Julian Assange

Julian Assange was arrested by the British after the Ecuadorian Embassy in London canceled his asylum.  He'd apparently become a bad house guest, as he couldn't replace the litter his cat's box.  Among other things.

I can't make any sense out of Assange.  People think he's a hero, other people think he's a villain . . . there are certainly good arguments on both sides.  The release of  92,000 documents from his WikiLeaks site pertaining numerous "friendly fire" incidents and civilian casualties in Afghanistan - courtesy of U.S. Army soldier Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning - illuminated some of the gravest mistakes in the prosecution of the war against the Taliban, but it may have compromised the progress of the mission there.  Assange's release of  documents showing what a fraud Hillary Clinton is something I give him credit for, but he did not release Donald Trump's tax returns as he promised - which cancels out that credit.   And his efforts to help Manning hack into computers to get information he thought was necessary to make public has been dismissed as more like espionage than journalism by the very papers that published the Pentagon Papers in 1971 - the New York Times and the Washington Post.  This could scare reporters into refusing to accept ill-gotten but relevant information on important matters.  Like, say, Donald Trump's tax returns.

Meanwhile, there are two charges of sexual assault against him in Sweden.  Assange has denied both allegations, and he says he is happy to answer questions the British may have for him about the case.  One thing's for sure - the final verdict on whether Julian Assange is a hero or a villain hasn't been handed down yet.

But whatever happens, I sure do hope that someone takes care of his cat.