Free Assange!

[Revoltingest]

In the news....
Julian Assange awaits arrest warrant ruling - live

Julian Assange is to hear whether the arrest warrant against him in Britain will be formally dropped.

The Wikileaks founder's lawyer made an application to Westminster Magistrates' Court arguing it has "lost its purpose and its function" since investigations over sexual assault allegations were dropped in Sweden.

Mr Assange has been living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for six years since the case was brought, over fears it could spark his extradition to the US.

While not universally loved (some Hillary themed hostility), I say he's
a hero for free speech, & exposing Americastanian illegal shenanigans.
Sweden is no longer pursuing the highly suspicious rape charges.
USA is still after him though.

 

[BSM1]

In the news....
Julian Assange awaits arrest warrant ruling - live

While not universally loved (some Hillary themed hostility), I say he's
a hero for free speech, & exposing Americastanian illegal shenanigans.
Sweden is no longer pursuing the highly suspicious rape charges.
USA is still after him though.

Kinda with you on this one. No matter how you feel about Jules those rape charges were a little over the top.

 

[Revoltingest]

Kinda with you on this one. No matter how you feel about Jules those rape charges were a little over the top.

They seemed awfully politically convenient in timing & nature.

 

[BSM1]

They seemed awfully politically convenient in timing & nature.

That plus when you understood how the charges were determined you kind of started scratching your head...no pun intended.

 

[HonestJoe]

In the news....
Julian Assange awaits arrest warrant ruling - live

While not universally loved (some Hillary themed hostility), I say he's
a hero for free speech, & exposing Americastanian illegal shenanigans.
Sweden is no longer pursuing the highly suspicious rape charges.
USA is still after him though.

Even if all of that was unconditionally true, it still wouldn’t place him above the law.

Incidentally, he’s apparently lost the appeal.

 

[Revoltingest]

Even if all of that was unconditionally true, it still wouldn’t place him above the law.

Incidentally, he’s apparently lost the appeal.

Sometimes the most moral thing to do is violate the law.
Apparently he decided to risk the consequences.

We should all be above the law at times.

 

[Augustus]

Sweden is no longer pursuing the highly suspicious rape charges.

I read a book years ago by one of the journalists who worked with him on the first load of files released.

I can't remember the exact content, but am pretty sure he said Assange got quite a bit of female attention and there were rumours that his sexual conduct certainly wasn't beyond reproach.

 

[Revoltingest]

I read a book years ago by one of the journalists who worked with him on the first load of files released.

I can't remember the exact content, but am pretty sure he said Assange got quite a bit of female attention and there were rumours that his sexual conduct certainly wasn't beyond reproach.

He could very well be a cad.
But this strikes me as being more a tool of a hostile government.

 

[HonestJoe]

Sometimes the most moral thing to do is violate the law.

Apparently he decided to risk the consequences.

There’s nothing moral about it when it’s only to protect your own *** and he’s currently trying to avoid any consequences at all. If he really cares about demonstrating the misbehaviour of the US and other governments, he’d surrender to the UK courts. If the US did seek to deport him, especially via any kind of secretive or sub-judicial methods, it would be prime evidence for the kind of accusations he and others have made and would stir up all sorts of international controversy. Not least because of that, I don’t actually expect it would happen and the last thing Assange wants if for nothing dramatic to happen and therefore for people to stop talking about him.

 

[Revoltingest]

There’s nothing moral about it when it’s only to protect your own *** and he’s currently trying to avoid any consequences at all. If he really cares about demonstrating the misbehaviour of the US and other governments, he’d surrender to the UK courts. If the US did seek to deport him, especially via any kind of secretive or sub-judicial methods, it would be prime evidence for the kind of accusations he and others have made and would stir up all sorts of international controversy. Not least because of that, I don’t actually expect it would happen and the last thing Assange wants if for nothing dramatic to happen and therefore for people to stop talking about him.

I think it's perfectly moral to protect one's arsch after doing what needs to be done.
Not all of us want to be martyrs who play the government's game.
But if you want to, I won't judge.

 

[sun rise]

Given some of the reports I read, I'm not in favor of letting him off. He appears from the news to not be a friend but a tool

Wikileaks' Julian Assange reportedly turned down a trove of documents related to the Russian government

 

[Revoltingest]

Given some of the reports I read, I'm not in favor of letting him off. He appears from the news to not be a friend but a tool

Wikileaks' Julian Assange reportedly turned down a trove of documents related to the Russian government

From your link.....
"The CIA, FBI, and NSA concluded in January that WikiLeaks had "actively collaborated" with Russia's "principal international propaganda outlet RT" as the DNC emails were leaked throughout last summer. Assange hosted a show on RT in 2012. "

To say "concluded" is a step down from claiming a gotcha level of fact.
And this from agencies which got caught illegally spying upon us, &
overthrew at least one democratically elected government, I'm skeptical
that their judgement is non-partisan. Add to this the widespread pain
Assange caused by exposing DNC corruption, which they feel led to
Hillary's loss.
So reasonable people can impugn his motives, but this distracts from
the good he's done in exposing pervasive federal government corruption.
That's bound to make some powerful enemies, eh?

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

Even if all of that was unconditionally true, it still wouldn’t place him above the law.

Incidentally, he’s apparently lost the appeal.

Laws schmaws

 

[columbus]

He could very well be a cad.
But this strikes me as being more a tool of a hostile government.

You mean Assange strikes you as a tool of a hostile government?

The charges of sex crimes looked bogus to me. With Assange's looks and notoriety he would hardly need resort to rape to bed a Swedish bimbo.

But the real charges look quite substantial to me. He didn't expose international evildoers, just USA BS. Wikileaks didn't expose the ugliness of USA politics, just the ones Putin wanted exposed.

I would have a bit of sympathy for Assange's predicament if he weren't so politically partisan in his efforts.
As things are I don't. I think he caused more damage than that pedophile gymnastics dude. He helped create the "fake news" problems that we all suffer from.
Tom

 

[suncowiam]

In the news....
Julian Assange awaits arrest warrant ruling - live

While not universally loved (some Hillary themed hostility), I say he's
a hero for free speech, & exposing Americastanian illegal shenanigans.
Sweden is no longer pursuing the highly suspicious rape charges.
USA is still after him though.

I guess "free" speech is great when it's only one-sided and biased.

I have to agree with @columbus.

I would have supported Assange too if his goal was to be independent but he's not. Him and his website is like another news site with political bias in the disguise of intelligence materials. He show cases enough material to paint a picture, but never shows all the picture.

 

[Revoltingest]

You mean Assange strikes you as a tool of a hostile government?

No, the charges.

Dang it....I thought my post looked a bit ambiguous.
But before I could fix it, I got a call from a guy offering me
an unrestored 7HP McVicker engine (tank cooled with
original cooling tower). But I already have enuf projects!

The charges of sex crimes looked bogus to me. With Assange's looks and notoriety he would hardly need resort to rape to bed a Swedish bimbo.

But the real charges look quite substantial to me. He didn't expose international evildoers, just USA BS. Wikileaks didn't expose the ugliness of USA politics, just the ones Putin wanted exposed.

I would have a bit of sympathy for Assange's predicament if he weren't so politically partisan in his efforts.
As things are I don't. I think he caused more damage than that pedophile gymnastics dude. He helped create the "fake news" problems that we all suffer from.
Tom

I can live with partisans who expose that which needs sunlight.
Nicer though it would be if their gaze were wider.
(How's that for sounding pretentious?)

 

[Stanyon]

From your link.....
"The CIA, FBI, and NSA concluded in January that WikiLeaks had "actively collaborated" with Russia's "principal international propaganda outlet RT" as the DNC emails were leaked throughout last summer. Assange hosted a show on RT in 2012. "

To say "concluded" is a step down from claiming a gotcha level of fact.
And this from agencies which got caught illegally spying upon us, &
overthrew at least one democratically elected government

Amber Lyons seems to have quite a bit to say about CNN in regards to being an international propaganda machine.

 

[Quetzal]

While not universally loved (some Hillary themed hostility), I say he's
a hero for free speech, & exposing Americastanian illegal shenanigans.

We need more of this, imo.

 

[Quetzal]

But before I could fix it, I got a call from a guy offering me
an unrestored 7HP McVicker engine (tank cooled with
original cooling tower). But I already have enuf projects!

Lucky duck, all I get is alarm system sales people.

 

[Revoltingest]

I guess "free" speech is great when it's only one-sided and biased.

I have to agree with @columbus.

I would have supported Assange too if his goal was to be independent but he's not. Him and his website is like another news site with political bias in the disguise of intelligence materials. He show cases enough material to paint a picture, but never shows all the picture.

Ain't nobody perfect.
And his most significant work is non-partisan.