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

Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

stundin.is

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 334 posts

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#81

Post by pstuart »

nnvcxsstb wrote: post #40
pstuart wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting that apparently the GOP's email server was hacked as well, but nothing was ever released publicly. I'm no fan at all of the DNC but if "all politicians are dirty" is a thing, then why did no dirt spill out from the other side? Was it more valuable as kompromat?

Let's see your source for the claim that the GOP server was hacked

Assumptions are be made, yes. But my comment was not intended to be tribalistic -- shit's being hacked everywhere.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/russia-hacked-older-republican... https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/04/exclusive-emails-o...

If WikiLeaks is about exposing corruption doesn't it seem like they'd do so across party lines?

I don't trust either party but I also don't trust WikiLeaks to be operating without agenda as well.

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#82

Post by whatshisface »

johnchristopher wrote: post #54
sonnyp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because we are still humans and fallible. Did you look at what Wikileaks revealed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#Leaks I don't think you realize the scale of what is happening. These aren't some cute human mistakes or tax evasion. We are talking war crimes, environmental disasters, political corruption, ... And yes - lots of it targets the US gov, maybe time to rethink what the US (and others) gov is and…

> This is why the reasoning that Wikileaks helps dictatorships is absurd. I never wrote that nor implied it. I wrote and I maintain that wikileaks deals more blows to democracies than dictatorships and that it's because of the very nature of democracies (edit: notwithstanding the whole anti-US bias of Assange). I don't know how to make my point clearer: - Wikileaks's leaks are mainly about democracies, not dictatorsh…

>wikileaks deals more blows to democracies than dictatorships

I think the central fallacy here is seeing the central operating principle of democracy, which is the informed public feeding their knowledge and judgement back in, as a blow to democracy. It is like a automotive mechanic saying "there's your problem, the fuel air mixture in your engine is exploding." The press reporting on the government is one link in democracy's central cycle.

Your are right about seeing reporting as a blow to dictatorship, of course. In their case the action of an informed public really is a blow to the state, following the fact that the public is not part of the state.

So in that light it's true that journalism does more to help free societies than it does to hurt dictatorships, since there's more of it in freer societies.

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#83

Post by [deleted] »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #77
gonehome wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re overconfident in what you believe to be true based on the evidence that exists. The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true.

> The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true. I'm not sure how it's politically inconvenient for me when I'm a registered Pacific Green. People need to stop "thinking" in false dichotomies like left vs right or liberal vs. conservative. Astrology is six times smarter.

[deleted]

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#84

Post by [deleted] »

rendall wrote: post #73
extra88 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's "a flood," you must live in a very dry place. A. He wasn't president at the time. B. While it's natural to assume that a candidate is aware of, and is ultimately responsible for, everything his campaign does, I've distinguished between his campaign colluding and Trump personally colluding. C. Everything that has already been made public about the campaign makes further claims that are less well documented n…

And there you go with the exact flood I predicted. Here is my reply. Simple. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/aaugh-a-brief-list-of-official...

[deleted]

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#85

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

belltaco wrote: post #31
rendall wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extraordinary claims (Trump colludes with Russians, Russians hack DNC) requires extraordinary evidence. In over 5 years, this has not been presented.

Plenty of evidence has been shown for this part: >Russians hack DNC

Nope: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-r...

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#86

Post by h_anna_h »

fscksnowden wrote: post #71
Synaesthesia wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what, reporting the truth to the US public? That's called journalism and ought to be praised.

Opinion split, many think he's an arch criminal. Certainly hasn't made US diplomacy any easier. I'd gander that Assange, Snowden and Trump are the main reasons why our alliances are shaky. (I'm an American but this affects the whole Western alliance)

Not committing warcrimes, not going after whistleblowers and journalists, not torturing people in prison and keeping them confined for years without trial, and not spying on the citizens of your own and foreign countries would help the US diplomacy.

It is like saying that rape victims who went to the police are the reason that the life of the rapist is ruined instead of his choice to rape people.

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#87

Post by extra88 »

rendall wrote: post #73
extra88 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's "a flood," you must live in a very dry place. A. He wasn't president at the time. B. While it's natural to assume that a candidate is aware of, and is ultimately responsible for, everything his campaign does, I've distinguished between his campaign colluding and Trump personally colluding. C. Everything that has already been made public about the campaign makes further claims that are less well documented n…

And there you go with the exact flood I predicted. Here is my reply. Simple. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/aaugh-a-brief-list-of-official...

This strikes me as whataboutism. It has nothing to do with the message to which you replied.

Your link is primarily about the press being insufficiently skeptical about sources in stories related to foreign intelligence. At yet it contains lines like this:

> No matter what, the clear aim of this report is to cast certain stories about Joe or Hunter Biden as misinformation, when the evidence more likely shows that material like the Hunter Biden emails is real, just delivered from a disreputable source. [emphasis added]

Taibbi is revealing his bias at the same time he's claiming bias influenced the contents of a report.

I'm all for healthy skepticism in the public and especially as a part of journalists doing their jobs. Journalists absolutely consider what sources have to gain or what axes they may have to grid. But reflexively assuming anything from the government is a lie is just as bad as assuming it's true. And when there's a public statement or report, that is news and needs to be reported on.

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#88

Post by dragonwriter »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #77
gonehome wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re overconfident in what you believe to be true based on the evidence that exists. The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true.

> The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true. I'm not sure how it's politically inconvenient for me when I'm a registered Pacific Green. People need to stop "thinking" in false dichotomies like left vs right or liberal vs. conservative. Astrology is six times smarter.

> I'm not sure how it's politically inconvenient for me when I'm a registered Pacific Green.

The West being less hostile to and more willing to collaborate with Russia is a frequent position promoted in Pacific Green circles; Russia being tied to active hostile activity against Western regimes is politically inconvenient to that message.

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#89

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

philjohn wrote: post #60
NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The crime he’s charged with is that he was willing to (and I think did?) assist in breaking into a computer system to get the docs. I think under the CFAA. They have communication records of this because the person he was talking to was working for the USG. The US government claims this, but it's not been proven. > At some point Russia was also using Wikileaks as a place to target the USG with some plausible deniabi…

The bar for extradition doesn't require the US to prove it - the only place they need to prove it is in court when he's in the US. And "Russiagate" is a bit more nuanced than that - Wikileaks claimed to have GOP emails as well but for some reason never released them.

>Wikileaks claimed to have GOP emails as well but for some reason never released them.

[citation needed]

Re: Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

#90

Post by gonehome »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #77
gonehome wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re overconfident in what you believe to be true based on the evidence that exists. The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true.

> The Russian bit can be politically inconvenient for you and yet also be true. I'm not sure how it's politically inconvenient for me when I'm a registered Pacific Green. People need to stop "thinking" in false dichotomies like left vs right or liberal vs. conservative. Astrology is six times smarter.

Doesn’t have to be left vs. right.

Politically motivated reasoning can come from any party or person.

The comic’s content suggested some anti-Hillary sentiment, that paired with “Russiagate” suggested some pro-Bernie political lean, Green Party probably fits with that? Aren’t they more hard-left?

Sister reply is also relevant.

Post reply on HN