Listen now (17 min) | I was in London as a guest of Julian Assange and Stella Moris for their wedding, but even on that day the authorities continued their relentless campaign of cruelty against Julian.
What a powerful essay! The way Julian has been treated is utterly horrifying, not only for what has been done to him, but also for what it reveals about the dark machinations of the so-called democracies in the US and the UK. "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Powerful piece. Beautifully narrated. When I watch Julian's interviews I am always struck by his intelligence and compassion. It's beyond tragic what they have done to him. The corruption of the justice system has been fully exposed for all to see, but sadly there are few who take notice of it.
Unfortunately, most folks are ignorant of this executive branch government corruption and judicial travesty. I live near Alexandria, VA and most folks I know were either unaware that Chelsea Manning was immorally held in solitary for confinement for nearly a year (ending in March of 2020) in their own backyard on civil contempt charges by a judge presiding over a secret grand jury looking to coerce an indictment against Julian Assange for violations of the Espionage Act that simply didn't apply to his actions as editor of Wikileaks,---or couldn't care less.
While Julian was illegally pulled and arrested from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April of 2019, Four Americans in Washington D.C. were illegally pulled and arrested for legally occupying the Venezuelan Embassy in May of 2019. This was after water and electric service was questionably shut off by local utility companies for weeks. Their crime? They simply supported the Maduro administration that was legally in power (and were given written permission to occupy the facility by Venezualan authorities) but ran afoul of Mike Pompeo and Co. at the U.S. State Dept. who didn't personally approve. So, do you really think American citizens (or the Washington Post for that matter) who went about their every day lives ignoring this momumental travesty so close to home care about Julian Assange's condition in Britian? No. They seemingly have no ability to exercise abstract thought as it applies to their own loss of civil rights and moral behavior.
As long a the U.S. government continues to feed their kids "free" school breakfasts and lunches at public school (this function never shut down during the entire Covid19 state of emergency) then this satisfies the "bread" portion of the "Bread and Circus" calculus of corrupt government officials. More importantly, unless some measure of physical discomfort (i.e. hunger or lack of shelter) registers on the public radar, the masses will not react. The government knows this...and keeps printing more and more fiat currency in order to keep those two eventualities (literally at all costs) at bay. It may sound futile or trite folks, but unless ordinary citizens force a U.S. federal balanced budget amendment to be enacted immediately as a solution to this madness, these kinds of travesties will continue unabated.
Sadly, Proclamation 7463, has been renewed yearly by every president since September 14th, 2001. The Declaration of National Emergency Act’s present day existence holds no apparent reason, since “we” aren’t under any form of ascertainable terrorist attack.
Providing the Executive Branch of our government, the right, sans Habeas corpus to jail or kill anyone deemed a threat on home or foreign soil.
Aasange like Manning, Snowden and many other whistleblowers all fall under under the actions of the Executive branch authority, which is the essence of terrorism in my opinion.
Indeed. However, prosecuting all that terrorism costs an almost unfathomable amount of money. We've piled on $7 trillion of federal operating debt just since federal, state, and local governments systematically declared states of emergency just since March, 2020. I type this response my local government is STILL operating under a declared state of emergency!
Much of that federal operating debt was plowed through state and local governments on an unprecedented level that is not talked about, virtually, at all. The statutes requiring that State and Local governments, all across the U.S., to be balanced through taxpayer funding have arguably been a farce for quite some time; but clearly since 2020. The Cares Act and American Recovery funds are considered "one time" funding meant to be spent only on pandemic related emergency costs. However, my local government received relief funding in an amount in excess of $1B---1/5 of my local governments gross annual receipts! Not one cent is required to be paid back to the federal taxpayer. This "free" money is being kept off the annual balance sheets while the money seeps, quite insipidly, into everyday pet projects and expenses that benefit from"creative" budgeting semantics cropping up by the week in order to get this money spent before the (ever moving) deadline expires. Local government junkies are receiving this "free" fix while, meanwhile, local tax burdens on residential property owners during pandemic have risen, on average, 10% for the past two years! State economies were stifled during the pandemic, yet they now have mysterious budget surpluses (at least mine does here in VA). How can that be? Was it because their citizens and businesses were allowed to be so productive during the pandemic? Please.
IMO, the best way to think what is happening with central bank fiat currency creation is to compare it to a narcotic addict. The federal reserve (run by global central bankers) are creating the fiat currency ( the "crack"), banks are the street corner dealers doling out the crack, and governments (now on all three levels) are the junkies addicted to this crack ("free" stream of funny money). Keep your eye on the many emergency measures that will now have to continue just to sustain these junkies. It will soon get desperate and more obvious--even to the oblivious.
Stop the debt spending (fiat currency printing), and you limit the terrorism. The only mechanism I see to achieve that is an organized, consistent, and sustained citizen demand for a federal balanced budget amendment.
This article was beautifully written by Mr. Hedges and beautifully narrated by Ms. Wong. How could one not be moved by the horrific journey of Julian Assange and his family over these many years? Man's inhumanity to man is so clearly displayed. While I do not fully believe "love conquers all", it may well be the only thing that saves us from a world gone mad. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Assange on their marriage. May justice prevail and reunite this extraordinary family.
Meanwhile, Runter Bidet smokes his crack with Ukrainian prostitutes in a $30,000 a month, taxpayer funded beach house in Malibu, 40% of Americans still approve the chaotic dismantling of their country by the senile cadaver squatting in the basement vaguely resembling the White House, and London is a cesspool of marxism.
Thanks Chris, it's shamefully heart-breaking witnessing Julian being silently tortured by the authorities, treated like a terrorist in Belmarsh, not even on his wedding day. And they brag about the Rule of Law in the UK, the proud British legal tradition. Shame.
Now we see the corruption and conglomeration of the media propaganda machine in the world and the west in particular, I observe unfortunately the censorship war on the people of which is damming by the treatment of Julian Assange who is the example or even stamp on the freedoms of which all perceived themselves to have.
Interesting stuff. I've always been somewhat uncertain about Assange. While I believe it's important for transparency and he performed a positive service in that regard, I do worry about the potential negative consequences of too much transparency in some situations. I would prefer transparency to none, but it's a nuanced thing. I definitely don't like how he's being treated by many Western countries who claim to be in favour of openness, rule of law and honesty.
Might I ask why you are uncertain about Mr Assange? I do not need to like the man (I do not know him, but I have empathy for him in this terrible situation) or totally agree with him, but what he did for US (the people) is of the highest importance: governments lie, they cheat, they steal ... and so many other things Mr Assange brought to the light for us to see - for me he is a hero and it is an absolute scandal what is happening to him!!!! SHAME ON THESE GOVERNMENTS!!!!
Well I sort of put it forward in my original comment. Like you, I can sympathize with the scenario people in government have put him in. It's obviously awful of them to treat him that way. The reason I have uncertainty is because of the question around the value of complete transparency and the need to keep things secret. I dislike when things are kept from people, like when a potential Presidential candidate doesn't disclose financial interests in something they might have to make a decision on while in office. However, I can understand why military people might want to keep secrets about what they're up to in order to protect soldiers from potential attack. I want to know about potential conflicts of interest in politicians but I also don't want soldiers going into battle to die.
I agree (although my only need for 'soldiers' would be in natural catastrophes as 'first helpers' - I know this is an illusion of mine ...), but when the government and media claimed that Wikileaks publications endangered (or even cost the lives of ...) agents or soldiers, there NEVER was any proven case, so I do not think he endangered anybody besides our opinion of our governments. He assisted Mr Snowden in his escape - I am very grateful for Mr Snowden's 'leaks', we did not have to wait decades until the 'dirty little' secrets of governments came to light.
I'm not suggesting that he did publish content that actually endangered soldiers. Only that his apparent commitment to radical transparency has potential downsides. I worry about those consequences, and a soldier situation is the obviously one of the most important versions of it.
That’s not remotely the point I was trying to make. Radical transparency can have downsides. In the same way that if you tell someone the truth when they just want to be reassured it can have negative consequences, you can also reveal things that can get someone killed.
Honesty is a good thing but it’s not always the best policy.
representative government is in a coma and the future will be tainted by this age and its militarist lies, weapon and violence fetish and casual concern for others lives.
What a powerful essay! The way Julian has been treated is utterly horrifying, not only for what has been done to him, but also for what it reveals about the dark machinations of the so-called democracies in the US and the UK. "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Powerful piece. Beautifully narrated. When I watch Julian's interviews I am always struck by his intelligence and compassion. It's beyond tragic what they have done to him. The corruption of the justice system has been fully exposed for all to see, but sadly there are few who take notice of it.
Unfortunately, most folks are ignorant of this executive branch government corruption and judicial travesty. I live near Alexandria, VA and most folks I know were either unaware that Chelsea Manning was immorally held in solitary for confinement for nearly a year (ending in March of 2020) in their own backyard on civil contempt charges by a judge presiding over a secret grand jury looking to coerce an indictment against Julian Assange for violations of the Espionage Act that simply didn't apply to his actions as editor of Wikileaks,---or couldn't care less.
While Julian was illegally pulled and arrested from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April of 2019, Four Americans in Washington D.C. were illegally pulled and arrested for legally occupying the Venezuelan Embassy in May of 2019. This was after water and electric service was questionably shut off by local utility companies for weeks. Their crime? They simply supported the Maduro administration that was legally in power (and were given written permission to occupy the facility by Venezualan authorities) but ran afoul of Mike Pompeo and Co. at the U.S. State Dept. who didn't personally approve. So, do you really think American citizens (or the Washington Post for that matter) who went about their every day lives ignoring this momumental travesty so close to home care about Julian Assange's condition in Britian? No. They seemingly have no ability to exercise abstract thought as it applies to their own loss of civil rights and moral behavior.
As long a the U.S. government continues to feed their kids "free" school breakfasts and lunches at public school (this function never shut down during the entire Covid19 state of emergency) then this satisfies the "bread" portion of the "Bread and Circus" calculus of corrupt government officials. More importantly, unless some measure of physical discomfort (i.e. hunger or lack of shelter) registers on the public radar, the masses will not react. The government knows this...and keeps printing more and more fiat currency in order to keep those two eventualities (literally at all costs) at bay. It may sound futile or trite folks, but unless ordinary citizens force a U.S. federal balanced budget amendment to be enacted immediately as a solution to this madness, these kinds of travesties will continue unabated.
Sadly, Proclamation 7463, has been renewed yearly by every president since September 14th, 2001. The Declaration of National Emergency Act’s present day existence holds no apparent reason, since “we” aren’t under any form of ascertainable terrorist attack.
Providing the Executive Branch of our government, the right, sans Habeas corpus to jail or kill anyone deemed a threat on home or foreign soil.
Aasange like Manning, Snowden and many other whistleblowers all fall under under the actions of the Executive branch authority, which is the essence of terrorism in my opinion.
Indeed. However, prosecuting all that terrorism costs an almost unfathomable amount of money. We've piled on $7 trillion of federal operating debt just since federal, state, and local governments systematically declared states of emergency just since March, 2020. I type this response my local government is STILL operating under a declared state of emergency!
Much of that federal operating debt was plowed through state and local governments on an unprecedented level that is not talked about, virtually, at all. The statutes requiring that State and Local governments, all across the U.S., to be balanced through taxpayer funding have arguably been a farce for quite some time; but clearly since 2020. The Cares Act and American Recovery funds are considered "one time" funding meant to be spent only on pandemic related emergency costs. However, my local government received relief funding in an amount in excess of $1B---1/5 of my local governments gross annual receipts! Not one cent is required to be paid back to the federal taxpayer. This "free" money is being kept off the annual balance sheets while the money seeps, quite insipidly, into everyday pet projects and expenses that benefit from"creative" budgeting semantics cropping up by the week in order to get this money spent before the (ever moving) deadline expires. Local government junkies are receiving this "free" fix while, meanwhile, local tax burdens on residential property owners during pandemic have risen, on average, 10% for the past two years! State economies were stifled during the pandemic, yet they now have mysterious budget surpluses (at least mine does here in VA). How can that be? Was it because their citizens and businesses were allowed to be so productive during the pandemic? Please.
IMO, the best way to think what is happening with central bank fiat currency creation is to compare it to a narcotic addict. The federal reserve (run by global central bankers) are creating the fiat currency ( the "crack"), banks are the street corner dealers doling out the crack, and governments (now on all three levels) are the junkies addicted to this crack ("free" stream of funny money). Keep your eye on the many emergency measures that will now have to continue just to sustain these junkies. It will soon get desperate and more obvious--even to the oblivious.
Stop the debt spending (fiat currency printing), and you limit the terrorism. The only mechanism I see to achieve that is an organized, consistent, and sustained citizen demand for a federal balanced budget amendment.
This article was beautifully written by Mr. Hedges and beautifully narrated by Ms. Wong. How could one not be moved by the horrific journey of Julian Assange and his family over these many years? Man's inhumanity to man is so clearly displayed. While I do not fully believe "love conquers all", it may well be the only thing that saves us from a world gone mad. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Assange on their marriage. May justice prevail and reunite this extraordinary family.
ϟ ϟ ϟ
Meanwhile, Runter Bidet smokes his crack with Ukrainian prostitutes in a $30,000 a month, taxpayer funded beach house in Malibu, 40% of Americans still approve the chaotic dismantling of their country by the senile cadaver squatting in the basement vaguely resembling the White House, and London is a cesspool of marxism.
Brilliant assessment Jeff.
♗
Thank you, Sir.
It streams from a lot of rage and frustration caused by being alive on the wrong planet...
Thanks Chris, it's shamefully heart-breaking witnessing Julian being silently tortured by the authorities, treated like a terrorist in Belmarsh, not even on his wedding day. And they brag about the Rule of Law in the UK, the proud British legal tradition. Shame.
Thank you Ms. Wong!!! Very moving and so necessary for all of us to hear it!
Now we see the corruption and conglomeration of the media propaganda machine in the world and the west in particular, I observe unfortunately the censorship war on the people of which is damming by the treatment of Julian Assange who is the example or even stamp on the freedoms of which all perceived themselves to have.
Magnificent, only shows how evil the forces ranged against those that dare to speak truth can be
The Sadistic State has got to fall.
Powerful writing! Thank you for the truth that aches. Awareness and action to not live silently! Prayers ascending.
My heart breaks for Julian and his family daily. Over and over again.
"The Marriage of Julian Assange" should be the subject of an opera. Maybe the prisoners you shepherd would be interested in that project Chris.
Interesting stuff. I've always been somewhat uncertain about Assange. While I believe it's important for transparency and he performed a positive service in that regard, I do worry about the potential negative consequences of too much transparency in some situations. I would prefer transparency to none, but it's a nuanced thing. I definitely don't like how he's being treated by many Western countries who claim to be in favour of openness, rule of law and honesty.
Might I ask why you are uncertain about Mr Assange? I do not need to like the man (I do not know him, but I have empathy for him in this terrible situation) or totally agree with him, but what he did for US (the people) is of the highest importance: governments lie, they cheat, they steal ... and so many other things Mr Assange brought to the light for us to see - for me he is a hero and it is an absolute scandal what is happening to him!!!! SHAME ON THESE GOVERNMENTS!!!!
Well I sort of put it forward in my original comment. Like you, I can sympathize with the scenario people in government have put him in. It's obviously awful of them to treat him that way. The reason I have uncertainty is because of the question around the value of complete transparency and the need to keep things secret. I dislike when things are kept from people, like when a potential Presidential candidate doesn't disclose financial interests in something they might have to make a decision on while in office. However, I can understand why military people might want to keep secrets about what they're up to in order to protect soldiers from potential attack. I want to know about potential conflicts of interest in politicians but I also don't want soldiers going into battle to die.
I agree (although my only need for 'soldiers' would be in natural catastrophes as 'first helpers' - I know this is an illusion of mine ...), but when the government and media claimed that Wikileaks publications endangered (or even cost the lives of ...) agents or soldiers, there NEVER was any proven case, so I do not think he endangered anybody besides our opinion of our governments. He assisted Mr Snowden in his escape - I am very grateful for Mr Snowden's 'leaks', we did not have to wait decades until the 'dirty little' secrets of governments came to light.
I'm not suggesting that he did publish content that actually endangered soldiers. Only that his apparent commitment to radical transparency has potential downsides. I worry about those consequences, and a soldier situation is the obviously one of the most important versions of it.
That’s not remotely the point I was trying to make. Radical transparency can have downsides. In the same way that if you tell someone the truth when they just want to be reassured it can have negative consequences, you can also reveal things that can get someone killed.
Honesty is a good thing but it’s not always the best policy.
representative government is in a coma and the future will be tainted by this age and its militarist lies, weapon and violence fetish and casual concern for others lives.
The war against the Oligarchs is over. We lost. Vive la Résistance!