MENDAX is being released; After countless years and multiple hearings MENDAX is being released after being given in jail for over 1900 days along with his isolation in the Ecuadorian Embassy for nearly a decade.

MENDAX would come into the public in the 2000s, but most notable would be when he publicly unmasked himself as Julian Paul Assange when he founded WikiLeaks in 2006. Assange built WikiLeaks to shorten the time between a leak and its coverage by the media while being inspired by The Pentagon Papers (Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force) which was released by Daniel Ellsberg to The New York Times in 1971.

Assange was what was known as a “Cypherpunk” which Wikipedia defines as

“A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change”

Assange would work with many iconic Cypherpunks over the years including the late Aaron Swartz, CNET and The Verge both reported on this as WikiLeaks would post multiple tweets in a thread talking about the fact “Aaron Swartz was in communication with Julian Assange, including during 2010 and 2011” which makes sense as Aaron Swartz was one of the developers of SecureDrop a secure communication platform for both journalists and sources.

Assange would work on many releasing information about many things ranging from the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp Manual in 2007, The 9/11 Pager Logs in 2009, but it wouldn’t be until April 2010 when they’d release footage of a Military strike in Baghdad where a photo journalist from Reuters named Namir Noor-Eldeen (September 1, 1984 – July 12, 2007) would be murdered.

Assange would leak the video to reporters calling the footage “Collateral Murder” believing it was in the best interest of the public; sadly Julian would have no choice but to seek protection when trumped-up false charges would be brought up by the Swedish government resulting in an international arrest warrant being issued.

This led to his well known isolation in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he’d stay until April 2019; what lead this? AP News and Reuters said that Ecuador claimed Assange threatened he had a “panic button” that he said would bring devastating consequences for the embassy in the event of his arrest, Hopefully someday we will find out what that Panic Button meant.

I had believed he was going to be in prison for life so dear readers you can imagine my shock when I was relaxing with a White Russian cocktail (vodka, coffee liqueur, creamer and shaved ice) and listening to Dark Cabaret/Symphonic Metal music only to discover Assange was flying overhead.

The fact that Assange was being released was shocking for me at the very least, reporters and press documents state that Assange will plead guilty to an Espionage Act violation and be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing on the island of Saipan a US Commonwealth nation close to Australia where Assange has citizenship.

While It’s unfair for him to plead guilty as a reporter he has not done anything that justifies his sentencing, Assange was an editor/publisher of a non-profit media organization. His actions I fear might put a chilling effect on news, but only time will tell.