Hearty Congratulations to Julian Assange For Completing 1,000 Days In His Putrid Cell

nan said:

nohero said:

That's it.  It's the type of tenuous "connection" that is meaningless.  However, if it's "explained" with the type of short summary such as the one Ms. Nan uses, it forms the basis of dishonest accusations.

OK, try this article.  It goes into more detail:

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/05/18/leaked-emails-uk-home-secretary-priti-patels-mi6-operation/

It resembles a "National Enquirer" report on space aliens that you'd see at a supermarket checkout.

[Edited to add] Also, it's about a completely different allegation, than the one raised in the first attack you posted.


nohero said:

It resembles a "National Enquirer" report on space aliens that you'd see at a supermarket checkout.

[Edited to add] Also, it's about a completely different allegation, than the one raised in the first attack you posted.

OK, I will look at them later and respond.  In detail.  I hope they are like the National Enquirer because I'm nostalgic and supermarket checkout lines are just not the same these days.  Not hopeful though. 


Step 1: Post links to articles.

Step 2: Look at them later and hope.


FWIW, even the BBC and Guardian articles will generally indicate that Priti Patel is not very popular and is not seen as especially competent in her portfolio; their reports of this latest event in the Assange/Wikileaks case aren’t cheering in admiration. 
Nan, you might Iike to search for the documentary Ithaka, about Julian’s family. (the link I can give you won’t play for your tvs)

And please don’t confuse ‘Canberra’ under the Coalition government for our new federal government. Yes, in April Penny Wong appeared to hold similar views - but she was in opposition and needed to be careful. The Coalition damped down all whistleblowers and tried to prosecute all involved in the publication processes. New govt is more open and collaborative; we expect better, and several MPs have spoken in support. We have some major crises to deal with (collapse of power grid, for one) but we expect Dreyfus & Albo will step up.


joanne said:

FWIW, even the BBC and Guardian articles will generally indicate that Priti Patel is not very popular and is not seen as especially competent in her portfolio; their reports of this latest event in the Assange/Wikileaks case aren’t cheering in admiration. 
Nan, you might Iike to search for the documentary Ithaka, about Julian’s family. (the link I can give you won’t play for your tvs)

And please don’t confuse ‘Canberra’ under the Coalition government for our new federal government. Yes, in April Penny Wong appeared to hold similar views - but she was in opposition and needed to be careful. The Coalition damped down all whistleblowers and tried to prosecute all involved in the publication processes. New govt is more open and collaborative; we expect better, and several MPs have spoken in support. We have some major crises to deal with (collapse of power grid, for one) but we expect Dreyfus & Albo will step up.

That is good news, Joanne.  Julian's family has been travelling around advocating for him.  I used to follow his mother on twitter but they banned her (censorship is real).  


nan said:

.... I used to follow his mother on twitter but they banned her (censorship is real).  

hmmmm


drummerboy said:

nan said:

.... I used to follow his mother on twitter but they banned her (censorship is real).  

hmmmm

She was banned and this must be a new account because I don't follow it. That's good news. I just re-followed now. She has hardly any tweets or followers so this must be recent.  She was very active previously. 


yeah, it doesn't look like she was actually banned either. looks like her account went dark briefly, then re-appeared.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=christine+assange+banned+from+twitter


I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.


This is worth listening to also, even though Baquet is an arsehole and Greenwald makes an appearance at the end.



drummerboy said:

yeah, it doesn't look like she was actually banned either. looks like her account went dark briefly, then re-appeared.



something happened to her.  She was tweeting everyday and then she was gone.  People were complaining and saying things like "how could they do that to his mother?" so twitter might have realized that did not look right. Still not sure what happened now.

They did ban his defense organization which I also used to follow.  Bastards. 

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/13/assa-j13.html


drummerboy said:

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.

Unlikely they would let him go.  They want him to rot in prison.  He will appeal based on the fact that the US had an assassination plan in place for him and was illegally spying on him. So, who knows what will happen. 


drummerboy said:

This is worth listening to also, even though Baquet is an arsehole and Greenwald makes an appearance at the end.


That was good.  Matt Orfela usually does  a good job. I'm not sure I believe the New York Times guy though--I wonder if he would publish wikileaks now?  At least he says he would.  


Little fresh info available for most of today (Sunday) then this came out an hour ago:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jun/19/australia-wont-conduct-megaphone-diplomacy-on-julian-assange-amid-calls-to-intervene  They just want to get on with working out of the cameras’ glare, and get things done - juggling lots of stuff that had been left to rot - our new ambassador is Caroline Kennedy, so possibly hoping for some diplomatic support there. 


drummerboy said:

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.

That's up to a petit jury to decide. A grand jury did find him culpable.


RTrent said:

drummerboy said:

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.

That's up to a petit jury to decide. A grand jury did find him culpable.

A kangaroo court found him culpable.  Fixed that for you.   


nan said:

RTrent said:

drummerboy said:

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.

That's up to a petit jury to decide. A grand jury did find him culpable.

A kangaroo court found him culpable.  Fixed that for you.   

Nice of you to informed us you think the American jury system is composed of kangaroo courts. A dismissive attitude towards jurors. 

When you get called for jury duty, do you tell the judge I'm not going to partake in your kangaroo court?


More importantly, a grand jury just determines whether or not there is probable cause to believe that a crime was committed. 


Lopez Obrador standing up for our First Amendment:



Members of the German parliament defending our First Amendment:


RTrent said:

nan said:

RTrent said:

drummerboy said:

I am not unsympathetic to this argument, but frankly it looks like the government has a weak case, so Assange may be able to beat it. Overall though, I'd prefer DOJ just drop the charges.

That's up to a petit jury to decide. A grand jury did find him culpable.

A kangaroo court found him culpable.  Fixed that for you.   

Nice of you to informed us you think the American jury system is composed of kangaroo courts. A dismissive attitude towards jurors. 

When you get called for jury duty, do you tell the judge I'm not going to partake in your kangaroo court?

Obama did not want to prosecute Assange.  For some reason, Trump went out of his way and I don't know how they got that indictment, but I'm sure they did what they needed to get what they wanted.  It's despicable.  Biden is continuing Trump's policy but he's a Democrat so I supposed that makes it OK. 

Our justice system is not as democratic as you might think.  Have you read about the case of Steven Donzinger:  https://theintercept.com/2022/04/27/deconstructed-steven-donziger-chevron-ecuador/  That's one of the most public examples of unfair justice in the US.  In that case Chevron was able to retaliate on a lawyer because he found them guilty of destroying part of the rain forest and refusing to take responsibility.  There is great vengeance handed out to the people who hold the powerful accountable or tell the world what they really do. 

For more information about the Assange case:

https://www.pressenza.com/2021/12/the-assange-case-explained-simply/ 


The Donziger cases are not that simple.  You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.


Steve said:

The Donziger cases are not that simple.  You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.

Like I said - Kangaroo courts.  And trumped up charges.


nan said:

Steve said:

The Donziger cases are not that simple.  You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.

Like I said - Kangaroo courts.  And trumped up charges.

All of the courts involved were kangaroo courts?


paulsurovell said:

Lopez Obrador standing up for our First Amendment:


He got some support from German PMs!   Maybe the tide is turning?


Steve said:

nan said:

Steve said:

The Donziger cases are not that simple.  You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.

Like I said - Kangaroo courts.  And trumped up charges.

All of the courts involved were kangaroo courts?

Donzinger was only prosecuted because he successfully opposed Chevron and they were found guilty.  The details of the case are just an incredible miscarriage of justice.  

Same for Assange. 


joanne said:

Little fresh info available for most of today (Sunday) then this came out an hour ago:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jun/19/australia-wont-conduct-megaphone-diplomacy-on-julian-assange-amid-calls-to-intervene  They just want to get on with working out of the cameras’ glare, and get things done - juggling lots of stuff that had been left to rot - our new ambassador is Caroline Kennedy, so possibly hoping for some diplomatic support there. 

That's too bad they can't scream a little louder.  He is their citizen, after all.  Shameful really. 


paulsurovell said:

Members of the German parliament defending our First Amendment:

Some numerical context, again: The Bundestag has more than 700 members.


Steve said:

The Donziger cases are not that simple. You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.

A federal judge did, and a New York State court agreed when it disbarred him. Were there more?


DaveSchmidt said:

Steve said:

The Donziger cases are not that simple. You are aware that numerous courts have found that he participated in a massive fraud.

A federal judge did, and a New York State court agreed when it disbarred him. Were there more?

This lawyer should be world-famous for his battle with Chevron – but he’s in jail

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/08/chevron-amazon-ecuador-steven-donziger-erin-brockovich


Then there’s Donziger. PR advisers for Chevron promised to “demonize” Donziger in the public eye. The oil company “hired private investigators to track Donziger, created a publication” which smeared him, and “put together a legal team of hundreds of lawyers from 60 firms, who have successfully pursued an extraordinary campaign against him”, the Intercept reported in 2020.

Donziger has spent years of his life fighting seemingly endless litigation. In 2011, Chevron sued Donziger and members of the lawsuit in a US court for $60m in damages, accusing them of extortion and invoking a sweeping and controversial statute originally created to fight the Mafia. Chevron’s case rested in large part on Guerra’s since-recanted corruption claims; Donziger and his codefendants denied the charges.

“The approach of accusing victims’ attorneys of being fraudsters has been honed with particular energy by [the] law firm Gibson Dunn,” Bloomberg noted in 2014. Shortly before the suit went to trial, Chevron dropped the demand for monetary damages, thus denying Donziger the right to a jury trial.

During the suit, which Chevron won, the company demanded that Donziger turn over his phone and computer to their legal team. After Donziger refused, arguing that doing so would violate attorney-client privilege, the judge in the case charged him with criminal contempt of court.

The US attorney’s office declined to prosecute Donziger for contempt, so the judge in the case made the extraordinary move of appointing a private law firm to represent the government in prosecuting Donziger – a development that two US senators have called “highly unusual” and “concerning”. The senators also noted that the firm appointed to prosecute Donziger previously represented Chevron.

Because he was deemed a “flight risk”, Donziger spent more than 800 days under house detention, with an electronic ankle bracelet, while awaiting the outcome of the trial. In 2020, according to the Intercept’s Sharon Lerner, Donziger’s “bank accounts have been frozen. He now has a lien on his apartment, faces exorbitant fines, and has been prohibited from earning money. As of August [2019], a court has seized his passport and put him on house arrest. Chevron, which has a market capitalization of $228bn, has the funds to continue targeting Donziger for as long as it chooses.”

Donziger eventually lost the contempt case, which he called a “charade”. As a consequence of the charges against him, he also lost his law license – against the recommendation of the judicial officer who refereed the professional conduct hearing. The officer, a former federal prosecutor, described Donziger as a stubborn gadfly who is “often his own worst enemy” but called the move to disbar him unjustified, and decried the “extent of his pursuit by Chevron” as “extravagant, unnecessary and punitive.”

In October, Donziger reported to a federal prison to begin a six-month contempt sentence. (In December he was returned to home detention as part of a Covid-related early-release program.) He still cannot make a living as a lawyer, cannot collect any legal fees from the Ecuador judgment, and had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet until last weekend.

In November, nine members of US Congress signed a letter calling Donziger’s treatment “unprecedented and unjust imprisonment”. International judicial monitors, lawyers’ associations, members of European parliament, and Amnesty International have also criticized the charges against Donziger as excessive and punitive, and 29 Nobel laureates from around the world signed an open letter arguing that Donziger is a victim of “judicial harassment”.


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