Jimmy Dore: Bernie Has to Over-Win Or They’ll Cheat Him

 

Sunset Lux
I wish Warren would have spoke up when actual native Americans were getting attacked for defending their land against the DAPL. But nope Warren was a no show. Bernie was there though
Conditioned Ignorance
Warren: Plagiarized a cherokee cook book Lied about her heritage to get into Harvard Lied about sending her kids to public school Lied about calling Bernie a sexist
Shane B.
Bernie has to win big. That’s right. Right now, they’re cheating Tulsi and Andrew Yang.
Juf Connie
I would rather have Tulsi as secretary of state. I think the world would be a safer and better place.
M4R
Sanders president – Tulsi VP – Yang UBI programme supervisor : game over for the Washington fakes like Warren and Biden.
Dan Harris
I wish Bernie defended himself like his supporters defend him.

Watch FREE on YouTube! PUTIN’S Peaceful Jan 2020 REVOLUTION! New Constitution, New Government, New Russia!

Total revolution in Russian gov’t is another sign of the MASSIVE Earth Shift taking place right now! Lada sharing latest insider intel explaining what that means to the world and how it affects nations, politics and every one of us! Totally awesome report!

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PUTIN’S Peaceful Jan 2020 REVOLUTION!

New Constitution, New Government, New Russia!

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EARTH SHIFT REPORT 28

PUTIN’S SECRET MASTER PLAN & RUSSIA AFTER PUTIN

Medvedev government resignation. New meritocracy government.

New Constitution!

HOW PUTIN’S QUIET JANUARY REVOLUTION WILL CHANGE RUSSIA & THE WORLD

LADA RAY ANALYSIS & PREDICTIONS​

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Establishment Democrats Are Scrambling To Stop Bernie Sanders

 

Mo Azim
He calls himself a democratic socialist, like Einstein and MLK.
Billy Mech
The other dems can’t even go after him with socialism or communism because that’s a republican smear and it would probably only help bernie
TMM
Warren tried to attack him and it only increased his popularity.
wayjose
“oh no we can’t let the american people decide for themselves” wtf

The Coronavirus Epidemic: Chinese Resilience and Silent, Simple and Steady Resistance

By Peter Koenig

January 30, 2020 “Information Clearing House” –   In a positive appeal to the Chinese people, last Saturday, President Xi Jinping has called on the nation’s courage to defeat the deadly epidemic which has already claimed more than 80 lives and more than 2,000 infected worldwide, the vast majority in China. These figures are changing fast, as the spread of the epidemic is accelerating. President Xi warned that the situation was serious, but not unsurmountable.

“As long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, [rely on] scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle,” President Xi told a politburo meeting, according to Xinhua.

It is thought that the deadly coronavirus, 2019-nCoV has originated from wild animals, such as bats, but science is still out to confirm the details.

In short, the Government of China deserves high-flying congratulations for the efficient, rapid sanitary measures it has taken to avoid further infection – putting about 50 million people in a state of quarantine, blocking potentially dangerous travel routes and checking travelers for possible symptoms.

The timing of the outbreak has an additional dimension of pain and suffering, as it affects and hinders people’s celebration of the New Chinese Lunar Year’s joy of visiting families and of togetherness. And on a tertiary plan, it also affects the retail economy.

Chinese doctors and nurses have already healed several dozen cases. Chinese scientists in collaboration with Russian scientists are accelerating their research into developing a vaccine against the virus. Indeed, there is no country in the world that has ever achieved with such ardor, efficiency and love for the people, progress towards isolation of a potentially highly infectable and deadly disease, preventing millions from infection and providing them with protective as well as curative measures, and by setting up a countrywide impenetrable health surveillance mechanism.

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There could not be a clearer sign, that the Government of China is making every effort for the betterment and the well-being of its population. This is also reflected in the high esteem and credibility the Chinese people entrust in their government. – Something not heard of in the west – not by far.

Rather to the contrary: in the west disease means foremost business and that (business) model of health care is steadily increasing, treating sick people like a “market” – and those not yet sick, as a potential market. The medical industry, is one of the most ferocious money-making apparatuses, next to the war industry.

It’s more, the big western bought and manipulative media have immediately put the blame on China. They are demonizing and slandering China, for insufficient hygiene, for medical negligence – it is one more accusation of the “yellow peril” causing worldwide danger.  A horror of western attitude and injustice.

Aside from such lies and false propaganda, let’s look at the context. In the USA alone, the regular influenza causes every year several thousand deaths, and that despite country-wide carpet vaccination, and in some states forced vaccination.  The 2019/20 flu-season has already claimed more than 7000 reported deaths and uncounted cases of serious flu infections; and that only in the United States. We are talking about a country of some 350 million people. – The statistics of this flu-epidemic could be expanded proportionally throughout Europe and the rest of the western world – and the order of magnitude would be even more overwhelming.

Yet, China, with a population of some 1.4 billion people, an outbreak, where up to this writing less than 3000 people have been infected with the new 2019-nCoV virus, and the death toll stands at below 100, the country is being badgered non-stop for being at the origin of this new disease.

Let me be clear, China does not need or want to compare herself to the west, nor does she want to measure her degree of efficiency in mastering the disease and dealing with the disease’s consequences against the west. Not at all. It’s not part of the Chinese philosophy. – However, WHO immediately calls the outbreak a potential pandemic, thereby frightening the public at large with yet another danger coming from the east, from China.

The Chinese Government and the Chinese scientists work for the people, to contain the outbreak to the extent possible. And they will ‘win’; their determination like with most everything China engages in overcomes almost all obstacles. What China has already achieved in stopping the disease from seriously spreading within China and to other countries is simply remarkable. It is what no other country in the world would have achieved in this short period.

China does all this quietly, no bragging. It is simply an endless flow of creation for the well-being of her population and for harmony – and eventually for a peaceful, trustful cohabitation of the people with their government. People willingly participate in this mammoth effort to contain and cure the disease, willingly, despite their suffering of many for not being able to visit their families during that highly revered Chinese New Year, the New Lunar Year celebration which in magnitude and importance would be western equivalent of Christmas.

Having said this, it should also be noted that this case of 2019-nCoV is curiously similar to other CoronoVirus diseases, like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – MERS,  first found in Saudi Arabia (2012) and then it spread to other Middle Easter and Sub-Saharan African countries; and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), first discovered in China in 2002, spread around the world but was quickly contained and caused no know infections after 2004. Both are coronaviruses, suspected having been laboratory-made, with animal trials, and the viruses transfer to humans was only possible with human assistance. Then the viruses mutated to make human-to-human infection possible. Bothe SARS and the new 2019-nCoV virus also have the particularity of affecting primarily people of the Chinese race.

There are some 100-plus CIA / Pentagon sponsored clandestine and semi-known laboratories spread throughout the world – laboratories to fabricate and test agents for biological warfare. A few years ago, one such laboratory was discovered and reported on in Ukraine. They were working on a virus affecting the “Russian Race”. Since there is no homogenous Russian Race – their initial trials supposedly failed. Since the empire never gives up in its evil attempts to dominate the world, we can assume that research on race directed bio-agents continues.

This western, especially American (CIA, Pentagon, NATO) project to develop bio-chemical weapons to kill people by disease rather than bullets and bombs – it is much cheaper! And less obvious – does exist. You may draw your own conclusion on whether SARS and the new 2019-nCoV fits that pattern. The timing of the appearance was especially curious. It was first reported on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan – and then expanded into a proportion, so that it interfered with China’s most important Holiday, the Lunar New Year. It could, of course, be just coincidence.

One of Washington’s “low-grade” warfare models is destabilizing China (and Russia for that matter) with any means. With the objective of destabilization, China is constantly being harassed and aggressed – see Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Tibet, the tariff wars – and why not with a contagious virus, a trial for a potential pandemic?

What can be observed and even the west must notice to their chagrin and frustration – is China’s extreme resilience and capacity to adapt and resist – to resist with powerful minds and ingenuity that saves her people. And that without counter-aggression, without even an accusation and never a threat. This is China’s way forward: a steady flow of endless creation, avoiding conflict, no dominance, but seeking harmony by building bridges between people and among countries and cultures – creating understanding and wellbeing, towards a multi-polar world. A model for mankind? – If only the west would open its eyes and wake up.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT; Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; Greanville Post; Defend Democracy Press, TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the resistance. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

NOW AVAILABLE! Mega-EARTH SHIFT REPORT 28: ​PUTIN’S SECRET MASTER PLAN & RUSSIA AFTER PUTIN!

Awesome report, thank you Lada for your special insights and tremendous hard work! New Russian gov’t is certainly a game changer, what can the West do? 🙂

Futurist Trendcast

EARTH SHIFT REPORT 28

PUTIN’S SECRET MASTER PLAN & RUSSIA AFTER PUTIN

Medvedev government resignation. New Meritocracy Government.

New Constitution!

HOW PUTIN’S QUIET JANUARY REVOLUTION WILL CHANGE RUSSIA & THE WORLD

LADA RAY ANALYSIS & PREDICTIONS​

This all-encompassing 4-PART Mega-report is a combo written & video/spoken

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SUMMARY

P1 – written article by Lada Ray

Putin’s QUIET REVOLUTION! New Constitution, New Government, New Future Direction for Russia & the World!

The long-awaited changes to the Russian constitution; Putin voluntarily diminishing the powers of the president and limiting his term; surprise resignation of the old government and Dmitry Medvedev; new government led by the unlikely tax man; major support of poor families and families with kids; the living wage increase; and strengthening the parliament’s (the Russian Duma) powers.
I dispel silly rumors circulating in the West and give you in-depth, up to date real facts, analysis and my special Earth Shift…

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DNC Stacks Convention Committees w/ Corporate Bernie Haters #TheJimmyDoreShow

No surprise here – DNC doing what they do best: LOSE!

 

Joe Rogan’s Bernie Sanders podcast has 11 million views! Of course the DNC is crapping their pants!
How can anyone trust the Democrats to fairly run the Country when they cannot run their own selection process fairly
They don’t even try to hide it, the corruption is endemic.
If Bernie calls them out they will say “See, he is smearing Democrats. He is not a Democrat! Not one of us, so can’t be on the ticket.” You watch.
I’m starting to understand the “Bernie’s not a real Democrat” argument. Because if you’re not a sellout, you’re clearly not a real Democrat.
The DNC has done a better job of being republican than the republicans have.
This list reads like a CNN all stars show.
Breaking news : Democrats and Republicans are both as bad as each other
I hope Bernie purges the DNC of corruption once he is President.
If Bernie has a commanding lead and they steal it from him, the democratic party is done.
The Onion can’t compete with reality
“Unity tour.” Hillary literally rolled her eyes behind bernies back and fake nodded on a live stream. lmfao
This is why I left the Democratic party. The DNC is a corporatist organization. Period. Nothing more to discuss.
This justifies Bernie going 3rd party if he is ripped off!

Good People Doing Good Things — For Planet Earth

Amazing good ppl post, so much hope. ❤

Filosofa's Word

Today, in light of how very critical our environment is becoming as evidenced by the horrific Australian bushfires that have been burning since last June, I went in search of good people who are doing good things, small and large, for the environment.  Not surprisingly, I found some to share with you …


They call him “Forest Man”, but his name is Jadav Payeng.  Jadav has planted a tree every single day for 40 years and now this man-made forest that was once a landscape devastated by erosion is bigger than Central Park!  Now this incredible forest is home to hundreds of elephants, rhinos, boars, reptiles, and birds. This botanical-enthusiast says he is planning to plant trees until his “last breath”.

“Nature is God. It gives me inspiration. It gives me power … As long as it survives, I survive.”

Mr. Payeng has been featured on a Tedx Talks, and…

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How to Be a Mentally Sovereign Human

Last Updated on 

 

Being mentally sovereign means pursuing truth, freedom and autonomy no matter what the cost. It’s hard. However, as the philosopher Spinoza once said, all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

 

We all showed up naked, slimy and clueless in a world of inexplicable sensory input we couldn’t make head or tail out of. We were then taught what’s what by people who showed up under the exact same circumstances a blink of an eye earlier. The amniotic fluid is barely washed from our tiny naked bodies before we find ourselves in a marriage and a day job, staring down at a small pair of eyes looking up to us for guidance. This is not a good environment for developing mental sovereignty, the ownership and authorship of your own cognitive relationship with life. Like anything worthwhile in life, being mentally sovereign is not easy and takes effort.

Stepping into the world as a small person is like stepping completely unarmored onto a battlefield with live ammunition flying in all directions, except instead of bullets, it’s narrative.

On one side of the battlefield you’ve got your family with rifles and side-arms firing their stories about what’s important in life, what the world is like, how people should deal with problems, and what society ought to look like.

On another side you’ve got teachers and preachers armed with shotguns spraying buckshot about the beliefs that various power structures want you to have about your experience on this earth.

On another side you’ve got the advertisers, armed with machine guns, hammering anything that moves with narratives about inadequacy and problems you never knew you had.

And, raining bombs from above, you’ve got the mass media propagandists.

You’re not going to make it off of that field without sustaining significant damage. You never stood a chance, really. At best you’re going to spend a long time picking slugs, bullets and shrapnel out of your flesh and stitching up the wounds that they caused, and that’s assuming you’re one of the lucky few who makes it off the field at all. Most just absorb the beliefs that get blasted into them in the frenzy of living and keep almost all of them.

Becoming a mentally self-sovereign human being means undoing all that damage, and protecting yourself from absorbing more. It means completely renouncing everything you’ve been told to believe about what’s happening on these strange shores you washed up on small, sticky and confused, and setting off to find out for yourself instead. It means making it to the swamps of Dagobah and looking where the wise old muppet is pointing when he suggests “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

Being a mentally sovereign human means constructing your own understanding of this weird reality based on your own investigations and your own reasoning, which means constructing it from the ground up. Even your most basic assumptions about reality itself must be rigorously cross-examined with complete skepticism. Nothing must be taken on faith.

Most people believe that they are truly free thinkers. Most people are wrong. Most people are controlled by unworthy, unquestioned ideas that were put in their heads long ago by other people.

To attain a truly self-sovereign mind, you need to put truth above all else in every waking moment. You need to constantly dedicate yourself to learning what’s true and what’s real, and to living in alignment with the truth that has been discovered.

Wanting true mental sovereignty means wanting to know the truth in all areas of your experience, come what may.

It means wanting to know the truth about what’s really happening in your world, and how it contrasts with what you’re being told to believe about what’s happening in your world by confident-sounding voices on the screens that you see.

It means wanting to know the truth about your family and your relationships and the various unconscious, unquestioned dynamics that are at play there.

It means wanting to know the truth about the various aspects of yourself that you keep hidden and compartmentalized out of sight.

It means wanting to know the truth about reality itself, and how you might have been misperceiving various aspects of your own field of consciousness this entire time.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if very powerful people don’t want you to know the truth.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it hurts.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it is terrifying.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it means being wrong.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it means discovering that you’ve been completely wrong about everything your whole life.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it crumbles every belief you’ve ever had about what you are and what the world is.

It means wanting to know the truth, even if it tears your life apart.

It means wanting to know the truth, even though you know you’ll never have all of it.

Most people are content to sit in various degrees of untruth, accepting unexamined assumptions as true because it is much easier and more comfortable than confronting reality on reality’s own terms. They’re happy to let the lies that have been put in their heads by other people rule their experience of this world.

The mentally sovereign human does not do this. The mentally sovereign human looks at life through lenses constructed out of an uncompromising dedication to unrelenting honesty, on all levels and facets of human experience.

Mental self-rule is not for everyone. It is not for cowards. It is not for the lazy or complacent. It’s not for those who do things only because there’s some material or egoic reward in it for them. These people are destined to have their minds ruled by others.

Mental sovereignty is for those who put truth above all else, and who see truth as its own reward. Their dedication to learning what’s true never ceases. These people rule their own minds.

 

Caitlin Johnstone

Caitlin Johnstone

Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerilla poet. Utopia prepper. Proudly 100 percent reader-funded through Patreon and Paypal. Much work done with assistance from soulmate/brother-in-arms/co-conspirator Tim Foley. Read Caitlin’s articles on Medium here or on Steemit here, follow her on Twitter here, and follow her on Facebook here. If you would like to support Caitlin, you can share her articles around, buy her book, or throw some coin in her hat on Patreon or Paypal. Shine on.

The Empire’s War On Oppositional Journalism Continues To Escalate

The Empire’s War on oppositional journalism continues to escalate, as Glenn Greenwald has been arrested for publishing texts of Brazil’s political elite.

The Empire’s war on oppositional journalism

continues. It seemingly can’t tolerate diverse opinion and the dissidents who think, speak and write them. The predictable result is ever more censorship. Journalist Glenn Greenwald has been charged by the Bolsonaro government in Brazil with the same prosecutorial angle used by the US to target WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Per The New York Times:

Citing intercepted messages between Mr. Greenwald and the hackers, prosecutors say the journalist played a “clear role in facilitating the commission of a crime.”

For instance, prosecutors contend that Mr. Greenwald encouraged the hackers to delete archives that had already been shared with The Intercept Brasil, in order to cover their tracks.

Prosecutors also say that Mr. Greenwald was communicating with the hackers while they were actively monitoring private chats on Telegram, a messaging app. The complaint charged six other individuals, including four who were detained last year in connection with the cellphone hacking.

This argument is essentially indistinguishable from the argument currently being used by the Trump administration in charging Assange with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. The US Department of Justice alleges that Assange attempted to provide Private Manning with advice and assistance in covering her tracks while leaking documents she already had access to, therefore making Assange party to a conspiracy against the United States.

 

It is not surprising that Brazil is advancing the same war on journalism we’ve been seeing in the US, UK, Australia and France. With the election of the overtly fascist Jair Bolsonaro in October 2018 (an election whose corrupt foundations were exposed by Greenwald’s reporting with The Intercept Brasil), the Brazilian government moved into full alignment with the the US-centralized empire, which was why his inauguration was enthusiastically celebrated by characters like Donald TrumpMike PompeoJohn Bolton and Benjamin Netanyahu.

In exactly the same way we saw a coordination between the US, UK, Sweden, Ecuador and Australia to immobilize, and then silence, and then imprison Julian Assange, we are seeing a uniform movement toward silencing oppositional journalism throughout the entire US-centralized empire. This is because a rising China and the increasing coziness of the cluster of nations which have resisted absorption into the imperial blob greatly imperil the USA’s position as the unipolar global dominator, meaning that the empire needs to quickly shore up global control in order to avoid being surpassed and replaced by other power structures.

In order to accomplish this there’s going to have to be a lot of nefarious behavior. A lot of military escalations, a lot of CIA coups, a lot of bullying and subversion, and a whole lot of propaganda to grease the wheels of public consent. Such large, frantic, flailing movements can be easily exposed by a free press, which is precisely why the free press is being clamped down upon now. The empire is setting all these legal precedents against oppositional journalism because it fully intends to use those precedents in the future. It fully intends to use those legal precedents in the future because it knows it’s going to have to make things ugly.

This is all being done to prevent the public from gaining a clear understanding of what’s really going on in their world, because if the public had a clear understanding of what’s going on in their world, the empire would forever lose its ability to control them and rule them.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. The imperialists understand this. The public, by and large, do not. And the imperialists intend to keep it that way.

Glenn Greenwald has spent the last three years being falsely smeared as a stooge of authoritarian governments while he was actually doing more damage to an authoritarian government than all of his critics combined. Public trust in oppressive institutions (like the oppressive institutions that empire loyalists have been protecting by smearing Greenwald as a Kremlin agent and a Putin puppet) can be severely weakened by the exposure of their dark underbellies to the light of truth.

The imperialists know this, and they are determined not to allow it to continue. Hence their persecution of Assange, and hence their persecution of Greenwald.

 

Caitlin Johnstone

Caitlin Johnstone

Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerilla poet. Utopia prepper. Proudly 100 percent reader-funded through Patreon and Paypal. Much work done with assistance from soulmate/brother-in-arms/co-conspirator Tim Foley. Read Caitlin’s articles on Medium here or on Steemit here, follow her on Twitter here, and follow her on Facebook here. If you would like to support Caitlin, you can share her articles around, buy her book, or throw some coin in her hat on Patreon or Paypal. Shine on.

WikiLeaks Editor: US Is Saying First Amendment Doesn’t Apply To Foreigners In Assange Case

WikiLeaks Editor Hrafnsson reveals how the USG is trying to claim the First Amendment doesn’t apply to foreigners in the Assange case. Learn why this is wrong.

 

The USG (US Government) is trying to redefine and reinterpret the reach of the First Amendment

in its case against Assange. Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson gave a brief statement to the press after the latest court hearing for Julian Assange’s extradition case in London today, saying the Trump administration is arguing that the First Amendment of the US Constitution doesn’t provide press freedom protection to foreign nationals like Assange. Hrafnsson said:

“We have now learned from submissions and affidavits presented by the United States to this court that they do not consider foreign nationals to have a First Amendment protection … Now let that sink in for a second. At the same time that the US government is chasing journalists all over the world, they claim they have extra-territorial reach, they have decided that all foreign journalists which include many of you here, have no protection under the First Amendment of the United States. So that goes to show the gravity of this case. This is not about Julian Assange, it’s about press freedom.”

Hrafnsson’s very newsworthy claim has as of this writing received no mainstream news media coverage at all. The video above is from independent reporter Gordon Dimmack.

This prosecutorial strategy would be very much in alignment with remarks made in 2017 by then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

“Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms. He’s sitting in an embassy in London. He’s not a U.S. citizen,” Pompeo told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

That, like nearly every sound which emits from Pompeo’s amorphous face, was a lie. The First Amendment is not a set of special free speech privileges that the US government magnanimously bestows upon a few select individuals, it’s a limitation placed upon the US government’s ability to restrict rights that all persons everywhere are assumed to have.

This is like a sex offender who’s barred from living within 500 yards of a school claiming that the school he moved in next to is exempt because it’s full of immigrants who therefore aren’t protected by his restriction. It’s a restriction placed on the government, not a right that is given to certain people.

Attorney and Future of Freedom Foundation president Jacob Hornberger explained after Pompeo’s remarks, “As Jefferson points out, everyone, not just American citizens, is endowed with these natural, God-given rights, including life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. That includes people who are citizens of other countries. Citizenship has nothing to do rights that are vested in everyone by nature and God. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, that includes Julian Assange.”

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is himself now being legally persecuted by the same empire as Assange under an indictment which Hrafnsson in the aforementioned statement called “almost a carbon copy of the indictment against Julian Assange”, also denounced Pompeo’s 2017 remarks.

“The notion that WikiLeaks has no free press rights because Assange is a foreigner is both wrong and dangerous,” Greenwald wrote at the time. “When I worked at the Guardian, my editors were all non-Americans. Would it therefore have been constitutionally permissible for the U.S. Government to shut down that paper and imprison its editors on the ground that they enjoy no constitutional protections? Obviously not.”

Greenwald, who is a former litigation attorney, referenced a Salon article he’d written in 2010 skillfully outlining why Senator Susan Collins’ attempts to spin constitutional rights as inapplicable to foreigners would be outlandish, insane, illegal and unconstitutional to put into practice.

“To see how false this notion is that the Constitution only applies to U.S. citizens, one need do nothing more than read the Bill of Rights,” Greenwald argued in 2010. “It says nothing about ‘citizens.’  To the contrary, many of the provisions are simply restrictions on what the Government is permitted to do (‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . or abridging the freedom of speech’; ‘No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner’).  And where rights are expressly vested, they are pointedly not vested in ‘citizens,’ but rather in ‘persons’ or ‘the accused’ (‘No person shall . . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law’; ‘In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed . . . . and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense’).”

“The U.S. Supreme Court, in 2008, issued a highly publicized opinion, in Boumediene v. Bush, which, by itself, makes clear how false is the claim that the Constitution applies only to Americans,” Greenwald wrote. “The Boumediene Court held that it was unconstitutional for the Military Commissions Act to deny habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees, none of whom was an American citizen (indeed, the detainees were all foreign nationals outside of the U.S.).  If the Constitution applied only to U.S. citizens, that decision would obviously be impossible.”

“The principle that the Constitution applies not only to Americans, but also to foreigners, was hardly invented by the Court in 2008,” Greenwald added. “To the contrary, the Supreme Court — all the way back in 1886 — explicitly held this to be the case, when, in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, it overturned the criminal conviction of a Chinese citizen living in California on the ground that the law in question violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.  In so doing, the Court explicitly rejected what Susan Collins and many others claim about the Constitution.”

These “and many others” Greenwald referred to would now include both Mike Pompeo and the Department of Justice prosecutors who are attempting to extradite and imprison Assange for publishing information exposing US war crimes.

So let’s be clear here: the Trump administration isn’t just working to establish a legal precedent which will demolish press freedoms around the world, it’s also working to change how the US Constitution operates on a very fundamental level.

Does now seem like a good time to fight against this to you? Because it sure as hell seems like that time to me.

Hrafnsson also said in this same statement that Assange’s extradition trial is going to be split into two separate dates, the first on February 24 for one week and then reconvening again for three weeks starting May 18. If you care about freedom of virtually any sort, I highly recommend paying very, very close attention.

 

 

Caitlin Johnstone

Caitlin Johnstone

Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerilla poet. Utopia prepper. Proudly 100 percent reader-funded through Patreon and Paypal. Much work done with assistance from soulmate/brother-in-arms/co-conspirator Tim Foley. Read Caitlin’s articles on Medium here or on Steemit here, follow her on Twitter here, and follow her on Facebook here. If you would like to support Caitlin, you can share her articles around, buy her book, or throw some coin in her hat on Patreon or Paypal. Shine on.