The seemingly endless saga of convicted traitor Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley) is moving into its next phase. After serving only a handful of the 35 years he was supposed to do for espionage, he had his sentence somewhat infamously commuted by Barack Obama and will be getting out of the slammer next week. In advance of his freedom, Manning is already busy putting out press releases and the first isn’t particularly newsworthy. (Associated Press)

Chelsea Manning, who is scheduled to be released from prison next week, thanked former President Barack Obama, who granted her clemency in the final days of his presidency. She also said letters of support from fellow transgender individuals and veterans inspired her “to work toward making life better for others.”

“For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea,” she said in the statement. “I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine.”

Well, that’s just wonderful. An attorney with the ACLU is quoted as saying that Manning will have “financial and health care resources” available after getting out, but refused to specify what he would be doing to earn those and who is putting up the cash. And that’s really the only part of this development which makes it worthy of note this week. It’s not tough to imagine how the story plays out from here, with Manning essentially becoming one of those D list celebrities who is famous for being famous.

Were we a slightly more sensible society we might pause to ask, famous for what? I have no doubt that there are enough well heeled folks in the SJW movement out there that a few of them will be found to pay for Manning’s lifestyle and public appearances, of which there shall no doubt be many. And since the ACLU mentioned “health care” I assume they mean his transitional surgery. (After which I will follow my usual policy of referring to him with feminine pronouns. It doesn’t actually make him a woman, but if you’re willing to go to the extreme degree of getting some important bits of your anatomy lopped off, I’ll toss you a “her” and a “she” just for the effort expended.)

But circling back to the question of why he’s going to be somewhat famous and taken care of, let’s not lose sight of the details here. Manning is hardly unique for making some declaration of being transgender. And he’s far from the only person to ever go to prison. The only truly notable thing about him was that he indiscriminately dumped nearly a million classified military documents out into public view with zero regard for the massive damage it could cause or the setbacks he dealt to national security. This was never about wanting to be a “whistleblower” over a couple of incidents of potential military misconduct where he could have selectively released specific videos and intel covering those events. Manning betrayed his oath and the trust of his nation and was rightly convicted of espionage.

Yet somehow the liberal community will mange to overlook all of that and turn him into a minor celebrity and celebrate his “bravery” while making him a symbol of diversity. You can see it all coming from a mile away… the talk show appearances, the endless sniping at the military and the government, book deals and anything else you can think of. And all for a person who has accomplished essentially nothing beyond betraying his country. You people looking to pay for his keep are welcome to him. He’s all yours.