This is the second video in my ongoing art series The Disappearing of Julian Assange, about the way Assange's image is being deliberately erased from the public's consciousness:
The wolves are now after Matt Taibbi and we will soon see what will either be a second journalist being imprisoned or not. Though Matt is not the only one who has exposed a direct violation of the 1st amendment he is the one this administration has immediately attacked. He did something that may help or really hurt him by giving the files to the public at the same time as he did the committee! The democrats are trying to put this under the rug and because they are so corrupt it will probably work. There should be heads rolling over this blatant violation of our constitutional rights but that's not why he was called to this hearing is it!
I just got a message from Matt's Substack and he said it was every bit as scary as I thought it was above here. He was told right out in the open that he is "A Direct Threat as he opposes them"! This shows just what psychotic nut jubs these people are! They don't care who violated the constitution just how it needs to be covered up! These criminals really need to go.
The reality is there is an endless supply of criminals in-waiting once the current ones are removed by force, or by time...and the next ones are bound to be worse than those inhabiting the Hill today. Its the system that breeds them as such...and thats what needs to be changed if we want to save this nation.
I have written to my republican reps many times and they are just as big of warmongering scum as the democrats. When it comes to Julian they give a pat response which is they are firm in their stance when it comes to defending the country! So who did you call?
Because of French government demands to remove creators from our platform, Rumble is currently unavailable in France. We are challenging these government demands and hope to restore access soon.
Also, you can install VPN - a free version of https://protonvpn.com/ should do - and connect via a server in the USA. Netherland or Japan should do too. These three countries are free of charge.
Come on , Australians, Write to your local MP, stir the possum. This man did us all a great favour with his courageous journalism by showing the world in no uncertain terms that the world's #1 criminal is the USA, not the people but the Israeli controlled politicians, dancing to the tune of the militarists.
Sure, we can exhort others to “do something” and maybe get a feeling of righteousness about that, but don’t forget who’s doing this. Who is ALWAYS doing this. The U. S. Is the hand in the glove that is strangling Assange. The U.S. that got Sweden to accuse, that got Ecuador to expel, that got England to imprison and probably extradite. And it’s the U.S. who has to STOP THIS SHIT!!! Yes, maybe the Aussies should do something, but as Americans, we have much more power over our government than Aussies do—more’s the pity—so how about exhorting us? Or yourself. Don’t we have representatives we can harangue? We’re always complaining about The Squad, here on the Left. But what about the guy (usually a guy) who takes your vote and tax dollars to sit in Congress. How often have they spoken up on the floor about this grotesque lynching of a foreign national? Maybe they don’t speak up because we are here preaching to the choir and not out there exhorting and haranguing our supine congressional reps. Hmmmm?
Just some added background, Jane.Please be assured that even though my representative is not ‘harangued’ by me as such, but advised of all my (and many others) requests as the months go by, still nothing changes. In deference to her energies (yes, a lady) she was one of 9 parliamentarians out of 151 in total who made a representation to your feeble President on the subject of Julian. Obviously to no avail. But she did it. Was carried in full colour in Consortium News and she has my respect for that action as well
Just for interest, the media here are almost all rightwing warmongers and one even more extreme rightwing owner like Murdoch. They don’t ever mention Julian.
In my own small world, the matter is raised with other "representatives" on a weekly basis through an active advocacy. Again, probably a waste of effort as the football season here has just begun, two out of three major newspapers owned by the football beneficiary, the third by Murdoch.
Sadly though it is my considered opinion that Biden and his Neocon machine are holding the “release Julian" card close to their chest in case enough representatives from this island finally wake up and see the trial of Julian to have been unjust, arrogant and illegal and demand some generous consideration from Biden and his Netanyahu masters (a.k.a. “the Nuland nasties”), hopefully before the “Death of Australia" contract called AUKUS, the deal that makes us a nuclear weaponised country comes into play. (Again, a reminder, Australia, just 25 million people….China, 1.4 billion). What a proxy battle that will be on behalf of whoever is your President in 2040.
Won’t last very long. Now if it was a game of cricket or a tennis match instead of war, might be different. We do play sports above our weight. But independent policies? Hardly. Just whistle. We’ll be there, boots and all.
Biden, may then see an opportunity and make a concession.' Julian freed, you Aussie whingers …IF you agree to 'this or that’. ‘ The USA…experts in sanctions, dirty deals, assassinations, bullying, lies and wars, wars, wars.
We’ll change the last verse of your nation’s main song
So stand up now and sing along
Oh! thus be it ever, where warmongers shall stand
To ensure that the fighting is on foreign land
Blest with victory and peace, may the new conquered place
Praise our fathers for making an ‘exceptional' race
To conquer our aim, gaining power when we must,
Extolling our motto: “In wars do we trust.”
And the star-spangled banner, as bullies we're waving
O’er all little countries, no people worth saving.
Damn, this is great!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. I’m thinking you’re an Aussie? At 1st I thought you were a Brit and you were calling a House of Commons person. And I was going to congratulate you on you’re effectiveness as many Londoners ARE in the streets for Julian. Plus, I would never pick on citizens from other countries to get them to do my bidding. The US is such a grotesque example of supine but big mouthed self righteousness that I hope I never do that!!! I was only yelling at my countrypeople , some of whom have gotten quite pearl-clutching about my idea that THEY should call their rep. I do feel embarrassed tho that I didn’t specify that. Damn self centered yank! Thinks all the world is us! 🤭. And that is an impressive lady you mentioned. As they say—You go girl. One more thought tho on the US’s decline: China just secured a Middle East peace deal, right under Byedone’s senile nose! With any luck our discrediting will continue apace and the corrupt Brits will no longer bend over for us and our extradition demands.
Tell me about it! But at my current 78 years old, I’m grateful to have them as I can’t find my butt with both hands without them.🤓 And as to Jane, I been called much worse things! 😍🥳🤗❤️
I am completely dismayed by the number of so called liberals I know who do not get passionate at all about Assange or the absurd US arrogance that we can just pluck any foreigner we want for violating our laws. Americans have been so brainwashed. It is pathetic. But I am also sad that the Australian government has abandoned him. All in fear a US bully.
Hell, plenty of goodthink liberals are convinced that Assange deserves prison or worse, even though publishing classified information is not a crime under US law - see the NYT v United States, in which the Nixon Administration tried and failed to prevent the NYT from publishing the Pentagon Papers.
The propaganda doesn't say he's being prosecuted for publishing but for hacking the DNC's computers. Supposedly leading to Hillary's (gasp!) loss of the presidency. Unforgivable crime of lèse-majesté.
I don't have a rep, I don't vote. No fucker ever deserves it. Have you seen those dimwits grilling Taibbi and Shellenberger? Would you call those "reps"?
Of course not, but who’s the dimwit? Those organized mafia fuks, who sit there and take your money to grill a journalist? Or YOU, who just lets them do it without registering a protest TO THIER FACES! but does come here to safely bluster about them. Pffst!
Get it in my head? What is wrong with you? I didn’t say you did vote for them or even that I care about you and your not voting. But you do pay $$$$$. for them, like it or not, vote for them or not. And they do make decisions all day that hurt people but you can’t even bend a finger to send them a message that they are out of line. But you can come here and bluster on about what I’m supposed to get in my head. Frankly, I think you’re too scared to send them a note, whether they represent you or not. Scared and a bit lazy. Easier to pick on me and what—get me to not say call them? Get me to change my mind due to your deep wisdom that they don’t represent us? Pathetic. Maybe I’m in your head!!!!
This is ultimately why I’ve completely stopped identifying as a liberal and now consider myself a leftist. Liberals are unwittingly a part of the problem, especially in light of the war machine.
I never identified as anything on the left, but I sure as Heaven miss the 1980s liberals that I grew up with who were 100% in favor of free speech. I really, really, really, really miss them 100%. In retrospect, I love them.
What happened was today's liberals got the whip hand, and once they did, they made The Church Lady look like G.G.Allin by comparison.
Meanwhile, the subversives, the outrageous pranksters, the roasters of sacred cows and speakers of Forbidden Truths are on the Alt-Right and the Dirt bag Left.
This is not because of any inherent censoriousness on the part of liberals, or any inherent virtue on the part of their enemies, but an artifact of their respective relationships to power.
Edit: I think the NSA has hijacked my autocorrect and typing is hard enough for me as it is
I think you have a good point. I've begun to wonder if the reason 1980s liberals were anti-censorship was because they were in the minority. They were also pro-peace in the 2000s, when Bush was taking us to war with everyone.
Then, when Obama was at war for literally every day of his presidency, which was the most of any American president, suddenly, liberals were pro-war.
Anymore, I just like the people I perceive as honest, whether they are on the left, right, or none of the above, because...well...who doesn't prefer honesty?
I agree, by and large, but feel it’s helpful to establish a framing with which to view the world, however it must be flexible and adaptable to new information. My thinking has always veered toward progress and the left, never towards a conservative mindset, so I feel comfortable with the more broad identification as I study various ideas on how to specifically think through large-scale issues.
Labels are sometimes useful, but often are misleading. But propaganda, often disguised as 'education', exceptionally augmented and enhanced by the twice nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays (the "Father of Public Relations") trumps all. Twisted half-truths and totally false lies permeate our government and corporate fiefdoms. We have a terrible fight before US. Long dark, dark nights before, hopefully, a scintilla of dawn.
Yeah - I don't see any easy way out of this as well. We are descending into a Charles Dickens level of corruption and injustice in the West. Watching the Matt Taibbi clown show in DC yesterday - would be proof enough for anyone with eyes to see, on just how corrupt US governance has become. These people grilling Taibbi (the stench of Debbie Wasserman for example) are not there for the US Constitution or We the People. Americans no longer have a representative government whatsoever. And the US Constitution is quickly becoming a circus artifact of American history and nothing more.
I’m speaking of the overwhelming propagandizing of liberals, a process which is deviant and by which is nearly impossible to avoid being victimized. Sure, it’s possible to think more critically, but the resources poured into the process (which the author of these blogs has meticulously illustrated recently) make it a Herculean effort to circumvent the status quo.
It hardly matters what label we put on ourselves if we are the same slackavists by any name. Call those mofo’s in Congress and tell them what you think of their cowardly non-action on Assange. They’ll offer all kinds of excuses but the more we call the more they’ll use up those excuses. ☎️ 📞📱.
I happily identify as a liberal. Or I would if anyone ever asked me.
And hence I find it tiresome that people I respect use the term "liberal" to refer to people whose political ideology seems to be pretty similar to that of Mussolini.
Thing is, Liberals in the US, whether neo or not, have always been fascist in the true sense of the word. The Great Society of LBJ, the liberalest of them all, used corporate power for his never ending war and to build those “housing” cages for poor Blacks to live and die in. And it’s the standard liberal response today. Liberals never think to empower the poor, but want to be the big white Daddy rescuing inferior beings. And then breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. Woof.
Well, to be honest, I'm actually an old fashioned classical liberal - of the 19th or early 20th century variety. More European liberal than US liberal. More Richard Cobden, or Herbert Spencer, or Frédéric Bastiat than LBJ.
But I associate these guys more with libertarianism than liberal. Just rich white guys who want more money and more freedom to spend that money as they like, Bastiat in particular. It’s been done and it’s not a good look.
very true, you’re essentially sidling the blame with capitalism in general, and rightly so. however, when purely squared with the budget of the US, when you include militarized police, you’re looking at easily 2/3 of our priority being that of the MIC.
You don’t know that. It’s just your opinion. It justifies your fears and abdication. Besides, I’m not saying get involved in electoral politics, I’m saying MAKE SOME NOISE! And not to the choir. Call the guy that’s taking your money and demand some service. How hard is that? It doesn’t take as long to do that as it does to whine here about how other’s are failing to do right. And with a cell phone, it’s sweet potatoes! Just program in the number of your rep and everyday eat breakfast, then hit that button and ask—what are you doing to protect this journalist from our prison system? You’ll get back lots of bull squirt and all you have to say is “not good enough”. It freaks ‘em out. Democrats are afraid of their own tails. So just step on it and watch them twirl!
You don't get it Jean. The political system is entirely corrupt. Begging a Democrat or a Republican to do something that is humane, such as stopping an obscene war in Ukraine, or freeing Assange- debases one's dignity now. These people in DC - don't deserve our attention or time. Miggety is right - electoral politics has become a dead end road, it has become a corporate, elite run scam.
The only way change will occur is from the ground up or by a people's revolt. The level of corruption we are now at in the West is at "Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens level. Justice is corrupt. The politicians are corrupt. Wealth inequality is obscene. War is endless. The system itself is corporately captured and entirely, unalterably corrupt.
watched ‘The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers’ this week upon hearing of Ellsberg’s cancer diagnosis and was just thinking last evening about how the real heroes aren’t the gun-toting vigilantes of Hollywood myth, but the few who’ve been convicted in their own hearts after discovering horrifying truths of what our leaders do in our names and then boldly choose to sacrifice themselves for the sake of attempting to change things. People like Assange, Ellsberg, Snowden, Manning will all one day be celebrated as heroes- because this won’t go on forever. It cannot. As you’ve pointed out- there are simply too many of us and too few of them.
I refused induction in the Marines in 1971 (yes, the Marines did draft during the later war in Vietnam), and it was four years of legal limbo and hell. But if there was ever any dramatic vindication of my resistance to that insanity in SE Asia it was exposed by Ellsberg, thank you. My hero. An American treasure.
Beware of the myth of the vindicated whistleblower hero - the truth is veery painful:
"What the scapegoat knows
Some have written eloquently of that as “spacewalking”:
“Frank Whitbread is a chemist who worked for a state environmental protection agency. Several times his boss had refused to allow him to testify before a state panel investigating the agency’s failure to test the well water of subdivisions located near sites where hazardous materials had been dumped. Eventually he called up a state senator and told him his story. Shortly thereafter Frank was fired. The state civil service commission made his agency take him back, but he was given no work to do and an office that was once a janitor’s closet.” (p. 75).
Sound familiar? Frank speaks out in the public interest and suffers fierce reprisals from his employer.
But what does it all really mean? In particular, what does it mean for the whistleblower? C. Fred Alford tackles this vital question in his stimulating new book Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power (Cornell University Press, 2001).
Alford is sceptical of the heroic accounts in which the courageous employee brings a corrupt organisation to account, benefiting society and receiving society’s gratitude. Instead, he has a much darker, more pessimistic message. Nearly all whistleblowers are destroyed. They lose their jobs, their careers, their houses, their friends, their families. But that is not the worst part. Most catastrophically, whistleblowers lose their trust in people and justice. (Book review by Brian Martin)"
Below down thread I provided links to groups that work on protecting whistleblowers.
Those groups have very constructive guidance on how to blow the whistle and survive.
I ran a state Chapter of PEER for a decade and am a whistleblower myself.
Believe me. Alford is 100% correct on the reality of whistleblowing - if more people understood this reality, as opposed to the myths, there would be fewer broken people and much more effective whistleblowing and stronger whistleblower protection laws.
Hi Jean, the nickname is from when I was in grade school. It was logical since it's a combination of my real name and my interest in science. https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.10518
See if you can find me in the list of authors : ) I have often thought as many Sci-Fi stories have written, would the world be a better place with the cold hard logic of AI. I think the reasons we are here is we all know something more is wrong than the topic of the day. Many of my stories revolve around human reaction to resource depletion, Dark Matter Zombies, Dirty Dozen to Mars , Super Gun ha. I like you too, it's nice to find friends on the same path of discovery. I love Caitlin not having ever met her. Hugs : )
"When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building." -- George Orwell, 1984
Thank you Caitlin. There's so much going on newswise in the world, none of it covered honestly in the legacy media, it's good to remember Julian sometimes I myself forget about him for awhile so I always appreciate a 'Free Julian' comment or reminder when I see it.
Visual disappearance certainly does matter - we are in an age of the image and the image drives narrative.
That's why we (US) never see the caskets off-loaded like we did every night on the TeeVee news coverage of the Vietnam War. The psyop warriors learned the lessons of the visual image.
Here's an example of how my photography of Petro-chemical industry toxic pollution of kids in daycare centers, schools and homes was censored and taken down Orwell's Memory Hole. The devastating photos were replaced by corporate advertising, see:
Visual Censorship – Corporate Capitulation – Media Collapse
Ellsberg encouraged moire whistleblowers to come forward. If you are thinking of blowing the whistle, be advised that there are good groups that work to protect whistleblowers:
There's a particular believer in the US voting system here admonishing people to "call their reps". Well, the ones who still vote are the problem. The system is a fraud and your participation in it is perpetuating it. The ones who still believe in it are dimwits.
Want examples of the "reps"? Watch the grilling of Taibbi and Shellenberger. The "threesome" gem alone should make you skull crack.
I agree with you Russian Bot. The political system in the US is entirely broken/corrupt. The only real change now - will happen when Americans finally wake up to just how broken their system is - how corrupt and how much these warmongering asshole Elites in charge are lying to them every day of the year. You would think the Railroad workers would have come to their senses and gone on strike ANYWAY. Because you know what, it's just going to get worse for them not better. The only way Americans will get out of the corrupt, sociopathic cul-de-sac of governance that is now the state of the country, is through organizing and revolting against the two-party corrupt duopoly. It will be nice to see a civil disobedience campaign as it would probably be the most effective way to revolt. But I fear that what will happen will become some kind of dystopic tyranny state instead, and an underground revolt of long decades of oppression. I won't be around to see it, but this newer generation of Americans - what a dystopic struggle awaits.
"...civil disobedience campaign as it would probably be the most effective way to revolt."
Effective - agreed, feasible - not. Why? Because by this point people have been intimidated enough by the Gestapo equivalents that are let loose in all western countries. You'll be provoked, set up, cut off from your finances, sued for tax evasion and what not.
Latest example is Jan 6. Look at the tapes and see how many agents were making sure something could be made out of peoples' visit to "their House".
yes. :( That's what makes me believe a dystopic future is the more likely scenario. Assuming the Elite fools don't blow up the world first. And they may have already done so with climate change.
The U.S. is certainly acting like a dying empire: it's grown increasingly dishonest and vicious. Maybe it was the covid lies that red pilled many. For me, it was the sudden, stark memory that--in the 1980s--I remember all my friends freaking out when it was announced that the national debt was now $1 trillion. Everyone thought: this is so irresponsible, and a screw job for our kids.
Now it's $31.6 trillion.
And yet, it is so impossible for any family to live on one income, like in the 1950s. So, we can always send $100 billion to the grifters in Ukraine, and poke the Russian bear, but we can't do anything for ordinary people, other than:
* Lie to them about Julian;
* Lie to them about Snowden:
* Lie about Nord Stream 2;
* Inflate away their life savings.
It's all a sham. It's all fake. It's all in service of sociopaths like Biden, although we all know he's just a puppet.
Here's a thought: impeach and imprison the puppets. Maybe that will discourage other people from going into the profession of political mouthpieces for cabal that exploits us all. If nothing else, it will feel good.
This is a vital, dynamic portrait of Assange and a reminder he is still with us, and always will be. The crimes against Assange are characteristic of the Bully Empire of Nothing, because that's what bullies are - Nothing.
Any of those commenting who think that this is a political issue are barking up the wrong prison tree. So quickly those, seemingly in the know, forget that ours is not a two-party system, but a duopoly - a one party system consisting of two sub-divisions that has very few real differences. Instead, they are working together to fulfill the demands of the oligarch sociopaths who are largely responsible for they're being in office, or not. To a man, or women, those holding high position - senate, house, presidency, and our not-so-supreme court - their verbal fighting with the other party is but a sham of a smokescreen to hide how the oligarchs are stealing our country and freedoms, with the world their ultimate goal, - and how they have been demanding the tortuous years to which Julian Assange has been subjected. Anyone who reveals the deep, dark truths they want to hide is their enemy. As long as the parties are faux fighting one another, so are the people - but most of the latter actually believing every word like good cult members.
As I see it, the last integrous president - Jimmy Carter - whether you liked him or not, will soon be gone. But if he were in charge now, Assange would not be in jail, because the U.S. had not yet followed the example of ancient Rome and become our current overextended Empire that believes that any behavior whatsoever, no matter how heinous, is acceptable in support of what it perceives to be its manifest destiny. And, in following the path of Rome, factoring in the differences in weaponry, the U.S., before too long, as ancient Rome did, will soon find itself little more than a footnote in history.
My many friends and I have not forgotten - despite government efforts to whitewash him out of existence. We all demand that, It is time to
Their are some typos in my message that were absolutely not there when I proofred its accuracy four times before posting. For example, I would NEVER misspell Assange.
Call your rep! If silence is what the U.S. is seeking when it disappears Julian, then noise is the antidote. Call your rep. and make some noise in their ear.
As we fly off the cliff into nuclear annihilation, let us remember that had we listened to Julian, we would never be in this position. And conceivably headed to "a better world we all know in our hearts is possible." Charles Eisenstein paraphrased
The wolves are now after Matt Taibbi and we will soon see what will either be a second journalist being imprisoned or not. Though Matt is not the only one who has exposed a direct violation of the 1st amendment he is the one this administration has immediately attacked. He did something that may help or really hurt him by giving the files to the public at the same time as he did the committee! The democrats are trying to put this under the rug and because they are so corrupt it will probably work. There should be heads rolling over this blatant violation of our constitutional rights but that's not why he was called to this hearing is it!
I just got a message from Matt's Substack and he said it was every bit as scary as I thought it was above here. He was told right out in the open that he is "A Direct Threat as he opposes them"! This shows just what psychotic nut jubs these people are! They don't care who violated the constitution just how it needs to be covered up! These criminals really need to go.
The reality is there is an endless supply of criminals in-waiting once the current ones are removed by force, or by time...and the next ones are bound to be worse than those inhabiting the Hill today. Its the system that breeds them as such...and thats what needs to be changed if we want to save this nation.
Exactly!
Call ‘em
I have written to my republican reps many times and they are just as big of warmongering scum as the democrats. When it comes to Julian they give a pat response which is they are firm in their stance when it comes to defending the country! So who did you call?
Matt Taibbi may be fortunate.
Remembering Michael Hastings of "Rolling Stone" and "BuzzFeed", June 18th, 2013. "Damn their eyes"
It was something else - the shitshow demokrats produced on that show trial. Good summaries here:
https://rumble.com/v2cfsuw-house-dems-attack-journalists-over-twitter-files-spymasters-hint-at-war-w-c.html
https://rumble.com/v2cel4c-system-update-show-52.html
I can't get rumble in France. I get this message:
NOTICE TO USERS IN FRANCE
Because of French government demands to remove creators from our platform, Rumble is currently unavailable in France. We are challenging these government demands and hope to restore access soon.
Jimmy Dore also did one yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcAIJUKEIw
Also, you can install VPN - a free version of https://protonvpn.com/ should do - and connect via a server in the USA. Netherland or Japan should do too. These three countries are free of charge.
There's a corresponding youtube for the first one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBEJElhYj2U
The second is Greenwald and he's not not on youtube but he podcasts the episodes on all major platforms under "system update". Here's the google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vZ2xlbm5ncmVlbndhbGQ/episode/ZGY4YjY0ZDQtYmYwNy0xMWVkLWJhNTMtMmIxYTBiMDFlNWNi?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwj48p26stT9AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA
Some of us have not forgotten you Julian.
Come on , Australians, Write to your local MP, stir the possum. This man did us all a great favour with his courageous journalism by showing the world in no uncertain terms that the world's #1 criminal is the USA, not the people but the Israeli controlled politicians, dancing to the tune of the militarists.
Make the effort, NOW...please.
Sure, we can exhort others to “do something” and maybe get a feeling of righteousness about that, but don’t forget who’s doing this. Who is ALWAYS doing this. The U. S. Is the hand in the glove that is strangling Assange. The U.S. that got Sweden to accuse, that got Ecuador to expel, that got England to imprison and probably extradite. And it’s the U.S. who has to STOP THIS SHIT!!! Yes, maybe the Aussies should do something, but as Americans, we have much more power over our government than Aussies do—more’s the pity—so how about exhorting us? Or yourself. Don’t we have representatives we can harangue? We’re always complaining about The Squad, here on the Left. But what about the guy (usually a guy) who takes your vote and tax dollars to sit in Congress. How often have they spoken up on the floor about this grotesque lynching of a foreign national? Maybe they don’t speak up because we are here preaching to the choir and not out there exhorting and haranguing our supine congressional reps. Hmmmm?
Just some added background, Jane.Please be assured that even though my representative is not ‘harangued’ by me as such, but advised of all my (and many others) requests as the months go by, still nothing changes. In deference to her energies (yes, a lady) she was one of 9 parliamentarians out of 151 in total who made a representation to your feeble President on the subject of Julian. Obviously to no avail. But she did it. Was carried in full colour in Consortium News and she has my respect for that action as well
Just for interest, the media here are almost all rightwing warmongers and one even more extreme rightwing owner like Murdoch. They don’t ever mention Julian.
In my own small world, the matter is raised with other "representatives" on a weekly basis through an active advocacy. Again, probably a waste of effort as the football season here has just begun, two out of three major newspapers owned by the football beneficiary, the third by Murdoch.
Sadly though it is my considered opinion that Biden and his Neocon machine are holding the “release Julian" card close to their chest in case enough representatives from this island finally wake up and see the trial of Julian to have been unjust, arrogant and illegal and demand some generous consideration from Biden and his Netanyahu masters (a.k.a. “the Nuland nasties”), hopefully before the “Death of Australia" contract called AUKUS, the deal that makes us a nuclear weaponised country comes into play. (Again, a reminder, Australia, just 25 million people….China, 1.4 billion). What a proxy battle that will be on behalf of whoever is your President in 2040.
Won’t last very long. Now if it was a game of cricket or a tennis match instead of war, might be different. We do play sports above our weight. But independent policies? Hardly. Just whistle. We’ll be there, boots and all.
Biden, may then see an opportunity and make a concession.' Julian freed, you Aussie whingers …IF you agree to 'this or that’. ‘ The USA…experts in sanctions, dirty deals, assassinations, bullying, lies and wars, wars, wars.
We’ll change the last verse of your nation’s main song
So stand up now and sing along
Oh! thus be it ever, where warmongers shall stand
To ensure that the fighting is on foreign land
Blest with victory and peace, may the new conquered place
Praise our fathers for making an ‘exceptional' race
To conquer our aim, gaining power when we must,
Extolling our motto: “In wars do we trust.”
And the star-spangled banner, as bullies we're waving
O’er all little countries, no people worth saving.
Damn, this is great!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. I’m thinking you’re an Aussie? At 1st I thought you were a Brit and you were calling a House of Commons person. And I was going to congratulate you on you’re effectiveness as many Londoners ARE in the streets for Julian. Plus, I would never pick on citizens from other countries to get them to do my bidding. The US is such a grotesque example of supine but big mouthed self righteousness that I hope I never do that!!! I was only yelling at my countrypeople , some of whom have gotten quite pearl-clutching about my idea that THEY should call their rep. I do feel embarrassed tho that I didn’t specify that. Damn self centered yank! Thinks all the world is us! 🤭. And that is an impressive lady you mentioned. As they say—You go girl. One more thought tho on the US’s decline: China just secured a Middle East peace deal, right under Byedone’s senile nose! With any luck our discrediting will continue apace and the corrupt Brits will no longer bend over for us and our extradition demands.
Yes, an Aussie, JEAN. Sorry about the Jane above
Bifocals can be confusing.😊
Tell me about it! But at my current 78 years old, I’m grateful to have them as I can’t find my butt with both hands without them.🤓 And as to Jane, I been called much worse things! 😍🥳🤗❤️
I am completely dismayed by the number of so called liberals I know who do not get passionate at all about Assange or the absurd US arrogance that we can just pluck any foreigner we want for violating our laws. Americans have been so brainwashed. It is pathetic. But I am also sad that the Australian government has abandoned him. All in fear a US bully.
Hell, plenty of goodthink liberals are convinced that Assange deserves prison or worse, even though publishing classified information is not a crime under US law - see the NYT v United States, in which the Nixon Administration tried and failed to prevent the NYT from publishing the Pentagon Papers.
The propaganda doesn't say he's being prosecuted for publishing but for hacking the DNC's computers. Supposedly leading to Hillary's (gasp!) loss of the presidency. Unforgivable crime of lèse-majesté.
I thought the claim was ostensibly for supplying Chelsea Manning with password suggestions for a DoD computer?
Regardless, a pretext.
Australia demonstrated what its citizenship is worth.
And you’ve demonstrated what your opposition is worth. Call your rep!!!
I don't have a rep, I don't vote. No fucker ever deserves it. Have you seen those dimwits grilling Taibbi and Shellenberger? Would you call those "reps"?
Of course not, but who’s the dimwit? Those organized mafia fuks, who sit there and take your money to grill a journalist? Or YOU, who just lets them do it without registering a protest TO THIER FACES! but does come here to safely bluster about them. Pffst!
Get it in your head - I didn't vote for them, I would never consider it, they're fucktards that don't deserve even looking into. They are not my reps.
Get it in my head? What is wrong with you? I didn’t say you did vote for them or even that I care about you and your not voting. But you do pay $$$$$. for them, like it or not, vote for them or not. And they do make decisions all day that hurt people but you can’t even bend a finger to send them a message that they are out of line. But you can come here and bluster on about what I’m supposed to get in my head. Frankly, I think you’re too scared to send them a note, whether they represent you or not. Scared and a bit lazy. Easier to pick on me and what—get me to not say call them? Get me to change my mind due to your deep wisdom that they don’t represent us? Pathetic. Maybe I’m in your head!!!!
This is ultimately why I’ve completely stopped identifying as a liberal and now consider myself a leftist. Liberals are unwittingly a part of the problem, especially in light of the war machine.
I avoid identifying as anything, as ideology tends to shortcircuit critical thinking.
I never identified as anything on the left, but I sure as Heaven miss the 1980s liberals that I grew up with who were 100% in favor of free speech. I really, really, really, really miss them 100%. In retrospect, I love them.
What happened was today's liberals got the whip hand, and once they did, they made The Church Lady look like G.G.Allin by comparison.
Meanwhile, the subversives, the outrageous pranksters, the roasters of sacred cows and speakers of Forbidden Truths are on the Alt-Right and the Dirt bag Left.
This is not because of any inherent censoriousness on the part of liberals, or any inherent virtue on the part of their enemies, but an artifact of their respective relationships to power.
Edit: I think the NSA has hijacked my autocorrect and typing is hard enough for me as it is
I think you have a good point. I've begun to wonder if the reason 1980s liberals were anti-censorship was because they were in the minority. They were also pro-peace in the 2000s, when Bush was taking us to war with everyone.
Then, when Obama was at war for literally every day of his presidency, which was the most of any American president, suddenly, liberals were pro-war.
Anymore, I just like the people I perceive as honest, whether they are on the left, right, or none of the above, because...well...who doesn't prefer honesty?
Other than sociopaths.
Obama did more to neuter the antiwar movement than anything Bush/Cheney could have dreamed of doing
Anyway, your last paragraph says it all.
I agree, by and large, but feel it’s helpful to establish a framing with which to view the world, however it must be flexible and adaptable to new information. My thinking has always veered toward progress and the left, never towards a conservative mindset, so I feel comfortable with the more broad identification as I study various ideas on how to specifically think through large-scale issues.
Labels are sometimes useful, but often are misleading. But propaganda, often disguised as 'education', exceptionally augmented and enhanced by the twice nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays (the "Father of Public Relations") trumps all. Twisted half-truths and totally false lies permeate our government and corporate fiefdoms. We have a terrible fight before US. Long dark, dark nights before, hopefully, a scintilla of dawn.
Yeah - I don't see any easy way out of this as well. We are descending into a Charles Dickens level of corruption and injustice in the West. Watching the Matt Taibbi clown show in DC yesterday - would be proof enough for anyone with eyes to see, on just how corrupt US governance has become. These people grilling Taibbi (the stench of Debbie Wasserman for example) are not there for the US Constitution or We the People. Americans no longer have a representative government whatsoever. And the US Constitution is quickly becoming a circus artifact of American history and nothing more.
And the use of labels tends to kill critical thinking stone dead.
The Liberal betrayal is witting.
I’m speaking of the overwhelming propagandizing of liberals, a process which is deviant and by which is nearly impossible to avoid being victimized. Sure, it’s possible to think more critically, but the resources poured into the process (which the author of these blogs has meticulously illustrated recently) make it a Herculean effort to circumvent the status quo.
It hardly matters what label we put on ourselves if we are the same slackavists by any name. Call those mofo’s in Congress and tell them what you think of their cowardly non-action on Assange. They’ll offer all kinds of excuses but the more we call the more they’ll use up those excuses. ☎️ 📞📱.
So call ‘em and tell ‘em that! Exercise your privileges as an American citizen.
I happily identify as a liberal. Or I would if anyone ever asked me.
And hence I find it tiresome that people I respect use the term "liberal" to refer to people whose political ideology seems to be pretty similar to that of Mussolini.
Neoliberalism is currently ushering in neofascism, so I encourage you to join us on the authentic left, friend!
Thing is, Liberals in the US, whether neo or not, have always been fascist in the true sense of the word. The Great Society of LBJ, the liberalest of them all, used corporate power for his never ending war and to build those “housing” cages for poor Blacks to live and die in. And it’s the standard liberal response today. Liberals never think to empower the poor, but want to be the big white Daddy rescuing inferior beings. And then breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. Woof.
Well, to be honest, I'm actually an old fashioned classical liberal - of the 19th or early 20th century variety. More European liberal than US liberal. More Richard Cobden, or Herbert Spencer, or Frédéric Bastiat than LBJ.
Ok. I get you’re point. Thank you.
But I associate these guys more with libertarianism than liberal. Just rich white guys who want more money and more freedom to spend that money as they like, Bastiat in particular. It’s been done and it’s not a good look.
Call your rep in Congress.
Sorry, but your rep isn’t actually your rep, but rather they ‘rep’ the military industrial complex.
And all other industrial complexes that have captured the hill
very true, you’re essentially sidling the blame with capitalism in general, and rightly so. however, when purely squared with the budget of the US, when you include militarized police, you’re looking at easily 2/3 of our priority being that of the MIC.
Of course he is but that’s because you abducted your responsibility as a citizen. Call the son of a bitch or be known as an enabler.
Electoral politics is not going to save us at this point.
You don’t know that. It’s just your opinion. It justifies your fears and abdication. Besides, I’m not saying get involved in electoral politics, I’m saying MAKE SOME NOISE! And not to the choir. Call the guy that’s taking your money and demand some service. How hard is that? It doesn’t take as long to do that as it does to whine here about how other’s are failing to do right. And with a cell phone, it’s sweet potatoes! Just program in the number of your rep and everyday eat breakfast, then hit that button and ask—what are you doing to protect this journalist from our prison system? You’ll get back lots of bull squirt and all you have to say is “not good enough”. It freaks ‘em out. Democrats are afraid of their own tails. So just step on it and watch them twirl!
You don't get it Jean. The political system is entirely corrupt. Begging a Democrat or a Republican to do something that is humane, such as stopping an obscene war in Ukraine, or freeing Assange- debases one's dignity now. These people in DC - don't deserve our attention or time. Miggety is right - electoral politics has become a dead end road, it has become a corporate, elite run scam.
The only way change will occur is from the ground up or by a people's revolt. The level of corruption we are now at in the West is at "Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens level. Justice is corrupt. The politicians are corrupt. Wealth inequality is obscene. War is endless. The system itself is corporately captured and entirely, unalterably corrupt.
Thank you Caitlin for your intrepid solidarity with Julian. FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!
watched ‘The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers’ this week upon hearing of Ellsberg’s cancer diagnosis and was just thinking last evening about how the real heroes aren’t the gun-toting vigilantes of Hollywood myth, but the few who’ve been convicted in their own hearts after discovering horrifying truths of what our leaders do in our names and then boldly choose to sacrifice themselves for the sake of attempting to change things. People like Assange, Ellsberg, Snowden, Manning will all one day be celebrated as heroes- because this won’t go on forever. It cannot. As you’ve pointed out- there are simply too many of us and too few of them.
I refused induction in the Marines in 1971 (yes, the Marines did draft during the later war in Vietnam), and it was four years of legal limbo and hell. But if there was ever any dramatic vindication of my resistance to that insanity in SE Asia it was exposed by Ellsberg, thank you. My hero. An American treasure.
I can’t imagine how incredible that must have felt. Proud of your courage to resist!!
Thank you for your service.
Beware of the myth of the vindicated whistleblower hero - the truth is veery painful:
"What the scapegoat knows
Some have written eloquently of that as “spacewalking”:
“Frank Whitbread is a chemist who worked for a state environmental protection agency. Several times his boss had refused to allow him to testify before a state panel investigating the agency’s failure to test the well water of subdivisions located near sites where hazardous materials had been dumped. Eventually he called up a state senator and told him his story. Shortly thereafter Frank was fired. The state civil service commission made his agency take him back, but he was given no work to do and an office that was once a janitor’s closet.” (p. 75).
Sound familiar? Frank speaks out in the public interest and suffers fierce reprisals from his employer.
But what does it all really mean? In particular, what does it mean for the whistleblower? C. Fred Alford tackles this vital question in his stimulating new book Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power (Cornell University Press, 2001).
Alford is sceptical of the heroic accounts in which the courageous employee brings a corrupt organisation to account, benefiting society and receiving society’s gratitude. Instead, he has a much darker, more pessimistic message. Nearly all whistleblowers are destroyed. They lose their jobs, their careers, their houses, their friends, their families. But that is not the worst part. Most catastrophically, whistleblowers lose their trust in people and justice. (Book review by Brian Martin)"
Curious to know if the author has suggestions for alternative action, or if it’s merely a doom-tinged tome offering no hope...
Below down thread I provided links to groups that work on protecting whistleblowers.
Those groups have very constructive guidance on how to blow the whistle and survive.
I ran a state Chapter of PEER for a decade and am a whistleblower myself.
Believe me. Alford is 100% correct on the reality of whistleblowing - if more people understood this reality, as opposed to the myths, there would be fewer broken people and much more effective whistleblowing and stronger whistleblower protection laws.
CAll YOUR REP!!!
WAKE UP!!! YOUR REP IS CORRUPT!!
I bet they said that in the 60s ... And yet here we are
We should all put Julian's name on our signatures and anywhere else we can! Let's not let anyone forget!
Brilliant idea, done.
I like you Landru. Did you take that name from the Star Trek program?
Hi Jean, the nickname is from when I was in grade school. It was logical since it's a combination of my real name and my interest in science. https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.10518
See if you can find me in the list of authors : ) I have often thought as many Sci-Fi stories have written, would the world be a better place with the cold hard logic of AI. I think the reasons we are here is we all know something more is wrong than the topic of the day. Many of my stories revolve around human reaction to resource depletion, Dark Matter Zombies, Dirty Dozen to Mars , Super Gun ha. I like you too, it's nice to find friends on the same path of discovery. I love Caitlin not having ever met her. Hugs : )
"When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building." -- George Orwell, 1984
@ JackSirius Oh yes, such pitty so few have read it and, maybe even fewer understand what's been happening in their real time.
Thank you Caitlin. There's so much going on newswise in the world, none of it covered honestly in the legacy media, it's good to remember Julian sometimes I myself forget about him for awhile so I always appreciate a 'Free Julian' comment or reminder when I see it.
Technology trends towards the brazen theft of reality, as regimes demand a media-control of reality to remain in power.
There is AI research in reproducing mental imagery.
Japanese research is on the cusp of producing AI replicated imagery produced within the mind.
It’s ‘promise’ is said to be useful in therapy and dream imagery recording and reconstruction.
Imagine interrogations using AI reproductions of a suspect’s visual mental imagery.
Research into reproduction of mental imagery seems a perfect tool for a regime dependent in the control of reality for continued empowerment.
One might ask the scope of research capitalization from ‘intelligence’ operators to ascertain interested regimes.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ai-used-brain-scans-to-recreate-images-people-saw-180981768/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&spMailingID=48074845&spUserID=OTk2ODU2MjU1NzcwS0&spJobID=2421008322&spReportId=MjQyMTAwODMyMgS2
Visual disappearance certainly does matter - we are in an age of the image and the image drives narrative.
That's why we (US) never see the caskets off-loaded like we did every night on the TeeVee news coverage of the Vietnam War. The psyop warriors learned the lessons of the visual image.
Here's an example of how my photography of Petro-chemical industry toxic pollution of kids in daycare centers, schools and homes was censored and taken down Orwell's Memory Hole. The devastating photos were replaced by corporate advertising, see:
Visual Censorship – Corporate Capitulation – Media Collapse
http://www.wolfenotes.com/2023/03/visual-censorship-corporate-capitulation-media-collapse/
This is exactly why we need a decentralized safe have for whistleblowers.
Like so:
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshketry/p/why-not-a-decentralized-safe-haven?utm_source=direct&r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Ellsberg encouraged moire whistleblowers to come forward. If you are thinking of blowing the whistle, be advised that there are good groups that work to protect whistleblowers:
Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility
https://peer.org
Project On Government Oversight
https://www.pogo.org
Government Accountability Project
https://whistleblower.org
Exactly!
There's a particular believer in the US voting system here admonishing people to "call their reps". Well, the ones who still vote are the problem. The system is a fraud and your participation in it is perpetuating it. The ones who still believe in it are dimwits.
Want examples of the "reps"? Watch the grilling of Taibbi and Shellenberger. The "threesome" gem alone should make you skull crack.
I agree with you Russian Bot. The political system in the US is entirely broken/corrupt. The only real change now - will happen when Americans finally wake up to just how broken their system is - how corrupt and how much these warmongering asshole Elites in charge are lying to them every day of the year. You would think the Railroad workers would have come to their senses and gone on strike ANYWAY. Because you know what, it's just going to get worse for them not better. The only way Americans will get out of the corrupt, sociopathic cul-de-sac of governance that is now the state of the country, is through organizing and revolting against the two-party corrupt duopoly. It will be nice to see a civil disobedience campaign as it would probably be the most effective way to revolt. But I fear that what will happen will become some kind of dystopic tyranny state instead, and an underground revolt of long decades of oppression. I won't be around to see it, but this newer generation of Americans - what a dystopic struggle awaits.
"...civil disobedience campaign as it would probably be the most effective way to revolt."
Effective - agreed, feasible - not. Why? Because by this point people have been intimidated enough by the Gestapo equivalents that are let loose in all western countries. You'll be provoked, set up, cut off from your finances, sued for tax evasion and what not.
Latest example is Jan 6. Look at the tapes and see how many agents were making sure something could be made out of peoples' visit to "their House".
UPDATE: Here's Jimmy Dore going through some videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc0NWVGIRAA
yes. :( That's what makes me believe a dystopic future is the more likely scenario. Assuming the Elite fools don't blow up the world first. And they may have already done so with climate change.
The U.S. is certainly acting like a dying empire: it's grown increasingly dishonest and vicious. Maybe it was the covid lies that red pilled many. For me, it was the sudden, stark memory that--in the 1980s--I remember all my friends freaking out when it was announced that the national debt was now $1 trillion. Everyone thought: this is so irresponsible, and a screw job for our kids.
Now it's $31.6 trillion.
And yet, it is so impossible for any family to live on one income, like in the 1950s. So, we can always send $100 billion to the grifters in Ukraine, and poke the Russian bear, but we can't do anything for ordinary people, other than:
* Lie to them about Julian;
* Lie to them about Snowden:
* Lie about Nord Stream 2;
* Inflate away their life savings.
It's all a sham. It's all fake. It's all in service of sociopaths like Biden, although we all know he's just a puppet.
Here's a thought: impeach and imprison the puppets. Maybe that will discourage other people from going into the profession of political mouthpieces for cabal that exploits us all. If nothing else, it will feel good.
And free Assange.
This is a vital, dynamic portrait of Assange and a reminder he is still with us, and always will be. The crimes against Assange are characteristic of the Bully Empire of Nothing, because that's what bullies are - Nothing.
Any of those commenting who think that this is a political issue are barking up the wrong prison tree. So quickly those, seemingly in the know, forget that ours is not a two-party system, but a duopoly - a one party system consisting of two sub-divisions that has very few real differences. Instead, they are working together to fulfill the demands of the oligarch sociopaths who are largely responsible for they're being in office, or not. To a man, or women, those holding high position - senate, house, presidency, and our not-so-supreme court - their verbal fighting with the other party is but a sham of a smokescreen to hide how the oligarchs are stealing our country and freedoms, with the world their ultimate goal, - and how they have been demanding the tortuous years to which Julian Assange has been subjected. Anyone who reveals the deep, dark truths they want to hide is their enemy. As long as the parties are faux fighting one another, so are the people - but most of the latter actually believing every word like good cult members.
As I see it, the last integrous president - Jimmy Carter - whether you liked him or not, will soon be gone. But if he were in charge now, Assange would not be in jail, because the U.S. had not yet followed the example of ancient Rome and become our current overextended Empire that believes that any behavior whatsoever, no matter how heinous, is acceptable in support of what it perceives to be its manifest destiny. And, in following the path of Rome, factoring in the differences in weaponry, the U.S., before too long, as ancient Rome did, will soon find itself little more than a footnote in history.
My many friends and I have not forgotten - despite government efforts to whitewash him out of existence. We all demand that, It is time to
Free Julian assance - NOW!
Their are some typos in my message that were absolutely not there when I proofred its accuracy four times before posting. For example, I would NEVER misspell Assange.
Call your rep! If silence is what the U.S. is seeking when it disappears Julian, then noise is the antidote. Call your rep. and make some noise in their ear.
As we fly off the cliff into nuclear annihilation, let us remember that had we listened to Julian, we would never be in this position. And conceivably headed to "a better world we all know in our hearts is possible." Charles Eisenstein paraphrased