It’s Friday, and the usual number of polls have appeared on various websites and social media. I don’t believe any of them. They’re like mosquitoes, annoying useless and dangerous. There’s a fucking mosquito in this room with me right now. It’s one of those tiny black motherfuckers that you can’t catch and you can’t see. These have appeared in the last couple of years, and they are diabolical. I’ve already been bitten by one of them, or is it the same one? This cunt of a thing flits by the monitor and then disappears. Ordinary mosquitoes sit on the wall, but these fuckers melt into the shadows. They seem impervious to bug spray as well. It’s the middle of September for fuck’s sake, where are they coming from? If I could torture it to death I happily would.
I’m going out soon to have lunch with a friend, so I can get out of here away from these pests. Winter can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned.
A northern Australian newspaper has just published a photograph of Julian Assange. Everyone has probably forgotten who he was by now, but there he is with his father in Melbourne. Apparently there is a campaign to procure a pardon for Jules. He isn’t being pursued by the US authorities any more, but now Julian and his fans want complete exoneration.
He doesn’t really have the gravitas to pull this off
They have a website called “The Assange Campaign”. There is a whole lot of blather about freedom of the press etc, what you’d expect to find. I enjoyed this paragraph, “We know President Biden is guided by his commitment to the values of the American Republic. As he reflects on his legacy, he is considering the lives he can impact with his presidential pardons. We have a narrow window to advocate for justice.” Someone ought to tell these clowns that Joe and the Democrats rigged the 2020 election. That’s how much they are committed to the values of the American Republic. Once a fool, always I fool, I guess.
Is wanna be Rock star Stephen King an Assange supporter? He looks like he could be.
This whole pardon argument is delusional. “By granting a pardon to Julian Assange, President Biden can not only correct a grave injustice but also send a powerful message that defending democracy and press freedom remains at the core of his presidency. He can reaffirm America’s dedication to truth and the First Amendment.” Really? I would imagine they are not concerned about a Trump presidency because back when Assange was still in jail, Trump said he would give “very serious consideration to pardoning Julian Assange if he is re-elected US president”. With this kind of crazy stuff about Joe Biden on their website, they’re not making any friends with conservatives by any means.
The day they arrested Osho.
Before we go, let’s revisit the day they arrested Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2019. “His face was bloated and pale, his beard frayed, his silvery hair long and pulled back. With four policemen hustling his hunched body onto the street, Assange protested the admission of British officers to Ecuadorian diplomatic territory. “The U.K. has no sovereignty!” he declared repeatedly. His voice was hoarse and weakened. He appeared to be clutching Gore Vidal’s *History of the National Security State.” What a tosser.
* In the historical novel The City and the Pillar, Vidal recreated the imperial world of Julian the Apostate (r. AD 361–363) in Julian (1964). Julian was the Roman emperor who attempted to re-establish Roman polytheism to counter Christianity. It all makes sense now.
Happy Friday.