...and calls for Assange to be assassinated.

One nice thing about being an amateur commentator is that I can simply go dark when I think I've got nothing to say. Professionals have to step to the plate, and occasionally spectacular misfires result.

Today is Goldberg's turn.

So again, I ask: Why wasn't Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago?

It's a serious question.

He then goes on to make the Flashman case (institutional incompetence, not hypercompetence, is the rule) and then to explain that the fallout from killing such a public figure would be too severe to manage.

He concludes:

That's fine. And it's the law. I don't expect the U.S. government to kill Assange, but I do expect them to try to stop him. As of now, the plan seems to be to do nothing at all.

Now there's a much better post buried in there, which is a variant of the "if we're living in such a fascist state why aren't you in a gulag?" argument I make to people like Glenn Greenwald and my more hysterical friends.

But the plain reading of Jonah's words is that he'd be quite happy if Assange showed up facedown in his bathtub one morning.

And as frustrated as I am with Assange's bullshit, and as deeply as I'd like to see him in handcuffs in front of a judge, that's kind of - scratch that - that's completely outrageous.

Here's hoping Jonah is smart enough and gets wise enough counsel to follow this right up with a "My bad, I was on deadline and just had a small brain melt."

If not...well, if not I'm kinda worried.
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