Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 577 posts

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#321

Post by intralizee »

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #67

In an ideal world, this wouldn't be a bad thing. A trial would force the government to finally show us proof that Wikileaks was working for the Russians and they conspired criminally to hack US networks. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world, and you should be absolutely certain that any "trial" Assange gets will be a kangaroo court where he is convicted on "secret" evidence that we won't be able to independe…

I agree, I'm surprised you're being downvoted for this opinion. Kangaroo courts happen and even when the person facing the verdict is high profile. It shows how power with the agenda of whomever is what crafts law. Logic is the thing rational people cling to and logic is not part of foundation making justice in prosecutions. The wild thing to me is how much hate assange has gathered recently online. People seem to prefer writing just throw him in jail than take the undecided stance. Makes me think things are getting worse if you're on the not happy side with how things are run.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#322

Post by nl »

resters wrote: post #310
nl wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link is broken - I think you mean this one, posted below: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julia... If a WP headline from 2013 saying "Julian Assange unlikely to face U.S. charges over publishing classified documents" is the limits of that argument, then I think it's fair to say that is much weaker then any claim that "he is practically free to go". In addition, maybe he was free to go in 2…

Also wapo is pretty much all political propaganda of some sort now. It’s been getting worse by the day since Bezos bought it for some reason.

This seems a non-sequitur.

Which part of that article seems to be political propaganda? It seems to be a decently piece of reporting on justice department thinking at the time?

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#323

Post by jack9 »

hnmonkey wrote: post #259
monocasa wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally the second sentence of that article says: > The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led operation

You seem to be arguing incredibly uncharitably. I simply said the military planned it and based on the article I posted, I am 100% accurate. It doesn't take away from the military planning that the CIA also had a hand in planning it. I also never said the military led it, the thing you are arguing I did.

> You seem to be arguing incredibly uncharitably.

Ironic. You've claimed multiple things. For each case, in the face of conflicting evidence, deflected to argue about another detail.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#324

Post by sigmar »

jMyles wrote: post #249
kuwze wrote: post #190

If he had kept his promise after Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning I would care.

What a silly point on which to turn your concerns about government misconduct, especially when it involves the 1st amendment. > Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning First of all, that never happened. You are drastically exaggerating the relief offered by the government. The government tortured this person for years and then, even after offering this (in the great scheme of things, small) gesture of commuting her sentence,…

>It was too little too late for me, and too little too late for Assange. If the government wanted to take the deal he offered, it had the opportunity to immediately pardon Manning and call Assange out on it. Then we'd know if he was bluffing. This (less than) half measure doesn't cut.

What? Assange asked for clemency. "If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case". and I'm not sure how it was "too little too tale for Assange" since it was days after that that Obama granted clemency.

Also- you seem to care so much for Manning that you went the extra mile to avoid using her preferred pronouns by using "this person." Amazing.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#325

Post by kahirsch »

ColanR wrote: post #245
kahirsch wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truepundit.com is a site with no named reporters but somehow still manages to get "scoops" from unnamed sources in the State Department, the Justice Department, the Pentagon, and the FBI. Yet these scoops are never confirmed by other sources and many of them are proved false, like these: * November 4, 2016: BREAKING: Comey Mandates All FBI Agents Report to D.C. Offices; Prep for Raids, Possible Arrests in Clinton Pro…

Two instances of getting it wrong doesn't negate the entire news organization. That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There isn't any news organization that hasn't ever got an article wrong.

Real news organizations have actual reporters and have built up a reputation for getting things right. They have earned trust over years. They do get things wrong, but they issue corrections.

Truepundit.com is not a news organization. It popped up in 2016 and was dedicated to publishing "articles" attacking Democrats. It makes no pretense to being an objective news source. None of its "scoops" were ever confirmed by a real news source.

The article "Comey Mandates All FBI Agents Report to D.C. Offices; Prep for Raids, Possible Arrests in Clinton Probes" was published days before the 2016 presidential election.

It was not a mistake. It was a deliberate, politically-motivated hoax.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#326

Post by GlenTheMachine »

AnaniasAnanas wrote: post #274
darawk wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but do the war crimes the US committed mean that Assange is not guilty of being a Russian asset?

How is being a Russian asset a crime? Even if he released only documents provided by the Russians and ignored other ones (which is debatable), how is that bad as long as said documents are not forged?

Acting as an undeclared agent of a foreign government is absolutely a crime.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#327

Post by throwaway6734 »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #301
rdtsc wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think his case will be closely studied for years. And it is how propaganda works. There is no coordination between the 5 or 6 or however many media outlets but it seems as if there is turn almost based on how quickly he went from a martir to Russian puppet in just a year or less. Same thing kind of happened to Greenwald though to a lesser degree.

The consensus is that Greenwald isn't a Russian agent. He's just stupid. His reporting has consistently had large and obvious errors at least since he was writing for Common Dreams.

This is a strong claim. Please provide evidence.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#328

Post by tyingq »

rem7 wrote: post #214
xoa wrote: post #47

Without any opinion the merits of this case in particular, which seems like a total mess all around and I haven't been following, on the topic more generally I found "Demystifying International Extradition" [1] last year to be an interesting summary of the process. It introduced me to concepts that don't really tend to come up in local law. Amongst other pertinent aspects is that while the US generally wants to avoid…

Mexico is the same way, they won’t extradite if the country is seeking for the death penalty. I wonder if there was a negotiation around that with El Chapo

There was. He is not facing the death penalty. Solitary confinement in a Supermax facility for life is arguably worse though. 23 hours a day alone in a room with no windows for the rest of your life.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#329

Post by oh-kumudo »

c3534l wrote: post #309
oh-kumudo wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is clear that Assange is both libertarian and anti-globalist. His attitude towards 2016 elections is predictable and consistent with his world view.

> both libertarian and anti-globalist Those are mutually exclusive concepts.

In which way? Libertarians aren't necessarily globalists. They are just indifferent towards the concept. But if the globalists weave in too much influence, it would definitely been seen from an libertrain's perspective, a threat to their liberty.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#330

Post by c3534l »

oh-kumudo wrote: post #329
c3534l wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> both libertarian and anti-globalist Those are mutually exclusive concepts.

In which way? Libertarians aren't necessarily globalists. They are just indifferent towards the concept. But if the globalists weave in too much influence, it would definitely been seen from an libertrain's perspective, a threat to their liberty.

How does being free trade and open-borders not make you a globalist? Those are like the primary pillars of globalization.
Post reply on HN