Historic Assange Trial to Hinge on Trump’s Political Motivations

(Bloomberg) – In the 10 years since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested on sexual-assault charges, he’s fought Swedish prosecutors, skipped U.K. bail and irritated Ecuadorian diplomats.

On Monday, a four-week trial in London will begin to determine whether he can be shipped to the U.S., where he faces a maximum prison term of 175 years for releasing classified government documents. And he’s not going quietly.

The case will start days after Assange’s attorneys alleged that President Donald Trump instructed a former congressman to offer their client a pardon if he “played ball” and said Russia had nothing to do with Democratic National Committee leaks during the 2016 election.

The 48-year-old became one of the world’s most famous fugitives after his website published hundreds of thousands of secret American government documents. The site was also caught up in a U.S. investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, after publishing stolen emails that helped undercut Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/historic-assange-trial-hinge-trump-150007379.html

The world's remaining communist countries, and how they're faring economically

Communism is the political and economic doctrine that abolishes private ownership in favor of the state controlling the means of production in an effort to create economic equality and the abolishment of the exploitation of workers.

For decades, two global superpowers representing capitalism and communism, the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively, engaged in the Cold War as both sought economic and military superiority. After World War II, the Soviet Union expanded communism throughout most of Eastern Europe and with the creation of the socialist state of East Germany.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/world-remaining-communist-countries-economics

'Don't play with me, 'cause you're playing with fire': Trump adopts ominous new walk-on music after vowing impeachment revenge

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-colorado-rally-rolling-stones-play-with-fire-impeachment-revenge-a9352096.html