BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY OCT. 25, 2016) — If the American people can wake up from their lethargy, Donald Trump will be President-elect of the United States on Nov. 9. The damning publication of e-mails from John Podesta’s in-box will and would, under normal circumstances, deliver a death blow to Hillary Clinton’s nefarious campaign. Podesta is chairman of that campaign.

It’s hard to keep up with the flurry of releases, but they reveal beyond all doubt the devious, dishonest, and dishonorable nature of Mrs. Clinton’s bid. It would not be an exaggeration to call it treacherous.

“Under normal circumstances,” we wrote.

That middle word is one of those, like “reality,” that mean nothing without quotes.

“Normal.” There. THE PLANET can now proceed.

Enter Julian Assange and Wikileaks

This election is anything but “normal.” On the one hand, the internet-induced short attentions spans, general dumbing down of the country, and the time crunch that’s killing so many people prevent the kind of attention such revelations deserve. On the other, and more hopeful, is that cyberspace has made such stunning reports possible.

Enter Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Ten years ago, Assange founded Wikileaks. At the time, he wondered about the effect on politics if America’s two major political parties had their private communications — e-mails, faxes, briefings, donor information — made public. He essentially asked what would happen to “politics as usual” if  corruption was subject to “total transparency.” We’re beginning to find out.

Another hopeful sign: The record crowds Trump has drawn both during the Republican primary and now the general campaign. He has reached a segment of the population long-ignored by both Establishment parties — the marginalized,  disaffected, and hard-working remnants of the middle and lower-middle class. The Democrats have made a living off the poor, women, minorities, and blacks. The GOP has tapped its share of wealthy plutocrats. Trump — by talking to “average” citizens and not at them, talking like them and not above them — has given these forgotten folks a reason not just to hope but to vote. The Nov. 8 election will come down to turnout. If it’s heavy, Trump wins. If Clinton can suppress the vote and rely on the Dems’ “usual suspects,” she’s in. The Dem strategy is as cynical as it gets, because it depends on quashing voters … and their votes. Pittsfield Democrats have for years kept their authoritarian grip on the city by such reprehensible means.

‘Total Transparency’ is About Systems, Not People

Assange has not and will not endorse any candidate. Those who think he’s trumpeting for Trump conveniently forget the job he did on Republican candidates in the past. For instance, in 2008, Wikileaks published e-mails of VP candidate Sarah Palin. The rest was history … or rather, her story. Assange has not gone after Trump because, compared to the venality of the Clintons, he’s angelic.

Assange doesn’t get into the personalities who drive politics.

“He tends not to think about people,” said Finn Brunton, a New York University professor who has made a careful study of Wikileaks since its founding. “He thinks about systems. What he wants to do is interfere with the machinery of government regardless of who is in charge.”

The reason is obvious to most all Americans and readers of THE PLANET. Assange knows that U.S. politics — national, state, and local — has never been as corrupt or corrosive. True, political chicanery and scandals have been with us from the beginning, but the very tool Assange uses for good has given the political malefactors the means to usurp the democratic predicates upon which America rests.

Assange nailed it in 2006 when he wrote about the nature of government (and for that matter, giant corporations, terrorist groups, and political parties) as “conspiracies” — “groups that hoard secret information to win competitive advantage over the general public” (AP). That should be well familiar to citizens of Pittsfield, who — for a generation now — have been victimized by such groups.

There is only one hope for America in this presidential election. His name is Donald Trump.

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“Non-conformity is the only real passion worth being ruled by.” — Julian Assange

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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