Assange has been arrested

[Grooveriding]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47891737

Useful idiot has served his purpose.

 

[cytg111]

*FINALLY*
Now throw him in the pit.

 

[dawp]

saw this, was going to add it to the eviction thread

 

[WelshBloke]

It's pretty funny that it was at the request of the people he's been staying with!

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Now the UK has him so what will it do? It won't send him to the US per written agreement with Ecuador.

 

[trenchfoot]

Assange should ask Trump for some back door deal seeing as if he and Putin helped Trump get elected.

 

[brycejones]

Assange should ask Trump for some back door deal seeing as if he and Putin helped Trump get elected.

Trump's response:

Hardly knew him, never saw the guy. Played golf occasionally with him, but didn't know him at all.

 

[dud]

Snowden has now chimed in:

Fugitive former US government contractor Edward Snowden on Thursday slammed the arrest in London of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, calling it a "dark moment for 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," the whistleblower said on Twitter.

"Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom."

 

[glenn1]

Snowden has now chimed in:

Fugitive former US government contractor Edward Snowden on Thursday slammed the arrest in London of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, calling it a "dark moment for 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," the whistleblower said on Twitter.

"Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom."

Him allegedly raping someone has nothing to do with "press freedom." Hopefully the Swedes get first crack at him. Following the NYT/Pentagon Papers precedent I'll be fine if he never sits foot in an American courtroom. It's not the job of journalists to do the American government's job in keeping its own secrets safe and attempting to prosecute for publishing them after "leaking" is bad policy, bad politics, and ultimately bad for the American people.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Shameful day. Now to hold him accountable for exposing our government.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Him allegedly raping someone has nothing to do with "press freedom." Hopefully the Swedes get first crack at him. Following the NYT/Pentagon Papers precedent I'll be fine if he never sits foot in an American courtroom. It's not the job of journalists to do the American government's job in keeping its own secrets safe and attempting to prosecute for publishing them after "leaking" is bad policy, bad politics, and ultimately bad for the American people.

May I add him skipping a court appearance has nothing to do with press freedoms either.
I don’t agree on the leaking thing. One can’t leak info that puts people in danger then claim innocence.
I’m not sure I’d call Wikileaks a valid form of the press, similar to how I wouldn’t call myself a reporter because I post on P&N.
I’ll agree it’s a tricky line regarding Wikileaks.

 

[glenn1]

May I add him skipping a court appearance has nothing to do with press freedoms either.
I don’t agree on the leaking thing. One can’t leak info that puts people in danger then claim innocence.
I’m not sure I’d call Wikileaks a valid form of the press, similar to how I wouldn’t call myself a reporter because I post on P&N.
I’ll agree it’s a tricky line regarding Wikileaks.

The Wikileaks published information from Chelsea Manning that detailed how the U.S. was causing civilian deaths including the footage of the Apache helicopter attack on journalists and Iraqi civilians. It was basically the exact opposite of "putting people in danger," the leak was exposing how the U.S. government was putting people in danger. And hopefully prevented more people from being wrongly put in danger.

 

[trenchfoot]

Trump's response:

Hardly knew him, never saw the guy. Played golf occasionally with him, but didn't know him at all.

It's like Trump will stand in front of a mirror and keep repeating it to himself to make sure he doesn't have to reach into his back pocket and read the index cards Ivanka writes his responses on.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

This is going to be an interesting test of the First Amendment. There are only two angles I could see them trying to pursue him with and that is either arguing they were not acting as independent journalists but agents of a foreign power or that they actively participated in the obtaining of the information they published.

The case law on the media being able to receive and publish this type of information is pretty well settled.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The Wikileaks published information from Chelsea Manning that detailed how the U.S. was causing civilian deaths including the footage of the Apache helicopter attack on journalists and Iraqi civilians. It was basically the exact opposite of "putting people in danger," the leak was exposing how the U.S. government was putting people in danger. And hopefully prevented more people from being wrongly put in danger.

They also leaked some names of informants regarding OBL.

 

[brycejones]

Now to hold him accountable for interfering in our elections.

FTFY

 

[UglyCasanova]

Is there a law against foreign journalists publishing anything about our elections?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

The indictment has been unsealed.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-computer-hacking-conspiracy

They are alleging he assisted in the obtaining of information, not that he simply received it in a journalistic capacity as I thought.

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.

During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that “after this upload, that’s all I really have got left.” To which Assange replied, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”

 

[WelshBloke]

Snowden has now chimed in:

"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," the whistleblower said on Twitter.

Interesting how it can be framed really.

"Ecuadorian ambassador requests aid in removing unwanted squatter from their premises." probably doesn't have the same ring!

 

[glenn1]

The indictment has been unsealed.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-computer-hacking-conspiracy

They are alleging he assisted in the obtaining of information, not that he simply received it in a journalistic capacity as I thought.

At this point I hope they try Assange, he dumps a metric shitton more material that embarrasses the U.S. in open court, and he's acquitted of all charges. That would be the absolutely most ideal outcome at this point.

 

[ewdotson]

My comfort with the security state has always been one of the least progressive things about me. That said, I can respect those who are genuinely dedicated to transparency even as I might disagree with them in specific cases. As such, I was perfectly ok with both Manning's conviction *and* her pardon. Assange and Snowden though? I've never bought them as any sort of idealists. I'd be perfectly happy to see the both of them spending the rest of their natural lives turning large rocks into smaller ones. (And no, this opinion of mine *really* isn't something new to this administration.)

 

[cytg111]

When you insert your self in geopolitical affairs of dictators and scumbags ... on behalf of dictators and scumbags... then fuck you. Asshole Assange. AA. AA.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

At this point I hope they try Assange, he dumps a metric shitton more material that embarrasses the U.S. in open court, and he's acquitted of all charges. That would be the absolutely most ideal outcome at this point.

NM

 

[kage69]

Waaa waaa.

Hard to feel sorry for the Russian tool who thinks he's a journalist. Fuck that guy.

 

[glenn1]

My ideal outcome is hoping Wikileaks under Assange’s guidence releases a shit ton of anti Orange One material, then watching you turn 180 degrees.
I’ll still be here saying Wikileaks has become a propaganda organization.

Why would I turn 180 degrees? If Assange has material on Trump then I do indeed hope he releases it. This isn't a partisan issue it's a good governance and transparency issue.