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The rejection by the UK court of the US Govt's request to extradite Julian Assange to stand trial on espionage charges is obviously great news. But the judge endorsed most of the USG's theories, but ultimately found the US prison system too inhumane to permit extradition.

 The US DOJ has already said it intends to appeal. The question -- and I'm hearing different things on this -- is whether the courts will keep Assange imprisoned while that appeal is pending. The court ordered him released, but it's unclear if the DOJ appeal will keep him in jail.
This wasn't a victory for press freedom. Quite the contrary: the judge made clear she believed there are grounds to prosecute Assange in connection with the 2010 publication.

It was, instead, an indictment of the insanely oppressive US prison system for security "threats."
Ultimately, though, from a humanitarian *and* a political perspective, what matters most is that Assange be freed as soon as possible. The US Govt doesn't care what prison he's in, or why: they just want him silenced and in a cage.

He should be freed immediately.
The full ruling is at the link. Savor the last, sweet paragraph.

https://t.co/edZcOywXUE
The next step is that Assange's lawyers will apply for bail -- while the US Govt appeals -- based on the judge's ruling. The judge will then decide if he remains in prison while the appeal is resolved.

Trump could still end this travesty with a pardon, or the DOJ to stop.
Just confirmed: Assange's lawyers will request he be released on bail pending US Govt's appeal. The judge will decide that today. Ordinarily, defendants in these cases remain in jail pending appeal, and this judge emphasized how "humane" his conditions are in the UK. We'll see.
To contrast UK prisons with the dystopian hellhole of the US, here's what the judge said about how relatively good Assange has it in Belmarsh. She may use this to keep him in.

Either way, Americans should reflect on how barbaric US "super-max" prison system is. It's repulsive.
This is one thing Americans should really reflect on. The British are as authoritarian as it gets in W. Europe, deeply subservient to the US. Yet this is the third time they're refused to extradite on the grounds that the US prison system is barbaric:

By the way, the two people most responsible for the Trump DOJ's efforts to try to extradite and prosecute Assange -- after even the press-freedom-hating Obama DOJ considered but then refused to do so -- are Jeff Sessions and Mike Pompeo. Both are vile:

https://t.co/QPRYKhP8dt
At the request of Assange's lawyers - who want to build their best case for why his current prison conditions are oppressive and why they can offer guarantees that he won't abscond - the judge set the bail hearing for Wednesday to determine if Assange will be free pending appeal.
The amazing thing is that when you mention Assange, the only people who pop up to demand he be imprisoned and prosecuted are US liberals.

They don't realize how isolated in the world they are: the only ones on the side of Pompeo, CIA & the DOJ. But that's 100% who they are.
Given the gravity of this case and the importance to press freedom, it is scandalous - yet revealing - how little attention US media paid to it, barely covering the proceedings.

Please follow & support the independent journalists who did: @richimedhurst, @kgosztola and others.
Statement of @FreedomofPress on Assange ruling:

"Today’s ruling is a huge sigh of relief for anyone who cares about press freedom...[It] means US Govt likely won’t be able to obtain any precedent that would criminalize common newsgathering practices."

https://t.co/nrlbr2AdN6
The @FreedomofPress statement also notes:

"Virtually all major press freedom and human rights groups have condemned the US government’s attempt to prosecute Assange as an existential threat to journalists’ rights."

It's Pompeo/CIA/neocons/US-liberals v. the world.

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Oh my Goodness!!!

I might have a panic attack due to excitement!!

Read this thread to the end...I just had an epiphany and my mind is blown. Actually, more than blown. More like OBLITERATED! This is the thing! This is the thing that will blow the entire thing out of the water!


Has this man been concealing his true identity?

Is this man a supposed 'dead' Seal Team Six soldier?

Witness protection to be kept safe until the right moment when all will be revealed?!

Who ELSE is alive that may have faked their death/gone into witness protection?


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Are these "golden tickets" going to lead to their ultimate undoing?

Review crumbs on the board re: 'gold'.


#SEALTeam6 Trump re-tweeted this.
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This article by Jim Spellar for @LabourList misses the point about why Labour needs to think seriously about constitutional reform - and have a programme for it ready for government.


The state of our constitution is a bit like the state of the neglected electric wiring in an old house. If you are moving into the house, sorting it out is a bit tedious. Couldn’t you spend the time and money on a new sound system?

But if you ignore the wiring, you’ll find that you can’t safely install the new sound system. And your house may well catch fire.

Any programme for social democratic government requires a state with capacity, and a state that has clear mechanisms of accountability, for all the big and all the small decisions that in takes, in which people have confidence.

That is not a description of the modern UK state.
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2017 https://t.co/kiqQoWR57e


https://t.co/W18nqFlLru


The GOP got rid of the SCOTUS filibuster so they could jam through three fringy right-wing Alito clones, including one right before the election, but sure thing, bud.

“Uh, actually, they got rid of the SCOTUS filibuster because Harry Reid did it first for something totally different! I am very smart!”

No. Knock it off.

Here’s the thing about the “But Harry Reid...” excuse:

1. McConnell was holding up Obama nominees, some *for literal years* without a vote.

2. Had he *not* done that, Trump would have inherited *even more* vacant seats.
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