July Washington Memo

Assange protesters are arrested while war criminals are promoted.

As a sustainer or paid Substack subscriber, we are offering you a special monthly Washington Memo. Straight from the desk of our esteemed policy director Chip Gibbons, it will offer you insights into what’s happening in Washington when it comes to defending your right to know and freedom to act. As always, we deeply appreciate your support. It makes our work possible.

I was present at the Justice Department the other day when Ben Cohen, co-founder of the popular Ben and Jerry’s brand ice cream, and Jodie Evans, co-founder of the venerable anti-war group Code Pink, were hauled off by DHS police. Cohen and Evans were protesting the DOJ’s continued assault on press freedom that is the prosecution of Julian Assange.  Cohen and Evans' protest was quite theatrical. They set fire to a copy of the Bill of Rights, since that is what the DOJ is doing by prosecuting Assange. They also released a cloud of pink smoke, insisting that “press freedom is going up in smoke.”