Defend Assange US Tour 182


I am currently in Minnesota where I am speaking tonight and doing several media interviews. The primary purpose of the whole US visit is not the public appearances, but preparation for the campaign and defence in the USA should extradition go ahead.

That does not mean at all that the focus has in any way shifted from preventing extradition from the UK, and the legal defence remain fully engaged and optimistic about both the High Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

But I am also very buoyed by the extraordinary depth and quality of the support in the USA.

The profound resistance to the Espionage Act prosecution of a publisher is at the moment a sleeping giant, simply because nothing is visibly happening here in the USA. But in the event extradition happened, that would change overnight.

For Biden to go into the election, attempting both to jail his main political opponent, and simultaneously to jail the world’s most famous publisher, would ring some alarm bells with all but the very dimmest.

Plus while the diehard Democrats will never accept that Russiagate was a lie that has been comprehensively debunked, the diehard Democrat vote is not enough to get Biden re-elected. That fake narrative has lost its universal power, and the coverage that will inevitably result should Julian be extradited will lead to a wider understanding that the Espionage charges relate solely to the Chelsea Manning revelations.

We need to be ahead of the game. Should Julian arrive in the USA, it will be the biggest news story in the world on that day. We need the campaigning logistics all worked out in advance. We need to get ahead of the media story in ways we failed to do when Julian was removed from the Embassy.

We need to have events planned all round the States ready to go, that will provide alternative image messages from actions, for both local and national news, to counter the “perp” images.

I am extremely impressed by both the vibrant alternative media, and the highly media-experienced pool of campaigners and activists across the States on which we can draw to put up to the mainstream media for interview.

There are of course also the logistics of bringing the core crew over to get up and running in the US, at what could be very short notice.

So that is why I have disappeared. I am always incredibly grateful to the subscribers who support me even when I am off doing activism rather than writing.

Here am I at the New York lunch event, which was completely sold out and could have sold ten times over, though rather I think for Chris Hedges than me.

The sound is very bad for the first two minutes of my talk but improves radically thereafter so please stick with it. (If anyone knows how to edit out the bad sound sections and a couple of other distractions and make a new version, I should be grateful.)

Incidentally, because demand was so high we ended up using a second section of the restaurant which ended up in me speaking in two directions at once. Half of the audience are seated in a vault which was reputedly Rockefeller’s personal depository.

After Minnesota I shall be travelling to Washington DC. Organisers are panicking that nobody there is signing up to come and see me, and that everybody in DC hates me. So if you know anybody in DC who doesn’t yet hate me…

————————————————

Forgive me for pointing out that my ability to provide this coverage is entirely dependent on your kind voluntary subscriptions which keep this blog going. This post is free for anybody to reproduce or republish, including in translation. You are still very welcome to read without subscribing.

Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers – many of whom do not necessarily agree with the every article, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.

Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.

Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:

Recurring Donations



 

Paypal address for one-off donations: [email protected]

Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:

Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address Natwest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB

Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a

 


Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

182 thoughts on “Defend Assange US Tour

  • zoot

    “So if you know anybody in DC who doesn’t yet hate me…”

    Max Blumenthal for one. a persistently infuriating presence for the DC political and media establishment.

  • Laughingsong

    I can’t find any tour info on the internet, can you please direct me? I would like to attend should you be coming to my neck of the woods (Oregon).

    • craig Post author

      Hi, sadly I am not coming to Oregon this time, but this is really only a preparatory visit and I hope to do something more extensive, focused more on public appearances, shortly.

      • Offtrail

        I second the Oregon invitation. It would be very good to see you here.

        I saw Assange’s father and brother on the tour for the “Free Assange” film Ithaka here, and it was quite moving. It had an effect on me. After that I finally wrote to the President, my Congresswoman and my two Senators.

        Portland has excellent beer.

  • Skip_NC

    Joe Biden is not attempting to jail his main opponent. The criminal justice system is doing that, because there is probable cause to do so.

    In any case, I seriously doubt Donald Trump will see the inside of a prison cell. House arrest is more likely, in my view, both for logistical reasons and a desire to not make him any more of a martyr than necessary.

    • zoot

      where should Biden be for all his Ukraine corruption when vice president? good governance rule of law liberals say not prison but the White House.

      • Skip_NC

        Any corruption on the part of Joe Biden has yet to be established. Indeed, it has yet to be established for Hunter Biden, although I’d be just a tad concerned if I were him.

        • pretzelattack

          the prosecutor has showed little appetite for establishing it, after his aborted cushy plea deal got short circuited by the judge.

          • glenn_nl

            Hunter Biden claimed to be sober while applying for a gun licence, despite having a bit of an alcohol and substance abuse problem.

            Hardly a biggie, and particularly didn’t ought to be for Republicans, who think everyone should be obliged to have at least one gun on them at all times as a God-ordained duty.

          • Skip_NC

            Aye, but there’s a new prosecutor on the case. As a federally authorized tax practitioner, I have tried to follow the tax aspects of the case but some of the tax stuff is still under seal. From what I have been able to gather, it is common-or-garden tax filing and payment failures that he has been charged with. I have half a dozen clients who, habitually, are in the same position year after year and the worst they face are the standard penalties for late paying and filing.

            All of this to say that I think there is more to come out of the Hunter Biden case. Whether that will involve his father remains to be seen.

            The gun charge is an add-on and not normally charged alone.

          • pretzelattack

            It’s not a new prosecutor. It is the same prosecutor that tried to bury it with the atrocious plea bargain that the judge threw out, now in a slightly different role.

    • Hans Adler

      There hasn’t been a non-criminal US president in a long time. Donald Trump is the first to get prosecuted, and until he ran again it wasn’t even clear that that would happen. Now it is happening, and the timing just happens to fit well to the election schedule.

      Donald Trump is of course an idiot, an habitual liar etc. However, facts don’t become wrong because a liar says them, and it is simply a fact that he was the first president who did not cooperate with the shadowy forces (whether you call them establishment, or deep state, or whatever) that have managed to keep all other US presidents under tight control ever since they made an example out of JFK. He was too stupid to be sufficiently afraid, and he was also stupid enough so he could be worked around to some extent. So they didn’t have to kill him and would even have let him get away if he hadn’t run again.

      Is this a conspiracy theory? Sure. Like every single conspiracy theory about a coup in Latin America. So far every single one of them has turned into historical fact when the CIA files had to be released.

      • Tom Welsh

        “There hasn’t been a non-criminal US president in a long time”.

        Possibly never – although Jefferson claimed to have harmed no one and broken no laws in his two terms.

        • glenn_nl

          He did “own” 600-odd slaves, mind.

          But I guess that’s OK because it was perfectly legal under law at that time. Just like everything Hitler did was perfectly legal on the same basis. I’m not sure that’s got much to do with decency or morality, though.

          • glenn_nl

            Will : Indeed, there were women among ‘his’ slaves. Jefferson fathered children with them – all under entirely consensual circumstances with no coercion whatsoever, we can be sure, since the Founding Fathers were only a single step down from the gods themselves in their utter devotion to probity.

            For example : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Hemings

            sorry for taking so long to reply.

  • AG

    what about Amy Goodman and DemocracyNow?

    (would it help or hurt to speak with Tucker Carlson and on “Judging Freedom”? )
    + interviews with: ZNet / truthout / The Nation / L.A. Times / meet ACLU (even if they have lost some of their bite) / Useful Idiots / Norman Finkelstein / Alternative Radio and may be a convers. with Chomsky etc.

    • AG

      what about Hollywood? Tim Robbins, Olivia Wilde, Scott Burns, Annette Bening, the Hispanic film community who are very well organized and dozens more. The entire crew behind The Pentagon Paper movie by Spielberg. There is a connection between that California front and the Blinken lot. The Coppola network, O. Stone…
      After all they are “all” on strike now and “available”.
      sry for being so erratic.

      • AG

        zoot, that´s nonsense
        a few examples from DemocracyNow´s program 2023:

        “Daniel Ellsberg’s Dying Wish: Free Julian Assange, Encourage Whistleblowers & Reveal the Truth”:
        July 3rd
        https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/3/daniel_ellsberg_s_dying_wish_free
        “The Espionage Act: Could Trump Indictment Lead to Changes to 1917 Law Used to Jail Whistleblowers?”:
        June 14th
        https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/14/trump_espionage_act_chip_gibbons
        excerpt with activist Chip Gibbons :
        “I’ve always argued that Espionage Act prosecutions are inherently political prosecutions, right? If I’m in Barack Obama or George Bush’s or Donald Trump’s inner circle, and I go to the newspaper and I feed them classified information to promote the drone program, promote the investigation into Assange, or I go talk to Hollywood filmmakers to give them information so they can make a film whitewashing torture, I’m not going to be prosecuted. And the biggest leaker of U.S. government secrets is the U.S. government. Everyone in Washington knows that. But if I go and I’m a soldier in Afghanistan and I’m horrified — I’m horrified by the civilian casualties in the drone program, and I watch Barack Obama on TV lie about how protective of human rights this international assassination program is, or I’m in Iraq and I’m horrified by the dehumanization of the Iraqi people and the violence inherent in that sort of neocolonial occupation, and I go to the media with that information, they’re going to prosecute me.”

        Amy Goodman: “Chip, we want to thank you so much for being with us. And people can go to our website to see our interviews with whistleblowers, or about them, if they’re imprisoned, from Jeffrey Sterling to John Kiriakou, from Reality Winner to Daniel Hale to Edward Snowden to Julian Assange and others. Chip Gibbons is policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent, where he has advised multiple congressional offices on reforming the Espionage Act.”

        besides:
        June 6th / May 24th / May 4th / Jan. 26, 24, 23, 20
        on:
        May 29th:
        “Free Julian Assange: Noam Chomsky, Dan Ellsberg & Jeremy Corbyn Lead Call at Belmarsh Tribunal”
        https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/29/ben_wizner_jeffrey_sterling_margaret_kunstler
        April 12th:
        “Rep. Tlaib and Other Progressives Call on DOJ to Drop Charges Against Julian Assange”
        https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/12/headlines/rep_tlaib_and_other_progressives_call_on_doj_to_drop_charges_against_julian_assange
        March 17th
        “Julian Assange’s Father & Brother Speak Out on His Jailing, Press Freedom & New Documentary “Ithaka”
        https://www.democracynow.org/2023/3/17/ithaka_assange_documentary

        • will moon

          AG I can’t get the Corbyn/Ellsberg/Chomsky vid to show up or play, any suggestions? It might just be me in idiot mode but it might not be.

      • pete

        Is that just what you think Amy Goodman thinks, or does it have some basis in fact: I can’t see any evidence to support the assertion.

    • Pears Morgaine

      ” would it help or hurt to speak with Tucker Carlson ”

      Association with that white-supremacist nut-job would hurt Craig’s credibility no end.

      • AG

        Sometimes crazy ideas lead to something.
        And to create the biggest possible public awareness in the US seemed to be a proper way.
        Besides Americans don´t care nor know much about what tiny Europe thinks.
        And since CM, if I remember correctly, in fact argued in favour of RFK as a presidential candidate a few months ago – in the best tradition of a realist – RFK the same guy who gave a major interview to Tucker –
        if that was not constructive I am sorry. Admittedly I don´t see what´s so special with TC and why people fall for him. But that´s a different topic.

        • will moon

          “why people fall for him”

          Blue blood and air of mystery, AG? Say like James Bond meets the Scarlett Pimpernel.

          Another commentator here pointed out, that the look on his face suggests “Though I am high and mighty, I feel your pain” – a Clinton “Bubba” for the Right?

      • Blue Dotterel

        Both Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan support the release of Julian Assange and have done so on their programs. They also get larger, indeed far larger, audiences than MSM news shows. It would make very good sense to include them if possible. By all means try the MSM, but do not discount the alt media. They do have an impact.

        Sorry Pears, you do not have to agree with Tucker’s position on everything. Certainly, I don’t. You want to enlist his help on this position that we all agree on. It also helps that he reaches a more varied audience than most other alt media mentioned above, leading to wider exposure when coupled with them.

  • Ian Morrison

    With all due respect, and you are due a great deal, some of what you’ve written is, to me, not credible. Trump is being prosecuted by separate federal and state judiciaries for his very visible and publicly performed role in trying to undermine the last presidential election. He is not being targeted by Biden. The US judiciary is still very largely independent (even perhaps the Supreme Court, though that can be loaded by one side or the other) and to suggest that Trump is the victim of a conspiracy is as hard to accept as I find some of your commentary on the Ukrainian conflict to be. That anyone with a commitment to genuine democracy could find it in themselves to defend Trump’s corner is depressing.

    • craig Post author

      Did you sleep through the entire Hillary Russiagate fabricated narrative of the 2016 election? The US justice system is extremely politicised, prosecutors most of all.
      The Justice Department stymied the FBI agents looking into Hunter Biden’s disgusting corruption.

      • Ian Morrison

        Are you saying that the authorities in Georgia don’t have solid grounds for prosecution given the infamous phone call demanding 11700 votes and the threats then made against election officials by Trump supporters? Or by Federal authorities, given the televised instruction to march on the Capitol and to “fight like hell” to overturn the result?

        • Urban Fox

          No he’s saying questioning the cleanness & fairness of a US election at this point, is akin to shitting in a cesspool.

          It’s abundantly clear to anyone who even vaguely pays attention, that US elections have degenerated to banana republic levels. They’re a corrupt farce.

          The prosecutions only go after one side and are a clear abuse of administrative resources. To weaken one side politically, to the benefit of the other.

        • Greg Park

          How about the furious and ceaseless establishment efforts to delegitimise the 2016 presidential election result?

          Am I right in suspecting those fit very comfortably within the Ian Morrison definition of “a commitment to genuine democracy”?

          • Ian Morrison

            They do not. But I’ve seen nothing quite so uncontestably blatant and dangerous as Trump’s attempts to overturn 2020 which, you might remember, combined legalistic pressures with an attempt at an actual coup. I’ll repeat that I find it depressing that anyone presenting themselves as a progressive spends less time on calling this out than on complaining about H Clinton, appalling candidate and entitled character though she was.

          • Greg Park

            It was not just Hillary. It was virtually the entire US political and media establishment – and all their acolytes; people who are now pretending they embody an upright and noble “commitment to genuine democracy”.

            Craig is 100% correct to remind readers not to take these people seriously.

          • glenn_nl

            IM: I have to agree with you.

            With the fake state representatives claiming to give their respective state’s electoral college votes to Trump, to Trump’s attempts to strong-arm state governors to ‘find’ him enough votes to beat Biden (one of which was on tape), to the instigating of an insurrection in which people died and many were injured…. it’s hard to see how all this could be ignored, lest a “political persecution” charge be levied.

            Never mind all the false claims of election fraud, frivolous cases tossed out of court even by Trump-appointed judges, and innumerable lies told about how “we woz robbed”. That’s just par for the course these days. Calling legitimate elections into question and undermining democracy is just fine from the Republican side. (The actual theft of elections, such as Gore v Bush in 2000 is just fine too.) As is gerrymandering, ‘caging’, voter disinformation and rigging ballot laws to disenfranchise undesirables. That’s all just fine and dandy.

            But the outright criminality and instigation of a riot for the purposes of insurrection cannot be ignored. _That_ would be political manipulation of the justice department.

          • AG

            The Russiagate hoax is a fact as much as Trump pressuring state officials to find non-existent votes.
            Or did I miss some true revelation on the 2020 election in fact being rigged? – This is one thing I did not buy into so far. After all Trump had announced even before the election that he would NOT accept defeat. And then he acted in accordance with that. That´s pretty clear a pattern.
            I would follow Robert Wright´s view from NonZero fame on this particular point. If POTUS is calling you and demanding you find some 11,000 votes that´s not your Mum calling. That´s your boss calling with all the hierarchical implications to it that would breach simple 1st Amendment rights.

          • Bayard

            All US presidential elections have been rigged since the advent of electronic voting and probably long before. The only one that it is likely wasn’t, was 2016, because the “wrong” candidate won. That is, it probably was rigged, but not effectively enough. Anyone claiming that a US presidential election was rigged is on pretty safe ground.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Re: ‘The Russiagate hoax is a fact’

            We can’t know for certain whether the hackers who infiltrated Hillary’s campaign in 2016 were Russian or not, AG. However, according to CNN, in November last year, Yevgeny Prigozhin – who was, amongst other things, head of Russia’s Internet Research Agency – when asked in an interview on Telegram whether Russia had been interfering in the 2022 US mid-term elections, stated: ‘We interfered, we interfere, and we will interfere.’ Difficult to believe they only started in 2022.

            https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/07/europe/yevgeny-prigozhin-russia-us-election-meddling-intl/index.html

          • pretzelattack

            it wasnt hackers that infiltrted the Clinton campaign, we can know that. there is no direct evidence that her illegal home server was hacked, as the private company that investigated it, Crowdstrike, admitted. It would have been lovely if the FBI had investigated that for itself, but that might have had the same result given the FBI’s apparent commitment to a Trump loss in the election. we can know that it was utterly corrupt for the FBI to not do the investigation itself.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply PA. There was a bit more to the Clinton campaign than just Hills herself. For example, her campaign’s chairman was John Podesta Jr. He claimed to have been the victim of a phishing scam (via his secretary) in early 2016, which resulted in tens of thousands of his emails being released, some of them containing compromising info about DNC dirty tricks against Bernie Sanders etc. Now why would Podesta have released all those deliberately? Was he secretly working for the Republicans? Was he undergoing some sort of psychotic episode? What would William of Ockham say about it?

          • will moon

            Channelling Ockham, I would say there is only a uniparty. The “Democrat” and “Republican” labels are just subjective experiences for the proles – nothing more

            “We came, we saw he died”

            If a teen in my clan made this statement I would correct their moral compass with a severe reprimand. I would act similarly if a video emerged of H Clinton being murdered by being sodomised with a bayonet and said teen thought this funny.

            I offer a translation of H Clinton’s words ie what she actually meant

            “He died, we saw, we came. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk”

            By her own words she is a pervert and a psycho, ie a perverted psycho. She is a mature person unlike aforementioned hypothetical teen, there is no hope of redemption for her.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will – reminds me of a Frankie Boyle joke about Saddam Hussein’s execution on Mock the Week. Whilst joking about anyone’s death might not exactly redound to one’s credit, to be fair to Hills, I don’t think she knew exactly how he’d died when she said that. Anyway, I must say I’ve had far tamer comments than yours deleted by the mods. They must like you. Well done.

          • will moon

            Knowing how a foreign leader died is one of the basic data points that a Secretary of State or Foreign Minister needs to know to do their job.

            “It is pleasant, when the sea is high and the winds are dashing the waves about, to watch from the shore the struggles of another.”
            Titus Livy

          • Greg Park

            Doesn’t matter if she knew exactly how he died. No other countries’ leaders speak that way.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply, Will. Hillary’s triumphalist remark was made straight after she’d been told by an interviewer that there were unconfirmed reports that Gaddafi had been killed. For all her faults, I doubt she’s a pervert, not least because, as far as I’m aware, there are no records of her name on Epstein’s flight logs, and I’m sure she’d have been more than welcome to join her hubby for a relaxing break on Lolita Island if she’d so wished. I’d imagine that plenty of other world leaders speak in a similar fashion to her when the cameras & microphones are off, Greg.

          • will moon

            This is how it went down.

            The moment US intelligence knew (assuming she did not watch his death on a live feed, through prior knowledge and planning), one minute later the following conversation took place somewhere

            “Madam Secretary, Madam Secretary!”
            “Yes?”
            “Gadaffi is DEAD!”
            “What? How?”
            “well ”

            We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one Lapsed Agnostic, after all, you have to live in your world and I have to live in mine. I’ll leave you the last word, if you anything to add.

          • Piotr Berman

            Ian Morrison
            September 12, 2023 at 18:41
            “They do not. But I’ve seen nothing quite so uncontestably blatant and dangerous as Trump’s attempts to overturn 2020 which, you might remember, combined legalistic pressures with an attempt at an actual coup. ”
            ———
            It is like Novichok unleashed on inhabitants of Wiltshire being the most dangerous act of chemical warfare ever (although it exhibited capacity of making people vanish without trace, imagine an entire British brigade simply vanishing without so much as a “poof”). Seriously, a weak-armed phone call to an official by a LAME DUCK president is “uncontestably dangerous”, now, when we know perfectly that NOTHING happened because of that call?

            How about a well publicized letter of 50(!!) former intelligence officials stating that contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop “have all hallmarks of Russian interference” that HAD CONSEQUENCES, censorship in media and social platforms, with big, perhaps decisive, impact on 2020 elections. Interference through disinformation. This nefarious 50 misused authority of the state, and apparently, their former institutions let them do it. So Biden won with the aid of dirty tricks. Stating that Trump is the only bad guy here is outright wrong.

            Mind you, Trump did many terrible things, but the worst of them are continued by Biden, e.g. martyrdom of Assange.

      • Michael A

        @Craig – The 2016 election – was that the one when you were vehemently opposing one of the main anti-Trump attack lines, namely that he was in it with Russia?

        I can’t remember what your advice was about how to stop Trump winning the election once Clinton had been chosen as the Democratic candidate. Did you have any?

        I remember when that question was put to Jill Stein though. Asked how to stop Trump she went on and on about Clinton needing to be stopped. Bit of a f***ing giveaway.

        Everything in the USA is corrupt. It’s a 100% corrupt regime. Every politician there is corrupt, every public official. Journalism there is sh*te. So is academia. So is the judiciary.

        Either stand outside the regime and denounce the whole electoral show (that’s a respectable position), or else support whoever the Democratic candidate is. Focusing above all on how the Democratic candidate’s uncle’s auntie once sent some emails, or took some bribes, or killed some people – guess what that does. Yes, it f***ing helps Trump.

        • AG

          Michael

          Since you mention Jill Stein: I remember this interview with Norman Finkelstein, Katie Halper and Aron Maté on the political show “Useful Idiots”. They agreed that Jill Stein’s comments calling Bernie Sanders a sexist, I believe, at the time when it was unclear whether Sanders would run for 2020, would have just been the beginning of an anti- Corbyn-like campaign to destroy Sanders had he chosen to run – with Stein – willingly/unwillingly I dont know – a part.

        • craig Post author

          Forcing people into a ludicrous dichotomy between two servants of the extremely wealthy is of course the purpose of the system.
          If put into a situation where I was forced in 2016 to vote either Clinton or Trump, otherwise an innocent hostage would be executed, I would have voted for Trump, as being less likely at that time to force a direct armed confrontation in Syria that could lead to nuclear war and the extinction of mankind.

          • frankywiggles

            Remember all the worst things Trump did in office were praised by his centrist-liberal moderate ‘Democrat’ opponents.

            Killing Soleimani, bombing Yemen and Syria, couping Evo, attempting to coup Maduro, ramping up cold war escalations against Russia and China, pursuing Assange.

            Expect exactly the same from them if he is re-elected.

      • Tom Welsh

        “The US judiciary is still very largely independent”.

        Independent of what? I can think of a few abstractions that fit the bill.

        • Michael A

          @Tom – “Independent of what?” <- Excellent question.

          @Bob – You are trying to prove the obvious. I'd advise against self-walrusing.

      • Piotr Berman

        Your example shows that judiciary may be unjust, but perhaps they INDEPENDENTLY, WITH DEEP CONVICTION, defer to corporations and the State. There are many people with such convictions, and the politicians in charge of nominations are not blind to them. [The result, of course, is the same.]

    • will moon

      Ian Morrison, during the economic meltdown in 2008 Barak Obama won the election. The people and companies who had wrecked the US and global economy were not punished. A new economic reality was annouced – “too big to fail”. Roe v Wade was not codified. Torture and drone strikes continued, indeed drone strikes increased. Syria was targeted by Obama’s “Timber-Sycamore” program. Libya was destroyed by NATO. The only explanation offered by Obama was about not looking back.
      Rahm Emmanuel chief of staff to Obama, made a comment regarding the administration’s legislative record, saying that they were “13-0” (an American football reference about an unbeaten team) and he wanted this political dominance to continue and for what? The poor became poorer, the middle class continued shrinking, the mass killing of brown people continued.
      Your comment would make some sense to me prior to President Obama but not after him. To me, your picking a side when there is no contest and therefore no sides, just a political monolith representing only one interest group – the super rich, that 1% of 1% that is now openly running the US Empire and it’s vassals

      In the words of the prescient Gil Scott-Heron writing in 1984 about Thatcher and Reagan

      It’s a rerun, déjà vu
      There’s War Games like Captain Kangaroo
      No matter the scenery, no matter the score
      Dropping out was copping out, we heard it before

    • Michael A

      Chris and Craig; Guardians of truth, warriors of light. Hear them, support them, love them…

      JFC, @Mark, have you given up on the idea of not being submissive, or what?

  • Ulli Jossner

    Hi Craig, I could and I’d like to do this, but there is no audio at the beginning before it gets better. So on this version there’s nothing to change. If you got the original file it would be easy. (One can do it in Final Cut Pro and in Davinci Resolve with one click, so if you know someone …) [ Yes, he does, but we don’t have the original, unfortunately. ]
    If one does a new and improved version YT starts counting the views from scratch. So the number of viewers get lost.
    I hope all the best for Julian and wish you and the campaign the best from Germany
    Ulli
    If you should come to Germany again and need help, just send me a mail!

    • Ulli Jossner

      What one could do, though, is to provide a link in the description to the audio of the missing part. That’s how you would not lose the counts. 🙂

    • Michael A

      Google Youtube “views” – that’s like democratised social credit, right? I bet the rulers are shaking in their shoes.

      But a big thankyou to Google. Big advertising to the rescue.

  • Alex

    I admire your bravery. The US demonstrated that they have no qualms to use their FARA as an excuse to jail anyone they did not like.. Admittedly, so far not a single Scott has been imprisoned under this “law” 🙂

  • Alan Bolger

    People like you, Mr Murray, restore one’s shaken (all too often these days) faith in humanity.
    God bless you and your family.

    Free Julian Assange.

  • Jack

    I am still disappointed that Trump did not drop the charges against Assange during his tenure; there were some signs he might have and there were great reasons why he should have:

    * Freeing a whistleblower could only be a positive thing
    * Exposing the warcrimes and unnecessary US invasion of Iraq that he has criticised
    * Poking the deepstate/military in the eye

    …but perhaps he did not have enough time to focus on this issue during the hysterical Russiagate persecution.

    Either way, the phony DNC party will never drop the hunt against Assange, that is for sure. The hope stands to Trump 2024, only he would have the guts to do such a move.

      • Jack

        Not really Trump himself, Trump hailed Wikileaks repeatedly during his fight against Hillary and mentioned Assange on/off during his tenure, there were some rumours in the end of his term that he would drop the charges, a rumour has it that Trump somehow offered to drop the charges if Assange claimed there were no russian involvement in the leak. But might have been bogus.
        https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/assange-lawyer-says-trump-offered-deal-to-avoid-extradition

        • delaneyw

          So, according to you, the indictments of Trump, including in state courts, are Biden prosecutions, but Trump’s indictment of Assange, by a far more politicized justice department (his), is “not really” Trump. And you promote “rumours” to prove your point — even when, if true, the rumours also discredit Trump.

          You’re absolutely right about one thing: “But might have been bogus.”

          Which also describes the disinformation you present here.

          • Jack

            Not really sure where you are going, look, I just pointed out there were rumours about Trump making a move to drop the charges and I provided reasons why Trump should have dropped the charges. Do you disagree? Should Trump have not dropped the charges against Assange?
            According to Trump he do not really know a whole lot about Wikileaks, he specifically said it is on the AG’s board. Thus it was not really his decision as such as I earlier tried to point out:
            https://youtu.be/c-xeGWcvifw?t=36

    • Republicofscotland

      “I am still disappointed that Trump did not drop the charges against Assange during his tenure; there were some signs he might have and there were great reasons why he should have:”

      Jack.

      I think the main difference between Trump and other recent US presidents is that Trump is in a position not be controlled by the huge corporations. Putting that aside, he’s just as bad or even worse than recent US presidents. One thing springs to mind: giving the nod to opening embassies in Jerusalem.

  • delaneyw

    “For Biden to go into the election, attempting both to jail his main political opponent….”

    This is an outright lie. Did Mr. Murray actually read the indictments? On what basis did he conclude they were political? And even forgetting the independent state prosecutions, Biden is not “attempting” anything. Note that the special prosecutors who perform investigations of public officials (and decide whether to indict or not) are typically Republicans, for the simple reason that Republicans cry foul if one of their own doesn’t do the investigating (the same courtesy is not afforded to Democratic politicians). This includes that “unhinged” prosecutor, Jack Smith, who is a Republican.

    That Trump initiated the Assange prosecution makes this thorough mischaracterization of what put Trump in the dock even more odious.

    • Jack

      “delaneyw”

      So it is not the justice dept. under Biden that have brought forward the trial in march 2024 against Trump? Not political? Yeah right…
      Not sure why you say that Trump initiated the Assange case, Assange has been charged with various claims for like 13 years.

      • delaneyw

        I see you persist in your disinformation campaign. Assange was charged initially in 2018 — when Trump was routinely instructing “his” Justice Department to indict his many enemies. Additional charges followed in 2019, again under the Trump Justice Dept.

        To its shame, the Biden Justice Department continued to press the case rather than drop it. But let’s get our facts straight. You claim Trump is only one with the courage to drop the charges. This is ludicrous. He’s the one who *brought* the prosecution. The preceding Obama administration declined to do so, seeing such a prosecution (correctly) as an attack on free speech and news reporting. Or, at least, fearing that it would be charged with state censorship.

        There was no “like 13 years”.

        • Jack

          Again, I have no idea what your point is – why so hostile? My point was simply that Trump have repeatedly praised Wikileaks – google yourself, as far as piling dirt on Clinton back in 2016, no other president have done that, then, again, there have been rumours about contact between Trump team and Assange. You seems to suffer from TDS by also denying it is Biden’s department that have set the course against Trump trial later on next year , thus no need to further engage with you on this topic.

    • Ian Morrison

      Agreed. It grieves me to read some of the posts on here re Assange, esp those which seem to imply that Trump is some kind of admirable libertarian.


      [ Mod: Ian – when posting a comment, can you please stop entering “N/a” in the ‘Website’ box, as doing so creates a false and inactive hyperlink on your name. It has to be removed manually every time by a moderator. Just leave the field blank. (If the text is pre-populated on a fresh page, then clear your cookies for the craigmurray.org site.)

      Thank you. ]

  • Republicofscotland

    “the diehard Democrat vote is not enough to get Biden re-elected.”

    Radio news has said that there’s an impeachment investigation opened up against Biden over his involvement with his son’s dirty business dealings, so he might not get the chance to stand for a second term.

    • glenn_nl

      As someone who lived in the US for a number of years, and follows politics there pretty closely, I very much doubt that Biden will be impeached. The supposed charges, which no Repug has even been able to articulate thus far, don’t pass the laugh test. Besides which, two thirds of the Senate would have to vote for it, even if it got that far – which is extremely unlikely.

      Biden’s son was a bit of a screw up, perhaps not surprisingly given the tragic family background, and was heavily into drugs and alcohol. His dad didn’t give up on him, which is the biggest charge against him, and – gosh! – actually took his calls even while Biden senior was VP.

      It’s kind of hard to believe that Biden snr would have suddenly decided to go all corrupt and – further – trusted this addled freak with his entire career, working all sorts of ‘sensitive’ deals on the side for him.

      This is just like the – gasp, horror – shocking contents of the laptop, for which nobody is actually offering even the slightest scrap of actual proof. *

      ___
      * Besides “B..B..B..But haven’t you seen all this stuff about it on the internets??”

      • Urban Fox

        Then how is Joe Biden and his former congressional colleagues etc worth millions or tens of millions, in monies far *far* in excess of their official salaries?

        If you happen to live in the US, then you know the IRS would be up the average punter’s arse with a microscope for a pittance of that unexplained wealth.

        The reason Joe Biden won’t be impeached isn’t because he’s not a corrupt and vulgar grifter. Who is so demented he can’t tell the difference between his arsehole or breakfast time.

        Rather it’s because Washington DC is a sewer (not a swamp that’s insult to an innocent terrain feature) of deceit & graft.

        • glenn_nl

          There’s no evidence Biden is ‘demented’. That term has a specific meaning, which either you don’t understand or are deliberately misapplying. Certainly he’s doddery, even for his age. “Demented”? Don’t be daft.

          Biden is also far below the wealth of even the moderately corrupt politicians who have been in the game for anything like his term. Surely you’re not so lazy as to say he’s completely demented and fiendishly corrupt? You will have to try harder to pin something on him, and please don’t bore me with spluttering about general corruption – everybody knows about it.

          • Urban Fox

            It’s telling that you have to resort to nitpicking over the term “demented”.

            Fine then how about visual-audio manifestations of declining mental acuity and function, even if it’s less succinct to be sure.

            To your second point, it doesn’t address the ways to hide wealth and funnel money through other people, i.e. family etc. Along with other old tricks of the trade.

            So it is indeed possible for Biden to be corrupt *and* demented. Simply because the people around him now use effective power of attorney, to keep his long-established means of grift operating and exploit the power of his office with his consent.

            It’s even more telling, that you don’t even try to argue about “general corruption” and try to dismiss it. I suppose “general corruption” ok then?

            That’s a helluva of an admission…

      • delaneyw

        You didn’t live long enough in the U.S. to understand the meaning of “impeached”. Trump, for example, was impeached twice. The term refers to the vote taken in the U.S. House of Representatives.

        The actual trial is held in the Senate, and there’s no chance that the Senate will convict because a) there’s no case at present for “high crimes and misdemeanors” and b) Republicans would need 2/3rds of the Senate to do so.

        It’s purely political.

        • glenn_nl

          Obviously I was talking about conviction – a conviction which would be necessary to prevent Biden from running for a second term, which was RoS’ original point, to which I was replying. Sorry if you got over-excited and thought you were having a real ‘moment’ there.

          And yes, of course it’s political. McCarthy will be booted by his own party imminently unless he makes moves to impeach on something. He doesn’t know about what, any more than you do, but it buys him a bit of time – which, at the end of the day, is all that being ‘political’ is about.

          • AG

            might fit:

            Moon of Alabama on Biden problem:
            “More Voices Call On Biden To Withdraw From The 2024 Race”
            https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/09/more-voices-call-on-biden-to-withdraw-from-the-2024-race.html#comments

            David Ignatius in the WaPo has a piece “threatening” Biden indirectly:

            “But I don’t think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for reelection. It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — which was stopping Trump.”

            here:
            https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/12/biden-trump-election-step-aside/

            The issue of dementia or not appears to be a “political” choice as well. If it fits the cause people will start bringing it up. Whether its true medically is irrelevant.

            I don´t know if this is pure coincidence or part of a campaign (which I feel inappropriate for journalists to take take part in frankly) –
            The Intercept has just come out with a piece on how dementia with high level politicians can cause crises:

            “Pentagon-Funded Study Warns Dementia Among U.S. Officials Poses National Security Threat – Sens. Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein, who have access to top-secret information, recently had public health episodes.”
            https://theintercept.com/2023/09/12/national-security-dementia-mcconnell-feinstein/

            Reagan had such issues but they were fine with 2 terms. That “diagnosis” was political too.

          • pretzelattack

            no, Reagan was demented, and it was covered up, just like Biden now. McCarthy doesn’t want to impeach because he is part of the corrupt DC crowd, as so many in both parties are. Biden using his position as vice president to get bribes is a crime.

      • U Watt

        Are you for real? Joe Biden has been corrupt as the day is long from the moment he entered the Senate half a century ago. If you knew anything at all about his career you would know that. He has boasted more than once on camera of being a bought entity for the most predatory forms of capital and of enacting legislation that screws over ordinary consumers and borrowers. The Ukraine corruption as VP – using his own son – should have brought an end to his seedy career and seen him locked away.

        In an honest society that is what would have happened. Instead he was hailed and vaunted- and nominated by the Democrats for President.

        • glenn_nl

          Enacting legislation that you don’t like – and I don’t like for that matter – does not equal corruption.

          Having his unqualified son work for a foreign industry, playing off the family name, is a terrible look, and certainly verging on corruption. Unfortunately it happens all the time. Look at Blair’s son for an example of someone getting incredibly rich, trading off the family name.

          • Urban Fox

            It does if you get paid off to do it, particularly if it’s via legal or quasi-legal means that *you* helped quasi-legalise.

            That’s more rotten & dishonest, than the “honest corruption” of brown envelopes filled with cash.

            The trading off the family name thing, could happen without the consent of the head of the family, that is true.

            However HB clearly has that consent, and has been doing it for years. With his father’s full knowledge and collaboration.

          • Tatyana

            also they say that “The Big Guy” got 10% of what his son earned selling “The Brand”. The investigation is underway, so I hope we will learn soon what is true and what is not.

            Anyway, Biden boasted that he ordered Ukrainians to fire the prosecutor Shokin, because Shokin had to investigate Burisma. Biden said it plainly – I will stop multi-million aid money payment for Ukraine, if you keep Shokin.

            I find it an extraordinary example of both corruption and of blackmail against a foreign (presumably partner) state. For the personal goal, to stop investigation into his son’s activity in Ukrainian company.
            Now we can talk about democracy in Ukraine, and about the contribution to this of the US Democratic Party, of which Biden is a representative.

          • Jack

            Tatyana

            Yup, here we have it:
            Video of Joe Biden boasting that he got the anti-corruption chief in Ukraine fired… just right after the same chief were about to look into the ukrainian Burisma organisation….. which just happend to have Hunter Biden on the board at the time.
            https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse45/videos/joe-biden-if-the-prosecutor-is-not-fired-youre-not-getting-the-money/797504800724150/

            White House tells media how to cover Biden impeachment
            Administration lawyers have prepared a letter urging the press to “ramp up its scrutiny” of Republican lawmakers

            https://swentr.site/news/582924-white-house-directs-media-impeachment-coverage/

            Thus….
            Of course the MSM are quickly running to the aid for Biden.
            The fired Ukrainian prosecutor is not a reliable narrator
            https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/28/viktor-shokin-fox-interview/

          • Tatyana

            Another representative of the US Democratic Party, Viktoria Nudelman, exercised the best of her statecraft rhetoric in her famous “f*ck the EU” speech 🙂 That was another example of truly democratic action – the appointment of convenient Ukrainians into the ‘new democratic Ukrainian government’ via truly democratic procedure.
            Attention, sarcasm alert.
            No corruption, no foreign interests, grassroot in its purest form. When such a beacon of world democracy as the United States took the trouble to appoint a government for you, elections would be an unnecessary fuss, right?

          • will moon

            My perception of Biden is based on his part in creating the current highly profitable but deeply racist US prison system – a ongoing crime against humanity. Whether he engaged in legal or illegal behaviour in playing this part is of no concern to me. For the ruined lives, the maximal stench of corruption, the Jim Crow replay that we see in US justice, this man, Joseph Biden, bears personal responsibility and this should never be forgotten.
            glenn_nl, the Oligarchy bought this creature a long, long time ago and as I am sure you know (if your claims of knowledge and habitude of “the Land of the Free” are true), they don’t want black folk getting “uppity” – unless, of course, you lived in an area where black folk never got “uppity”
            As for Blair, a celebrated perpetrator of crimes against humanity and the precious child getting rich off the father’s crimes, I would only call it “trading off the family name” if the family name is to be forever associated with crimes against humanity. Just imagine it, a dynasty of Hitlers.

          • U Watt

            will moon

            The issue at hand was his corruption, but I agree that his self-dealing and service of vulture capital are not the worst of it. You are right to mention he was the key figure in expanding the carceral state, disproportionately targeting the black poor. And that was no anomaly. Before that he had been an ardent opponent of integrating schools and close friend to arch segregationist senators.

            If only his actions had been confined to the US his career would be disgraceful enough. But Biden was also the key mover in getting the Senate to vote to invade Iraq, presenting them with a carefully constructed tissue of lies.

            For a brief moment in 2021 it looked like he had redeemed himself somewhat by finally ending the worthless, disastrous occupation of Afghanistan. However he immediately froze the country’s central bank assets, knowingly inflicting famine. Families in Afghanistan are right now selling their organs to try and feed children.

            Even all these crimes may yet be dwarfed by instigating WW3 in his old feeding ground, Ukraine. The world is very blessed to have had Joe Biden.

          • Tatyana

            As a Russian, I like who the current President of the United States is.
            If Hunter was selling his father’s influence for money in the best traditions of medieval despotism, then I would like to have a chance to see how creative my imagination is about the Biden daughter. Let Joe run for a second term. There aren’t many truly entertaining things in this life, at least there will be new memes about the oxygen mask marks on Joe’s face.

          • will moon

            “in his old feeding ground, Ukraine”

            An apex predator at the top of the food chain. Killer Whales hunting in highly organised packs are a sight to behold, U Watt, and stretch one’s credulity to breaking point and beyond – even on the telly !

      • Emma M.

        Of course, Joe Biden is such a good dad to his son and such an all around great guy. How could anyone believe in his corruption, in any legal, political, or especially moral sense?

        He is innocent, just look at his track record: a former segregationist, who later wrote crime bills designed to maximise injustice and the number of racial minorities who go to prison while ensuring even petty criminals and people like addicts (who aren’t as rich as his son) are locked up with the key thrown away, and who bragged about writing what made the basis for the Patriot Act.

        Speak not of the corruption of the kindly old man that is Joe “Mastercard” Biden, who creepily leans in when he thinks no one is recording to sniff your small child as he did in Finland, who whispers publicly to little girls how horny 12-year-olds make him. Listen to him do just that at 52:37 right here, I am not making that up:

        https://www.c-span.org/video/?323601-1/senate-ceremonial-swearing-vice-president-biden

        He is a sexual predator who doesn’t belong in any position of authority, and it shocks me people give him any benefit of doubt with anything and it honestly sickens me how overlooked his behaviour is.

    • will moon

      Thanks AG, just listened to this several times. Textually the same as the vid posted by Mr Murray at the top of the page which I watched several times but formalised into a dialogue. I think I prefer the minor chaos of the vid over the formalised dialogue but none of the time spent consuming either has been wasted – a weakness of mine listening/ reading to informed people who offer a moral perspective as well as factual accuracy. I hope I am never cured of this “vanity”

  • Jack

    What is the legal situation Assange is in at the moment? How long can he be held like this without a formal trial? The situation is very Kafka-like. No one knows why he is confined or for what alleged crime and on top of it he is not even allowed to take interviews with journalists? Could this absurdity go on indefinitely? What does the law say?

    • Tatyana

      Jack
      This will go on as long as the US believes that it’s an exceptional nation, and as long as other states play along with it, like the retinue of a king.

      I have a philosophical observation about this, but I’m not sure I can convey it correctly in English. But I’ll try, anyway, as people here are extremely patient deciphering what I try to say 🙂 For that I’m eternally grateful to you all, and the team who run this website.

      I listened to the opinions of different people justifying the state of the United States of America in even their most disgusting actions. If we discard all the decorative husks, then all such personal positions have the same grain – in the US the standard of living is higher, and it is also prestigious to be a US citizen. That is, to be a citizen of that state means to be a “respected person.”
      In short, “the grain” consists of two halves: the US is rich (which is undeniable), and the United States proclaims beautiful things as its values (the main thing here is not to ask whether they actually adhere to these most beautiful values).

      The rest of the world is paying for this vanity fair.
      Literally. That is, if someone criticizes the United States, or simply does not see a path for their country together with the United States, then the United States can come to your country with missiles.
      There are many pretexts – you may be considered an insufficiently democratic state, or a homophobic state, or a too backward state, or you may have terrorists, or you may suddenly fall into a terrible heresy by deciding to sell your national wealth for your national currency without the participation of the dollar or financial institutions controlled by the United States.
      Considering how many military bases for missiles controlled by people from the Pentagon exist on our planet, it’s not surprising that many states are simply dependent on the good attitude of the US. And in such a situation, few people would dare to upset their overlord by releasing from prison the publisher who made public the king’s, uh, dirty ass.

    • Peter Mo

      I remember in the seventies countries which held prisoners for more than a few days without trial or charges and bail were vilified as horrible human rights abusers.
      “The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed to criminal defendants by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” The framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted to prohibit this kind of abuse of power in the new United States. Therefore, they included a specific clause in the Constitution to safeguard the right, known as habeas corpus.

      • will moon

        Peter Mo you have a very good memory and have triggered a host of memories in me. Brokaw’s “greatest generation” was still alive back then, maybe with their death, “this kind of abuse of power” was born.
        Adams’ “nation of laws” seems to have been replaced by Crowley’s “do what thy wilt shall be the whole of the law”

      • Tom Welsh

        “The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist”.

        – Winston Churchill (cable to Herbert Morrison, the Home Secretary, in 1943 on the occasion of the latter’s releasing Sir Oswald and Lady Diana Mosley from detention without trial)

        • will moon

          Winston Churchill talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk; the above did not apply to non-whites or the lower orders (ie non-property holders), generally speaking

  • Simon

    Well Craig, sincere good luck with your efforts. I long ago gave up any hope of justice for Assange in the UK. The English hate Australians, for reasons best known to themselves. In the USA, however, there is a constitution and it protects free speech. I hope that that is Assange’s best chance. He has none in the UK.

  • AG

    since I just recently finished watching “The Chicago Seven Trial” movie –

    Mrs. Kunstler´s late husband Mr. Kunstler (he was her second husband I believe) was the attorney of the defense 1969 in that very trial.
    And that trial too was rigged, which is established in the movie initially, via a meeting in the DoJ. So not much has changed since.

    However the system as a whole did have more honesty still as the ruling against the defendants was reversed eventually. Mainly because Mr. Kunstler´s office had been bugged by the FBI. And the case would thus not stand.

    Same situation with breaking into the office of Ellsberg´s doctor which made the judge throw the case against Ellsberg out of court. (Nixon´s fixers really were stupid.)
    This practice again is endemic to the FBI (or CIA) since the advent of bug technology in the late 1920s. (General Motors used bugs against unions e.g. early on in close cooperation with Hoover.)

    p.s. for all those who believe Russiagate is called Russiagate because it was the Russians – look into the history of US law enforcement since the Pinkertons and think again.

  • Tatyana

    Tell me please, are there any organizations that should protect freedom of speech and the right of a person to express their opinion? If there are any, would they accept a complaint from a Russian?

    • Tom Welsh

      In the UK there is the admirable Free Speech Union https://freespeechunion.org/ which has had some notable legal successes of late.

      Amusingly enough, a quick online search also turned up what at first appeared to be a US equivalent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Coalition

      Oh wait a moment; that turns out to be “a non-profit trade association of the pornography and adult entertainment industry”.

      How typically American.

      There are various US organisations, such as the ACLU; but they probably defend only US citizens. Anyway, the US establishment usually claims that foreigners do not enjoy the protection of the US Bill of Rights.

  • AG

    there seem to be some issues with Cornel West´s campaign. Had no time to follow.
    But see interesting comments on Norman Finkelstein´s substack site, like this info:

    “Dr West’s new campaign manager, Peter Daou. Former digital media adviser and political strategist to Hilary Clinton. Apparently, he suddenly saw the light and turned into Bernie’s biggest cheerleader right before that campaign plummeted into the pit of oblivion. I think I’m also starting to see the light now.”

    West had an argument with Jimmy Dore on an interview where he called Dore a Trump-ist. And not mentioning class issues at all.
    We´ll see how that will develop and may influence some secondary aspects of the election in a year.
    Personally I was surprised when West announced his candidacy since he did not struck me as pragmatic enough and too much a philosopher and intellectual for such a job.
    But I thought let’s wait and see.

    • Michael A

      The question people should be asking in response to the courtroom ban is how to take the initiative. Ten people wearing Craig masks filmed walking up the steps to the main entrance? There are probably many better ideas. That’s just the first one that came to mind. Ideas are needed. Whatever is done, don’t let it be whingeing.

    • Bramble

      I’ve read the report carefully. I can’t see an actual reason given anywhere for banning him (not even, you are Scottish and so not a member of our public). The only conclusion is that this is a political sanction applied to a member of the public who has rejected the official narrative and so is deemed a persona non grata by the State, which is determined to ensure only one narrative is authorised. And we are still telling off and threatening other states (about which we know only what we are told – therefore very little that is not blatantly biased) for bad behaviour? How did we come to this?

    • Tom Welsh

      “And I said, ‘Is it not a public courtroom? Is there not a public right of access?’”
      “And he said, ‘Yes sir, but you are not the public.’”

      My Concise Oxford English Dictionary says:
      “noun (the public) [treated as singular or plural] ordinary people in general; the community”.

      So Mr Murray is not a member of the community; he is not an ordinary person. Well, he is not a member of any US community, and he is far from ordinary.

      But I rather wish he had asked one more question:

      “In exactly what respect, or by what criterion, am I not a member of the public?”

      It is an interesting precedent for a government official to tell a member of the public that he is “not the public”. By that standard, every single member of the public might be told the same thing, eventually leaving “the public” as what logicians call an empty set.

  • Michael A

    This is bound to be of interest to many contributors and readers here…

    The Sunday Times is expected to put out a story tomorrow accusing Russell Brand of sex crimes, and this allegation is expected also to be broadcast in Channel Four’s Dispatches programme later in the day.

    Brand has released a statement denying the allegations and denouncing what he says seems to be a coordinated attack on him.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1CjQjLYdsA

    Brand has attacked a) Big Pharma and b) Zelensky. He does seem to be correct that there is a coordinated campaign against him.

    • Michael A

      Here is Sarah Manavis in Prospect magazine in July 2023 presenting Brand’s profile as a serious danger:

      https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/technology/internet/61724/tarnished-brand

      “People like Brand are trying to reach everyday individuals that you otherwise wouldn’t think could be radicalised.”

      D’you know what? I am minded to think the sex crime allegations against him are LIES.

      Brand’s profile is not a serious danger to the established order. I wish it was, but that’s not how things work. What is happening is that the “established order” seems about to take Brand out – and THAT takes the established order forward.

      • Pears Morgaine

        Love you guys leaping to Brand’s defence before we even know what he’s charged with let alone seen any evidence. This might sound like a radical idea but how about we watch and read what C4 and the Sunday Times have and then make up our minds?

        Small correction, the C4 Despatches special is tonight (Saturday) at 2100.

        • nevermind

          Here comes Pears accusing all “love you guys jumping to Russell Brands defense”.

          It’s one person Pears, get a grip.
          Mr. Brand has been honest with his sexual prowess in the past and by attacking Nazilenski has brought the wrath of the media upon him. His attack on far too big pharma just makes this first response kick to the groin even more boring, so old fashioned.

        • will moon

          Small correction

          “Love you guys” should read “Love you guy” Mistaking the singular for the plural is a mistake made by infants, those who are cognitively challenged and heaven forbid, “radicalised bad actors”, I know what I am but which are you?
          As I am sure you will remember Mr Morgaine, grammar lessons were always a painful experience, weren’t they?

          Apropos of nothing I bumped into him at the local supermarket ten years ago. He was mortified and crushed by my non-recognition

          Some crave adulation, some crave recognition, some crave wealth and power. As for me, like Latimer and Ridley I am ready to enter the fire.

          “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley… we shall this day light such a candle,..as I trust shall never be put out.”

          • Pears Morgaine

            Playing the man not the ball Will Moon?

            Brand is an anti-vaxxer and is pro-Putin but he’s not alone there. Why target him in particular?

          • will moon

            Mr Morgaine my only concern here is grammatical accuracy. As I pointed out to Point on the previous thread, these days we live in are vertiginous and opaque and it behoves us all to aim for clarity and rigour, don’t you think?

            I give no thought to celebrity, except for Harry Patch who is now dead. He lived through “fire” of WW1 and became special – a “celebrity” if you like.

            The rest of us – human, all too human.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Surely Russell Brand hadn’t gone so far down the rabbit-hole of celebrity self-delusion, Will, that he expected everyone in the country to recognise who he was? Anyway, why don’t we use the opportunity to remind ourselves of Stewart Lee’s* opinion of him:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwWUb5hyFmQ

            (Warning: Contains rude words and adult themes)

            * I hereby declare that I’ll give Mr Lee £20 for free, if he dares entitle his next tour: ‘If You Prefer a Younger Comedienne, Please Help Yourself to One’:

            https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/stewart-lee-splits-wife-after-30652606

          • Michael A

            “Why target him in particular?”

            That seems very much like a bad faith question, given that I’ve posted a link to the anti-Brand piece in Prospect that knifes him without referring to any allegations of sex crime or abusive behaviour.

            You might as well ask why did Prospect attack Russell Brand rather than attack someone else instead. The point is they did attack him.

            If women are credibly saying he raped them, prosecute him. That’s how the criminal law is supposed to work. He’s alive and perfectly able to stand trial.

            Don’t you think it strange that friends of the royal family like Nick Brown and Elton John can get superinjunctions, whereas Russell Brand, who condemned the coronation and said Windsor Castle should be handed over to the homeless, obviously didn’t get one?

          • Bayard

            “Playing the man not the ball Will Moon?”

            asks Piers Morgaine and then goes on to play the man not the ball:

            “Brand is an anti-vaxxer and is pro-Putin but he’s not alone there.”

          • Pears Morgaine

            Moon:- “a mistake made by infants, those who are cognitively challenged and heaven forbid, “radicalised bad actors”….
            As I am sure you will remember Mr Morgaine, grammar lessons were always a painful experience, weren’t they? ”

            You set out to insult and belittle which went further than just correcting grammar.

            “Brand is an anti-vaxxer and is pro-Putin but he’s not alone there.”

            Is not an insult but an accurate description and one he’d probably agree with.

          • will moon

            Congragulations Lapsed Agnostic! By the use of the words “Stewart Lee” , you have unlocked the next level in the game “Three Body” (The Three-Body Problem, wikiped) currently taking place on Craig Murray’s website and a bonus prize. By the rules of the game I am programmed to tell you a true story. .

            “Urban wasteland, a tough tramp crosses a long car park to a small super market. The tough tramp knows he is being observed as soon as the observation begins, long before the observer believes is possible. Why? Because of the heavily augmented peripheral vision that tough tramps need to survive in their ego tunnel (The Ego Tunnel, Metzger). Tough tramps know a lot of big, bad men, who if you do the saccades dance incorrectly (saccades – wikedped) will instaneously break your arm or worse. Because of all this, tough tramps detect big softies from a 100 yards.away. The tough tramp walked upto the big softie, who was behind a plate-glass window and locked a bike to a stand, walked into the store, stood beside the big softie and his equally tall female companion, paid and left. All that time the tough tramp never yielded not even one eye saccade to the big softie. The tough tramp dragged the big softie out of his own ego tunnel into the tough tramp’s ego tunnel. Later on that evening the tough tramp was told the name of the big softie and heard the big softie being likened to the pants of ants, the knees of bees, the whiskers of cats and of course the bollocks of dogs
            The big softie knew all about being looked at because he was tall and at that moment undergoing the well tooled process of “becoming famous” , he wasn’t used to not being looked at and hence experienced a procession of extremely powerful emotions”

            There is more information available upon request. This subroutine has been successfully executed, You have been told a true story.

            And yes, since you have haven’t asked,I can happily tell you that I was that tough tramp and he was that big softie. I’m not so tough now but I am still a tramp, so there’s that. As for the big softie, I wouldn’t know.

            Was it just a lucky guess or something more exotic?

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. I take it you had a good night last night.

            (In the very unlikely event that Mr Stewart Lee or his representatives are reading these comments, I’m prepared to double my above offer to £40 on condition he calls his next tour: ‘If You Prefer a Younger White, Middle Class Comedienne, Please Help Yourself to One’. That’s a nod to his ‘If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One’ series, in case there’s any non-Stew fans who don’t know what I’m on about.)

          • will moon

            Am I to take it that you, Lapsed Agnostic, are a former fan of this Lee? If not, how come you know so much about him? Beneath your turbidity I sense an aching longing. First you tell me he is a sexist – fair enough, there is a lot of it about. Now you tell me he is a racist, or at least you have your suspicions. I suppose he took money off you and now you feel despoiled and besmirched?
            Know this and take heart, you are not alone, in fact you are legion – he has, apparently done this to many others. It does not have to be this way. Put not your faith in idols with feet of clay. Every transaction you engage in with these monsters only makes them stronger and you, and all others like you weaker.
            The information you have supplied to me leads me to aver that you are rapidly progressing through the stages of grief and loss, soon there will be no more confusion, no more self-doubt. You are about to enter those “broad sunny uplands” much talked about in the mythology of Merry Olde England. In this place you will find that the Lees of this world are banished and punters like you and me (nb this use of “me” is rhetorical and is included for stylistic and demographic purposes) can swap cash for content on a regular basis without fear of loss, violation or disappointment and a full money-back guarantee.

            It is a happy place!

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. I’m still a fan of Stewart Lee, but that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass – there are no sacred cows with me, including our host who approaches sacredness much more closely than most. I don’t think Lee is sexist or racist (and he’s almost certainly not a monster) – but that doesn’t mean he’s not sometimes guilty of the things for which he mocks others.

            P.S. It’s been quite a while since I had any longings, aching or otherwise.

          • Bayard

            ““Brand is an anti-vaxxer and is pro-Putin but he’s not alone there.”

            Is not an insult but an accurate description and one he’d probably agree with.”

            But has nothing to do with whether he is guilty of the alleged sex crimes.

          • will moon

            Your approach to this matter exhibits much to be commended. The nuance you employ when describing the problem indicates to me that this Lee has been unable gain control of your mind and that are you still to be considered a rational actor. This is not always the case in these situations involving celebrities, as I am sure I don’t need to remind you. With this in front, I will share my concerns.
            Your overall approach to light entertainers and indeed light entertainment in general, is not one I share. Those of us who watched The Jimmy Saville Experience live on our TV’s and the minority who watched it live in their hospital bedrooms, all share the same reservations, as far as “light entertainment” is concerned though with differing degrees of intensity. Since then I have developed an Old Testament view concerning these people ie if thine right eye offends thee, pluck it out. Yet your more charitable view gives me cause for pause.
            To ensure I shall not speak out of turn regarding a person whose comedic output you express muted admiration for, I watched some clips earlier on of this Lee. It was terrible, the material was bafflingly unfunny but even supercomputers struggle to produce good material and he seems so harmless. Comedy will be the last mystery the AI will solve, so take nothing from my reaction. It means nothing and in no way should affect your consumption of this content. As for the hypocrisy, is this not the best condiment with which to savour any comedic dish?
            I have been told there was a Swedish light entertainer who wrote the book on all this.This monster actually kidnapped some of his fans and imprisoned them in inhuman conditions only freeing them when they became complete slaves of his will. When the authorities tried to return these brainwashed fans to former lives, they all refused. The psychologists heard about it and got a whole new syndrome going, I think it was called Stockhausen Syndrome after that mad Swedish light entertainer. So you see how far these things can go if intervention is delayed.

        • Michael A

          That’s not a correction. I posted before midnight on Friday to say “tomorrow”, which means Saturday.

          You openly condone a person being tried by media without being charged and brought to court.

          One thing at least is for certain: he’s right that there’s a concerted attack against him. Cooperation between Rupert Murdoch’s Times and the British government’s Channel Four is out in the open now.

          • Pears Morgaine

            Sorry to be pedantic but you posted:- “The Sunday Times is expected to put out a story tomorrow accusing Russell Brand of sex crimes, and this allegation is expected also to be broadcast in Channel Four’s Dispatches programme later in the day.”

            The Sunday Times is, surprisingly, published on a Sunday; Anyone reading that might have thought the Dispatches programme might’ve been scheduled for Sunday evening.

            I did say that he deserves a fair hearing and the proper place for that is a court of law not the media. I didn’t see the Dispatches programme or buy the ST this morning but this may have all the hallmarks of being another Jimmy Savile, a ‘celeb’ hiding in plain sight and organisations like the BBC in the know and covering for him. We shall see.

          • will moon

            Mr Morgaine, the Jimmy Saville case is unique in recorded history, it has no comparison. He spent at least 30 years at the top of the tree, maintaining close relations with the Prime Minister of the day and the current monarch amongst others. The media and the BBC were just the front end of the operation.

            If you don’t want rough treatment, don’t take liberties with others. Using the plural when there was only one voice is an insult to the rest of the community and I believe requires correction.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            As Michael doesn’t seem to have replied to your above comment Pears, it looks like it might fall to me to inform you that the Funday Times piece about Brand’s (alleged) rapey-wape etc was published online on Saturday.

          • Pears Morgaine

            ” the Jimmy Saville case is unique in recorded history, it has no comparison. ” Apart from Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris.

          • will moon

            Mr Morgaine did either of the two men you mention visit 10 Downing on a frequent and regular basis or sojourn at Chequers with the Prime Minister over the Christmas holidays for years with frightening monotony?

            Unlike the Hall or Harris cases the Jimmy Saville story was never a “case”. For this we have to thank Keir Starmer, the man widely tipped to become Britain’s next prime minister

        • Jimmy Riddle

          Pears Morgaine – I think that just about everybody understands that this Brand fellow is utterly vile, following the business with Andrew Sachs. He is also a non-entity. At the same time, we know that he has political views that the ‘powers that be’ do not like – and we have seen too many examples of how they manufacture precisely the sort of allegations that they have made against Mr Brand. This has all the hallmarks of the depressingly typical lies-slander-character assassination machine that they know how to work extremely well.

          • frankywiggles

            They are very selective in who they target and about which alleged victims must be listened to. The predation of establishment darling and PM patron saint Nick Cohen was going on for decades before Russell Brand was born and was extremely well known. There is still unanimity of silence about it, not least from the ‘investigators’ and protectors of victims at the Times and C4. Note too their complete absence of interest in all the establishment Icons/child rapists in Epstein’s black book or that the chief advisor to the leader of the opposition was among Epstein’s beasties.

          • Pears Morgaine

            A lot of people have political views the PTB don’t like and many are more important and influential than Brand so why expend all this energy and resources on him?

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            In recent months, the UK media has gone after Phillip Schofield and Huw Edwards in a big way (blanket coverage on the news channels), neither of whom pose any threat to the Establishment, and neither of whom were ever charged with any crime. Both are unlikely to work in mainstream TV again. Nick Cohen is hardly a household name. He’s also not a particularly Establishment figure, as anyone who’s read ‘Pretty Straight Guys’ should confirm. He was also 14 when Brand was born and attending Altrincham Grammar School for Boys.

            Here is the article in the Funday Times for anyone who wants to read it. (It’s not behind a paywall).

            https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russell-brand-rape-sexual-assault-abuse-allegations-investigation-v5hxdlmb6

            According to the article, Brand is alleged to have raped a woman in LA who they refer to as ‘Nadia’. The morning after the (alleged) rape, Nadia sent a text containing the words:

            ‘When a girl say NO it means no. Do I have to go and get myself tested?’

            To which she received a reply from Brand’s number which contained the words:

            ‘Im very sorry. You don’t need to get tested.’

            That’s him pretty much bang to rights in my book.

            In an ideal world, the UK national papers would all have court reporters who would be reporting on this for the first time from one of Brand’s criminal trials, but then the Funday Times wouldn’t have its exclusive. Nevertheless, Brand is a wealthy man and is perfectly entitled to sue News Group (or whatever it’s call now) and Channel 4 for libel, if the allegations are untrue.

          • will moon

            Innocent until proven guilty – it isn’t true until the evidence is tested.

            I would be wary taking on Murdoch and his minions in a British court unless I had an awful lot of money. I don’t know whether Brand has enough.

            Boris Berezovsky found the going tough in the courts and apparently spent the last of his ill-gotten fortune, earned from looting Russia in the 90’s, on unsuccessful, hugely costly court actions. I think he was a lot wealthier than Brand.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. My book* is obviously not the California legal system. Brand has millions. I’m no expert, but I’d imagine that Boris Berezovsky found it tough going in the UK courts because what the papers etc were writing about him was true.

            * I should, of course, have written the words ‘in my booky-wook’ in my above comment. That was a bad miss.

          • will moon

            Apologies, Lapsed Agnostic, I spoke without knowing the particulars about this case.

            We see in these cases truth bifurcated. There is a public “truth” developed by evidence being tested in the courts and various private “truths” possessed by the various individuals involved. These various “truths” do not always cohere.
            A male friend was raped a long time ago, 40 yards from my house, in the middle of the night by a knife-wielding assailant. He crawled to my door for assistance. I assisted him as best I could but he refused to go to the hospital. He was in a terrible condition – the worst state I have seen a person in, who didn’t subsequently die. After some time I was able to persuade him to get the police involved. But it was hopeless. In those days the stigma attached to male rape was overwhelming and his shame stymied any progress.
            He never recovered. About 15 years ago, he stopped speaking to me, stopped speaking to anyone and began shuffling around with his head down, acknowledging no one. He is in his early fifties but looks like a very rough, physically twisted, shrunken 70 year old. I see him all the time. He will die soon; he has reached the end of his journey.
            Before all of this he was a creature that lived off light and hope – a beautiful person with so much promise. Another person might have recovered but I have learnt that personal reaction to trauma is as individual as the individual themselves.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Pears Morgaine – it should give you cause for concern that a person such as myself, who is basically quiet and of a conservative disposition, who thinks that Russell Brand is both a complete non-entity and also comes across as the sort of nasty piece of work who could do precisely the sort of thing that he is being accused of, nevertheless still thinks that this has all the hallmarks of a MSM lies-slander-character assassination fit-up. It does say an awful lot about main stream media, their journalists and how they operate.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. Sorry to hear about your friend – hopefully he will be at peace before too long. From what I can gather from the article (which now appears to be behind a paywall), ‘Nadia’ wasn’t traumatised to the same extent, but she still seems to have felt the need to attend five months of counselling to come to terms with things, having previously been the sort of person who wasn’t afraid to be driving alone in LA past the witching hour. In my view however, as bad as that was, assuming she’s telling the truth, what happened to ‘Alice’ (who apparently was just sweet 16 at the time) was considerably worse.

            ———-

            In this instance, it doesn’t matter whether you are a quiet and (small c) conservative person, Jimmy, or the sort of person who screams “Go hard or ****ing go home!” at the people waiting at the bus-stop on Beckett Rd, Leeds, from the passenger side of your best friend’s ride, whilst emptying what’s left of your Glock clip into the empyrean, in celebration of having just slotted some hapless teenager in some Harehills yard, under the influence a fair few snowballs that, funnily enough, contained both no Advocaat and no lemonade: on the basis of what’s in the Funday Times article, assuming that the text messages are genuine, Brand is guilty of (at least one count of) rape.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Lapsed Agnostic – but, of course, the *if* what the Sunday Times reports is true is a very big *if* indeed. I seem to remember lots of vile allegations against a certain Scottish politician, which were thrown out by the jury when they came to court – and I also seem to recall that the one person who took the time and trouble to inform us faithfully and reliably about the court proceedings got banged up in Saughton for contempt of court for his troubles.

            Agreed that this Brand fellow is a complete toe-rag; this was completely clear following the Andrew Sachs business, which showed that he is a nasty piece of work. I’m therefore very happy to see him getting hammered. It’s just that I don’t trust the Sunday Times one inch – and I know that they are capable of manufacturing the whole thing – they have a track record in this department.

          • will moon

            Is not making “rapey-wapey” jokes about alleged rape the very essence of a purified form of hypocrisy? Yet you have the temerity to accuse this Stewart Lee fellow, (who you admit you are a fan of), of the failing that you exhibit yourself.

            ” I’m still a fan of Stewart Lee, but that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass – there are no sacred cows with me”

            I can correct your above statement – there is one person who gets a “free pass”, there is one person who is a “sacred cow” – yourself

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Jimmy. If similar genuine text messages between Alex Salmond and one of his accusers had been produced by the prosecution at his trial, then they would have been compelling evidence that he was guilty of rape. They weren’t, because he wasn’t guilty of rape, attempted rape, or anything else apart from having a drunken cuddle with someone who wasn’t his wife.

            ————

            Thanks, I guess, for your reply Will. That ‘rapey-wape’ jibe was a dig at Brand – and how he trivialises things that are quite serious, like sex – not his (alleged) victim(s). I have to admit that I didn’t think of it myself: that was the Scottish comedian Fern Brady on Twitter a couple years ago, which was quite brave of her as she could easily have been sued to **** for it. Where have I said that I was a sacred cow? I’m just a non-sacred cow commenting on a blog, usually after my eyes start to glaze over going through piles of decade-old NMR spectra etc.

          • willmoon

            Lapsed Agnostic I found a woman in the street after she had been raped. She had sustained head injuries, was delirious and was covered with a clear slimy fluid. When the paramedics came, they explained to me it was the rapist’s saliva.
            The word “rape” is bandied about but not what the crime itself entails. I left out some details in my friend’s story as they just are too hideous to relate casually. He endured the whole experience with his face pressed heavily into mud and it was still caked in it when I saw him. There are other violent details that I found them hard to believe at the time but the evidence of my senses told me they were true.
            I don’t think rape is a suitable subject for humour. A personal opinion but one I would always make known.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. As I’m being baited by you over supposed ‘hypocrisy’:

            Re: ‘I don’t think rape is a suitable subject for humour.’

            I refer you to one of your previous comments on this post:

            https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/09/defend-assange-us-tour/#comment-1044104

            – in which you made a joke about the former Secretary of State of the USA deriving sexual gratification from the anal rape by bayonet of the former Libyan leader, based on the word ‘came’ having multiple meanings.

            All the very best.

          • will moon

            I have another one for you.

            In response to the events of the day I compose “little stories” in my head, in an attempt to defuse the psychic damage inflicted by the reported doings of Empire.
            When the West became champions and promoters of torture, I was particularly struck by the implications of rectal feeding and its place in the pantheon of “Enhanced Interrogation”. Dialogue and text began to take shape in my mind. A press circular from the MOD was then conjured. Because of Brexit the MOD announced the exclusive use of patriotic British rapists, instead of a ragtag gang of foreign rapists who had previously carried out this function. Quotes from the various interested parties, Torture Team Leaders (” these indivduals are full of British grit, British spunk and are more than desperate to do their duty etc etc”, stakeholders like the Ron Howard League for Penile Reform, “We are pleased that the MOD have created employment opportunities etc etc”.
            You are incorrect in your assertion that I attempted to make a joke about the murder of Gaddafi. I believe we are led by the acolytes of a Death Cult and these people are necrophiles (” By 1994, everyone at the BBC knew Jimmy Saville was a necrophiliac” – Paul Gambiccini). Whether this is due to the profit motive or a deeply held “religious conviction” seems a matter of semantics, the results speak for themselves.
            To summarise – close, but no coconut Old Bean, no coconut but by all means carry on being an aperture for Murdoch’s Bag of Filth. If nothing else you will get your reward in Heaven – sorry that should read Hell.

            “I want to patch my soul on your brain
            B.P.M. supposed to control your heartbeats
            We are the synchronizers
            We are electronic performers”
            Air – Electronic Performers

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. No, I am obviously not incorrect in my assertion. Take the ‘L’ as the young people say.

            Speaking of loss, as it happens, j’ai perdu ma cerise to Air’s ‘Moon Safari’, and I even own a CD copy of their curtain-raising ‘Premiers Symptomes’ EP (or at least I did until my robbing bastard ex-landlords nicked it, along with much else). Sumptuous tunes; the lyrics, not so much – the boys probably shouldn’t bother with them, if you ask me:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUX8fUrKRNU

            Enjoy the weekend.

          • will moon

            “This is my Lee
            There are many like it
            But this is my Lee”

            Apologies to Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket

            Beneath your turbidity, I sense an aching longing.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. I’m sure Mr Kubrick would have forgiven you. Apart from world peace, the only thing I’m currently longing for is to be re-united with about half of my worldly goods and chattels. As most of them are currently in landfill, that probably won’t be happening (though something tells me my high-end camera etc never made it as far as landfill). A girl never forgets her first time – unless she was completely shit-faced obvs.

          • will moon

            Do you remember the story about the computer worth a million in cryptocurrency buried in a council dump, I think in Wales somewhere?.

            Maybe the remarkable properties of sympathetic resonance,explain my perception of your condition. Beneath my turbidity there is too, an aching longing for world peace.

            I hope that you and your possessions are reunited

            I disagree about Air – without the lyrics/vocals they would be just a Kraftwerk/Tangerine Dream rehash with more advanced technology and less depth. Vocals/lyrics access the “Now” and don’t forget that we two are electronic performers.albeit using nuance, alliteration.and imagery etc.

            We need to use envelope filters
            To say how we feel
            Riding on magnetic waves
            We search new programs for your pleasure

            Lpag, we have come such a long way together, I can safely say, you are a a titan. I say this as one titan to another. As the saying goes , titans will clash – but not about world PEACE.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your reply Will. It’s currently around US$180 million worth of Bitcoin that’s lying on a hard drive somewhere in the Newport landfill site (a couple years ago, it was nearly $400 million). Its previous owner put a scheme to the council to try to find and recover it, with $10 million of hedge fund backing – and promised that he’ll give millions to charity and the local community if successful – but the council have turned him down on environmental grounds, which I think is a shame:

            https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/02/man-hopes-ai-and-robot-dogs-will-help-recover-150m-in-bitcoin-from-landfill

            Thanks for your good wishes vis-a-vis me and my possessions, but sadly, without hedge fund backing and council approval, I don’t think there’s much chance of a reunification with most of them. There is, however, case law like Cashmere v Walsh, Downing & Veale (Central London County Court, 2009).

            I’m definitely not a titan: think more along the lines of a slightly younger, very much thinner, less talented, far less financially successful, never married, agnostic, northern version of Julie Burchill, but that has a science PhD, and no desire to fellate Israelis, if at all possible (and not just because, even after all these years, I’m still fascinated by the mechanics of the prepuce).

            Bit racy for the Sabbath. Never mind, enjoy what’s left of the weekend.

          • will moon

            The crypto story is the archetypal human interest story at the end of the news (Mockingbird operatives take note). I spent the 80’s and early 90’s studying AI, using the primitive machinery of the time on a personal quest to the heart of the matter. By 95 I had solved the “AI Problem”. Minsky was yet to be outed as an Epstein client. I moved onto studying genetic inheritance, (ie the concept of a trait) in Mendelian fashion, information travelling through time – again a personal quest. This self-appointed task was complete by 2015, then I could look and see what I had wrought
            Whenever I see the term “AI” I think of this clip
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivJn40qMMwM (Demonseed. Proteus requests a dialogue).
            And so here we are now – a little bit after the middle. Titan-hood is not self-conferred, for a titan is a god who does not know their godhood. Who would choose to be a titan when they could be a god? Others perceive your godhood and mistakenly call you a titan.
            Your story of loss is one I know well. Several times I have lost all my possessions – I own nothing, dwell nowhere – an exile, a renegade, a traitor to myself. Now I live my life like a shadow, in the pouring rain. A walking corpse that won’t lay dead, diseased, dragged on from bed to bed. The story is old – I know but it goes on.
            The story of Odin hanging on the World Tree

            I know that I hung on that windy Tree
            nine whole days and nights,
            stabbed with a spear, offered to Odin,
            myself to my own self given,
            high on that Tree of which none have heard
            from what roots it rises to heaven.
            None refreshed me ever with nourishment,
            I peered right down in the deep;
            crying aloud I lifted the Runes,
            then back I fell from there.

  • frankywiggles

    You are doing as much as anyone to awaken Americans to the scale of this injustice. I think it important to inform as many as possible of the outrageous infractions by the US government which would have seen the extradition dismissed in any other case: the spying on the defence team; the paying of the lead prosecution witness – a self-confessed liar (and paedophile). Any judge adhering to the basics of the law would have thrown this case out at the first hurdle. That is something that needs to be stressed at every opportunity on every platform. They have no comeback to it.

  • AG

    thought this is interesting since Canada is seldomly talked about:

    How NATO/US tried to meddle in Canadian politics whenever they would not follow NATO orders.
    No one was killed, but that´s just because they eventually did follow orders. And Canada is regarded an ally and a democracy by its allies.

    “NATO does not, and never did, ‘defend’ democracy
    The alliance is not only a hazard to peace, it is a threat to democratic institutions”
    by Yves Engler
    https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/nato-does-not-and-never-did-defend-democracy

  • George

    Hedges pushed fake russia gate…3yrs as if true…
    Snowden warned about spying we all knew about
    Snowden says chem trails .. are fake and climate change real..

    nothing about the cv passports…or smart dust Julian’s last warning b4 arrest told everyone about