Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is exactly how terrorists are created. Some poor farmer is going to care more about feeding his family than commit suicide missions. People who lost their whole family from an American drone attack however...
> . People who lost their whole family from an American drone attack however... Will continue to care about more about feeding their family. There is no connection between being victim and becoming a terrorist or we in Italy should be all terrorists, because in the 70s a lot of people have been killed by state terrorists. Lookup Giorgiana Masi, for example, or Stefano Cucchi. Their families didn't kill anybody. They…
Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
621–630 of 784 posts
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#622Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in New Zealand with family in the UK. I have spent the last 10 years flying the other way around the planet instead of via LA because the airports are worse than places like Malaysia. I can't speak to living in the USA but I have lived in Milawe and Fiji, and honestly being poor is definitely bad but some of the stuff happening in the US is a whole other kind of dystopian terrifying.
Is LAX really that bad? I haven't been there in years, but this seems a bit egregious. What terrifies you? The long lines at the bathroom? The food court selection? The lack of charging ports?
It all may have changed, but until I hear otherwise (or that the TSA have decided to calm down) I'm happy with my choice.
Edit: As the other comment mentioned, this was also all just for a flight transfer.
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#623Earlier quoted context omitted.
Appealing to authority is a lot less persuasive when it's a non-binding report from a minor working group. I read their account. It was poorly argued and inconsistent. Should we really accept a case that's made because of the authority making the argument rather than the argument itself?
Then make your case on your disagreements with that report, not on your (frivolous) assumption that he would have had a fair trial.
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#624There were, not long ago, times when Assange was considered a saint of freedom after he exposed the corrupt Bush administration, the liberals everywhere were defending him and his case everywhere, they even made a Hollywood film about him. But he then made the mistake of his life, he exposed the corruption of the Clintons and got implicated in the Russia gate meme because Trump somehow won. Now he is totally on his o…
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#625Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is LAX really that bad? I haven't been there in years, but this seems a bit egregious. What terrifies you? The long lines at the bathroom? The food court selection? The lack of charging ports?
What really put us off was arriving after a long haul to a queue that filled the immigration hall, then proceeding to wait for two hours while the three desks (out of about 12) tried to process about three flights worth of people. That and the shoes thing, most other places don't have that. It all may have changed, but until I hear otherwise (or that the TSA have decided to calm down) I'm happy with my choice. Edit:…
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#626Earlier quoted context omitted.
This talking point had been soundly debunked. Sweden kept up the threat of charges and demand for extradition for nearly ten years, but dropped them like a hot potato when the US charges became public (when Sweden's charges would only get in their way). Never mind that Assange was ridiculed for most of those ten years for claiming that US would seek his extradition. His understanding of the world, including the asses…
All of the following can be true at the same time: - Sweden dropped the charges after the US pressured them to - The US has been seeking his extradition for years - Sweden is extremely servile to the US in security/foreign policy - He raped a girl in Sweden
He was just wanted for "inquiry" about the possible case. And some details of the case are here described, by the woman in whose apartment he slept, as organized by her:
"The statement records Miss A describing how Assange then released her arms and agreed to use a condom, but she told the police that at some stage Assange had "done something" with the condom that resulted in it becoming ripped, and ejaculated without withdrawing."
"When he was later interviewed by police in Stockholm, Assange agreed that he had had sex with Miss A but said he did not tear the condom, and that he was not aware that it had been torn. He told police that he had continued to sleep in Miss A's bed for the following week and she had never mentioned a torn condom."
Then, another miss "Miss W" some days later:
"However, during the night, they had both woken up and had sex at least once when "he agreed unwillingly to use a condom"." ... "Early the next morning, Miss W told police, she had gone to buy breakfast before getting back into bed and falling asleep beside Assange. She had awoken to find him having sex with her, she said, but when she asked whether he was wearing a condom he said no."
"In submissions to the Swedish courts, (Assange and his lawyers) have argued that Miss W took the initiative in contacting Assange, that on her own account she willingly engaged in sexual activity in a cinema and voluntarily took him to her flat where, she agrees, they had consensual sex. They say that she never indicated to Assange that she did not want to have sex with him. They also say that in a text message to a friend, she never suggested she had been raped and claimed only to have been "half asleep"."
Such nasty cases. The women "compared their impressions" (they were it seems friends) and then went to police, once he was away. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange...
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#627Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of your family is there. All your friends are there. All that you own is there. All that you've ever known is there. You may not know any other language than your native one. You: "Why don't you just move?" This really sounds like saying "Cheer up!" to a person suffering from depression. EDIT: Spelling
No, it doesn't. I know people from developing countries. I'm married to one. Universally, every single one of them wants to get the fuck out, and they do everything in their power to get out. That's reality in a developing country. The US is not in any way like a developing country. Comparing it to one is an act of such entitled privileged whining it's absurd.
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#628Earlier quoted context omitted.
I should probably clarify: assassination of high-visibility undisclosed targets. Osama bin Laden was tagged as an enemy combatant quite publicly, and I'm not aware of anyone disagreeing with the US's tactical call to kill him during Operation Neptune Spear rather than take him alive. Some Congresspeople have made ill-advised claims around Assange, but to my knowledge he is not tagged as an enemy combatant in a war on…
Just to clarify, you're saying that the US is not currently in the business of assassinating high-visibility targets. Just clarifying, because there's a history of state-sanctioned assassination attempts and plots during the Cold War.
There should be nothing remotely controversial about these events existing.
Second, by asking a clarifying question I am not implying that the "US is not currently in the business of assassinating high-visibility targets" because I have no way of knowing this. I just want to clarify this person's point-of-view.
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#629Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a 1% chance. Even if one accepts your definition of torture, people who aren't criminals are very rarely caught up in the system at all. So it's far less than 1% as long as you're simply not a criminal. If the US were really so bad, people would leave. The people who do leave typically leave for tax purposes opposite to your belief.
Around 5% of the US population go to jail at least once in their life. And 0.69% are currently jailed (0.075% in Germany). Since it is harder to _simply not be a criminal_ and prisons there are proven not to fulfill their role, maybe OP simply wishes that this aspect of the country would improve. I don't think he/she was whining, or even saying that everything in the country terrible.
European misunderstanding and distortion of American society never fails to entertain.
Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation
#630Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a 1% chance. Even if one accepts your definition of torture, people who aren't criminals are very rarely caught up in the system at all. So it's far less than 1% as long as you're simply not a criminal. If the US were really so bad, people would leave. The people who do leave typically leave for tax purposes opposite to your belief.
Seriously dude? "American Airlines overcharged you by $1 and you're complaining? WHY NOT JUST START AN AIRLINE YOURSELF?" If only we were all god, your comment would be helpful.