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from the shoulda-taken-the-tea-chest-option-years-back dept.
Breaking: Met police confirm that Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy.
Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.
The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.
Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.
But WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".
[...] Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.
After his arrest for failing to surrender to the court, police said he had been further arrested on behalf of US authorities under an extradition warrant.
He doesn't look happy, to say the least.
Update: As this is a breaking story, more information is coming out regularly - one source that updates their reports frequently is Zero Hedge - thanks boru!
Previously: New Analysis of Swedish Police Report Confirms Julian Assange's Version in Sweden's Case
Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
UK Said Assange Would Not be Extradited If He Leaves Embassy Refuge
Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange
U.S. Ramping Up Probe Against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Says
Ecuador Denies That Julian Assange Will be Evicted From Embassy in London
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:14PM (2 children)
I don't know that I do think that. I did expect Obama to pardon him and Snowden, but he proved he was at least a good measure of the worthless piece of shit the conservatives claimed for 8 years. Directing the three-letter agencies to spy on the Trump presidential campaign because of a DNC-funded dossier has confirmed an additional good measure of the worthless piece of shit the conservatives claimed. (I still don't believe that he was a Manchurian candidate, an Alinsky acolyte, secretly a non-citizen, the central figure in a global pedophile ring, a closet Muslim, married to a dude named Michael, or any of the other whispered claims around crazy campfires, but it's all lagniappe next to what he actually did as President.)
In other words, I have very low expectations for any president now. On the other hand, Trump pledged he would kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership and instantly did that upon assuming office, so I allow for a non-zero chance that he might do the right thing here.
I do call for Assange to be pardoned and for the United States to tell the UK and everyone else in the world to back the fuck off because it's the right thing to do, according to the lights of the country I grew up in (and wish still abided). I would hope that regardless of sour grapes, bitter tribalism, or bilious media memes that men and women of good conscience could at least agree on this much: arresting and imprisoning a real journalist based on fabricated bullshit is a direct assault on everyone's freedom.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 12 2019, @01:34AM
Manchurian candidate: from dictionary.com I get this: "A Manchurian candidate is a person, especially a politician, being used as a puppet by an enemy power. The term is commonly used to indicate disloyalty or corruption, whether intentional or unintentional." Clearly he was disloyal to the USA and was corrupt, so he qualifies both ways by the second definition. That does it, but let's look at the first definition too. I'm not sure where to set the threshold on how metaphorical "puppet" can be. One extreme would be literally a doll with a hand up his ass, and I don't think he qualifies under that definition. (have not seen his ass however) The other extreme would be somebody merely under strong influence, and there I think he does qualify. Consider the hot-microphone comments made to the Russian president, where Obama offers more flexibility after his election. It sure looks like Obama is taking orders but wants a delay.
Alinsky acolyte: Being a follower of Alinsky should not be surprising. Obama just needs to act the part, as he did, and he qualifies. He would not be alone.
secretly a non-citizen: This is a fascinating one. When giving a talk at a library in Cambridge as a law student, discussing his book, Obama was introduced as having been born in Kenya. He may have been making the opposite false claim, pretending to be Kenyan for some sort of exotic foreign credibility in leftist circles. The birth certificate uses fonts that didn't exist at the time. It could be a legitimate Hawaii birth certificate that was modified to hide some other issue. In any case, what is our standard of proof? We have three levels ("beyond a reasonable doubt", "clear and compelling", "preponderance of evidence") and two polarities ("he is", "he isn't"), making for six possible standards of proof. In any case, what could we do at this point? He already bombed 7 countries and spied on a political opponent, and just about all of his presidential orders have been undone.
central figure in a global pedophile ring: He doesn't seem the type, although you never know. John Podesta, Jeffrey Epstein, and Bill Clinton all seem more likely. If anything, I'd suspect Obama of using knowledge of such things as blackmail. The main currency within congress is information for blackmail. This is how they manipulate each other.
closet Muslim: Obama clearly isn't a practicing Muslim. He did once slip up in an interview though, saying "my Muslim faith". (video on youtube) It is also clear that Obama has a fondness for Islam. He even directed NASA to focus on making Muslims feel proud of stuff. NASA!!! Both of Obama's stepfathers were Muslim, which makes Obama unavoidably a Muslim from the perspective of Muslims. Obama did elementary school in Indonesia with Muslim classmates; the chances that Obama never said the statement of faith (becoming permanently Muslim) are slim.
married to a dude named Michael: Obama's wife sure does have something down there. I suspect it is just an incontinence pad. Depends... or something like that.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 12 2019, @06:57AM
Trump killed the TPP, but now provisions from the TPP are being inserted into the NAFTA renegotiation.