The first question that comes to mind is how can Trump pardon someone not convicted of a crime?
Putting that aside I would want Trump to pardon Snowden and like another commenter posted, Leonard Peltier. Then there are all those in prison for pot related crimes……
Trump’s “job” in office was to upset the applecart and he has done a righteous job of that. Even before Covid there was no going back to “normal” for the US.
And still only outliers like me droning on about how those who own global private finance are the one moving the levers behind the curtain….so the elite continue to be safe from the masses of humanity they control. Why is there going to be a right/left crisis in the US when the reality meme is top/bottom?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 14 2020 17:36 utc | 3

But how can Trump pardon an australian that never did anything wrong and that Uncle Sam never had any right to convict for anything?

Posted by: Trond | Dec 14 2020 17:48 utc | 5

I imagine the pardoning means that extradition to the U.S. would not yield any state prosecution.
IOW, what are the Brits gonna do with him now?

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2020 17:54 utc | 7

Craig Murray predicted that Assange would very likely be released very soon in appeal after his very likely conviction, because the UK high court(if that is the name) is fairly independent. Given that prediction it becomes possible that the current judge Baraitser(and those behind her) and/or US government try to preempt that by releasing him themselves. This would not stop their war against him.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Dec 14 2020 18:04 utc | 9

do hope this is true.
it would be even more interesting to watch the MSM’s reaction to it
they’ll probably go ballistic about it ( i’m being ironic )
probably also give BoJo nightmares to find out that the US are giving his sovereignty back to him.

Posted by: chris m | Dec 14 2020 18:06 utc | 11

@psychohistorian #3
Your understanding of the Presidential Pardon is wrong.
Ford pardoned Nixon even though Nixon was not formally charged with anything (yet). So it isn’t even theoretical, what Trump may be planning with regarding a pardon for Assange.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:08 utc | 13

Ford pardoned Nixon and Nixon hadn’t been charged. So, yes he can pardon someone neither charged nor convicted.

Posted by: erik | Dec 14 2020 18:13 utc | 15

That would be long overdue, but good in the present situation. I hope it is true, but believe nothing until I see it confirmed.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 14 2020 18:16 utc | 17

@LM #13
Treason and what not are all federal crimes.
Assange hardly even touches the soil in the US – hard to see how he could be convicted of a local crime.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 14 2020 18:25 utc | 19

Would be nice to get Assange home. And pardon Snowden. And Manning. And Reality. After the Electoral College confirms Biden today, we can expect some dramatics from the Drama-Queen-In-Chief. But doing the right thing probably won’t be among them.

Posted by: gottlieb | Dec 14 2020 18:53 utc | 21

Of course he should drop the charges against Assange and pardon Snowden. But let’s not forget that Trump didn’t mind upping the ante against Assange (Obama did not charge him with the extra shit Trump brought forward, Obama saying it was against first amendment rights and chilling to journalism, etc), and that Trump is the one who put Manning back in jail on some seriously fucked up bullshit after her sentence was commuted by Obama. (Obama should have pardoned her, obviously.)
Trump is as much to blame for the messed up lives in these cases as any of his sick predecessors. No doubt he’ll pass around pardons and bask in some undeserved accolades because people tend to forget who did what when.

Posted by: teri | Dec 14 2020 19:36 utc | 23

I’ll believe it when I see it.
Biden silent! Too stupid to know whats happening, too captive to even squeek. The msm too owned to comment, too craven to care.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 14 2020 19:58 utc | 25

If you thought Julians’ or Snowdens’ lives were in danger before a presidential pardon, just consider what the THE DEEP STATE would do after a pardon?
Might be better to decline a pardon OR for Julian to get to the Russian Embassy ASAP.
As for Snowden, stay put no matter what happens!

Posted by: James Cook | Dec 14 2020 20:41 utc | 27

How anyone in their right mind can continue to believe, Trump is not the “deep state”, really need to have their head examined. Puh leeeze, people, wake up. Take it from a former New Yorker, Trump is deep state. Always has been always will be. To think otherwise is simply delusional. The deep state loves to fu*k with your heads.

Posted by: Peter Durant | Dec 14 2020 20:42 utc | 29

@Rob (30)
How does one “accidentally” send a tweet suggesting a very specific outcome on a very specific issue? Actually, how the hell does one accidentally send a tweet, period? Riddle me that my friend. It’s almost as inconceivable as “accidentally” sending an email.

Posted by: Dork | Dec 14 2020 22:21 utc | 31

Donald J. Trump was mentored by noone other than the infamous Roy Cohn.
Roy Cohn rose to power as senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings. Before that Cohn had already been a board member of the American Jewish League Against Communism.
After moving out of the political spotlight, Roy Cohn established a legal practice in New York, where he became the prime political fixer for the Mafia. He was quite influential, judging by these quote from wikipedia:

Cohn’s other clients included retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who has referenced Cohn as “the quintessential fixer”

(Yes, that Alan Dershowitz, of Epstein fame..)

Rupert Murdoch was a client, and Cohn repeatedly pressured President Ronald Reagan to further Murdoch’s interests. He is credited with introducing Trump and Murdoch, in the mid-1970s, marking the beginning of what was to be a long, pivotal association between the two.

(Donald Trump, toootally not part of the deep state, just like Murdoch.)
Another quote comes from “My Bizarre Dinner Party with Donald Trump, Roy Cohn and Estee Lauder”:

The two met in 1973 when Trump, then 27, and his father were being sued by the Justice Department for housing discrimination. Cohn counter-attacked, accusing the federal prosecutors of using “Gestapo-like tactics.” Later, Cohn secured for Trump massive tax abatement deals from the city for Trump Tower and even introduced Trump to Roger Stone, Richard Nixon’s dirty trickster who’s currently The Donald’s in and out chief braintruster. Cohn was legally indispensable but socially indispensable, too, introducing Trump to nightclub owners, media heavyweights and underworld figures. And, of course, there were the politicos, which included most of the city’s major elected officials and a handful of New York City judges who were said to be at Cohn’s beck and call 24/7. His win-at-any-cost style, brashness and love for the spotlight made an impact on the younger Trump.

Wikipedia’s biography of Roy Cohn is heavily sanitized and make no mention of his frequenting lurid nightclubs and running various sexual blackmail schemes. It is rumored that his involvement reached all the way to Brussels – seat of NATO and of course of Dutroux fame. Roy took his young apprentice Donald with him to the sex clubs and it is anyone’s guess to what extent Donald Trump participated in the blackmail operations. Additionally, Cohn’s association with Dershowitz makes one wonder how far back Trump’s friendship with Epstein goes.
So this Roy Cohn, “whose wit and seemingly unlimited capacity for evil came to fascinate me” (dixit Peter Manso of the bizarre dinner quote) is all over the most blatant mob circles and the swampiest parts of the government and the ugliest areas of the deep state (to an extent unpublished) and is the single most influential formative influence in Donald J. Trump’s public life as a socialite, yet Qanon keeps assuring us to see things differently. And so many desperate magatards keep swallowing it wholesale. At the same time, those evil liberal medias intent on the destruction of The Great Leader, never really delve into these festering roots that feed the core of the Trump phenomenon.
When Trump first announced his cadidacy, I smirkingly commented to people how Trump and Clinton shared a good friendship with Epstein. People were baffled “Epstein who?”
Next I told them that Trump must be fucking evil, because he was taught in the arts by Roy Cohn himself. People are still baffled “Roy Cohn who?”
Click here to see a funny picture of Roy Cohn visiting a party with his student Donald Trump – yes that is The Donald for you.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 14 2020 23:36 utc | 33

by: Snake 15 And your point is? by: Jams O,Donnell @ 18 In response, I am suggesting that the AG makes deals with criminals and witnesses all of the time, IANAL but I believe Trump might be able to accomplish liberation and exoneration for Assange in several ways.
1. deal with the AG
2. drop the extradition request and grant assylm
3. retroactively declassify the documents exposed by Assange..
4. and probably a few other ways..
I am not a lawyer but if Trump wanted Assange relieved of criminal and civil responsibility for Assange’s acts
Trump could probably find a binding way. I just don’t think Trump has the freedom to take such action.

Posted by: Snake | Dec 15 2020 0:09 utc | 35

Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack the thread.

Posted by: bemildred | Dec 15 2020 1:07 utc | 37

Mr. Lurk
Your post on the Education of Mr. Trump is consistent with the opinion I have formed of him during his presidency: an unprincipled man who looks to human affairs to be pure transactions: the currency being power, favors, or money.
He does not comprehend, per his education (which you have outlined), that there are men that cannot be bought, that their honor cannot be sullied, and that he is just another low-life to them.
Regardless of what Mr. Trump does in the cases of Mr. Assange or Mr. Snowden, he remains yet another evil thug that started yet another war against another Enemy of Israel, and in that manner, brought yet another dishonor to the United States.
It is a testament to how deep the rot is in US Body Politic that such acts of dishonesty & dishonor scarcely get discussed by her population.

Posted by: Fyi | Dec 15 2020 3:05 utc | 39

@LM #24
Did it escape your notice that the charges in question are all federal?
How exactly does a state charge Assange over a national/military/intel agency computer intrusion?

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 15 2020 3:35 utc | 41

Western MSM were rotten already during JFKs run: FK – The Speech That Killed Him – About Secret Societies : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u928MLkKcrM
The CCP being a secret society even before the CIA became one. (inter)National MSM being uncritical of autocrats was a key element, expected in China but unexpectedly also against freely elected leaders like Trump, Modi, Orban or Morawiecki.
Assange and Snowden has to go to great lengths to circumvent these private gatekeepers. China was not safe for them; Russia was.

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 15 2020 7:40 utc | 43

@40 Pete “On the other hand, his nationalist base just as surely views Assange and Snowden as traitors to America.”
A bit hard to call Assange a “traitor to America” as he lacks the most essential ingredient i.e. the dude is an Aussie.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Dec 15 2020 9:13 utc | 45

@ sarz | Dec 15 2020 9:02 utc | 46
Note that nowhere in my post did I mention Roy Cohn’s sexual orientation or ethnic roots, as I think it is mostly irrelevant and a huge distraction from what role he played. BTW multiple source state that Cohn himself blackmailed other gay men for their homosexuality.
What you totally ignore is how closely Roy Cohn links the mob, top echelons of the state, elements of the deep state and .. Donald Trump. Cohn wasn’t some innocuous guy who just happened to be caught in the middle of some scene he had nothing to do with. The “seemingly unlimited capacity for evil” illustrates his involvement plentifully.
Your attempted whitewash is pathetic and you can eat your humble shit yourself, I ain’t having none of it.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 15 2020 10:42 utc | 47

Well Putin has finally recognized Biden as President, that means its all over for Trump. Biden will start making more moves now.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 15 2020 12:29 utc | 49

“…Trump’s ethnocentric, America first (last and only) base of supporters…”
Though the poster forgot to include “misogynistic” and “homophobic”, this is precisely the faux left and the “professional/managerial class” mindset that I mentioned above that is steeped in masturbatory but empty delusions of moral superiority and that thus renders its analysis worthless. How could anyone possibly hope to even incrementally approach truth when building understanding from such a narcissistic and Manichean “Me good, they bad!” foundation?
What is even more fascinating about these morons who consider themselves sophisticated (sophomores?) is that they project their own egocentric and simple-mindedly dualistic way of looking at the world onto those “deplorables” whom they despise. Their certitude in their own superiority is probably why when vk dissects their middle class ideology and exposes its emptiness they get so outraged.

“But noooo!! We really are superior! We middle class white people have the humility to admit that working white people are terrible human beings! That’s proof of the depth of our introspection and self-knowledge and moral perfection!”

Ha, sophomores…

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 15 2020 14:04 utc | 51

William Gruff @Dec15 14:04 #54

“…Trump’s ethnocentric, America first (last and only) base of supporters…”
Though the poster forgot to include “misogynistic” and “homophobic”, this is precisely the faux left and the “professional/managerial class” mindset … that is steeped in masturbatory but empty delusions of moral superiority and that thus renders its analysis worthless. How could anyone possibly hope to even incrementally approach truth when building understanding from such a narcissistic and Manichean “Me good, they bad!” foundation?

Take the plank out of your eye. The “moral superiority” of the right has led us straight to hell: record wealth inequality; support for dictators and ethnic-cleansing; record military spending and return to Cold War; an inept response to the virus and environmental hazards (because the poor are most affected), etc.
Extreme-partisanship leads BOTH sides to take a manichean POV. Divide et impera.
And the right justifies its selfishness and bigotry with the pseudonym “culture war”. You shame the left for seeing through that?!
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 15 2020 15:07 utc | 53

For the bunny:
The faux left see nothing but straw men and their own personal demons that they externalize. I shame them because they should know better, and if they were to develop authenticity to justify their self-applied label of “left” then they would know better. Sadly, their own hypocrisy likely makes that impossible.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 15 2020 15:30 utc | 55

@JackRabbit #57
I agree that the Republicans/political right is no more morally upright than the limousine liberal Democrats/political left.
Nonetheless, you are wrong that there is no difference between them, at least in my view.
As I’ve stated before, the biggest problems I see besetting Americans are, in order:
1) Health care costs/spending
2) Jobs offshoring
3) Over-militarization
4) Monopoly rent extraction in many secondary areas like college education etc.
The Democrats are bought and sold completely on 1) and 4). They were complicit in 2) and 3) except for fossil fuels. The present day Democrat platform addresses none of these areas.
The Republicans, at least under Trump, actually have reined back small parts of 1); have made a major platform on 2). 3) is the same as the Democrats while 4) is mostly under the radar except for tech.
Morality has nothing to do with it – but advancing the most American people’s interests, is.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 15 2020 15:34 utc | 57

@ c1ue | Dec 15 2020 3:35 utc | 43
Did it escape your notice that the charges in question are all federal?
How exactly does a state charge Assange over a national/military/intel agency computer intrusion?
Your quarrel is with the DOJ, not with me. They are the ones making the charges. I merely told you what DOJ’s position was.

Posted by: LM | Dec 15 2020 16:11 utc | 59

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 15 2020 16:20 utc | 64
It would be bad strategy for Putin to take a side before we’ve made up our minds here ourselves. So yeah. All the whining is for domestic consumption.
I haven’t been to SST for ages, unless somebody posts a link. Lang doesn’t annoy me like he does some people, I’m just not interested. He’s very informative and interesting on certain subjects, and otherwise subject to the usual political brainwashing here. Some of his writers are good.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 15 2020 17:35 utc | 61

c1ue | Dec 15 2020 15:47 utc | 225

Sadly, your reading comprehension is poor no matter what you think it is.
I never once said marijuana was made illegal – what I said was that the previously open policies are being reined in.

You said that it had been legal. That I pointed out as incorrect. Then you revealed the violent nature of your willful ignorance. Yawn.
The facts are that cannabis has never been legal in the Netherlands, it has been deprioritized, that’s all. The Netherlands has always feared the wrath of bigger countries like Germany, France and the USA and for that reason, cannabis has always remained strictly illegal. In practice, cannabis has been condoned by means of deprioritizing enforcement of cannabis prohibition.
It is funny to witness how the Dutch political elite fear provocing the USA wrath over transgressing against international treaties banning cannabis, where several states in the USA don’t care about these treaties at all and have legalized cannabis without much ado.
BTW, 70% of the Dutch are in favor of legalizing cannabis, but that somehow doesn’t translate into a political majority. So much for “democracy works”.
The decline of the number of coffeeshops has halted and recently there has been a very slight increase.

Posted by: Lurk | Dec 15 2020 23:04 utc | 63

@vk #62
Jobs were improving until COVID, so your assertion is not grounded in fact.
So was income for the middle tiers of US society.
But the biggest error you (and Democrat/liberal talking heads) make is assuming that working on a problem means it is immediately fixed.
That’s not how the real world works. It took a long time to destroy the protections American workers fought for, and it will take a long time to bring them back even assuming the Democrats resume their role in that (a very unsafe assumption).

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 16 2020 16:20 utc | 65

@Lurk #67
The sad fact is that you have repeatedly supported what I said: which is that the Netherlands and Amsterdam are reversing decades old policy of marijuana tolerance.
So you can quibble all you want – the fact is my statement that they’re “pulling back” is 100% correct, and that clearly some significant number of people in the Netherlands and Amsterdam do not agree that marijuana is harmless.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 16 2020 16:23 utc | 67

Re: c1ue | Dec 16 2020 16:23 utc | 72
If you can’t honestly debate the cannabis issue, then probably your views on other things are of limited value. Lurk factually explained the Netherlands situation. Your last sentence shows you have no interest in learning but instead resort to argument twisting to claim you are right.
“Prohibition with expediency principle” is how the Netherlands cannabis policy is described. That country actually has similar prohibitionist laws (as dictated by international drug treaties.) as other countries. The difference is that the government also decreed that in the interests of general societal wellbeing, some laws relating to cannabis would not be enforced (within certain bounds) and thereby no penalty (which were written in those laws) would arise. That has been the case for over 45 years. Those certain bounds have been changed here and there over the years because of prohibitionistic forces and outcomes. Most of those forces are not Dutch. But Lurk’s referenced statistic of 70% of Dutch supporting legalising cannabis shows upto 30% are not so smart. That 30% is still a significant number…

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 16 2020 21:21 utc | 69

Psychohistorian. Good question. Assange hasn’t committed a crime but the US convened a Grand Jury (think ham sandwich) who have indicted Assange for dozens of crimes including treason. Trump could and hopefully will pardon him from prosecution from the Grand Jury fairy stories.
The only crime he committed in Briton was jumping bail for a crime he never indicted for. Jumping bail for a real crime is an offense that is usually punished by a fine not incarceration. Since he jumped bail in order to avoid political persecution, a charge that has since been proven, the bail thing is in doubt as well.
Did the Britons have the right to remove Assange from what is Ecuadorian soil and did the right wing dictator that was just elected (perhaps) have the right to cancel Assange’s asylum are two more questions demanding answers.
He is a political prisoner being kept on ice in a maximum security prison by a nation that has surrendered it’s autonomy to the US.
British law forbids extradition to nations that still practice the death penalty like the US. But that has not stopped them from participating in this charade or allowing a magistrate to preside or the extradition hearings who’s husband and probably her own good self were exposed by a WikiLeaks publication.
There is no doubt that Assange has undergone psychological torture which is illegal everywhere. There is no doubt that the last place he belongs is in prison.

Posted by: Carol Davidek-Waller | Dec 21 2020 2:23 utc | 71