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It's being appealed so he could still be extradited. The reasoning was essentially that the US prison system is more inhumane and he's a suicide risk. The US could provide assurances to the appeals court convincing them to overrule the decision. I think it's likely they succeed.
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I could see Trump doing this tomorrow as a distraction from his other pardons. The focus would be on him pardoning Assange and Snowden instead of him pardoning more of his loyal soldiers. It's icky for Snowden to be lobbying him to do it but I can fully understand the pragmatism.
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Assange is a creep and was manipulated as a tool by state actors but is still a journalist. I don't care what happens to him as an individual but for the sake of other journalists I hope he's not extradited or convicted based on publishing state secrets, helping his sources, etc.
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I don't think that disqualifies him from being a journalist. You could describe a lot of journalism that way. I don't think it's realistic to expect journalists lack of an agenda and act in a neutral way. I think he was primarily interested in pushing along the decline of the US.