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Trump charges Assange, escalates war on free speech

Earlier this month the Department of Justice charged Daniel Everette Hale with the crime of exposing the atrocities committed by Barak Obama and his murderous crew. Hale allegedly leaked Secret and Top Secret documents regarding Obama's use of drones to assassinate people to Jeremy Scahill, a reporter for The Intercept. 

 "From his first days as commander in chief, the drone has been President Barack Obama’s weapon of choice, used by the military and the CIA to hunt down and kill the people his administration has deemed — through secretive processes, without indictment or trial — worthy of execution. There has been intense focus on the technology of remote killing, but that often serves as a surrogate for what should be a broader examination of the state’s power over life and death," wrote Scahill. 

 You can read Scahill's 2014 reporting on Obama's  assassination program here https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/

 The premise of Scahill and his source was that this is the United States of America. We have a right to know what is being done in our name and with our tax dollars.

 That, of course was the premise of Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, Chelsea Manning, Daniel Ellsberg, and the other brave and idealistic young people who believed Americans had a right to know about the dark secrets in America's closet.
Julian Assange - thanks to Wikipedia
In addition to their courage these young people had something else in common. They were all news sources. They provided information to reporters for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Intercept and other news outlets. They didn't write or publish the story. By charging them with crimes against the state the government drew the line. They went after the sources but they didn't go after the publications or the reporters. In the rare instance that they did go after the publisher, they lost.

 With charging Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, with violations of that draconian Espionage Act, the Trump escalates its war on free speech and the media. Trump is now going after the publishers.

 If you've listened to National Public Radio dither about whether Wikileaks is a news source or not you may be confused. Let's be clear: Wikileaks is a news publisher the same as, for example, Buzz Feed News or BBC. I've used Wikileaks for news -- the same as I've used Vox or the Intercept for news. With Wikileaks charged other news sources, whether they be the Boston Globe or The Long Prairie Leader are at risk.

 I encourage you to listen to Jeremy Scahill make that very clear in this video https://theintercept.com/2019/05/21/why-you-should-care-about-donald-trumps-war-on-whistleblowers/

Nothing less then the Constitution is at stake.

Tim
Central Minnesota Political


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