The Random thought thread

[red750]

The government has sent Julian Assange a bill for $178,000 for the private jet used to take him to the American island where he took a guilty plea to secure his release, as he is a private citizen.

[old man emu]

Arseholes!

[Marty_d]

He's world famous.  If he put up a crowd-funding appeal to pay for the costs he'll get it all back.

[spacesailor]

He was a ' detainee ' of the American government. 

Until After that American judge released him .

spacesailor

 

[red750]

I'm furious about Channel 7 tonight. Wasted over an hour replaying the arrival of Julian Assange more than  a dozen times walking down the stairs of the plane and walking to the hangar. Once more than enough. A video on the news would have been enough. At least Nine showed the State of Origin. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

10 hours ago, red750 said:

The government has sent Julian Assange a bill for $178,000 for the private jet used to take him to the American island where he took a guilty plea to secure his release, as he is a private citizen.

More like usd 500k https://www.news.com.au/national/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-faces-huge-bill-for-freedom-flight/news-story/35d1dd3230800745c6ddb34b2e7bc7b8

[red750]

6 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

More like usd 500k

Don't know where the figure in my post came from. Should have been $782,000.

[Marty_d]

Now the opposition are trying desperately to find some relevance by acting horrified that the PM rang Julian Assange.

 

Why the hell would he NOT ring an Australian citizen and award-winning journalist who has been either seeking asylum or imprisoned in a foreign country for the past 12 years??

 

Shows how desperate the LNP are.  Even Barmy Joyce, occasional acting PM when their side was in, has very publicly stated that Assange should be brought home.

[old man emu]

The Free Julian Assange campaign has set up a crowd-funding website to raise $US520,000, ($A782,190) to pay for the 12,000 kilometre private jet flight to Saipan and then home to Australia.

 

Makes you wonder how much is spent by politicians going to diplomatic meetings, conferences and "goodwill" tours.

[pmccarthy]

I sent in for a free Julian Assange but didn't get one.

[spacesailor]

PMC .

Lucky you , he comes with a " $ 782,190 " bill .

I think the USoA should pay it, as he was in their custody.  

spacesailor

[red750]

Had he done it in Australia, it could be treated as treason, no matter how good or bad the information he released may have been. He has been treated on his return like he ended the wars in Ukraine and Gaza all on his own - in one day.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I reckon that sticking up for Assange was the best thing that Barnaby has ever done.

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

I sent in for a free Julian Assange but didn't get one.

They were only released yesterday.

 

[Marty_d]

3 hours ago, red750 said:

Had he done it in Australia, it could be treated as treason, no matter how good or bad the information he released may have been. He has been treated on his return like he ended the wars in Ukraine and Gaza all on his own - in one day.

So... you support the right of the US to murder civilians and keep it quiet under the threadbare fig leaf of "National Security"?

[spacesailor]

Or , the Russians that ( like the French  ) murder people 

In other countries. 

spacesailor

 

[Marty_d]

Whichever government does the murdering - we NEED investigative journalists to keep shedding light on them.

Charging them with espionage offenses and locking them up has a chilling effect on future whistleblowers.

If you want a society like China or Russia where you're not allowed to criticize the government or even know what they are doing, that's exactly what you'll get if you treat journalists like the US treated Assange.

He may be a flawed individual but all he did was expose the rot.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

So... you support the right of the US to murder civilians and keep it quiet under the threadbare fig leaf of "National Security"?

I didn't see anything in Red's comments to indicate that. Marty, you are  delving into whataboutism there. It's like arguing that because you don't like Holdens you must naturally like Fords. It's a weak way to argue a point and doesn't stack up.

[Marty_d]

Willedoo, that's your opinion which you are fully entitled to have, but I don't agree with it.

 

[nomadpete]

If we have transparency (honesty) of what really happens, our governments (and others) might be less likely to commit nasty acts. Whenever governments are able to keep their motives secret, there is a temptation for them to screw the public.

 

Whistle blowers are necessary because all too often, our governments tend to act in the interests of whatever benefits themselves rather than the interests of the general public.

[willedoo]

3 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

Willedoo, that's your opinion which you are fully entitled to have, but I don't agree with it.

 

Re-read Red's post and think about it. If Assange had obtained classified Australian military and government documents via illegal hacking and published them, he would have been charged with very serious offences in this country. That's the first point I think Red is making. The second point is that because he has not committed a crime in this country he's being white knighted here. I didn't see anything in Red's post to suggest that Red supports the right of the US to murder civilians and keep it quiet under the threadbare fig leaf of "National Security". I think it's a bit distasteful that you would ask him that. You seem to have completely misinterpreted his post. I think you owe him an apology.

[nomadpete]

7 minutes ago, willedoo said:

. I didn't see anything in Red's post to suggest that Red supports the right of the US to murder civilians and keep it quiet under the threadbare fig leaf of "National Security".

Well, from another perspective, the US was intending to effectively kill Mr Assange, an Australian citizen,  weren't they?

 

And note, that the man in question was careful to avoid exposing any currently active US spies/personnel. So it is questionable whether he really caused any genuine risk to US security.

 

But he did expose some allegedly dodgy international behaviour, which might have been in the public interest.

[nomadpete]

Tis sad to hear that honesty is considered a risk to National Security.

[willedoo]

21 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Well, from another perspective, the US was intending to effectively kill Mr Assange, an Australian citizen,  weren't they?

It's another perspective, but I still don't see what that has to do with the intention of Red's post. Maybe I'm just not reading enough into it. I thought it was a straightforward post and couldn't see any hint of support for America's actions against Assange. I'm not debating the issues of Assange's guilt or not or the US deep state thing, or the issue of transparency; all I'm saying is I think his post was misinterpreted and quite wide of the mark at that..

[red750]

My post may have been open to interpretation. I was incensed that Channel 7 spent over an hour telecasting the events, from the Flightradar track of the aircraft as it approached Canberra, the lights of the aircraft from a few miles out, through the landing and taxi to the RAAF hangar at Fairbairn, then camera on the door of the aircraft for 10 minutes while Borderforce completed the paperwork on board, till he finally emerged and came down the stairs to the tarmac. Finally his walk to the terminal and greeting with his wife and father. Then they replayed the tape from door to door at least 12 times. I was flicking to the State of Origin and WWE NXT and back, and every time, he was doing the walk. They played Albonese's public statement at least twice. I don't know if any other channel covered it, but I known Nine was covering the rugby. I can't get 2, 10 or SBS. The program I had been waiting for on 7 was scrubbed for the broadcast.

 

Considering the USA's determination to get him back and thrown in Guantanamo, or executed, it was surprising that he was able to get a plea deal. As I said in a post on the Donald Trump thread, I thought he would be baying for blood, but said he thought Assange had served his penance.