You're like a college student walking in the last day of class while the teacher hands out final exams and asking what the subject of the course was about.
considering gates/jobs/dell/ellison/zucker****/adelson/turner/branson/etc never got a college degree i take that as a compliment
he'll surely get prison for life and likely a fair amount of torture, he may just wish they'd kill him instead
Perhaps I am confusing different articles and charges... I thought I read he was looking at only a few years of prison. Was there something that suggested life or capital charges?
My understanding is that he's facing up to 5 years in prison. Of course, the US could file more charges later once he's in the US (though I still don't see even an opportunity to pursue a death penalty, lol). But, meanwhile I think it's funny he'd make himself a prisoner in an embassy for 7 years, plus more time in the UK prison fighting extradition, just to avoid 5 years in the US.
the charge has been reduced to a narrow one only b/c of the specific extradition laws in the UK, which make it a lot more difficult if the suspect is charged w/ something of a political nature (such as espionage). so only the conspiracy charge has been put out there for now just to get their hands on him. theoretically they could also seek the death penalty once they expand the charges later, but i was just guessing they'd rather not make him into a martyr
Assange can rot for all I care, but this indictment if it was ever held up and he was convicted in a US courtroom, would destroy first amendment rights. I actually think in theory a website like Wikileaks could be a positive forum for government accountability, but of course Assange is really just selectively using his website to push Russian interests. But that’s not the point. The fact is if you don’t work for the government, you shouldn’t be muzzled by draconian rulings that silence the press and those who don’t work for the government. Just another step towards authoritarianism. Using someone the GOP hugged two years ago to go after their biggest threat of them all... the press. The NYT and WAPO being indicted under a similar charge of espionage for publishing classified information would be Trumps crown achievement.
This cuts both ways too. Could you imagine the outrage if President Hillary Clinton’s DOJ issued this indictment? Could you imagine the outrage if in 2021 Biden’s DOJ indicted Brietbart or the Daily Caller? People would be losing their damn minds. Assange should be locked away for a bunch of reasons (rape probably being #1 reason) but sharing classified info is not one of them.
