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posted by takyon on Friday July 13 2018, @11:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-dead-yet dept.

Prominent whistleblowers and journalists defend Julian Assange at online vigil

Over the weekend, dozens of public figures, including prominent whistleblowers and journalists, took part in a 36-hour international online vigil in defence of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. The event was the third "Unity4J" vigil organised by independent journalist and New Zealand Internet Party leader, Suzie Dawson, since Assange's communications were cut-off by Ecuadorian authorities at their London embassy last March.

[...] Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 exposed the extent of US criminality in Vietnam, drew a parallel between his own activities and those of WikiLeaks. Referring to WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of US war logs in Iraq and Afghanistan, he stated: "I really waited almost 40 years, after the Pentagon Papers had come out, for someone to do what I had done."

Ellsberg pointed to similarities between the attacks that had been levelled against him, and the persecution of Assange. "I was charged with 12 felony counts, a possible 150 years in prison. Nixon had in mind for me what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have had in mind for Julian Assange," he said.

takyon: #Unity4J. See also: Why I Stand With Julian Assange at The American Conservative.

Related: FBI Whistleblower on Pierre Omidyar and His Campaign to Neuter Wikileaks
Julian Assange has His Internet Access Cut Off by Ecuador
Ecuador Spent $5 Million Protecting and Spying on Julian Assange


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday July 13 2018, @11:13PM (5 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday July 13 2018, @11:13PM (#706828) Journal

    Why's everybody always picking on "Organization 1?" [justice.gov]

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:27PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:27PM (#706837)

      So fitting for our resident DNC shill. Thanks to "Russia," we know how Bernie got fucked. As far as I can tell, Putin is the good guy there.

      If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear. That should sound familiar to a political organization that is taking marching orders from such venerable organizations as the old boy's club on Wall Street and the CIA.

      Where is the diversity push in either of those organizations? Oh right. It's only us "incels" in the working class who need to be diversified into unemployment and permanent underemployment.

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Saturday July 14 2018, @01:25AM (1 child)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Saturday July 14 2018, @01:25AM (#706874) Journal

        So fitting for our resident DNC shill.

        Wrong. I give money TO the DNC. Not the other way around...

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:53AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:53AM (#706891)

          And I gave money to Bernie. In such a way that I hope the DNC had no ability to put their mitts on it.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @04:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @04:48AM (#707471)

        Thanks to "Russia," we know how Bernie got fucked

        That is false. We know that Bernie lost the primary by 3.7 million votes. That's more than Hillary won the general by. No amount of mental contortions and making mountains of molehills can account for that vast gulf. Bernie was not going to win regardless.

        As far as I can tell, Putin is the good guy there.

        If you actually cared about Bernie's platform, then no way in hell you would say that.
        If all you cared about Bernie is that you wanted to fuck the democrats, well then you can fuck right off.

        If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear.

        If you really believed that, you wouldn't be posting AC.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:29AM (#706935)

      Leave Brittany alone!

      What does French province of Bretagne (a.k.a. Brittany) have to do with any of this?

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:18PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:18PM (#706832)

    Assange is a rapist incel! He's wanted in 12 systems for rape!

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:20AM (5 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:20AM (#706886) Journal

      Ho-hum. Only an AC troll still brings up the rape charges. Except, there never was a rape charge. Julian was accused of some sort of indiscretions that make little sense to Americans, so the American media spun it all into rape. But, both "victims" stated unequivocally that there was no rape. But, you go on believing the media's version of things.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @04:55AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @04:55AM (#707473)

        Yeah shut up shitstain. Yours is the party of rapists, pedophiles and sex traffickers. Your opinion of Assange's sexual crimes is less than meaningless.

        Just to be clear, these are your people:

        Dennis Hastert (&Scott Palmer chief of staff) - Longest GOP Serving Speaker of the House (born again christian) abused teen wrestlers
              During sentencing he received 60+ letters from fellow GOP luminaries in support of his 'good' character.
        Mark Foley US Rep from Florida - chased congressional pages (juniors in high school)

        Jim Jordan US Rep from Ohio (Gym Jordan) as coach he allowed wrestlers to be molested on his watch

        Tim Nolan - Kentucky "hanging judge" trump state campaign chair and convicted sex trafficker
        Ralph Shortey - Oklahoma State Senator trump state campaign chair and convicted sex trafficker
        Roy Moore - Alabama Chief Justice of supreme court & senate candidate unindicted child molestor

        Eric Greitens - Missouri governor (sexual assault and blackmail)
        Blake Farenthold - texas rep (sexual harassment paid with tax dollars)

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:07AM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:07AM (#707500) Journal

          I didn't state an opinion. I stated a plain, simple fact. There was never a rape charge against Assange. If you think differently, offer a citation. Not American MSM, because MSM isn't smart enough to understand, or to convey, the distinctions between the various sex related offenses in Europe. Find one single European news source that claims Julian Assange was charged with rape.

          You CAN, however, find citations, in which BOTH of the victims state clearly that they were NOT RAPED.

          Your list of American heroes has no bearing on this case.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:17AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:17AM (#707508)

            Your list of American heroes has no bearing on this case.

            You know, I'm coming around to the idea that you are a pedo too. It sure would explain a lot.

            • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:32AM (1 child)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 15 2018, @06:32AM (#707515) Journal

              Don't chase that poor idea that you have your eye on. If you capture it, it will just die of loneliness.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @02:01PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @02:01PM (#707600)

                Holy shit, runaway is a russian bot.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:23PM (21 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:23PM (#706833)

    Why I Stand With Julian Assange at The American Conservative.

    Before Trump won, Assange arguably was a hero in the eyes of many liberals, and Comey was an authoritarian twat. Now Assange is a traitor for many of those liberals, while Comey is the second coming of Christ that will flush Trump out of the White House and install Queen Hillary.
    The magnetic field seems to have flipped for the conservatives too.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 13 2018, @11:27PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday July 13 2018, @11:27PM (#706838) Journal

      That's addressed in the second paragraph.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @11:29PM (#706840)

      Trump has already signed an executive order making it impossible for #CrookedHillary to become president whether or not he ends up having to give himself a full presidential pardon.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Saturday July 14 2018, @01:30AM (13 children)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Saturday July 14 2018, @01:30AM (#706876) Journal

      How strange... Before he illegally interfered with a US election we were fin with him. And then after he illegally interfered with a US election suddenly we didn't like him so much. It's so confusing!

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:16AM (6 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:16AM (#706884) Journal

        How did Assange "illegally interfered" with a US election? Assange falls under the heading of "journalist". He may or may not have edited his source stories, but every editor in US history has done so. So - reporting is illegal now? Or, reporting is only illegal when you don't like the source of the story? Or, reporting is illegal because you dislike the slant of the editorializing?

        It's really not all that confusing. A powerful woman with a lot of skeletons in her closet took a terrible dislike to a reporter/editor. Politics as usual.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:17AM (5 children)

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:17AM (#706899) Journal

          How did Assange "illegally interfered" with a US election? Assange falls under the heading of "journalist".

          "Organization 1" is probably going to come out of this whole thing with some charges. [justice.gov]

          That's just a prediction at this point, though....

          • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday July 14 2018, @07:11AM (1 child)

            by deimtee (3272) on Saturday July 14 2018, @07:11AM (#706973) Journal

            I don't see Assange's name on that document.

            --
            If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:04AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:04AM (#707475)

              You are right. There aren't any names beyond the 12 GRU officers.
              But you know what there is in that document? A Julian Assange shaped hole called "Organization 1"

              The sad thing is that because he's a sociopath with narcissistic personality disorder, Assange has taken down wikileaks's good name. All the good will and reputation the organization had earned for all the good work they did, he flushed that down the toilet in his vendetta against clinton. He burned all of his principles on the altar of revenge and in so doing he handed the establishment everything they needed to discredit wikileaks.

              If you really card about wikileaks's stated goals, you would be livid with rage that Assange threw it all away for his own petty grievances. The thing about being a martyr is you actually have to go down fighting for a real cause. In the end, Assange is just dragging everybody else down with him. He's no martyr, he's just another corrupt user, absolutely no different from the people he claims to be fighting.

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:42PM (2 children)

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:42PM (#707119) Journal

            That's rather boring, actually. But, like Diemtee, I fail to find "assange" in a search of that document. So, not only boring, but irrelevant. Likewise, a search for "wikileaks" gives me nothing.

            Now, I know you're pretty smart. Maybe you just copy/pasted the wrong link into your reply. Take this opportunity to respond with something meaningful.

            • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 14 2018, @06:48PM (1 child)

              by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 14 2018, @06:48PM (#707264) Journal

              The Conspirators also used the Guccifer 2.0 persona to release additional stolen documents through a website maintained by an organization (“Organization 1”), that had previously posted documents stolen from U.S. persons, entities, and the U.S. government.

              What is Organization 1 if not WikiLeaks, I thought to myself? Then I remembered that DCLeaks site. Looked up the Wikipedia for it, and what do we have?

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCLeaks [wikipedia.org]

              DCLeaks (also known as DC Leaks) is a website that was established in June 2016. Since its creation, it has been responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to multiple prominent figures in the United States government and military. Cybersecurity research firms say the site is a front for the Russian cyber-espionage group Fancy Bear. On July 13th, 2018, an indictment was made against 12 Russian GRU military officers; it alleges that DC Leaks is part of a Russian military operation.

              So yeah, looks like DeathMonkey might have forgotten that other site. Although both DCLeaks and WikiLeaks ultimately published the material, so...

              --
              [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:09AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:09AM (#707478)

                The problem with your analysis is that DCLeaks had not previously posted documents from anyone. As you quoted, it was created in June 2016. The indictment starts by saying "Beginning in or around June 2016, the Conspirators staged and released tens of thousands of the stolen emails and documents." Since there was no "DCLeaks" before June 2016, that description does not match.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:59AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:59AM (#706893)

        FBI director Comey interfered in the election the week before, in full public, but please continue pounding on Assange and praying to the altar of Comey, just because Trump finally fired him because it was apparent he was a loose cannon.

        • (Score: 2) by Aegis on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:37AM (3 children)

          by Aegis (6714) on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:37AM (#706938)

          Yes.... the anti-Trump bias at the FBI was to release damaging information about the Clinton campaign...

          Clearly it's a deep state conspiracy to make white rice brown.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:39PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @04:39PM (#707182)

            You have to read that OIG report: https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download [justice.gov]

            As described above, Comey began drafting a public statement announcing the conclusion of the Midyear investigation in early May 2016, well before the tarmac meeting, and told the OIG that he planned not to inform the Department. Comey told us that he had struggled with the decision, and that “in a way the tarmac thing made it easy for me” and “tipped the scales” towards making his mind up to go forward with an independent announcement. He stated, “I think I was nearly there. That I have to do this separate and apart.... And so I would say I was 90 percent there, like highly likely going to do it anyway, and [the tarmac meeting] capped it.”
            [...]

            "What I said to myself at the time, we talked about it as a leadership team a lot and all believed that this was the right course, try to imagine what will happen to the FBI if we do the normal thing. Then what will happen to us is the Department of Justice will screw around it for Lord knows how long, issue probably a one sentence declination, and then the world will catch on fire, and then the cry in the public will be where on the earth is the FBI, how could the FBI be part of some corrupt political bargain like this, there’s no transparency whatsoever, where is the FBI, where is the FBI. Then, after a period of many weeks where a corrosive doubt about us leaks into the public’s square, then I’d have to testify in exactly the way I did before. Our view of it would be dragged out in that way, in a way I think would’ve hugely damaging to us, and frankly, to the Justice Department more broadly and for the sense of justice in the country more broadly."

            To me it looks like he thought he was being set up to be a fall guy, that "tarmac meeting" was the last straw.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @07:53PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @07:53PM (#707312)

              A fall guy under Obama, or Trump, or both?

              And look what we have now: A corrosive public discussion, and huge damage to the Justice Department and the sense of justice in the country.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:15AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:15AM (#707480)

            It sure is weird that congress has suddenly got oversight fever. But for some reason the only thing they want oversight on is one specific ongoing case. I mean, all that brouhaha about wiretapping and NSA spying, and yet the very same people raising a ruckus also just signed off on extending the NSA's wiretapping abilities. And I don't mean same people as in generic congress members, I mean, the exact same people on the exact same house intelligence committee. [eff.org]

            So strange!! I am so perplexed. NOT.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @05:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @05:34AM (#706954)

        If releasing the truth is 'illegally interfering' with the US election - whether that information was gotten from a hack or not - then those laws need to be struck down immediately. I don't care whether it's illegal, and I wish the same would happen to the RNC.

        Note that the 'It's illegal!' argument was used just as often against Snowden.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:13AM (4 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 14 2018, @02:13AM (#706882) Journal

      Assange became a Clinton boogeyman much earlier than Trump's win. She was still pretending to be Secretary of State when she decided that he was evil.

      https://www.rt.com/usa/361459-secretary-clinton-drone-assange/ [rt.com]

      Several weeks, or only a few months earlier, Clinton was talking Assange up, but she had to "pivot" for a number of crazy reasons. Crazy reason number one centers around that unsecured, unethical (if not outright illegal) private server that Hillary had.

      http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-adviser-roger-stone-sought-clinton-emails-assange-article-1.4008373 [nydailynews.com]

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:06AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:06AM (#706895)

        Assange became a Clinton boogeyman much earlier than Trump's win. She was still pretending to be Secretary of State when she decided that he was evil.

        True, but many liberal Americans including me welcomed the exposure of the machinations of the rich and powerful. It was only when Hillary kicked Bernie off the stage that many liberals lost their liberalness and it had to be Hillary or bust. The idea of a Trump presidency was the end of the world, and anyone interfering with Hillary had to be destroyed.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @12:01PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 14 2018, @12:01PM (#707053)

          That is yet another reason why she lost. She tried to blackmail voters with 'vote for me or you get Trump'. Too many people called her on that.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:31AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @05:31AM (#707484)

            You say blackmail, I say trusted people to see the obvious. Apparently she over-estimated the quality of the people in our country. Kinda ironic given the way she was smeared for saying that half of trump's supporters are: [nymag.com]

            are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they’re in a dead end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @09:28AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 15 2018, @09:28AM (#707558)

              Kinda ironic given the way she was smeared for saying that half of trump's supporters are: [...]

              Not really, the criticism of that speech was primarily for saying that the other half of the supporters are: [time.com]

              the basket of deplorables

  • (Score: 2) by hoeferbe on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:48AM (1 child)

    by hoeferbe (4715) on Saturday July 14 2018, @03:48AM (#706916)

    Over the weekend

    ("the weekend" being 6 days ago) and...

    The event was the third "Unity4J" vigil

    I know I rely a little too much on news aggregator websites, but I'm surprised that this is the 1st I've heard of this.  And this is the 3rd one they've done!  Why are we only hearing about this now?

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