Death and taxes...

Russia resumes hearings against dead lawyer http://www.russiaherald.com/index.php/sid/212969087/scat/723971d98160d438

And God said No

http://db.tt/dDdgJgeG

A beautiful prayer ...

.....credits at the end

Bradley Manning -The Trial

www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-assange/julian-assange-bradley-manning-trial_b_3384436.html

Adrian Lamo, Hacker Who Turned Bradley Manning In, Testifies At Trial

It was Lamo, prosecutor Captain Joe Morrow stated during the trial's opening statements on Monday, who brought Manning to law enforcement's attention.

Did Lamo know, Coombs asked, that Manning was young, well-intentioned, and idealistic? "That's correct ... from his point of view ... yes I did," Lamo responded in turn.

"You saw a young 22-year-old with good intentions," the same age as Lamo was when he committed his crimes? "That was not lost on me," Lamo responded.

He said to you that he thought he would reach out to somebody who would understand him? He told you about his life and his upbringing? He told you that he was being kicked out of the military due to a gender identity issue? That he had been questioning his gender for years? That he believed he had made a huge mess? He confessed he was emotionally fractured? Trying not to end up killing himself? He said he was feeling desperate and isolated? He described himself as a broken soul? He said he was honestly scared? He told you that he had nobody he could trust?

Question after question, Lamo said it was all true.

Had Manning "tried to investigate to find out the truth?" Yes, Lamo answered. That was "something that I could appreciate."

The Manning Trial

from www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-assange/julian-assange-bradley-manning-trial_b_3384436.html

Manning: "For me, I stopped keeping track," he told the court last November. "I didn't know whether night was day or day was night. And my world became very, very small. It became these cages... I remember thinking I'm going to die."

After protests from his lawyers, Bradley Manning was then transferred to a brig at a US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA, where - infamously - he was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of his captors - a formal finding by the UN. Isolated in a tiny cell for twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day, he was deprived of his glasses, sleep, blankets and clothes, and prevented from exercising. All of this - it has been determined by a military judge - "punished" him before he had even stood trial.

Bradley Manning may not give evidence as to his stated intent (exposing war crimes and their context), nor may he present any witness or document that shows that no harm resulted from his actions. Imagine you were put on trial for murder. In Bradley Manning's court, you would be banned from showing that it was a matter of self-defence, because any argument or evidence as to intent is banned. You would not be able to show that the 'victim' is, in fact, still alive, because that would be evidence as to the lack of harm.

The trial is to proceed for twelve straight weeks: a fully choreographed extravaganza, with a 141-strong cast of prosecution witnesses. The defense was denied permission to call all but a handful of witnesses. Three weeks ago, in closed session, the court actually held a rehearsal. Even experts on military law have called this unprecedented.

To convict Bradley Manning, it will be necessary for the US government to conceal crucial parts of his trial. Key portions of the trial are to be conducted in secrecy: 24 prosecution witnesses will give secret testimony in closed session, permitting the judge to claim that secret evidence justifies her decision. But closed justice is no justice at all.

But what about "aiding" in that most serious charge, "aiding the enemy"? Don't forget that this is a show trial. The court has banned any evidence of intent. The court has banned any evidence of the outcome, the lack of harm, the lack of any victim. It has ruled that the government doesn't need to show that any "aiding" occurred and the prosecution doesn't claim it did. The judge has stated that it is enough for the prosecution to show that al-Qaeda, like the rest of the world, reads WikiLeaks.

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people," wrote John Adams, "who have a right and a desire to know."