I believe Assange when he says that if he had material on Trump he would release it. An institution like Wikileaks is dependent on what it receives from whistleblowers.
That said, there’s an edge to Wikileaks with reference to Clinton which is undeniable.
I think it’s also understandable, if you understand that Clinton was part of the Obama administration and agreed with Obama’s policies towards whistleblowers.
Consider that Manning has tried to commit suicide twice. She is kept in strict isolation, which is known to cause the same sort of brain damage as active torture. Effectively, Obama is torturing her, and his administration (and no, don’t tell me the administration didn’t have discretion) threw the book at her.
When Snowden fled, the Americans were so desperate to stop him they had France force down Evo Morales’ presidential plane. Snowden wound up in Russia, one of only two countries in the world which could protect him if they chose to do so (the other being China, where he tried to flee the first time).
Obama has been far worse on whistleblowers than Bush. He has gone after them relentlessly and thrown them in jail. He is the worst president on whistleblowers in history.
Whistleblowers believe that they are releasing information that the public should know, that what they do is like the Pentagon Papers release; because it is information the public should know, it is journalism, and they should not go to jail.
Obama does not agree, and there is every reason to believe Clinton does not agree either.
You start going after people to throw them in jail, and effectively torture them, and you expect them not to do what they can against you?
Idiot mythologies about Democrats being better aside, the FACT is that the last Republican president was better to whistleblowers than the current Democratic president.
So, yeah, I don’t imagine Assange wanted Clinton in the White House. Again, I believe him that he would publish anything he had on Trump, but if he doesn’t like Clinton or Obama, that’s perfectly understandable.
If you go after a class of people who have the means to fire back, expect them to do so.
And, as it happens, I think that Obama was absolutely wrong in how he treated whistleblowers, and if misplaced gratitude makes President Trump treat them better and pardon some of them (and I wouldn’t count on it), then that would be a good thing.
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Stirling S Newberry
I am listening to my string quartet #5 – something that I know almost all of you will not be interested in – but in the second movement there is a pattern which is to remind the listener of an important message. That message is that you have been warned of this before.
It would be nice if the people who read this blog would learn some of the basic lessons – one of them is people in power do not like anyone else to control them. Whether Democrat, or Republican, or any other person. power does not like anyone else to control the levers, because that, in essence, is what power is.
nihil obstet
After a 14 month investigation the UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez reported that treatment of Manning was at least cruel and inhumane and might have constituted torture. That Manning had not been found guilty of any crime at the time meant that it also constituted a violation of her human rights.
Obama’s response? “I have asked the Pentagon whether or not the the procedures that have been taken in terms of his condition are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are.” If the Democrats want to have a basket of deplorables, Obama won admission with that statement alone. Way to command, Commander-in-Chief!!!
Adams
Important post. Comey and Assange may in fact have swung the election, all other things being equal. Which, of course, they never are. But they come from different directions and with very different motivations.
Persecution of whistle blowers is the deep government’s instinctive reaction (irritability of the protoplasm) to the danger of revelation of its existence and its activities. The severity of Obama’s and Clinton’s actions in these cases demonstrates the extent to which the DG controls and animates the puppets in the ostensible government. Suggestions that Trump is too narcissistic and autocratic to allow anyone to “roll” him (currently being discussed on other sites) are pure fantasy.
Assange, Manning, Snowden, Kiriakou and many less known are essential to maintaining even the hope of legitimate government, but they got too close to the core. John Walker Lindh, on the other hand, was idealistic, naive, and in the wrong place at the wrong time. His persecution seems to have been motivated by the desire to offer up a scapegoat or example to a fearful and spiteful public.
All demonstrate the utter hypocrisy of expressions of the sanctity of human life by government, media, and religion. All are essential to our understanding our the true nature of our society. All deserve our support.
Hugh
It’s called hypocrisy. Obama came in promising hope and change but gave us more of more of the same. He was the first black President but he did nothing for African-Americans devastated by the 2007 housing crash and the 2008 meltdown. He deported huge numbers of illegal immigrants, most of them Hispanics. So I don’t see why exactly the Democratic party thought it had a lock on American Hispanics. His Administration was not going to hire any lobbyists into government positions, except it did, lots. His was going to be the most transparent Administration, hence the war on whistleblowers.
About the only people who got what they wanted consistently from his Administration were the bankers.
Karl Kolchack
I actually WAS a whistleblower under Bush. Can’t say my life during that period was pleasant, but as a result of what I and several others did, a Bush official was forced to resign while I kept my job. In fairness, we were greatly helped by the House Government Oversight Committee under Democratic Representative Henry Waxman, but the the was never any retaliation. I was actually promoted less than a year later.
Obama’s whistleblower record is one of many reasons why I’ve grown to hate him and danced a jig when Hillary lost.