Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2024 04:25:36 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Subject: Re: Obama ends pursuit of Julian Assange Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv References: Content-Language: en-US From: trotsky In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 46 Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!tncsrv06.tnetconsulting.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder.usenetexpress.com!tr2.iad1.usenetexpress.com!news.newsdemon.com!not-for-mail Nntp-Posting-Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2024 09:25:36 +0000 X-Received-Bytes: 2793 X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsdemon.com Organization: NewsDemon - www.newsdemon.com Message-Id: <17dc83acfa14ee27$167538$916931$50d51a61@news.newsdemon.com> Bytes: 3202 On 6/25/24 2:15 PM, BTR1701 wrote: > In article , > "Adam H. Kerman" wrote: > >> Just heard on the news that the United States government has entered >> into a plea deal with Julian Assange. Assange is allowed to plead guilty >> to one count of violating the Espionage Act, that vile law written on >> behalf of the Wilson administration by Congress to silence critics of >> WW1 and America's involvement in that horrid European war, that has been >> used by subsequent administrations in all sorts of creative ways to >> silence critics of America's war policies and just generally to >> intimidate people into silence. > > I still don't understand how Assange was subject to the Espionage Act at > all. He was foreign national and was not within U.S. borders when he did > all the stuff the government claimed of him. > > Citizens of other nations do not owe allegiance to the United States > and, indeed, all other countries, including our closest allies, spy on > us as we do to them. > > The U.S. Congress has no legal authority or justification to bind all > six billion people on earth to obey U.S. law. So if you steal something American and you're a foreign national you shouldn't expect to be prosecuted for it? Are you sure that's how that works? Is there a real lawyer you can ask for help? >> Yes, by publishing everything Manning leaked, Assange had put lives in >> danger, but no one believes Obama cared about that. It was strictly >> about embarassment. > > And when the NY Times published the Pentagon Papers, they put lives in > danger, too, but it was constitutionally protected speech. Like the > Times, Assange didn't steal the TS info. Manning did. And like the > Times, he should have been constitutionally protected when he published > it. > > The argument was that the Pentagon Papers decision didn't apply because > he's a foreign national and not entitled to constitutional protections > when not on U.S. soil. But that same argument applies to the Espionage > Act, too. The government is basically saying "U.S. law only applies to > you (foreign nationals) when it suits us".