The world’s worst couch surfer was evicted after seven years:
That perp-walk scene reminds me of the video of Saddam Hussein being dragged out of his hidey-hole.
Some snippets from The Post article on the arrest:
Ecuador, which took Assange in when he was facing a Swedish rape investigation in 2012, said it was rescinding asylum because he of his “discourteous and aggressive behavior” and for violating the terms of his asylum…
London’s Metropolitan Police carried out the Thursday morning arrest and said in a statement that they were “invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.” In response, the Russian government accused Britain of “strangling freedom” by taking custody of Assange.
“Strangling freedom” is pretty rich coming from the Russian government. The metaphor could have been more unintentionally ironic — they could have accused Britain of “driving freedom to commit suicide by shooting itself in the head three times and then flinging its despondent body over a balcony railing to the pavement 10 floors below.” Anyhoo, the Russian government’s pet gerbil also spoke up:
From Moscow, fugitive American former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden described the scene of Assange’s arrest as a violation of press freedom. “Images of Ecuador’s ambassador inviting the UK’s secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of — like it or not — award-winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books,” Snowden wrote on Twitter. “Assange’s critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom.”
That Snowden called the London cops who came at the invitation of the Ecuadoran embassy to evict Assange “the UK’s secret police” is a good indicator of the level of hysteria this arrest has evoked from Assange’s dwindling number of defenders. But in the end, the “discourteous and aggressive” couch surfer simply wore out his welcome:
“I think [Ecuadoran President Moreno] has never been comfortable with Assange in the embassy,” [political consultant Sebastián Hurtado] said. “And it’s not like this is an important issue for most Ecuadorans. To be honest, we really don’t care about Assange.”
So, what happens next? The folks who reserve their harshest condemnations of the U.S. government for Democratic administrations — a crowd that when combined with Assange groupies forms a perfect circle in a Venn diagram — may get an object lesson in the difference between Democratic and Republican Party governance.
Trump confessed his love for Wikileaks almost daily in the run-up to the election, and Assange corresponded fondly with Trump Jr. But now that the Trump people are in power, it could be they’ve forgotten the little people who got them there. Compare and contrast:
In the last administration, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. decided against pursuing prosecution of Assange out of concern that WikiLeaks’ argument that it is a journalistic organization would raise thorny First Amendment issues and set an unwelcome precedent.
The Trump administration, however, revisited the question of prosecuting members of WikiLeaks, and last November a court filing error revealed that Assange had been charged under seal… [I]n April 2017, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, now secretary of state, characterized WikiLeaks as a “nonstate hostile intelligence service” and a threat to U.S. national security.
Today, it’s arguable that no one has a bigger interest in shutting Assange up than Trump. How ironic if the candidate Wikileaks and its fan club championed as a refreshing alternative to the “hawkish” Clinton ends up “disappearing” their hero.
UPDATE: Breaking news from The Post:
BREAKING: A U.S. federal court unsealed an indictment Thursday against Assange charging him with a single count of conspiracy to disclose classified information that could be used to injure the United States.
PARIS — British authorities arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday in response to a U.S. extradition request after Ecuador rescinded his asylum at its embassy in London, ending a standoff that lasted nearly seven years.
London’s Metropolitan Police said a statement that Assange was “arrested on behalf of the United States authorities” and would “appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible.”
Assange and crew thought helping a transnational white nationalist movement fomented by Russia to meddle in Western democracies would usher in more “freedom.” Boy was he ever wrong!
As he was dragged out of the embassy, Assange was shouting “RESIST!” at the crowd. If indeed he is extradited here, Assange may find it challenging to motivate the U.S. resistance to the Trump regime to agitate on his behalf, seeing as how he was so instrumental in saddling us with these incompetent fascist wannabes in the first place.
Speaking only for myself, fuck that guy. He’s reaping what he sowed. I’ll reserve my efforts for Trump victims who didn’t help put a racist, sexist, xenophobic demagogue in charge of my country.
On the Road and In Your Backyard
The Moar You Know
Fuck that rapist. I hope they give him the fucking chair.
Alain the site fixer
@The Moar You Know: seconded
Alain the site fixer
Also, I’d love to see Snowden on trial for treason, espionage, and a host of other things. He’s not a hero, rather a stooge or, more likely, a villain.
Anya
”If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”
Let’s never forget that Assange hid in the embassy for seven years because he was evading justice after he was charged for sexually assaulting two women.
hueyplong
Not fully awake, but do we wish Assange had been put in this position when Mueller was open for business?
dr. bloor
Boy, he looks like shit on toast in that photo. I guess that’s what happens when the embassy doesn’t let you keep any portraits of yourself in their attic.
Anya
I feel sorry for the police officers who had to drag him out of there. Assange is apparently famous for poor hygiene.
different-church-lady
Oh, the poor dear.
OzarkHillbilly
Irony is dead, Betty.
Gin & Tonic
He’s in London, right? Maybe a nice cup of tea?
tobie
I don’t think I will ever understand why ‘transparency advocates’ have such fondness for opaque, right-wing regimes. Kay said in the thread below that they had a fantasy of blowing things up and what easier way to do it than to attack Democrats, who will refrain from retributive justice out of concern for principle and precedent. I think that’s true. But I think there’s also something about white hacker culture. Hacktivists think they rule the world. I’m sure Assange felt that way even while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Now he’s about to learn that rules do apply to him.
MattF
So, I guess… Barr must have approved the extradition. Hmm.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anya: I have a t-shirt with that exact quote.
Anonymous At Work
Trump is far far worse couch surfer. Assange stayed in one place and was a massive ass-hat but he never demanded that Ecuador take him golfing every weekend at their expense.
tobie
@MattF: My understanding is that Ecuador negotiated that Assange will not be sent to a country with the death penalty. That would be us, though Assange’s crimes would not meet the requirements for the death penalty. Who knows…maybe Barr wants Assange to raise questions about Christopher Steele and Stefan Halper.
Anonymous At Work
Open Thread Comment: Did anyone notice the subtle trolling by the EU in the Brexit deadlines? First time was around April Fool’s Day and the new one is Halloween. Coincidence, I think not!
clay
From Betty:
That jumped out at me right away. Maybe living in Russia makes him assume that secret police are everywhere, but dude needs to seriously get a grip.
Also, it’s hard to see how ” not letting someone get away with (alleged) sexual assault” = “threat to freedom of press”.
Also also, it’s hard to see how Assange is part of the press, unless you really stretch things.
Kay
@tobie:
They flood the zone with yelling “he’s a publisher!” but that isn’t the question. The question is if he solicited the thefts or carried out the thefts. That’s the difference.
They don’t want to know if he’s a publisher or not. They want to shut down any inquiry, whether it’s a formal legal inquiry or just a public debate. I don’t know if he’s just a publisher and they don’t know either. I have no idea what happens inside Wikileaks because it’s completely opaque and secret.
Rupert Murdoch is a publisher:
Publisher. Stipulated. The question was – what else was he doing? That’s a legit question, but the Assange Defense Army don’t want anyone to ask it.
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
Thirded. I so despise that smelly, rapey piece of garbage.
biff murphy
Looks like he went willingly…First they came for the Russian spy’s cat,then the internet, and then him. Fish and guests start to stink after 3 days… 7 years he’s been holed up making a mess not cleaning up after his cat. Good riddance. Watch tRump pardon this POS
matt
Well, they’re tying up a loose end I see.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie:
I suspect that is bad reporting because as you point out, it has no bearing on this case.
lee
I like the smirk/smile on the cops face
waspuppet
@tobie: Yeah I’m not sure I’m seeing the “disappearing” referred to in the post. I’m thinking Assange gets a Medal of Freedom and basically any Trump administration job he wants.
The Dangerman
Unless they feed the POS to the sharks on the way over, I don’t see how this is great news for Trump on my first caffeine.
More importantly, how’s the cat?
p.a.
Goddammit I nearly spit my mouthful of scone out in the middle of the coffee shop when I read the title
Betty Cracker
@waspuppet: See update to post — it looks like the Brits did arrest him at the request of the U.S., according to breaking news from WaPo. If Assange is expecting the Trump admin to be consistent in its treatment of him, he may be in for a nasty surprise.
CliosFanboy
damn, it’s Howard Hughes!!!!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
My posts don’t seem to be coming through.
My original post was:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Ahhh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Oh, and did I mention, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
germy
mrmoshpotato
I’m sure a jail cell is ready right now for this stinky, rapey Soviet POS. Lady Justice is all set for your arrival, you POS.
germy
@The Dangerman: The cat left the embassy some months ago. Placed in a shelter. Hopefully re-adopted and enjoying his/her new forever home and a regularly-scooped litter box.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Yeah. So my post was along the lines of, ha ha ha ha ha, &c. But the site thinks it’s spam.
germy
germy
L85NJGT
Some pigs are more equal than others…..
germy
@biff murphy:
He didn’t look cooperative in the video. The police seem to be dragging him while he struggles.
Kay
@L85NJGT:
It’s baffling how Wikileaks stopped all their brave, muckraking publishing the moment Donald Trump was elected.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m pretty sure what they agreed to was that Assange would not face a death penalty in any state he is sent to. This is a pretty common requirement from EU countries and we always agree to not seek death.
Joey Maloney
@Immanentize: I sure hope the EU isn’t relying on Donald Trump’s word for that.
Kay
There’s even a middle ground – Wikileaks could be like the National Enquirer and Fox News. It’s not nearly as romantic but they could just be hacks, in which case they would have first amendment protections, but far fewer fans.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: He could have walked out with dignity, instead he chose this.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Yep, time and time again.
GregB
Snowden and Greenwald appear to be in meltdown mode.
Their complicity game is nearing its sell by date.
Kay, right on the money.
Also, Assange knowing how they got their emails from the DNC Wikileaks then pushing the Seth Rich murder conspiracy is degenerate.
Times up.
Miss Bianca
It’s astonishing to me how much I cheer for this asshole to be black-holed forever. I blame the coarsening of our culture under Trump.// Which is something that smelly couch potato helped bring on. Suffer, Assange, you worthless putz, SUFFER!
L85NJGT
“These people don’t see that if you encourage totalitarian methods, the time may come when they will be used against you instead of for you.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
Amir Khalid
@The Moar You Know:
I have neither love nor admiration for Julian Assange, but as tobie points out he is not facing capital charges in the US. And the rape charge was dropped long ago.
That said, he is an unpleasant person whom Equador sheltered for far too long for no real reason. He manipulated fools and naifs like Ed Snowdon and Chelsea Manning into giving up national secrets for his own profit, and then left them out to dry. I reckon Assange deserves at least as much time in a US prison as she got.
rikyrah
Nope ?? ?
Kailani Koenig (@kailanikm) Tweeted:
Eric Swalwell @ NABTU conf says if he’s POTUS he’ll “put together a blended cabinet of Republicans and Democrats. Republicans plural.” Notes he’s the son of 2 Republicans & goes on Fox News so his fam can see him on TV. & so he “can talk to the president directly.” https://t.co/UdGCInAOYq https://twitter.com/kailanikm/status/1116013162539757569?s=17
Kay
@GregB:
Oh, Greenwald knows that there’s a difference between a passive “publisher” and what occurred in the Murdoch scandal.
If he doesn’t he can read the indictment:
“The indictment alleges that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures.”
They’re alleging that he’s not just a passive “publisher” of stolen information.
germy
LOL
Immanentize
@Joey Maloney:
They don’t have to rely on anyone’s word. It’s like a contract and falls under the Rule of Speciality. Which is more accurately a rule of particularity. A country cannot try a rendered person for any crume other than what the extraditing country agrees to.
James E Powell
@germy:
Maybe NPR should have said co-conspirator?
Immanentize
@Miss Bianca:
What you describe is the daily sin against charity the Trump era has foisted on me.
Kay
@GregB:
I tend to think these people, Trump and Assange and the rest, are smaller and pettier than grand conspiracies.
They act in narrow self interest. I think their fans fight that idea more than the grand conspiracy idea because that would just mean that their fans are stupid and got played. There was no noble, over-arching cause. Just a bunch of self-interested actors jostling for power. I actually think they’re all too selfish and egotistical to cooperate in any scheme to take over the world, which may be what saves us. There’s no honor among these thieves. There almost never is, in real life.
germy
@James E Powell:
GG sounds pissed at the beginning of the interview. “I am a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist!” he declares indignantly. “Not an ‘colleague’ of Assange!”
different-church-lady
Here’s why I don’t spend any time at Daily Kos anymore:
Because secret state-sponsored murder is the same as due process.
Granted, most of the comments are different flavors of “Good, finally!”, but there’s still the ham-brains
different-church-lady
@germy: “I’M CHARLES FOSTER KANE!”
Kay
@germy:
I’m just relieved he wasn’t silenced. It’s an outrage how no one invites him to appear except for Tucker Carlson. That’s a civil rights violation. We all have a duty to listen to him and promote his career.
montanareddog
Hats off to the bobbies. Now that is how you do a perp walk, by dragging his skanky ass out of the door into the van.
different-church-lady
@Amir Khalid:
As I understand it, the charge still stands, but the Swedes allowed the extradition order to expire
germy
@Amir Khalid:
At least one of the victims wants him charged again.
different-church-lady
@germy:
That man hasn’t had a moment of his entire life that wasn’t contentious.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I’m not sure that would stop them: Pompeo flounders on why annexation is good for the Golan but not for Crimea
Aleta
@The Moar You Know: @Alain the site fixer: @geg6: Thank you. Fucking rapist.
germy
@Kay: He is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. (as he has told us again and again)
Kay
@different-church-lady:
They don’t know if Assange works with one world leader against another. I don’t know either, but it’s certainly within the realm of the possible and screaming over and over that he’s a publisher doesn’t answer that question at all. “Publisher” doesn’t exclude all the others “ands”. He can be a publisher and a conspirator. He can be a publisher and….a lot of things.
In fact, he could pick a side (politically) and still have first amendment protections. Then he’s just an ordinary partisan actor, like the rest of the far Right outlets here and abroad. But we’re forbidden to even contemplate these possibilities. We must scream “publisher!” and not think past that at all.
germy
@different-church-lady:
“I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht.”
danielx
Assange looks like Howard Hughes in his dotage.
chopper
lie down with dogs, etc etc.
Timurid
@germy:
He also has a mansion and a yacht.
Kay
@germy:
I don’t think Glenn Greenwald has a constitutional right to sell books or media appearances, whether he calls himself a lawyer or a journalist.
germy
@Kay: I agree. But he has a fierce sense of entitlement. Even more than my cat, who has no Pulitzer.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
There are, what, probably thousands of Pulitzer-winning writers walking the earth. Hopefully, GG is sharting his britches in dread as to what this might mean for him.
Somewhere, also, Pam Anderson has fainted.
brendancalling
I love how he’s wagging his finger like an angry old man (he’s a year younger than me, for the record). I’m assuming the police had to listen to him rant on and on while they carted him out to the truck.
Vhh
@Kay: Natl Enquirer is for sale. The two leading prospects just have to be Fox and Jeff Bezos.
TomatoQueen
Chortle. Chuckle. Crunching on weaponized popcorn for brekky.
Barbara
@germy: The law surrounding publishers who use purloined materials is still pretty murky in the U.S. The issue should be whether Assange engaged in criminal activity or whether he merely published the fruits of crimes he was not otherwise connected with. Basically, being a journalist doesn’t eliminate whatever duty you have to not commit crimes or even to cooperate as a witness to a crime. Let’s say you are a journalists who witnesses a horrific crime. You can report on it and still be required (within other permissible limits) to give testimony. Assange might be a witness, but he also might have committed or conspired to commit a crime. The fact that the results of that crime were published doesn’t undo the crime that was perpetrated to get them. When the NYT published the so-called Pentagon Papers, there was never any suggestion that it paid Daniel Ellsberg for the materials or that it conspired with him to steal them. The protections that exist for journalistic privilege are case by case, and tend to come down to whether the government is trying to rely on journalist materials as a shortcut to its own investigation, which tends not to be permitted. Happy to give you some case cites if this really interests you.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Saying to your cat that, “You’re no GG…” is pretty faint praise.
germy
@Vhh: Maybe Sinclair can buy it.
different-church-lady
@Kay: It’d be interesting to find out how these folks feel if their credit card numbers and bank accounts were to be “published”.
chris
Couple of things noted on twitter.
Wikileaks published the private emails of the president of Ecuador and his wife. Doh!
Loopy wingnut Cassandra Fairbanks was outside the embassy. Presumably with a posse.
Bye, Julian.
Barbara
@chris: Like I said in a comment a couple of weeks back, the philosophical underpinning of most professional bad boys seems to be taking “you’re not the boss of me” as an existential principle to live by, to the point of self-destruction and mental illness.
L85NJGT
@danielx:
Seven years of relentless masturbation to the JFK Mr. X scene on auto play will do that.
Cheap Jim
@germy: He won the Pulitzer. So what? Harvey won the Pulitzer too.
waspuppet
@Betty Cracker: Trump? Consistency? HA! “How good have you made me feel about myself in the past three hours or so, and what should I do about you that will make me think I look good for the next few hours?”
Thanks for the update.
Roger Moore
@clay:
You can make a serious and convincing argument that the only reason he’s been pursued as vigorously as he has is because of his publishing business, and the other things he’s being accused of are just a pretext to punish somebody whose writing they don’t like. That would indeed be a threat to freedom of expression. Of course the flip side is that he never would have been granted asylum for 7 years if not for his publishing, so an ordinary rapist never would have taken so long to catch and extradite.
Kay
@germy:
The “journalist” definition they (now) rely on comes with rules. Obviously they’re not formal and enforceable rules but they matter in a prosecution in the US because of first amendment protections. So if Assange wants that shelter he’ll have to make a showing that he complied with journalistic conventions on what constitutes a passive role as a publisher of stolen information and what doesn’t. They don’t want to have that discussion, but that’s the issue. We all agree that publishers are entitled to protections. The question is can the federal government take him out from under those protections and prove he conspired and acted in concert in the theft. Announcing “I’m a publisher!” is his defense. The inquiry doesn’t stop there, just with an assertion because if it does then there are no rules at all and a publisher can conspire and steal and do anything at all. “Publishing” isn’t an all purpose cleanse that scrubs the prior acts.
different-church-lady
Here’s why I ought to still hang around Daily Kos:
rikyrah
Today we learned:
Barr still won’t commit to giving Congress the full unredacted Mueller report,
Barr won’t request court approval to give us grand jury material, and
Barr won’t even say if the White House has seen, or been briefed on, the report.
Trump got his Roy Cohn. https://t.co/8eljMjgEeN
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 9, 2019
Kraux Pas
@tobie:
It gives them something to oppose. If your whole identity is forged around opposition to the state, better to have an oppressive government instituting these policies that you get famous for undermining.
That’s also why they go harder against reformers who “don’t do enough” to pull back repressive policies once instituted. This hampers actual reform, increases the likelihood of power going back to the authoritarians, and ensures a lifetime of notoriety for brave information freedom warriors.
Aleta
@Amir Khalid: Did the statute of limit.s run out? Or, was it dropped because they could not access him? These are two things I read, and I don’t know the actual reason. It’s been said that he hid out to get beyond when the charge would be prosecutable. Don’t know. But the fact that it was dropped doesn’t mean much w/o the context. I know: he wasn’t convicted of it.
different-church-lady
@tobie:
Because they’re completely disingenuous?
danielx
@L85NJGT:
I could have happily lived the rest of my life without that image.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I agree with every word of that. Their activities as well as their motivations are petty and self-interested. And now at least one of them may end up scorched by the fire he started so cavalierly.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
Right. The act of “publishing” doesn’t trigger the protection. It’s not an after the fact immunity shield. I think they know this (some of them) but it’s beneficial to them to pretend it does and the rest just aren’t thinking at all.
Baud
@Kay:
Information wants to be fascist.
Joe Falco
Here’s live footage of Assange in front of the judge (link’s SFW just a Looney Toon bit)
Gin & Tonic
@Vhh: Man, I would love, love, love for Bezos to buy it, shut it down and fire everybody.
germy
Meanwhile…
laura
@germy: I’m convinced that he was wearing Kleenex boxes for shoes when they dragged his ass out and shoved him in the van.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Brexit is to me the perfect example. They’re all acting for their own reasons. They’re the worst fucking “conspiracy” in the history of the world. They can’t even get ten of the soldiers to pull in the same direction. Everyone is a leader. There are no followers.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Now that their hero has been renditi…I mean, arrested, “Release the Hackers!”
Roger Moore
@GregB:
It will be interesting to see if Assange flips on his co-conspirators. Things could get messy for the whole gang if he does.
germy
Just One More Canuck
@germy: @different-church-lady: “I’m INVINCIBLE!!”
“You’re a loony.”
Ruckus
@Kay:
Sounds like the Bundys and their claim about sheriffs being the ultimate law officers or that the federal government can’t own land so they can do as they please.
OzarkHillbilly
@Just One More Canuck: Dammit, can’t name that movie!
ETA Doh! Holy Grail. It sucks getting old.
StringOnAStick
My ex-friend the One True Lefty who proves the horseshoe theory of politics and then became a MRA, was convinced from the very beginning that the rape charges against this prick was a honeytrap and no one as pure thinking as St. Julian could have done such a thing. This was before Me Too made “believe women” a cultural statement but it pissed me off when he tried to push that point. He’s a big GG fan too.
Don Beal
Always kind of wondered if this blog could truly be labeled progressive. I think I have my answer.
different-church-lady
@L85NJGT:
germy
I remember when Sean Hannity told Julian he was welcome to host his show any time.
different-church-lady
@Don Beal: Show your cards, Don.
tobie
@germy: Strange timing! I saw the news of Warren’s corporate tax proposal and at the same time as Max Boot posted an interview with Jerry Brown who advises candidates not to be visionary but not to get into legislative weeds. Beats me who is right.
Kay
@germy:
I think she has problems with getting elected and those showed (even) in Massachusetts, which is a legit concern and criticism, but I may have to support her because I cannot think of a candidate in my adult lifetime who has been closer to me on nearly every issue. I may never get this again :)
I think she completely understands executive and administrative power, too, so we would get a LOT even without the Senate. I think Clinton understood it too and it’s undervalued as a an attribute. Clinton with her “levers of power” – clunky and easily demonized but also true. They have to know how to use that, without Congress.
Immanentize
@Kay:
Oh, I bet they do.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Same here. There is a part of me that wants to vote for her in the primary even *if* I don’t think she could win.
**haven’t decided yet, tho I lean in the direction of “no”.
ETA: but either way I can send her money.
different-church-lady
As it slowly sinks in that this arrest was based on indictments from March 2018, the vectors on the outrage bank-shots are going to get very very complicated for some on-line addicts.
Betty Cracker
@Don Beal: Depends on how you define “progressive.” Reflexive support for an accused rapist who worked with a hostile foreign power led by a murderous oligarch to put a racist, sexist, xenophobic demagogue in charge of the world’s most fearsome nuclear arsenal doesn’t fit my definition of “progressive.” Your mileage may vary.
Immanentize
@Aleta: He was actually never charged in Sweden. The exrtradition request was from an investigating magistrate — pre-indictment. Frankly, any questioning could have happened anywhere. including the UK. It was a weird use of an extradition warrant and, as much as I think the guy should go to jail, Sweden was not in a strong position to demand his extradition to talk to him about a possible charge.
So, not only no conviction, there never was a charge. Just the facts.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker:
That’s probably why we’re losing our accreditation.
Kay
@Immanentize:
I genuinely don’t know if they do. They make so many assumptions, because they see everything thru the lens of the evil United States. I don’t know why Ecuador acted. Maybe Ecuador has their own reasons. It certainly seems patronizing and horrible to assume Ecuador had “the right” reasons for sheltering him and now has “the wrong” reasons for turning him over. Who decides what’s in their best interest? Not me. I’m amused that they’re a “sovereign nation” as long as they hew to US Lefties preferences and a corrupted, coerced actor the moment they don’t.
Miss Bianca
Meanwhile, in pet-related news…
Roxy the Wolf-Girl decided, spontaneously, to come in the house last night. This is a Biden-sized BFD, y’all. And the funniest thing – because we had a spring blizzard last night, the kind of thing that a month ago she was shrugging off her coat as she burrowed in a snow drift – was that every time she thought she wanted to go back out, she’d get a snootful of snow in the face, say “eff this”, and opt to come back in.
Ah, the lure of the Great Indoors! : )
She is a much more decorative couch surfer than the Silver Slug that just got evicted from the Embassy, let me assure you!
Gin & Tonic
Bad day for the “A”s – Avenatti indicted on a shitload of charges, including embezzlement, perjury, etc.
Here’s hoping against hope that Barr has a bad day tomorrow.
plato
Good. Fuck the ratfucker. Good news of the day.
Miss Bianca
@Don Beal:
The world waits breathlessly for your verdict, Don. I think I may have to have another cup of coffee – the suspense is wearing me down. *yawn*
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: I tip my hat to you.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I wonder if it might come down to kumbaya and positivity because people are just fucking exhausted and sad. If so it’s Booker and Biden in that lane. Harris is also sort of cheerful and resilient but in a more oppositional way- I think it’s a strength for her- it’s hard to be both furious and optimistic and she has the potential to pull that off.
rikyrah
These muthaphuckas here ???
??Black??Aziz??aNANsi?? (@Freeyourmindkid) Tweeted:
So Texas is trying to prevent 3 or more people who need assistance when voting at the polls from rising in the same vehicle (ie a good portion of the elderly who will carpool from church to the polls). Pay attention y’all, this is the shit that will keep Republicans in power. https://t.co/FyYz41qnMU https://twitter.com/Freeyourmindkid/status/1116308762413998080?s=17
low-tech cyclist
@Alain the site fixer:
Yeah, damn his hide for spilling the beans on how Dick Cheney was spying on you, me, and everyone else!
Kraux Pas
@Kay:
That was her first election vs an incumbent. She won reelection with something like 2/3 of the vote.
rikyrah
@Kay:
That’s why we have primaries Kay. You can follow your heart.
Aleta
For my understanding, I looked up a BBC article about
Sweden dropping its rape investigation of Assange.
Kay
Paul Rosenzweig
So the Assange defenders could defend on that. But they can’t just make a blanket assertion that he gets the protection and leave it there. That’s not good enough.
Barbara
@germy:
He is living IN THE EMBASSY. What did they think would happen? International Law 101: An embassy is technically part of the territory of the nation that maintains it. People inside the Ecuador embassy don’t have EU data right or privacy protections, they are bound by and have the rights that people resident in Ecuador do.
plato
@Kay: “Electability”? Et tu?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Booker’s unending cheeriness just feels,,, forced, contrived. That is not necessarily fair to him, I think it comes from my own inherent curmudgeonliness. I far prefer Harris. My mind can be changed at this point tho.
Gravenstone
@germy: Would “acolyte” be a more apt description, Glenn? Asking for a friend…
germy
This isn’t journalism:
West of the Rockies
Trying to watch the Assange news on MSNBC, but Craig Melvin has that Sherrod Brown thing going on. I keep clearing my throat in an effort to make him clear the frogs and gravel from his.
Yes, Assange looks like hell. He looks like he gave up personal hygiene worries about 7 years ago.
germy
This isn’t journalism:
Aleta
@Immanentize: Thanks for that. An important distinction.
Plato
@germy:
He just brought me coffee.
germy
Peale
@rikyrah: So on days the polls are open, police get to pull over cars with 3 or more black people on the cause of activity suspiciously like going to vote? Because you know they aren’t pulling over vans of white elderly people.
Aleta
@germy: yikes. Equating decision fatigue with drug use? They fight for freedumb.
(Seriously, that’s incredibly corrupt.)
germy
Sean Hannity has deleted a bunch of his old tweets about Julian. The one offering him a hosting gig on his show, a few other supportive tweets. People are mocking him; calling him “Client #3” as one does.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yup, there’s something very studied about his public persona. I’ve said before, Booker reminds me of Letterman’s observation about Jay Leno: It’s great that he happened by in his Stanley Steamer to help the old couple change their flat tire, but how did the photographers find out about it?
and I’ll never forget his sweaty audition to be the new Lieberman on MTP in 2012, declaring that the Obama campaign made him sick by picking on poor Mitt Romney and his noble history as a venture capitalist.
L85NJGT
@different-church-lady:
no true progressive….
matt
I’ll totally donate a share of his cost of having a court appointed attorney.
Gelfling 545
@OzarkHillbilly: Besides, the cat could have a Pulitzer if he wanted.
Kraux Pas
@Aleta:
Too many choices at the supermarket getting you down? Ask your doctor about new Selectiva (Seletoxetine)
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like Booker. I also like Beto. I don’t think Democrats can out-anger Republicans, so it becomes this weird delicate balancing act where you have to point out the outrageous abuses of power and outrageous concentrations of wealth while still being hopeful about the future. That’s a tough needle to thread.
Aleta
(Can’t say if it will happen. And S. of L. runs out in 2020.)
different-church-lady
@Aleta:
Apparently the Ecuadorian Embassy has a balcony, but no windows.
Peale
@Kraux Pas: Selectiva is a powerful laxative, forcing you to make your decisions quickly before fatigue can set in. Bonus is it limits the number of things you need at the moment, reducing the number of extraneous decisions that bog down most shoppers.
Kay
@plato:
I know, but I don’t want the whole sexism conversation to act to exclude any concerns. Even if I say it’s sexism, it’s not her fault but it is her problem. We have to deal with this. We can’t wish it away. I’m not going to feel any better if she’s the nominee and she loses on account of sexism as opposed to something that is in her control. She still loses.
rikyrah
@Peale:
Who you telling?
rikyrah
@germy:
Like someone hasn’t already captured the screenshots…..
L85NJGT
@Kraux Pas:
Side effects include explosive orange diarrhea.
plato
Joey Maloney
@Immanentize: Right. Just like the IRS shall provide any tax return requested to the Chair of House Ways & Means. Just like anyone facing a credible threat of persecution shall be granted asylum. Just like any Special Counsel’s report shall be released.
Shall I go on? If Trump wants to greet Assange’s plane and give him a double-tap right there on the tarmac, what’s going to stop him?
Reformed Panty Sniffer
@Anya: Indeed. Other reports from the Ecuadorian media are that he smeared feces on the wall. Seriously, he looks like late-stage Howard Hughes, without the money. Also, let us not forget that Assange has been accused of neglecting his cat overlord, which is the worst crime.
rikyrah
Amene (@Ange_Amene) Tweeted:
And folks can keep pretending Kamala is going to have a problem with black voters over some truancy issues, but they are gonna have to come harder than that.
Seriously.
Folks often forget Black voters wanted the 94 Crime Bill. It’s the new gen that has issues with it. https://twitter.com/Ange_Amene/status/1116169885141233664?s=17
mattH
I couldn’t agree more. Thanks ?
cokane
Don’t forget that Assange communicated privately with Don Jr during the campaign, asking for an ambassadorship during the Trump administration. The exact kind of corrupt quid-pro-quo relationship transparency organizations like Wikileaks says they are trying to expose.
TomatoQueen
@Miss Bianca: This is wonderful news. Huzzah for Roxy!
mad citizen
@OzarkHillbilly: Dead thread maybe, and no one commented on this Pompeo BS, but I found it interesting. They are ALL bulls hitters. So glad the adults are running the Exec. Branch.
Aleta
A pdf of the US indictment against Assange. (NYT)
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/754-assange-indictment/d093e7dc7982f7fe4c24/optimized/full.pdf
Montanareddog
I still don’t understand why the Trotters’ Uncle Albert was living in the Ecuadorean Embassy
https://images.app.goo.gl/WRkiagQQ5mB7pnCB7
Immanentize
@Aleta: Absenting yourself in order to avoid justice is, in many countries, basis for tolling the statute of limitations.
Immanentize
@Joey Maloney: The federal judge hearing the case/
lahke
@OzarkHillbilly: Sorry if I’m repeating something stated above, but I’m at work and don’t have the bandwidth to read all the comments. I watched the video of the Ecuadoran president’s announcement, and he says that he stipulated to the UK that Assange would not be sent to any country that tortures people or that has the death penalty. So that rules the US out twice.
Kay
Our national scold and naysayer. Who do our billionaires suck so bad? One would think they would be optimistic, positive people but they’re all grim, joyless people who go out of their way to tamp down any idea.
Why aren’t they happier? Is this any way to sell over-priced coffee, let alone lead the nation?
“GIVE UP. That WON’T work – don’t even ASK for health care- you’re not getting it”.
Kay
I was never a Starbucks hater- I love coffee very much and I think it’s fine although I also like Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds coffee, so I’m obviously not picky. But now I have this while negative association with the place based solely on the efforts of the founder. I don’t think I’d go in there. I don’t want to think about him in that context. It’s overly complicated for my coffee purposes.
different-church-lady
@cokane:
*ZOT!* It just hit me: we’re not dealing with the “progressive” left or the “on-line” left — what we’ve got here is the gullible left.
dww44
@rikyrah: Actually, I was pleasantly impressed with Swalwell’s appearance last evening on Rachel’s show. I noted the nods he made to the GOP, but given his background, I understand why he does that. But, I also note he was unequivocal about calling out Trump and his apparent allegiance, via publicly available video, to Russia. Said that Trump seems to be compromised. In a period where we are all being told ( including Rachel herself) to give up on the Russia story and put it behind us, I’m glad that he’s not. None of us should be.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: Is anybody asking this jackass what he proposes for health care beyond “become a billionaire just like me”?
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Yeah, nope. Unacceptable deuch bag. My parents were both Republicans, and for the last several years of her life my mom confessed on her death bed that she had been cancelling my dad’s Republican vote for years. She couldn’t go with their anti-abortion work at all.
I utterly reject my parents’ Republicanism, and I do not see why Swalwell can’t do that as well. If he hasn’t learned by now that you can’t trust a Republican to uphold their oath to support and defend the Constitution, you can’t trust them not to shiv you in the back at their first opportunity.
Nope, DisQualified totally!!!
Immanentize
@lahke: Here is a place where I don’t know if Ecuador, or Assange, would have any way to complain if he were ultimately transferred to the US. Of course, the UK could send him to Sweden, and Sweden could send him to the U.S.
Immanentize
@Kay: That is such a weird argument — healthcare for everyone will mean you will lose your health care? But Obama fell for it too — “if you like the health care you currently have, you can keep it” was for some reason a very important part of the pitch.
I’m not sure that these billionaires are so unhappy themselves, they just don’t want others to be happy. As if Happiness is something they bought and is a rare commodity.
rikyrah
@Kay:
We just added 1.5 TRILLION BECAUSE OF THAT PHUCKING TAX CUT, COFFEE MAN.
But, you don’t wanna talk about THAT.
Phuck outta here.
Manxome Bromide
@different-church-lady: Wait a minute. Weren’t we told there weren’t any sealed indictments left?
What loophole is this sneaking through?
(((CassandraLeo)))
“I never thought leopards would eat my face,” sobs rapist who helped to elect the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.
sgrAstar
@Miss Bianca: love the stories of your Wolf-Girl Roxy! Keep em coming.
laura
@rikyrah: Bring on the confiscatory tax rates to wring the idle capital out of the soft palms of the billionaire class and put it to some social good.
Low tumbrel number for the burnt cafe king.
Immanentize
@sgrAstar: We were talking about you yesterday, black hole pics and all….
tobie
@Immanentize: I’m not going to defend Schultz who seems like a monumental ass, but I think (a) he’s giving us a preview of what every Republican will say in the fall and (b) the issue of the transition to a single payer system is important. That’s why — with the exception of Wilmer — just about every Democratic candidate is offering an option to buy into a public system, be it Medicare, Medicaid or the public option, as a first step and then either explicitly proposing a closing down of private insurance plans or implicitly hoping private insurance will collapse when one sees how much better the public systems are.
Steve in the ATL
@Betty Cracker:
OMG this is perfect
matt
@different-church-lady: Reminds me of that dril tweet about good things and bad things.
rikyrah
@Steve in the ATL:
it really is the perfect comeback
Don Beal
I would pause before I backed Pence buddy Moreno of Ecuador for turning Assange out of the embassy. The leftist Correa’ has condemned it. Regardless of your opinion of Assange, caving to the wishes of those who repress press freedom is not progressive. Fortunately Moreno secured a promise from the UK that Assange would not be sent to a Country that still practices the death penalty. We’ll see if that promise is kept.
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah: I appreciate your confirming this. I arrived in Florida last night and thus have reduced mental capacity!
J R in WV
@Don Beal:
One comment in 2012, another when he was put in someone’s pie filter in 2017, then nothing until today. Ordinary Troll or Russian Stooge? Hard to say, but one or the other… for sure.
Not interested in progressivism at all.
Betty Cracker
@Don Beal: I’m 100% in favor of due process, even for malevolent scumbags like Assange. I will note that Assange is less likely to actually receive due process if extradited to the US, thanks in part to his own efforts to help put a corrupt autocrat in the White House, who then stocked the Department of Justice with hard-right ideologues. I’m filing that away under “Boo-Fucking-Hoo.”
Just One More Canuck
@J R in WV: por que no los dos?
Tom Levenson
@different-church-lady: Denny Crane!
Danjos
With the current administration I cannot help but feel that there is something nefarious with this situation. I think they will find a way to botch the charges so that the next Democrat administration will be unable to repeat the charges against this piece-of-stuff.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: That’s a big milestone. Yay for all of you.
Don Beal
I am an old geezer who has learned that minds are not easily changed by argument or facts. That is why I seldom post. But I have been a liberal activist since long before most of you were born. Sometimes I listen to other whistleblowers and their opinions on the matter.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Barbara: This is golden. Thank you.
GC
Hopefully the extradition request will be denied. We have enough prosecutions of American journalists and whistle-blowers. We don’t need to import foreigners.
In other news, Turkey continues to prosecute all the academics who signed a letter in favor of peace as apologists for terror. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Asking for a friend.
mg_65
@Betty Cracker: I’m just retweeting your comments because you say exactly what I’m thinking, only better.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
My Bernie-or-Bust acquaintances here in the Valley of the (way too much) Sun are all in on defending Assange. We all get sick and tired of the Wilmer Wars online (and I get those who think we should back off some in fighting people who are ostensibly — or at least potentially — allies) but this is what we’re up against in dealing with lefties who still believe Hillary was the devil, and Assange is a “whistle-blowing” hero. Gonna be a long primary season…
Fuck Assange (or whatever his real name is, don’t care). Hope he rots in jail.
prob50
@germy: he has a fierce sense of entitlement. Even more than my cat, who has no Pulitzer.
Cat’s don’t need no Stinking Pulitzer, because the smart ones have mastered using their fierce sense of entitlement effectively enough to make us bend to their will.
Don Beal
And sometimes I read Chris Hedges .https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-martyrdom-of-julian-assange/
No One You Know
Even a guest has responsibilities. Not just rights. Assange does not have the right to claim that what he does is blameless and that his understanding of the law cannot be questioned. Or that his violations of the law in causing deliberate harm to others must be tolerated.