Free Assange
Maybe he felt he didn't have to wear one because he is one, but whatever the reason, Julian Assange should not be arrested, prosecuted or harassed for having sex while naked - or having his condom break or refusing to wear one or whatever the absurd charge is. First, the man was sleeping with radical feminists at the time, so he's suffered enough.
But also, we can't support the grotesque misuse of the law, even to nail someone we dislike. The two women who swore out complaints after having a piece of Assange were both apparently perfectly willing, friendly and affectionate with the man at the time. And while Sweden can afford to have arcane sex laws because they have ceased to reproduce, I find it enormously distasteful to see a man essentially prosecuted on sex charges because he leaked government secrets. Think about that, really. They can do stuff like that to anyone. It ain't right, it won't stand and, in all seriousness, or in as much seriousness as I'm capable of, it's a flagrant abuse of power that conservatives should reject.
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Sep '10
Re: Free Assange
I agree. It is scary.
May '10
Re: Free Assange
Aye aye. We should ask Sweden to dismiss the charges as being ridiculous, and then ask him to speak voluntarily to our representatives about his sources.
Sep '10
Re: Free Assange
On Leno tonight I can hear the jokes now...
Apparently secrets arent the only thing Assange leaks.
We wanted to prosecute him for wikileaks but we got him on a charge of weenileaks. Close enough..
Edited on Dec 7, 2010 at 8:33amRe: Free Assange
When you step back, though, you must admit that this whole scenario is comic. Assange is in a bind because two women -- who foolishly allowed him to lead them down the garden path or, to put it more accurately, who pranced down that path with him in tow -- happened to meet and compare notes. Hell hath no fury . . . . As for Assange's difficulties with the law in Sweden, it reminds me of the manner in which Bill Clinton got tangled up in the sexual-harassment circus. In the brave new world in which we now live, the only species of justice that we can really rely on is poetic justice.
Edited on Dec 7, 2010 at 8:36amAug '10
Re: Free Assange
Andrew
It is a cheap shot and way too easy to joke about. Are there any directly-related incidents of harm to someone that we could draw a complicity charge from ? At least that would gain some support from the public. To charge him with these trumped-up sex charges is to set the public up to be sympathetic with this twit.
It likes George Soros himself concocted this, but then I think they share some lawyers anyway.
Let's see the bloody gloves and then pounce. Making Hillary look like a fool is child's play, present and past presidents are both guilty of that one.If the mirror sites can't be shut down, it doesn't make any difference what we do to him.
Jul '10
Re: Free Assange
In the near future, look for the following:
- A warrant issued for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's arrest under charges of defacing public toilet stalls in Amsterdam.
- Kim Jong Il being charged with non-payment of "no rewind" penalties to several Blockbuster outlets from 1992-1996.
- Osama bin Laden wanted for double parking a Citroen in Paris in 1967.
That'll get them quaking in their boots!
Oct '10
Re: Free Assange
Assange is being targeted in the same way Scooter Libby was by Spitzer - or Palin was when she was Governor. I could go on.
No matter whether the accused is from the right or the left, or really is a dirtbag, actions like these should be stopped.
Regarding Wikileaks: It's difficult to imagine what law he actually broke. It's hateful but probably legal. The only ones who really should be convicted are the leakers themselves.
Jun '10
Re: Free Assange
Assange is a difficult example, because I think he deserves every bit of bad luck he gets, but just as a general principle, whenever you're visiting a country not your own, it's time to start living like a saint, for your own safety. Because in their justice system, you'll be the designated criminal, whether you are one or not.
Sep '10
Re: Free Assange
Well, perhaps Assange can appeal to the UN and get the International Criminal Court to enforce some type of legal injunction that would involve a third world tyrant banging his shoe on a desk and telling Sweden to stop acting so Russian.
Jul '10
Re: Free Assange
I didn't know Dubbua sold condoms
May '10
Re: Free Assange
Assange would say this is all about the truth. And my mama always said the truth is where the rubber meets the road. And now we have brought the story full circle.
Nov '10
Re: Free Assange
History is full of despicable characters, but Julian Assange is unique. I cannot think of anyone who made such a complete and utter tool of himself in the eyes of the whole world. He may have his supporters, but does anyone really like the guy?
The silly sex crime charge is just the beginning. Assange is going to spend the rest of his life being hounded and harassed simply because he has painted himself as a consummate ass.
Edited on Dec 7, 2010 at 9:41amNov '10
Re: Free Assange
I consider Assange a spy. Now, a spy should be shot. He shouldn't be arrested, found guilty, then sentenced to death. He should just be shot. Maybe I watch too many 007 movies, but that's how I see it. Should anyone be shot just because we don't like him? Of course not. But if he is a spy and ultimately endangering our ability to operate in the world, as most conservatives agree, then he should be eliminated. Should someone be tried on trumped up charges just because we don't like him? No. But if he is a spy....he should be eliminated. Am I wrong here? We don't like the idea of applying our laws to KSM, but somehow they should apply to Assange?
Jul '10
Re: Free Assange
One of the two women is a professional radical feminist, who served as the local university's "sexual equity officer", in charge of enforcing the date-rape code. Now she accuses him of "sabotaging" the condom.
Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.
Jul '10
Re: Free Assange
Let the man go. And let everyone know where and when. No need for expensive trials and all that sort of rubbish.
Re: Free Assange
We should perhaps consider another possibility -- that the authorities in Sweden are practicing discretion and that there is a matter which the two ladies in Sweden, if ladies is the proper word, do not want spoken about in public -- to wit, that Assange transmitted to them both something rather unpleasant that he acquired in the course of, uh, prior transmissions of the same kind. Why else would the effectiveness and the absence of a condom loom so large in the public accounts?
Aug '10
Re: Free Assange
What most bothers me is how it's inevitable that the punditocracy on the left will stand up for Assange in this matter when there is no way they would stand up for any other man that might find himself stuck in a similar situation.
This story is the best illustration of the "hierarchy of outrage" on the left since so many came out to defend Roman Polanski.
I'm skeptical that the government of Sweden is using Assange as an example because of WikiLeaks.
Considering how common it is to hear stories about men being prosecuted on trumped-up "sex crime" charges, in virtually any Western country, I'm willing to believe this is a fairly common phenomenon in the Swedish courts. The only part that makes this example "special" is that the accused is so famous.
His accusers seem to be just as anti-American as he is, so it seems a stretch to blame the charges on international politics. Rather, the charges seem to be simply another result of decades of acrimonious gender politics.
Edited on Dec 7, 2010 at 11:21amAug '10
Re: Free Assange
I'm surprised to find my sympathies swinging toward Assange today, especially after reading his editorial in the Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332).
Nov '10
Re: Free Assange
I guess if you believe his assertion, that our government is lying to us about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then you might have some sympathy for him. But I don't believe that assertion, and I don't have any sympathy for him.
Aug '10
Re: Free Assange
Devil's Advocate Mode=On
I don't think it's any contradiction for someone to believe that Assange should be charged with espionage by the United States AND ALSO acquitted of "sex crime" charges in Sweden.
I really dislike it when prosecutors who cannot "get" a high-profile target for a particular crime use other lesser charges instead. It reminds me of Martha Stewart going to jail for lying about a crime for which she was never charged, or Conrad Black being exonerated on all charges except for obstruction.
If a person has committed a crime, then charge them with that crime. Don't just throw charges at them to see which ones stick.
IMHO, of course.
Edited on Dec 7, 2010 at 11:55am