US cuts deal to save face: Assange FREE

Julian Assange is free: WikiLeaks founder's brother Gabriel Shipton on the end of decadelong legal saga

(June 25, 2024) GUEST: Gabriel Shipton, filmmaker (ithaka.movie) and Julian Assange’s half-brother.

Gay Pres. Obama vs. Chelsea Manning

UPDATE: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from Belmarsh Prison in London, where he had been incarcerated for the past five years, after accepting a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors.

After a decade-plus of legal challenges, Assange will plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material for publishing classified documents detailing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan [serving as a negative model for many other countries to do so] on WikiLeaks [in massive data releases and websites the U.S. was desperate to have Americans avoid and not dare go near for fear of surveillance and prosecution, coercing service providers into pulling their platforms from WikiLeaks].

(Global News) Married Julian Assange not dating Pam Anderson

Why did US prosecute him? To silence him with torture or ruin.

How can the System thank Obama for his service?

The Australian publisher is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home, where he reportedly will seek a pardon. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton describes learning of his release as “an amazing moment.” He speaks to Democracy Now! about Assange’s case and what led up to the latest developments, as well as what he expects will happen next.

• VIDEO: Democracy Now! full show (6/25/24)
• Journalist Antony Loewenstein on Assange’s release, WikiLeaks, and Israeli war crimes of using drones killing Gaza journalist-reporters
• Press freedom advocates celebrate Julian Assange’s release but warn of impact of plea deal
• Will Israel expand its genocidal war into Lebanon? Rami Khouri on Netanyahu’s latest threats
• It makes sense, a country of perpetual war like the nascent USA: “The logic of escalation”: from Red Sea to Iran and beyond, Will Israel’s Gaza assault spark wider war?

(Reuters) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is due to plead guilty on Wednesday to violating U.S. espionage law, in a deal that will end his imprisonment in Britain and allow him to return home to Australia, ending a 14-year legal odyssey.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was at a location given as London, Britain, in a video released June 25, 2024. He is presumably in a British jail at the moment.

Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

The deal marks the end of a legal saga in which Assange spent years in a British high-security jail and in the Ecuadorean embassy in London and fought allegations of sex crimes in Sweden, while battling extradition to the U.S., where he faced [trumped up] criminal charges.

Portrayed as a villain by the U.S. government for potentially putting classified government sources at risk [by exposing them for their crimes by showing their own records to the world], he has been hailed as a hero by free press advocates for exposing wrongdoing and alleged war crimes.

• Opinion: Sorry, but Freeing Julian Assange Still Comes With a Price

On Wednesday, he is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, at 9:00 am local time (2300 GMT Tuesday).

The U.S. territory in the Pacific was chosen due to Assange's opposition to travelling to the mainland U.S. and for its proximity to Australia, prosecutors said. WikiLeaks' Julian Assange set to be freed after pleading guilty to US espionage charge

• Sky News Australia; Alasdair Pal and Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters, Reuters via MSN.com, 6/24/24; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Massive 7.5 quake strikes Taiwan (LIVE)

Taiwan's massive pyramid and Buddha, Kaohsiung Fo Guang Shan Memorial Centre (wiki)

Earthquake rocks Taiwan; sets off Tsunami warnings for nearby Japanese islands

(FOX 11 Los Angeles) April 2, 2024: A 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocks Taiwan and is setting off tsunami warnings across parts of East Asia. Subscribe to FOX 11 on YouTube: youtube.com/channel... UPDATE: There has already been an aftershock measuring 6.5. Japan is on alert for tsunami, but the US West Coast has not yet been put on alert.

• A strong earthquake shakes Taiwan, damaging buildings and causing a tsunami
• List of tallest Buddha and other statues
• Buddhism in Taiwan (China)

Tsunami warning issued after Taiwan shaker

Modern world cannot run without computer chips

(Bloomberg Television) April 2, 2024: A tsunami warning has been issued after an earthquake shook buildings in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan [a quasi-independent Buddhist island off the coast of China claimed by China and protected by the USA because it is the world's computer microchip manufacturing center upon which the world's technology runs along the southern end of the chain of islands that is the country of Japan], at about 7:58 am local Taiwan time Wednesday morning [4:58 pm Tuesday California time]. The temblor measured 7.4 (some reports say 7.5, which would make it ten times stronger) in magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey. Paul Allen reports. For more on this story, see: bloomberg.com/news/article...

LIVE coverage via Reuters and AP

LIVE: View from Japan's Miyakojima after Taiwan earthquake, tsunami alerts

(Associated Press) Started streaming 6:27 pm (Los Angles time) Watch live view from Miyako Island in Japan after a strong quake hit Taiwan earlier Wednesday, prompting tsunami alerts. Read more details here: bit.ly/4cE2Rs3 #earthquake #japan #live

• Fox 11 News, Los Angeles, April 2, 2024; Bloomberg Television; AP.org (Associated Press); CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Genocidal Jewish US Sec'y of State Kissinger

Losing the great Carl Reiner (comedy)

Reuters, 6/30/20; CNN; BofH; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Reuters) Remembering comedy icon Carl Reiner, dead at 98, June 30, 2020: Carl Reiner, a driving force in American comedy as a writer for television pioneer Sid Caesar, partner of Mel Brooks, and the creator and co-star of the classic sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show” with beloved American actor Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins) has died peacefully at age 98.

The very best of Mel Brooks (w/Gene Wilder, Anne Bancroft, and Carl Reiner)

(Best of Humans) Know a man by his close friends. This is a short documentary dedicated to Mel Brooks that shows the greatness of CARL REINER, one of our heroes on and off the stage.

Bernie wins overall, establishment for Biden

Reuters.com, Super Tuesday results; Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Early results show Bernie Sanders in the delegate-count lead. Warren out of contention.

Warren has to come to grips: The party bosses may like her but not the people. Tulsi smiles.

.

March 3, 2020 was Super Tuesday in 14 states with 1,357 delegates to apportion. These primaries play a big role in determining which Democrat will challenge Don Trump for the 2020 presidency. For once, California will make a big difference early on. The Golden State went for Bernie Sanders over establishment candidate and moronic buffoon Biden, who continues to stammer and exhibit signs of dementia.

Sanders wins California, Biden sweeps the South

A resurgent Joe Biden completed a sweep of the South and pulled off a major upset in Massachusetts, beating both Elizabeth Warren in her home state and Bernie Sanders in his neighborhood. But Sanders won California, the biggest delegate prize of the evening.

• Late-deciding voters largely supporting Biden
• Key Congressional primaries also on the line
• Track the delegates in 2020 race

DNC fails again: Long lines at Fairfax High.

LOS ANGELES, California - At Fairfax High School near West Hollywood, people at the front of a line have been waiting for 90 minutes to vote. "Part of the reason is because five of the new digital [ballot marking] machines broke down," said Deborah Rankin, a clerk at the voting center. They haven't been able to replace them because other polling places have been experiencing the same issues. She added that there were more voters going to fewer polling places. "Many people told me they were waiting until today to vote because they wanted to make sure their vote wasn’t wasted on their primaries with people dropping out,” she said. (Reporting by Arlene Washington). More

CIA: "We kill people based on metadata" (video)

Lisa Haven (research and analysis); RT.com; Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

 

Lisa Haven

Former CIA agent makes shocking statement: We target people for killing based on their meta-data. (May 14, 2014) Here is the post that goes with the video: b4in.info/eXaA. Find all links there. This information and video came from the Russian News agency RT (rt.com), and the photo above came from Reuters.

Scan of Egypt pyramids reveals mystery heat

BBC.com (Middle East, Nov. 15, 2015); CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Amazing Africa: Who built great pyramid and Sphinx? (trekearth.com)

The discovery was made two weeks into the thermal scanning project (Reuters).

.

What's inside a pyramid?

An international team of architects and scientists have observed "thermal anomalies" in the pyramids of Giza, Egyptian antiquities officials say.

 

Thermal cameras detected higher temperatures in three adjacent stones at the bottom of the Great Pyramid.

Officials said possible causes included the existence of empty areas inside the pyramid, internal air currents, or the use of different building materials.

It comes as experts search for hidden chambers within the pyramids. The tombs of the pharaohs Khufu (Kheops), Khafre (Khephren), and Menkaure (Mycerinus) were built in the Fourth Dynasty, about 2613-2494 BCE.

Mysterious pyramids of Giza, Egypt, for Pharoah Khufu or Cheops (tripadvisor.com).

 

"Impressive" anomaly

Pyramids are found all over the world.

A team of architects and scientists from Egypt, France, Canada and Japan used infrared thermography to survey the pyramids during sunrise, as the sun heats the limestone structures from the outside, as well as at sunset when they cool down.

 

In a statement, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said the experts had "concluded the existence of several thermal anomalies that were observed on all monuments during the heating-up or the cooling-down phases."

 

"To explain such anomalies, a lot of hypotheses and possibilities could be drawn up: presence of voids behind the surface, internal air currents," it added.

 

An "particularly impressive" anomaly was found at ground level on the eastern side of the Great Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu, the statement said.

"The first row of the pyramid's stones are all uniform, then we come here and find that there's a difference in the formation," Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damati said as he showed reporters the three stones showing higher temperatures.

 

Other thermal anomalies were detected in the upper half of the Great Pyramid.

 

The structure will be the subject of further investigation during the Operation Scan Pyramids project, which began on 25 October and is expected to last until the end of 2016. More

• Putin orders doping investigation Russian President Vladimir Putin orders an investigation into claims the country's athletes have been part of systematic doping. 
• Sweden brings in migrant border checks Apple apologises after racism outcry  

"Astonishing" malware linked to NSA spying

Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ryan Gallagher (firstlook.org/theinterecept)

The NSA is watching You, and now the rights you did not fight for are lost.

My computer has sucked for years because of NSA and CIA spyware, malware, back doors placed with the help and knowledge of computer manufacturers pressured by US spies (WQ).

"The Very Naughty Whistle-blower" (Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.com)

 

Researchers Find "Astonishing" Malware Linked to NSA Spying 

Tell me your secrets; I won't tell anyone (N

(Feb. 17, 2015) Security researchers have uncovered highly sophisticated malware that is linked to a secret National Security Agency (NSA) hacking operation exposed by The Intercept last year. Russian security firm Kaspersky published a report Monday documenting the malware, which it said had been used to infect thousands of computer systems and steal data in 30 countries around the world... More

Thousands Join Legal Fight Against UK Spying — You Can, Too 

GCHQ is the United Kingdom's own NSA.

(Feb. 18, 2015) Thousands of people are signing up to join an unprecedented legal campaign against the United Kingdom’s leading electronic surveillance agency. On Monday, London-based human rights group Privacy International launched an initiative enabling anyone across the world to challenge covert spying operations involving Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, the National Security Agency’s British counterpart. The campaign... More

 

I am not Big Brother watching you; the anonymous face of the NSA is! (Ed Snowden)

When peaceful protesters and demonstrators speak up, local police violate our rights.

"The N.S.A. Comes Clean" (Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.com)

Did you see Laura Poitras' film of Ed Snowden? Did you read Greenwald's book?

You may want to check The Interecept, and Occupy.com, and the Pacifica Evening News

NSA spies on ME? New US spying exposed!

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Joseph Menn (Reuters)

This is a National Security Agency (NSA) data gathering facility in Bluffdale, about 25 miles (40 kms) south of Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 17, 2013 (Reuters/Jim Urquhart).

.

Russian researchers expose breakthrough U.S. spying program

Joseph Menn (Reuters), San Francisco, Feb. 16, 2015 edited by WQ

This is why I've been saying for how long? (TI)

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, and other top manufacturers.

This gives the agency the means to spy, steal from, violate the civil liberties of, and eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former spying operatives.

That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.

• Your hard drives are RIDDLED with NSA SPYWARE The NSA does not care about who it spies on...The agency spread its performance-corrupting and data-exposing spy tools through compromised watering hole...back doors are left open for other spies and hackers, such as China and Iran, to exploit (theregister.co.uk)

Who will report the unbiased truths?

Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen, and Algeria.

[No one in the U.S. uses computer parts by SanDisk, Micron, Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital, or other top manufacturers, right? Wrong. We use more of these than anybody. Do you know the manufacturers of your internal computer parts? Of course, not. Open it and have a look.]

The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said.
 

Spy infected computers around the world due to NSA (Kaspersky Lab/reut.rs/1L5knm0)

   
The firm declined to publicly name the country behind the spying campaign, but said it was closely linked to Stuxnet, the NSA-led cyberweapon that was used to illegally attack Iran's alleged uranium enrichment facility, a violent act of war and subterfuge.

The NSA is the agency responsible for gathering electronic intelligence on behalf of the United States government and black budget projects.

A former NSA employee told Reuters that Kaspersky's analysis was correct, and that people still in the intelligence agency valued these spying programs as highly as Stuxnet.

Another former intelligence operative confirmed that the NSA had developed the prized technique of concealing spyware in hard drives, but said he did not know which spy efforts relied on it.
 
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined to comment. (What a surprise).
 
Kaspersky published the technical details of its research on Monday, which should help infected institutions detect the spying programs, some of which trace back as far as 2001.

The disclosure could further hurt the NSA's surveillance abilities, already damaged by massive leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden's revelations have hurt the United States' relations with some allies and slowed the sales of (contaminated) U.S. technology products abroad.
 
The exposure of these new spying tools could lead to greater backlash against Western technology, particularly in countries such as China. More

• NSA spied through Seagate, SanDisk, Micron hardware, Russian... (bizjournals.com) According to the Kaspersky tech report, the U.S. spying apparatus known as the NSA spies with malicious software in the fundamental firmware, which launches each time a computer... 
• Kaspersky says NSA planted Stuxnet-type cyberweapon(s) in hard drives... (techtimes.com) That means YOUR hard drive, too, even if you built your own computer, nerd. Did you make your own parts from scratch? No, obviously not. Were you exploited? Yes, obviously. 
• The NSA hides surveillance software in hard drives (Engadget)
• Millions of computers compromised by U.S. spyware... (telegraph.co.uk)

Where can anyone get real news?

How the NSA, CIA, FBI, NSC spy on me.

We are spun and lied to daily by the "mainstream" media. Where can we go? If you want honest news about north America, you better go outside the country to get it. The BBC is sold out, but the Guradian, Telegraph, Register, Daily Mail used to be reliable, and RT (Ruptly Russian news), Al Jazeera English and other outlets can still tell truths that the AP, FOX, CNN, MSNBC, and other U.S.-based outlets dare not touch without getting a visit from their internally-implanted spies and handlers. Listen to Pacifica Free Speech Radio. Read the Intercept (firstlook.org/theintercept) with Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill, which gives voice to Ed Snowden, Julian Assange, Chelsea Bradley Manning, and other whistle blowers, particularly former insiders at the CIA and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Afghan landslides kill 2,100 (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Reuters; AP; Hashmat Kaktash, Shashank Bengali (latimes.com)

 

Landslides bury thousands (Ahmad Zubair/AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of people are dead or missing after landslides in remote northeastern Afghanistan buried a village under as much as 60 feet of mud and rocks, officials said Friday.

 

The United Nations said at least 350 people had been killed in Badakhshan, a rugged province between Tajikistan and Pakistan [formerly Gandhara, India]. Shah Waliullah Adeeb, the provincial governor, said about 2,500 people were trapped under the landslides, which occurred Friday afternoon after several days of heavy rain.

Afghan Greco Indian (Gandhara) Buddhas

It was one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory in Afghanistan, where spring rainfall and snowmelt make the mountainous northeast susceptible to flash floods and mudslides. U.N. officials said more Afghans had been killed in natural disasters in the last seven days than in all of 2013.

 

Say no to war (codepink.org)

A search-and-rescue effort was underway and eight people had been found, according to Afghan news agencies. Afghan soldiers and police who reached the village were hampered by the scale of the landslides, Adeeb said.

 

World's greatest Buddhist temple site

"We found that it's impossible to rescue those people even...with machinery. They are covered in about 20 meters of dirt," he said in a telephone interview.

 

The first landslide crushed about 300 homes, he said, and when several hundred people arrived to try to rescue those buried, they were hit by a second slide.

 

President Obama said the United States was ready to assist with the rescue effort [presumably by signing secret executive orders to send in swarms of deadly armed drones to euthanize Afghans during rescue efforts, thereby putting them out of our misery and allowing JSOC to continue our U.S. war of aggression and occupation]. More

New botanic garden celebrates native conifers, plants  

Condoleezza Rice backs out of graduation speech amid protests

War? Landslide? Who cares? We're rich.

Bush Administration unindicted co-conspirator and war criminal Condi Rice's choice not to speak at Rutgers Univ. makes her just the latest public figure embroiled in a commencement spat.

Commencement fiasco, Black will speak at Pasadena college

 

The reality of life in Afghanistan after illegal US invasion and occupation (RAWA.org)