There's Not Much Time Left for President Biden to Pardon Julian Assange and Signal to Journalists That Exposing States' Crimes or Rich People's Misbehaviour is Lawful
American politicians are about to go on holiday until January. Then, little time is left before the man who had blackmailed Julian Assange (according to Assange's lawyers) and then wanted to murder Assange becomes US President. At the moment the goal is to have Assange pardoned, even if he's not the President's son. If the current precedent remains intact, then the new President (basically a con man) will be also to prosecute or even execute his perceived "enemies" in the media. So the pardon is important not just as some "PR token/gesture" [1, 2].
The way we see it, 2024 was a terrible year for press freedom. In 2024 Microsoft money found its way to some truly unscrupulous lawyer in London (for him to send us threatening letters) and many journalists died this year, with no recourse to justice and barely any media coverage about their deaths. Apathy towards this is part of the problem.
Media is what keeps democracy functioning and puts criminals behind bars, especially rich criminals and well-connected criminals. █