ideas, they can only tighten it still more; and on the soft...
A Cautionary Tale Of The Limited Reach Of Legal Ethics

1 month ago | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

Lawyers are very good at making up reasons why their clients are right, regardless of the nature of the dispute. And they’re very good at explaining why applicable laws and cases do or don’t apply, whichever serves the client’s interests. In this post I look at the ethical requirement related to purely legal arguments. RulesAll lawyers are bound by the ethical obligations set by the state in which they are licensed. Generally these are a version of the ABA Model Rules Of Professional Conduct.
What We Talk About When We Talk About AI (Part Two)

2 months ago | emptywheel.net | Quinn Norton

The Other Half of the AI relationshipWhen trying to understand AI, and in particular Large Language Models, we spend a lot of time concentrating on their architectures, structures, and outputs. We look at them with a technical eye. We peer so close and attentively to AI that we lose track of the fact that we’re looking into a mirror. The source of all AI’s power and knowledge is humanity’s strange work. It’s human in form and content, and only humans use and are used by it.
The Law Is Bigger Than The Bullies

2 months ago | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

Emil Bove III is a bully. There’s only one way to deeal with a bully: fight back harder. Consider Bove’s treatment of the public integrity section lawyers as part of his campaign to dismiss the prosecution of Eric Adams. In the end, two lawyers and Bove himself signed the pleading. The motion says that Bove made the decision himself; his signature is an admission of that fact. Now the matter goes to District Court Judge Dale Ho. Marcy has a good description of the current status.
JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference: A Speech by Gaslight

2 months ago | emptywheel.net | Quinn Norton

How Vance unsettled the EuropeansWhile Musk was ripping through the US government like a 10 tonne toddler on cocaine, Vice President JD Vance was dispatched to the Munich Security Conference last week to tell Europeans how to run their democracies. His 19 minute speech, coupled with Trumps’ announcement that peace in Ukraine would be decided in a meeting between the US and Russia only, has swept the legs out from under Europe, NATO, and the post-war transatlantic consensus.
Aggressive Defense Of The Rule Of Law

2 months ago | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

Trump and his henchmen have declared war on the rule of law. Defending it will require aggressive responses. It’s time for heavy use of Rule 11Here are the relevant provisions of Rule 11:(b) Representations to the Court.
What We Talk About When We Talk About AI (Part one)

2 months ago | emptywheel.net | Quinn Norton

A Normal Person’s Explainer on What Generative AI is and Does“Are you comfortably seated? Yes, well, let’s begin.” *Clears throat theatrically*“Our experience, in natural theology, can never furnish a true and demonstrated science, because, like the discipline of practical reason, it can not take account of problematic principles.
Expressions Of Individuality In Democracy

Jan 18, 2025 | emptywheel.net | Ed Walker

Index to posts in this seriesI gave a tentative description of what it means to be an individual here, including speculation about mechanisms. In this post, I will add some detail on mechanisms, and try to sharpen up the notion of individuality. More on mechanismsIn his book The Evolution of Agency, Michael Tomasello describes self-monitoring as a feedback loop. We set a goal, then form a plan to reach the goal, and self-monitor to see how well the plan is working.