Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 8

Robert Mueller Did Not Merely Reject the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theories. He Obliterated Them.

The two-pronged conspiracy theory that has dominated U.S. political discourse for almost three years – that (1) Trump, his family and his campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, and (2) Trump is beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin — was not merely rejected today by the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It was obliterated: in an undeniable and definitive manner.

The key fact is this: Mueller – contrary to weeks of false media clai...

Episode Two of “Animal Matters”: How the Cause Went From the Leftist Fringe to the Trans-Ideological Mainstream

 

Two weeks ago, The Intercept, in partnership with Sentient Media, a new media company devoted to the issue of animal rights, launched the debut episode of our eight-part video series covering all aspects of the animal rights movement: political, economic, environmental, cultural, racial, labor, and public health. That debut episode was devoted to a discussion of why my co-host, Grant Lingel, and I have chosen to focus on these issues and why we believe this cause can no longer be, and...

Episode Two of “Animal Matters”: How the Cause Went From the Leftist Fringe to the Trans-Ideological Mainstream

 

Two weeks ago, The Intercept, in partnership with Sentient Media, a new media company devoted to the issue of animal rights, launched the debut episode of our eight-part video series covering all aspects of the animal rights movement: political, economic, environmental, cultural, racial, labor, and public health. That debut episode was devoted to a discussion of why my co-host, Grant Lingel, and I have chosen to focus on these issues and why we believe this cause can no longer be, and inde...

The U.S. Government’s Indictment of Julian Assange Poses Grave Threats to Press Freedom

The indictment of Julian Assange unsealed today by the Trump Justice Department poses grave threats to press freedoms, not only in the U.S. but around the world. The charging document and accompanying extradition request from the U.S. government, used by the U.K. police to arrest Assange once Ecuador officially withdrew its asylum protection, seeks to criminalize numerous activities at the core of investigative journalism.

So much of what has been reported today about this indictment has been...

Introducing “Animal Matters,” Our New Video Series About Animal Rights, Factory Farms, and the Agriculture Industry

With remarkable speed, the cause of animal rights and the abuses of industrial animal agriculture have been catapulted from fringe left-wing activist circles to the center of a wide range of non-ideological policy, ethical, environmental, political, and moral debates. That has happened, as is true of most societal changes, largely due to increased awareness and greater information, which in turn compels a shift in thinking about how our actions, policies, and beliefs should be best understood...

Watch: a Contentious, Constructive Debate on the Media and Political Humiliation from the Mueller Report

I obviously intended to write about the fallout from Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the Mueller report: specifically his definitive finding that “the Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government” and that “the report does not recommend any further indictments, nor did the Special Counsel obtain any sealed indictments that have yet to be made public.” Those two sentences alone permanently de...

The Crux of the Accusations Against David Sirota From the Atlantic’s Edward-Isaac Dovere is False

A rack of magazines, including The Atlantic, on display in a bookstore in San Francisco.

Photo: Robert Alexander/Getty Images

The Atlantic on Tuesday published a sensationalistic series of accusations by reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere aimed at long-time journalist David Sirota, whose hiring by the Sanders 2020 presidential campaign as a speechwriter and adviser had just been announced earlier that day. The Atlantic article predictably and quickly went viral, cited by major media outlets and De...

The FBI’s Investigation of Trump as a “National Security Threat” is Itself a Serious Danger. But J. Edgar Hoover Pioneered the Tactic

Last week, the New York Times reported that the FBI, in 2017, launched an investigation of President Trump “to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security” and specifically “whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.” The story was predictably treated as the latest in an endless line of Beginning-of-the-End disasters for the Trump presidency, though – as usual – this melodrama was accomplished by steadfastly...

As Democratic Elites Reunite With Neocons, the Party’s Voters Are Becoming Far More Militaristic and Pro-War Than Republicans

President Donald Trump’s December 18 announcement that he intends to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria produced some isolated support in the anti-war wings of both parties, but largely provoked bipartisan outrage among in Washington’s reflexively pro-war establishment.

Both GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the country’s most reliable war supporters, and Hillary Clinton, who repeatedly criticized former President Barack Obama for insufficient hawkishness, condemned Trump’s decision in very si...

NBC and MSNBC Blamed Russia for Using “Sophisticated Microwaves” to Cause “Brain Injuries” in U.S. “Diplomats” in Cuba. The Culprits Were Likely Crickets.

NBC News and MSNBC specialize in repeating and disseminating what U.S intelligence officials tell them to say and then calling that servitude “reporting.” Those two networks really are the all-but-official outlets for CIA messaging. And this status has led their brightest on-air stars to broadcast a series of extremely consequential stories that turned out to be humiliatingly wrong.

This stenographic and highly jingoistic practice of mindlessly reciting the whispered claims of anonymous “inte...