Two U.S. Representatives advocate for a presidential pardon for Julian Assange, challenging press freedom limitations. Representatives Massie and McGovern have urged President Biden to pardon the journalist. Assange’s family and international figures have also advocated for his pardon. Political Appeal for Pardon U.S. Representatives Thomas Massie and James McGovern recently sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to grant Julian Assange a full pardon. The appeal focuses on the implications of prosecuting journalists under the Espionage Act. This plea argues that Assange’s indictment constitutes a dangerous precedent for freedom of the press. Assange, released earlier this year, spent over five years in London’s Belmarsh Prison while facing extradition requests by the United States. Assange was indicted in 2019 on charges related to the 2010 publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes. Chelsea Manning leaked these documents, which ignited international debates on the role of whistleblowers and publishers such as WikiLeaks. The plea deal included Assange pleading guilty to Espionage Act violations, potentially affecting essential journalistic operations. Two whole members of the 500+ member US congress, suggest pardoning Assange for a crime he didn't commit. The US is big on law and ordering it around. https://t.co/bcJSoAk77i — Arturo Hammer (@ArtAHammer) November 29, 2024 Broader Implications and Future Actions Massie and McGovern stressed the need to prevent this legal precedent from discouraging future journalistic practices. They emphasized that a pardon would send a powerful message demonstrating the U.S. government’s commitment to press freedom. The Espionage Act’s application to Assange, the first of its kind against a publisher, raises substantial concerns over its potential chilling effect on journalists. Global figures, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, are now being urged to back this call for a pardon. In addition, Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton plans to travel to Washington next January to plead his case. They argue that pardoning Assange would affirm democratic values and free speech integrity, as echoed in campaign petitions. Reps McGovern, Massie urge Biden to pardon Julian Assange to 'send a clear message' on press freedom @FoxNews https://t.co/O9G3qwMJEb U.S. Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote a letter to President Biden calling on him to pardon WikiLeaks founder… — Landon Mion (@landon_mion) November 27, 2024 Conclusion and Future Outlook The Obama administration had earlier hesitated to indict Assange to avoid charging mainstream journalists, reflecting significant concerns over press freedom. Given that no evidence was found indicating harm from WikiLeaks’ publications, there is debate over the fairness of Assange’s prosecution. President Obama previously commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence, offering a precedent for freedom-oriented actions. The international push for a pardon intensifies, aiming to rectify what campaigners call an injustice and solidify the Biden administration’s dedication to upholding press liberties. With attention on Assange’s legal battles, the outcome might influence the future of press freedom and governmental transparency. Sources: Call for Assange’s pardon Congressmen want Assange pardoned The post U.S. Lawmakers Urge Presidential Pardon for Assange: A Press Freedom Move? appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

'The truth is we don't know how deep the influence goes in some newsrooms'

'Everything from money laundering to murder'

'I’ve always wanted you but God wanted and needed you more'

'Most of the price increases we've seen are expected to be temporary'

'More skeletons in the family closet'

'I can't imagine saying that to my kid'

NBC News buried an astonishing detail in their report on President Joe Biden’s sweeping and unprecedented pardon of his felon son, Hunter, on Sunday. Announcing the pardon, Biden claimed he spent his “entire career” following a “simple principle:” always telling American citizens the truth. However, a critical detail from NBC’s report on the pardon completely undercuts his […]

'Democrats got to get their act together'

After Kamala Harris’ thorough defeat at the hands of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Democrats claim to be engaged in all kinds of soul-searching that’s starting to look an awful lot like navel-gazing. Some Democrats’ latest theory on why they lost the 2024 election has nothing to do with inflation, rising crime, foreign wars, open borders, or the coup Democrats threw against their own President Joe Biden. Rather, these Democrats posit that the vice president lost because the former president had a network of social media influencers pushing out his message, while Democrats did not. A Thanksgiving Day headline in The New York Times read: “Republicans Built an Ecosystem of Influencers. Some Democrats Want One, Too.” The begrudged Democrats are often left-wing content creators themselves, some of whom have banded together to start Chorus, a new venture that seeks to bridge the supposed resource gap between the Left and the Right when it comes to social media influence operations. Some on the right think it’s laughable that the Democratic Party, which dominates academia, Hollywood, Wall Street, and, most importantly, Big Tech and social media (X outstanding), is suffering from a lack of cultural online influence. Sadly for Democrats, the problem could be much worse. “The Democrats already have their own ‘influencer ecosystem,’” Alex Bruesewitz, an architect of Trump’s alternative and social media strategy, posted on X. “The issue isn’t a lack of ‘influencers’ for the Democrats; rather, it’s that the influencers they have built and propped up are, quite frankly, neither the brightest nor authentic.” The inauthenticity of Democrats’ social media influence operations has been on full display over Biden’s presidency. In October 2022, the Biden White House invited more than 20 social media influencers to a party on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the passage of the antonymically named Inflation Reduction Act. The influencers at the October 2022 party were hand-selected by the Biden White House and given a briefing by White House staff about the Inflation Reduction Act and other parts of the Biden-Harris agenda. Biden himself even made an appearance and posed with the influencers for a photo op. That wasn’t the first time the Biden White House courted influencers to support the president’s agenda. In March 2022, the Biden White House hosted a virtual briefing for 30 social media influencers to discuss the importance of sending more American money and weapons to Ukraine. Jen Psaki, then the White House press secretary, joined National Security Council staffers in leading the briefing, which was quickly parodied by “Saturday Night Live.” The October 2022 party wouldn’t be the last, either. As Biden geared up for what would become his short-lived reelection bid, his digital strategy team sought to court social media influencers and promote their work supporting Biden in turn—such as Harry Sisson, an undergraduate student at NYU. “To be clear, I’m not implying that every Democrat ‘influencer’ lacks intelligence,” Bruesewitz’s X post continued. “In fact, there are several on the left whom, despite my disagreements, I still respect. (Game recognizes game.)” “However, to our advantage, the Democrat establishment tends to listen to the less intelligent ‘influencers,’ particularly those created by Stefanie Cutter’s firm, Precision Strategies. Yes, this is the same Stefanie Cutter who served as a senior adviser to Kamala Harris,” Bruesewitz said in his post. “David Hogg, for instance, is an ‘influencer’ cultivated by Precision Strategies. Despite his obvious intellectual shortcomings, he has managed to amass tremendous influence within the Democrat Party.” It’s no surprise, then, that before Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Hogg played a major role in astroturfing momentum for Walz’s candidacy. The more you watch interviews and learn about @Tim_Walz the more you like him. He’s been an extremely productive governor, he’s a total midwestern dad, he’s hilarious and genuine. He would make an excellent VP pic.twitter.com/FWIAWAc7oU— David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) July 25, 2024 .@Tim_Walz is the mid-western dad we need as VP pic.twitter.com/jfPzouvvk5— David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) July 29, 2024 TIM WALZ IS BY FAR THE MOST EXPERIENCED PERSON TO BE VP OF THE PEOPLE IN THE RUNNING. HE ALSO IS A UNION AG WORKER, FACTORY WORKER, TEACHER, FOOT BALL COACH AND VETERAN. HE IS THE BLUE WALL. HES GOT A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF SUPPORT FROM RURAL AND FRONTLINE DEMOCRATS. PUT HIM IN COACH. pic.twitter.com/GcBMQlbIlL— David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) August 1, 2024 Kamala Harris didn’t lose the 2024 election because of Harry Sisson or David Hogg—this is just the latest turn in the blame game. Nevertheless, the simple truth is that leftists’ near-monopoly on America’s institutions of cultural import over the past 30 years has led them to rest on their laurels. The Left’s influence operations have, in turn, become outdated, clunky, and inauthentic—cringe. The Right, pushed out of the commanding heights, turned to new frontiers, especially in the digital and social media space. Now conservatives are just beginning to reap the benefits of settling the digital frontier. The post Why Trump Won the Influencer War appeared first on The Daily Signal.