Julian Assange plea deal: Government vs the people.

In the plea deal, Assange admitted that he obtained information, related to national defense, that is injurious to the United States. This constituted a violation of the Espionage Act.

Federal prosecutors accepted the admission of guilt. The judge pronounced Assange guilty as charged, and sentenced him to 5 years already serve in a UK prison where he was held - without trial - at the behest of the US Government.

What is the crime? Was camera footage showing criminal acts of the US military killing non-combatants deemed injurious to the United States? What else? Wikileaks did not pick and choose what was either injurious to the United States or detrimental to its national defense. The whole bag of shit was indiscriminately unloaded into the public space for all the people to see.

The people are the government, and we were alarmed and disgusted by what the caretakers (i.e. politicians) of our government have been doing as revealed by whistle blowers to Wikileaks.

And here we are, sitting on our asses like donkeys giving our tacit approval to the plea deal instead of sacking the entire US Government.

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BizSuitStacy · M

When you expose gov't corruption at that level, they will label you as a traitor, a domestic terrorist, etc. - and unless you have some amazing leverage (I'm sure Assange has a kill switch) your a dead man walking. Odd plea agreement...the Wikileaks DNC files were deleted as part of the deal. Not that I doubt copies exist, but if the original is gone, it gives the left some denial plausibility.

sree251 · 41-45, M

@BizSuitStacy

First of all, government has no business operating behind closed doors. It ought to be set up like City Hall, the Post Office, Public Library, and other institutions to serve the people in an open fashion. There is no covert activity that serves the public good.

Classified information is meant for private enterprises for protecting proprietary business information. The government is a public institution conducting above board matters. Functioning in a covert manner spells dishonesty, foster factionalism, and promotes corruption. All these characterizes the nature of the our government. Is it any wonder that an honest cop or politician is a dead man walking?

BizSuitStacy · M

@sree251 I can understand discretion is important when it comes to national security, but you are correct. The gov't is supposed to work for us.

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sree251 · 41-45, M

@BizSuitStacy

I can understand discretion is important when it comes to national security, but you are correct.

National security is not in the interest of the people. Government's role is to make us safe by making the world a safe place, not by turning it into a hell hole. A third of our taxes go to national defense all because our government is inapt at getting along with other nations.