Government

The Irony of the Assange Case

The U.S. appeal to the High Court Magistrates in London yesterday and today is all about truth and trust. The United States of America wants the world to know, and more specifically, the judges in London, that they will not torture Julian Assange if convicted of the alleged crimes of espionage. The lawyers for the Crown Prosecutorial Services attacked the psychiatrists who assessed Julian Assange and then pleaded to assure the judges that Julian would not be tortured in the U.S. prison system.

The lawyers for the defense get to plead their case today with their own set of facts.

The USA Doesn’t Grasp the Truth

This entire case is about the principle of truth. The U.S. lawyers presented their facts yesterday, and the defense will present their truths today. Here is what Julian Assange says about truth:

“You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon a lie or ignorance can’t lead to a good conclusion.”

Julian Assange

This is what Wikileaks was all about – publishing the truth or holding nations accountable for their lies and actions they’d prefer they were kept secret. Nation-states do this regularly through lying and omitting correspondence and actions taken by them. They guard these lies under the auspices of “national security.”

They also use state media run by oligarchs to spread their propaganda, or as Noam Chomsky says, “manufacture consent.” Yes, even the USA claims to have a free press. If the USA had free media, all our media outlets would look much like Wikileaks, and there wouldn’t be a case against Julian Assange today. We citizens would be much more enlightened and involved.

The role of the journalist is to seek the truth or the opposite of lies. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “We need a strong free press to hold the government accountable or else government officials will abuse their power.”

Julian Assange exposed information about the United States through practicing journalism, which embarrassed the government because they were war crimes against civilians and showed government incompetence. The correct response from the government is to change those behaviors.

This scientific method of investigative journalism seeks out the truth to alter the behavior of the humans serving the people and our constitution. This method of inquiry is the standard which all journalism should be held – not the exception.

Everything published on Wikileaks is the truth. If it were lies, the U.S. would have legal recourse like any other individual or corporation for slander or libel. However, since the USA doesn’t have a case, they have brought forth a one-hundred-year-old Espionage Act to throw whistleblowers who share “government secrets” with journalists. In the Assange case, the U.S. government is equating journalism with spying. If allowed to pursue this course by the U.K. courts and then U.S. courts, they will be setting a precedent that journalism is espionage. As a result, any government that dislikes what a journalist writes about them is grounds for espionage.

As you can see, Thomas Jefferson and the remaining Founders would not be pleased with President Joe Biden and the U.S. government.

Why Won’t You Trust Us?

As I mentioned above, October 27th was a full day of U.S. lawyers appealing to the High Court to “trust them.” When you consider everything that has been done by the U.S. in this case, asking for trust is the pinnacle of absurdity. Nobody should ever trust our government about anything. This is why they are having an awful time getting citizens jabbed to prevent a deadly virus. Trust in government is nearly in the single digits and has been eroding for decades.

Sadly, the government has nobody to blame but themselves because they aren’t doing their constitutional duty of holding the oligarchy accountable. Like the free press, the government is just another owned entity of the oligarchy. We see it through donations, lobbyists, revolving doors between regulators and industry. We see corporate lawyers and tax accountants writing legislation for our politicians. The untrustworthy things they do are endless, and it gets worse every day. But, unfortunately, the corruption between government and industry is covered up by the media.

We have a few independent journalists on the outskirts and nonprofit organizations holding the government accountable, but most of the masses are swept away by propaganda without realizing it. They’re asleep – in a coma sleepwalking through their day. If our media were practicing the truth-seeking inquiry method, we’d all get enlightened in the process. But, instead, it’s a form of oppression – a divide and conquers program pitting the working classes against each other.

The political class is a farce. We are seeing the government policies are benefitting the donors – transnational corporations and billionaires. Once a tax is proposed against them, we see a meltdown in Washington. There is nothing believable on television or in the newspapers because our politicians and media are propaganda spreaders. Our POTUS leaves for a climate summit and can’t show our commitments to reducing harm to the planet that has existed for decades because all the politicians and the press are owned by Big Oil and Big Energy. Quite frankly, the excuses are embarrassing.

Assange Case – Closing

So yes, I hope millions and millions across the globe see the irony in the legal appeal by the U.S. Government to, “Trust us, we’re telling you the truth this time.”

Sorry, not this time. We trust your actions–not your words. You’ve lied repeatedly. You said their weapons of mass destruction, but they weren’t there. You said the terrorists came from Iraq, but it was Saudi Arabia. You said chemical weapons were used in Syria, but it was staged. You said you didn’t spy on the American people, but you lied about it too.

Assange and Wikileaks showed your war crimes, but you never addressed the war criminals. Instead, you went after the whistleblowers. You’ve destroyed our democracy because you don’t cherish the truth as we do.

How do we know you are lying? Because time and time again, brave whistleblowers and journalists have proved it to us. They’ve taken risks to show that our government lies, and so does our media. The truth is part of the government’s transparency policy, but how can it be when you’re owned by the donors. You don’t even serve us anymore. Your constituents are money held by transnational corporations and billionaires. We don’t care what you say because you’re lying. We know because we see your actions. The irony isn’t lost on us.

The ultimate irony is that if our democracy were functional or operated close to how our Founders envisioned and designed, there wouldn’t even be a case against Julian Assange. The truth is, Julian Assange’s ingenuity and creativeness with Wikileaks would have ushered in a new media model for the press. Most likely, he would have become a rich man overnight and would be heralded as a global hero. Even though he is not a U.S. citizen, the U.S. would have invited him here to lavish him with awards.

Seeking the truth is a noble profession, so why is the United States of America wanting to imprison it?

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Todd Smekens

Journalist, consultant, publisher, and servant-leader with a passion for truth-seeking. Enjoy motorcycling, meditation, and spending quality time with my daughter and rescue hound. Spiritually-centered first and foremost. Lived in multiple states within the USA and frequent traveler to the mountains.

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