Octopus Overlords

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.

But Wikileaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".

Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:21 am Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.

But Wikileaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".

Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:32 am Which is likely just the tip of the iceberg so that we can lay hands on him.

Defiant wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:23 am I've been looking forward to this day for years. Wikileaks didn't properly vet the information they published, nor did they censor any of the private information, so you had peoples social security numbers and other private data published, you had rape survivors have their medical records put up, you had gay people outed in Saudi Arabia and women doxxed in Turkey, putting all their lives at risk, etc.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:36 am
Plus the whole, you know, acting as a de facto agent of Russian intelligence.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:18 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:36 am
Plus the whole, you know, acting as a de facto agent of Russian intelligence.

I'm sure Assange is both shocked and awed to find out that without asylum the Brits are extraditing to America, as per his claims from the start. He's been in that embassy for 7 years, and was pursued long before that. At what point did you think he became a Russian agent? From the start? As I mentioned when Holman brought up Ellsberg, there were plenty of notable Americans who supported wikileaks at first. Hell, Snowden is sitting in Russia in no small part due to American government action, not because he was a Russian agent.

I'm not defending Assange in the least. I just want to remind people of timelines, actions (Defiant has identified issues he personally had with wikileaks from the start) that occurred and when they occurred. The idea that Assange is being arrested for his "russian agent" actions during the 2016 campaign is absurd, particularly because he was locked in an embassy with spotty internet access at the time.

The truth is the American government immediately started a smear campaign the moment he was on their radar, and whatever kind of scumbag Assange was or is, I can't abide that kind of power being used in that way. Smearing isn't justice. It's justifying. It's what you do to your enemies so no one cares when put your finger on the scale.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:18 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:36 am
Plus the whole, you know, acting as a de facto agent of Russian intelligence.

I'm sure Assange is both shocked and awed to find out that without asylum the Brits are extraditing to America, as per his claims from the start. He's been in that embassy for 7 years, and was pursued long before that. At what point did you think he became a Russian agent? From the start? As I mentioned when Holman brought up Ellsberg, there were plenty of notable Americans who supported wikileaks at first. Hell, Snowden is sitting in Russia in no small part due to American government action, not because he was a Russian agent.

I'm not defending Assange in the least. I just want to remind people of timelines, actions (Defiant has identified issues he personally had with wikileaks from the start) that occurred and when they occurred. The idea that Assange is being arrested for his "russian agent" actions during the 2016 campaign is absurd, particularly because he was locked in an embassy with spotty internet access at the time.

The truth is the American government immediately started a smear campaign the moment he was on their radar, and whatever kind of scumbag Assange was or is, I can't abide that kind of power being used in that way. Smearing isn't justice. It's justifying. It's what you do to your enemies so no one cares when put your finger on the scale.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:40 pm
What's interesting is that he apparently has a cache of documents ready to release should something nefarious happen to him (whether this counts is unknown, AFAIK).

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:31 am Look who's back!



Oh, Alabama, why?

Former Peruvian President Alan García shot himself in the head and died Wednesday moments after police arrived at his home to arrest him on corruption allegations in Latin America's largest graft probe.

President Martin Vizcarra announced the death on Twitter, saying that doctors in the capital city of Lima performed emergency surgery and tried three times to resuscitate Garcia.

It was a shocking end for a man who twice ruled Peru before becoming ensnared more recently in the corruption scandal involving the construction giant Odebrecht. The scandal has touched nearly every living former president.

When they arrived, police found García on the second floor of his home, a leafy mansion in the city's Miraflores district. He asked for a moment to call his lawyer, entered a bedroom and closed the door behind him, Interior Minister Carlos Morán said.

"Minutes later, the sound of gunfire was heard," Morán said. "Police forced their way into the room and found him."

Prosecutors suspect the former president received more than $100,000 from Odebrecht, disguised as a payment to speak at a conference in Brazil.

BBC wrote:The government has blamed a little-known local jihadist group, National Thowheed Jamath, although no-one has yet admitted carrying out the bombings.

A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:39 pm I guess we're not the only country with incompetent people doing jobs they have no business doing:

A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 3:18 pm Michigan just constitutionally passed running to what NJ is running away from. Your democratic leaders can say it's a will of the people thing all they want but when the empowered leaders are further empowered to draw "the will of the people" you literally end with empowered leaders choosing who their voters are.

Signed, a voter in one of the worst gerrrymandered states in the union which voted strongly to end that shit, a voter who is thankful so many crossed party lines to reject the lies of the empowered minority and their strong financial backing. It's gives hope.

On Thursday, a panel of three federal judges in Michigan became the latest court to strike down a legislative map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

The map, drawn by the state’s GOP legislature, was challenged by Democratic voters and the League of Women Voters of Michigan. The ruling comes as the Supreme Court weighs two other partisan gerrymandering cases, from North Carolina and Maryland, that it heard earlier this year but has not yet decided.
...
The panel found that the voters’ rights under the Constitution’s First and 14th Amendment had been violated because districts were “intentionally drawn to ensure a particular partisan outcome in each district.”
...
The case featured evidence — including emails between the GOP staffers in charge of drawing the maps – that was notable for how explicitly the partisan intent was spelled out. In one email, a staffer bragged that a map was “a glorious way that makes it easier to cram ALL of the Dem garbage in Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland, and Macomb counties into only four districts.”

Another staffer cheered that a map that the Michigan Republicans were drawing was “perfect” because “it’s giving the finger to [ S ]andy [L]evin,” referring to a Democratic U.S. House member in the state.

Lansing — Michigan’s Republican-led Senate appears to be putting the squeeze on Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and is not ruling out the possibility of pursuing impeachment if she refuses to enforce state laws to which she objects.

A 2020 budget unveiled this week by the Senate GOP proposes a 10% “administrative reduction” for Nessel’s office and other language attempting to limit her discretion in lawsuits.

It also proposes funding cuts for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office to pay for the creation of a new independent redistricting commission voters approved last fall.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:39 pm

In one email, a staffer bragged that a map was “a glorious way that makes it easier to cram ALL of the Dem garbage in Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland, and Macomb counties into only four districts.”

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:16 pm Impeachment is a partisan idea and will tear this country apart.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/ ... 575646002/

Lansing — Michigan’s Republican-led Senate appears to be putting the squeeze on Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and is not ruling out the possibility of pursuing impeachment if she refuses to enforce state laws to which she objects.

A 2020 budget unveiled this week by the Senate GOP proposes a 10% “administrative reduction” for Nessel’s office and other language attempting to limit her discretion in lawsuits.

It also proposes funding cuts for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office to pay for the creation of a new independent redistricting commission voters approved last fall.

It's hard to both believe that the AG shouldn't act as if they are Judicial and choose what laws are legitimate and what laws aren't concurrent with my belief that the Michigan GOP and their political power grabbing machine is not a legitimate law making body who quite frankly need to have their entire fiscal existence, ties to various businesses put under the scope.