The Freedom Bulletin

Last week, Francois Hollande, the new President of France, announced who he would be appointing to various ministerial positions in his government.

Among his new cabinet members are traitor Pierre Moscovici (Finance Minister), who was Hollande’s campaign manager and used to be a supporter of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, before throwing him under the bus when he became politically unpopular, as well as Aurelie Filippetti (Culture and Communications Minister), who once accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual harassment.

But more notable, in my opinion, is Hollande’s appointment of two ministers who have either been accused or convicted of serious crimes.

Laurent Fabius (Foreign Minister) served as Prime Minister in the 1980s and, according to the BBC, faced “accusations that his government had knowingly distributed blood products contaminated with HIV, one of the biggest public health scandals in French history. He was cleared of manslaughter in 1999.”

Additionally, according to the Telegraph, Jean-Marc Ayrault (Prime Minister) was convicted of favoritism in awarding a local government contract in 1997. Although the conviction was officially expunged from the record in 2007, he served a 6-month sentence and paid a 30,000 franc fine.

Considering the way Hollande has treated Strauss-Kahn (who has been fighting against criminal investigations, but has consistently maintained his innocence and has not been convicted of anything), it is hypocritical for him to give important government roles to people who have been accused, let alone convicted, of crimes. Hollande once said, “There are rules and principles. Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be in a government I pick.” More recently, he made nasty comments about Strauss-Kahn when the latter had the audacity to attend a birthday party that he was invited to.

Additionally, Hollande said during the campaign that he would never appoint anyone who has been “tried and convicted” and told people to ”remind me of this statement if I fail to keep my word.”

It looks like Hollande failed to keep his word, and it looks like his “rules and principles” apply only to DSK.

Since Francois Hollande will be sworn in as France’s new president today, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arraigned in a New York courtroom one year ago tomorrow, I figured this was a good time to give my opinion on the French election. Or more specifically, my opinion about how French politicians have reacted to the trials and tribulations of Strauss-Kahn, the former frontrunner for the presidency.

Naturally, DSK’s political enemies have mercilessly bashed him. When he gave an interview about the sexual assault case that he faced last year, soon-to-be former president Nicolas Sarkozy of the center-right UMP party said that DSK “should have the decency to shut up. The fact that he dares to speak shows that he does not get it.” The horror! God forbid that an unpopular person be allowed to speak. I guess Sarkozy does not care about freedom of expression, or about the people who might actually be interested in what Strauss-Kahn has to say.

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For the third episode of his TV show, The World Tomorrow, Julian Assange got another impressive guest: Moncef Marzouki, the president of Tunisia. The main topic of discussion was the West’s double standards on human rights. Watch above or on YouTube.

This has been a busy week in various cases and trials that The Freedom Bulletin is following. I did not have time to post about all of them during the week, so here is a recap of some of the more newsworthy (in my opinion) goings-on that you may have missed:

The trial of confessed mass-killer Anders Behring Breivik continues in Norway. Last week, he described the massacre that he carried out in chilling detail, said that he would rather be executed than face the “pathetic” maximum sentence of 21 years in prison, and proclaimed that he has no regrets and “would do it again.” This week, testimony turned to a psychiatric report that called him legally insane, which Breivik strongly criticized, saying, ”To a political activist, the worst thing that can happen is to end up in a mental hospital. That would delegitimise everything you stand for.” Survivors of Breivik’s bombing of a government building took the stand yesterday, and survivors of his shooting rampage will likely testify next week. Time has an interesting comparison of the Norwegian and American justice systems as shown by this trial.

Pvt. Bradley Manning had three days of court hearings this week, which unfortunately did not go very well for him. Col. Denise Lind, the military judge in his case, denied a motion to dismiss the charge of “aiding the enemy,” rejecting the argument that the multitude of classified files he shared with WikiLeaks did not harm national security. She also denied a motion to dismiss four other charges for being redundant. However, Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, did win the opportunity to access government reports about the dangerousness of the leaked documents. Manning’s court martial is scheduled for September.

An anonymous commenter tells me that Alexander Pring-Wilson‘s civil case settled on Tuesday. This case involved whether a homeowner’s insurance policy on his home should be held responsible for the damages that were awarded to the estate of Michael Colono, whom Pring-Wilson killed in a fight back in 2003 (he’s always maintained it was self-defense). This week, the insurance company agreed to pay Colono’s estate, represented by executrix Cindy Guzman. This is a case that I’ve been following for a long time, and I am glad that both Colono’s relatives and Pring-Wilson can finally put this mess behind them and move on with their lives.

Sgt. Gary Stein was officially given an “other than honorable” discharge from the armed forces for creating the Facebook group, “Armed Forces Tea Party,” and posting criticism of President Obama. He vows to appeal, and he is also launching his own radio show. After the decision, Sgt. Stein posted on Facebook, ”Even though I will be discharged no one can take the title of Marine away from me… Today is just the start of the rest of my life. Semper Fi.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn recently did an interview with Edward J. Epstein, who wrote an article in the NY Review of Books last year suggesting that the infamous attempted rape case may have been a set-up. DSK agreed with this sentiment in the interview and shared a few new thoughts and observations, which are interesting to read since he has rarely spoken publicly about the case. The interview is part of Epstein’s new book, entitled “Three Days in May.”

Lawyers for George Zimmerman disclosed that their client raised over $200,000 to help with legal bills via his (now defunct) website. Unfortunately for Zimmerman, this triggered a new dispute over bail, with prosecutors asking that his bond be increased, and a lawyer for Trayvon Martin’s family accusing him of deceiving the court by failing to disclose the sum earlier.

On the second episode of his talk show, The World Tomorrow, Julian Assange hosted a debate of sorts about the right and left of Europe. Representing the left was philosopher and psychologist Slavoj Zizek, a former communist dissident who turned communist. Representing the right was David Horowitz, a former member of the Black Panther Party who became a right-wing Zionist. Watch it above or on YouTube.

Jennifer Robinson, lawyer to Julian Assange, tweeted that she is now on the “inhibited fly list” and is not allowed to travel without permission from the Australian government. While flying back to her native Australia from England after meeting with Assange, she was temporarily barred from boarding her flight at Heathrow Airport. ”I think if it is happening it is a real concern that human rights lawyers who are doing their jobs are under surveillance,” she said.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance said in a statement, ”Lawyers must be able to act for their clients without fearing that they will be harassed by government agencies, either in their own country or overseas. An independent legal profession is a hallmark of a democratic society and the UK and Australian Governments’ actions towards lawyers, such as Ms Robinson, undermines that.”

On a slightly related topic, swimsuit model Bar Refaeli tweeted her outrage about an intrusive pat-down that she was forced to undergo, possibly at the same airport.

Read about various famous people who have spoken out against airport security excesses here.

Julian Assange’s TV show, The World Tomorrow, recently premiered on Russia Today. His top-secret guest turned out to be the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. The two controversial activists, who both happen to be staying in undisclosed locations for security reasons, chatted about Israel, the Arab Spring uprisings, religion, and possible corruption within Hezbollah, among other topics. Assange asked Nasrallah some tough questions, but they were very civil and cordial with each other and even shared a laugh.

Despite what some self-proclaimed experts may say, I think this show is great. Yes, it takes place in the house where he’s staying while on bail, as opposed to in a professional studio, and it’s a little weird that his guest is on a computer screen instead of actually with him. Plus, Assange and RT are an unlikely combination, especially when you add Nasrallah into the mix. But it’s cool to see Assange as an interviewer as opposed to being interviewed. And Nasrallah certainly lived up to all the hype. There aren’t many people as controversial as he is, and this was his first interview in Western media in 6 years. The video is well worth watching, either above or on YouTube.

Update: Glenn Greenwald wrote a great defense of Assange and RT, smacking down this somewhat disdainful review by the New York Times.