It's funny or scary, how a big story like Wikileaks can flare up, make the mighty tremble, and then almost disappear.
When I last saw Julian Assange he was staying at the country mansion of a supporter, being harrassed by the Forces of Darkness.
And the idiots in the right-wing media...
Then many in the MSM seemed to lose interest in the story. So I had to read the Guardian today to find out how Assange was bullied as a child. And how that may have helped change the course of history.
He would reach a new community he would be ostracised, he would be . . . picked on, he would be bullied and his only real saviour in life or his own bedrock in life was this computer.
And that reminded me of that other Wiki warrior and bullied kid, Bradley Manning.
Who is being tortured in solitary confinement. No matter what the Pentagon says.
To find out if the accusations of Bradley being mistreated by the military are true, The Times asked the military. Not surprisingly, a Quantico spokesman said no. The reason Bradley has been on prevention-of-injury restrictions for almost six months, he explained, is that military medical experts and brig guards recommended it. It would have been nice if The Times had asked specifically about the military psychologist who supposedly cleared him months ago. It would also have been nice to know if anyone has ever been on prevention-of-injury watch, with five minute checks, for months at a time. And lastly, could he confirm that Bradley’s one hour of exercise daily consists of walking figure eights in an empty room?
Which in turn reminded me that if the good guys lose this one it's OVER.
A December 14 subpoena obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice and published by online magazine Salon.com on Friday said the records sought from Twitter were "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation."
It ordered Twitter to provide account information on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking Pentagon documents made public last year by WikiLeaks.
For EVERYBODY.
You know it gives more pleasure than you could ever imagine, to think that two bullied kids made the rich and the powerful tremble.
But then I wonder do enough people really care about what's happening to make a difference? Will there be light? Will there be darkness?
David Pitchford, who claims to be a Miami resident but lists an address in a Key West trailer park, filed a $150 million lawsuit against both Wikileaks and Assange for the intentional infliction of emotional distress by the release of documents that "indangered (sic) the PLAINTIFF as well as every person of the United States; and the entire planet."
I'm still hoping for the best. Because only the truth will set us free eh?
But since I live in an idiot world AND Stephen Harper's Canada.
I see the calamitous moron Joe Biden is calling Julian Assange a hi-tech terrorist.
Look, this guy has done things that have damaged and put in jeopardy the lives and occupations of people in other parts of the world.
After denying that the day before.
In an interview the previous day, he had been more neutral about WikiLeaks, saying: "I don't think there's any substantive damage."
I see that Bradley Manning is being slowly broken by torture.
Under the rules, Private Manning is not allowed to sleep at any time between 5am and 8pm; if he does so, he is made to sit up or stand by the guards. He is allowed just one hour of exercise a day, even then not in the fresh air, but an empty room where he can walk in figures of eight. Any attempt by him to keep himself busy by, for example, doing press-ups, or sit-ups, is forbidden.
The guards have to check every five minutes that Private Manning is ok, and he has to verbally confirm that he is alright. The same checks are continued during the night, and, if the guards cannot see Private Manning because he has pulled a blanket over his head (he is allowed blankets but not sheets or pillows) then they wake him up.
With the same kind of sleep deprivation they used to tortured Omar Khadr at Guantanamo.
So I'm not surprised to see the Bank of America joining the war against Wikileaks.
In a sign of the increasing tensions between WikiLeaks and the corporate world, The Bank of America has said it will no longer help process payments for the organisation, which has threatened to "take down" a major United States bank with another data dump.
Because what is the REAL reason Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are being persecuted, tortured, and treated like terrorists?
Even though all they've done is expose war crimes, and embarrass the rich and the powerful.
Answer: they are being made examples of, for committing the unforgivable, the unspeakable crime of meddling with the primal forces of nature.
Of course that pontificating plutocrat is wrong. The primal forces of nature dictate that those who can't adapt to change are doomed to die and disappear.
The world needs to change if it's going to survive.
If the old men who are torching this planet with their greed and their corruption don't understand that sooner or later they will.
Or there will be peaceful change, or there will be a REVOLUTION.
Julian Assange is the imperfect prophet of a new age.
Bradley Manning is its unlikely martyr.
And my hero.
Honesty and transparency are the primal forces of democracy.
Bradley Manning spent yesterday, his birthday, alone in a tiny, bare prison cell, without a pillow or sheets on his bed, in weak health and wracked with anxiety at the prospect of a prison sentence of 52 years.
David House, a computer programmer who visits Private Manning in prison, said in an interview: “Over the last few weeks I have noticed a steady decline in his mental and physical wellbeing. His prolonged confinement in a solitary holding cell is unquestionably taking its toll on his intellect; his inability to exercise due to regulations has affected his physical appearance in a matter which suggests physical weakness.”
So they can get him to say ANYTHING. Just like they did with Omar Khadr. Or slowly kill him.
The recordings revealed brain abnormalities months afterward; the most severe were found in prisoners who had endured either head trauma sufficient to render them unconscious or, yes, solitary confinement. Without sustained social interaction, the human brain may become as impaired as one that has incurred a traumatic injury.
Because in its twisting imperial agony the Republic of Fear is capable of ANYTHING. But then so are we now that we have seen that the emperor has no clothes.
Now, we find we are witnessing a new level of info-struggle. We are witnessing how the emperor wears no clothes. We can see the lies made bare, we can see the posturing and propositioning that our governments participate in. We can see the collusion that occurs with transnational corporations and with global media giants. WikiLeaks and others are battling against powerful institutions bent on curtailing our knowledge of and influence over policies and structures that impact our lives: they are information heroes, not information villains. We see all this being done in our name, and we condemn it.
Now it's up to us to defend internet freedom, or risk losing it forever.
As for me, I've seen the future and I like it. I refuse to go back to the darkness.
Julian Assange is a prophet of a new age. Bradley Manning is our martyr.
And, as Broken Social Scene explain in their new video.
As the Wiki Wars continue, I think some things are becoming clear, even in the piggy darkness.
If you publish material that embarrasses the rich and the powerful you will be treated like a terrorist.
Assange has been held in solitary confinement, released from his cell for only one hour a day, and his mail has been heavily censored, according to his supporters.
If you download material that exposes war crimes, you will be tortured.
From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch).
And that if you want to download Obama's secrets... in the White House.
As for me I believe in the freedom of the internet so I believe this: Julian Assange and Bradley Manning should have been Time Magazine's Persons of the Year.
Bradley is my hero.
"I want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are.
Because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public."
Some good news and bad news from the Wiki Wars today. The good news? Julian Assange has been ordered released on bail. Sort of.
Mr. Assange must spend every night at the mansion and will be electronically tagged so the police can track his movements, the judge said.
Additionally, Mr. Assange will be under curfew every day from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be required to report daily to the police from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. His passport is already with the police and, under the terms of his bail, he is not permitted to travel abroad.
And along with the $310,000, the Swedish stooges are no doubt hoping that should teach him not to wear a condom. You know I used to think Sweden was a progressive country, but now I'm planning to boycott IKEA.
The better news? More and more people are realizing that the powerful may howl with embarrassment , but the truth is more important.
Publication of the cables has caused no loss of life; troops are not being mobilised; and the only real diplomatic crisis is merely one of discomfort. The idea that the past two weeks have been a disaster is self-evidently preposterous. Yet the leaks are of unprecedented importance because, at a stroke, they have enlightened the masses about what is being done in their name and have shown the corruption, incompetence – and sometimes wisdom – of our politicians, corporations and diplomats. More significantly, we have been given a snapshot of the world as it is, rather than the edited account agreed upon by diverse elites, whose only common interest is the maintenance of their power and our ignorance.
As Julian Assage remains locked in solitary isolation in a British prison, the call has gone out. Once those who believed in freedom said we are all Spartacus. Now we are all Assange.
Apparent WikiLeaks-related cyberattacks ramped up as thousands of people around the world volunteered their computers for use in the attacks.
Downloads of free software used in the attacks have jumped by thousands of downloads overnight to over 40,000.
I couldn't do what they are doing. I'd rather protest in other ways. And since I live in Stephen Harper Canada, and he'll do anything any Dark Force tells him, I'd rather not spend Christmas in jail.
But I sure admire their courage to make sure the truth is not suppressed. And I'm enjoying seeing those who would wage economic war against Wikileaks, getting a taste of their own medicine.
Because make no mistake, this is a war for the freedom of the internet.
At the moment, the greatest invention in human history is broadly free. It allows for unprecedented communication, truly free assembly, and with these, an unparalleled forum for the exchange of ideas. It’s a seat for radicalism, and it has the potential to usher in dramatic reorganisation of established power structures.
Up until now, the apple cart hasn’t been upset enough to incline governments to make overt changes. Wikileaks has changed that, and provoked the US into action: now the powers that be can see what the Internet can do, they want it changed.
And if we don't defend it we could lose it.
Hey. I don't know if I agree with the tactics of the Wiki War warriors from Anonymous.
I don't know whether Julian Assange is a victim or a cad. But from what I have read I doubt he is a rapist, he is definitely not a terrorist, and this is nothing but a legal farce. The judge said these were "serious allegations against someone who has comparatively weak community ties in this country and the means and ability to abscond". But he rejected the prosecution claim that bail should be rejected on the grounds of Assange's safety.
As if the Forces of Darkness are concerned about his safety. As if they aren't watching him even when he sleeps. Tell me another one Big Brother, because I don't believe you.
I'm also not quite sure what to think about the revenge of the hacktivists.
Activists urged supporters to "get your weapons ready" by downloading software from a link posted on Twitter.
Supporters were then told to "FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!" at the agreed time.
Several minutes later Visa.com went down.
Because I find Russian spammers scary enough eh?
But if those big companies are waging economic warfare against a tiny whistleblowing site, just because it's embarrassing the rich and the powerful. And the Forces of Darkness want it shutdown.
Then maybe they should be inconvenienced a bit so they too get the message: The stakes are bigger than Wikileaks.
And they could affect us ALL.
Here's a message from Operation Payback...
"In these modern times access to the internet is fast becoming a basic human right. Just like any other basic human right, we believe that it is wrong to infringe upon it. To threaten to cut people off from the global consciousness as you have is criminal and abhorrent. To move to censor content on the internet based on your own prejudice is at best laughably impossible, at worst, morally reprehensible."
Whether you agree with them or you don't, two things cannot be denied. This is now the First Internet World War. And if we don't defend the freedom of the net, we could end up losing it.
The intolerance of the old order is emerging from the rosy mist in which it has hitherto been obscured. The response has been vicious, co-ordinated and potentially comprehensive, and it contains hard lessons for everyone who cares about democracy and about the future of the net.
What WikiLeaks is really exposing is the extent to which the western democratic system has been hollowed out. In the last decade its political elites have been shown to be incompetent (Ireland, the US and UK in not regulating banks); corrupt (all governments in relation to the arms trade); or recklessly militaristic (the US and UK in Iraq). And yet nowhere have they been called to account in any effective way. Instead they have obfuscated, lied or blustered their way through. And when, finally, the veil of secrecy is lifted, their reflex reaction is to kill the messenger.
Our rulers have a choice to make: either they learn to live in a WikiLeakable world, with all that implies in terms of their future behaviour; or they shut down the internet. Over to them.
And over to us. The First Internet World War has begun and everyone must choose sides, whether they like it or not.
I want to live in a world of truth not lies, because that's the only way we can save this planet from destruction.
Save the messenger. Fight the Forces of Darkness. Let the truth set us free.
OMG. I understand that Tom "Fatwa" Flanagan is having trouble trying not to strangle himself like his mentor Dr Strangelove.
And who can blame him eh? Now every time anyone mentions his name they'll think of Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says Tom Flanagan — a former senior adviser to the prime minister — should be charged with incitement to commit murder for calling for Assange's assassination.
And Strangelove's crazed comments.
Which only makes me wonder, since Flanagan is Stephen Harper's mentor, what Great Ugly Leader must be thinking. Because who could ever forget what Ezra Levant once said about their special relationship?
These days, Levant sees Flanagan and Harper more as “symbiotic partners.” But he does not disagree with a Globe and Mail report that once referred to Flanagan as the original godfather of the city’s conservative intellectual mafia. “I call him Don Tomaso,” Levant says. “He is the master strategist, the godfather — even of Harper.”
Yikes. Don Tomaso? The godfather? Oh well. That explains the fatwa contract.
Why is it that most people are not disturbed that American officials who apparently committed heinous crimes in the war on terror will not be investigated and held to account, while Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is hunted to the ends of the Earth?
Or explain why Cons are so disgusting.
Even in Canada, Flanagan wasn’t the first to advocate Mafia tactics. That honour goes to Ezra Levant, a columnist with the Sun newspaper chain and the man who distinguished himself on the Omar Khadr file by arguing it was unfortunate American soldiers didn’t grease the wounded 15-year-old on the spot. “They should have walked up to him and shot him like a mangy dog,” as Levant put it.
But then that's Con Canada eh?
Stephen Harper is a maniac.
Ezra Levant is an asshole.
Don Tomaso is Dr Strangelove...
And you know how that one ended...
Mama Mia. I mean Mama Fuhrer. I make you an offer you can't refuse.
The WikiLeaks Twitter account (@WikiLeaks) took a while to respond to the outage, but finally spoke up, stating "WikiLeaks,org domain killed by US everydns.net after claimed mass attacks."
They say British police are going to arrest Julian Assange later today. For the crime of not wearing a condom.
Golly. And Interpol put out a RED ALERT. Somebody must really hate him.
The actually-existing structure and strategy of the American empire remains a near-total mystery to those who foot the bill and whose children fight its wars. And that is the way the elite of America's unelected permanent state, perhaps the most powerful class of people on Earth, like it.
Some folks ask, "Who elected Julian Assange?" The answer is nobody did, which is, ironically, why WikiLeaks is able to improve the quality of our democracy. Of course, those jealously protective of the privileges of unaccountable state power will tell us that people will die if we can read their email, but so what? Different people, maybe more people, will die if we can't.
Yup. That's why it's a war. That's why the Empire is striking back. And that's why I agree with Digby.
My personal feeling is that any allegedly democratic government that is so hubristic that it will lie blatantly to the entire world in order to invade a country it has long wanted to invade probably needs a self-correcting mechanism. There are times when it's necessary that the powerful be shown that there are checks on its behavior, particularly when the systems normally designed to do that are breaking down. Now is one of those times.
They had it coming.
And besides, I've learned more in three days about what's really happening in this dangerous world, than I've learned in three years of reading or watching the MSM.
Gawd. Don't they know that the truth will set us free? The useful idiots.
The bad news? I'm afraid those who would keep us in the darkness of ignorance may use the Wikileaks furor as an excuse, to go after the internet.
To attempt to take a site like WikiLeaks down is to engage in a pointless game of whack-a-mole; no matter how many times you shut the site down, it will always pop up again elsewhere. And yet, WikiLeaks and sites like it do have another point of vulnerability, one that is increasingly being targeted by governments: their web addresses or urls.
The good news? We have been WARNED. So hopefully we won't let them take our freedoms away.
The even better news? Wikileaks is still alive. Somewhere.
