U.S. charges WikiLeaks' Assange with hacking conspiracy with Manning
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors announced charges on Thursday against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, accusing him of conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history".
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-assange-usa-conspiracy/us-charges-wikileaks-assange-with-hacking-conspiracy-with-manning-idUSKCN1RN1QA
"The indictment said that Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications." I am curious to see what type of proof the government has of Assange's "assistance" in cracking that code. It seems to me that the whole case hinges on that. If the government can't show that Assange helped with the code-cracking then the only crime was Manning's leaking.
Conspiracy Without the Theory
"When swirling charges of rigged elections, witch hunts, and a coup plotted by the “deep state” are referred to as “conspiracy theory,” this is not just a misnomer but a misunderstanding, one with consequences. Conspiracy and theory have been decoupled; we face the distinctively malignant phenomenon of conspiracy without the theory. Like all conspiracism, it rests on the certainty that things are not as they seem, but conspiracy without the theory dispenses with the burden of explanation. We see no insistent demand for proof, no exhaustive amassing of evidence, no dots revealed to form a pattern, no close examination of the operators plotting in the shadows. Instead, we get innuendo: Some government agency “has an agenda.” Or it takes the form I’m just asking questions. Or, most often, conspiracy without the theory is bare assertion, “rigged!”—a one-word exclamation evokes fantastic schemes and the awesome capacity to mobilize three million illegal voters to support Hillary Clinton for president".
http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/trumps-witch-hunt-claims-arent-conspiracy-theories/586552/
Media savvy: Some Americans believe the dumbest things. How not to be one of them.
"As the never-ending election season moves from “midterm” to “presidential” mode, Americans are deluged by news alerts on their screens, and by breaking-news tweets, emails and sensational claims on cable broadcasts. By this time next week, the public will have seen at least some of the special counsel’s report, which began with the undisputed fact that Russian agents spread disinformation on social media to influence the 2016 election. Abetted by a president whose idea of a credible source for information is something “many people are saying,” an untold number of Americans nod in agreement when Alex Jones proclaims the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., a hoax — the fakest of so-called fake news, which he now concedes was a product of his own “psychosis".
http://news.yahoo.com/media-savvy-some-americans-believe-the-dumbest-things-how-not-to-be-one-of-them-090000644.html
What's behind Warren's plan to break up Facebook, Amazon and Google
"Internet behemoths Amazon, Google and Facebook have become frighteningly dominant, their growth uncontrolled, their practices too often secretive and dodgy. Between swallowing competitors, expanding far beyond their original missions and spying on consumers, these super-platforms are growing too complicated for the government to fully understand and effectively regulate — or so it appears".
http://news.yahoo.com/whats-behind-warrens-plan-to-break-up-facebook-amazon-and-google-090000922.html
InfoWars' Alex Jones says he had a "form of psychosis" when spreading Sandy Hook conspiracies
"InfoWars host Alex Jones, who is being sued by several parents of Sandy Hook victims, said in a deposition released Friday that he now believes the massacre was not a hoax. In the deposition posted on YouTube, Jones said he believes 26 people were killed in the 2012 shooting, but that "a form of psychosis" made him believe it was staged".
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-jones-deposition-infowars-host-says-he-had-form-of-psychosis-when-spreading-sandy-hook-conspiracies/
After Assange arrest, Trump says WikiLeaks is 'not my thing.' It was his thing in 2016.
"President Trump, who repeatedly touted WikiLeaks on the campaign trail in 2016, on Thursday denied knowing anything about the whistleblower website or its founder, Julian Assange, who was arrested in London earlier in the day.
“I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,” Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office when asked if he still loves WikiLeaks".
http://news.yahoo.com/after-assange-arrest-trump-says-wiki-leaks-is-not-my-thing-173040685.html
Why Is Trump Suddenly Playing Dumb About WikiLeaks?
"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested Thursday morning on a single charge of conspiring to hack a government computer. The charge was filed last year by the Department of Justice and stems from his involvement in a 2010 scheme to help Chelsea Manning break a password to a Department of Defense computer. Assange’s lawyer called the arrest “an unprecedented effort by the United States seeking to extradite a foreign journalist to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information".
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/assange-trump-playing-dumb-about-wikileaks-821133/