Julian Assange and Justine Damond are both Australians who frightened agents of the United States.
One alerted the public to war crimes and fraud, the other allegedly ran up to and slapped the side of a car in the affluent neighborhood where Antifa started, making two police officers believe, for a split second, that they were in danger.
Both are likely to end up dead at the hands of the US State.
One, according to Dr. Tania Reynolds is perceived as agentic, responsible for their actions, the other, as a victim. While the death of one is perceived as a tragedy and met with outrage, the other will be watched in slow motion to the cheers of half the country.
The trial of officer Mohamed Mohamed Noor, in Minneapolis, Minnesota is likely to tear the fabric of reality for many Minnesotans, should he, like the 24 officers since Damond’s death, be cleared of all charges.
The 11 seats open to the public have been mostly filled with agents of the court, city employees, and the corporate media. One blogger and legal analyst, Scott Johnson, has just taken the reserved seat of the New York Times reporter who couldn’t be bothered to hear the case. Apparently, he’d been hoping to just leave it empty until the day of the verdict.
Scott Johnson, like me, has been getting up at 4 am every day to get one of these seats and can now come in as the trial starts. Phones, computers, cameras, and audio recording devices are confiscated by the two layers of security which attendees must pass through in this so called “public” trial.
This weekend, when court is out of session, I’ll be updating AFVM readers to news of the trial.
Perhaps just as importantly, the history which lead to her tragic death at the hands of the State of Minnesota.
