2 Tweets re: julian asssange’s trial magistrate

Submitted by wendy davis on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 11:06am

Please consider this a PSA, I dunno if I'll be able to participate on the thread given epic weekend chores.

(referenced in a sub-Tweet):

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don't extradite julian assange!
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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 3:24pm
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Hopefully a judge that respects the law will be inserted, but I'm not going to hold my breath. And hopefully Julian's lawyers can get him out of there. Slim chance, but I gotta hope.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 4:34pm
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@snoopydawg

even if slim. from consortium news:

"Robinson made her remarks in response to a question from the audience about Arbuthnot’s reported conflict of interest in the case. Robinson did not provide further details. She spoke in future tense, but it is not clear if she was referring to Arbuthnot maintaining supervision of the case while turning over the courtroom duties to another judge, which she did weeks ago, retaining the right to influence rulings, or whether Arbuthnot has recused herself from the case. Consortium News has contacted Robinson to provide clarification.

really, the arbuthnot son's connections may be even more frightening: also from the daily maverick: ‘The son of Julian Assange’s judge is linked to an anti-data leak company created by the UK intelligence establishment’, Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis• [video:https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-11-15-conflicts-of-interest...

they open with:

“The son of Lady Emma Arbuthnot, the Westminster chief magistrate overseeing the extradition proceedings of Julian Assange, is the vice-president and cyber-security adviser of a firm heavily invested in a company founded by GCHQ and MI5 which seeks to stop data leaks, it can be revealed.

Alexander Arbuthnot’s employer, the private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, has a multimillion-pound investment in Darktrace, a cyber-security company which is also staffed by officials recruited directly from the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
These intelligence agencies are behind the US government’s prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secret documents. Darktrace has also had access to two former UK prime ministers and former US President Barack Obama.”

and close with:

“Earlier this year, Darktrace recruited Marcus Fowler, a former Marine and 15-year veteran of the CIA, to be its new “director of strategic threat”. At the CIA, Fowler worked on “developing global cyber operations and technical strategies” and “conducted nearly weekly briefings for senior US officials”, he says.
It is unclear what relationship, if any, the NSA and CIA still has with its ex-employees at Darktrace.
The CIA has made clear that it is “working to take down” the WikiLeaks organisation. It was recently revealed that the CIA was given audio and video of Julian Assange’s private meetings in the Ecuadorian embassy by a Spanish security company. These included privileged discussions with Assange’s lawyers who are now representing him in the extradition case overseen by Alexander Arbuthnot’s mother, Lady Arbuthnot.”

this may be just dangerous & nefarious mud-slinging, but one of the subtweets to the wikieaks daily maverick tweet is:

sigh. who is lucy komisar? beats me. https://twitter.com/LucyKomisar

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Submitted by travelerxxx on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 7:00pm
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@wendy davis

... who is lucy komisar? beats me.

Okay, I didn't know either, but I am fast finding out about her. One of the first things I'm seeing is that she does not buy into the William Browder/Russia story. The more I find out about William Browder, the more convinced I become that it's a total lie. You may recall that the Magnitsky Act, pushed hard by war-monger John McCain, is based on the story put forth by Browder. At this time, I consider Browder's tale to be a fabrication.

You may be interested to read this very recent article by Lucy Komisar: Assange lawyers’ links to U.S. govt & Bill Browder raises questions

I'll have to spend more time reading what Ms Komisar has written, but right now I'm impressed.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 7:16pm
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@travelerxxx

I don't know if a search for him will bring up the correct information on him, but from what I understand he negged on his taxes in Russia and did a lot of very bad things. Magnitsky wasn't killed in prison either IIRC. He died from a heart attack or some other disorder. We have been pummeled with so much propaganda since 9/11 I'm surprised how many of us can still see through the BS that we are inundated with every day. But I'm still trying to figure out why it was Papadopoulus that got in trouble when it was Misfud that first had the fake information about Russia having Hillary's emails? Shouldn't the FBI had wanted to talk to Misfud first? Heh...

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Submitted by wendy davis on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 9:43pm
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@snoopydawg

The more I find out about William Browder, the more convinced I become that it's a total lie. You may recall that the Magnitsky Act, pushed hard by war-monger John McCain, is based on the story put forth by Browder. At this time, I consider Browder's tale to be a fabrication.

no, i don't remember and had no idea, so double thanks.

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Submitted by ppnortney on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 10:31pm
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@snoopydawg

made about the whole Magnitsky thing, more information here: http://www.magnitskyact.com/

IIRC the filmmaker started out making a film based on believing Browder's tale, but he kept finding out that things were not the way they had been reported. As you'd expect they've had a lot of problems getting it distributed, Browder has lots of money and connections.

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Submitted by travelerxxx on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 10:39pm
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@ppnortney

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Submitted by travelerxxx on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 10:38pm
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@snoopydawg

The whole Browder mess has smelled rank to me from the very beginning. It's been out there for a while, of course. I was a bit late to the party. I received a X-mas gift from my brother-in-law and his wife a few years ago - it was the book Red Notice. I read it. Pretty good read, but something didn't seem right with it. I tucked it away, vowing to do some research on the issue, but I still haven't done it. What I have done is collect a bunch of links, a few of which I've read.

Let's just say at this point that I don't believe much coming from William Browder. There's a film made about the affair, evidently funded by Browder or some such. It was evidently made to buttress his case and put it before the public. As I understand it, during the filming, the actual people making the film became convinced that it was Browder who was the culprit and that what the Russian government was saying was the truth. They finished the film, having decided to tell the truth, and it's been deep sixed ever since. I have a link to the film, but have yet to watch it.

Evidently, this Lucy Komisar is all over it. I haven't had time to read what she's saying other than a brief scan of some of it. Perhaps it's time for me to go into it. A lot of this Big Bad Russia business is based on the Browder story. So, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it's all a load of bullsh*t.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 11:58pm
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@travelerxxx

for tax evasion and some other issues that he did there. I didn't flesh out my first comment very well, but Browder is not who people think he is here. It'd be a shame if Russia got there hands on him again cuz he would spend lots of time in prison there. The Magnitsky act was a total creation of his that he duped congress into passing.

The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 8:39pm
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@travelerxxx

amigo. was it in the comments on one of then who'd noted of the dought street lawyers: 'amal clooney, cia asset?' or close. well, george is totally CFR, so there's that, but:

it's likey i shouldn't have muddied the waters, as as far as i'm concerned, jen robinson (@suisgenerisjen) is a true warrior for assange, as is @assangelegal (hanna jonasson).

should jen have known? is that a convenient psyop? but that's why i'd included her twit account to click into: https://twitter.com/LucyKomisar

...for investigative purposes. so far as i've read her tweets, i like her politics.

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Submitted by travelerxxx on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 10:24pm
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@wendy davis

Yes, so far I'm okay with her. Seems she's written a LOT. Surprised I haven't run into her before this. If I have, I don't remember it. Still researching. May take a while....

As far as mudding the waters, the water is already pretty murky as far as I can tell. Deliberately so, probably.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Sun, 11/17/2019 - 11:02am
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@travelerxxx

was this off-guardian one (117 comments, many of which had extra links...and more links. some comments got pretty into the weeds, including pilger and craig murray as gate-keepers, etc. some claimed not to even believe assange is IN belmarsh gitmo, go figure.

as far as i could tell, amal clooney and mark summers faced the most damnation by links of other stories...

no updates from jen robinson on consortium news as to what arbuthnot's removal really means. but i did find this on jen's twitter account:

a few outtakes:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains ill and effectively isolated in a high-security prison alongside inmates facing charges for violent offences and terrorism, his lawyer Jennifer Robinson told a Sydney audience on Friday night.
"I was with Julian on Tuesday… and his health is obviously significantly and seriously deteriorating," said Ms Robinson, a prominent human rights advocate and barrister who has defended Mr Assange since 2010.

"The Australian government has not, as far as I am aware, raised any objection to the treatment of Julian Assange by the United States or an objection to his indictment under the espionage act," she said. "One wonders, had the Australian government raised their concern about this treatment of an Australian citizen whether the Trump administration would have pursued these charges."

Last week the former foreign minister and Australian high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, dismissed the idea that an Australian government intervention might save Mr Assange from extradition.

"All people are equal before the law. Julian Assange doesn't get some dispensation from the law of the land, in this case of the UK, because you happen to agree with him or think he did the right thing," Mr Downer said.

"If the United States wants to extradite him, and extradition proceedings are underway, Australia can't [intervene] even if it wanted to. That is the thing about these emotional narratives – they don't even make sense."

then some lies and smears:

The investigation by Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign found that WikiLeaks had contacts within the Trump campaign and released documents that were stolen from the Democratic Party by Russian hackers.
The report noted that half an hour after news broke about a recording of Mr Trump saying he liked to sexually assault women WikiLeaks released its first tranche of Democratic Party emails.

and this from mark curtis of the daily maverick, whatever it means:

@markcurtis30 23h23 hours ago

Mark Curtis Retweeted Jonathan Cook
Just to be clear, Arbuthnot is chief magistrate who directly ruled on Assange case til June, then appointed junior judge to hear the case who has done so since. She hasn't recused herself or declared conflict of interest and her role remains to "support and guide" junior judges.

there were commenters on the thread doubting magnitsky had died as reported, or even died at all, but here's one link provided:

Daily Mail: From Bob Browder himself. Worth a read.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943966/Putin-s-vengeance-Murde...

on morning edit: it IS the daily fishwrap, but the title and bullet points tell most of what follows:

Putin's vengeance: Murder, corruption and a dead man put on trial... how one man rose to the top of Russia's most-wanted list for daring to stand up to country's president

• Sergei Magnitsky died in November 2009 after 358 days in Russian prison
• Wrote daily letters about beatings but treatment was never investigated
• His friend William Browder successfully campaigned for Magnitsky Act - placing travel bans on Russian human rights abusers
• In return Vladimir Putin tried him for Magnitsky's murder in his absence
• Russians also tried Magnitsky - first dead man to be tried since 897AD
• Mr Browder says it is possible Russian regime is trying to kill him

By William Browder For The Mail On Sunday, Sunday,7 February 2015">7 February 2015

but as to the Magnitsky Act he'd written:

"It was formally introduced in the U.S. Congress on May 19, 2011. When word spread, Russian opposition figures and human rights activists came out of the woodwork to tell the senators and congressmen that senators and congressmen that banning visas and freezing assets was the Putin regime's Achilles heel.

They told their own stories of human rights abuse and asked the senators if it could be expanded to include all human rights abusers in Russia.

After roughly a dozen such meetings, the senators realized that they were onto something much bigger than just one case, and broadened the bill to sanction all human rights violators in Russia.

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Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 11/16/2019 - 6:43pm
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Tell him the only way he will prevail in all his challenges — Impeachment, the Supreme Court, and the 2020 Election — is to free publisher, Julian Assange.

Champion the First Amendment. Stop the slow murder of Julian Assange and win the hearts of good people the world over.

Rinse and repeat like an indicted St Petersburg bot.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Sun, 11/17/2019 - 4:54pm
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Twitter accounts i can think of, but i can't find what time of day julian's '18 November 2018 Call-over hearing (administrative hearing necessary to bring a defendant before a judge every 28 days)'.

but from my last diary from late oct. on his deadly plight i'd found:

"In a final vindictive move, Baraitser declared that next year’s week-long extradition hearing would take place at Woolwich Magistrates Court near Belmarsh Prison. There were audible gasps in the public gallery at Baraitser’s announcement. The venue near Belmarsh has a “public gallery” of just three seats, all but denying public scrutiny and allowing a biased media to selectively report and spread disinformation and lies.”

now that's the actual extradition trial on feb. 22 (iirc), but it does beg the Qs: who will preside tomorrow, and where the hearing will be held. braitser again?

anyway, my guess is that oscar grenfell may write about it in the morning, and i'll keep my eyes peeled in the meantime.

goddam. goddam. goddam.

on edit: just checked mama assange's account, & there's a notice that she's suspended her own account (not the Twitter pigs), but this was on her account:

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Submitted by ggersh on Mon, 11/18/2019 - 11:38am
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@wendy davis

https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/john-pilger-assanges-...

THE WORST MOMENT was one of a number of "worst" moments. I have sat in many courtrooms and seen judges abuse their positions. This judge, Vanessa Baraitser – actually she isn't a judge at all; she's a magistrate – shocked all of us who were there.

Her face was a progression of sneers and imperious indifference; she addressed Julian Assange with an arrogance that reminded me of a magistrate presiding over apartheid South Africa's Race Classification Board. When Julian struggled to speak, he couldn't get words out, even stumbling over his name and date of birth.

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