Julian Assange: Lest We Forget What Courageous Journalism Looks Like

New Zealand citizen journalist Suzi Dawson, herself a whistleblower who has taken political asylum in Russia to avoid persecution by the New Zealand government, listed what she considered the ten most important achievements by Julian Assange and Wikileaks.  This was in a interview with Jimmy Dore, October 27, 2018.

Here they are:

1)  "Wikileaks has been keeping the historical record intact, and is actually combating the digital loss as web pages and websites are constantly being taken down from the internet by the powers that be.  In this current paradigm they're actually scrubbing entire websites and domains at every opportunity.  They're trying to erase information from our living history.  And Wikileaks' founding charter says that any information that's at risk of censorship or deletion can find a safe harbor at Wikileaks."

2)  "Wikileaks enables victims of persecution to have admissible evidence to fight their cases in court.  40,000 cases around the world have had Wikileaks documents submitted as evidence to the court."

3)  "They've maintained a 100% accuracy record over ten years of publishing."

4)  "Wikileaks is still publishing despite the full force of the Empire being used against them.  Intelligence agencies, financial service providers, hostile media and law fare, and of course now Julian Assange's solitary confinement, we still see Wikileaks releases being published."

5)  "Wikileaks has established a digital library of over 10 million documents, containing pristine datasets, the full relevance of which will only become apparent years into the future.  Every current news story can be further informed by doing a key word search to see what Wikileaks archives contain about topics or persons or places that may be relevant to that news story."

6)  "Wikileaks has established a whole new way of doing journalism.  They also initiated the first anonymous drop boxes, which we now see that a similar technology is being used by media outlets across the globe."

7)  "Wikileaks has become the vanguard of press freedom, always pushing at the boundaries of what is acceptable in publishing.  And that is incredibly important because as they are pushing those boundaries further and further out, it allows independent media and citizen media to fill that space in between.  We can go further and do more significant things because Wikileaks is out there taking the heat for us."

8)  "Wikileaks has published leaks on every country in the world without geopolitical bias."

9)  "Wikileaks leaves no source behind, and not only do they go above and beyond to support their sources, they've actually established other organizations to support other at risk journalists and whistleblowers, such as the Courage Foundation, and we now have proven that Julian Assange was involved in the establishment of the Freedom of the Press Foundation."

10)  "Julian saved the life of Edward Snowden, who is renowned as the greatest whistleblower of our generation, and was brought to you by Wikileaks."
Julian Assange should be getting a Nobel Prize, not being persecuted.

What can we do to save this courageous, heroic man?  This is not just about one man, as admirable and honorable he is as a person.  This is about freedom of speech, freedom of dissent, being able to stand up to power and avoid complete and total, across-the-board repression by burgeoning corporate-state totalitarianism.  The media is already a pitiful shell of what it once was.  Silencing the Julian Assanges of the world will just accelerate the demise of public discourse built on honest investigative reporting.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]



Julian Assange: Lest We Forget What Courageous Journalism Looks Like

R2P = L2K

 

Robert Scheer at Truthdig treats us to an oft-recurring refrain in his impassioned pleas for sanity and common sense.  I've heard it a number of  times in the many fascinating interviews I've heard of this brilliant, inspiring journalist. 

Here it is . . .

"What happens to these people?"

Indeed!

What happened to Colin Powell?

He ruined a sterling reputation and destroyed his historical legacy by lying at the U.N. -- with the whole world watching -- about WMDs in Iraq.  Hundreds of thousands of people died so he could make his boss, George W. Bush, proud of him.  Tragic on so many levels.

Here's a good one:  What happened to Dick Cheney?

This is the man behind the curtain, personally responsible for more chaos and carnage than anyone since Richard Nixon murdered 3 million people in Vietnam and Cambodia.  This is really mind-boggling!  Watch him explain in 1994 why we should not destroy Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein.

  

Okay, Cheney is a psychopath.  So we can't expect consistency, much less common sense.

But what happened to Samantha Power?

She is an example of someone who has truly made the transition to the dark side. 

She wrote a book on the "responsibility to protect" or R2P, as the convenient acronym goes.  It was called A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, and won a Pulitzer Prize. However, this once noble framework and call for responsible, moral action is now the neocon public relations weapon of choice to bomb and destroy any country that has the audacity to disagree with America's corporate imperial ambitions.  Power herself has become a neocon war monger, who rails incessantly at any national leader or country who stands in the way of America's march to world hegemony.

R2P now equals L2K -- license to kill.

"What happens to these people?"

I think I can answer that.  But I'm not going to waste my time.  Because . . .

You know what?

I don't really care what happens to any of these people.  Not any more than I care exactly how a dog contracted rabies.  When the animal is frothing at the mouth, howling, leaping in the air, snapping at everything in sight, out of its mind and posing a danger to everyone -- children, old folks, anyone innocently strolling by -- there's only one immediate concern, and one sensible action.  We need to take action before someone gets hurt.


I'm not proposing shooting these people. But they do need to be isolated before they do any more harm to others.  They need to be called out, driven out, shut out, exiled from public life.  They must be removed from positions of power before anyone else gets hurt. 

"What happens to these people?"

I know what should happen to them.

No more pulling punches.  No more political correctness or obsequious politeness.

We don't behead here in America. But we certainly do eviscerate public figures --vilify and assassinate them in the public forums, smear and quarantine them, ridicule and demonize them personally, mock and marginalize their messages.  Usually it's the good decent ones, citizens and public servants who take their duty to their country seriously and are guided by genuine moral concerns and driven by selfless and magnanimous agendas. People like Don Siegelman, Edward Snowden, Dennis Kucinich, Chelsea Manning, John Kiriakou.


 

Time to turn the tables and call out the real enemies of America.

These people have made a sham of what this country stands for, lie and deceive the citizenry about the real agenda behind their faux-noble ideas, rationalize and obfuscate the horrifying consequences of their actions.

We'll start with Samantha Power. Her book, brimming with noble intentions, has morphed into a foreign policy brimming with lethal weapons.  She truly is a traitor to both herself and us.

We should show no more mercy toward her than she and her homicidal accomplices have the hundreds of thousands they've murdered, in the name of "responsibility to protect".

There should be no haven. Wherever this violent, disingenuous shrew appears publicly -- and even where possible privately -- everyone should be reminded she is a murderer and a war criminal.  When the outcries and collective revulsion sufficiently compounds and she is rendered totally ineffective and discredited, she will be toppled from her pulpit at the U.N. and the chances of survival for those who she now "protects" will be increased exponentially.

Rot in Hell Samantha Power!  You've killed enough people.

Make snuff movies or become a mercenary sniper.

Either is a perfect match for your CV.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



R2P = L2K

Militarizing The Police – Part 3

 


It's prudent to be prepared.

So . . .

The Department of Homeland Security is purchasing 1.6 billion rounds __ yes, you read that correctly . . . 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. Half of the order is for hollow point bullets and the other half for special armor and wall piercing ammunition. Hollow point bullets are forbidden by international law for use in warfare, so these cannot be for the battlefield. They are more expensive than regular bullets, so it doesn't make sense that, as claimed by a spokesperson for DHS, they are being used for "target practice". Besides, they only use about 15 million bullets a year on government
target ranges. 1,600,000,000 rounds is enough to keep them practicing for over a hundred years.

Along similar lines, the DHS will be taking delivery of some unspecified number of the 2,717 MRAPs __ mine-resistant and protected combat vehicles __ retrofitted by Navistar Defense, their manufacturer, for use here in America. As the linked article sensibly asks: "Why would they need such over-the-top vehicles on U.S. streets to withstand IEDs, mine blasts, and 50 caliber hits to bullet-proof glass? In a war zone … yes, definitely. Let’s protect our men and women. On the streets of America …?"

President Obama with his March 16, 2012 signing of the National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order effectively establishes the right to impose Martial Law, at his own discretion even under peace time conditions, claiming full control over all of the resources of America, including even the labor of its citizens. This executive order expands his already extensive authority under the NDAA, which he signed on New Years Eve 2011 while none of us were paying much attention.

To make sure that no act of "terrorism" within our borders goes undetected, the DHS has established an expansive system of fusion centers coordinating its activities with those of local law enforcement
agencies, sharing information on U.S. citizens and intelligence about their movements and activities. The legality of collecting much of this data is questionable but it goes on because no one is able to challenge it. As we certainly know from the reaction of most public figures to the Snowden revelations, there is virtually no evidence in the national conversation or will in Congress of wanting to put a stop to this.

Yes, it's prudent to be prepared.

But . . .

We need to be asking ourselves, or maybe more appropriately those in charge of
rolling over the Constitution, chipping away at the privacy and legal
rights of American citizens, while quietly engineering and implementing
our New American Police State . . .

What is our government preparing for?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Guillotine or Exile?

 

You've got to hand it to the French. When they needed change they could believe in, they didn't fool around.

But I'm not a violent guy. Except when some illiterate blockhead spitefully gives one of my novels a one-star rating __ because he's sinfully ugly or his brain hasn't fully developed __ I prefer the path of peace, love and self-restraint. You know, Buddha, Gandhi, MLK . . . there must be others.

More to the point, these are enlightened times we live in. We've learned that killing __ especially chopping off heads __ is just way too messy. We certainly don't want blood splattering on our silk Gucci dress shirt or entrails slopping all over our Salvatore Ferragamo suede Parigis. So armed with the most sterile and tidy technology, now we hire Xbox wizards to do our killing for us on video screens. Point. Click. ZAP! Bye-bye.

So axe the guillotine for now. Or at least put it in storage __ we might need it later.

I have a better idea for the rich assholes that have stolen democracy and are strip-mining our nation for every last dollar they can squeeze out of it and each of us.

I say that when we get some REAL congressman in office __ more on that in an upcoming blog or go here for a preview __ we pass a simple, straightforward piece of legislation.

This new law will require everyone to give a complete accounting of their personal assets, then to move to the country where most of their wealth sits.

Everyone knows that the ultra rich are parking their money in places like the Hong Kong, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, and a mere 55 minute flight from Miami in the Bahamas. There's hardly a lack of choice. So many ways to screw the IRS, so little time.


But with my new law, the government will cancel their passports __ as they did with Edward Snowden this past June __ and put them on a plane. We can be nice about it, give them a choice. Do they want to live in the Cayman Islands which is the renowned international headquarters for thousands of shell corporations, or maybe Luxembourg where they have the safety deposit box with all of their stock certificates and blood diamonds, or Nauru where they have the numbered bank account with a running balance in eight figures? Nauru has very beautiful beaches. It's not like we're sending them to Bangladesh or Swaziland.

To give this new law some teeth, the displaced billionaires will not be allowed to re-enter the United States until they ship their money back here and pay their fair taxes on it.

Sound harsh? Not really.

We always hear cries of outrage about immigrants coming to this country to welch off the rest of us, suckle off the teat of the public dole, without having contributed their fair share to the big piggy bank where the U.S. Treasury tucks away our tax dollars.

Well, what about the creeps that are already here who aren't paying their fair share? Who have their money stashed away in banks around the globe to avoid giving something back to the nation that made them disgustingly rich?  Just by having a P.O. box in Georgetown, Grand Cayman or a cardboard sign hanging somewhere in Liechtenstein, they're avoiding paying the price of admission right here where they have all of the advantages of living in the richest nation in the world.

And let's be realistic. These guys are not getting a few dollars in food stamps or using the free local clinic to get some measles shots. They are using every possible advantage right here in America to leverage their already incomprehensible wealth into even greater piles incomprehensible wealth __ our banks, legal system, copyright and trademark protection, all sorts of regulatory advantages and slick financial mechanisms which cater to their every need and rewards their pathological level of greed. They're getting handouts in the form of corporate welfare, bailouts from the Treasury so they can add more zeros to their salaries and bonuses, and zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve so they can blow up ghastly financial bubbles with more frightening potential for catastrophe than they did when they crashed the world economy in 2008. Talk about leeches! It's more nauseating than a double down sandwich from KFC.

If that weren't bad enough, their damn chauffeurs double park their limousines on our busy streets causing annoying traffic jams.

I say we apply the merchants rule: You break it, you pay for it. And if you refuse to pay for it, what happens? We call the police and the boys with badges haul you away.

The rich have broken our democracy, they've broken our economy at least once in 2008, and they're setting up to break it again. But they refuse to pay for it.

Time to call the police and haul them away.

As I said, we'll be civilized about this. We'll let them take all their antiques, jewelry, fine art. We'll give them a Certificate of Appreciation for their mansions and vacation homes, which will be turned into homeless shelters, alternative schools, hospices to provide care for people who are lacking proper health care, centers for peace studies.

We'll even give them a reasonable amount of time to pack __ say 20 minutes.

Or if they prefer, we can haul that guillotine out of the basement.

Their choice.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]