Asange

[halliday]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c511y42z1p7o

I couldn't get into Poliass so Im posting here. What say you? I think if you are going to tried within the jurisdiction of the United States you have full protection of the Constitution of The United States. No matter where you are from or where you were born. It only makes sense.

[MultiVerse]

More than one thing can be true about the Assange situation. US Constitutional First Amendment right of free speech can be used as a defense, and Julian Assange & WikiLeaks are Russian assets. Both part of a Russian backed op. He was one of the best 'journalists' the ruble could buy according to Margarita Simonyan Editor-in-Chief of Russia's state propaganda conglomerate, including RT, "The best journalist of our time."

[dunfree]

I feel the way Julian the asset felt about US collaborators in .Afghanistan- death is what comes with the territory. Hope it happens soon, and fast Eddie the shitbird Snowden goes with.

[MultiVerse]

Julian the asset and Co also turned over Belarusian dissidents to the Lukashenko regime calling them "American agents." Assange walks free while some of them are still to this day in Belarus prison.

[Bunion 2020]

Fuck that guy.

That is all.

[Buzzworthy]

Exactly.

[PB]

Curious to see how the Aussies welcome him home.

[old goat]

It's a good deal if it means we never have to hear about Julian Assange ever again.

[riser4]

It's a good deal if it means we never have to hear about Julian Assange ever again.

Lol

[exsparky]

As someone who has clearance and currently works in multiple secured areas.

We do a lot of messed up stuff. A lot.

The US espionage act was written just after ww2 and before we even had the current "classified," "secret," "top secret" rating crap. The act is out dated garbage and has primarily been used since the Obama administration to punish whistle blowers.

I don't really like him or John Kiriakou but I think to some degree they need to be able to have a place to speak or people do really bad things for the "greater good."

[PNWbrit]

The US espionage act was written just after ww2

ww1

[riser4]

As someone who has clearance and currently works in multiple secured areas.

We do a lot of messed up stuff. A lot.

The US espionage act was written just after ww2 and before we even had the current "classified," "secret," "top secret" rating crap. The act is out dated garbage and has primarily been used since the Obama administration to punish whistle blowers.

I don't really like him or John Kiriakou but I think to some degree they need to be able to have a place to speak or people do really bad things for the "greater good."

The hard question. How do we hold accountable the unaccountable and also not aid our enemies? Fuck if I know.

[highangle]

We elect principled Senators and Representatives to serve on Intelligence Oversight Committees?

[exsparky]

We elect principled Senators and Representatives to serve on Intelligence Oversight Committees?

What's the percentage of them that have any principles? I know its more than zero but they "do really bad things for the greater good" too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...cted_of_crimes

This is just the ones caught and convicted between Bush and Obama. Imagine how many we missed?

2001–2009 (George W. Bush presidency)
Executive branch
John Korsmo (R) Chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board, pleaded guilty to lying to congress (2005).[126]
Claude Allen (R) Director of the Domestic Policy Council, was arrested for a series of felony thefts in retail stores. He was convicted on one count (2006).[127]
Lester Crawford (R) Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and received 3 years suspended sentence and fined $90,000 (equivalent to $136,025 in 2023) (2006).[128]
Scooter Libby (R) Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (R), convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 (equivalent to $367,357 in 2023). His sentence was commuted by George W. Bush (R) on July 1, 2007 (2007).[129] Libby was pardoned by President Donald Trump on April 13, 2018.[130]
David Safavian (R) Administrator for the Office of Management and Budget[131][132][133] After an overturned conviction and a retrial, he was found guilty of perjury,[134] and sentenced to 12 months (2008).[135][136]
Robert E. Coughlin (R) Deputy Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal (2009).[126]
Felipe Sixto (R) Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs, convicted of misusing money. Sentenced to 30 months (2009).[137]
Scott Bloch (R) United States Special Counsel, pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of Congress for "willfully and unlawfully withholding pertinent information from a House Committee investigating his decision to have several government computers wiped...."[138][139] Bloch was sentenced to one day in jail and two years' probation, and also ordered him to pay a $5,000 (equivalent to $6,540 in 2023) fine and perform 200 hours of community service (2013).[140]
Legislative branch
Jim Traficant (D-OH) was found guilty on ten felony counts of financial corruption, sentenced to eight years in prison and expelled from the House of Representatives (2002).[141]
Bill Janklow (R-SD) was convicted of second-degree manslaughter for running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. Resigned from the House and given 100 days in the county jail and three years' probation (2003).[142]
Frank Ballance (D-NC) admitted to federal charges of money laundering and mail fraud in October 2005 and was sentenced to four years in prison (2005).[143]
Duke Cunningham (R-CA) pleaded guilty November 28, 2005, to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion in what came to be called the Cunningham scandal and was sentenced to over eight years in prison (2005).[144]
Bob Ney (R-OH) pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements as a result of his receiving trips from Jack Abramoff in exchange for legislative favors in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. Ney received 30 months in prison (2007).[145]
Larry Craig (R-ID) was arrested for lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on June 11, 2007, and entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct on August 8, 2007.
Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives pleaded guilty in court for illegally structuring bank transactions related to payment of $3.5 million to quash allegations of sexual misconduct with a student when he was a high school teacher and coach decades ago.[146] (2016)
William J. Jefferson (D-LA) was charged in August 2005 after the FBI seized $90,000 in cash from his home freezer. He was re-elected to the House in 2006, but lost in 2008. He was convicted November 13, 2009, of 11 counts of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison (2009).[147] Jefferson's Chief of Staff Brett Pfeffer, was sentenced to 84 months for bribery (2006).[148]
2009–2017 (Barack Obama presidency)
Executive branch
General David Petraeus (I)[149] Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. On April 23, 2015, a federal judge sentenced Petraeus to two years' probation plus a fine of $100,000 (equivalent to $128,541 in 2023) for providing classified information to Lieutenant Colonel Paula Broadwell (2015).[150]
Legislative branch
Mark D. Siljander (R-MI) was convicted of obstruction of justice (2012).[151]
Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty February 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his misuse of $750,000 in campaign funds. Jackson was sentenced to two-and-one-half years' imprisonment (2013).[152]
Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was found guilty on 17 of 32 counts against him June 12, 2013, including wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators (2013).[153]
Trey Radel (R-FL) was convicted of possession of cocaine in November 2013. As a first-time offender, he was sentenced to one year probation and fined $250. Radel announced he would take a leave of absence, but did not resign. Later, under pressure from a number of Republican leaders, he announced through a spokesperson that he would resign (2013).[154][155][156]
Michael Grimm (R-NY) pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion, the fourth count in a 20-count indictment brought against him for improper use of campaign funds. The guilty plea had a maximum sentence of three years; he was sentenced to eight months in prison (2015).[157][158]
Chaka Fattah (D-PA) was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges (2016).[159]
Corrine Brown (D-FL) was convicted on 18 felony counts of wire and tax fraud, conspiracy, lying to federal investigators, and other corruption charges (2017).[160][161]
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)[162] was convicted of sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a 15-year-old girl and was mandated to register as a sex offender. He also was sentenced to 21 months in prison, a sentence that was later reduced to 18 months. He reported to prison in November 2017 and was released in May 2019 (2017).[163]
Steve Stockman (R-TX) was convicted of fraud (2018).[164]
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was charged with improper use of campaign contributions in a scheme to promote a decoy Democratic candidate in a state assembly election. Rohrabacher was found guilty and fined $50,000 (2012).[165][166]
Judicial branch
Samuel B. Kent (R), Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, was sentenced May 11, 2009, to 33 months in prison for having lied about sexually harassing two female employees (2009).[167]
Jack Camp (R), Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia was arrested in an undercover drug bust while trying to purchase cocaine from an FBI agent and resigned his position after pleading guilty to three criminal charges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, fined an undisclosed amount, and ordered to undergo 400 hours of community service (2010).[168][169][170]
Thomas Porteous (D), Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana was impeached, convicted and removed from office December 8, 2010, on charges of bribery and lying to Congress (2010).[171][172]
Mark E. Fuller (R) Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, was found guilty of domestic violence and sentenced to 24 weeks of family and domestic training and forced to resign his position (2015).[173][174][175]

[halliday]

Maybe a few years in Belmarsh helped him see the value of freedom. He's got enough book deal money coming in for him to cool his heels.

[gravitylover]

The hard question. How do we hold accountable the unaccountable and also not aid our enemies? Fuck if I know.

Sniper?

[riser4]

Sniper?

You do know by 'the unaccountable' I mean the NSA, CIA, PMCs, etc, right?

[jono]

Thread title is wrong. Can't spell Assange without Ass.

Fact.

What's the percentage of them that have any principles? I know its more than zero but they "do really bad things for the greater good" too.....

Lengthy. Did you notice that you included Lewis motherfucking Scooter the asshole Libby on that list?

The guy's crime was outing a CIA officer. Julian should be proud. He did it to help make the case to invade Iraq. Which seemed like it would work because that's how much the CIA opposed that.

They've gotten a few things wrong, though. Maybe we should turn all their collaborators over to be killed for the greater good. Also a few things right.

[riser4]

As much I don't trust the CIA, they sometimes get it right. There's a special place in hell for Scooter. I missed the part where he got pardoned by tRump. Which is rich. I wonder if all of the converts to maga that are there for the isolationism because of Iraq and Afghanistan are aware of this rich irony.