The slow-motion murder of Julian Assange, which we’ve been witnessing unfold for several years now, has accelerated precipitously. His recent admission to the Belmarsh Prison hospital and his reported inability to hold coherent conversation with his lawyers is a testament to his artificially induced decline. His brutal persecution for practicing investigative journalism—an act unequivocally protected by the 1st amendment—holds deep (and, if we’re honest with ourselves, ominous) implications about where the United States and other…