Kinda interesting why he got booted, though: Changing political landscapes back in Equador.
Not quite. Increasing payments to a very limited number of Ecuadorian politicians. Washington is very free with its dollars, while they still have any value. Soon enough they will be waste paper, so it's understandable they want to squeeze the juice while the racket still works.
Who are now in bed with Chinese firms to roll out facial reconition to track all citizens in public "for safety".
Ironic, as the UK has the highest density of public surveillance cameras in the world.
That's not how the CPS works. They have to decide if the prosecution is in the public interest, which means it must lead to some outcome that if beneficial for the public. Given that the maximum sentence would be 12 months, serving 6 with good behaviour, and given that his legal team would argue he has been effectively incarcerated for 7 years it's unlikely that he would actually go to jail, so there isn't much point.
It would just be a waste of time and money. If they do proceed it will be with additional charges, but since the EU arrest warrant has expired they would have to find something else.
Unfortunately, regardless of their official duties, the CPS - like everyone else in government - do what they are told. Just as the so-called "intelligence services" eventually told Tony Blair what he ordered them to tell him: that Iraq had WMD.
Those who hold the real power are very largely driven by instincts and emotions that would shame an alpha chimpanzee. Hatred of anyone who crosses them, and insensate lust for the most vicious revenge, are prominent in that package.
As well as a pardon (preferably before any long-drawn-out legal proceedings during which he would be detained inmurderous conditions, and probably tortured) Mr Trump should decorate Assange with the highest medal it is in his power to give.
"Scientists Have Found 600 New Cancer Vulnerabilities, Each Could Be the Target of a Drug"
1. 600 new drugs! 2.... 3.... 4. PROFIT!!!
Or, maybe we could avoid getting cancer in the first place.
Consider: among all the "primitive" indigenous peoples studied by scientists, doctors and other experts in the past three centuries, none of them ever got cancer. None. Period. It was a disease completely unknown to them. Whatever causes cancer, it is something (or several things) that we "civilized" people have been doing to ourselves. A sophisticated form of suicide, which of course does make a lot of money for some along the way.
My guess would be diet (refined carbohydrates, vegetable oils), lack of sleep and exercise, and/or pollution. (By "exercise" I don't mean climbing a flight of stairs, cleaning the house, or golf. Ten and 20 mile walks, 10-mile runs, weight-lifting, hour-long Nautilus sessions, etc. are more like it).
'Nobel prize winning physician and theologian Albert Schweitzer worked at the missionary hospital he founded for more than 40 years before he saw his first case of appendicitis among the African natives. Cancer was completely unknown when he first reached the interior lowlands of West Africa in 1913.
'“On my arrival in Gabon, I was astonished to encounter no cases of cancer,” Schweitzer noted. “I can not, of course, say positively that there was no cancer at all, but, like other frontier doctors, I can only say that if any cases existed they must have been quite rare.”'
It will save us the trouble of shooting them when the rapture comes.
You won't be put to the trouble. They will already be in the bottom oven, set to "High" with the timer on "Eternity". (Oh wait - actually the timer won't even be needed).
When you consider that entire industries have grown up to sell products like tobacco, sugar and trans fats, it's obvious that sanctions such as fines or lawsuits have little - if any - influence. Recently Boeing has highlighted that with its grossly negligent handling of the 737 MAX upgrade.
Fines, when occasionally imposed, amount to no more than pocket change. A corporation increases its profits by, say, $2 billion and, when finally found guilty after years of legal proceedings, is fined $1 million or so. The most surprising thing about this sequence of events is that the verdict so rarely elicits hearty laughter in court.
Lawsuits are even more uncertain, as they require social cooperation and the raising of large amounts of money. Even then, as the tobacco vendors and Monsanto/Bayer have demonstrated for years, the issue will be uncertain.
Senior corporate executives are not in the least concerned with morality or the law, unless they believe there is a serious likelihood of them personally being sent to prison. Game theory almost always dictates going ahead to make profits, and worrying about any possible consequences later (if at all).
Lastly, corporations do not normally look much more than one or two quarters ahead. They can't afford to, because the top executives are measured on quarterly results. By the time the vultures come home to roost, they plan to be long gone to even better-paid jobs elsewhere, or - who knows - in government. Maybe regulating industry?
"The long-vanished species 'Homo Sapiens' presents us with a uniquely challenging paradox. Here was a mammal that, individually, displayed some intelligence, creativity and compassion. Yet when combined in masses of millions or billions, they turned out to be the stupidest and most self-destructive species we know of. The root problem may have been that, having evolved to live in small bands of a few dozen at most, they simply never managed to devise stable and sustainable systems of social order or government".
Most people don't care about their online privacy unless it's nudie pics. Seems strange to most of us here.
Reminds me of the old joke about how a liberal is just someone who hasn't been mugged (yet). Personal experience colours everything we think and feel. Trouble is, life is too short and the world too big and varied for most of us ever to get a balanced view of it.
"Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other". - Benjamin Franklin
It's very much the same pattern with many things:
- We don't bother to take backups until, one fine day...
- We don't think insurance is worth the cost until...
- Security is obviously an unnecessary overhead, or maybe even a scam - until...
- Sure, smoking has a bad rep, but it surely won't harm ME...
- I know that the Tenderloin is a dangerous area, but I'll be perfectly OK...
Although it's sufficient to know that, long before his death, Ancel Keys, who was responsible for the whole "cholesterol" scare, had placed on record his considered opinion that:
1. Dietary cholesterol has no effect on blood cholesterol.
2. Blood cholesterol has no effect on mortality or cardio-vascular disease.
Chickens (and other poultry) raised out of doors and allowed to choose their own favourite foods are obviously healthier, happier - and provide far tastier, more healthy meat.
The hideous fallacy of treating farming as an industry has caused an immense amount of unspeakable suffering for animals, while turning out unpleasant, tasteless meat that lacks vital nutrients - and may contain serious health hazards such as dangerous bacteria, viruses and antibiotics.
More is not always better. Cheaper is rarely better. Making very rich people even richer is not the purpose of farming.
"Here's the short list of U.S.-backed coups over just the past seven-plus decades . . .
Syria 1949.
Guatemala 1954.
Tibet 1955-1970s.
Indonesia 1958.Cuba 1959.
Iraq 1960-1963.
Democratic Republic of the Congo 1960-1965.
Dominican Republic 1962.
Iran 1963.
Guatemala 1963.
South Vietnam 1963.
Brazil 1964.
Ghana 1966.
Chile 1970-1973.
Argentina 1976.
Afghanistan 1979-1989.
Turkey 1980.
Poland 1980-1989.
Ecuador 1981.
Panama 1981.
Nicaragua 1981-1990.
Grenada 1983.
Haiti 1991.
Iraq 1992-1996.
Venezuela 2002.
Haiti 2004.
Iran 2005-present.
Honduras 2009.
Libya 2011.
Syria 2012-present.
Ukraine 2014.
"Moreover, it's no secret that we're at it again right now with Venezuela, and a poorly-kept secret that Russia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, probably another shot at Cuba, and recently added Kyrgyzstan, are also in the queue".
"It can't be a sustainable end state for there to be an entirely unfettered space that's utterly beyond law enforcement for criminals to hide..."
Funny how often officials and policemen unintentionally reveal their inner thoughts when speaking in public.
Can't have... "unfettered"...
Fetters, of course, are chains. Apparently this Gestapo officer believes that all citizens belong in chains - at all times. Even their thoughts, ideas and words must be in chains.
Slashdot Mirror
That gets my vote.
Kinda interesting why he got booted, though: Changing political landscapes back in Equador.
Not quite. Increasing payments to a very limited number of Ecuadorian politicians. Washington is very free with its dollars, while they still have any value. Soon enough they will be waste paper, so it's understandable they want to squeeze the juice while the racket still works.
Who are now in bed with Chinese firms to roll out facial reconition to track all citizens in public "for safety".
Ironic, as the UK has the highest density of public surveillance cameras in the world.
Narcissist's aren't that courageous, nor do they have values.
There is not the slightest evidence that Assange is a narcissist.
And if there were, it would not have the slightest bearing on his public behaviour.
Your remark is the lowest kind of ad hominem attack.
With the US's history of torture of POWs and journalists, I hope he can make a successful appeal to the UN human rights commission.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You said "UN" and suggested that it might have some influence on the US government.
Hell, it doesn't even have any influence with the UK government.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2...
https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsE...
That's not how the CPS works. They have to decide if the prosecution is in the public interest, which means it must lead to some outcome that if beneficial for the public. Given that the maximum sentence would be 12 months, serving 6 with good behaviour, and given that his legal team would argue he has been effectively incarcerated for 7 years it's unlikely that he would actually go to jail, so there isn't much point.
It would just be a waste of time and money. If they do proceed it will be with additional charges, but since the EU arrest warrant has expired they would have to find something else.
Unfortunately, regardless of their official duties, the CPS - like everyone else in government - do what they are told. Just as the so-called "intelligence services" eventually told Tony Blair what he ordered them to tell him: that Iraq had WMD.
Those who hold the real power are very largely driven by instincts and emotions that would shame an alpha chimpanzee. Hatred of anyone who crosses them, and insensate lust for the most vicious revenge, are prominent in that package.
It's revealing that, while slavishly echoing the line of the powers that be, you still don't dare admit your identity.
Bullies, as they say, are usually cowards.
Then in a month or two he will be killed in a regrettable car accident, or suffer a heart attack...
As well as a pardon (preferably before any long-drawn-out legal proceedings during which he would be detained inmurderous conditions, and probably tortured) Mr Trump should decorate Assange with the highest medal it is in his power to give.
Something like the British George Cross.
"Scientists Have Found 600 New Cancer Vulnerabilities, Each Could Be the Target of a Drug"
1. 600 new drugs!
2....
3....
4. PROFIT!!!
Or, maybe we could avoid getting cancer in the first place.
Consider: among all the "primitive" indigenous peoples studied by scientists, doctors and other experts in the past three centuries, none of them ever got cancer. None. Period. It was a disease completely unknown to them. Whatever causes cancer, it is something (or several things) that we "civilized" people have been doing to ourselves. A sophisticated form of suicide, which of course does make a lot of money for some along the way.
My guess would be diet (refined carbohydrates, vegetable oils), lack of sleep and exercise, and/or pollution. (By "exercise" I don't mean climbing a flight of stairs, cleaning the house, or golf. Ten and 20 mile walks, 10-mile runs, weight-lifting, hour-long Nautilus sessions, etc. are more like it).
'Nobel prize winning physician and theologian Albert Schweitzer worked at the missionary hospital he founded for more than 40 years before he saw his first case of appendicitis among the African natives. Cancer was completely unknown when he first reached the interior lowlands of West Africa in 1913.
'“On my arrival in Gabon, I was astonished to encounter no cases of cancer,” Schweitzer noted. “I can not, of course, say positively that there was no cancer at all, but, like other frontier doctors, I can only say that if any cases existed they must have been quite rare.”'
https://blog.godreports.com/20...
Third, and please try to keep up here, we don't allow psychopathic individuals or organizations to make or enforce policies.
Surely you are joking? As far as I can see, the system prevents everyone *except* psychopathic individuals and organizations from making policies.
Just think of any corporate CxOs you know about, or any senior political leaders.
Damn this whole comment section is filled with pro US anti China propaganda. Da fuck is going on?
Your tax dollars at work.
'"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know".
'Ernest Hemingway'
Presumably because intelligent people are the rarest thing one knows.
It will save us the trouble of shooting them when the rapture comes.
You won't be put to the trouble. They will already be in the bottom oven, set to "High" with the timer on "Eternity". (Oh wait - actually the timer won't even be needed).
The vast majority of us don't live in a world where we question & second guess every bite of bread, or breath of air.
Which is perhaps why so many Americans are chronically sick.
When you consider that entire industries have grown up to sell products like tobacco, sugar and trans fats, it's obvious that sanctions such as fines or lawsuits have little - if any - influence. Recently Boeing has highlighted that with its grossly negligent handling of the 737 MAX upgrade.
Fines, when occasionally imposed, amount to no more than pocket change. A corporation increases its profits by, say, $2 billion and, when finally found guilty after years of legal proceedings, is fined $1 million or so. The most surprising thing about this sequence of events is that the verdict so rarely elicits hearty laughter in court.
Lawsuits are even more uncertain, as they require social cooperation and the raising of large amounts of money. Even then, as the tobacco vendors and Monsanto/Bayer have demonstrated for years, the issue will be uncertain.
Senior corporate executives are not in the least concerned with morality or the law, unless they believe there is a serious likelihood of them personally being sent to prison. Game theory almost always dictates going ahead to make profits, and worrying about any possible consequences later (if at all).
Lastly, corporations do not normally look much more than one or two quarters ahead. They can't afford to, because the top executives are measured on quarterly results. By the time the vultures come home to roost, they plan to be long gone to even better-paid jobs elsewhere, or - who knows - in government. Maybe regulating industry?
No more American food, drink or - as far as possible - products of any sort for me. Luckily I live across the pond.
"The long-vanished species 'Homo Sapiens' presents us with a uniquely challenging paradox. Here was a mammal that, individually, displayed some intelligence, creativity and compassion. Yet when combined in masses of millions or billions, they turned out to be the stupidest and most self-destructive species we know of. The root problem may have been that, having evolved to live in small bands of a few dozen at most, they simply never managed to devise stable and sustainable systems of social order or government".
Most people don't care about their online privacy unless it's nudie pics. Seems strange to most of us here.
Reminds me of the old joke about how a liberal is just someone who hasn't been mugged (yet). Personal experience colours everything we think and feel. Trouble is, life is too short and the world too big and varied for most of us ever to get a balanced view of it.
"Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other".
- Benjamin Franklin
It's very much the same pattern with many things:
- We don't bother to take backups until, one fine day...
- We don't think insurance is worth the cost until...
- Security is obviously an unnecessary overhead, or maybe even a scam - until...
- Sure, smoking has a bad rep, but it surely won't harm ME...
- I know that the Tenderloin is a dangerous area, but I'll be perfectly OK...
... just read "The Great Cholesterol Con" by Dr Malcolm Kendrick. https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/...
Although it's sufficient to know that, long before his death, Ancel Keys, who was responsible for the whole "cholesterol" scare, had placed on record his considered opinion that:
1. Dietary cholesterol has no effect on blood cholesterol.
2. Blood cholesterol has no effect on mortality or cardio-vascular disease.
Chickens (and other poultry) raised out of doors and allowed to choose their own favourite foods are obviously healthier, happier - and provide far tastier, more healthy meat.
The hideous fallacy of treating farming as an industry has caused an immense amount of unspeakable suffering for animals, while turning out unpleasant, tasteless meat that lacks vital nutrients - and may contain serious health hazards such as dangerous bacteria, viruses and antibiotics.
More is not always better. Cheaper is rarely better. Making very rich people even richer is not the purpose of farming.
Socialism: the type of social organization instinctively followed by all "primitive" peoples.
And specifically advocated by Jesus Christ.
Yea, the DNC appears to be attempting to destabilize the West just like Russia wants. Maybe they should stop taking orders from Putin?
Actually, the evidence I have seen suggests they are taking orders from Poroshenko.
"DNC denies working with Ukrainian government, but contractor floated anti-Trump material"
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/0...
"Robert Mueller’s ’13 Russian trolls indictment’ is a COPY + PASTE job from 2015 Ukrainian Radio Free Europe post"
http://theduran.com/busted-rob...
Oh, and for good measure:
"Exclusive! Yanks To The Rescue. The Secret Story Of How American Advisers Helped Yeltsin Win"
https://img.timeinc.net/time/m...
'Victoria Nuland Admits: US Has Invested $5 Billion In The Development of Ukrainian "Democratic Institutions"'
http://www.informationclearing...
And:
"When Will the US Stop Organizing Foreign Coups?"
https://russia-insider.com/en/...
"Here's the short list of U.S.-backed coups over just the past seven-plus decades . . .
Syria 1949.
Guatemala 1954.
Tibet 1955-1970s.
Indonesia 1958.Cuba 1959.
Iraq 1960-1963.
Democratic Republic of the Congo 1960-1965.
Dominican Republic 1962.
Iran 1963.
Guatemala 1963.
South Vietnam 1963.
Brazil 1964.
Ghana 1966.
Chile 1970-1973.
Argentina 1976.
Afghanistan 1979-1989.
Turkey 1980.
Poland 1980-1989.
Ecuador 1981.
Panama 1981.
Nicaragua 1981-1990.
Grenada 1983.
Haiti 1991.
Iraq 1992-1996.
Venezuela 2002.
Haiti 2004.
Iran 2005-present.
Honduras 2009.
Libya 2011.
Syria 2012-present.
Ukraine 2014.
"Moreover, it's no secret that we're at it again right now with Venezuela, and a poorly-kept secret that Russia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, probably another shot at Cuba, and recently added Kyrgyzstan, are also in the queue".
It's far more than meddling in the US election. Russia is trying to destabilize the west.
"Trying to destabilize the West" would be like trying to make the ocean wet.
It's 148 years since Mark Twain wrote this highly relevant satire:
"Running for Governor"
http://twainquotes.com/Galaxy/...
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
"It can't be a sustainable end state for there to be an entirely unfettered space that's utterly beyond law enforcement for criminals to hide..."
Funny how often officials and policemen unintentionally reveal their inner thoughts when speaking in public.
Can't have... "unfettered"...
Fetters, of course, are chains. Apparently this Gestapo officer believes that all citizens belong in chains - at all times. Even their thoughts, ideas and words must be in chains.