3 ms·

Dang. The conversation here is toxic.

rbanffy 6y ago
A lot of people seem to have little sympathy for Assange (I certainly don't, for his role in Trump's election) and don't seem to realize that any journalist that publishes a leak that involves a government can be threatened with the same accusations the US is making against him. This is not about Assange's personal life or him being a journalist or a hack. It's about the freedom to publish relevant news obtained from a whistle-blower without fear of being arrested and tortured for years before being extradited to spend the rest of their life being tortured.
- mariusor 6y ago
  > don't seem to realize that any journalist that publishes a leak that involves a government can be threatened with the same accusations the US is making against him. Some of the testimonies over the course of last week were exactly about this. How the US government didn't really try to prosecute US journalists for aiding sources to obtain classified material. See Craig Murray's[1] or Kevin Gosztola's reports on the examining of Pentagon Papers' publisher, Daniel Ellsberg. [1] https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-11/ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-... [2] https://dissenter.substack.com/p/good-ellsberg-bad-assange-at-extradition https://dissenter.substack.com/p/good-ellsberg-bad-assange-a...
  - rbanffy 6y ago
    Do you trust the US government not to do this if they successfully extradite Assange? What about foreign journalists?
    - mariusor 6y ago
      I think I wasn't explicit enough in the point I was trying to make: the US government is already trying to prosecute Assange, that's what this is all about in the end. So it would be a first that a publisher is under threat for releasing sensitive material. The witness testimonies (as reported in the above links and in the articles from previous days) seem to agree on this, or at least that was my impression.

A lot of people seem to have little sympathy for Assange (I certainly don't, for his role in Trump's election) and don't seem to realize that any journalist that publishes a leak that involves a government can be threatened with the same accusations the US is making against him. This is not about Assange's personal life or him being a journalist or a hack. It's about the freedom to publish relevant news obtained from a whistle-blower without fear of being arrested and tortured for years before being extradited to spend the rest of their life being tortured.

mariusor 6y ago
> don't seem to realize that any journalist that publishes a leak that involves a government can be threatened with the same accusations the US is making against him. Some of the testimonies over the course of last week were exactly about this. How the US government didn't really try to prosecute US journalists for aiding sources to obtain classified material. See Craig Murray's[1] or Kevin Gosztola's reports on the examining of Pentagon Papers' publisher, Daniel Ellsberg. [1] https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-11/ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-... [2] https://dissenter.substack.com/p/good-ellsberg-bad-assange-at-extradition https://dissenter.substack.com/p/good-ellsberg-bad-assange-a...
- rbanffy 6y ago
  Do you trust the US government not to do this if they successfully extradite Assange? What about foreign journalists?
  - mariusor 6y ago
    I think I wasn't explicit enough in the point I was trying to make: the US government is already trying to prosecute Assange, that's what this is all about in the end. So it would be a first that a publisher is under threat for releasing sensitive material. The witness testimonies (as reported in the above links and in the articles from previous days) seem to agree on this, or at least that was my impression.