lorne franks

Class actions lawyer... Proud Dad

[Clare Hinchcliffe @Subversivite]

I'm reluctantly posting on X again because the world needs to read this.

My daughter Zoe Rogers gave her own closing speech at the Filton trial, as did 4 other defendants, while their barristers looked on.

This is what she said 🧵 1/

[Victorian Socialists @vic_socialists]

What stage of capitalism is it when buying your own private 2m x 3m prison cell for less than $100,000 could seem like a good housing option?

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

WOW!!!

Never thought we would hear this level of honesty from a Western leader, and certainly not Canada, given the direction of Canada in the past 25 years. Canada's shift towards multialignment is quite clear - and this level of honesty from Carney on Western "fiction" about the old order will be warmly welcomed in much of the Global South:

"We knew that the story about the rules-based order was partially false... We knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused and the victim. This fiction was useful [because of the goods provided by American hegemony]... So we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination."

[björk @bjork]

i wish all greenlanders blessing in their fight for independence
icelanders are extremely relieved that they managed to break from the danish in 1944 ,
we didn´t loose our language ( my children would be speaking danish now )
and i burst with sympathy for greenlanders , repeatedly ,
especially like when the case came up about the forced contraception ,
where 4500 girls as young as 12 got IUD without their knowledge between 1966 and 1970
https://t.co/LzXs3HNfSY
4500 girls as young as 12 were fitted
.... they are my age and younger ... childless ....
and still today the danish are treating greenlanders like they are second class humans
https://t.co/j1aH2DuaR7
removing children from their parents in 2025 !

colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back ,
and the chance that my fellow greenlanders might go from one cruel coloniser to another
is too brutal to even imagine .
"úr öskunni í eldinn" , like we say in icelandic

dear greenlanders
declare independence !!!!
sympathetic wishes from your neighbours
warmthness
björk

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🚨 BREAKING: New footage shows explosions around Caracas, Venezuela, as parts of the city’s south near a major military base lost electricity. Low-flying aircraft were seen and heard from across the capital, according to Reuters.

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

https://t.co/EeUW7pabJR

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

The idea that the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 can be awarded to a person who hasn’t been working towards the end of the genocide in Gaza is an insult to peace.

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

Fascinating stuff, and timely.

[WikiLeaks @wikileaks]

JULIAN ASSANGE FILES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST NOBEL FOUNDATION OVER “INSTRUMENT OF WAR” PEACE PRIZE

WikiLeaks Founder Alleges 2025 Award to María Corina Machado Constitutes Misappropriation, Facilitation of War Crimes Under Swedish Law, Seeks Freeze of 11 million SEK ($1.18 million USD) of Pending Transfers to Machado

STOCKHOLM — 11:00am CET December 17, 2025

Julian Assange today filed a criminal complaint in Sweden accusing 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation, including its leadership, of committing serious suspected crimes, including the crime of gross misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the financing of the crime of aggression.

The complaint shows that Alfred Nobel's 1895 will explicitly mandates that the peace prize go to the individual who during the proceeding year “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” by doing “the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Assange argues that “The political decision of the Norwegian selection committee does not suspend the fiduciary duty of Swedish funds administrators”. “Any disbursement contradicting this mandate constitutes misappropriation from the endowment”.

The complaint, submitted simultaneously to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten) and the Swedish War Crimes Unit (Krigsbrottsenheten), states that the suspects, including Nobel Foundation Chair Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Executive Director Hanna Stjärne, converted “an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” through suspected “serious criminality” including:

1) Breach of trust, gross misappropriation and conspiracy in relation to the pending 11 million SEK ($1.18 million) disbursement of the Peace prize monies to Maria Corina Machado, whose prior and ongoing actions categorically exclude her from the criteria set out in Alfred Nobel's will;

2) Facilitation of war crimes, including the crime of aggression and crimes against humanity, breaching Sweden's obligations under Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute, because the accused are aware of Machado's incitement and endorsement of the U.S. commission of international crimes, and knew or ought to have known that the disbursement of Nobel monies would contribute to extrajudicial killings of civilians and shipwrecked survivors at sea and are in breach of their obligation to cease disbursements.

Assange notes that the members of the Nobel Foundation have previously exercised their supervisory authority over the prizes and their disbursements by withholding Literature Prize disbursements in 2018. “Failure to intervene here, despite U.S. war crimes off the Venezuelan coast and Machado’s key role in furthering aggression” incurs criminal liability.

“Alfred Nobel's endowment for peace cannot be spent on the promotion of war,” Assange states. The accused have concrete legal obligations because they are tasked with “ensuring the fulfillment of the intended purpose of Alfred Nobel’s will, that is, to end wars and war crimes, and not to enable them.”

MACHADO'S INCITEMENT OF THE LARGEST U.S. MILITARY BUILDUP SINCE THE IRAQ WAR MAKE HER CATEGORICALLY INELIGIBLE

The complaint notes how the Nobel announcement and ceremony have occurred in what military analysts describe as “the largest U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis”—now exceeding 15,000 personnel, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. The escalation continues as President Trump announced on December 10, two days after the Nobel ceremony, that U.S. strikes would be “starting by land.” The Venezuela strategy is part of what Trump’s Secretary for War, Peter Hegseth, calls a shift toward “maximum lethality, not tepid legality” and “going on the offence”.

Against this backdrop, Assange states that “Machado has continued to incite the Trump Administration to pursue its escalatory path”, including by entering into a conspiracy to give the U.S. administration access to $1.7 trillion in oil reserves and other natural resources through privatization once Maduro is ousted.

“Using her elevated position as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado may well have tipped the balance in favour of war, facilitated by the named suspects.” Assange states in the criminal complaint.

The complaint lists evidence of this incitement of U.S. military intervention, as well as praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct in Gaza. Her statements include:

- “Military escalation may be the only way... the United States may need to intervene directly” (30 October 2025)
- Machado called U.S. military strikes on civilian vessels, which have killed at least 95 people to date, “justified” and “visionary”.
- Machado dedicated the prize to U.S. President Trump, because he “finally has put Venezuela... in terms of a priority for the United States national security”
- Historical statements including 2014 testimony before U.S. Congress where she said: “The only path left is the use of force”

The filing cites extensive third-party expert and institutional opposition to Machado receiving the award:

- 21 Norwegian peace organizations declared: “Machado is the opposite of a peace laureate.”
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel stated: “Giving the prize to someone who calls for foreign invasion is a mockery of Alfred Nobel's will.”
- The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) confirmed Machado “has called for military intervention in Venezuela.”

REQUESTED ACTION

The complaint notes that “There is a real risk that the funds derived from Nobel’s endowment have been or will be intentionally or negligently diverted from their charitable purpose to facilitate aggression, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”

Assange requests that Swedish authorities:

1. Immediately freeze of the pending SEK 11,000,000 monetary prize transfer and any remaining related budget and secure return of the medal.
2. Investigate the named persons and Foundation officers and associated entities for breach of trust, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and conspiracy.
3. Seize of board minutes, emails, group chats, financial records.
4. Interrogate Widding, Stjärne and other suspects.
5. Fully investigate domestically or refer the matter to the ICC (Rome Statute Art. 25(3)(c)).

“This complaint seeks the immediate freezing of all remaining funds and a full criminal investigation lest the Nobel Peace Prize be permanently converted from an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” Assange concludes.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

⭕️ BREAKING: UN Committee Against Torture: Israel now has a “de facto State policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” that has “gravely intensified” since October 7.

The UN Committee is made up of ten independent UN experts and periodically monitors states’ compliance with the Convention against Torture, issuing binding assessments of state conduct. Their latest findings of Israel’s conduct include repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, prolonged stress positions, sexual violence, humiliation such as being forced to act like animals or being urinated on, denial of medical care, excessive restraints causing amputations, surgery without anaesthetic, exposure to extreme heat or cold, deprivation of food, water, hygiene, clothing, sleep, and the use of hallucinogens on detainees.

The Committee found at least 75 Palestinians have died in custody since October 7 amid a deliberate state policy of collective punishment, with autopsies showing signs of torture, malnutrition and untreated medical conditions — and no officials held accountable. Israel has also suspended ICRC access to detainees.

It warned that Israel’s sweeping administrative detention regime has reached “unprecedented” scale, with Palestinians held for months without charge, denied lawyers for up to 15 days, and presented to judges after 12 days. Settlers, however, were exempted from the same military order.

Under the Unlawful Combatants Law, Palestinians — including older people, disabled people, pregnant women and children — have been detained in groups without individualized assessment, held incommunicado, and placed outside legal protection in what the Committee says amounts to enforced disappearance.

The Committee further warned that Israel’s cumulative policies — the blockade on aid, destruction of civilian infrastructure, forced displacement, and a system of movement restrictions and segregation — may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the Palestinian population as a whole.

(Photo: Addameer)

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

Lina Khan is quietly mapping out how New York’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani can use overlooked city and state laws to make daily life cheaper — from Yankee stadium beer to basic medicines, Semafor reports.

People familiar with the transition say she’s identified a broad “unconscionable pricing” rule and new transparency requirements for algorithmic pricing as early tools the city can enforce. It echoes her FTC tenure, where she revived dormant statutes to pressure companies on misleading ads, predatory pricing, and deceptive gig-work claims. Business groups may bristle, but Khan’s approach could give Mamdani a concrete legal path to tackle the city’s affordability crisis, the report suggests. ⬇️

[Ben Smith @semaforben]

Read @lizrhoffman on what the heck Lina Khan is doing in New York City

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

When we launched this campaign, we said we wanted to knock on one million doors across the five boroughs by the June primary.

Some people laughed. You got to work. We hit 1.6 million.

In the general, we said let's do it again. Another million.

We just passed three.

[Peter Cronau @PeterCronau]

Nobel Prize had been given to the US-funded far-right opposition leader in Venezuela — and she’s dedicated her award to Trump.

“To call María Corina Machado a ‘symbol of peace’ is to stretch language past recognition.

“She is, rather, the embodiment of a political economy built on sanctions, coups, and privatization—violence repackaged as virtue.

“To the dispossessed in Venezuela, she is not a liberator but a liaison, the polished emissary of Washington’s eternal experiment in regime change.

“Behind the rhetoric of freedom lies the machinery of economic strangulation; behind the smile, the shadow of a foreign flag.”

https://t.co/Pa8m90cuFh

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

https://t.co/1QEw6yJf9V

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

The idea that the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 can be awarded to a person who hasn’t been working towards the end of the genocide in Gaza is an insult to peace.

[Peter Cronau @PeterCronau]

Look at the corporate sponsors of the National Press Club in Canberra.

(NPC have just cancelled Chris Hedges @ChrisLynnHedges speaking on the Israeli killing of Journalists in Gaza.)

👇
NPC sponsored by some of the world’s most voracious arms traders:
https://t.co/zOsx968Nz1

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

❗️BREAKING❗️Rescuers killed in line of duty.
Scenes like this unfold every moment in Gaza, often unseen, largely undocumented. I beg STATES: how much more must be witnessed before you act to stop this carnage?
🔴Break the blockade
🔴Impose an Arms Embargo
🔴Impose Sanctions.

[Victorian Socialists @vic_socialists]

RIP the legendary David Stratton who not only was monitored by ASIO for suspected communist sympathies but also once gave a film - 'The Replacements' - zero stars because "It is a film which celebrates strike-breakers and scabs". Read the transcript here: https://t.co/xshN6Ra0Hp

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

Vale David Stratton.

[Dendy Cinemas @DendyCinemas]

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of legendary Australian film critic and historian David Stratton. David's infectious passion for film and deep commitment to Australian cinema were unrivalled in this country. Vale David Stratton.

[Keith Sakata, MD @KeithSakata]

I’m a psychiatrist.

In 2025, I’ve seen 12 people hospitalized after losing touch with reality because of AI. Online, I’m seeing the same pattern.

Here’s what “AI psychosis” looks like, and why it’s spreading fast: 🧵

[lorne franks @LorneFranks]

Palette cleanser

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

#ReleaseTheCuomoList