The same Judge Boasberg who was the presiding judge when FISC accepted a falsified submission from the FBI on Carter Page? Shouldn't that have been part of your comment on the matter?
See last week's issue. They have a strange blind spot when it comes to Boasberg. Apparently, naming everyone else in this newsletter is OK but not the nameless, faceless judge.
The way it is reported using the word "nemesis" and linked to a Truth Social post, undermines the very fact of the matter. When Boasberg was in a position to be the most effective brake on Section 702, he did nothing. Complicit in fact or function. The very nerve of the guy to now hold himself out as some kind of champion. Shame on Racket.
Did we ultimately buy subscriptions so we could edit their newsletter for bias?
Seriously, including the following commentary is pertinent, but seems naked. without mentioning how much Blunderbuss Biden dumped down the Ukraine War memory hole?
“Meanwhile, the Pentagon is asking for a $200 billion fund to fuel the war as receipts come in at more than one billion dollars per day, according to a Fortune report.”
Lol. Biden gave Ukraine $182 billion over three years. Trump wants $200 billion after just three weeks. More key points — Biden did not start the war in Ukraine while Trump started the war with Iran.
...and the very same Judge Boasberg who accepted Clinesmith's guilty plea ...
..."Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the guilty plea proceeding occurred via videoconference before U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg." DOJ Press Release August 19, 2020 ...
Judge Boasberg’s role as presiding judge on FISC during the Carter Page FISA application is irrelevant. The authority of FISC is limited — the court can grant or deny applications but lacks jurisdiction to investigate the truthfulness of FISA requests.
Thanks for proving my point with documentation. The FISC document you posted explains that because of the work of the “Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, the Court has received notice of material misstatements and omissions in the applications filed by the government in the above-captioned dockets.”
Every judge who approves a warrant has the constitutional power and obligation to deny a warrant that they conclude is based upon false information. A warrant based upon false information cannot be constitutionally valid on it's face. Inherent in that power is the power to investigate and compel testimony for that determination.
The idea that any court can be forced to accept the government's testimony as true in a warrant application, and that the court has no power to test or question the government's testimony in that warrant application--is unconstitutional on its face.
A warrant based on false information is inherently unconstitutional.
The article did say that Boasberg is a pain in Trump's posterior. It will be interesting to see if this same judge pops up again and again in any FISA file releases. If he does, his Carter Page outrage might be a nail in his coffin.
The Dems surely don’t read bills. ICE was fully funded through the “big beautiful bill” so them holding the TSA hostage is a seriously moot point but you’d never know that by the talking heads on TV. If you waited in a 3-4 hour line at an airport recently or even missed a flight and still vote for these morons then you deserve each other.
Q: “I wonder when we'll have the 1st female Secretary of War.”
A: “Senator Elizabeth Warren wears a mean Indian war bonnet. So does Senator Lindsay Graham, except that when he wears it, he looks like Elizabeth Warren.”
Lindsay Graham: “Everything tastes better with a war bonnet on it!”
[“ … 1970-80s TV commercials … the "Everything's Better with Blue Bonnet on It" jingle was commonly performed in the key of F major or G major …, often sung by a bright, cheerful chorus … a melody that emphasized a light, simple tonality.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkm4HY-3cD8&t=1s]
--- ESPN headline (03/22/26):
“Jets paying combined $48M for Rodgers, Field Not To Be Their QB in 2026.”
This is worse than the Minnesota Day Care Centers that were paid over a billion dollars not to be teaching any children!
--- [France flipped and is now supporting the Hormuz fleet action]
Thank goodness that The Frogs have changed their minds!
We now can reap the benefit of the French military mess halls with the crêpes --- can’t go to war without crêpes suzette!
"It is famous for being flambéed tableside, a dramatic technique that ignites the alcohol, burns off the harshness, and caramelizes the sauce."
Well, we beat them to the punch, having flambéed the Iranian navy and caramelized the Ayatollah and his top 100 goat-horny cohorts.
Reads like AI slop. Didn't get through the first paragraph.
The second sentence, "The third week of conflict saw continued tension over shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz", is at the same information level as: "The gas pedal makes the car go fast"
Just mainly here for the comments section until my subscription runs out. I guess this is the scenario when a monthly is actually the better deal.
Did anyone else think it odd that Matt kept calling out the most aggressively off-base accusations from the comments during the ATW final episodes, instead of addressing serious questions?
Given the current state of Racket, giving preference to those trolls seems even more suss.
My year is up in May. I never would have thought that a monthly subscription would be the way to go at Racket, but I am reluctantly convinced that it is so; and mystified and concerned for Matt.
My annual renewal just came up and I did switch to a monthly. Unless I start seeing less partisan reporting and more actual news being discussed in the podcast I will be cancelling at the end of the month.
I am still waiting for some sort of word from the author regarding the comments indicating a misleading use of statistics in Ryan Lovelace's recent hit piece on Kash Patel's FBI. We were told that this was going to be reporting that we could trust.
Factual error here. No, Trump did not say “nobody saw this coming” (or the equivalent phrasing he used) about Iran closing or threatening the Strait of Hormuz. He used that language exclusively in reference to Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes on other Middle Eastern countries—specifically Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Kuwait.
The exact remarks come from two events on March 16, 2026:
- At a Kennedy Center board lunch: “In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. **Nobody expected that. We were shocked.
- Later the same day, when directly asked whether he was surprised no one had briefed him that this might be Iran’s retaliation: “Nobody, nobody, no, no, no. No, the greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit — they were — I wouldn’t say friendly countries, they were like neutral. They lived with them for years.”
In the same speeches, Trump *did* discuss the Strait of Hormuz (noting U.S. actions had largely neutralized Iran’s navy and mine-laying capability there, and that countries like South Korea rely heavily on it for oil). But he never tied the “nobody expected”/“nobody saw this coming” surprise to the strait’s closure or any Iranian action there. The surprise was framed purely as Iran hitting neighboring Gulf states that “weren’t supposed to” be targeted and had coexisted with Iran.
In short, the reports claiming it was about the Strait of Hormuz are inaccurate or conflated; Trump’s actual remark was only about Iran’s unexpected attacks on the other regional targets.
Trump claimed that “nobody” expected Iran to retaliate by attacking U.S. allies in the region which was yet another false statement by Trump. Multiple experts had publicly warned that Iran would likely respond this way and Iranian officials had themselves vowed that Iran would target nearby U.S. allies if attacked.
As for the Strait of Hormuz, Trump underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the strait since he believed the closure would hurt Iran by stopping its oil exports. Of course Iran will allow ships carrying Iranian oil to sail through the strait — Iran will only attack ships carrying other countries’ oil. Trump did not understand this for some reason.
My comment was addressing this inaccuracy by the author:
King, though, argued that “they did not plan for the Strait of Hormuz — the president said ‘Who knew that was going to happen?’”
As I stated, Trump never said that and it’s been inaccurately stated on CNN and MSM and I expect much better than that from Racket News. Even if just poor editing, it’s disappointing and should be corrected.
Did I just click on The Free Press? What the sweet hell was that? I’m really trying to want keep my subscription, and ain’t looking good. Subscribed years before it was called “Racket”, specifically for Taibbi’s journalism. Tremendously disappointing.
I suspect Matt is taking some time to regroup career wise and mentally. Walter leaving probably knocked him for a loop. I’m giving him some grace and some time, hoping he can eventually pull it back together.
I don’t disagree. I highly suspect that MT is happier when writing books and doing deep dive investigations. This may have just been a star that burned bright and fast that’s now on the wane. If he’s unhappy I would personally prefer that he lets Racket’s star collapse and not become another TFP. He’s got plenty more investigations and books in him and we most certainly don’t need another TFP. I do hope that you are correct, but I ain’t holding my breath as all signs seem to point to the death knell of the former best substack on Substack. Sigh.
A few sentences in and this week's issue is even worse than last week's. Where is Taibbi? He made a bombastic announcement of how "this time, it's going to be different" and then washed his hands to go run a podcast with pedo-infatuated Michael Tracy. WTF? My year's long subscription is in danger.
Thanks. I've chosen not to renew other Substacks, on occasion, and just waited it out. In this case, Taibbi himself said he was changing the content. Fine. He seems like a good guy, so I figured there would be a way to part amicably. Seems not.
Trapping unhappy subscribers will only pollute the comments section.
I've been a Taibbi fan for a couple of decades. Used to subscribe to Rolling Stone just for his articles - bought all his books. Was an early subscriber to this site too. Never in a million years would I think I'd ever unsubscribe from him, but I did last week. If I want to read stuff the MSM would put out, I'd get a subscription to the TImes or something. Have been extremely disheartened by what I've been seeing and barely reading here. I've mostly just been stopping by to see the comments and read what people, more articulate than I, have been into words. I miss Walter, too. I used to really look forward to the podcast and would read whatever Matt wrote...even if it was a real investigative piece I might feel challenged to follow. I didn't always agree with every opinion he might have, but that didn't matter - he was always interesting to read - I'd learn something - or give me something to think about. It's been a real blow to see how this site has changed. Oh well...and so it goes...
I would like to receive a refund for the remaining amount of my year’s subscription. I have been a subscriber to Matt Taibbi’s work for several years and this is not what I thought I was going to continue to receive. (This is the second time I’ve requested a refund for the current subscription.)
I subscribed to Matt Taibii, now I’m reading a bunch of recently hired wokesters who “interpret” the news and Michael Tracey on the podcast. I’m a monthly subscriber and about to pull the plug.
Remind me again how dangerous a decapitated creature is? I mean we don't actually have zombies & from the speculative fiction I've read on Zombies even decapitation works to eliminate any threat....how would you need help defending against a decapitated nation?
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
The same Judge Boasberg who was the presiding judge when FISC accepted a falsified submission from the FBI on Carter Page? Shouldn't that have been part of your comment on the matter?
See last week's issue. They have a strange blind spot when it comes to Boasberg. Apparently, naming everyone else in this newsletter is OK but not the nameless, faceless judge.
The way it is reported using the word "nemesis" and linked to a Truth Social post, undermines the very fact of the matter. When Boasberg was in a position to be the most effective brake on Section 702, he did nothing. Complicit in fact or function. The very nerve of the guy to now hold himself out as some kind of champion. Shame on Racket.
"Shame on Racket."?
Hell, Racket is lost.
Did we ultimately buy subscriptions so we could edit their newsletter for bias?
Seriously, including the following commentary is pertinent, but seems naked. without mentioning how much Blunderbuss Biden dumped down the Ukraine War memory hole?
“Meanwhile, the Pentagon is asking for a $200 billion fund to fuel the war as receipts come in at more than one billion dollars per day, according to a Fortune report.”
"Did we ultimately buy subscriptions so we could edit their newsletter for bias?"
All modern journalism happens in the comment section. Today, journalists pay for the privilege :)
Exactly! With MSM, I always went straight to comments, and if Racket starts to become MSM, that's what will happen.
Lol. Biden gave Ukraine $182 billion over three years. Trump wants $200 billion after just three weeks. More key points — Biden did not start the war in Ukraine while Trump started the war with Iran.
What was the $ amount associated with the military equipment and weapons Biden left in Afghanistan?
...and the very same Judge Boasberg who accepted Clinesmith's guilty plea ...
..."Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the guilty plea proceeding occurred via videoconference before U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg." DOJ Press Release August 19, 2020 ...
Judge Boasberg’s role as presiding judge on FISC during the Carter Page FISA application is irrelevant. The authority of FISC is limited — the court can grant or deny applications but lacks jurisdiction to investigate the truthfulness of FISA requests.
So you're saying Boasberg is just complicit in function. Thanks for the clarification.
Apparently he has now been reformed by the experience of being the presiding rubber stamp. He now hopes to make amends for being an appointed stooge.
https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/FISC%20Declassifed%20Order%2016-1182%2017-52%2017-375%2017-679%20%20200123.pdf
Thanks for proving my point with documentation. The FISC document you posted explains that because of the work of the “Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, the Court has received notice of material misstatements and omissions in the applications filed by the government in the above-captioned dockets.”
Every judge who approves a warrant has the constitutional power and obligation to deny a warrant that they conclude is based upon false information. A warrant based upon false information cannot be constitutionally valid on it's face. Inherent in that power is the power to investigate and compel testimony for that determination.
The idea that any court can be forced to accept the government's testimony as true in a warrant application, and that the court has no power to test or question the government's testimony in that warrant application--is unconstitutional on its face.
A warrant based on false information is inherently unconstitutional.
The article did say that Boasberg is a pain in Trump's posterior. It will be interesting to see if this same judge pops up again and again in any FISA file releases. If he does, his Carter Page outrage might be a nail in his coffin.
The Dems surely don’t read bills. ICE was fully funded through the “big beautiful bill” so them holding the TSA hostage is a seriously moot point but you’d never know that by the talking heads on TV. If you waited in a 3-4 hour line at an airport recently or even missed a flight and still vote for these morons then you deserve each other.
It's even worse, they read them.
Kinda like the Schumer shutdown. Obviously ill cconceived and done for performative reasons.
...but hey ... the democrats are the advocates for the "working class" ... it's just that they don't mind wage theft when it suits them ...
🎯
Ever hear of the concept of leverage?
What leverage do they have? Schumer will be humiliated again.
03/23/26: In other news today:
Q: “I wonder when we'll have the 1st female Secretary of War.”
A: “Senator Elizabeth Warren wears a mean Indian war bonnet. So does Senator Lindsay Graham, except that when he wears it, he looks like Elizabeth Warren.”
Lindsay Graham: “Everything tastes better with a war bonnet on it!”
[“ … 1970-80s TV commercials … the "Everything's Better with Blue Bonnet on It" jingle was commonly performed in the key of F major or G major …, often sung by a bright, cheerful chorus … a melody that emphasized a light, simple tonality.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkm4HY-3cD8&t=1s]
--- ESPN headline (03/22/26):
“Jets paying combined $48M for Rodgers, Field Not To Be Their QB in 2026.”
This is worse than the Minnesota Day Care Centers that were paid over a billion dollars not to be teaching any children!
--- [France flipped and is now supporting the Hormuz fleet action]
Thank goodness that The Frogs have changed their minds!
We now can reap the benefit of the French military mess halls with the crêpes --- can’t go to war without crêpes suzette!
"It is famous for being flambéed tableside, a dramatic technique that ignites the alcohol, burns off the harshness, and caramelizes the sauce."
Well, we beat them to the punch, having flambéed the Iranian navy and caramelized the Ayatollah and his top 100 goat-horny cohorts.
Reads like AI slop. Didn't get through the first paragraph.
The second sentence, "The third week of conflict saw continued tension over shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz", is at the same information level as: "The gas pedal makes the car go fast"
Glad to know it's just not me. No thoughtful analysis just regurgitation. So disappointing.
...I studiously avoid reading or watching BSNOW for many reasons ... Suddenly I have this epiphany ... I am paying Racket for BSNOW leftovers? ...
Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network will be happy to have you back.
...who says I left? ...
Trash. I used to like seeing Racket in my inbox. Now it just seems pointless even opening them
Just mainly here for the comments section until my subscription runs out. I guess this is the scenario when a monthly is actually the better deal.
Did anyone else think it odd that Matt kept calling out the most aggressively off-base accusations from the comments during the ATW final episodes, instead of addressing serious questions?
Given the current state of Racket, giving preference to those trolls seems even more suss.
I'm baffled and disappointed by the whole thing. I was monthly and when I canceled they gave me a free month. It's barely worth even that.
My year is up in May. I never would have thought that a monthly subscription would be the way to go at Racket, but I am reluctantly convinced that it is so; and mystified and concerned for Matt.
My annual renewal just came up and I did switch to a monthly. Unless I start seeing less partisan reporting and more actual news being discussed in the podcast I will be cancelling at the end of the month.
I agree. This is subpar.
I am still waiting for some sort of word from the author regarding the comments indicating a misleading use of statistics in Ryan Lovelace's recent hit piece on Kash Patel's FBI. We were told that this was going to be reporting that we could trust.
Factual error here. No, Trump did not say “nobody saw this coming” (or the equivalent phrasing he used) about Iran closing or threatening the Strait of Hormuz. He used that language exclusively in reference to Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes on other Middle Eastern countries—specifically Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Kuwait.
The exact remarks come from two events on March 16, 2026:
- At a Kennedy Center board lunch: “In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. **Nobody expected that. We were shocked.
- Later the same day, when directly asked whether he was surprised no one had briefed him that this might be Iran’s retaliation: “Nobody, nobody, no, no, no. No, the greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit — they were — I wouldn’t say friendly countries, they were like neutral. They lived with them for years.”
In the same speeches, Trump *did* discuss the Strait of Hormuz (noting U.S. actions had largely neutralized Iran’s navy and mine-laying capability there, and that countries like South Korea rely heavily on it for oil). But he never tied the “nobody expected”/“nobody saw this coming” surprise to the strait’s closure or any Iranian action there. The surprise was framed purely as Iran hitting neighboring Gulf states that “weren’t supposed to” be targeted and had coexisted with Iran.
In short, the reports claiming it was about the Strait of Hormuz are inaccurate or conflated; Trump’s actual remark was only about Iran’s unexpected attacks on the other regional targets.
Trump claimed that “nobody” expected Iran to retaliate by attacking U.S. allies in the region which was yet another false statement by Trump. Multiple experts had publicly warned that Iran would likely respond this way and Iranian officials had themselves vowed that Iran would target nearby U.S. allies if attacked.
As for the Strait of Hormuz, Trump underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the strait since he believed the closure would hurt Iran by stopping its oil exports. Of course Iran will allow ships carrying Iranian oil to sail through the strait — Iran will only attack ships carrying other countries’ oil. Trump did not understand this for some reason.
What a canard, those mines can differentiate which nation an oil tanker belongs to.
My comment was addressing this inaccuracy by the author:
King, though, argued that “they did not plan for the Strait of Hormuz — the president said ‘Who knew that was going to happen?’”
As I stated, Trump never said that and it’s been inaccurately stated on CNN and MSM and I expect much better than that from Racket News. Even if just poor editing, it’s disappointing and should be corrected.
Did I just click on The Free Press? What the sweet hell was that? I’m really trying to want keep my subscription, and ain’t looking good. Subscribed years before it was called “Racket”, specifically for Taibbi’s journalism. Tremendously disappointing.
I suspect Matt is taking some time to regroup career wise and mentally. Walter leaving probably knocked him for a loop. I’m giving him some grace and some time, hoping he can eventually pull it back together.
I don’t disagree. I highly suspect that MT is happier when writing books and doing deep dive investigations. This may have just been a star that burned bright and fast that’s now on the wane. If he’s unhappy I would personally prefer that he lets Racket’s star collapse and not become another TFP. He’s got plenty more investigations and books in him and we most certainly don’t need another TFP. I do hope that you are correct, but I ain’t holding my breath as all signs seem to point to the death knell of the former best substack on Substack. Sigh.
A few sentences in and this week's issue is even worse than last week's. Where is Taibbi? He made a bombastic announcement of how "this time, it's going to be different" and then washed his hands to go run a podcast with pedo-infatuated Michael Tracy. WTF? My year's long subscription is in danger.
I scanned it until the part where only Democrats were quoted at a committee bitch session/PR stage opportunity. Resistance!!
I kept going, but you made the right decision. And, Matt, for one who is against "takes," there sure were a lot of them in this piece!
Please clarify the refund policy for those of us who renewed for a year before the "New Racket."
When I cancelled last week I didn't see any refund option. Instead, the subscription plays out until its term ends and it's not renewed. Sad!
Thanks. I've chosen not to renew other Substacks, on occasion, and just waited it out. In this case, Taibbi himself said he was changing the content. Fine. He seems like a good guy, so I figured there would be a way to part amicably. Seems not.
Trapping unhappy subscribers will only pollute the comments section.
I resemble that remark
I get it--it's a racket!
Same for me. I will NEVER AGAIN buy a year’s subscription to any Substack subscription. Only monthly or free from now on…
Yes, I am losing Interest in Substack generally and may soon quit.
"losing Interest in Substack generally"
Yes.
I've been a Taibbi fan for a couple of decades. Used to subscribe to Rolling Stone just for his articles - bought all his books. Was an early subscriber to this site too. Never in a million years would I think I'd ever unsubscribe from him, but I did last week. If I want to read stuff the MSM would put out, I'd get a subscription to the TImes or something. Have been extremely disheartened by what I've been seeing and barely reading here. I've mostly just been stopping by to see the comments and read what people, more articulate than I, have been into words. I miss Walter, too. I used to really look forward to the podcast and would read whatever Matt wrote...even if it was a real investigative piece I might feel challenged to follow. I didn't always agree with every opinion he might have, but that didn't matter - he was always interesting to read - I'd learn something - or give me something to think about. It's been a real blow to see how this site has changed. Oh well...and so it goes...
I would like to receive a refund for the remaining amount of my year’s subscription. I have been a subscriber to Matt Taibbi’s work for several years and this is not what I thought I was going to continue to receive. (This is the second time I’ve requested a refund for the current subscription.)
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
I subscribed to Matt Taibii, now I’m reading a bunch of recently hired wokesters who “interpret” the news and Michael Tracey on the podcast. I’m a monthly subscriber and about to pull the plug.
Remind me again how dangerous a decapitated creature is? I mean we don't actually have zombies & from the speculative fiction I've read on Zombies even decapitation works to eliminate any threat....how would you need help defending against a decapitated nation?
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
This is nothing if not "takes." Worse, takes on old news.
For a stunning example (and how-to) of connecting the dots, see today's Coffee & Covid by Jeff Childers: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/fizzles-fears-and-flip-flops-monday
This is a disgrace. It's all about Democrats attacking the Trump administration. Not at all balanced.