Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

When we show up, we win.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / The Alpha Males and Females are Back, Err, Umm, Maybe Not So Much

The Alpha Males and Females are Back, Err, Umm, Maybe Not So Much

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Behold, the ride of the Virginkyries!

(Image 1: Alpha Company, 3rd KEK Battalion, 4th Chan Brigade, 75th Alex Jones Regiment)

I like how the guy with the Gadsden flag in the back left is trying to use it to shield himself from the photographer. Most likely because he didn’t tell his parents he was going to the rally and they think he’s in the basement playing video games.

Also, obligatory:

(Image 2: A comic book character yells at a depiction of Stephen Miller)

Consider this an open thread for your #SecondCivilWarLetters comments.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    Dear Mom and Dad,

    We've put out the word that they're, there, and their all have different meanings. We hold out hope that our message will be heard.

    Yours truly, The dictionary#SecondCivilWarLetters— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) July 3, 2018

    Sorry for the duplicate, didn’t think the first one went through.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sanjeevs: I saw it. A couple of you all emailed me about it too. Considering I don’t think very highly of her, I’m trying to figure out how to write something about this that isn’t just completely offensive. That said:

    The larger issue here is that Wheeler, who is neither a reporter nor a lawyer nor a national security professional nor even a trained archival researcher and investigator, but plays all four on the Internet, has been reporting on the various legal happenings in the Mueller investigation and providing her own commentary based on her research and investigation for months while she was actually a part, albeit a small and largely peripheral part, of that investigation without providing a disclosure. That goes to integrity. She has demonstrated she has none.

    ETA: See what I mean about it coming out as offensive.

  6. 6.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    Isn’t that from Preacher? I’ve seen that image before somewhere. Probably TV Tropes.

    Anyway, I’m shocked these guys were able to find a girl to cosplay with them. I know they exist but it’s still bizarre.

  11. 11.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Platonailedit:
    I’m sure this will end well for Isreal. Putting all of your eggs in one basket was a stupid idea to begin with.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Platonailedit: They’re convinced the antifa folks are going to hurt them. Based on the instructions they put out for these things, their flag poles are weighted/built around metal cores to do maximum damage.

  14. 14.

    sanjeevs

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks.

    I’m looking at the Wapo and NYT websites and the Senate Intelligence Committee findings are hard to find. Seems this stuff is being normalized now.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    A transmission from the home office:

  17. 17.

    Platonailedit

    @EBT: That ciggie on the pale pursed lips says fuck your feelings, cancer? What a dumbfuck.

  18. 18.

    GregB

    Trump has managed to keep the plates on sticks spinning most of his life.

    He is now at the point where he can continue spinning away or the plates come crashing down.

    Seeing what just happened in Malaysia I think we are at 50/50.

    Seeing that GOP cuckold caucus bending the knee in Russia is quite alarming.

    I assume we are about to see some poker hands shown to us all soon and we are about to see some aggressive bluffing to counter.

  21. 21.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @sanjeevs: I look at this a little differently than Adam does. Maybe the two of us could collaborate on a post, although that would take more time than either one of us writing a post alone.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Platonailedit: Haaretz has, as a newspaper, been covering this for well over a year. They were all over Netanyahu not even bringing up the anti-Soros stuff with Orban during his visit to Hungary.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    @Platonailedit:

    Because they show up intending to get into fights, and they’re too chickenshit to fight fair.

    Apparently in Portland they were whining that the police weren’t sufficiently protecting them from their foes. I’m guessing the cops were like, When you assholes show up wearing homemade armor, we’re assuming you planned to protect yourselves. How’d that work out?

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    How soon until a barrage of vitriol from aggrieved chinless people is enough to make you pull this post?

    :)

    Just tried using the Instant Pot to make kasha varnishkes. A bit more frustrating in some ways, however having only the single pot to clean afterward more than makes up for any shortcomings.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @EBT: Who wore them better?

  26. 26.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The moronic Ben Shapiro fans I’ve argued with think “the left” are the only ones that are violent. They shrugged off all of my arguments for literally everything and told me I wrong and “had a lot to learn”. Granted, it was a podcast comment section, not a place suited for citing sources or linking, but it was real weak tea. Oh, and letting any illegal immigrant and their children go is giving them a free pass. But it’s “very sad” that family separations are happening. Nothing can be done doncha know. I ended it by telling them I there was likely nothing I could say that would convince them. One offered their email address for citing sources, but I know better than waste my time further.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    Denver people: right now, I’m planning to take the airport train to get to the downtown Sheraton in a couple of weeks. Will I regret schlepping my suitcases onto the train since I would then have to either take a bus or get a taxi the rest of the way?

  29. 29.

    Anne Laurie

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Anyway, I’m shocked these guys were able to find a girl to cosplay with them.

    Something I discovered back when I was a teenage virgin, in the early 1970s: It’s astonishingly easy to be ‘the cute chick’ in a fan community where you’re practically the only female member.

    Depending on the level of insecurity / misogyny they’ve internalized, some women will go to great lengths to preserve their newfound status… even wearing full-body nylon and a facemask in July, on a public thoroughfare.

    Hell, look at Megan McArdle — she’s made a whole career out of monetizing her ‘Sole Female Libertarian’ status, starting when she & Matty Y and Ezra K were target-shooting fellow bloggers!

    (And before I get #NotAll(Wo)Men’d, during the first wave of Trekkie fandom, some guys got so taken up with being in the Precious 15% gender-pool as to make themselves look really, really silly, too.)

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They’re convinced the antifa folks are going to hurt them. Based on the instructions they put out for these things, their flag poles are weighted/built around metal cores to do maximum damage.

    They’re going to these events looking for a fight, and they’re putting together whatever gear they can to maximize the carnage they can do. I think some of their leaders have read up on Weimar Germany and think of themselves as the contemporary version of the Freikorps. Apparently they didn’t read all the way ahead to find out what happened in 1934.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Nothing can be done doncha know.

    That’s McConnell on school shootings, this week.

    “I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds,” McConnell told a group of community leaders in Danville Tuesday. Source

  33. 33.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    My Dearest Jenny,
    We have arrived this very evening before Independence Day in Atlanta with General Alex Jones, the living embodiment of Lizard aggression, on our tails. Of course by the time you receive this we will have moved on and only the Great Cthulhu Almighty knows where or even if we will turn and face him. Our preference is to avoid him entirely in order to reach the coast, where our Annual Liberal Picnic and Hoedown is scheduled to occur.

    My dearest love, perhaps it is our fate, never to look upon one another’s visage again as we compete in the yearly tag team egg and spoon race. Then again, you were never fond of the raisins in the potato salad. Oh how I do treasure the memory of your salty recriminations at the previous gathering, which embarrassed everyone to such a degree that no one, not even the Child Traffickers, would take credit having brought it. It sat there for nigh unto a week before someone quietly gave to the hogs. How is that for Liberal stubbornness I tell you! Why I dare those cowardly Breitbart poltroons to say these colors run. Well, the bitter song of exhaustion calls me to my bedroll. I will post this on the morrow should time allow. In the days to come I will dream of your sweet voice in the Soros Song Competition and your flowing steps at the Annual Illuminati Ball.

    Your most devoted husband.

    PS: Please don’t forget to cash the Soros check as we will need to pay our annual dues to the Antichrist.

    #SecondCivilWarLetters

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/co-founder-of-the-verge-slams-ben-shapiro-1.6241330

    Joshua Topolsky, co-founder of Vox media technology site The Verge, said the Jewish conservative writer Ben Shapiro was like Jews who collaborated with the Nazis.

    “Ben Shapiro is the Jew who helps other Jews onto the train,” Topolsky wrote in a now-deleted tweet.

    Topolsky, rather than apologize, said he deleted the tweet “because a mob of right wing babies were flooding my mentions and it was frankly pretty annoying (as were the DM death threats)” adding “I didn’t apologize lol.”

    “You didn’t delete it because it was an abhorrent thing to say?” one user asked.

    “No,” Topolsky responded.

    “Absolutely disgusting,” the Republican Jewish Coalition tweeted. “Co-founder of liberal blog, Vox calls Ben Shapiro ‘The Jew Who Helps Other Jews Onto The Train.’”

    Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of Vox.com, Vox Media’s primary politics site, responded to the RJC.

    “Two points on this: One — Ben Shapiro once wrote a column calling Rahm Emannuel [sic] a “kapo” so I don’t think he has much standing to complain. Two — Josh is not a ‘co-founder of liberal blog, Vox,’” he wrote.

    More at the link.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @GregB:

    Seeing that GOP cuckold caucus bending the knee in Russia is quite alarming.

    Yeah, the Republican cuckus is pathetic.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    @Scuffletuffle:

    Long, but classic PG Wodehouse:

    “Don’t you ever read the papers? Roderick Spode is the founder and head of the Saviours of Britain, a Fascist organization better known as the Black Shorts. His general idea, if he doesn’t get knocked on the head with a bottle in one of the frequent brawls in which he and his followers indulge, is to make himself a Dictator.’

    ‘Well, I’m blowed!’ I was astounded at my keenness of perception. The moment I had set eyes on Spode, if you remember, I had said to myself ‘What ho! A Dictator!’ and a Dictator he had proved to be. I couldn’t have made a better shot, if I had been one of those detectives who see a chap walking along the street and deduce that he is a retired manufacturer of poppet valves named Robinson with rheumatism in one arm, living at Clapham.

    ‘Well, I’m dashed! I thought he was something of that sort. That chin…Those eyes…And, for the matter of that, that moustache. By the way, when you say “shorts”, you mean “shirts”, of course.’

    ‘No. By the time Spode formed his association, there were no shirts left. He and his adherents wear black shorts.’

    ‘Footer bags, you mean?’

    ‘Yes.’

    ‘How perfectly foul.”

    ― P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    @NotMax:

    Not to that specific hotel. The train is crazy cheap — $9, and I can take the free downtown shuttle from Union Station to the hotel. Plus I love trains, so I’m excited by the prospect of taking one. I’m just concerned about wrestling my bag around.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    @GregB:
    Najib had to lose a general election, and with it his power as PM over the Royal Malaysian Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corrupotion Commission, so the way could be cleared for them to investigate him in earnest. That’s what it took to get him in a police detention cell. I think it will work out much the same with Trump: The Republican party has some idea (probably a clearer idea than the public at large) just how corrupt he is, but is standing by him while he wields the power of the Presidency. The DoJ doesn’t dare move against a sitting president for reasons.

    I fear Trump’s removal will be more difficult and damaging for America than Najib’s was for Malaysia: Trump will have to be weakened over time to the point of being openly ignored and ridiculed by even his voter base before he considers giving up the Oval Office. And by then the credibility and prestige and effectiveness of that office, and of America, will be badly broken.

  48. 48.

    Jim Bales

    @Jim Bales: @Jim Bales:

    “My dearest Elizabeth, Do not fear. While painful, my wounds are not grievous. When the Red Hat ran my bicycle off the road, my Fitbit saved me. Sadly, it is no more. We rally to save the Farmer’s market from their infiltration with GMOs.” #secondcivilwarletters

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Here you go:
    https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/05/08/what-kek-explaining-alt-right-deity-behind-their-meme-magic

    You may have seen the name bandied about on social media, especially in political circles where alt-right activists and avid Donald Trump supporters lurk. Usually it is brandished as a kind of epithet, seemingly to ward off the effects of liberal arguments, and it often is conveyed in memes that use the image of the alt-right mascot, Pepe the Frog: “Kek!”

    Kek, in the alt-right’s telling, is the “deity” of the semi-ironic “religion” the white nationalist movement has created for itself online – partly for amusement, as a way to troll liberals and self-righteous conservatives both, and to make a kind of political point. He is a god of chaos and darkness, with the head of a frog, the source of their memetic “magic,” to whom the alt-right and Donald Trump owe their success, according to their own explanations.

    Much more at the link.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m just concerned about wrestling my bag around.

    Maybe Congressman Jordan will be heading to your hotel that night?

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    I don’t see why anyone is bothering to write #secondcivilwarletters. The Talking Heads already said everything that needs to be said:

    Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
    Packed up and ready to go
    Heard of some grave sites, out by the highway
    A place where nobody knows
    The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
    I’m getting used to it now
    Lived in a brownstone, lived in the ghetto
    I’ve lived all over this town

    This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
    This ain’t no fooling around
    No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
    I ain’t got time for that now

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    As is our tradition, tomorrow my spouse and I will watch 1776, the greatest musical ever made about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We’ve been married for 12 years, so I’ve become quite fond of it by this point. Howard Da Silva is a hoot as Franklin.

  60. 60.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Amir Khalid:

    Trump will have to be weakened over time to the point of being openly ignored and ridiculed by even his voter base before he considers giving up the Oval Office.

    Will this even be possible? Did Najib have his personality cult? At this point, I feel America’s system is too fucked up for anything at this point to be truly turned around for the next 50 fucking years. My greatest fear is my greatest hope. On the one hand, the GOP is becoming increasingly unpopular and smaller. They aren’t growing. At the same time, they’re entrenching themselves in power to have the veneer of de jure authority. These two factors will collide in the coming years. The system will become increasingly untenable and the rule of law will collapse, with a political minority attempting to rule a majority by twisting the letter of the law into a pretzel to justify their ideological beliefs. A point will be reached where the GOP-dominated federal government will lose control and collapse and several liberal regions will form new nations, leaving behind a trump United States, or a new central government will be established.

  62. 62.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    Goddamn autocorrect. That’s supposed to be “rump”, not “trump”. It completely undermines what I’m saying by making me look foolish. And I can’t even edit it. Damn you, Alain!

  63. 63.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    What idiots. It just pisses me off that he has so many subscriptions to his podcast. On the app I use, he’s one of the most searched channels.

  65. 65.

    James E Powell

    @Mnemosyne:

    I love 1776. Saw it on Broadway when I was in high school. Felt an immediate kinship with Mr. Adams because I, too am obnoxious and disliked, you know. The tableau finale had a huge impact on me at the time. The historical inaccuracies are many, but it was seeing that musical that lit the desire to read about those people, what they were doing, and what their world was like. I still occasionally go back to those people and those times in my reading.

  66. 66.

    Regine Touchon

    Dearest Mother or may I call you wife? It grieves me to tell you our battalion was taken by the Rainbow Coalition and was forced to watch the kissing of two men while wearing a pink pussy hat. Sadly I had to dine with General Hillary Clinton and must confess I was strangely attracted to her. Please forgive my transgressions. Your Son, Private Mike Pence

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    A personality cult? No. He was an accomplished political player in his party, helped along by the respect people had for his dad and uncle, who were PM before him, and who lived rather modestly for their status. He had respect of office as UMNO party leader and Barisan Nasional coalition chairman. But he was never an object of cult worship. And the following he has left to him now will diminish as the legal process against him moves forward.

  68. 68.

    The Dangerman

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    A point will be reached where the GOP-dominated federal government will lose control and collapse…

    My crystal balls (an Ode to My Schweddy Balls) are cloudy but here’s my guess tonight. This assumes Trump doesn’t do something truly nutty like dropping out of NATO or dropping his pants during a press conference.

    Democrats take the House.

    Senate stays Republican.

    Mueller fucking lowers the boom on Trump and his Minions; the House impeaches and the Senate does nothing (shocker, I know).

    Trump runs for re-election and calls for his supporters to literally fight for him. All hell breaks loose at the Convention (do we know where it’s going to be yet?)..Civil War II isn’t Left vs. Right but Right on Right (the Elites on their side are plenty pissed, tax cut regardless).

  70. 70.

    efgoldman

    @The Dangerman:

    My crystal balls (an Ode to My Schweddy Balls) are cloudy but here’s my guess tonight.

    My magic eight ball still sees the same thing it’s been seeing since the election.
    As his relatives and close advisors are indicted and fall away (likely to turn) he will become ever more isolated. No-one will take his calls or respond to his tweets. He will be roaring at everybody and nobody, and nobody will follow his orders. Even for a delusional, possibly demented narcissist, there is a point where his position is untenable.

  74. 74.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    Wonder if straitjackets come with gold piping and stitching.

    Hey, spelled it right!
    Cheap anodized plating.

  75. 75.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Yarrow: I don’t know if subscriber numbers can manipulated on Castbox. It’s relatively new.

  78. 78.

    The Dangerman

    @efgoldman:

    He will be roaring at everybody and nobody….

    I’ve wondered recently if the Secret Service are mandatory reporters (I’m guessing no) as I could see Trump having Melania be the target of his wrath someday. I’m not even sure tonight what entity they would report to given don’t they protect her, too?

  81. 81.

    Jager

    @The Dangerman:

    The first lady has her Secret Service guys and she’s attacked aren’t they bound to protect her even if the president is attacking her? If he’s trying to kick Melania’s ass, what do his SS guys do, restrain him?

  82. 82.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Jager:
    I would imagine they would have to. President or not, he’s not entitled to commit battery on anyone and get away with it.

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    @Yutsano:
    If you follow @DENAirport on Twitter you can see which dogs are on the schedule and where they’ll be.

  85. 85.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I did SCA fighting and, well, some one taught them the basics of shield work, the do have their shields in the correct positions, probably the guy with the lemon green shield since he also has the basic foot work and the vaguely Sutton Hoo Helm. but the rest of it, … “dog meat on a plate”, we called it. Even green shield leg is out out there for the taking.

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    I assume you have some fancy-shmancy extended DVD version. It will be available to the masses at 10:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday on TCM, right after Yankee Doodle Dandy at 8:00.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    We have several fancy-schmancy DVD versions. ?

    The director’s cut that came out fairly recently (maybe 5 years ago?) is actually the best version of it that I’ve seen. He really tightened up the pacing.

  91. 91.

    Brendan in NC

    @The Dangerman: The 2020 Republican Convention is apparently down to Las Vegas, NV; and Charlotte, NC. We’ve got enough Trump stans here that it might get ugly.

  92. 92.

    evodevo

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I know the feeling. My sister (BIL career military/right wing, but atheist – interestingly) argues this same point using BLM and, then, the SDS (!!!). I said, you have to go back to the ’70’s to find examples?? Still harps on her belief ….lives in TX of all places, but knows nothing about right wing violence …and DOESN’T WANT TO HEAR IT.

  95. 95.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jim Bales: Way late to the party (err, battle), but…nice!

    @Mnemosyne: I love that damn musical! I’ve loved it since I was in it, at the age of 12, in the Bicentennial year! And the movie version is excellent.

  96. 96.

    Dev Null

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Maybe [Adam and Cheryl] could collaborate on a post, although that would take more time than either one of us writing a post alone.

    I endorse this idea.

    As a long-time reader of EW.net, I would be interested in hearing why Adam is so down on Wheeler.

  98. 98.

    The Pale Scot

    Where the fuck is your chin

    I’ve been saying that everyday since I moved to Fl.

    Since I moved to downtown St Pete though, I have to say there’ fewer of them, I guess they don’t thrive in “urban” environments.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dev Null: I don’t pass myself off as a subject matter expert by education and experience on literature. People who are shouldn’t pass themselves off as subject matter experts on national security, intelligence, or act as if they’ve got a JD and are trained journalists when they’re not and actually know very little about any of these subjects.

  102. 102.

    The Pale Scot

    @HinTN: Speaking of racist science-fi writers is it just me or does Pournelle’s Co-Dominion seems not so crazy these days?

  104. 104.

    Gemina13

    @Roger Moore:

    It may just be me, but I’ve noticed that you will rarely, if EVER, find a Neo-Nazi or KKKlansjackass willing to go one-on-one with an equally prepared opponent. They don’t do one-on-one. They do outnumber-the-other-guy, because they’re terrified that they’ll get their asses kicked if they don’t. Hence the gangs and bullshit like reinforced flagpoles.

    I would love to see a group of young antifa women show up armed with wooden Louisville Sluggers and face off with these assholes. See how fast they’d run, leaving a brown-and-yellow mingled trail in their wake.

  105. 105.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman:

    People who are shouldn’t pass themselves off as subject matter experts on national security, intelligence, or act as if they’ve got a JD and are trained journalists when they’re not and actually know very little about any of these subjects.

    I think she’s been clear that she’s not a lawyer. Rayne (a front-pager) is even clearer. bmaz advertises as a natsec atty. A lot of the commenters at the site claim to be attys; some claim to be natsec attys.

    Me, I’m not a lawyer. I have no way to adjudicate any of those claims.

    As regards “journalist”, she’s been reporting for years and years. I see the occasional reference to her reporting on l’affaire Plame. I seem to recall the phrase “stellar reporting”, but I don’t have a link, so perhaps I’m misremembering.

    Honestly, “journalists” have been doing such a great job lately, perhaps we should turn their jobs over to amateurs.

    Regarding “natsec”, I know I’ve used that term in describing her site, but “civil liberty” is perhaps more accurate.

    Perhaps you feel that she knows little of civil liberty issues as well. ~shrugs~

    Specific examples of errors she’s committed would be more, uh, compelling than “knows very little about any of these subjects.”

    And then there’s the social network. Digby and Booman, among others, have quoted EW and seem to think highly of her work.

    If there’s one complaint I would lodge against EW above all others, it’s that I find her writing opaque …

    … which might be me, but I don’t think so.

    To make one more point: I’m an amateur in all of the areas you mention. That said, I follow perhaps 50-odd essayists who seem to me to have their heads screwed on right, who have not AFAIK committed major factual or ethical errors. You are welcome to persuade me / us that EW should not be one of those essayists… but “I know better than her” seems to me to be the kind of “argument from authority” that one would do well to avoid, even a certified natsec expert such as yourself.

    Again with “not a journalist”. It wouldn’t be fair to paint all journalists with the same broad brush, but “journalists” and “journalism” are a non-negligible part of the reason Donald Trump is president today.

    No offense intended. I enjoy reading your posts and comments, and have circulated several of your posts (e.g. the Kompromat series) to the private lists that I’m on.

  106. 106.

    Dev Null

    @Dev Null: Add to Digby and Booman … Kevin Drum:

    Now here’s Marcy Wheeler, who has been reporting on mass surveillance and civil liberties since the Bush administration. To her own shock, last year she came across some information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election that she felt she had to pass along to the FBI:

    Drum links to Pwn All Things twitter account here.

    No idea who PwnAllThings is, but his’r’her blurb says natsec and infosec; I wouldn’t expect Drum to link to an idiot / amateur for something like this.

    At lawfareblog, Susan Hennessey lists Wheeler as an “Independent Journalist” and “Female Technology Policy Experts”. I dunno much about Hennessey, but as you know she and Wittes are the high-profile public faces for lawfareblog.

    Wheeler also seems to have written for a bunch of high profile journals including Foreign Policy.

    Her wikipedia entry confirms my recollection of her role in l’affaire Plame although not the specific plaudit I remember:

    During United States v. Libby, the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, along with other regular press-accredited contributors to FireDogLake, Wheeler reported on the testimony live from the courtroom.[4] In her accounts of the Libby trial, she describes her entries as “not a transcript”. Nevertheless, such bloggers’ eye-witness accounts served as sources of reliable information about the trial for their readers. During the trial, she appeared on camera in video reports posted online on PoliticsTV.com, along with other accredited Libby trial blogger-correspondents such as TalkLeft creator Jeralyn Merritt and FDL creator Jane Hamsher and FDL principal blogger Christy Hardin Smith.[4][5]

    In October 2013, Newsweek published an article about Wheeler titled “The Woman Who Knows The NSA’s Secrets.”[6]

    and here’s Prima Levy’s short-form bio article in Newsweek.

    Quite a set of references for someone who doesn’t know anything. ~shrugs~

  107. 107.

    Dev Null

    Wait, wut?!? My comment that starts with a link to Kevin Drum’s post is awaiting moderation?!?

    Jeez. What the heck is that about?!?

  108. 108.

    Dev Null

    Incidentally, I was unable to edit the comment that’s in moderation.

    Is that a feature or a bug?

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dev Null: @Dev Null: I’m not suggesting you don’t read her. You asked why I don’t consider her highly. I don’t consider her highly because everything she comments on is stuff that she has no education, training, professional experience, and/or expertise with. That’s it. As for the Valerie Plame case, she gained notoriety for live blogging what was going on in the court room so that people didn’t have to wait for the official court transcripts to be released. Which is an important contribution, but doesn’t make her a legal, national security, and/or intelligence expert.

    ETA: As for actual, professional journalists, you’ve seen my posts here about one of the major reasons they screwed up in their coverage of HRC’s emails is that almost none of them know and/or understand anything about classification. Most of these folks no very little about the subjects and areas they cover, which is why their reporting is so bad.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dev Null: I don’t know why it wound up in moderation. Sometimes a lot of links do it.

    @Dev Null: I have no idea.

    Regardless, I freed it for you.

  111. 111.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank you, Sir!

    I’ve had other benign comments held up in moderation, so that’s not a big deal.

    Not being able to edit a comment that’s in moderation, that might be a bug and if so might be worth fixing. Or perhaps not, it doesn’t happen often enough (to me) to be a major concern.

  113. 113.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, let me go with a personal anecdote: I was educated in a specific technical discipline. Out of grad school I was hired into a related but not especially close technical area, in which area I worked for more than 3 decades. The center of gravity of my work changed over time, but I always worked within the (Very Large™) second technical discipline.

    I was able to do my job, even to establish a reputation, such as it was, by picking up knowledge on the go.

    Which is to say, I don’t share your aversion to people who don’t have the right professional license. I’ve known guys with PhDs in “my” technical disciplines who were flim-flam artists. I’ve known guys with BAs who were solid performers at a much higher level than you’d expect from a BA. And, of course, all shades in between.

    It seems to me that what matters is quality of product.

    As for l’affaire Plame, I think that was at the beginning of her career as an “independent journalist”. In any case, she was able to convey to the public the goings on, which suggests to me analytical capabilities.

    I’m just spit-balling here, but her literary professional license very likely trained her in close reading and deep analysis, which seems like a Good Thing™ for a natsec / civil liberties reporter. The Spousal Unit has a degree in a related area; from long association I feel safe saying that “close reading” is a useful qualification for interpreting text, which after all is what law and regulations are. If (as I assume is the case) you are familiar with biblical scholarship, then you know what I’m talking about.

    WRT journalists and why they got things wrong, yeah, sure, they don’t know shit (hi, filter!) from shinola.

    That’s fixable.

    What’s not fixable is that most of them don’t know that they’re ignorant, and even if they know …

    … they don’t care.

    They’re infotainers, not “dogged seekers after truth”, most of them.

    I won’t speak to EW’s expertise (because I am not an expert in any of these areas), but it seems to me she tries to get to the truth, and tries hard.

    In the absence of specific glaring errors and/or major ethical lapses, that (plus the endorsement of the social network) is good enough for me.

    You are still welcome to specify glaring errors that she declined to acknowledge and correct.

Comments are closed.