News Information and Media Site: From rats to riches

THE BIG STORY

Julian Assange has been offered asylum in one of the most dangerous countries for free speech

On Monday, a British judge ruled to reject the US's request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The judge found that Assange, who faces 17 espionage charges, would be at risk of killing himself if he were placed in isolation in a US prison given the state of his mental health.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected arguments by Assange's lawyers — that the charges were an attack on press freedom — and accepted the US's claim that his alleged activities did not count as journalism. However, she still rejected the request, basing her ruling on medical evidence about Assange's mental health.

Mexico's president praised the ruling "because Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance," and offered political asylum to Assange — an offer many saw as ironic.

Mexico is the most dangerous country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Julian Assange leaves court in London after being sentenced on May 1, 2019. Henry Nicholls / Reuters.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The leader of the Proud Boys was arrested in the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner

Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, a far-right men's group, was arrested Monday in Washington, DC. He is accused of burning a "Black Lives Matter" banner taken from a historic Black church during violent protests in the city in December.

Tarrio arrived in DC this week to take part in protests against the certification of the presidential election. He has previously been blunt about his role in the Dec. 12 vandalism that spurred other clashes, which resulted in four people being stabbed and another shot.

Days later, he put it like this to the Washington Post: "So let me make this simple. I did it."

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department told us the 36-year-old was arrested when he entered DC on a warrant for destruction of property charges.

Henry "Enrique" Tarrio attends a protest. Noah Berger / AP.

SNAPSHOTS

This "super granny" worked her entire life — until COVID-19 killed her. Sushma Mane kept her family going, until she couldn't go any longer. She died from COVID-19 in a Mumbai hospital. She was 76.

Anti-mask protesters stormed a grocery store and mall in LA. Videos showed maskless protesters chanting "no more masks" and getting into shouting matches with customers and employees. Other videos showed anti-maskers trying to push open doors of shops that had closed to avoid the protest.

Trump gave the top civilian honor to Devin Nunes for undermining the Russia investigation. In his final weeks in office, the president is honoring friends and allies with pardons and medals.

Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde have apparently been dating for "a few weeks." I mean, look, there is no other way to put this: the internet is excited about this pairing.

ON THE CASE

Trump officials tried to keep the public in the dark, but BuzzFeed News never stopped fighting for essential documents

According to a new analysis, BuzzFeed News filed more public records lawsuits during Trump's presidency than any news organization in the country.

Since Donald Trump's first day in office, our newsroom has filed more lawsuits based on the Freedom of Information Act — 58 cases — than any other news organization in the United States, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research organization.

The newsroom's efforts culminated in 2020 with an aggressive legal campaign that pried loose tens of thousands of pages of government documents and, more important, dozens of government secrets.

Here's a look back at the biggest secrets we pried out of the government's hands in the last year.

FROM RATS TO RICHES

How Ratatouille went from TikTok to an (almost) Broadway musical

In August 2020, 26-year-old elementary school teacher Emily Jacobsen was cleaning when she started singing a song to herself about Remy, the rat protagonist of the Disney/Pixar 2007 film Ratatouille.

She posted it to TikTok, as you do, just to make her friends laugh. Others started building on what she created. And cut to 4 months later, and Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical went from TikTok in-joke to a streaming Broadway production.

In less than a month, a ragtag team of the original TikTok creators, big-time stars (Wayne Brady and Adam Lambert, among them), and Broadway professionals came together to make TikTok's vision a reality.

It's exactly the kind of story you need to start 2021.

Remember that your worth is not found in your to-do list,

Elamin

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📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Brandon Hardin and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.

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