Open Thread - Thurs 15 Dec 2022 - The News and Assange
The News and Assange:
Recently there was some mention amongst US and international media giants of Julian Assange, his imprisonment, the conditions he's kept under, and the horrific treatment given to him by the US and its lackies.
This was strange, because for most of Assange's last ten or so years, during which he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy, then taken prisoner by the British on behalf of the USA government and sent to Belmarsh, the main stream media has remained almost completely silent unless it's something negative they printed. For example, the Guardian has published negative, and basically false, stories and/or opinions about him.
The details:
5 newspapers, The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País signed a letter on November 28th urging Biden to drop the charges against Assange. These five newspapers collaborated with Wikileaks when the Chelsea Manning leaks were published.
Note: the WaPo says that a spokesperson for the Times asserted that papers are calling for dropping only the publishing-related charges against Assange, not the hacking-related ones (which charges, I maintain, are also dubious). The WaPo also has criticized the indictment, in 2019, according to the article linked above.
Others, with perhaps more credibility in some ways (since they weren't against Assange after using his work, then suddenly for Assange, like the Guardian, the NYT, the WaPo, etc), are also asking the government to leave Julian alone. For example, Humphrey, on Dec 6th on this site, posted a tweet from Daniel Ellsberg about Julian Assange and how he, Ellsberg, also had the Manning leaks (Assange had given them to him) and so he, Ellsberg, should logically be prosecuted too, right? Common Dreams has a story about Ellsberg's revelation and comments.
Roger Waters, amongst many others, has had some comments too, published, of course, at RT because Waters is persona non grata now.
Also, the Aussie PM, Anthony Albanese, 'has been personally pushing the US government to bring the Assange case to a close.' From Caitlin's article on Nov 30.
One of the good video discussions of what happened/is happening with Assange and this call for dropping charges against him, was from Aaron and Katie at Useful Idiots. They had appear as a guest Matt Kennard on 9 Dec. Kennard went into detail about the Assange case, how stupid and illegal and cruel the whole thing is and offers his opinion on why the powers that be are changing their point about Julian (the interview with Kennard starts at 23:32 and is pretty long, ends at about 57 min). This was a really good accounting of the illegal and immoral government(s) actions taken against Assange. One of the points Kennard makes is that Assange's is a POLITICAL case, he's a political prisoner, not a legal one. Makes sense to me. Sadly, Kennard doesn't think anything will come of the big 5 newspapers letter. Because this is a political issue, and Britain is completely controlled by the USA.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwyICKN3lac]
The Useful Idiots Video
The Lee Camp Video
Another discussion comes from Lee Camp. He posted a video with a very good discussion of the NY Times article. His discussion of the New York Times stuff starts around 7:30 or 8:00, it's long, it lasts about 25-30 minutes. Lee goes into detail about what the NYT and the others are saying, and critiques it pretty well, I think. Lee wonders, like I do, why it's taken so long for these media giants to publicly realize, acknowledge, how harmful this persecution of Assange is for all reporters and media outlets. He also doubts this letter and sudden media attention will amount to anything, although he speculates that maybe, just maybe, the Brits are getting ready to release Assange and the NY Times, etc, letter is the start of that.
So, I think all this discussion of and attention about the indictments against Julian is great. I think that the 5 papers are finally stepping up, just a tiny step, but it's a step to acknowledging how awful for press freedom these indictments are, and how wrong they are. If this gets Julian freed, I am so for it, so for it. I wish the 5 papers, or at least the ones I know about, the Guardian and the Times, would retract or fix their horrible stories which spread lies about Assange. But, this is a step. However, I have to wonder...
Why are they bringing this up now? What is the distraction for? Is it to provide Biden with the opportunity to do something 'good'? Or something else? Maybe to distract from the walkout at the New York times? Or perhaps people power, as Lee Camp says at the end of his piece linked above, has finally gotten to them? Or they've finally realized the danger these indictments of Assange bring to them and their work? Or, they are just doing this now because they know it won't matter and it will make them 'look good', kinda like the Dems do all the time?
Whatcha think? Oh yea, and Lookout posted an update about the Assange saga on last Sunday's Weekly Watch. Check it out if you haven't yet!
So, thanks for reading and here's the open thread - and remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Hello!
It's very cold and icy/rainy/snowy here in western Wa. Not the usual weather for here; we are slated to be 10 to 15 degrees colder than normal next week! On the other hand, it's very Saturnalia-y. (Ok, Christmasy! or... Yule-y
).
Jaska is doing much better! She is walking really well on three legs, even running. She uses the hurt, arthritic, leg for balance but other than that, doesn't put weight on it, yet. We are hoping that changes as she heals more.
What's up with you? How you doing? What's on your mind?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning...
I'm glad Julian's case is finally getting some play, but I'm doubtful Joementia will relent. As Alex says, western leaders have no reverse gear. Freedom of the press and speech is a joke in the states these days.
There was a rally for him in NYC last weekend.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixI3l1AHX5c]
On Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, 2022, about 300 people gathered outside the British consulate in New York to voice their support for imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Speakers: Rock legend and activist Roger Waters, Assange Attorney and Author Margaret Kunstler, Environmental activist Steve Donziger, Consortium News Editor- in-Chief Joe Lauria, Grayzone Editor Max Blumenthal, Bundestag Member Sevin Dagdelen, Comedian and Activist Randy Credico, Co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Ben Cohen, Broadcast Journalist Garland Nixon, National Director of Movement for a People’s Party Nick Brana, and union official and grass roots activist Chuck Zlatkin.
Joe Lauria's speech
We had a big rain (2.2") yesterday, and now temperatures are set to drop through Xmas. Evidently a Siberian air mass is migrating over the N. pole. Hope everyone stays warm.
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It’s been snowing since Sunday
OOPS this was meant for .
Some times it came down hard and others just a steady amount at a slower pace, but it’s added up to over a foot in the valleys. I finally broke down and replaced my old snowblower and it’s being delivered in a few. Yay..it has lots of bells and whistles and I was exited to use it….
My neighbor just got done clearing the snow from my driveway with his 4 wheeler. Very nice of him, but as I said to the guy yesterday now that I bought it this will be our last storm this season. Yup we got a week of sunny but cold weather and here comes our inversion. The only way to escape it is to get above it in the mountains. It’s sunny and beautiful with the snow covering the trees so Sam will have another day playing like a puppy in the snow and running everywhere.
Glad to hear that Jaska is doing much better! Yay and yippee for you, Sima.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Yes yippee for Sam and I'm sorry I didn't mention Jaska
and how well she's doing.
Courtesy of NC
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Isn’t that awesome!
Does that mean that the duck is Jesus since he can walk on water?
Shitlibs are saying that Trump’s big announcement is his trading cards, but here is his real one.
My question is why aren’t the republicans doing this? I haven’t seen any republican talking about the censorship on social media and especially how the Biden administration got the Hunter story squashed. I like what Trump is saying, but he also promised to lock up Hellabitch and he didn’t even bother to investigate the Russian scam nonsense. They are promising to investigate some things, but when’s the last time an investigation resulted in charges and prison time?
Shitlibs will be against Trump doing this because they believe speech that they don’t agree with should be censored. Good gravy how far they have fallen from their values.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
The man is all bluster
When he was prez did he stop RussiaGate? Like his predecessor
before him they both like to talk the talk but neither knew how to walk
except for walking it back.
If elections mattered we wouldn't have them.
As for you twiiter post of Nancy the first
you have to
while the second one was a perfect 10!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
'If Elections mattered we wouldn't have them'
So true, and so sad.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Geese, Swans, Ducks landing...
are glorious to watch. When I first moved into the farm here, hundreds of ducks and geese and swans would stay through the winter on the winter pond (basically the lower pasture would get flooded by a backed up stream with lots of fish). It was glorious to see them, and hear them. The pond still happens sometimes, but the birds are mostly gone. I don't know where, but I suspect climate change
Thanks for the lovely video!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Jaska loves the snow...
like Sam. Even now, in her old age, she likes to walk in it and sit in it. Crazy Finnish dog!
We are supposed to get some snow here, not much, maybe an inch or two. But that's a lot for Seattle area! And it's supposed to be super cold. I think I will just have to brave the crowds and stock up for the next week (and Saturnalia/xmas) and then hunker down at home and enjoy the cold!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Sometimes I wish I was closer to the...
important part of the country (east coast, LA?) so I could attend these rallies. Thanks for the video of it! The speeches were good, very good.
Gonna be very cold here for the next few days. I guess we can blame the Russians! Or something. Usually, we here in WA blame the Canadians
. Keep warm and have a great weekend!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
One has to be sceptical of the MSM finally getting on the
"Free Julian Assange" bandwagon. If I remember correctly Brittney Griner
got more press attention for trying to get her freed in a one year
period than Julian did in the past 10 years.
I'm going with this
The one good thing that can be taken from all this is that people are more aware of the travesty
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFmXu1YeWWI]
So last night we had a thunderstorm and well over an inch of rain happily rather than a foot
of snow here in Chitotwn. The temps are meant to take a plunge starting this weekend
with no snow forecast for sure on the horizon.
My gas bill for last month which wasn't terribly cold was the highest one I have
ever received by 40%. The "Reduce Inflation Act" at work s/
Fuck joementia and the wef
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Yeah, same here
the light bill effectively doubled. The oil companies have figured out they can sell our
gas for much more to UK / EU and leave us holding the bag. Making us suffer for the
sake of some corrupt country in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the neocons are going to
sanction Santa and the elves in Siberia. Teach them a lesson for trading with the Chinese.
It's all coming to amerika
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gljtvwhcdhc&t=229s]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
UK treasure
I wish Jonathan Pie was "...coming to amerika." I guess the closest we have is Jimmy Dore.
Btw, that entire clip is more than worth watching.
He definitely is a true treasure
I wish he'd do more video's but que sera.
Jimmy is pretty good, you could get tired of him as he
does have an ego but overall he's on the side of J6P
which is awesome!
He does an awesome Bernie
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9wmPoEIJc]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
An inch of rain ain't too bad...
But the gas bill thing? Gads. I'm dreading getting my electric bill. Husband and I are heating basically with the woodstove but, there are parts of the house which have to use heating and it's electric here. Bleh.
Great Jimmy Dore clip. Thanks!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning Sima, thanks for the OT.
Good news about Jaska. Hope she continues to improve.
getting ready to start Saturnalia or whatever cards here, as soon as I run out of ways to stall.
Colder than usual here for about a week now, low thirties but not quite freezing. Big worru for garden and trees, but we do have a lot of cloth we can put over some of the beds.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
It's colder than normal here too
after being hotter than normal for September and much of October. Our garlic is growing, but keeping their heads under the soil right now. They've never done that before. I had to dig down about an inch or so to find them growing. As you know, if you've got growing plants that can't handle the cold, putting cloth over them can help. We actually use tunnels that we create with plastic sheeting and long bent into an arch pipes. But, no need yet, because nothing is planted here but the garlic and some celery!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Glad your Jaska is healing
We love our pets.
I am spending most of the day at the Seagoville Public Library. Our last dumped mommy cat is at the Spay Neuter Clinic in Crandall. (yay!) It is almost 60 miles from home to Crandall so I am saving myself an extra trip.
Also Glad that Julian is getting some attention. Hopefully, there will be a positive result!
Turned cold here last night too. Spent yesterday bedding down goats and chickens with lots of hay.
(edited this a bit) Have a great day all!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
You are doing great work
to take the dumped mommy cat to the spay and neuter clinic. And visiting the library wouldn't be that bad. I still visit our local library a lot! In the cold, like it is now, we give the goats and chickens hay, as you do. We've also got a heat lamp in the coop for the chickens. It works pretty good. One of our hens laid a beautiful blue egg on our garage steps, right outside the door. No idea why, but maybe it was a present
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Morning Sima and all,
So glad to hear Jaska is doing better. Hope she feels progressively better. I hate to see the pups in distress.
Here is some news and dark comedy out of the UK. It looks like a nurses strike is in the making. Funny how TPTB can always immediately find the money for a bank failure or a war or some-such-thing but when it comes to paying actual people for their work suddenly the money is just not available.
Great clip!
I really like Jonathan Pie! Jaska is doing even better tonight. I am hopeful!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
South Korean news tidbits
Today, President Yoon Seok-yeol's mother in law, in her second trial review by the "supreme court" was found innocent of what Americans would call medicare fraud, in the opening and operation of a rehabilitation center. As one of the partners behind the center, she was initially found guilty of operating a medical facility without a license, and receiving about one and a half million dollars in unlawful income. She had been found guilty at the trial level and sentenced to three years. Thereafter, in the second trial just prior to the official presidential campaign, the first trial review found her not guilty, on the basis of an exculpatory waiver which one knowledgeable critic alleged to be forged. That court also found the evidence of guilt to be insufficient and had already released her pending review. The supreme court found in a decision obviously after Yoon's election that the evidence was insufficient to defease the presumption of innocence. It's interesting and part of a pattern with Yoon's mother in law that she walked while the other partners were convicted.
The same is true of Yoon's wife Kim Gon-hee, (the "first lady") who has remained uncharged while the other principals in the Deutsche Motors stock pump and dump scheme are all in jail. Now that Yoon is president, he, his wife, and mother in law, are basically untouchable in the courts. Yoon had lied about his wife's direct participation in the insider trading scheme during a televised presidential campaign debate.
Meanwhile the principal suspects in the politicized Daejangdong real estate scandal have changed their statements since the first trial some time ago in a patent effort by the administration to incriminate opposition leader Lee Jae-myung (democratic party leader and former presidential candidate who lost to Yoon). The key figure in the wrongful disposition of investment funds to government, business and political figures, the so called "5 billion won club," allegedly tried to commit suicide yesterday and is said to be hospitalized with non critical injuries. The means of attempted suicide are not reported but appear to be automobile related. The key figure, now hospitalized, was Kim Man-bae, the CEO of Hwacheon Daewoo, the investment vehicle for the housing development project years ago in the city Seongnam where Lee Jae-myung was the mayor. The project development manager for the city has been charged among others and has incriminated Lee along with an attorney for the project. Kim Man-bae, the CEO who allegedly tried to kill himself, had refused to incriminate Lee Jae-myung, and said that the recent statements by his erstwhile colleagues in the project were false and inconsistent with their prior statements, and his conversations with them, and do not warrant any credible weight.
Incidentally more reports are being leaked to MSNBC which outline 15 files kept by the General Prosecutor's Office (President Yoon's former office) which suggest a centralized effort to control and manipulate the press, prosecutors and investigators in cases related to Yoon's family, Yoon himself, and Yoon's political critics and rivals. The office concerned was the Office of Information and Policy in Yoon's office.
As the facade of "common sense and fairness" slips away from the Yoon administration, he has embarked on von Hayek ideologically based economic policy, which is anti-labor, anti-union, anti-government health care, and so on to appease the so called "rotten special interests" (chaebol- corporate elites) that supported this corrupt government official in the first place.
Among Yoon's moves are back to work orders in the truckers' strike, investigation and jailing of striking labor leaders, the attempted implementation of a 69 hour work week, and an effort to strip benefits away from so called "Moon care" government health program. The latter is a government health care program largely put in place by by the prior conservative Park Geun-hye administration.
Yoon also appointed an ultra rightist to the government's truth and reconciliation committee. This individual has contended in the past that the Kwangju massacre in 1980 carried out by the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship against the democracy movement there was the result of a North Korean inspired political movement. This has been disproved by multiple prior committee investigations. The authoritarian Yoon is admirer of the former dictator Chun Doo-hwan. His consistent method is tarnish opposition with charges that they are communist sympathizers and embroil them scandals with fabricated evidence. (VOA Korea basically takes the same approach). Former ministers, a former National Security Adviser, and the former Director of the National Intelligence Service all from the prior democratic administration are under investigation by Yoon's prosecutors currently allegedly for compromising national security in two separate defector incidents.
As I have posted before, another questionable Yoon administration means to garner some support is to adhere slavishly to US-Japanese military and foreign policy goals, including potential decoupling from China economically (South Korea's largest trade partner) and supporting the anti-China Indo-Pacific Command goals, by joining in combined US, Japanese and allied naval exercises and allowing US "strategic assets" to exercise near or on South Korean territory.
The Blue Roof today reported that North Korea fired artillery into the East Sea buffer zone around the Northern Limit Line in violation of the military agreement with South Korea negotiated by the prior Moon Jae-in government. My suspicion is that US/South Korean artillery exercises near the DMZ and aviation exercises in the West Sea had already compromised the spirit if not the letter of that agreement earlier this year. Flight paths of air and tracks of joint naval exercises in and around South Korea are never reported.
This is TK's take from his The Blue Roof newsletter:
Mission accomplished! No Singapore Agreement between the US and North Korea; no intra-Korean military agreement either.
Polls on the popular support for Yoon and the so called People's Power Party, are all over the map. A Korean poll watcher I follow thinks the poll reports more favorable to Yoon and his party are statistically biased, and the polls that show the democratic party up about 9 percent over the PPP are correct. Basically, Yoon's hard core support is in the low 30 percent range, while opposition is probably in the upper fifties. Younger misogynistic males and the over sixty crowd susceptible to the anti-communist authoritarian approach remain his base. Friendly polls show Yoon and his party's support among the public 8 to 10 percent higher.
Thanks SIMA for the open thread. It was nice to have time recently to catch up on Korean news, but I wish I had more time to more carefully document my observations and edit them. I've basically given up on my blog which I kept as something I could go back to for reference. The memory isn't what it should be. Was it Einstein who said never memorize what you can look up? I still haven't given up my fantasy of learning to read simplified Chinese, I still don't know more than a few hundred hanja. I'm trying to encourage my granddaughter to learn it, she's young enough, and I think she has a gift for communication.
(edited multiple times for grammar, clarity and style)
語必忠信 行必正直
Thank you for this report on South Korea
I'm basically totally ignorant about what is currently happening there. This helps a lot.
As for learning simplified Chinese, I don't know if this will help or not, but I've been using Duolingo online to learn languages (mostly for reading and listening comprehension, not speaking) for a long time. It's made me fluent (again) in Spanish and German, and I can at least read Russian... heh. I haven't tried Chinese though, yet.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Here is this, for a laugh this morning/afternoon
My client/friend came by to discuss a possible lawsuit, asked if I had travelled lately, so I mentioned going to a museum in Port Arthur to see a Janice Joplin exhibit.
Well, he loved her beyond words, saw her in concert 5 times. He said the best one was in Charlottesville. She was lined up for a one hour session. At the end of the second hour, she was just getting warmed up. So much so, she stripped naked, kept singin' the blues. Management turned the stage lights off, the crowd booed, so management put some robe on her. She didn't fasten it, and it remained opened in front. The crowd, and my client, were extremely pleased.
What a memory!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
That Joplin concert would have been a show!
In so many ways! I would have loved the music!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Assange will die in UK prison
I don't think the US establishment wants a trial, as on appeal the inevitable guilty verdict will be reversed.
I think you could be right...
He'll die there, maybe 'helped' along, somehow
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Nancy Pelosi’s legacy as house speaker
Make sure you click through on this one cuz it shows her true legacy..IMO
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
That portrait was...
Perfect! And yes, her true legacy.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Another UK comedian
reporting on the mendacity of TPTB in the US.
(sorry about the advertisements in the middle)
Love Russell Brand
He's right on point, most of the time! He is in this video, and thanks for posting it!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so