Yesterday Assange's legal team fired off a missive on behalf of its client that hardly fits into the framework of legal justice. Trump was beseeched to assist Assange in the midst of an invasion of his legal rights. According to Assange's legal team his First Amendment rights of free expression should not be usurped. Those rights involve breaking into anyone's computer any time their client desires.
This prompts an analogy. If you reside in an apartment building and a person or team has proven capable of breaking into your private mail and you and your fellow residents seek to stop this activity then under the rationale of the Assange lawyers you are invading the break in artist's First Amendment rights and thereby pose a "chilling effect" on that individual's constitutional liberties.
Today's news includes a statement from Admiral Michael Rogers, National Agency Security Director, that Hillary Clinton's emails were leaked to WikiLeaks in a "conscious effort by a nation state to influence the election." Admiral Rogers, who also serves as commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, told a Wall Street Journal conference that the hacking of emails from Ms. Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee had not been "by chance."
While Admiral Rogers did not name the country, his statement harkened back one month to when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security accused Russia of responsibility for the leaks. So what about that disclosure? Are the citizens of the United States and the rest of the world entitled to learn more concerning this charge and the rationale behind it? Would one expect an investigation into the alleged influencing of another nation using cyberspace against a major party in an ongoing presidential campaign by Trump, the candidate in a position to benefit from such information?
Meanwhile information surfaces of a crosschecking effort perpetrated against minority voters in key battleground states. The alleged effort is mindful of the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. This is a system devised by Kris Kobach, current Kansas Secretary of State. Kobach is an immigration adviser on Trump's transition team who is author of the Muslim Registry that the president-elect has demonstrated interest in employing. Former Navy SEAL and current Trump adviser Carl Higbie stated his belief on Fox News that he expects an American Civil Liberties Union challenge to fail and the Muslim Registry to pass muster. When Higbie used the precedent of the Japanese internment camps of World War Two as legal precedent interviewer Megan Kelly delivered a sturdy rebuke.
The concluded parade of horribles makes the constitutional trashing by President Richard M. Nixon and his administration look like a Sunday school picnic. The cumulative activities of a powerful nation run amuck was documented in one the world's most memorable history works, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer.
Shirer's epic work was a horror story about a regime operating as a criminal enterprise with intent to conquer the world. How does this differ from what is occurring in the power mad world of Donald Trump and his toadies? This brazen pattern of conduct extends all the way down to strident militarism and runaway racism with discrimination a key ingredient of a sick and pathetic order. Third Reich discrimination attained such robust scope and volume that the Holocaust resulted.
It is imperative before the fascistic misdeeds of a Trump regime can inflict widespread destruction to act swiftly. An interesting legal test would be a filing of current particulars in an action using the RICO statute under the rationale that Trump and his regime, including the strident alt-right arm of the Republican Party, constitute a criminal enterprise with tentacles extending well beyond America's shores. The FBI records relating to every aspect of the Hillary Clinton email episode should be subpoenaed. If a link can be established between Russian involvement and WikiLeaks hacking can be established then Donald Trump should be en route to a federal trial rather than the White House.
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