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The indictment of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act is a threat to the press and the American people

James Risen
The Intercept
Fri, 24 May 2019 21:01 UTC
assange poster
© Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Placards left by supporters of Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy on Aug. 20, 2012 in London, England.
A true democracy does not allow its government to decide who is a journalist. A nation in which a leader gets to make that decision is on the road to dictatorship.

That is why the new U.S. indictment of Julian Assange is so dangerous to liberty in America.

The Trump administration has charged Assange under the Espionage Act for conspiring to leak classified documents. The indictment, released yesterday, focuses on his alleged efforts to encourage former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak classified documents to him and WikiLeaks about a decade ago.

Comment: It is highly unlikely that Assange was working with a foreign intelligence service. Wikileaks have repeatedly said that their source for the DNC emails was not Russian. It's a shame that, despite the Intercept having it right on the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense, still believes in a Russian boogeyman working behind the scenes.

See:

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Bizarro Earth

Edinburgh food bank users 'on brink of starvation amid soaring demand'

Anu Shukla
The Independent
Tue, 28 May 2019 10:23 UTC
edinburgh food bank
© The Edinburgh Food Project
A box with basic supplies, which forms part of the pack given to people experiencing an emergency
People in deprived parts of Edinburgh are facing the threat of starvation as supplies at food banks across the city run "critically low", a charity has warned.

The Edinburgh Food Project, which operates seven food bank centres across north, west, central and eastern parts of the Scottish capital, said it needed urgent donations of tinned vegetables, cereal, rice, pasta sauce, coffee, juice and biscuits, among other items.

The charity, part of the Trussell Trust Food Bank network, said it only had enough food for this week, and may not be be able to supply people with complete food parcels beyond that point.

Operations manager Bethany Biggar told The Independent donations of food were not sufficient to meet rising demand.

Comment: It's likely that the appeal will be met by generous donations and the crisis will be averted, but nothing has been done to remedy the dire economic situation UK citizens are facing and so it won't be long before similar issues begin to erupt throughout the country:

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Snakes in Suits

Consultant poses as journalist in Monsanto trial


Standard Digital
Sun, 19 May 2019 10:54 UTC
Phililip Burton Federal Building
© AFP
The entrance to the Phililip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, where the Monsanto trial took place in March.
Smiling and affable, the young woman was able to pass herself off as a fellow journalist to reporters including AFP covering a landmark trial in San Francisco on the health risks associated with the weedkiller Roundup.

The relaxed, confident thirtysomething was in fact an employee of Washington-based FTI Consulting, which has a client list that includes Roundup-maker Monsanto and its parent company Bayer.

Her assignment was to take notes on the legal proceedings that unfolded in San Francisco in March, FTI spokesman Matthew Bashalany told AFP.

Comment: Given the number of documented incidents of Monsanto doctoring research, intimidating those promoting negative opinions, attacking and intimidating farmers, journalists and scientists and engaging in many shady espionage-like tactics, is the above really surprising?

Carey Gillam, a Reuters reporter for 17 years, has written extensively about the behind-the-scenes dealings of Monsanto. See a selection of her reporting here:

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Arrow Down

Worst downturn since 1980s wreaking havoc on American farmers' mental health


Bloomberg
Tue, 28 May 2019 09:44 UTC
farmer mental health Wisconsin
© Lauren Justice/Bloomberg
Pamphlets offered during meetings at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Loganville.
The worst agricultural downturn since the 1980s is taking its toll on the emotional well-being of American farmers.

In Kentucky, Montana and Florida, operators at Farm Aid's hotline have seen a doubling of contacts for everything from financial counseling to crisis assistance. In Wisconsin, Dale Meyer has started holding monthly forums in the basement of his Loganville church following the suicide of a fellow parishioner, a farmer who'd fallen on hard times. In Minnesota, rural counselor Ted Matthews says he's getting more and more calls.

"Can you imagine doing your job and having your boss say 'well you know things are bad this year, so not only are we not going to pay you, but you owe us'," Matthews said by telephone. "That's what's happened with farmers.''

Comment: Also see: China-US trade war: Hiatus or busted deal?

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Arrow Down

Fmr US Army Major: My fellow soldiers died in vain

Danny Sjursen
The American Conservative
Tue, 28 May 2019 09:44 UTC
American flag Asad air base iraq
© Spc. Middleton/U.S. Army National Guard/UPI
A U.S. Army Sgt. carries the American Flag at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, on May 3, 2016.
Sergeant Alex Fuller hailed from the depressed coastal town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. His brothers and sister did stints in prison; he sold drugs himself as a teen, and barely earned a GED.

Then he found a home in the army. He excelled, he loved it, and even made sergeant in record time. Most of all he was my friend. His story didn't end well, of course. On January 25, 2007 his body was shattered by a massive improvised explosive device (IED) in East Baghdad, Iraq. He was 21. His 19-year-old wife was pregnant. His family buried him on Cape Cod. Such is life.

We're expected to honor such sacrifice each Memorial Day. At least that's what tradition holds. But how best to do that? These days, most Americans, and especially their political leaders choose the vapid, simplistic path: "thanking" soldiers, flying flags, sticking yellow ribbons on car bumpers. There's nothing inherently wrong with all this, of course, but let's not pretend it helps anything. Stacy Fuller named Al's daughter after him. My oldest son's name is Alex. Many of us honor him with our memories, recollections, thoughts, and symbols such as memorial bracelets. But it's not enough. It's far from sufficient.
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Star of David

'Capitulation to anti-Semitism': Israel scolds German official over warning about wearing kippahs


RT
Mon, 27 May 2019 16:37 UTC
Kippahs
© Reuters / Thomas Peter
Israel's President Reuven Rivlin lashed out at Berlin's top anti-Semitism chief for his 'defeatist' attitude towards protecting local Jews against the rise of hate crimes.

The criticism from Tel Aviv was provoked by Felix Klein, who told local media that he "can't recommend Jews to wear kippahs anywhere at any time in Germany."

"Unfortunately, I have to say so," Klein said, lamenting the spike in hate crimes in the country.

Comment: He's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.

Israel won't change its treatment of Palestinians just to avoid public (specifically, non-Jewish) outrage.

If Jews are attacked, Israel can blame Germany for not protecting them but they can't take any precautions that violates their religious freedom.

Germany is in a position that it can't win.

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Arrow Up

Two members of the MOVE 9 are released on parole Saturday after 40 years in prison

Ed Pilkington
The Guardian
Sat, 25 May 2019 11:48 UTC
Members of Move
© Leif Skoogfors/Corbis via Getty Images
Members of Move in front of their house in the Powelton Village section of Philadelphia in 1977. The group have always said James Ramp was killed by fellow officers.
For 40 years, Janine Phillips Africa had a technique for coping with being cooped up in a prison cell for a crime she says she did not commit. She would avoid birthdays, Christmas, New Year and any other events that emphasized time passing while she was not free.

"The years are not my focus," she wrote in a letter to the Guardian. "I keep my mind on my health and the things I need to do day by day."

On Saturday she could finally begin accepting the passage of time. She and her cellmate and sister in the black liberation struggle, Janet Holloway Africa, were released from SCI Cambridge Springs in Pennsylvania, after a long struggle for parole.

The release of Janine, 63, and Janet, 68, marks a key moment in the history of the Move 9, the group of African American black power and environmental campaigners who were imprisoned after a police siege of their home in August 1978. The pair were the last of four women in the group either to be paroled or to die behind bars.

Comment: See also: MOVE bombing: Philadelphia police carried out military-style attack on peaceful activists

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Attention

Assange has been proven right over and over, so when will people start listening?

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Fri, 24 May 2019 15:08 UTC
wikileaks espionage act forecast
© Wikileaks/Twitter
And there it is. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged by the Trump administration's Justice Department with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act, carrying a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. Exactly as Assange and his defenders have been warning would happen for nearly a decade.

The indictment, like the one which preceded it last month with Assange's arrest, is completely fraudulent, as it charges Assange with "crimes" that are indistinguishable from conventional journalistic practices. The charges are based on the same exact evidence which was available to the Obama administration, which as journalist Glenn Greenwald noted last year declined to prosecute Assange citing fear of destroying press freedoms.
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USA

'Rolling Thunder' takes its final ride in 2019, unless President Trump gets his way

Kerry Picket
The Daily Caller
Sun, 26 May 2019 06:47 UTC
Rolling Thunder
Hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists from all over the country descended upon Washington, D.C. Sunday to engage in what might well be the final annual Rolling Thunder event-a ride that started in 1988 to pay tribute to service members killed in action or held as prisoners of war.

The event could continue though, if President Donald Trump gets his way. Trump indicated the ride will happen again next year, in a tweet Sunday morning.

"The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, & hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be, & where they should be. Have a wonderful time today. Thank you to our great men & women of the Pentagon for working it out!" Trump tweeted.
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USA

New Mexico governor does an about-face on immigration and is now asking for help with the crisis

Sarah Cowgill
Liberty Nation
Sat, 25 May 2019 15:14 UTC
Michelle Lujan Grisham

Michelle Lujan Grisham
The radical-leftist governor of New Mexico, who sent National Guard troops packing in February, needs federal help now, it seems. She's in the Swamp to beg for funding as illegal immigrants overwhelm the state. After months of neglecting the border cities and towns, toeing the DC elite party line of no "crisis" here, and facing a veritable citizens' revolt in the Land of Enchantment, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is demanding federal government assistance for the dire situation - one she exacerbated through indifference to constituents.

And it comes on the heels of yet another county drawing a line in the sand and refusing any further influx of illegal immigrants seeking asylum. Sierra County, boasting a population 11,116 and a 21% poverty rate, joined Otero and Lincoln counties in passing resolutions opposing the relocation of migrants to their communities.

This isn't just happening in these three counties, either - it's an untenable and cruel situation being thrust on an impoverished state by government officials who seem to be mere puppets for the Democratic Party.

According to Deming City Administrator Aaron Sera, in Luna County, buses unload between 300 and 500 immigrants each day. As a town of a 14,183, it has been mercilessly overwhelmed by the governor's dangerous game of partisan politics. Even larger enclaves, such as Las Cruces, have been overrun with illegal aliens, completely depleting community and local government resources as they're forced to house and care for 6,000 asylum seekers - and all in a matter of four short weeks.
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