Oh god. I played that when it came out but when I finally realized how much housing and the in game market mattered, I noped out. That’s to say, I don’t play it long because it was obvious very quickly.
I was scared when I was a 19 year old doing a patrol through Sadr City in 2003, while manning the .50 cal and having dozens of kids suddenly show up and throwing rocks at me. Did I waste them even though I would have been justified because it wasn’t uncommon that patrols would go through markets and peopled start throwing produce and mix a grenade in?
No. Because I was well trained and realized that life is precious. And I was dealing with those rocks a lot longer than 1.6 seconds.
How dare you advocate for destroying the entire police force!
/s… Cause that’s what would happen. I’m pretty sure more than half would quit outright if they thought there was a possibility they’d see consequences for their actions.
Yea, but I’m betting you had more training than this clown. Maybe the cops need more than a couple weeks before they are given the power of a firearm, maybe I’m crazy.
Ayy, I was up north in '03, but I ran some Sadr City patrols in '04. Vivid memories of watching Cheaper by the Dozen in full kit while we listened to the mortars walking in. And a complex ambush on the way back to BIAP. I was on a 240 in the second truck. There was some musical car horn that seemed to signal it—not La Cucaracha, but something like that; I think one of these days I’ll hear it again somewhere and have a legit ptsd flashback—and a fruit stand or something on the right exploded, and a car behind me somewhere as well, I believe. Then some dudes came out on a balcony behind and to the left and started licking rpgs at us. Good times. Csm got some shrapnel in his ass, which didn’t improve his temper, but at least we got a lot of jokes out of it.
Oh man. My first IED was very strange. We were driving on what we called route kill zone, and there was some traffic. And then we came to an overpass and seemingly everyone else took the off ramp. Came out the other side and just blammo. I saw the vehicle in front of me get pushed a lane over and then disappear into smoke and dust. I locked up the brakes so I wouldn’t smash into them.
Turned out there was a sniper down the road and a can full of guys with RPGs on the bridge behind us. But we had no casualties or significant vehicle damage, so they apparently dipped. We hightailed it to a rally point that was literally 500 meters from where the attack happened. Front vehicle thought we were the ones that got hit.
I probably should know better than to argue with a random stranger on the Internet but I’ll bite… Why do you think he got off easy if he spend 7 years in the Ecuadorian embassy and 5 years in an UK prison, when his sentence is 5 years?
The US justice system is rarely that strict. For example, Donlad Trump could get sentenced to decades in prison, but likely won’t spend anytime in jail.
Incarceration is the most extreme sentencing for nonviolent class E felonies without a prior record. The standard sentencing is a fine, community service, and/or probation.
The standard sentencing for espionage begins with incarceration. It’s just a question of how long, or if they’re deserving of execution.
I know that’s the norm but you’d think that even with it being the first time he was caught, the 30 count would warrant a more serious response. What would they do if he did this 30 times with a trial between each commitment of a felony? I think that should be a deciding factor even if it’s not likely to be.
It’s thirty counts, but it’s still considered his first offense. They’re not considered consecutive. The only way he’ll see prison for that crime is if he proves to be at risk of committing more crime without “rehabilitative incarceration.” If Merchan reaches too far on his sentencing, it’ll just fuel the bias claim in Trump’s inevitable appeal.
It’s a bit more than embarrassment. Some of what he exposed was absolutely horrific. Other leaks directly compromised confidential war and spy intelligence that directly led to the execution of informants. There had to be consequences for the latter. Had he responsibly redacted names, as a journalist should, I may have had a different opinion.
it was a deliberate understatement for comic effect.
Still, though, 12 years is only considered proportionate because the the government sets the law and the government was embarrassed.
Its not a complete defence of Assange, his behaviors, his sketchy connections to Russia - but it is me saying that whistle-blowers are disproportionately punished not because it’s in the public interest
Leaking the details of classified foreign intelligence operations is considered espionage or treason. Some of those leaks resulted in the execution of informants. Those are not small crimes.
According to the Espionage Act of 1917, he could have been executed. Imprisonment is standard, but 12 years is far better than the maximum of life in prison.
For the operatives put in danger and/or killed, it was worth human life?
You seem to be ignoring that Assange either knowingly or unknowingly risked peoples' lives, people who had often given those lives into great risk in service of their country.
When the leaks first happened, I was supportive of Wikileaks (a natural position for an anti-war person like me). Later, when it was revealed that there had been no or little due diligence to ensure the information had been vetted and scrubbed, I realized how extreme it can be on both ends of the political spectrum.
Stop trying to paint this with some large political brush.
Assange is not a hero. The US government is not innocent.
The intelligence leaks were via media outlets that didn’t sanitize the publications. It was up to them to do what was needed on that front. And in the end, nobody has shown that those failures to censor information had anything like the consequences to intelligence assets that Libby/Cheney’s leaks had.
He created Wikileaks and personally hosted classified information. The release of the unredacted Afghan War Diary directly resulted in the execution of Afghani informants.
Source on the executions? I found that informants were named and when warned that this could result in their deaths Assange basically said, “lol, snitches get stitches.”
That said, I couldn’t find anything about the informants actually being executed.
The Insurance section on that article is extremely interesting. I wonder if/when we will be able to crack into that potential treasure trove. But maybe it’s just 1.4GB of a picture of Julian’s asshole
Exactly my point; there have been no deaths attributed to these leaks by any credible source other than an administration that has variously tried to frame, imprison, assassinate and astroturf Assange, that is directly implicated in warcrimes and has done it’s own leaks of intelligence assets that are actually provably murderous.
This is how this whole thing has gone since the start. We still have a group that’s inconsolably upset that Wikileaks exposed their nomination tampering, and will move the goalposts at every turn that shows Assange was on the right side of history.
When you do that to a nation about their classified intel, it’s called espionage. It’s a biiiit more serious than a social media hack.
In practical terms, espionage can affect thousands of lives directly and change the course of a war. Imagined the shitshow if someone released that kind of info now. It could jeopardize the Ukraine conflict. It’s treated as more serious than murder because it can be.
That’s your prerogative, and your opinion. If he were responsible in his duties as a journalist, and redacted the names of informants and agents, I’d have a different opinion. I think his actions were reckless and irresponsible.
Chelsea Manning faced trial was convicted, and has been free since 2017, and she got to cuck Elon Musk, that is a true hero. She didn’t handle leaking the information in the best way, and was given bad advice by Assange, but she didn’t get kicked out of an embassy for running an election interference campaign.
He helped a government get the candidate of their choice elected by manipulation of data dumps and spent a month before the election screaming how he had more dirt on one candidate.
you are making leaps of logic and accusations of bad faith which are, themselves, bad faith. he is the authority on what materials he was given, and how their release fit his own publications standards and strategy.
Don’t gaslight me. I remember that Russian agent in October 2016 yelling about Hillary Clinton and stuff he said he had on her. Literally every single time I heard, read, or watched the news his fucking face was there going on and on about the embassy bombing or the emails.
Sorry your boy sucks Putin off but I am willing to bet when he does the condom doesn’t mysteriously break.
I’m sorry if this is a bit too unrelated but would you say the same about Snowden?
I’m not as well informed on Assange but I tend to find the “espionage” criticism lacking, personally, since it seems to mainly favor the generally terrible foreign policy actions of the US empire and not so much the people of the US who are for the most part against those actions but have little recourse what with the 2 party system and having a plutocratic system of government
Yes. I applaud them both for whistleblowing. They really fucked up by not redacting names. It’s reckless and dangerous. Assange should’ve known better, having been a professional journalist.
Oh weird, that was not the impression I got from the many comments you made criticizing them for their brave actions.
I would tend to blame any negative fallout on the US government, personally. If they weren’t committing atrocities regular people wouldn’t have had to take the huge risk/be put at risk.
It’s like getting upset at a victim of police brutality for not working with the police
Their actions were brave until they became clouded by fame. Then both of them made it about leverage and made crucial mistakes that lead to threatened lives. I supported them in the past, prior to their dangerous missteps. I no longer comment in support of either of them.
A good example of responsible whistleblowing would be from the recent resignations from the Department of Defense. They gave very detailed accounts of information suppression while they were tasked with collecting information on civilian casualties in Gaza. None of the information they disclosed exposed confidential informants or put lives at risk.
It’s not just possible to be a responsible whistleblower, it’s imperative.
You’re saying they should’ve just resigned? How would we have learned about PRISM without evidence?
I don’t know what you’re referring to about info suppression. Did we learn anything or just that we don’t know everything? How is that more helpful? Or, for who is it more helpful?
Do you think they could’ve done that and chose not to?
It seems like you’re saying they shouldn’t have done what they did because it wasn’t executed perfectly which feels awfully like what MLK was criticizing in his letter from a Birmingham jail, people that support things in theory but never in reality and that always seem to solely criticize the actions/methods of those fighting for justice
Absolutely. Assange especially. He is fully aware of the redaction standards in journalism.
They both started out as legitimate whistleblowers, disclosing government corruption responsibly. Once they became famous/infamous, they both went down the slippery slope of power corruption and risked people’s lives for clicks. I have no respect for it.
I can’t. I was referring to articles that I’ve read in the past. By asking me that, I was prompted to look for a source, and it doesn’t seem like Snowden has directly compromised the safety of anyone. Most of the articles that I’m finding have general government insinuation of risk. That’s not enough for me to form an opinion, so I apologize, and retract my criticism of Snowden.
I still maintain that what Assange did was reckless, especially given his experience as a journalist.
Sloppy would be missing some punctuation and grammar. The guy has blood on his hands just like the US government does. Also, he aided (some would say manipulated) Manning in her leak of the documents in a way that no journalist would or should do. Journalists report the story, Assange has repeatedly shown himself to be a self aggrandizer that is the story.
I never said it was. Aiding someone in exfiltrating classified documents on the other hand decidedly is. Not something journalists make a habit of doing, either.
I’d say because most follow an ethics code, as much as I feel there was a public interest in those documents coming out, but with proper sanitation to protect lives.
I was talking about protecting the Afghani informants from the Taliban.
We knew about the spies and people who collaborate with U.S. forces. We will investigate through our own secret service whether the people mentioned are really spies working for the U.S. If they are U.S. spies, then we know how to punish them.
I reviewed the statement of someone that a London paper claimed to be speaking for some part of the Taliban. Remember, the Taliban is actually not a homogenous group. And the statement, as far as such things go, was fairly reasonable, which is that they would not trust these documents; they would use their own intelligence organization’s investigations to understand whether those people were defectors or collaborators, and if so, after their investigations, then they would receive appropriate punishment. Now, of course, that is — you know, that image is disturbing, but that is what happens in war, that spies or traitors are investigated.
— Julian Assange
Assange is so casual about the potential human cost of his actions. The guy is a prick.
Journalists do it all the time. That’s where they used unnamed sources and have gone to jail to protect those sources. Or maybe you’re too young to remember Deep Throat.
I know who deep throat is. There’s a big difference between refusing to cooperate with an investigation and name names of confidential sources that have provided information versus actively aiding a person in absconding with information. The courts agree with me too, considering John Lawrence was released after a day by an appellate court. Also notable that his charge was merely contempt whereas Assange’s was espionage.
You can read about “Nathaniel” here and how the relationship between Manning and WL started. Manning herself implies the relationship was manipulative.
Over the next few months, I stayed in frequent contact with Nathaniel. We conversed on nearly a daily basis, and I felt we were developing a friendship. The conversations covered many topics, and I enjoyed the ability to talk about pretty much anything, and not just the publications that the WLO was working on.
In retrospect, I realize these dynamics were artificial, and were valued more by myself than Nathaniel. For me, these conversations represented an opportunity to escape from the immense pressures and anxiety that I experienced and built up throughout the deployment. It seemed that as I tried harder to “fit in” at work, the more I seemed to alienate my peers, and lose respect, trust and the support I needed.
No problem, there’s so much noise out there regarding this topic; it’s really hard to get a handle on what is real and what is someone just blowing smoke.
Journalists do not pick sides. He had email from the RNC and DNC via Russian government sponsored hacks. He chose to release only DNC emails to the benefit of pro Putin candidate Trump. Edit word
Edit edit: can’t find any info on RNC hacks parallel to the DNC ones
Typing this into duckduckgo shows me nothing about the them having the RNC emails:
did wikileaks have rnc emails
Not a single link. Please provide the link that says they had them. If you can’t read in between the lines, I’m saying what you said is untrue but gets repeated constantly.
You’re right. I absolutely cannot find that wikileaks had RNC info. I’ve searched quite a bit determined to find what I remember but nada.
There is this but about DCLeaks having but releasing a bit of republican info on Trump’s primary challengers
On August 12, 2016, DCLeaks released roughly 300 emails from Republican targets, including the 2016 campaign staff of Arizona Senator John McCain, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and 2012 presidential candidate and former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann.[13] The release included 18 emails from the Illinois Republican Party.[18]
But that is not what I remember and certainly doesn’t help my case.
I apologize. Either my memory fails me or I was mislead (or both). Certainly does not refute Assange being a channel for Russia to get trump elected but does make me look like a tool.
Well shit. That is what I remember. All my searches: ‘russia hack RNC’, ‘republican hack’ , ‘RNC hack’, etc. were flooded with 2021 results from a different hack. Nothing from WikiLeaks, DCLeaks, Gucifer, 2016 presidential hack, or 2016 Russia interference yielded anything fruitful.
I remember when a relative still had a feeding tube they were leaving in just in case and he accidently yanked it out. I believe we put paper towels and blue tape over it and he called the doctor. the doctor was like 'oh it's self sealing it's fine' and my relative was all 'doc....please look at it...' so we took him in and he got a proper bandage and told it did in fact look fine.
I would admit I used to get McDonald’s quite a bit for lunch because it was pretty cheap. But, where I live a Big Mac meal is on average about $16 right now and I can get a burrito bowl from Chipotle with a drink for $13.
I’m not saying Chipotle is high quality food but I don’t think anyone’s going to argue it’s not better quality than McDonald’s, so why on earth would I pay more for McDonald’s?
They overreached on their price gouging and now they’re just trying to backpedal because they’re losing money.
Sorry, I mean a repeat of late 2007, the fourth or fifth “once in a lifetime economic crisis” for millennials that will somehow magically end with billionaires owning an even larger percentage of the GDP.
“How could this possibly happen, again, again, again, again,” will cry the economists billionaire simps.
Ah yes, relying on mercenaries. Just like the Russians. There’s a millennia-long tradition of it of course. Just be sure to pay them, or suffer the fate of Rome you will.
Just for some context here - Evanston is in the same county as Chicago, which is one of the USA’s largest cities.
While this wouldn’t directly impact all of Chicago’s elections, it will have an impact in which direction Chicago may go. If Chicago picks up ranked choice voting, then the rest of Illinois may follow.
As a Chicagoan currently living out at the fringes of a collar county, this pleases me greatly. Too bad I’ll probably die of old age before it spreads this far though.
They’re in the same county, but that doesn’t mean Evanston politics impacts Chicago at all. Cook county politics have almost nothing to do with city politics, for both Chicago and Evanston.
Normally I’d say that these people should be forced to endure the same shit they doled out. But there’s really no way to dole out childhood trauma after the fact.
Fuck these “people”. Nobody who is ok forcing another person to live and toil in these circumstances can be considered a person in my view. They are animals, humans at best.
I’d bet good money against a bent paperclip that they had childhood trauma already. That doesn’t excuse what they’ve done, in fact that makes it worse. It’s likely the thought was “this is what happened to me to make me the person I am today” or similar.
That being said, once you do this to a child you’re no longer a person in my eyes either. They aren’t human. They aren’t animals. They are nothing. The whole reason I’m not in charge of anything is because I think we should throw them in an oubliette and let them survive by drinking from puddles and eating rats. That’s not justice, that’s revenge. I just don’t have anything else in my heart for these people.
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