• Hot Saucerman
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    1 year ago

    Wow, it only took Australia a decade to come for their boy.

    • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      I think he lost golden child status a long while back. I mean he’s still one of ours but I’d lock him up for 175 years just for his role in the 2016 election. Fuck head.

      • Zippy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think the guy is pretty slimy but did he release any information that were lies?

        Also does lying even constitute anything illegal?

        Suggesting to lock someonen up for centuries because you don’t like his political position reminds me of someone.

        • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          He selectively released information in such a way and at such a time as to tip the election to Trump.

          It’s not a lie but it’s undue influence.

          • Zippy@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Nothing illegal about that. Just slimy because he claimed to be the bastion of Truth.

            Politicians are going to only release negative details about opposition’s as well. I don’t think there is some law you need to support a certain philosophy.

              • Zippy@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I do. I care about injustice. Even those that are fuck heads. I am not a Trump supporter that thinks justice for one but not others.

      • zephyreks [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Ah yes, because it’s Assange’s fault that Clinton spent more effort trying to take down Sanders than on campaigning against Trump.

        She ran a garbage campaign because polling said she was way ahead of Trump when she wasn’t.

        If you think that journalists should hold back information because it might impact politics, I’m really not sure how to talk to you.

      • rcbrk
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        1 year ago

        Quoting from https://lemmy.ml/comment/3470836 (@JoeBidet@lemmy.ml):

        Wait.

        1/ publishing evidence of the Clinton campaign actively undermining Sanders who was then the natural candidate of the Democrats according to their internal polls (including by using antisemitic slur) + actively boosting Trump campaign because “it’s the only one we can beat” is “throwing the US presidential election to the Republicans”? How this genuine, authenticated information of public interest, published in the New York Times and WaPo is throwing the US elections more than the facts that were being reported?

        2/ “worked with Russian intelligence” is absolute nonsense. What is your source on that? The Muller report says the opposite. If anything it is possible (but not proven) that the source may have been from within Russian intel, but a) Assange mentioned several times -way before that episode- that the entire architecture of WL made it impossible for them to actually know their sources, and we have all reasons to believe that (as it would be the smartest thing to do) b) if any journalist gets documents that are authentic and of public interest, regardless of the source, their duty is to publish it. If a Russian intelligence source had provided fake, doctored or otherwise altered material, and they would have been published as such, it would have been a real scandal. In the facts we are still talking of ground-breaking journalism.

        I still can’t figure that some people cannot realize that Hillary Clinton did all she could to actually lose this election on her own (this and a fundamentally fucked up electoral system), and are actually finding scapegoats like Assange to avoid looking at this reality in the eyes…

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Here’s hoping Australia can get Biden to listen to reason. Just because Wikileaks, as the messenger, embarrassed the US gov’t doesn’t mean Assange was wrong. As in many cases America was by doing stupid shit in the first place.

    #FreeAssange

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Assange is an information terrorist. He has secrets on everyone but only releases selective secrets to hurt the people his handlers want hurt. This doesn’t make him a noble whistleblower, it’s makes him the bad guy in Skyfall.

      • Syldon@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        This must mean every newspaper is also the bad guy in Skyfall. What is the difference between the NYT doing this and Assange? And why should the consequences be different?

        For a country that is ready to shoot their neighbour for the 1st amendment, it seems you only want that for yourselves.

        • School_Lunch@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No one is trying to arrest him because he is selective about what he releases. They want to arrest him because he aided in illegally accessing classified info. That is the behavior of a spy, not a jornalist. The person he aided was already found guilty and did their time.

          • Syldon@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            The extradition was not issued until after the WikiLeaks. Assange has always claimed he was given the leaks from manning. This is why the UK courts have an appeal against extradition order. It tells you this in the Wiki page on Assange. Assange is an arsehole, he has a history of hacking in the 90’s. This doesn’t mean he should be hounded by the richest in the world because they did not like what he said about them.

        • School_Lunch@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You have to ask? Who has Assange never released any information on even though they are known for corruption…

            • toasteecup@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You can’t be his handler, I clearly am! I handle him so good people don’t even know my name

            • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              “No, no, Mongostein. No this was Assange, and I moved on him very heavily in fact I took him out furniture shopping. He wanted to get some furniture. I said I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture. I moved on him like a removed. I couldn’t get there and he was imprisoned. Then all-of-a-sudden I see him, he’s now got the big phony tits and everything. He’s totally changed his look.”

          • Blake [he/him]@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Occam’s razor says you’re wrong. If we take the idea that Assange is a radical journalist who would publish any juicy evidence of state wrongdoing, regardless of source or target, then it doesn’t take much more thought as to why foreign states would leak military intelligence through Assange to reduce popular support for the activities of the defence apparatus of a rival power. It’s one additional step to add “and also he is directly controlled by the foreign state”. Why would they need to control him if he does what they want without them having to go to any special effort?

            And the west wouldn’t have much motivation to leak their Intel to wiki leaks, because wiki leaks is a western institution - they can just use their normal propaganda outlets in their own nations - and the population of foreign nations would be better targeted by some source in the target nation.

            This is just conspiratorial stuff. You need some better evidence - for example, that Julian Assange had good actionable Intel on a country but refused to disclose it without a good reason - to prove that he is acting for the express benefit of a particular state actor.

    • Hot Saucerman
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      1 year ago

      So he’s gonna drop the charges?

      Because Obama admin made the choice explicitly not to charge Assange because of the risk to press freedoms. You even had the general counsel from New York Times arguing this for the last several years. If you charge Assange with these “crimes,” you’re opening the door for other publishers of the same information to be charged. New York Times, Washington Post, everybody.

      Trump admin was the one who changed their minds and decided to nail Assange to the wall with the hacking claim. (Big surprise, loyalty is a one way street with Trump.)

      Look, Obama legalized and formalized the worst excesses of the Bush administration, but this is one thing he did right. If we’re gonna say Biden is gonna follow Obama’s lead, that means the charges will be dropped.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A group of Australian lawmakers said Tuesday they would travel to Washington this month to lobby the United States to abandon its efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

    Their trip is timed to draw attention to the issue ahead of a planned visit to the White House in late October by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

    In May, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva denounced the lack of concerted efforts to free Assange.

    Before he was incarcerated, Assange took asylum for seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.

    They will also meet with organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    American prosecutors allege Assange helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.


    The original article contains 415 words, the summary contains 158 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!