Een
‘veteraan’ die meewerkte aan het drone moord programma, heeft zich
tegen zijn voormalige werk en werkgever gekeerd en feiten over het
drone programma aan de grote klok gehangen, vooral het enorme aantal slachtoffers die als ‘collateral damage’ (bijkomende schade) worden aangeduid, was voor Hale de reden om ‘de klok te luiden’.
De VS
overheid laat Daniel Hale vervolgen op grond van de meer dan
belachelijke en inhumane Espionage Act, alleen omdat hij duidelijk
maakte wat men eigenlijk doet met dit programma…. Duizenden mensen
zouden al het slachtoffer zijn van drone-aanvallen, waarbij niet moet worden vergeten dat zoals gezegd het overgrote deel van de slachtoffers, meer dan 90% (!!), niet eens werd
verdacht van enige misdaad (veelal vrouwen en kinderen…)….
Het gaat
recht tegen internationale verdragen in om mensen zonder vorm van
proces te vermoorden en je kan dan ook stellen dat deze moorden
ingaan tegen de mensenrechten, het internationaal oorlogsrecht en kan
zonder meer aangeduid worden als een misdaad tegen de menselijkheid!!
Hale
loopt de kans te worden veroordeeld tot 50 jaar gevangenisstraf……
Het klokkenluiden door Hale is in het belang van de hele wereld,
immers als de VS jouw land als ongehoorzaam aan haar doctrine acht,
is de kans levensgroot dat de VS ook daar met drone aanvallen
zelfs tegenstanders van de VS buitenlandpolitiek zal vermoorden……..
Zet je
in voor Hale, die volkomen terecht de klok luidde over deze barbaarse
en schunnige moorden, lees en teken de petitie ajb en geeft het
door!!
Stop the prosecution of a drone whistleblower
RootsAction
DIY info@rootsaction.org
The
prosecution of drone whistleblower Daniel Hale is currently scheduled
to proceed in March.
A
former veteran of the drone assassination program who became an
outspoken activist and critic of it, Hale is being prosecuted under
the draconian Espionage Act because he dared shine a light into a
very dark corner.
Hundreds of journalists, whistleblowers,
and free press advocates have signed onto a demand that this
prosecution be dropped. We hope you’ll stand with us and do the
same.Click
here to add your name to the petition.
Hale
faces a sentence of up to 50
years in prison. As in
other Espionage Act cases, Hale’s defense will have its hands
significantly tied at trial — he and his attorneys have been barred
from even uttering the words “whistleblower” or “good motive”
in the courtroom.
These
prosecutions are unfair, unjust, and undemocratic. It is
unconscionable to use a law, supposedly aimed at actual spies and
saboteurs, against individuals who act in good faith to bring
government misconduct to the attention of the public.
This
petition was created by WHISPeR – Whistleblower & Source
Protection Program. Create your own here.
After
signing the petition, please
use the tools on the next webpage to share it with your
friends.
P.S. RootsAction is an independent online
force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West,
Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr.,
Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox
Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many
others.Background:
>> The
Washington Post: “Former
Intelligence Analyst Charged with Leaking Drone Details to News
Outlet”
De
Democraten kunnen maar niet ophouden over Russiagate, zelfs nadat
duidelijk is geworden dat het een dikke vette leugen is van het
Hillary Clinton team, om het zwaar misdadig gedrag van deze
kwaadaardige trol te verbergen.
DNC,
het team van de democraten dat de kandidaten van de Democratische
partij terzijde staat, heeft een zaak aangespannen tegen leden van
Trumps verkiezingsteam, WikiLeaks en Rusland, waar de rechter in deze, John Koeltl, stelt dat DNC totaal geen bewijzen heeft dat de door haar
aangeklaagde partijen mails zouden hebben gehackt en daarmee de
verkiezingen zouden hebben gestolen……
Een
en ander bleek al uit de getuigenis van Robert Mueller, de speciaal
aanklager en uit het rapport dat onder zijn leiding werd opgesteld…
Kortom:
weer loopt de top van de Democratische Partij een blauwtje. De
hoogste tijd dat men de rol van het DNC gaat onderzoeken en ook de
dood van Seth Rich, een vermoorde medewerker van Clintons team die
uit frustratie over het misdadig gedrag door dat team de emails lekte
naar WikiLeaks. Rich was volgens de politie slachtoffer van een
roofmoord >> heel vreemd als je bedenkt dat Rich toen hij
gevonden werd zijn sieraden nog droeg en dat ook zijn portefeuille
niet was gepikt…… Het zou me werkelijk niet verbazen als Rich in
opdracht van het DNC of zelfs Hillary Clinton werd vermoord (Clinton
is een sociopaat en oorlogsmisdadiger, zo heeft ze meermaals
bewezen)………
Federal
Judge Dismisses DNC Lawsuit Against Trump Campaign
(ANTIWAR.COM) — A
federal judge dismissed
a lawsuit on Tuesday from
the Democratic National Committee (DNC) against members of President
Trump’s campaign, WikiLeaks and the Russian government. The lawsuit
claimed that these parties conspired together to hack the DNC emails
and sabotage the 2016 election.
The
dismissal comes after Robert Mueller’s testimony before
congress, the
Senate Intelligence report that
found no concrete evidence of Russian interference in the 2016
election and Dan
Coats’ resignation as
Director of National Intelligence. Coats was a firm believer in the
idea that Russia attacked our democracy in 2016.
Judge
John Koeltl, a Clinton appointee, said,
“In short, the DNC raises a number of connections and
communications between the defendants and with people loosely
connected to the Russian Federation, but at no point does the DNC
allege any facts … to show that any of the defendants — other
than the Russian Federation — participated in the theft of the
DNC’s information.”
Koeltl
also pointed out the danger of holding a publisher like WikiLeaks
liable, “If WikiLeaks could be held liable for publishing documents
concerning the DNC’s political financial and voter-engagement
strategies simply because the DNC labels them ‘secret’ and trade
secrets, then so could any newspaper or other media outlet.”
Koeltl
cited the infamous Pentagon Papers in his ruling, the case when the
Supreme Court ruled The
New York Times and The
Washington Post were
protected by the first amendment for publishing information leaked to
them by Daniel Ellsberg about the US government’s role in the
Vietnam War. This ruling by Koeltl could be helpful to WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange who may be extradited to the US and charged
under the Espionage Act for
publishing classified material.
Although
Koeltl does believe it was the Russian government who hacked the DNC,
he holds firm that federal law prohibits suits against foreign
governments except in “highly specific circumstances.”
Koeltl
also said even if Trump’s campaign did obtain these documents from
the Russian government, they would be breaking no laws if they
published them.
Voor meer berichten over Russiagate, klik op de labels R. Mueller, manipulatie, S. Rich, DNC, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, of hacken. De labels vind je direct onder dit bericht.
Ongelofelijk
weer: het westen vervolgd onderzoeksjournalist Assange voor het doen van zijn
werk, waar datzelfde westen constant een grote bek heeft over de
persvrijheid in Rusland, het land dat onlangs onderzoeksjournalist Ivan Golunov vrijliet, nadat er grote onrust ontstond onder een deel van het volk
over diens arrestatie……*
De BBC is de zendgemachtigde die tegenwoordig totaal afhankelijk is van de overheid, de zender die met grote graagte het inhumane neoliberalisme steunt en die geen probleem heeft om hele bergen fake nieuws (nepnieuws) te verspreiden en/of met andere desinformatie het volk manipuleert, om zo illegale oorlogen van ‘een legitiem randje’ te voorzien (dat hebben deze oorlogen uiteraard niet)…. Dezelfde BBC had een grote
bek over de arrestatie in Rusland van journalist Golunov, terwijl dezelfde BBC niet anders
heeft gedaan dan journalist Assange besmeuren met leugens en achterklap……..
Buiten
de in feite al langdurige gevangenschap van Assange, immers hij was al een
gevangene in de ambassade van Ecuador, ook volgens de VN, dat na
onderzoek concludeerde dat Assange zelfs geestelijk en fysiek is
gemarteld**, is er ook de censuur op de alternatieve media vanwege zogenaamd fake news…..’ Het voorgaande terwijl de
reguliere media de laatste 19 jaar voor een groot deel aantoonbaar
nepnieuws hebben verspreid en het publiek hebben gemanipuleerd middels
andere desinformatie……..
Het
kantelpunt nadert waar je beter journalist in Rusland kan zijn dan in
het westen, althans als je je gedraagt als een echte journalist, waar
deze beroepsgroep vertegenwoordigd in de reguliere westerse media dat
voor het grootste deel al lang niet meer doen…… (zeker als het gaat over politiek of door het westen, lees de VS met de NAVO aan de lijn,
begonnen illegale oorlogen…….)
Het
volgende artikel werd geschreven door John McEvoy en werd
gepubliceerd op The Canary:
As
the West persecutes Assange, public outcry helps to free a journalist
in Russia
Russian
authorities arrested investigative
journalist Ivan Golunov on a suspicious drug charge last week. But a
public outcry forced the
government to drop the charges. The fact that this occurred in
“authoritarian”
Russia, while WikiLeaks publisher
Julian Assange faces major persecution in
the West, is a shocking indictment of both our judicial system and
media establishment.
Public outcry
In
past years, Golunov built a reputation for revealing high-end
corruption in
Russia. As a result, many people were suspicious about his arrest,
siding with the journalist’s lawyer – who arguedthat
the drugs were planted.
Following
his arrest, three of Russia’s leading newspapers printed headline
news stories defending the journalist. The front-page
spreads read “We
are Ivan Golunov”. Activists, meanwhile, made plans for
a demonstration on 12 June.
“Serious embarrassment”
In
its report on his arrest,
the BBC highlighted
that “Russia is ranked 83rd out of 100 countries for press freedom
by Freedom House”. It also claimed that the “case was becoming a
serious embarrassment for the Russian authorities”.
UK
foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, meanwhile, wrote:
Very
concerned by arrest of Russian investigative journalist, Ivan Golunov
of @meduzaproject.
Journalists must be free to hold power to account without fear of
retribution. We are following his case
closely. #FreeGolunov#DefendMediaFreedom
There
are obvious concerns for press freedom in Russia. But the UK
government clearly has zero moral authority to pontificate on the
matter. As UN torture expert Nils Melzer recently saidin
relation to Assange:
In
20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political
persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up
to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for
such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the
rule of law.
Perhaps
most revealing is the difference in the media’s reaction to
Assange’s persecution in the West and that of Golunov in Russia.
While Assange has been consistently smeared,
degraded, and mocked across the Western media, Russia’s news
cycle focused on
Golunov’s arrest; and many journalists actually defended him. In
the words of journalist Bryan MacDonald:
this
was unprecedented and rubbishes the usual US/UK drivel about there
being no press freedom in Russia.
Both
events have exposed Western journalists as locked in a lazy and vapid
group-think. And as Melzer toldThe
Canary,
they have done their readers a major disservice:
It
is a bit like being served poisoned junk food at a restaurant – a
betrayal of trust with potentially serious consequences.
Solidarity
among journalists
An
important issue at stake is solidarity among journalists against
assaults on press freedom. After Daniel Ellsberg began publishing the
now infamous Pentagon
Papers,
US president Richard Nixon tried to use the moment to crack down
on critical journalists.
Nixon’s justice department cited the Espionage Act to block the New
York Times from
publishing further documents. But as Bruce Shapiro recounts:
reporters
and editors at the [Washington] Post defiantly
obtained and published their own copy of the documents; other news
outfits rallied round; and ultimately the US Supreme Court upheld
the Times’
and the Post’s
First Amendment right to publish without prior government restraint.
Nixon
played his hand hoping for minimal public outcry against his
administration’s attack on the first amendment. And as this case
revealed, the law is only as strong as those left willing to defend
it.
Like
Nixon, Trump has no obvious interest in prosecuting leaks of
years-old controversies that damage the reputation of a past
administration. But like Nixon, he will seize any opportunity to
weaken an independent press.
Trump
also understands—better than Nixon did—American journalism’s
chronic lack of solidarity.
Ultimately,
any journalist or politician that sides with Golunov but not Assange
(or vice versa) should not be taken seriously.
* Niet vermeld bij publicatie: Golunov zat niet in de gevangenis, maar had huisarrest. Bovendien was het vooral het protest van collega journalisten dat tot de ‘vrijlating’ van Gulanov leidde….. Waar westerse collega’s van Assange mee hebben geholpen aan de demonisering van deze journalist, i.p.v. het voor hem op te nemen…… (toevoeging geplaatst op 14.11 u. dezelfde dag van publicatie)
Voor meer berichten over Assange en censuur, klik op het betreffende label, direct onder dit bericht. Let
wel: na een aantal berichten wordt het laatst gelezen bericht telkens
herhaald, dan onder dat laatst gelezen bericht even opnieuw op het
gekozen label klikken, enz. enz.
Nils
Melzer, de
speciale VN-rapporteur voor marteling en andere wrede, onmenselijke
of vernederende behandelingen of straffen,
heeft de VS, Groot-Brittannië, Zweden en Ecuador beschuldigd van de
jarenlange wrede, inhumane en ontaarde behandeling van Julian Assange….. Anders gezegd: deze landen zijn verantwoordelijk voor het straffen van Julian Assange….. Kortom: Julian Assange, de oprichter van WikiLeaks, is psychisch gemarteld, tijdens zijn in feite
jarenlange gevangenschap in de Ecuadoraanse ambassade in Londen, waarvoor de genoemde landen mede hoofdverantwoordelijken zijn…..
Op de
webside van de hoge commissaris voor mensenrechten van de VN (OHCHR), stelde
Melzer, dat
hij in de 20 jaar dat hij voor de VN
werkt nooit heeft gezien hoe een groep van ‘democratische staten’
samenwerkten om één persoon zo lang moedwillig te isoleren, te
demoniseren en te misbruiken en dat met weinig of geen inachtneming
van de menselijke waardigheid en de (internationale) wetgeving……… Deze behandeling van Assange kan volgens Melzer dan ook niet anders worden gezien dan als geestelijke
foltering…….
Gelukkig
beginnen de reguliere media in te binden met hun spugen op Assange,
men schijnt wakker te zijn geschrokken van wat Assange te wachten
staat en dat zou gezien de laatste verzonnen aanklachten van de VS
zelfs tot de doodstraf kunnen leiden….. Iedereen met 2 of meer hersencellen begrijpt dat deze zaak z’n weerslag zal hebben op de hele internationale journalistiek, hoe volgzaam en fout reguliere media ook handelen, hetzelfde zou hen kunnen overkomen…*
Lees het
volgende artikel van Joe Lauria, eerder gepubliceerd op ConsortiumNews en door mij over genomen van Anti-Media (en geeft
het door mensen, het gros van het volk is jarenlang voorgelogen over
Assange en diens verblijf in de Ecuadoraanse ambassade….. Gehersenspoeld door media en politici denken ze echt dat Assange een
uiterst gevaarlijke figuur is voor de westerse democratie, die
zonder na te denken overheidsdocumenten publiceerde en zonder te kijken
of daar bestaande mensen het slachtoffer van zouden kunnen worden >> zoals je wellicht weet, ook dat laatste een enorme leugen…….)
UN
Torture Report: “Demonized” Assange Has Faced “Psychological
Torture”
(CN) — The
UN special rapporteur on torture has issued a stinging rebuke to the
United States, Great Britain, Sweden and Ecuador for “deliberately”
exposing WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange to years of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment,” which can only be described as “psychological
torture.”
“In
20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political
persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up
to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for
such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the
rule of law,” Nils Melzer said in a statement published
on the UN High Commissioner for Human Right’s website on Friday.
“The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and
now!”
“The
evidence is overwhelming and clear,” Melzer said. “Mr.
Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years,
to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be
described as psychological torture.”
Melzer
went on:
“In
the course of the past nine years, Mr. Assange has been exposed to
persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging from systematic
judicial persecution and arbitrary confinement in the Ecuadorian
embassy, to his oppressive isolation, harassment and surveillance
inside the embassy, and from deliberate collective ridicule, insults
and humiliation, to open instigation of violence and even repeated
calls for his assassination.”
Melzer:
Collective persecution must end. (UN Photo)
Melzer
visited Assange at Belmarsh prison in London on May 9 with two
doctors, expert in recognizing potential torture victims, who
examined the WikiLeaks founder.
Melzer’s statement makes no mention of Assange having
been hospitalized in
the prison after he was unable to converse with his Swedish lawyer.
Melzer
said:
“It
was obvious that Mr. Assange’s health has been seriously affected
by the extremely hostile and arbitrary environment he has been
exposed to for many years.
Most
importantly, in addition to physical ailments, Mr. Assange showed all
symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture,
including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological
trauma.”
Fears
Possible Torture in U.S.
The
UN rapporteur said Assange’s human rights could be further
threatened with extradition to the United States to face 18 charges,
including 17 under the Espionage Act.
“My
most urgent concern is that, in the United States, Mr. Assange would
be exposed to a real risk of serious violations of his human rights,
including his freedom of expression, his right to a fair trial and
the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment,” said Melzer.
He
said he was “particularly alarmed” by the Espionage Act charges.
“This may well result in a life sentence without parole, or
possibly even the death penalty, if further charges were to be added
in the future,” said Melzer.
The
rapporteur expressed deep concern that the Trump administration is
criminalizing journalism.
“Since
2010, when Wikileaks started publishing evidence of war crimes and
torture committed by US forces, we have seen a sustained and
concerted effort by several States towards getting Mr. Assange
extradited to the United States for prosecution, raising serious
concern over the criminalisation of investigative journalism in
violation of both the US Constitution and international human rights
law,” the rapporteur said.
Herald
Gets Confidential Report
The Sydney
Morning Herald, quoting
from the confidential report that Melzer sent to the British
government on Monday as well as from an interview with
rapporteur, reported
:
“[Assange]
is really something I’ve never seen in 20 years,” Melzer said.
“I’ve seen atrocities in war areas that were physically more
horrible but I’ve never seen a single person pursued so
relentlessly and with so little foundation.
“[When
I saw him] I immediately compared him to some of the graver cases in
interrogation prisons in terms of his psychological reaction
patterns. That’s what alarmed me so much.” He said Assange’s
treatment was “very close to the intentional, purposeful infliction
of coercive measures to try to break him”.
He
appeared “extremely agitated and preoccupied,” Melzer said. “He
asked a lot of questions and he would jump around, he was so
preoccupied with everything he can’t even compute my answers any
more.
“There
were episodes of this, then he was part of the conversation as
normal, then again he would enter into this agitated state. I have
seen with other victims of psychological torture that would happen.”
Melzer
also blasted the government of Assange’s native Australia. He told
the newspaper, “Australia is a glaring absence in this case.
They’re just not around, as if Assange was not an Australian
citizen. That is not the correct way of dealing with that.”
A
spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade told the Herald: “We reject any suggestion by the UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture that the Australian Government is complicit in
psychological torture or has shown a lack of consular support for Mr
Assange.”
Britain’s
foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, condemned Melzer for his report. Hunt
said it was “wrong” for the UN rapporteur to interfere with
British justice by uttering “inflammatory accusations.”
Julian Assange showing symptoms of torture, says UN expert
Julian Assange is suffering the symptoms of psychological torture, a United Nations expert said today as he argued the WikiLeaks co-founder should not be extradited to the US.
standard.co.uk
Melzer
replied to Hunt:
Joe
Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium
News and
a former correspondent for The
Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Sunday
Times of
London and numerous other newspapers. He can be reached
at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and
followed on Twitter @unjoe .
‘‘Journalisten’ tegen openheid‘ (‘journalisten’ waaronder Jan Kuitenbrouwer en de intussen overleden Max van Weezel, al wordt de laatste niet in dat bericht genoemd. Van Weezel zei een paar jaar geleden letterlijk dat hij ‘zich voor kan stellen’ berichten voor het publiek achter te houden, m.a.w.: dat heeft hij daadwerkelijk gedaan, waarom zou je dit anders melden als ‘journalist..?’)
Het is
bijna niet te geloven, de reguliere (massa-) media die zich meer dan 2 jaar richtten op
Russiagate en die Julian Assange keer op keer hebben besmeurd, zijn ontwaakt in de Assange nachtmerrie….. Eindelijk
begrijpt men in die media wat de arrestatie van en de beschuldigingen tegen Assange betekenen en zelfs de schoothondjes van de
plutocraten, degenen die talk shows doen, zijn bijzonder
verontwaardigd…. (de wonderen zijn toch de wereld nog niet uit!)
De beschuldigingen tegen Assange, waaraan nu zelfs spionage is toegevoegd, zijn een nieuwe stap van de VS naar een volledige politiestaat….. De vrijheid van nieuwsgaring wordt met de nieuwe beschuldigingen tegen Assange zwaar geweld aangedaan….. Reken maar dat de EU zelfde stappen zal nemen, mocht de VS doorgaan op dit heilloze pad, immers alles wat de VS doet wordt hier gezien als manna uit de hemel…….
Lees het
volgende artikel van Caitlin Johnstone, door mij overgenomen van Anti-Media en laten we hopen dat de reguliere media het werk weer
gaan doen waarvoor ze ooit ontstaan zijn: onafhankelijke berichtgeving brengen in dienst van het volk en niet van de grote ondernemingen en een
spuugrijke elite……. Jammer genoeg zijn die media in handen van dezelfde plutocraten dan wel van investeringsgroepen, waar beide groepen zoveel mogelijk winst willen maken en geen kritiek dulden op het alom tegenwoordige ijskoude en inhumane neoliberalisme, of op het ophitsen van de VS en haar oorlogshond NAVO tot (illegale) oorlogsvoering, op zo groot mogelijke schaal, immers ook dat is goed voor de winsten…….
Professional
Assange Smearers Finally Realize His Fate Is Tied To Theirs
The
Media is Finally Realizing What the Prosecution of Assange Means for
Journalism
MSNBC’s
top host began
the segment after
it was introduced
by Chris Hayes,
agreeing with her colleague that it’s surprising that more news
outlets aren’t giving this story more “wall to wall” coverage,
given its immense significance. She recapped Assange’s various
legal struggles up until this point, then accurately described
Assange’s new Espionage Act charges for publishing secret
documents.
“And
these new charges are not about stealing classified information or
outsmarting computer systems in order to illegally obtain classified
information,” Maddow said.
“It’s not about that.
These
new charges are trying to prosecute Assange for publishing that
stolen, secret material which was obtained by somebody else. And that
is a whole different kettle of fish then what he was initially
charged with.”
“By
charging Assange for publishing that stuff that was taken by Manning,
by issuing these charges today, the Justice Department has just done
something you might have otherwise thought was impossible,”
Maddow added after
explaining the unprecedented nature of this case.
“The
Justice Department today, the Trump administration today, just put
every journalistic institution in this country on Julian Assange’s
side of the ledger. On his side of the fight. Which, I know, is
unimaginable. But that is because the government is now trying to
assert this brand new right to criminally prosecute people for
publishing secret stuff, and newspapers and magazines and
investigative journalists and all sorts of different entities publish
secret stuff all the time. That is the bread and butter of what we
do.”
Maddow carefully
explained to
her audience that these new charges have nothing at all to do with
the 2016 election or any of the Russiagate nonsense the MSNBC pundit
has been devoting her life to, correctly calling what the Trump
administration is doing with Assange “a novel legal effort to punch
a huge hole in the First Amendment.” She tied this in with Trump’s
common references to the mass media as the “enemy of the people”,
finally taking mainstream liberalism into a direct confrontation with
Trump’s actual war
on the press instead of nonsense about his tweeting mean things about
Jim Acosta. She rightly highlighted the dangers of allowing a
president with a thick authoritarian streak the ability to prosecute
journalists he doesn’t like, and discussed the possibility that the
UK may not comply with this new agenda in extradition proceedings.
“I
think these 17 espionage charges against the WikiLeaks guy are a huge
deal, and a very dark development,” Maddow concluded.
“Chris Hayes this evening called it a ‘four alarm development’,
and I absolutely share that.”
“And,
you know, I know you,” Maddow continued, pointing to the camera.
“Given everything else that we know about the WikiLeaks guy, I can
feel through the television right now your mixed feelings about what
I am saying. I can feel what may be, perhaps, a certain lack of
concern about Julian Assange’s ultimate fate, given his own gleeful
and extensive personal role in trying to help a hostile foreign
government interfere in our election in order to install their chosen
president with WikiLeaks’ help. Okay? I know. Okay, I feel ya. I
got it. But, it is a recurring theme in history, heck, it is a
recurring theme in the Bible, that they always pick the least
sympathetic figures to try this stuff on first. Despite anyone’s
feelings about this spectacularly unsympathetic character at the
center of this international drama, you are going to see every
journalistic institution in this country, every First Amendment
supporter in this country, left, right and center, swallow their
feelings about this particular human and denounce what the Trump
administration is trying to do here. Because it would fundamentally
change the United States of America.”
Wow.
Make no mistake, this is a hugely significant development. This isn’t
just some columnist for the New
York Times or
the Guardian,
this is Rachel effing Maddow, the Queen Mother of all tinfoil
pussyhat-wearing Russiagate insanity. This same pundit was just a
couple of months ago not just smearing but outright lying about
Assange, deceitfully telling
her audience that
the new legal rings closing around Assange were about his 2016
publications then instructing viewers not to Google anything about it
because they’ll get computer viruses. Now that she’s recognized
that this could actually hurt her and her network directly, she’s
finally feeding her audience a different narrative out of sheer
enlightened self-interest.
The
fact that such a hugely influential figure in mainstream liberal
media is now pushing back against Assange’s prosecution, and doing
so in a way that her mainstream liberal anti-Trump audience can
relate to, cannot be over-appreciated. Maddow’s credulous audience
would eat live kittens if she told them to, so the way she’s
pushing back against a dangerous legal precedent in language they can
understand will make a difference in the way American liberals think
about Assange’s predicament. It won’t make them like him, it
won’t make them value the things he’s done, but it will get them
to finally begin resisting something that badly needs to be resisted.
And that’s huge.
The
danger has always been that this fatal blow to journalism would be
meted out with total compliance and support from a population
hammered into docility by the ongoing narrative war which has been
waged on Assange’s and WikiLeaks’ reputations with the help of
the mass media.
There
was a very real danger that thought leaders like Maddow were going to
choose their feelings over reasoning when the foot finally fell and
the charges that criminalize journalism as “espionage” were
finally put into play. I don’t think anyone would have been
surprised if she’d applied that giant intellect of hers into making
it possible to ignore it without upsetting her audience and try and
figure it out later when it was too late and the legal precedent was
set. It would have been so easy to keep feeding into the dominant
“Assange is bad so everything bad that happens to him is good”
sentiment, but she didn’t. She directly contradicted it.
She
actually chose to do the right thing. I’m gobsmacked, and it’s
not an exaggeration to say that my hope for humanity sparked up a
little today.
If
the resting smugfaced apex of liberal psychosis is getting this one
right, then many more will surely follow. And indeed, many already
are. In addition to Hayes’
coverage of the story,
MSNBC’s Ari
Melber also did a segment harshly
criticizing the implications of Trump administration’s new charges.
We’re seeing multiple segments from
CNN about the grave dangers of the legal precedent that is being set
with the superseding indictment, as well as urgent warnings about the
new charges from major publications like the New
York Times,
the Washington
Post,
and the Guardian.
A
typical comment under Maddow’s YouTube share of this segment reads
“This is very strange. Very alarming! There we go again. The GOP is
preparing the country for a Dictatorship.” And okay, that’s not
exactly what is happening (this has been a bipartisan push and it’s
not just preparations, we’re in full swing), but whatever, now this
viewer can actually see the monster’s outlines. Finally the Maddow
crowd which has been fruitlessly expending all their energy so far on
punching at Russian shadows will actually be attacking a real thing.
And
I’m quietly excited about that. I’m eager to see what happens to
the #Resistance if it actually starts #Resisting something. It
doesn’t matter that this is only happening because mainstream
liberal media outlets realized that they might be next on the
chopping block; it matters that it’s happening, period.
For
years mainstream liberals have been fixating on the fake Russiagate
psyop and rending their garments about Trump’s rude tweets while
commentators like me desperately implored them to pay attention to
the actual dangerous agendas that this administration is actually
advancing. They’ve been in a holding pattern of adamantly refusing
to do that, and now, because it’s threatening them personally,
we’re suddenly seeing a sharp deviation from that holding pattern.
As
Bill Murray said at the end of Groundhog
Day,
something is different. Anything different is good.
‘‘Journalisten’ tegen openheid‘ (‘journalisten’ waaronder Jan Kuitenbrouwer en de intussen overleden Max van Weezel, al wordt de laatste niet in dat bericht genoemd. Van Weezel zei een paar jaar geleden letterlijk dat hij ‘zich voor kan stellen’ berichten voor het publiek achter te houden, m.a.w.: dat heeft hij daadwerkelijk gedaan, waarom zou je dit anders melden als ‘journalist..?’)
Trump
weigerde een paar weken terug het rapport over drone aanvallen
(Lees: terreur aanslagen) door de VS vrij te geven…. Niet zo vreemd
als je beseft dat meer dan 90% van de vermoorden bij die aanslagen,
niet eens werden verdacht, het gaat dan dus veelal om vrouwen en kinderen……
Veronderstel dat de ogen bij de gemiddelde VS burger opengaan en deze het
niet langer pikt dat met zijn/haar belastinggeld en in feite uit
zijn/haar naam duizenden kilometers verderop mensen worden vermoord, die worden verdacht en waarbij de nevenschade (collateral damage) mensen zijn die zelfs niet op de verdachtenlijst van de VS staan……*
Daniel
Everette Hale wordt ervan verdacht geheime documenten over deze
terreuraanslagen te hebben gelekt naar The Intercept, die e.e.a.
publiceerde. Hale die voorkwam in een documentaire genaamd
‘National Bird’ wordt juridisch bijgestaan door advocaat Jesselyn
Radack, tevens directeur van Whistleblower
& Source Protection Program (WHISPeR)……
Hale is de vierde klokkenluider die belachelijk genoeg wordt beschuldigd
van spionage en volgens zeggen zouden de Trump administratie en de FBI
nog veel meer zaken onderzoeken, waar de FBI zelfs oude zaken
heropend om te zien of men niet meer mensen aan de paal kan nagelen
voor het naar buiten brengen van bewijzen dat de VS zich in het
buitenland in feite gedraagt als een enorme terreurorganisatie……
Lees
het volgende bericht en oproep tot financiële steun:
Espionage
Act Charged 4th Time Under Trump
The
Trump administration has charged yet another whistleblower with
espionage. Last Thursday, Daniel
Everette Hale was arrested and indicted,
for allegedly disclosing classified documents about the U.S.
military’s assassination program, believed to have been the source
material for a series in The Intercept called “The
Drone Papers”.
I provided legal representation for Daniel during his appearance in
the award-winning drone documentary National
Bird.
Daniel
could face 50 years in prison, accused of contacting the press about
a matter of extreme public importance that has been shrouded in
secrecy. But the larger concern is
not what
Hale did or didn’t do but what our
government has
been doing. For almost two decades, they have used a veil of secrecy
to deny the American public the basic right to informed debate and
consent. Government officials have repeatedly lied about nature and
the extent of drone assassinations. No one has ever been held
accountable for these lies, or for the war crimes committed.
Daniel
is at least the
seventh source to
be criminally prosecuted — and the fourth to be charged under the
Espionage Act — during the Trump administration. And the government
claims to be investigating dozens more open cases.
Trump’s
Department of Justice is building upon the foundation laid by the
Obama administration’s notorious War on Whistleblowers, taking an
already draconian effort to the next level. The Justice Department
has made every effort to prosecute leaks even more aggressively,
reopening old cases, and even creating
a dedicated FBI counterintelligence unit to hunt down leakers.
They are placing government employees are under increasingly heavy
surveillance, with the intention to clamp down on their First
Amendment right to free speech. This administration is on pace to
break even Obama’s record number of prosecutions, and has already
attained more years in prison sentences for whistleblowers than any
previous president.
This
administration has also expanded the War on Whistleblowers to
directly attack publishers and journalists, a move that even the
Obama administration ultimately backed down from. Julian Assange’s
indictment is clearly a thin pretext to punish the publication of
documents, but in so doing, alsocriminalizes
the journalistic best practices of using encryption and protecting
source anonymity. Meanwhile, Chelsea Manning has been senselessly
re-imprisoned for refusing to testify before a grand jury
investigating the Assange case, despite having already testified
publicly in her original trial.
In
short, this is the darkest moment for press freedom in the modern
era. I hope you’ll continue to support us in defending national
security whistleblowers, sources, and ultimately the free press.
* Het vermoorden van een verdachte is een grote misdaad, die in geval van de VS zelfs onder het oorlogsrecht zou moeten vallen…. Het is dan ook een gotspe dat het Internationaal Strafhof (ICC) de VS niet al lang heeft aangeklaagd voor deze (duidelijk geplande) moorden….. Ach ja, men schijt daar in de broek voor de VS woede die e.e.a. op zou roepen….. Alsof je een moordenaar maar niet aanpakt, daar deze wraak neemt als je dat wel doet….. Ondanks dit alles laat men in de westerse politiek en reguliere media de oren hangen naar deze bewezen grootste terreurentiteit op onze kleine aarde…….
‘‘Journalisten’ tegen openheid‘ (‘journalisten’ waaronder Jan Kuitenbrouwer en de intussen overleden Max van Weezel, al wordt de laatste niet in dat bericht genoemd. Van Weezel zei een paar jaar geleden letterlijk dat hij ‘zich voor kan stellen’ berichten voor het publiek achter te houden, m.a.w.: dat heeft hij daadwerkelijk gedaan, waarom zou je dit anders melden als ‘journalist..?’)
Voor meer berichten over Julian Assange, WikiLeaks of de klokkenluiders Snowden, Manning, en Winner, klik op het desbetreffende label direct onder dit bericht. Let
wel: voor een paar van de labels geldt dat na een aantal berichten het laatst gelezen bericht telkens wordt herhaald, dan onder dat laatst gelezen bericht even opnieuw op het
gekozen label klikken, enz. enz.
Daniel
Ellsberg die werkend als defensie analist voor de RAND denktank* de
‘Pentagon Papers‘ lekte naar de pers (leugens over de oorlog in Vietnam), heeft tijdens een interview met Consortium News gesteld dat Assange niet veroordeeld kan
worden onder de Espionage Act, die gebruikt wordt om ‘spionnen’ (dat
ben je als in veel dictaturen al snel in de VS…) te veroordelen,
immers hij is journalist….
Tijdens
een online ‘wake’ voor Assange zei Ellsberg verder dat het niet gaat
om het zogenaamd beschermen van de nationale veiligheid, maar dat de hysterie over dit lekken alles te maken heeft met het beschermen van de schrijvers (ambtenaren en politici die flink grof ‘in de bek’
waren) van documenten, die al helemaal niet geheim hadden mogen
zijn……
Volkomen terecht stelt Ellsberg dat Assange geen klokkenluider is, maar een journalist die de met het lekken verkregen documenten van klokkenluiders naar buiten bracht…….
Lees
het artikel en zie de video, hoor de scherpte van een 87
jarige man:
Watch:
Daniel Ellsberg Says Assange, as a Journalist, Can’t Be Tried Under
Espionage Act
(CN) — In
an interview with Consortium News Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria,
Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says the Espionage Act,
under which he was indicted, cannot apply to Julian Assange because
he is a journalist.
Speaking
during an online vigil for Assange organized by Unity4J.com,
Ellsberg told Lauria that the motive for U.S. leaders to protect
their secrets and go after Assange has nothing to do with their
mantra of “national security.”
“The
purpose is not to protect national security, but to protect the asses
of the people who wrote the directives” of classified material,
most of which should never have been classified, Ellsberg said.
Ellsberg,
87, said that as a publisher and journalist, the Espionage Act cannot
be applied to Assange, as it should not have been applied to Ellsberg
for non-spying activities when he released the Pentagon Papers
revealing that the U.S. government long knew it was losing the
Vietnam War but continued lying to the American public.
“Julian
is not a whistle blower per se, but a facilitator of whistleblowing,”
Ellsberg said, “…the point being that as a journalist, he can not
fairly be tried under the Espionage Act.”
As
one who only received classified material and published it, “It is
essential that Julian Assange not be indicted, be convicted, or be
extradited to the United States,” Ellsberg said.
You
can watch the entire 38 minute and 17 second interview here:
