"Biden Seeks Julian Assange Extradition"
The Jimmy Dore Show (February 12, 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAXJrcjpEcE

[8:07] Max Blumenthal: "If he [Merrick Garland] is approved, and I expect him to be -- I mean if Neera Tanden can get in then pretty much anyone can -- but if he's confirmed, then the question becomes: 'Does the Biden administration believe in the first amendment? Does it believe in press freedom?' If it seeks to extradite Julian Assange, then we can clearly and conclusively say that the Biden administration opposes a free press. And you have all these mainstream human rights groups and press freedom groups, and the New York Times now calling for him not to be extradited and to be released. So that will be a really interesting conflict for the Biden administration once they get their Justice Department together. But for now, I think they're using the excuse that there are still Trump holdovers and they weren't really ready for this decision yet. I don't know how they can keep kicking the can on down the road and just leaving him rotting in this Covid-infested prison in London. It would be sick, but it would also just mean, really, the absolute end of the Constitution."

[9:14] Jimmy Dore: "I agree. And it's all happening right out front in the open. That's the craziest thing. They're doing it right out in the open. They're not spying on journalists in secret. They're prosecuting a guy whom everyone knows is a journalist doing journalism, because they didn't like that he told the truth about the government's crimes. Julian Assange told the truth about the war crimes in Iraq and the middle east and they want to kill him. And send a message to anyone else might do that. This is what's going to happen to you. And they're doing it all out in the open.

[9:53] Max Blumenthal: "It's part of this wider atmosphere where the managers, the national security state, the political elite, the beltway political class, they've completely lost confidence in themselves and their own ability to command the public's respect. They've lost belief that they have any credibility. They know they have no credibility. So they're using coersion to maintain control and that's what this social media censorship is about."

"But that's also what making an example out of Julian Assange is about. Because Asange did one of the most revolutionary acts in a generation, which is to expose the secrets of the national security state and to provide them to the public for everyone to see what the US is up to abroad. And it wasn't just the US. Other countries, as well, including Russia. And this was a revolutionary act of transparency, and just pure national security journalism. And it's a medieval punishment. They can't crack down on all the reporters. They can't jail everybody doing this. But they can make an exaple of him. And that's what they're doing becaue they've lost confidence in their ability to command the public's respect."

[11:21] "That's what the freakout over January 6 is about in so many ways. The Congress fears a large segment of the public now. They feel like there is a large segment of the public that's wild and out of control and has to be put in some kind of political cage. And it fears journalistic organizations as well."

"If I were to do another book now, if I had the time, it would be called something like "The Management of Democracy." If you cross the invisible red lines, then the First Amendment goes out the window. Americans don't know, Julian Assange isn't even an American. He's an Australian citizen. And Australia, their foreign office is speaking up every day for Alexei Navalny, who is really the West's man in Russia, and they don't say a thing about their own citizen. They say nothing. Sweden, they're doing nothing. They've done so little to drop the charges against Assange. . . .

[13:14] ". . . but there were no journalists there protesting for Assange. There were no NGOs, no civil rights groups there. These people aren't putting their money where their mouth is. they're not getting out there and organizaing for Assange. And these statements aren't enough. But his is the most important press freedom case of our time. This is the trial of the century. And it's going to be up to the Biden administration to determine whether the First Amendment matters or not. Same with those conservative Cancel Culture people, the Barry Weis's who are always whining about ... Someone who supports Apartheid Israel on campus ...