Some Chomsky.

Good article by Chomsky & Alice Walker on the Assange trial. Here in the states too many on the center left of things have accepted the demonization of Assange (to include dropped rape charges that, magically he's not going to trail for) to the point of blaming him for Trump. This shortsighted foolishness and lack of logical thinking speaks to a sad state of affairs. Note that it's Trump who had him arrested and it's probably a bipartisan agreement here. 

These techniques are not new. After Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to journalists to expose the US government’s lies about Vietnam, the Nixon administration’s “White House Plumbers” broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office in search of material that could be used to discredit him. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was falsely portrayed as collaborating with the Chinese, then the Russians. Obsession with military intelligence analyst Manning’s mental health and gender identity was ubiquitous. By demonizing the messenger, governments seek to poison the message.

The prosecution will be all too happy when coverage of Assange’s extradition hearing devolves into irrelevant tangents and smears. It matters little that Assange’s beard was the result of his shaving kit having been confiscated, or that reports of Paul Manafort visiting him in the embassy were proven to be fabricated. By the time these petty claims are refuted, the damage will be done. At best, public debate over the real issues will be derailed; at worst, public opinion will be manipulated in favour of the establishment.

Indeed. 
Also a piece on how we should get inquiries into the failure of our gov covid response. The ICC should indeed be called into it. 
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