Billie Winner-Davis doesn't get it, or maybe she does. How can Paul Manafort, chairman of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, get compassionate release from prison years before his slated release, after lying about his dealings with Russian intelligence assets while someone who leaked a report about Moscow's efforts to interfere in elections, like her daughter, languish behind bars?

And whatever happened to all of those people who used to champion the cause of persecuted whistle-blowers?

"As each chapter of this unfolds, I see just how corrupt our system really is, and I see just how powerless the average American is," Winner-Davis, the mother of former US intelligence contractor Reality Winner, told Business Insider.

Her daughter was arrested in 2017 after leaking a National Security Agency report detailing the Kremlin's efforts to hack US election infrastructure, including voter rolls. She was then prosecuted under the Espionage Act and pleaded guilty to one count of felony transmission of national defense information. She was sentenced to more than five years in prison, the longest sentence ever handed out to someone convicted for leaking to the press.

"Everything about her case has been so harsh and just cruel," Winner-Davis, who herself works in the case management department at a jail in Kingsville, Texas a job she took after Reality's arrest, she said, curious what life is actually like for the incarcerated said in a phone interview. She was speaking just hours after talking to her daughter, who turned 28 while incarcerated, and remains in a pandemic-related lockdown in Texas' Carswell federal prison. Winner spends most of life in de facto solitary confinement, barred from going outdoors, limited to one trip to the cafeteria, and served two meals in her cell (bologna sandwiches) that, as a kosher vegan, she cannot eat.

"She really is not doing well," her mother said. But, in the eyes of federal Judge James Randal Hall, she's doing well enough. In April, Hall rejected efforts by Winner's attorneys to let her serve the rest of her sentence at home, before her November 2021 release date. "Winner is in a medical prison," Hall argued, "which is presumably better equipped than most to deal with the onset of COVID-19 in its inmates."

In fact, that prison is the site of the only confirmed death from COVID-19 of a female inmate in federal custody. Ironically, it is also the subject of whistleblower complaints, with prison staff complaining to US Sen. John Cornyn that they are ill-equipped to stop the spread of contagion. They fear what they have seen just across the way in Fort Worth, where the men's federal prison has seen over 625 confirmed infections, with 10 inmates left dead thus far, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

"She's fighting for a chance to come out of this sane and alive," Winner-Davis said. "Yet somebody like Manafort just gets released automatically, without any kind of fight at all."

Nor, Winner-Davis laments, is there much of a fight for her daughter, whose case has not become a cause clbre as happened when others, such as Chelsea Manning, leaked classified information in what they believed to be the public interest.

Those involved in The Sparrow Project stand with a small display they set up in New York, USA, on 9 June 2017. The Sparrow Project held a press conference today in Union Sq for Reality Winner. An alleged leaker of classified documents about Russian Interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images

That, in part, is due to the times in which we live: in 2020, there are many perceived injustices competing for finite attention. It is also a product of what Reality Winner actually revealed: that the same government that provided hacked emails to Wikileaks' Julian Assange, so as to influence the 2016 election, was also attempting to hack its way into the United States' voting infrastructure.

For a few commentators, the fact of Russian government interference in the last presidential election there is video, courtesy Dutch intelligence, of Russian spies hacking their way into the Democratic National Committee is inconvenient, complicating simple narratives about the outcome: that Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College, if not the popular vote because the public simply had enough with "The Establishment."

In fact, leading voices at the news outlet to which Winner leaked continue to deny what their colleagues' reporting and intelligence reports showed: that the Russian government, as part of its effort to hurt Clinton and elect Trump, engaged in a concerted hacking campaign.

In a May 28 stop on Fox News, for example, a founding editor of The Intercept participated in a segment declaring allegations of such hacking to be "the greatest hoax of all." Indeed, that editorpublished emails stolen during the 2016 election under the guise of "Guccifer 2.0," a phony hacker persona.

Support for the whistle-blower with the longest prison sentence has been cursory, compared to those who passionately defend Wikileaks' Assange, who also worked with Russian intelligence.

"It does hurt, as her mom, when I've tried everything that I can to get as much support and awareness and advocacy for her as I possibly can and it just never seems to be enough to break through," Winner-Davis complained. "That's been puzzling for us from the get-go."

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

Continued here:
Reality Winner's mom: 'Everything about her case has been so harsh and just cruel' - Business Insider - Business Insider

Cincinnati, 2019. Photo credit: Roberto Galan / Shutterstock.com.

The decision by Democratic Socialists of America to not endorse Joe Biden in the general election has been met with cries of alarm by some of our progressive friends. We are told that we are living through a second Weimar era and electing a Democrat to the presidency is our only chance of saving the nation from burgeoning fascism. Our critics protest that in our unprecedented times there is no room for the socialist Left to sit out an election: The #votebluenomatterwho resistance must be maintained until Trump is out of the White House.

In response, I first want to point out how historically significant it is that an American socialist organization should be considered so powerful that it can affect the outcome of a general election. Demands of submission to the Democratic Partys center are being made of us from the New York Timess opinion columns. DSA didnt endorse Bill Clinton either, but that didnt figure much into political discourse at the time.

Of course, we are no longer the organization that existed back then. Before 2016, we were a tiny and powerless organization of a few thousand members. Today, with 66,000 members, DSA is the largest socialist organization in the United States in decades. We are cognizant of what that means and the power we have as an advocating body. Our organizing has aided electoral victories like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs congressional primary win in 2018. We are growing in power and influence and I am incredibly proud to be part of such a vibrant organizing community. Nevertheless, I am somewhat confused by those on the Left who would like DSA to endorse Joe Biden. To be sure, I am flattered by the notion that our members could make or break a general election, but given our numbers, especially in swing states, that doesnt seem very likely. Given the total lack of material consequences, why would we endorse Joe Biden? Where is this pressure to endorse a candidate so antagonistic to democratic socialism even coming from?

DSA cannot sway a general election. However, should Biden lose in November, we know that the Left will be blamed for obstruction. We also know that it wont matter which progressive groups endorsed him because the Left always gets blamed for obstruction when Democrats lose. The party has a tendency to punch left to avoid criticism. It is never the candidate or the political strategy of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party that lost the election; instead, its Jill Stein and Ralph Nader and angry tweets from socialist podcasters. This criticism isnt constructive. Left-bashing isnt actually successful at shaming third-party voters into voting Democrat. The point, as ever, is to deflect blame.

While the Left may still be too weak to win the Democratic primary, we have enough muscle to publicly dismantle this framing thrust at us by our opponents. We are not the organization we were four years ago. Our membership has changed and our politics alongside it. The open letter from former SDS leaders to the DSA fails to fully grasp this transformation and the leaps we have made as a result of it. In the new DSA, most members are in their twenties and thirties and know more about Chelsea Manning than they do about Michael Harrington. SDS leaders, despite being the founders of DSA, arent on the radar of much of our current membership. The organization is now mostly made of up millennials who joined the movement because they are downwardly mobile and are going to be a lot poorer than their parents. They struggle with work, housing, and healthcare, and were disillusioned by the high liberal rhetoric of the Obama administration. It is this majority of members who voted to not endorse anyone but Bernie Sanders at our bi-yearly convention in August of 2019, thus precluding a Biden endorsement.

This new membership has further transformed what endorsement means for DSA. We dont just endorse to guarantee the votes of our members. We want to hold our candidates accountable in office and so we try to ensure that they share our values. Our endorsement process for local New York City candidates involves the participation of members across multiple branches and several different local DSA governing bodies. It includes a rigorous vetting process as well as public debate. Then, once we have endorsed, we go all-in for a candidate.

Our field teams spend nights and weekends for months at a time going door-to-door. We do our own fundraising and promotion. Our groundswell movements require enthusiasm and deep organizational buy-in. Therefore, even if some of our members wanted to endorse Joe Biden, we wouldnt be able to. There would be no way to drum up enough excitement for such an action. Given the makeup of DSA, a broad coalition of leftists is required to make an endorsement. Biden doesnt appeal to enough members to make the cut.

DSA is multi-tendency. We include social democrats, liberals, communists, Maoists, anarchists, Leninists, Trotskyists, and loads of members who arent remotely sectarian. Our numbers include people who do not think we should be doing any kind of electoral work whatsoever. We do not agree on ideology but we can often (though not always) build enough consensus to organize around electoral and issue campaigns. Bernie was special in that he brought much of the Left together for the first time in decades. Across tendencies in DSA, we are together still, but not for Biden.

As for the criticism that we are living in unprecedented times and must fully support the Democrat so we can defeat the fascist in the White House, theres not enough consensus around that notion in DSA. I for one do not believe that Trump has done more evil than Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush. The current presidents gross incompetence has preserved us from the super-competent villainy of the neocons who so shrewdly steered the Bush administration.

Although there are plenty in DSA who may disagree with that, there are plenty of others who hold far more radical views than I. Members who want to see their political will made manifest by the organization form coalitions and whip votes. We take democracy very seriously and there simply isnt enough agreement around supporting Biden.

DSA is about as interested in endorsing Biden as Bidens campaign is interested in our endorsement. Nevertheless, it will perhaps comfort our critics to note that while DSA will not be endorsing again in this presidential election, many of our members who vote in swing states will likely vote for Biden. However, our numbers in such places are admittedly small.

Fortunately, Bidens team isnt depending on a DSA-style ground game to win in November, which is what a DSA endorsement would mean. For better or worse, the Biden campaign is about name recognition and anti-Trump sentiment. He is not depending on our 66,000 members or the Left to win.

Right now, DSA is busy with other things. We are phone-banking for local candidates, and organizing rent strikes, tenant associations, and mutual aid networks. Although we are continuing our activism and advocacy through the quarantine, we will not be campaigning for Joe Biden. We have been finished with this presidential election since Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign. A further endorsement is not on the table.

Annie Levin is a freelance writer and a proud member of the New York City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Find her on Twitter @annierlevin.

Read the rest here:
The DSA, Left-Bashing, and Joe Biden - publicseminar.org

Previously Chloe Farand maps the nine organisations that Sanni accuses of colluding over a Hard Brexit:

According to Sannis claim, the organisations involved in this right-wing campaign for media coverage include the TaxPayers Alliance, the officer of Peter Whittle, the former deputy leader of UKIP, Civitas, the Adam Smith Institute, Leave Means Leave, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Brexit Central, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Institute for Economic Affairs.

In the latest Not Another Fake Newscast Sanni talks about the aftermath of his whistleblowing, and being publicly outed by Downing Street. But he says it was not just his homosexuality which was weaponised, his race & religion were too.

All the language that was used around me when I was outed was so racialised, and so inherently rooted in the Islamophobia which has permeated in British society for a long time. People would constantly say he lacks integrity. Sanni compares this to the experience of fellow whistleblowers such as his friend Chris Wylie, Edward Snowden & Chelsea Manning.

Yes there were accusations that they were traitors, but there is this constant coded language that comes with this belief that Pakistanis are fraudulent, that they have money laundering schemes or all live together in a house claiming benefits. These were always tied up with comments about my appearance. Ive never really spoken about this before. Even my outing in itself was racialised. They wouldnt have used that as their big weapon if I wasnt a brown Muslim. It wouldnt be seen as that big a deal, or as a reason to doubt my integrity.

Does Shahmhir think his sexuality was used as a weapon to undermine him within his own community?

Absolutely. Sayeeda Warsi was the only Pakistani politician who reached out to me. There was no Pakistani Labour politicians who reached out to me, no Muslim Labour politicians who reached out to me. And of course this had to do my sexuality. There is homophobia in the Muslim community, in the Pakistani community. There is no denying that.

Shahmirs intervention eventually led to Vote Leave being found guilty of electoral fraud, but the only punishment was a nominal fine. This is what is rotten about the British democratic system. Its essentially whats rotten about this country. No matter what you do to pervert democracy, theres no real ramifications for it. You get a fine and thats it. Theres no further investigation because thats all they can do. Sure you cheated to win the race but you can still keep the medal. Just dont do it again.

This was the biggest breach of campaign finance law in British history. There was a coordinated campaign by the most influential policy groups and research groups who advise the government of the UK on what policies to go for, what decisions to make. Who to give money to and who not to give money to. Which country to bomb and which not to bomb. There was a coordinated effort by these individuals and groups to bury a story, bury information and bury evidence of the single biggest breach of electoral law in British history. I have to remind myself of this sometimes because it seems to have had so little impact. I just have to tell myself that my role is done. I did my part

When it was suggested Shahmir could come up to Scotland and work on an Independence campaign, he had this to say:

Im totally pro-Independence. I am totally pro-Independence. They (the government) hate the Scottish. This is what a lot of people dont understand they genuinely, genuinely do not like Scotland. The whole idea of Scotland they dont like, and this is something I never understood because I grew up in Pakistan. The way that they would talk about the Welsh & the Scottish You really should seek Independence because they hate you. Get out as soon as you can.

Listen to the full interview here

More:
Shahmir Sanni on Whistleblowing and Corruption Bella Caledonia - bellacaledonia.org.uk

It is a common error to assume that shamelessness is the absence of shame. The shameless person is anything but indifferent to the prospects of being compromised in public; it is rather a source of immense pleasure. The proper antonym of shame is not shamelessness but innocence. It is another common error to identify innocence with children; some adults are forever childlike (which is not the same as childish). This can be either charming or alarming, depending on the stakes.

We believe Slavoj iek would take it as a compliment if we pronounce his characteristically slapped-together and often half-baked book on the pandemic shameless. He himself uses this word only twice in Pandemic!but in strategic locations. In the beginning of the book, he shamelessly but gratefully quotes a lengthy passage from Wikipedia. On the very last page, he shamelessly calls a friends report from quarantine a description of non-alienated, decent life. Whether it is the scandal of using internet content as a source, or the provocation of finding Marxian liberation in the least likely places, iek is clearly having fun.

Were not unjealous. Nor, we suspect, are the multiple commenters on social media dismissing ieks attempt to say (a book-length) something meaningful about the crisis as it was still setting in. While one specific dismissal stems from the popular (yet questionable) assumption that capturing a truth requires a scholarly and historical distance, iek is suspect in some quarters for many other reasons as well. Starting with his critique of the liberal response to the 2015 European refugee crisis, through his anti-#MeToo and PC provocations, to his unabashed debate with Jordan Peterson, iek has been gradually pushed to the slightly less than respectable margins of public philosophy.

But ieks shamelessness is a stark (and quite refreshing) antidote to the innocence of another radical philosopher, Giorgio Agamben, who early in the crisis produced the now-laughable line that the coronavirus was no worse than the seasonal flu. Agamben, forever an overly serious child, doesnt seem to mind the embarrassment; in a recent interviewhe draws a seemingly clever but immensely silly analogy: theologians declared that they could not clearly define what God is, yet in his name they dictated to man rules of conduct and did not hesitate to burn heretics; virologists admit that they do not exactly know what a virus is, but in their name they presume to decide how human beings should live. Unlike iek, Agamben does not appear to be enjoying himself. In fact, hes extremely worried that the current imperative of biological survivalwhat he calls bare life is a mere pretext for ratcheting state repression.

If iek is shameless and Agamben childlike, the rather more orthodox Marxist Alain Badiou takes the roleof the responsible and boring adult. While he rejects Agambens semi-conspiratorial theory and his alarmism about state power, he strikes a similarly pessimistic tone, denouncingas an infantile fantasy the idea that the current crisis will lead to a revolution. Judith Butler, yet another radical philosopher dabbling as a pundit, is not quite optimistic, although she hopes the current crisis will make universal health care more possible in the U.S. (It appears, though, that the main point of herinterventionwas to assure us that, despite donating to Kamala Harris early on, she voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.)

The Marxist bunch, to be sure, would roll their eyes. iek is in favor of something he calls Communism, although it hardly bears even a family resemblance to the political vision normally associated with that name. Rather than the overcoming of capitalism and the advent of a classless society, he has in mind a much more modest set of reformsthe strengthening of supranational organizations like the World Health Organization, the shoring up of universal health care systems where they have been corroded by decades of austerity and so forth.

But to focus too much on these proposals, necessary as they may be, is to miss what is most salutary in iek: his political sensibility. iek correctly identifies the deep flaw in Agambens stance: not his childish paranoia and denialism, but his even more childish pessimism. In so doing, he poses a fundamental politicalor even spiritualquestion to the left, Badiou included: Does the material of reality still have the potential to shock the materialist philosopher, with his well-worn theoretical schemes?Can emancipation still be found in the least likely places? Contra Agamben, iek imagines that it is through our effort to save humanity from self-destruction that we are creating a new humanity. The dichotomy between bare and political life, then, is false. Mass mobilization for the sake of biological survival can generate a radical solidarity.

Spirituality does not normally belong in rational or normal political discourse. But if anything should be clear by now, it is that the times are anything but normal. The Christian right, at least, seems to understand this. R. R. Reno, the editor of the traditionalist Catholic magazineFirst Things, warned at the beginning of the lockdown against the liberal dominion of death, in which earthly survival is judged primary to all other values.

In a more widely broadcastand mockedmessage, Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick made it clear which value precisely should override survival, insisting that American grandparents are willing to sacrifice their lives for the economic prosperity of their grandchildren. Are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? Patrick said, announcing that for his part, if thats the exchange, Im all in.

The America that Patrick loves is the America we find good reasons to shun. But the question he raisesof what we would be willing to sacrifice foris not an irrelevant one. Perhaps it is not outlandish to understand the current crisis as offering an opportunity to imagine a very different America. Perhaps, as iek puts it, we need a catastrophe to be able to rethink the very basic features of the society in which we live.

In such circumstances, we cannot afford to cede the spiritual question to the right. An emancipatory version of it would ask not what we are willing to die for, but rather what we wish to live for. What is truly valuable about ieks writing lies in the glimmer of a shift in sensibility, a shift between two different conceptions of political discourse. One involves the articulation of policies, which range from securing the conditions of biological survival to more ambitious projects to improve the quality of our lives. But iek also goes beyond this instrumentalism (which need not be conflated with mere technocracy) and asks the more open-ended question of what it means to live well.

Thinkers on the left have been traditionally and justifiably suspicious of such ethical concerns, framing them as bourgeois or liberal (uttered with the familiar repulsive ring, like a spit). It is therefore another provocation that iek defines his kind of communist as a liberal with a diploma (reversing Hungarian leader Viktor Orbans propaganda that liberals are communists with a diploma). We earn such a diploma once we have seriously studied why our liberal values are under threat and become aware that only a radical change can save them.

Radical is an overused word. iek, however, genuinely challenges deep-seated dogmas of the Western left, including its own basic commitment to bourgeois democracy. In Pandemic!, he commends Chinas efficient management of the crisis, proposing to extend it to the global order (though he probably overestimates the degree to which Chinas response was characterized by top-down centralization; as many news reports have made clear, this was only the case primarily in Wuhan and to some extent Hubei). But if iek is willing to support restrictive, indeed repressive, measures, he does so while criticizing the Chinese states suppression of information and dissent. He insists, however, that like the virus, the problem here is hardly just Chinese. The corona martyr, the doctor Li Wenliang who died after his warnings had been ignored, is dubbed the Chinese Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden. His signature hyperboles notwithstanding, iek offers at least the rough contours of a new political vision: call it Communist Liberalism. On the one hand, extensive powers to national and supranational authorities and steep limitations on the marketall deemed necessary to counter climate catastrophe and protect us from present and future germs. On the other, such a regime must secure the freedom of speech and extend provisions for whistleblowing in order to build mutual trust between ordinary people and the state.

Political as this vision is, it is grounded in ieks (more explicit) ethical reflection on the ways in which the immediate present makes possible a premonition of the good life. Sudden loneliness, he claims, also affords solitude, a much-needed break from the injunction to pleasureso prized by Disneyland and the 1968 legacy alikeallowing us an opportunity to [revitalize] our life experience. Even face masks provide a welcome anonymity and liberation from the social pressure of recognition, forcing us to contend with the meaninglessness of our lives in the bestshould we say existentialist?sense of the word. In a telling moment, iek compares the experience of being in self-isolation with that of Julian Assange, whom he in turn likens to Christ on the cross, abandoned by God. If we get sidetracked by the ridiculousness of the analogy, we shall miss what is of value in Zizeks theatrics more generally. Like many ostensibly secular philosophers of his generation, iek is drawn to express his call for a renewed sensibility in a religiousspecifically Christiankey.

And yet, here is where we part ways with iek. The problem with this religious key is not the fact that it is religious, but that it seems to imply a damaging fatalism. The task is not to hope that some kind of divine grace turns a one-time stimulus check into socialism, but to acttoward that transformation. iek himself has criticized this sort of quietist stance as the Hlderlin paradigm, after the German poets memorable line that there is salvation where there is danger (wo aber Gefahr ist, wchst das Rettende auch)Heidegger went further, claiming that only a God can save us. A properly politicalspirituality is not the turn toward a higher powerdivine or governmentalbut the embrace of hope as a trigger for a shift in collective practice.

The first stage of such a shift, underway as we write from quarantine, appears as a demystification of what until now has appeared inevitable and unchangeable. Even the insufficient one-time checks sent to Americans reveal the hollowness of the usual pieties about fiscal discipline and our horror of deficits. Suddenly the usual rejoindersheard as recently as the now very distant-seeming Democratic debatesof How will we pay for it? are falling silent. This is a change in policy, to be sure, but we might also see it as bearing, however inadvertently, the fragile germs of a renewed political sensibility. Despite the unprecedented levels of unemployment, workers at Walmart and Amazon strike in protest of labor conditions, while some urban millennials, until yesterday precariously employed gentrifiers, are coming to build, with their neighbors, a unified front against landlords. A Republican attorney general is no prison abolitionist simply because he calls for the strategic release of low-risk prisoners. But the very fact that such a call can be heard, even in reactionary mouths, betrays the opportunity for genuine transformation.

There are reasons to temper our hopes. Of course people fail to pay rent only when they cannot afford it; surely they strike when they have little to lose. Austere governments start spending big when their stability is at stake. But necessity can breed possibilityor a renewed sensibility: indeed, any other image of political change is irrevocably utopian. If only to counter ieks Christian imagery, we can appeal to the Jewish belief that the messiah will come on a donkeyor, if youd like, on a Trump. That we dont quite expecthim to come doesnt render this faith politically inept. If anything, there is a point in political faith and action only so long as redemption is not imminent.

We are accustomed to subjecting public commentaryphilosophers includedto the test of reality. If this is what punditry is about, then telling us what an unprecedented pandemic means as it is still happening is a risky and charlatanistic endeavor. But this could be another common error. It is the ambiguity of a world-historical event in the glimmer of its passing which, like a falling star, reveals to us not reality but something much more rare and preciousa wish, a possibility. A pandemic might not be a revolution, and it might not even lead to one, but it can still be what iek calls a philosophical revolution, at least if we define philosophy, like he does, as the name for our basic orientation in life.

Lets be a bit more shameless.

View original post here:
Hope and Shamelessness - thepointmag.com

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to face an extradition hearing in September, after a court decided to delay proceedings because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Westminster Magistrates Court said the US governments extradition case against Assange would heard by another court, potentially outside London.

The decision follows arguments from lawyers representing Assange and the US government that it would be difficult to hold a fair hearing on 18 May, during the coronavirus lockdown.

Journalists and observers attempted to call into the hearing on a remote telephone line but were unable to hear the proceedings, after a court clerk reportedly made an error with the phone system.

The court heard that Assange was too unwell to attend the hearing by video link from Belmarsh Prison. The WikiLeaks founder faces 17 charges under the 1917 Espionage Act, after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from Chelsea Manning, a former US Army soldier turned whistleblower, in 2010-11.

The court heard last week that Assanges defence team had not been able to communicate with their client to take instructions over new documents served by the US Prosecutor, Gordon Kromberg, because of Covid 19 restrictions.

Legal counsel for both defence and prosecution told District Judge VanessaBaraitser that it would not be fair for the case to proceed by video link under Covid-19 lockdown conditions. She ruled that all parties should be in the courtroom when evidence is heard.

At a hearing in a sparsely populated courtroom today, JudgeBaraitser proposed that the three-week extradition hearing, due to start on 18 May, should be postponed to August, when there were slots available in the court.

Edward Fitzgerald, representing Assange, said he would have great problems with the first three weeks of August and that barrister Mark Summers and key witnesses for the case would not be available in July.

The November date is too late for us and the July date is perhaps unworkable for us, he told the court, according to posts by journalist Marty Silk on Twitter.

James Lewis, representing the US government, said the prosecution would not be able to attend the case in July, as American prosecutors would need to fly to the US and it was doubtful that flights would be available.

JudgeBaraitser said there was no availability to hear the case in Woolwich Crown Court, which is close to Belmarsh Prison where Assange is being held.

The court agreed for the extradition hearing to be held at an alternative Crown Court, potentially outside of London in September, but said it would take time to arrange.

Commenting after the hearing, Lauri Love, who won an extradition case against the US government in February 2018, said that Assange will have spent more than 18 months in Belmarsh prison before any of the evidence relating to his extradition is heard.

Its a horrific legal process to go through under the best conditions. It takes a cumulative toll on your physical and mental health, he said.

A campaign group, Doctors for Assange, said Assange has respiratory and other medical problems and should be releasedon bail immediately.

The defence is expected to call up to 21 witnesses over the course of the September hearing, which is expected to last up to three weeks.

Four days of preliminary legal argument was previously heard at Woolwich Crown Court at the end of February. Assanges lawyers are due to attend court on 1 June 2020 for an administrative hearing.

Link:
Assange extradition hearing to take place in September following coronavirus lockdown - ComputerWeekly.com

(WASHINGTON) Weeks after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel in the Russia investigation, Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, reassured WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a Twitter message that if prosecutors came after him, I will bring down the entire house of cards, according to FBI documents made public Tuesday.

The records reveal the extent of communications between Stone and Assange, whose anti-secrecy website published Democratic emails hacked by Russians during the 2016 presidential election, and underscore efforts by Trump allies to gain insight about the release of information they expected would embarrass Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

The documents FBI affidavits submitted to obtain search warrants in the criminal investigation into Stone were released following a court case brought by The Associated Press and other media organizations.

They were made public as Stone, convicted last year in Muellers investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, awaits a date to surrender to a federal prison system that has grappled with outbreaks of the coronavirus.

In a June 2017 Twitter direct message cited in the records, Stone reassured Assange that the issue was still nonsense and said as a journalist it doesnt matter where you get information only that it is accurate and authentic.

He cited as an example the 1971 Supreme Court ruling that facilitated the publishing by newspapers of the Pentagon Papers, classified government documents about the Vietnam War.

If the US government moves on you I will bring down the entire house of cards, Stone wrote, according to a transcript of the message cited in the search warrant affidavit. With the trumped-up sexual assault charges dropped I dont know of any crime you need to be pardoned for best regards. R.

Stone was likely referring to a sexual assault investigation dropped weeks earlier by Swedish authorities. Assange, who at the time was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, was charged last year with a series of crimes by the U.S. Justice Department, including Espionage Act violations for directing former Army private Chelsea Manning in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.

Assange responded to Stones 2017 Twitter message by saying: Between CIA and DoJ theyre doing quite a lot. On the DoJ side thats coming most strongly from those obsessed with taking down Trump trying to squeeze us into a deal.

Stone replied that he was doing everything possible to address the issues at the highest levels of Government.

The records make clear the Trump campaigns curiosity about what information WikiLeaks was going to make public. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon told Muellers team under questioning that he had asked Stone about WikiLeaks because he had heard that Stone had a channel to Assange, and he was hoping for more releases of damaging information.

In a statement Tuesday, Stone acknowledged that the search warrant affidavits contain private communication, but insisted that they prove no crimes.

I have no trepidation about their release as they confirm there was no illegal activity and certainly no Russian collusion by me during the 2016 Election. There is, to this day, no evidence that I had or knew about the source or content of the Wikileaks disclosures prior to their public release, Stone said.

Stone was among six associates of Trump charged in Muellers investigation. He was convicted last year of lying to House lawmakers, tampering with a witness and obstructing Congress own Russia probe.

A judge in February sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison in a case that exposed fissures inside the Justice Department the entire trial team quit the prosecution amid a dispute over the recommended punishment and between Trump and Attorney General William Barr, who said the presidents tweets about ongoing cases made his job impossible.

____

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.

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FBI Documents Reveal Communication Between Roger Stone and Julian Assange - TIME

We miss the arts as much as you do, so we're trialling this new guide to where you can find theatre, comedy, dance, writer's talks and all that jazz, which will be updated a few times per week, for the week ahead.

The recommendations will focus on Australian content, with occasional international gems thrown in too.

There will be a genuine world premiere, live-streaming arts (gold!), streams from the archive, on-demand dates, bite-sized bits of content from Australian artists and theatre companies, and recommendations for the best 'virtual' exhibitions (ideally something that gives you the feeling of 'being there').

Weekly: ACMI CinemathequeThe Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Cinematheque is forging ahead through the lockdown: each Tuesday via their Facebook page they announce a double feature of streaming films, information on where to watch the selected films and accompanying notes for the next day's virtual cinematheque. You can even watch with friends, via Metastream. Tonight, a double bill of westerns: Decision At Sundown (1957) and Gunman's Walk (1958).

Weekly, 7pm AEST: Sound Gallery SessionsMonash University are live-streaming recitals from their David Li Sound Gallery into your home, every Wednesday evening from 7pm. Tonight: Nu Soul and jazz from Allysha Joy, a member of Melbourne hip hop collective 30/70.

8pm AEST: Chelsea Manning in conversationThe Sydney Opera House brings you a conversation from their 2018 Antidote festival, between Chelsea Manning - who had been released from a US military prison the year before - and journalist Peter Greste. Their conversation covers Manning's activism in the areas of data privacy, surveillance, and trans politics, and will be available on Sydney Opera House's website.

Weekly, 7.30pm AEST: MSO LiveThe Melbourne Symphony Orchestra releases a recent performance from their archive every week on their YouTube channel. Performances remain on their YouTube page after the initial stream, including last week's release: the 2019 world premiere performance of Eumeralla: A War Requiem for Peace by Australian composer and soprano Deborah Cheetham.

Weekly, 8pm AEST: The Lounge Room SessionsAn initiative of the Riverboats Music Festival, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night at 8pm musicians livestream a 30-minute set from their lounge rooms on The Lounge Room Sessions Facebook page. Tonight: Oh Mercy (solo). Viewers have an opportunity to donate to the artist during the stream, offering musicians a much-needed source of revenue.

Weekly, 8.30pm AEST: Lust in the Time of Coronavirus Every Thursday evening, award-winning novelist Krissy Kneen and guest readers read new erotic stories, hosted by Brisbane's Avid Reader bookstore. An 18+ live event, tickets are available up to 4pm on the day of the readings.

Fortnightly: Australian Dance Theatre ADAPTAdelaide-based company Australian Dance Theatre kick off their online season ADAPT tonight, with a 2018 recording of their Helpmann Award-winning show The Beginning of Nature. This is a rare chance to see contemporary Australian dance for free. Sign up to the ADAPT newsletter and ADT will deliver a new show to your inbox fortnightly on Fridays.

7pm AEST: Helen Bidou's Bidou ZoomsAnyone who is familiar with the oeuvre of Helen Bidou (alter-ego of comedian Anne Edmonds) either through her Get Krack!n appearances or through her acclaimed stand-up show Enter the Spinnaker Lounge, would know that a Bidou performance via Zoom will be both strange and thoroughly entertaining. It's being described as "THE Zoom event of this pandemic!" and the 40-minute show will feature old and new songs, special guests, a Q&A element and Bidou's signature sarongs. Tickets available on Eventbrite and there's another session at 8.30pm the following night.

Weekly: Prototype Care PackageEvery Friday until mid-June, Prototype will be delivering screen works (including short experimental films and video art) to your email inbox for you to watch over the next week. This includes new works made for the digital exhibition from Soda_Jerk collaborator Sam Smith (Hollywood Burn), Chilean experimental filmmaker Malena Szlam (Altiplano), documentary maker Sari Braithwaite (Paper Trails) and Australian Malaysian/Bidayah artist Tiyan Baker (Hard As You Can). Sign up on the Prototype website.

Weekly: Poet Laureates of MelbourneThe Melbourne City of Literature office will be sending out a new poem by a different poet straight to your inbox every Saturday, beginning this week. Sign up for your weekly dose of poetry reflecting on and responding to these strange times.

Weekly, 12.55pm AEST: Isol-aid music festivalHead over to Isol-aid's Instagram towards the end of the week to see who will be appearing in the latest edition of this weekly weekender. Previous iterations of the festival have seen Courtney Barnett, Ngaiire and Missy Higgins perform pared-down 20-minute live sets from their homes.

Weekly, 7pm, AEST: East Arnhem LiveIn the second concert of this series, the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band will be performing live from their home in Northern Territory's Gove Peninsula. It's a much-needed creative outlet for performers in remote areas cut off by COVID-19 restrictions, and an opportunity to get to know some of the music that's regularly featured on Yolngu Radio. Jump on the East Arnhem Land Facebook or Instagram pages to watch the performance.

Weekly, sunset-sunrise AEST: Spectra live stream Every Saturday from sunset to sunrise, MONA streams Ryoji Ikeda's light and sound artwork Spectra. This soothing work comprising 49 searchlights and a sound system and set up at the grounds of MONA's gallery in Hobart feels like a light-filled beacon of hope in this isolated and challenging time. Check out Spectra on the MONA website.

Fortnightly, 2pm AEST: Digital Dance ClubMelbourne collective All the Queens Men have created this fortnightly online dance party to keep "the rainbow and allied community [connected] during these turbulent times."

Weekly, 1.55pm AEST: Isol-aid music festivalHead over to Isol-aid's Instagram towards the end of the week to see who will be appearing in the latest edition of this weekly weekender.

Head On Photo Festival (May 2-17)

This annual Sydney festival, comprising exhibitions, workshops and panel discussions, is moving online because of the COVID-19 shutdown. Make sure you check out the Head On Awards exhibitions, which feature 100 finalists across three categories, including Portrait and Landscape (NB the winners will be announced at the Festival's launch party held online on Friday 1 May from 6pm).

The Scriptures That Guide The Way, by Chinese artist Jiang Zhe, is a highlight of the Pulse of the Dragon exhibition.(Supplied: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre)Pulse of the Dragon

This group exhibition at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre features a line-up of Chinese and Chinese-Australian artists whose work explores themes of "religious witchcraft", folklore and mythology in Chinese culture. It's a pretty spectacular show, in a pretty spectacular venue (if converted industrial is your aesthetic vibe). Pulse of the Dragon is curated by Chinese Australian artist Guan Wei and his Beijing peer Cang Xin.

Biennale of SydneyThe Museum of Contemporary Art have brought their part of the Biennale online, with a selection of artworks and galleries now available as 360-degree virtual experiences.

Rite of PassageEleven contemporary Aboriginal artists reflect on the 250 years since James Cook's arrival in this exhibition at QUT Art Museum in Brisbane and what a line-up: Glennys Briggs, Megan Cope, Nici Cumpston, Karla Dickens, Julie Gough, Lola Greeno, Leah King-Smith, Jenna Lee, Carol McGregor, Mandy Quadrio and Judy Watson. The online iteration uses software that allows the viewer to navigate through the exhibition galleries and 'stand' in front of artworks, then pan out to jump to another part of the exhibition.

NGV virtualThe National Gallery of Victoria has launched immersive virtual tours of its exhibitions: you can currently 'walk' through the their blockbuster (and normally ticketed) exhibitions Keith Haring | Jean Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines (and listen to the audio guide at the same time) and Kaws: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness.

Bessie Davidson and Sally SmartBendigo Art Gallery have created an online version of their exhibition Bessie Davidson and Sally Smart: Two artists and the Parisian avant-garde. The exhibition, which was open for just one day before the gallery had to close, features more than 50 paintings by lesser-known Australian Impressionist Bessie Davidson, who found success in 19th-century Paris, alongside works by her great-niece: renowned Australian artist Sally Smart.

On Arts iview from Friday May 1, you can stream productions by Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company. Highlights include Bangarra's breakthrough production Ochres (originally staged in 1995), STC's dreamlike production of Michael Gow's Away, and all of the Handa Operas on Sydney Harbour. Seven productions go online May 1, four more on May 8 and another four on May 15, and the roll-out will continue through to the first week of June.

Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film FestivalThis annual festival taking place in Hobart and Launceston has a social-change mission, focusing on films that (explicitly or implicitly) question the status quo at home and abroad. This year's line-up of 17 films all available to stream, for free, from May 1-17 include a documentary about a new generation of French vinters making organic and natural wines; an Aussie thriller about a young female slam-poet in Bankstown, who goes missing; and the tale of a little boy dreaming of TV fame while growing up on the wild Mongolian steppes. Many of the films feature ravishing landscapes from Greenland ice-sheets to the lush deltas of Southern Africa so there's plenty of chances to escape beyond your lounge room.

The Australian Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet

From May 1-15, you can stream this production of Prokofiev's ballet, choreographed by Graeme Murphy. This week is your last chance to catch master choreographer Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella, set to Prokofiev's score and created specially for The Australian Ballet.

Fran Lebowitz in ConversationResurfaced as part of Sydney Opera House's weekly digital program, this talk from the 2018 All About Women festival features the legendary writer, cultural commentator and New Yorker in conversation about her life, her home city, cultural nostalgia, and the world at large. Sharp is the word.

STC VirtualThis series by Sydney Theatre Company features bite-sized videos made by their artists and former collaborators during lockdown. Watch Tim Minchin performing a monologue from Hamlet in his living room; Kate Mulvany reading from the opening chapter of Ruth Park's Harp in the South; and Shari Sebbens performing monologues from seminal Indigenous Australian plays The Seven Stages of Grieving and Stolen.

Together in ArtThe Art Gallery of NSW Together in Art project features online performances (like singer Sarah Belkner performing inside the now-closed Shadow catchers exhibition), artist interviews (right now there's a video interview with Torres Strait Islander visual artist Gail Mabo) and art how-to-guides (including a face-drawing lesson from Ben Quilty, accompanied by his daughter Livvy).

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Australian arts online guide: the best livestreams and on-demand comedy, music, theatre, exhibitions and more - ABC News

Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who was jailed last year for refusing to testify before a grand jury that is investigating WikiLeaks, has been hospitalized after she attempted suicide on Wednesday, according to her lawyers.

Ms. Manning, 32, is currently recovering, according to her lawyers, who did not say how Ms. Manning tried to kill herself while at a detention center in Alexandria, Va., where she has been held since May.

The Alexandria Sheriffs Office confirmed only that there was an incident involving Ms. Manning at 12:11 p.m. and said, It was handled appropriately by our professional staff and Ms. Manning is safe.

A statement from Ms. Mannings legal team said she was still scheduled to appear on Friday at a hearing before Judge Anthony Trenga of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

At the hearing, the judge is expected to rule on whether to end the civil contempt sanctions imposed on Ms. Manning after she refused to testify before a grand jury investigating the publication of thousands of American military and diplomatic files that she had provided to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Ms. Manning was also detained for two months starting in March 2019 for refusing to testify, then briefly released when that grand jurys term ended taking advantage of the window to announce that she had a book deal that she said would focus on her personal life. But prosecutors subpoenaed her again for testimony before a new grand jury, and she again refused to testify and was locked up again.

In spite of those sanctions which have so far included over a year of so-called coercive incarceration and nearly half a million dollars in threatened fines she remains unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse, said the statement from Ms. Mannings legal team.

Ms. Manning has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself, the statement said.

Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the office of the United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, declined to comment.

A federal prosecutor had previously said that the Justice Department did not want to have Ms. Manning detained, but she had a legal obligation to testify before a grand jury when subpoenaed.

Ms. Manning has attempted suicide at least two previous times, both in 2016 once while in solitary confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., which was itself a punishment for an earlier attempt to end her life that year.

Her actions today evidence the strength of her convictions, as well as the profound harm she continues to suffer as a result of her civil confinement, Ms. Mannings lawyers said in their statement on Wednesday.

The grand jury investigation is part of a long-running inquiry into WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, that dates to the Obama administration and which the Trump administration revived.

Ms. Manning said that when she appeared before the grand jury, prosecutors had asked her questions about WikiLeaks, but she refused to answer every question, saying it violated her constitutional rights.

In a letter last year to Judge Trenga, Ms. Manning described the investigation as an effort to frighten journalists and publishers, who serve a crucial public good.

Before her current incarceration, Ms. Manning served seven years in a military prison, including 11 months of solitary confinement, the statement said.

She was originally convicted in 2013 of providing more than 700,000 government files to WikiLeaks, exposing American military and diplomatic affairs around the world.

President Barack Obama intervened in her case in 2017, commuting all but four months of her 35-year sentence.

Last year, the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges against Mr. Assange, who had been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London but was arrested. Prosecutors initially charged him with a narrow hacking conspiracy offense, for purportedly agreeing to try to help Ms. Manning crack a password that would have let her log onto a military computer system under a different user name, and cover her tracks.

But prosecutors later drastically expanded the case against Mr. Assange by bringing charges against him under the Espionage Act for soliciting, receiving and publishing classified information an unprecedented effort to deem such journalistic activities (a separate issue from the debate over whether Mr. Assange himself counts as a journalist) as crimes that raise novel First Amendment issues. Mr. Assange has been fighting extradition in a London court.

The criminal case against Mr. Assange does not involve his later actions in publishing Democratic emails, stolen by Russian hackers, during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Sandra E. Garcia and John Ismay contributed reporting.

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Chelsea Manning Tries to Kill Herself in Jail, Lawyers Say ...

A judge on Thursday ordered that former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning be released from prison, where she was being held in contempt of court for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury. Manning was also ordered to pay $256,000 in fines accrued during her detention. The order comes just a day after Manning's legal team said she attempted suicide at the Virginia detention center where she was incarcerated.Judge Anthony Trenga ruled that Manning's "appearance before the Grand Jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose." Manning's release is not dependent on her paying the $256,000.Manning's legal team did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia declined to comment.

Manning, who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, was convicted in 2013 for leaking classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks and given a 35-year military sentence. President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017 before he left office.Two years later, Manning was jailed again in March 2019 for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. She was released approximately two months later when the grand jury's term expired but then was jailed again a week later for refusing to comply with a second subpoena from the new grand jury.At the time, the judge said she could be incarcerated for up to 18 months, and that she'd be fined $500 per day for 30 days, and $1,000 per day after 60 days.Manning has repeatedly objected to the grand juries and said she was not willing to testify. In 2019, she told Judge Trenga in a letter: "I object to this grand jury ... as an effort to frighten journalists and publishers, who serve a crucial public good. I have had these values since I was a child, and I've had years of confinement to reflect on them. For much of that time, I depended for survival on my values, my decisions, and my conscience. I will not abandon them now."

Clare Hymes contributed reporting.

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Chelsea Manning ordered released from prison, fined ...

The son of British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood wants accused US government hacker Julian Assange "furloughed" from Belmarsh prison in southeast London, UK.

The apparently serious suggestion was made by human rights charity Humanade, of which Joseph Corr is a trustee.

Corr, Westwood's son by the late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, told the British press that he, along with lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, is "set to liaise with the UK government to 'furlough Julian Assange' from Belmarsh prison due to the serious threat on his life imposed by COVID-19."

"If Assange contracts COVID-19 and dies, the UK government will be accused of deliberately and methodically killing Julian Assange," Corr added in a canned statement.

A furlough which can mean a temporary leave of absence or a temporary layoff to cut costs is not new to the tech world, but many Brits have found themselves quickly swotting up after the UK government used it in the treasury's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. In the taxpayer-funded scheme, if staff can't work because of the nationwide coronavirus shutdown, businesses are given the option of sending them home and receiving a grant to cover 80 per cent of their salary up to a 2,500 gross monthly wage.

Furlough is also used to describe a situation where US prisoners are released for compassionate or medical reasons; in the UK eligibility for temporary release schemes are governed by the Ministry of Justice and such inmates who qualify (see guidance here) and do not have a tariff need "ministerial permission".

Earlier this week, Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service introduced the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme (ECTR), although that's only for "risk-assessed prisoners, who are within two months of their release date". The MoJ said "pregnant or extremely medically vulnerable" types would be considered for Release on Temporary Licence on a case-by-case basis.

Humanade "believes Assange should be 'furloughed' somewhere outside of London, a hotbed for COVID-19, in one of the safe places that one of Julian's many friends would be happy to accommodate him, well away from London".

Lest anyone needs reminding, the last time old Jules was paroled to a mate's house, he promptly scarpered straight into the Ecuadorian Embassy in the UK capital, where he remained for most of the 2010s. Police, with the consent of the embassy, eventually dragged him out in 2019. He was later sentenced to a year in prison for jumping bail.

Moreover, Assange's previous attempts to get out of jail by using coronavirus as an excuse have already been dismissed by a judge and a legal system alike that are determined to treat the feisty WikiLeaker just like any other accused who's been remanded in custody.

Assange faces charges in the US of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion along with one-time US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. American authorities are seeking to have the Aussie extradited from London, though the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown has seemingly thrown the planned trial into chaos.

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Assange should be furloughed from Belmarsh prison, says human rights org. Here's a thought: He could stay with friends! - The Register