In the news

People who answer polls. Nuff said.

what is increasingly clear is that Trump will make the break up of the EU a central administration policy and appears to want the same for NATO . . . Trump and Bannon clearly want to create a nativist world order based on the US, Russia and states that want to align with them<

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-s-and-putin-s-plan-to-dissolve-the-eu-and-nato

Trumps buddy Mr Pecker (!) owns this title apparently

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Seems a bit of a broad brush

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/chinese-discard-hundreds-of-cycles-for-hire-in-giant-pile

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/us/politics/obama-commutes-bulk-of-chelsea-mannings-sentence.html

Amazing!
It does put Assange in a predicament though; he said he'd hand himself over if Manning was pardoned but doing so now will put him in the hands of a very different regime who might want to make a point.

Still, it's a class act at the 11th hour.

Except there is no active US arrest warrant for Assange.

The man is beneath contempt.

Also, it's not a pardon.

Excellent news regarding Chelsea Manning

Indeed. And we shouldn't let the Assange nonsense detract from it. Well done to Obama too, I know he was lobbied hard to make it, but he still did the right thing and that should be praised.

.

I haven't seen why she won't be let out until May. Is there some reason for this?

She was due to be free in May of 2045. Commuting her sentence until May means she's served 7 full years, rather than say 6 and 2/3 years if she were freed now. Had she been pardoned, she would have been freed almost immediately and her conviction quashed. The idea is that she served 7 full years after being convicted of a crime of which she remains guilty (in the eyes of the law). Yep, it's kind of political and arbitrary.

The reason given is that, on release, Chelsea Manning is vulnerable both as a whistleblower, having been convicted of leaking documents and as a transgender woman with a publically documented history of suicide attempts. The time is needed in order to give the relevant authorities time to arrange a home and appropriate post release support.

Bear in mind that Manning will remain a convicted criminal upon release as this is commutation, not a pardon. One of the big issues was the length of sentence placed on Manning, which far exceeded that for any other person found guilty of leaking documents. The 7 full years handily ties into that.

She was convicted under the Espionage Act and her sentence was well within the guidelines (considering a possible death sentence). That fact that she was acting as whistleblower rather than traitor certainly should have mitigated the sentence, as argued by Amnesty International et al.

Whilst Obama deserves plaudits for effectively saving her life, it'd be interesting to know if the US's real motivation is to get at Assange.

Assange doesn't really seem like the type of dude who will keep his word in this case, to be honest. If anything I imagine he'll take credit and continue on as he has been.

That is, I can't imagine that played a huge role, but who knows.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/18/bbc-trust-says-laura-kuenssberg-report-on-jeremy-corbyn-was-inaccurate-labour

BBC needs to either shitcan her or caveat their news reports with a "may contain bullshit" warning.

As an aside - Corbyn's actual reply (not the dodgy switched one) was horribly vague and non committal. When asked the specific "Paris style" question why on earth didn't he say "yes, I would authorise shoot to kill"? His rambling makes him sound like he's dodging the question and that goes down really badly with voters.

Probably because he's totally out of his depth.

does boris johnson just think everyone is a nazi ?

Not if they're British.

I bet he has like every issue of Commando Comics. It would go a long way to explaining his world view.

#alanis

#brexin