Emptywheel Leaving Firedoglake
It is with very mixed feelings that I announce emptywheel will be leaving Firedoglake at the end of this week.
About six years ago, I started blogging on the abuse of power. At first it was the CIA Leak case. Then it was torture. And warrantless wiretapping. And now drones and Gitmo and corruption and the withering rule of law. With things like auto bailouts and healthcare interspersed along the way.
I’ve been doing this a long time, and never took the time to take a step back to figure out how best to do this work. And while I’ve been privileged to have had the opportunity to do so, six years of manic blogging wears on you. Particularly when that blogging has mostly chronicled a long string of bad news about the rule of law and our Constitution.
It’s time for me to take that step back, and to change the way I work to make sure I can continue to keep it up over what looks to be a long term slog. A key part of that step back will be stepping away from the manic, reactive rhythm I’ve established here at Firedoglake.
So sometime on Friday, emptywheel will move to its own server at a different URL (obviously, I’ll let everyone know the new details).
At emptywheel’s new home, I will continue doing what I’m doing. I’ll be covering civil liberties and abuse of power and the way that ties into our crashing economy. I will no doubt continue to write, a lot. I will continue to do the really weedy work I’ve always done. But I plan to change the way I work–with a focus on also producing longer, more finished articles and possibly another book project. And bmaz will be coming along to contribute as he has for so long. (Yes, there will be Trash Talk!)
Meanwhile, FDL will still have superb civil liberties coverage. Later today, Jane will announce more details, but I can say Kevin Gosztola, who has already been doing great work at MyFDL, and who I consider to be one of the most exciting new voices on this beat, will pick up much of the load.
Look for more details–and a lot of thanks–in a few days.
will miss you. Best of luck.
Hey!! You don’t have to miss us, we will still be around, and we darn well hope you are too!
Marcy — I love you!
AND — I am so thrilled to know you took my advice and accepted Al Gore’s offer to take the slot after Keith’s show on CURRENT TV. This is what I have been waiting for for 8 years.
yah-hoooo! Marcy building her brand! More thorough investigative pieces, connecting the dots, keeping us back from distracting shiny objects like a traffic cop with whistle and hand outstretched — STAND BACK! All that AND saying cock sucker on national television… or maybe it was blowjob.
Anyway, she doesn’t mince words!
I can’t wait!! I bet you even show up with a tan after some 2 week pause at Cabo San Lucas.
I followed you here from The Next Hurrah and I will follow you wherever you go. I haven’t the words to properly express my gratitude for your work to dig through the weeds and keep us informed of what our government is trying to do behind closed doors.
Your tireless effort and indomitable spirit have been a continuing source of hope for me in what is otherwise an exceedingly dark time. I simply cannot thank you enough.
Good luck with your new venture, leave us a trail of breadcrumbs by which to follow you, keep the light on, and the liquor cabinet stocked (otherwise, bmaz gets testy ; ) Best wishes to you, the Mr., and McCaffery!
Well said Phred.
I too have been a long time lurker/stalker of your work. I like your analysis and writing style. I do not always agree with your conclusions but I respect you and your work tremendously. Sad to see you not in the same place. I have to be fully honest. You’re the reason I am here at all. I probably will drop FDL.
Best wishes with your new project.
Never have to agree, reasoned argument is not only good for the participants, it makes the issue discussion better. That will not change and look forward to continuing to see you!
First you leave Ann Arbor, and now this!! ;-)
I’ve wondered how long you could keep up that pace with such careful, high-value research and information output. I started reading Firedoglake when I read in the Ann Arbor News (now gone), that an Ann Arbor person would be live-blogging the Libby trial…and so it began. I’ve learned SO much on this site and thank you for all that you do.
I look forward to continuing to follow your blog — where ever that is.
It’s like my last move. I’m moving, but not that far away!
Didn’t know you found us through that Ann Arbor News article. Just one more reason why I need to focus on getting my work in traditional outlets, to get more people like you suckered into the blogosphere.
I agree about getting more of your work in traditional outlets. Not that traditional outlets are my favorite these days, but there are lots more people (probably) who read USA Today than who log in and read blogs. I also think there are MANY people who are hungering for factual information and are tired of the usual government propaganda spewed by Cable. I’ve stopped watching those Sunday morning programs. Anyhow, good luck in your new venture. You’ll have an ever-growing following!
I’ll see you at your new home!
Boxturtle (So it ain’t goodbye)
Nope. No goodbyes. Just a warning that you may need to adjust your browsers on Monday morning to find me.
If I can’t find you, I’ll ask Dick Cheney where you are. I’m SURE he always knows how to find you.
Boxturtle (Obama is probably keeping track of you as well)
I bet Panetta is, too.
Gee, and to think I had several versions of “The Typewriter Song” queued up for the next one of those onslaughts!
You made me look :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vuDMInQMYQ
Congratulations, good luck and thank you for all your hard work! Can’t wait to check out your new digs.
Glad to hear that bmaz fellow will still be your partner in crime. I wish you both well in your new adventure. Thanks for all your time in the weeds on behalf of a better society.
You brought me here…I followed the live-blogging of the Libby trial…I’ll continue to follow your depth and clarity.
A note…I really enjoyed the video recaps during the Libby trial. I have no idea if you will include any video work at your new digs.
See you at your new place.
Working it into the plan. It may not happen on Monday (or maybe it will!). But planning on doing something like that.
(I’ll have to invest in new lipstick, I guess.)
I’ll buy your lipstick! Just email your color and brand.
DW said it best:
“Frankly, the better your “luck” the more likely that the society’s and the nation’s fortunes will improve.”
Yeah, I would be careful about this offer Marcy, lest yer lipstick come wrapped in a Sweater Vest.
bmaz, I always enjoy your posts and you are funny and tough. No bs gets by you. Looking forward to more excellent writing. Thanks for all you do.
Darn-it bmaz…You get me every time! Anyway, I do have a sweater vest in your size. I assume if I send it, it will be used to start a bonfire.
He might use it to repair his roof.
Without question, EW, your words deserve and our society’s well-being requires that you and your thoughts find broader exposure.
I echo phred’s sentiments in their entirety.
I can say, with neither reservation nor the slightest of snark, that I am truly “looking forward” to all of your future endeavors.
Frankly, the better your “luck” the more likely that the society’s and the nation’s fortunes will improve.
DW
I look forward to your next book as well as blog, happy trails!
I will follow you anywhere.
x2
Wow, I’m just someone who lurks every day but I really appreciate every article you write here. I’m sure I’ll read everything you write on your new site as well. I’m glad to hear you’re taking BMAZ along. Thank you for all the great articles and I hope to see you on your new site soon!
I’ll be there where ever you are to check out the new lipstick. Congrats on your special blog – long may it wave. And thanks for all your great work in the past.
Marcy, you rock. I’ll be looking for you.
Will this be a moveable feast?
Love your in-depth work.
Always thought you’ve got many, many good books in you.
Glad trash talk and Bmaz will roam the outfield
Good luck…
This is a real loss to FDL community, but I’m heartened to know your work (and that of bmaz) will continue. I look forward to reading it.
I agreed to come to FDL because of the moral authority of your voice and your work. While I know your work will continue on, and while I look forward to working with Kevin Gosztola on The Dissenter, it is a sad day for me, and I know for many people.
I wish you and bmaz tremendous success in your new endeavors, and will continue an eager reader and fan.
Glad you’re going to be here, Jeff. Important voice.
As someone who was really, really sad to leave FDL, I think I may have a sense of what you’re going through. Can’t wait to read your next work, and the future of civ-lib coverage here at FDL, too.
Bon voyage, EW, and more power to your keyboard.
So long, EW, and thanks for the fish!
Yours has always been the first page I go to on FDL.
Just let me know where to show up, and I’ll be there; been reading you since about the time you started back before FDL.
I thought it was a grind writing a column and a few edits a week; I can’t imagine what it must be like to churn out the copy you do all the time. Makes my head hurt. Need a beer. Got some cold Spotted Cow, and while the sun’t not up to the yardarm quite yet, I’m drinking a toast to your new venture…
BEER THIRTY!
Oooooh, Spotted Cow is teh good!
Wow Marcy!
I think I first found Jane because I was reading your stuff on the Next Hurrah. Loved everything you wrote there and here. Never thought I could follow you into the Libby weeds but I learned so much from you. And then the orange tennis shoes! And the Kobe in Pittsburgh.
As Ruth said to Naomi, “whither thou goest I will go . . . ”
Look forward to a deeper slower pace. Frankly I can’t keep up here—haven’t been able to for a long time.
You have one of the finest minds of anyone I have ever met. Look forward to the next chapter. And if you come out to Limerick I’d love to buy you a beer.
Blessings.
RevDeb
Roger that…!
Great but bittersweet news. Will be following you to your new location.
Oh, and how can we lobby to get you onto Keith’s show? Now that the MSNBC minders do longer have sway you would add a lot!
(( Oh, and how can we lobby to get you onto Keith’s show? Now that the MSNBC minders do longer have sway you would add a lot! ))
That guy? He’s small potatoes… Though, technically he would be her boss, afterall, he is Chief News Officer. but given she’ll have here own show, 7 minute segments aren’t enough to contain her. And especially not with the new flourescent orange lipstick..
What’s that?… You didn’t say flourescent orange? … That was someone’s tennis shoes? … Well there you go, that’s why we need you on TV, so incompetent text readers like me can get the story straight.
That said, I think readers would agree, flourescent orange would be pretty hot.
Ummm, are you yanking our chain? Any link to confirm this rumor, since the hostess did not refer to a new TV gig in her post…
So glad you and bmaz are staying together. When does this new site open?
New site should open Friday–it’ll go live as this one stops. That said, it’s always safe to expect a hiccup or two. I’m hoping we fix them over the weekend.
Personally, I’m expecting major news to break, kind of like when you go to the wilds of the UP and are off the grid. “Quick, while Marcy’s not looking — now’s our chance. What needs to go out in the trash this Friday?”
Maybe an announcement that they’ve decided to expand Gitmo, complete with a brand-spanking new courtroom for all the military tribunals to use.
Perhaps a resignation will be announced.
Or maybe a Grand Bargain will be rolled out, throwing more than a few hippies under the bus.
Or maybe it will be that the FDIC takes over a dozen more banks.
One way or another, something big is going to break while you’re making this transition.
Good luck, Marcy!
dear ew,
this is very sad news, but entirely understandable. about two months ago i came to the same conclusion with respect to commenting.
“…six years of manic blogging wears on you. Particularly when that blogging has mostly chronicled a long string of bad news about the rule of law and our Constitution …”
those two sentences describe precisely how i felt.
i worry that the combination of bush and obama have worn us all down to defeat, but i really don’t believe that in my head and heart. no matter how much we love the work we do, or feel it is important to some other(s), there is always, at some point, a need to move away from intensity and angry reaction to a quiet spot for reflection (and scheming (strategizing)for the future :>))) ).
for myself, i could not possibly have lucked onto a better media site than “emptywheel” to help me become far, far better educated in the details of the abuse of power and the abuse of law.
i consider myself a most fortunate alumni of the free university of emptywheel. my deepest thanks to ew, bmaz, sara, mary, eofh, maddog, fatster, harpie, gitch, and literally dozens of other commenters who have provided me this wonderful education (and an oppertunity to larn how to type and spell).
good luck, ew. i strongly support this move for you personally, but i got to say, a morning without emptywheel to read is going to take a while to get over.
Hey now, we will be around as always, just have to change the link you press to get to us. And we expect you and your excellent commentary to be around too!
Same goes for everyone. You will still have us to kick around, and we expect you to do so!
Your post x2,OATL…It has been a privilege and an honor for me.
This blog has been an oasis of sanity in an increasingly vast, Sahara -like mirage of faux news and holographic governance.
EW and bmaz, the very best to THE very best. And remember, if you’re not getting flack,you’re not on target. (But y’all knew that.)Thank you both for your intellect and integrity .Until we meet again, Gitch.
Congratulations. Let me know if I can help.
Will do!
Same goes for me.
I don’t know how you’ve kept up the pace this long–it has been (and you are) completely remarkable.
About your getting away from a “reactive rhythm”, does this mean more attention/investment in proactive thinking/writing? We collectively are strong on pointing out what is wrong imo, but generally much weaker on proposing solutions.
It’s not goodbye, since I how to find you [wicked grin]. I started with you at the Next Hurrah, and will continue through this graduation.
Wow, so many originals have gone, T-Rex, Christy, Pach—it’s time to start an alumni association.
Cynthia, I wish I had saved all of the T-Rex posts. I used to laugh until tears were streaming. When things get dark, we could use some of his zany wit.
I will never forget T-rex hiding in the “FDL safe house” with “Ned the fighting koi” and the graphic cartoon of the dinosaur and the fishbowl
Classic
Ah! Ned the Fighting Koi! Thanks for the reminder, I’d forgotten about Ned.
I will never forget the Libby live-blogging,though; bloggers, of all people, raising money in small amounts (think I managed a small donation, even) to send Christy and Marcy and Pach to DC; the virtual slumber party notes at Jane’s house, and the support work of locals like egregious. (Gawd, probably leaving out a dozen names who participated).
Marcy, so sorry to see you go. I’m not fond of change, but man, the blogosphere changes even more than the physical world.
I dont know how you’ve kept up this pace for so long. I, too, find that I cant keep up, that the thread I want to comment in or think about has long moved on by the time I find it, so I don’t comment as much as I once did.
But I lurk, and read behind everyone else, though more selectively, I guess; picking which subjects I’m more passionate about…or more outraged about… to follow more carefully.
I’m sure you can use more time to prepare your deep, weedy posts. And I, too, will follow, though you’ll be missed here. I look forward to more vids, too, like the Libby trial days.
Will your twitter handle have to change? Forget if it’s tied to fdl or not, and too lazy to look.
Nope. Twitter is emptywheel straight out. That doesn’t change.
LHP!!! Alumni association would be a fun thing when these two get grounded.
Congratulations Marcy and bmaz. I’ll be reading your new site as well. It’s been a long ‘ol time. Thanks for the hard and brilliant work.
(((((Marcy)))))
You’re as close as it comes to an irreplacable resource. The fact that you’re looking to make your work more sustainable is good news for all freedom lovers.
As you know, I will be supporting your financially.
Whoa, what a wild week or two. Murdock’s fortunes are, I dearly hope, crashing on some karmic shoals of catastrophe. Meanwhile, EW leaves FDL…?
This gives me hope:
I now check several econ-related blogs each day, and the filth emerging in the economic news is simply stunning.
FWIW, we are finally seeing some of the tax haven enabled activity at the heart of it all. I thought that I’d noted Shaxson’s Treasure Islands in your blogroll recently, but I don’t see it there today. I hope it turns up at the blogroll in your new site, along with the Tax Justice System and related resources.
It was at EW’s that I first realized that the neofeudalist banksters had put on Financial Semtex in Sept 2008 and threatened to blow up the economy. The politicos blinked, as did I; after watching that drama unfold, I developed a mighty appetite for information about fundamental economic structures.
Since Sept 2008, we’ve finally started to see clear sightings of what can only be called criminal organizations fronting as mortgage banks, fronting as real estate syndicates, fronting as telecomm outfits. And yet, as with the NOTW disaster, no real investigations. Nothing to give any credible sense of cops on the beat; the abuses of power are truly nauseating.
I can definitely see your gifts in long form, as well as books.
Looking forward to it, and ‘life is change’ so I take this shift to a new URL with a few very large grains of salt and mixed emotions.
Marcy: I’m a long time reader who very very seldom comments. For the longest time I’ve been meaning to say just how much I value and respect what you do – your tireless work ethic and great intellect have had a profound influence on how I view this increasingly frightening world. While your departure is certainly a loss for FDL, I anxiously await your new beginning.
Good luck, Marcy! I’ll be following you over the fold, so to speak.
(quietly attaches self to hull of s.s. emptywheel like a cynical barnacle… box lunch packed, ready to sail…)
Oh, not a barnacle! David Addington ruined barnacles forever with his barnacle branch theory of government.
But worry not, the SS Emptywheel comes equipped with lots of secret luggage holds, so there’s plenty of stowaway room for all.
Jeebus. A guy goes outside to play at farmer for a couple hours and the whole world changes!
Best of luck in your new digs, Marcy and bmaz.
Gotta figure out the proper housewarming gift for a new virtual home…
Hello, Marcy: Best wishes on your new venture. Let us know if we can contribute (financially) in supporting the new EW vehicle.
–Jim in Mpls
Will do. Thanks!
what phred said @2 (although i’m pretty sure i remember you posting at the old bopnews?)
many thanks, best of luck and will look forward to visiting your new digs.
Ah, special props for remember that before there was TNH there was BOP (which I didn’t even count in the 6 years).
Whew! I’ve been at it a long time.
Bookmark worthy…
I’ll be back friday to try out the new place.
Damn and Hell! I gotta get a third computer! Or maybe it’s finally time to move to an iPad. How am I gonna keep up with all the new locations?
I was always embarrassed that we never got to the top of that $150,000 funding bar for you, Marcy. I did my little part. I am so, so sorry to see you leave the Lake. This just doesn’t seem right.
Marcy: You are the true successor to I.F. Stone. And, remember, he did a weekly. So, don’t push yourself to get something everyday. Though I will certainly miss the multiple, detailed stories per day, the value of your work is easily high enough to wait for.
I’ll certainly be following to wherever you go.
Hmmm. Weekly. Don’t think I could manage that.
(((Marcy and bmaz)))
You both have given me hope for a better future for my children.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Of course I will be lurking daily at your new site but wanted to express how much you two have meant to me.
Been following you since before fdl (emptywheeler)and will not stop now. It’s not a full day without reading a weedy article from you!
Congrats and best of luck with your re-rebirth, Marcy and bmaz.
Hey, look who’s here! Hope you are well.
Ditto that, how you been drat? We have missed you.
I sense from Jane’s post that this is a genuinely-unwelcome development for her and for FDL, and understandably so. I don’t want to add to anyone’s distress about this, but the unfortunate implication here is that Emptywheel’s association with FDL prevented you from slowing down and maintaining a more sustainable, in-depth pace, as you rightly desire, and that some accommodation in that regard could not be arranged to encourage Emptywheel to stay in the FDL fold. Thus the break does come across as a “no confidence” vote in FDL to some degree – though the welcome news of the creation of The Dissenter blog, featuring the dedicated, principled Jeff and Kevin, helps a good deal to counter that impression.
I too wish you both the best in your new digs, and somehow I think that you’ll continue to steal the march on everyone else in the breaking news department (if now more so via Twitter alone).
The hectic, often-superficial pace of overall posting at FDL detracts from the value of the site for me (it frequently steps on some of its most valuable content, including here) – though evidently that “relentless” churning is designed to maximize visits and thus revenues, etc. But I hope, in the interests of sustainability and limiting the risk of burnout, that ‘management’ will make clear to the new Dissenters that they will not be required to produce output beyond their capacity, in an effort to keep pace with every momentary, passing rumor or random piece of gossip generated by the commercial media’s beloved Party vs. Party war(s).
Sorry to see you leave FDL, Marcy, but whatever you decide to do, I’m sure you’ll continue to set high standards for independent journalists and contribute greatly to our struggle! Thanks so much.
Thanks for all you do and best wishes on your plans.
You’re incredibly gifted, Marcy. Happy that you’ll continue to educate us with your reporting and insightful analysis and that the transition will be seamless.
And there isn’t a single person I have ever encountered on the ‘Net who has managed to write a post and incorporate videos from UFO and Rainbow and make it work so well. That, among many, many other things, is what makes bmaz great.
I’m staking a claim on one of those stowaway spots in the hold of the S.S. Emptywheel.
A song for the occasion…
A dreamer of pictures I run in the night
You see us together, chasing the moonlight,
My cinnamon girl.
Also. Blow Job.
Oh, and they’ll never take me alive…
EW,
I will never forget the refresh button frenzy over fitzmas, at dkos.
your liveblogging the ensuing trial was one of the highlights of my bloglurking career/hobby.
you are the brains of the tubes, m.
i think you’re the tops!
now,
don’t forget to: eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.
and use the hyphen twice for a double dash.
see you.
yours,
stagema
Fuckin’ a.
I go off line for an hour and they move all the stuff out.
Reminds me of a fishing friend. He gets married and now can’t go fishing every weekend any more. Our group of anglers takes it in stride. A year or two go by and then he’s calling up saying he wants to go fishing the next weekend. We’re all down with that and, come early Saturday, we’re heading out of town, yakking the way we do in the car on fishing trips, about baseball, politics, fishing, acquaintances in common. About an hour into the drive, one guy asks Mr. Married how it was that he managed to persuade the Missus to let him out to go fishing.
“Oh, she was all for it. She said I should go, that it’s been a long time and all.”
I look at one of the other guys, and I get a look back that says “something’s up.”
The scales fall from my eyes and I say to Mr. Married: “You know what? She’s redecorating. And when you get home your stuff will be out the door.”
“Oh, no. She’d never do that.”
When he got home, the house had been redecorated.
Right now, I feel like he did on finding his stuff all piled up on the corner.
Best of luck, EW. Just make sure we still get the keys to the likker cabinet, so BMAz can’t get at it.
Lucky for you I’m not much for redecorating.
In my case, the aphorism that “He who steals my stuff, steals trash” applies with double force to my furniture. And redecorating would be defined as “re-stacking the storage bins and sweeping up the dog hair”.
Don’t buy it, I’m telling you the woman wants new paint, crown molding and wood floors everywhere!
And I want a winning MegaLotto ticket. Each has a similarly likely chance of happening, I suspect.
Look forward to your new place and your writings. I hope you will expand, at times, into broader looks at our society/nation and things you see happening globally. Thank you for your hard work a FDL.
I’m thinking I probably will. That’s where this all heads, isn’t it?
Marcy, if you want to get all society and Europeany and so forth, then one subject that is very undercovered is social class. Watch the rhetoric in the U.S. and it’s all the rich vs. the middle class. That may well reflect the evolving binary division of wealth. But only yesterday did I hear Obama, for example, referring to the working class and even the poor. It was a rare reference.
Even Move-on in its vid-promo about the declining middle class, didn’t acknowledge directly that we have a multi-class, multitiered society. The “middle class” (in Move-on’s romantic description of Ozzie and Harriet Fifties) has been shrinking. Well what has it become? Middle, working, and poor?
In any case, I think with your background you could do quite a bit with the subject of evolving social stratification, and “class” as reflected in life style, and mixed with gender and race politics. It’s not just economic, not just income distribution.
Just a thought, or two, for you to consider.
Good point.
Alan Grayson did a superb ad hoc presentation at NN on our not two but three Americas. I was tweeting a lot of the data he was dumping and folks were pretty shocked–such as that a huge chunk of this country has a net worth of $1000 and doesn’t have a car.
You know, that is exactly right. Too often, the discussion is framed simply in terms of the elite and middle class without addressing the continued existence of the working class and poor who have been, are, and should continue to be, a valued and important part of our nation’s fabric.
Almost certainly not a member of this community anymore, and FDL will continue to get the traffic because I am so far behind. (So I will check out Jeff and Kevin) But does wild happy dance.
When EW “cuts through the fog of nonsense with the beam of her insight,” and when that insight is broad and not simply guess/speculation, it is something very crucial and important to see. No one else can do it in the same way, and no one else can find the key detail in the same way.
(What is going to happen to the archives?)
(Our so-called Fearless Leader, completely disrespected and mocked by the troops, is just going to be left to stew. Traitor.)
Archives should be at new site intact.
Will they be searchable/indexed by tag, or something similar?
This is so exciting! Step right up folks, everybody’s a winner…
Oh Marcy and bmaz! I’m excited to see your new place. I’ve often wondered in the short time I’ve been around how in the world you do what you do here. I know I couldn’t.
This move seems to echo something I’ve been thinking lately: sometimes I’ll be still interested in discussing a certain post, but another equally compelling one will come up, and the first discussion gets kind of lost. I suppose that might be different in the new place.
But, wherever you go, I know it will be a good place to be.
See you there!
Marcy, I think back to your blogging (with Jane) of the Scooter Libby trial. It was an extraordinary, memorable moment in the history of the blogosphere, as the mainstream press realized that there were people who understood what was going on and were capable of bypassing their monopoly.
You’ll be missed from FDL. But I have no doubts you will reach new heights at your new digs.
i was reading you at the next hurrah and was so happy when you came under the fdl banner — i didn’t have to go far to find your posts. i will follow you to your next location.
it’s just not going to be the same *sob*
Well, I wish all the best for you and you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I will be coming with you and will also continue to read here. You and David are daily reads.
Marcy,
It’s been great reading you and I, along with Jeff, will definitely be confronted with a void when you leave. We’ll have a burden to grow and develop what we do to win readers over, as I know you have grown quite a following that will miss reading you here at FDL.
Good luck with your new endeavor and I couldn’t just leave a comment. Here’s a farewell post I put together for you.
Ah yes. The next hurrah. Will be looking forward to your new digs.
Marcy and Bmaz: I’m sad you’re leaving FDL, but I will definitely be following your adventures at your new home. You’re some of the sharpest minds I’ve had the good fortune to follow.
Also, too….the best “blowjob” on the intertoobz!
Congratulations Marcy and bmaz! You guys are a national treasure. I don’t have time to comment often, but read every word you write and will keep doing so at the new site. Your extraordinary reporting is one of the few remaining checks on an out of control empire. Looking forward to the new digs.
This is sad. The recent Book Salon with Glenn Carle is just one small example of the astonishingly good work you have done here.
I’ll continue following the excellent FDL coverage of the issues. And I look forward to seeing you in your new home.
Yea, I hope people realize how much effort goes into all you’ve done. The hours, and hours, and hours devoted to this have been incredible. I’ve written posts on my little blog that have taken me up to 5 and 6 hours to put together and they’re not even close to the detail you’ve had in post, after post, after post, after post, 7 days a week
I appreciate it
PS will the new site still be called emptywheel?
Yes
Yeah…Where can I go to get my emptywheel in Seattle?
Questions, Questions, Questions, flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today. Ah, but it’s a great time to be alive ladies and gentlemen. And that’s the theme of our program for tonight, “It’s so FUCKING GREAT to be alive”! Is what the theme of our show is tonight, boys and girls. And I’m wanna tell ya, if there is anybody here who DOESN’T believe that it is FUCKING GREAT to be alive, I wish that they go now, because this show will only bring them down so much… ]
Or is it still…
Destination unknown
Life is so strange when you don’t know
How can you tell where you’re going to
You can’t be sure of any situation
Something could change and then you won’t know
Keeping us on pins and needles, eh?
Or this:
And while we wait for this, too, to pass…
Hey!
Wait!
I’ve got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
…Your advice
Oops, bmaz, didn’t mean to neglect your contributions…just kinda got carried away with nostalgia there for a minute.
I’ve watched you grow from a thoughtful commenter to a great poster, and I look forward to reading more of your work, too.
Both of you are excellent at forcing me to refine my own thoughts and arguments on an issue, and I’m the better for it.
Hey, I am just the janitor on this bus. And happy to be so.
Yours is the ONLY blog I read at FDL. I too came from Next Hurrah.
Much luck to you and bmaz at your new home.
See you there.
It’s not the destination that is most important or worthwhile or pleasing to our very souls, but instead the journey.
So I’ll put my thumb out now and hope to catch a ride before darkness falls.
ew, I’ve wondered forever how in the world you managed to do it. bmaz, too. And trash talk, and even what sounded like a vacation from time to time, plus the millenialab who presumably must be walked like a standard canine, on top of it all.
Thanks for taking care of yourself. Sorry to say, we need you for the long haul.
And please do let us know how we can kick in towards costs.
Please, please, please tell me you will still make the most delicious, delectible pie in the entire universe(s)?
.
.
.
.
PS: I couldn’t take it if you said “no”.
Made a lovely cherry pie on Sunday. That’ll have to keep Mr. EW until I get settled and/or the peaches arrive.
After the peaches arrive, I don’t really have a choice about making pies.
My mother used to slice and freeze the peach surplus – we had peaches all year that way. (Not usually pie, in our house: peach cobbler and sometimes peach ice cream. And, always, sliced peaches for cereal or with shortcake or ice cream.)
Two of my favorites, indeed. Thank the Goddesses. Now I can sleep! Best of luck, of course.
OT
The Menace Within
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/julaug/features/spe.html
Thought it was important to respond while I am here at Guantanamo so that the DOD, DOJ, CIA etc are all aware of your move….wouldn’t want to leave them behind would we?
Anyway, you have by far have had some of the best detailed coverage of Gitmo issues and there has been many a time when I learned stuff here from you and those responding that I managed to stick into a brief here and there. And then of course there are all those other issues that you managed to provide detail and insight into as well. Amazing stuff and I am looking forward following you (and bmazey :) )at your new digs.
Waves to hcgorman at GITMO!
If time and your minders permit, any new tidbits you can share with us?
Every time I come there are new rules. Today my briefcase and wallet were taken from me before I could meet with client. They claimed my briefcase looked like a purse which of course resulted with me asking if I should bring a more masculine looking briefcase next time…
but on a more serious level they are reconsidering a change in rule that allows us to bring books to our clients. For the last six or eight months we have been allowed to bring with us books that are for our clients that we turn over to the guards for screening and a few days later they are delivered to our clients and they can keep them in their cell. Seems now they are thinking that this is not fair to the men who do not have attorneys, sigh.
I would tell you what my client had to say about this possible change in rule (and the reason for the change) but then I would have to be sent to prison because my client notes have not been cleared yet and so his comments are classified.
Anyway they took the books that I brought for my clients because the ban on books has not taken effect yet but just “being considered.”
just a day in the life.
I’ve always wondered if we could write to detainees, like prison penpals. I’m sure we can’t, even if they could read English or we could write Arabic, but — what rule? Can their families write to them? I saw Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s new photo on Wikipedia and wondered how it was that he was allowed to be photographed in anything but an orange jumpsuit. So much I just don’t get.
(Hey! It’s gone now! He was dressed in full robes, with respect, and the photo had been attributed to his family. I see it’s still up elsewhere with wikipedia attribution in an article by Andy Worthington.)
Because we wouldn’t want the national surveillance state to be left behind …!
;-p
Okay, now THAT just flat out cracked me up. Like you, we’re not done yet….
Marcy and bmaz, I wish you all the best at your new home! You will be missed here, but we will go there to catch up with you.
I truly appreciate all the hard work you have done, and I know you will continue to do it. I hope you find your way forward, as you have planned.
Thanks again.
WOW, just WOW. I go to work today (and actually do something) and come home and WHAM.
But I can’t let this post go without commenting on the how very, very much you have brought us in your thinking, which, in its 4D capacity rendered me sitting on the edge of my seat late at night reading Emptywheel. We can’t begin to thank you enough, or even acknowledge your accomplishments, so numerous and deep are they. Know that we are very grateful for being on the thinking and moral front of the American Decline. I remember being insatiably curious about the Libby trial, googling to find out whatever I could and landing at TNH. What a find! I’ve been following you ever since. And I’ve told mr. posaune many times that it will be EW who writes the ultimate history of the last decade (a la Shirer).
Best of all things we wish for your future, both EW and bmaz! We will follow you where ever you go! Please let us know if we can help in any way & where to send contributions! Nashledanou!
Na shledanou! A diky!
Well, good luck, you guys.
Marcy, your work was the only reason I spent very scarce dollars to become a member at fdl, (not that I didn’t enjoy the late night and late late night clips and cartoonsb, suzanne) so I guess I now will have to start a new penny jar for the new digs. Whatever. Your work is vital to an understanding of what’s being done to people in this country. Not what’s happening because that implies inadvertent occurrences. What’s being done to working class and poor people in this country is criminal.
I’m with you for the long haul.
Thank you. I’m grateful for your support.
Since Marcy and Bmaz have provided such valuable information and perspectives over the years, I guess I will have to add a new tab for the new website to my list of homepages so I won’t miss anything. :-)
At the risk of being lost in the crowd, I want to add my good wishes to both you and Bmaz. I know that I was one of the first to kick in a paltry sum when your money thermometer went up. It was money well spent. I hope that once you are gone you don’t become just a memory here.
Onward and upward guys. See you there.
ew, I’m gobsmacked! … and then also curious to see what you’ll do differently — you’re so good at assessing issues and being decisive. Best wishes to you and bmaz … and all of us, really. Waiting for my sea legs on this one … can’t even find my sea key … ha! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ uhoh ° ° .
(P.S. You sure? :-)
As a mere Canuck, I just have so much respect for what you do and how you do it, and how often you do it. So I will be following you to the new site. Too bad that you didn’t take the opportunity to dump bmaz who, while his legal insights are quite useful, has little or no useful information about major world sporting events (/s).
thanks for all your hard work, filling in the blanks left by the commercial news sources. yes, i will definitely follow to keep informed. your work makes possible a better tomorrow.
I don’t know whether to cheer or cry!
Cheers, I guess, for doing what is best for you.
I have learned SO much from you my dear lady. I was there at FDL all those years ago.
Wicked smart, determined as a monkey after something shiny in a little box, you are the epitome of what investigative journalism should be. It has been my pleasure many a time to pick your brain and just as often tease you mercilessly.
I can’t say I am going to miss you because as soon as I find out where you land I am updating the Blogroll at Ornery Bastard instantly.
You, are a national treasure.
Keep up the excellent work get a tune up and some new string for the ol’ weedeater and get back at it.
Total Bonus round, most excellent, Bmaz is hanging in there too. Right the fuck on!
Best of luck to you both, now find someone to pay you six figures while you are at it!
Much love,
Busted
Busted, the new digs will not feel like home until you and all the old friends are there.
I’ll of course follow you over there.
What I’ll demand is updates on my old Tempe Jazz haunts.
I was thinking of you the other day. Ran into a lady who used to work at Monte’s La Casa Vieja, and we were all OH YEAH! ALICE TATUM – FRANCENE! on how old Mill Ave used to be.
Ha! I am almost positive I saw Margot the other day, but it was in a crowd and I wasn’t positive. Many moons ago I used to know brother Bucko Reed pretty well. I think I heard he has got another band going. Lot of stories there…..
Marcy,I will follow you anywhere, because you give me hope that there is still someone writing the truth. You are very wise to consider having more reflection time. I cannot begin to express the admiration, the thrill of relating to such brainpower, that hits me when I read your posts. Plus your cute sense of humor jumps out occasionally and makes me chuckle. My best to you.
EW,
Did Sheldon W. ever get you an answer to your major question way back?
And have you thought of adding your own “special coverage” archive tabs? I think you will need one called “Pixie Dust”.
And, I miss skdadl…
just checked the other day again–her intertoobz are broken but she’s okay.
Though I miss her too.
Thank you Marcy, you are one of the great reporters of all time.
Marcy, I read Emptywheel before anything else on FDL and your reporting was the main reason for my considering joining(I haven’t yet done so). Please let everyone know where we can find you online. Good Luck!
Man, so much research and writing on complex issues, and baking pies (plural!), too. I am in awe, truly.
Congrats emptywheel and bmaz!
Looking forward to seeing and hearing about the new digs (and TV show?!) –no one has corrected rhfactor @144 yet, so a ‘silent nondenial’ so far…
Speaking of redecorating, I remember sometime after emptywheel arrived at FDL I noticed that she had added a subtle but bright red vertical line through the brown header at the top of the screen. She must be redocorating, I thought and the red and brown looked good.
Then over the next day or two there were more red lines and then green and black lines. Finally, I realized I needed a new computer as 2/3 of my screen went to columns of full black.
I’m now on my 3rd computer since finding TNH and FDL and am planning to burn through many more following everyone into the future.
One suggestion for the last emptywheel post on FDL–or for the last graphic to go with your last post. Perhaps a ‘frequency word collage’ (don’t recall the technical term, but like the one that your friend did once before) displaying the words that you typed most frequently in your FDL posts through these years.
If I’ve got a TV show, I haven’t heard about it yet.
I’ll hang onto ‘yet’.
1. blowjob
2. dick
3. beamish
if i had to guess…
lol. All that’s left to decide is what color to display them.
Unfortunately, torture, Cheney, and wiretapping are more likely.
yeah, “torture” is the first word that popped to mind, but that is too freakin’ depressing so i went with the tongue-in-cheek version for sanity’s sake.
(and go Japan!!)
wordle.com is a fun way to create “word clouds” and the most frequently repeated words are the largest.
That would be called a tag cloud.
And for those of you who are from the future reading this archive… we know… we weep for you.
Yes, we’re in a world of shit… And though we be radioactive… we are alive!
For the time being.
“~}
Jeebus, so you are trying to demonstrate what potty mouths we are???
Well, only at emptywheel could ‘pixie dust’ be turned into a dirty word…potty mouths we be.
well.. now if Tbogg relocates i won’t have any reason to have this site bookmarked at all .. i’ve leared a great deal reading you [marcy] and bmaz as well .. good luck and see you wherever y’all get off to …
emptywheel, I too followed you from The Next Hurrah. I will follow you and wish you well wherever you go. Glad that bmaz will join you. You are why I check into this site. A sincere thank you to both of you.
I’m on a west coast trip for the month, working my way from Vancouver to the Bay Area via Seattle and Portland, and haven’t been able to keep up lately, but you can count on me to stay with the Elusive Truth Caravan…
Thanks for all that you’ve done with Jane and the Firedogs!
An old leak case groupie….
I’m rereading The Anatomy of Deceit as we speak….I was prompted to do so after reading James Stewart’s book Tangled Webs.
Best of luck – and I will definitely be looking for those longer articles, and fresh Emptywheel books.
(Whatever happened to that $100+ that was raised by the funding drive? I thought that was to fund you and one staffer? Has it all been spent?)
Marcy, thank you. I first found you on The Next Hurrah and will track you when you leave these digs. Nobody mines the weeds quite like you do.