Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ The US appeal of a British court ruling on the Assange extradition case has concluded, and the judges will probably not have a decision ready until at least January—a full year after the extradition was denied by a lower court. Assange, despite being convicted of no crime, will have remained in Belmarsh Prison the entire time.
Another brilliant post, Caitlin, worthy of the topic it covers.
Getting fooled is one thing; what we're seeing is the psychological aberration of fooling oneself on a massive scale. In short, too many people don't want the damn light.
I'm a nobody. The ultimate Regular Guy with no special powers of observation or intelligence, yet it's clear to me what a tawdry shit-show our politics has descended to since 9-11, so why does it feel like I'm hanging out on an empty street corner?
Above all else people want their beliefs. People want their team. People want to feel like moral beings. So it's easier going to church and being reassured than it is to squarely encounter the mysteries of life at three in the morning. For instance.
Yes, Assange is brilliantly dragging all this muck into the light. But it looks like in three years or so Americans will once again elect another version of that muck as president and do their best to keep forgetting on purpose.
“Secrets must be exposed when found. Detours must be taken when encountered. And if you are the one who stands at the crossroads or the place of concealment, you must never leave it to another to act in your place.”
These greedy and corrupt people are doing untold and possibly irreparable damage to not only our legal system, but also how others view us. You cannot shine the light on corruption, war for profit and torture in foreign lands, when our Government and its agencies’ are proceeding along the same path, aided and abetted by a dishonest legal system.
Every time some shill for empire gets weepy about how a country that the United States doesn't like doesn't respect Muh Freedom Of Speech, just remind them of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden.
That Assange does Illuminate so much is evidence of a "real" event, unscripted, naked, "real", generating light and illumination at every turn, as opposed to EVERYTHING else that is gamed out and played to us. Prayers for Assange.
All this is true and a complete indictment of the UK & US governments, their criminal justice systems and the utterly corrupt corporate media - especially The Guardian here in the UK. However, if it is true that:
"the western news media are so propagandistic and morally bankrupt that they will viciously smear a dissident journalist"
then what about the news media in societies such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and China, where there are many more journalists being imprisoned for their work - and, no doubt, being slandered by their corrupt news media, government-controlled. None of these men and women, suffering far worse conditions as part of a criminal justice system much less worthy of the name than that in the UK, receives even a modicum of coverage or support in the West. This is despite several of those countries' governments being close allies of the UK and USA. Bahrain, for example, has a British military base.
So there are good reasons for Left media and activists to shine a light on imprisoned journalists in addition to Mr Assange. I have not seen any demonstrations by pro-journalistic freedom protestors outside the Chinese embassy in Portland Place, for example. Why are they not happening? Do non-Western journalists matter less?
Another brilliant post, Caitlin, worthy of the topic it covers.
Getting fooled is one thing; what we're seeing is the psychological aberration of fooling oneself on a massive scale. In short, too many people don't want the damn light.
I'm a nobody. The ultimate Regular Guy with no special powers of observation or intelligence, yet it's clear to me what a tawdry shit-show our politics has descended to since 9-11, so why does it feel like I'm hanging out on an empty street corner?
Above all else people want their beliefs. People want their team. People want to feel like moral beings. So it's easier going to church and being reassured than it is to squarely encounter the mysteries of life at three in the morning. For instance.
Yes, Assange is brilliantly dragging all this muck into the light. But it looks like in three years or so Americans will once again elect another version of that muck as president and do their best to keep forgetting on purpose.
I hope I'm wrong.
“Secrets must be exposed when found. Detours must be taken when encountered. And if you are the one who stands at the crossroads or the place of concealment, you must never leave it to another to act in your place.”
- Qui-Gon Jinn.
A fine tribute to an extraordinary man.
These greedy and corrupt people are doing untold and possibly irreparable damage to not only our legal system, but also how others view us. You cannot shine the light on corruption, war for profit and torture in foreign lands, when our Government and its agencies’ are proceeding along the same path, aided and abetted by a dishonest legal system.
Every time some shill for empire gets weepy about how a country that the United States doesn't like doesn't respect Muh Freedom Of Speech, just remind them of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden.
That Assange does Illuminate so much is evidence of a "real" event, unscripted, naked, "real", generating light and illumination at every turn, as opposed to EVERYTHING else that is gamed out and played to us. Prayers for Assange.
All this is true and a complete indictment of the UK & US governments, their criminal justice systems and the utterly corrupt corporate media - especially The Guardian here in the UK. However, if it is true that:
"the western news media are so propagandistic and morally bankrupt that they will viciously smear a dissident journalist"
then what about the news media in societies such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and China, where there are many more journalists being imprisoned for their work - and, no doubt, being slandered by their corrupt news media, government-controlled. None of these men and women, suffering far worse conditions as part of a criminal justice system much less worthy of the name than that in the UK, receives even a modicum of coverage or support in the West. This is despite several of those countries' governments being close allies of the UK and USA. Bahrain, for example, has a British military base.
So there are good reasons for Left media and activists to shine a light on imprisoned journalists in addition to Mr Assange. I have not seen any demonstrations by pro-journalistic freedom protestors outside the Chinese embassy in Portland Place, for example. Why are they not happening? Do non-Western journalists matter less?