“Golden” Evokes Dark Side: FLASHBACK to 1940s Golden, 1800s Gilded

Gilded Age or Golden Era

or 

Both

In US history, the former was a period (1870s) of gross materialism and blatant political corruption. 

The latter was a period (1940s-1950s) of rampant fear mongering and gross repression.

Mina Elwell writes of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”

It was an era that was “paired a volatile political environment” and “created a world in which the political beliefs or personal lives of filmmakers and actors could be weaponized to silence them.” Or, stated differently, powers at the helm used the mechanism of government as a weapon to silence art and artists.

For example, Elwell reports, the film "Citizen Kane" of that era “was openly booed at the 1942 Academy Awards”; and backlash to the film’s satirical rendering of “the powerful William Randolph Hearst” included “a vast campaign to destroy the film and its co-writer, director, and lead actor Orson Welles.”

In Hollywood’s GOLDEN AGE 

“Sexual violence was incredibly pervasive ….” 

“Rape was a constant threat for women working in Hollywood” and

“Sexual harassment was the norm.”

“Behind the glamorous facade…, Hollywood could be cruel and violent.” Elwell, Mina “Hollywood's Blacklist Era: The Dark Side Of 1940s Entertainment May 1, 2023, Grunge https://www.grunge.com/1273485/hollywoods-blacklist-era-dark-side-1940s-entertainment/

David Walsh comments on the Forty-seventh's golden 

In the lead up to the 2025 academy awards assembly, David Walsh noted that US President Trump had “declared a new cultural ‘Golden Age’ (in the performing arts) by

• Putting himself in charge of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts…
• Naming a group of “has-beens and imbeciles” (Walsh’s adjectives) his special ambassadors to the film and television industry”; and 
• Declaring his “Golden Age” duo: Golden Age Hollywood-Golden Age USA.

“These are billionaire executives,” Walsh writes. And to them, all is “business.” “Business is business.”

As Walsh sees it, the masterminds now laying siege in Federal Washington have their sights [their mandate, they seem to say] on 

“Full-scale repression of immigrants” 

“Attacks on the democratic rights” of the whole US population

Decimation of “public health and public education” 

Undoing “any hindrance” perceived by the “oligarchs in charge” to be “restrictive” to or “inefficient” in the “accumulation of corporate profit and personal wealth” and

Unbridled “preparations for new, more calamitous wars.”

Enabling their mission will be fully funded on demand and fully weaponized “military, CIA, FBI and every other agency of repression.”

In view of present-day conditions threatening life and liberty at home and abroad, Walsh calls to mind the principles of the film industry and performing arts; and issues what might be described as a call to action on behalf of humanity.

“Filmmaking was never simply a money-making operation,” Walsh writes. And today there is a pressing “need to live up to the best, democratic, radical traditions of American filmmaking” — “not its worst, most self-involved, trivial and nationalistic.”

While “it is true that art cannot save the world, or even itself; … art and the artists have unique responsibilities. … They are beholden to suffering humanity to see that their work does not serve merely as a toy for their own diversion or that of the…” ruling faction or upper class.

“In the history of filmmaking…, the greatest figures have oriented themselves toward the sufferings, hopes and struggles of broad layers of the population. Film and television are not a technical-organizational undertaking, an empty machine for showing off one’s skill; but a critical means of communicating important truths about life and reality.” Walsh, David February 27, 2025 “Trump, Musk and fascism, the film industry and the Academy Awards” https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/02/27/ztlv-f27.html

 

As we move forward in the current era, we might reflect on history, US History, and on thoughts emanating from sources and voices 

outside particular the pods and chambers of echoes.

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

Links: https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

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USA Extremism Intermingles, Draws Surprising Cohorts

 In the MOMENT

In RETROSPECT

“… We believed, and we believe in what we were expressing.” 

“Two (on screen) … millions (in real life) gave their lives and were prepared to sacrifice everything in the fight against fascist and racist NAZI Germany” said actress Vanessa Redgrave in the moment of the film “Julia” in an acceptance speech at the (50th) Academy Awards April 3, 1978, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion https://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org

“I salute you and I pay tribute to you (who have) … stood firm and … refused to be intimidated by the threats of a … bunch of Zionist hoodlums whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression.… 

“I salute all of you for having stood firm and dealt a final blow against [a] period when NIXON AND MCCARTHY launched a worldwide witch hunt against those who tried to express in their lives and their work the truth that they believed in.”

RED SCARE 1900s - 2000s

THE RED SCARE (Background) “… illustrates the ease with which excuses can be offered and accepted “for taking away civil liberties” … then steamrolling “into overreach on the part of governments at all levels” says author Clay Risen.

The second Red Scare also labeled McCarthyism is linked to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, initially “a little-known junior senator from Wisconsin until February 1950 when he claimed to possess a list of 205 card-carrying Communists employed in the U.S. Department of State.” 

Henceforth, until he was dethroned, the senator “became a tireless crusader against Communism … in a period that has been commonly referred to as the Red Scare.” Source: Eisenhower Library Online Document: https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare

EXCERPT from a Risen Interview with Chapter 16 “Revisiting a Witch Hunt” 

CHAPTER 16: Joseph McCarthy, at least three US presidents [Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon], and one presidential candidate [Robert F. Kennedy] had roles in the Red Scare. (Chapter 16 is a publication of Humanities Tennessee)

RISEN: He (Joseph R. McCarthy) was a useful tool for a lot of different groups because he was willing to say stuff they couldn’t. … People who wanted to protect their reputations could feed stuff to McCarthy, and McCarthy was willing to say it. He became a puppet for these folks, even though, obviously, I think he did have his own volition and his own ideas about where he was going.

RISEN (on TRUMAN): With the death of the thirty-second US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Vice President Harry S. Truman “was dropped, midstream, into a lot of issues that, even a year before, he probably didn’t anticipate (having) to deal with. … [He] was ultimately a little naïve…, (believing) that the American public had too much common sense to be drawn in (either) by the far left and communism, or … into red baiting and the Red Scare.”

RISEN (on NIXON): “… Everything was in service of Richard Nixon…, an amoral opportunist” who “started off as a centrist, very concerned about civil liberties and the potential for overreach”; but … when he saw that he could make a real splash, he dug in [on the Red Scare].”

RISEN (on EISENHOWER): The thirty-fourth US President Dwight David Eisenhower “created a compromise …, reinforce[ing] the establishment and push[ing] aside the far left and the far right…,” demonstrating “faith in the establishment and in the ultimate wisdom of moderation.” However, “had he taken on McCarthy more aggressively, he could have done more to disabuse more people of (widespread) conspiracy theories and witch hunting.”

RISEN (on Robert F. KENNEDY, a member of Joseph McCarthy’s Staff during the Red Scare): “There is probably a lot to be said about why (his) … was not a profile in courage….” “Early on… [Robert F.] Kennedy was … an opportunist…” and while it is unclear “whether he agreed with what McCarthy was doing…, like his brother [John F. Kennedy],” [Robert F. Kennedy] “fundamentally believed in anti-communism and that Communists needed to be attacked in every way.” https://chapter16.org/revisiting-a-witch-hunt/ Patterson, Jim, February 24, 2025, Chapter 16 “Revisiting a Witch Hunt: Clay Risen’s Red Scare offers a fresh take on the legacy of Senator Joseph McCarthy,” https://chapter16.org/revisiting-a-witch-hunt/ Jim Patterson is a Nashville freelance writer whose work appears often on the United Methodist News website. He has been a reporter for The Associated Press in Nashville and senior writer and public affairs officer for Vanderbilt University; author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America by Clay Risen (also author of other books and a New York Times reporter and editor, https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Red-Scare/Clay-Risen/9781982141806

NAZISM 1900s – 2000s

In the year of the 70th anniversary of Victory in World War II, the founding of the United Nations and the institution of the Nuremberg trials, the UN General Assembly adopted 

“… the Russia-initiated resolution on combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.” 

“The resolution denounces the glorification of the Nazi movement and former Waffen SS members in a number of countries, which is done by unveiling monuments and holding demonstrations. It points to persisting attempts to desecrate or destroy monuments erected in honor of those who fought against Nazism in WWII.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, December 18, 2015, https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1520357/

“NEVER AGAIN” 

What does it mean in practice?

Is it just another (thoughts and prayers) mantra: casual, careless, cavalier utterance …babytalk, meaninglessness?

What exactly does Never Again mean to delusional men who occupy positions of enormous power, men bereft of human values and moral sensibility, men who believe that the lands they cause to be razed and ruined, the bombs and chemical weapons they order to be released or exploded upon all nature—

“… will somehow spare them.”

 

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

Links: https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

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FOUR C’s — Careless, Corrupt, Chaotic, Callous (and an “I” for Incompetent) — are US

(Are we? —Toys R’ Us might disagree)

Inmates at Helm
Misters M and T (& Co), and A Streak that Crosses Aisles

MUSK Contributions to Donald Trump

Musk Personal contribution	$130 million+
Musk “America PAC”	$200 million+

US Government Contributions to Musk

$21 billion	Promised or Awarded	Since 2008 (still flowing-Feb 2025)
$76.7 million	Promised	Since 47th’s Inauguration

WHAT FOR

National Aeronautics and Space Administration: “Flying NASA to the moon” US government-exorbitantly funds, via “federal contracts,” Elon Musk’s “private space company… ‘SpaceX.’”

Since the start of recordkeeping in this area, money promised to SpaceX

PROMISED in US government contracts, research grants, and other forms of public assistance	$20.7 billion
NASA (contracts with) in above promised	$14.6 billion
PROJECTED (if NASA exercises all options in every contract	$56.4 billion
US government Paid out to date	$8.7 billion
US Government in Debt to Musk	US Government in Debt to Musk
US Department of Defense (promised) contracts with Musk’s SpaceX	$5.6 billion Up to max future payout $32.8 billion
US Department of State subsidiary US Agency for International Development (USAID) PROMISED TO Musk’s SpaceX subsidiary Starlink	(circa) $2.3 million
US Department of Commerce owed to Musk’s SpaceX	$1.4 million
US Department of Veterans Affairs owed to Musk’s SpaceX	$578,875

Money to Tesla Electric Vehicle Company Run by Musk

US Government boost of Tesla income via tax credits to Tesla-buying customers	$3.4 billion
US Department of Energy low-interest loan to Tesla for help developing new electric vehicles	$465 million
US government contract with Tesla for “‘armored electric vehicles’” (under current scrutiny)	$400 million
US government purchases solar and vehicles	$4.5 million

(Federal data analyzed by The Independent)
Independent UK: “Here’s how many billions Elon Musk’s companies are making from U.S. taxpayers: While their boss takes a sledgehammer to federal agencies, SpaceX and Tesla are earning big money from government contracts,” writes Io Dodds February 23, 2025, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/musk-government-contracts-spacex-tesla-taxes-b2703141.html

US Government Spending in Top 50 Recipients

Source USA Spending FY 2008 through FY 2025 – Five area Recipients

*(Akb = Also Known By)

$30.2 Billion	LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP akb* 22 other names	Five US Gov Awarding Agencies	Department of Defense National Aeronautics and Space Administration  Department of Homeland Security Department of Transportation Department of Justice
$21.9 Billion	ROCKWELL COLLINS AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED Akb 52 other names	Five US Gov Awarding Agencies	Department of Defense National Aeronautics and Space Administration  Department of Homeland Security Department of Transportation General Services Administration
$20.1 Billion	THE BOEING COMPANY Akb 23 other names	Five US Gov Awarding Agencies	Department of Defense National Aeronautics and Space Administration  Department of Homeland Security General Services Administration Department of Energy
$10.2 Billion	LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION Akb 3 other names	Three US Gov Awarding Agencies	Department of Defense National Aeronautics and Space Administration  Department of Homeland Security
$9.3 Billion	LEIDOS HOLDINGS, INC. Akb 45 other names	Five US Gov Awarding Agencies	Department of Defense  Department of Veterans Affairs Department of Health and Human Services Department of Transportation Department of Energy

USA Spending dot Gov “Recipient Profiles.” https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient

“Which Inmate Is Running the Asylum?” 
Electoral Vote https://www.electoral-vote.com/

Trump, “Musk and his Band of Bros”

“With Trump, way back in 2016 (campaign) or 2017 (commencement of his administration), we kept looking for the underlying plan, the logic, the chess moves. And it turns out those things weren't there.

“We are not inclined to make that mistake again with Musk. It is possible he is brilliant in other domains, but in this domain, he's lost.”

An Infamous, Callous 5 Bullet Electronic Missive

People “who work for the federal government, either as regular employees or as contractors, are, by and large, loyal and hardworking public servants who—in many cases—left money on the table by agreeing to work in the public sector. They have families (and) mortgages…. They have lives. They are human beings.

“To make them jump through stupid, insulting hoops—like they are trained seals begging for a treat—is just reprehensible.”

The infamous electronic mail arrives and “quite a few high-ranking Trumpers (tell) their underlings to ignore (it).” Among the Trump-appointed high-rankers casting doubt on or putting a spanner in the bulleted missive are “FBI Director Kash Patel and DNI Tulsi Gabbard.”

The careless, callous creature then appeals to his would-be master (?) who then posts an apparent ‘I’m with you- keep pitching’ message via “his very sad little social media platform.” And the callous bulleted missive returns threatening immediate termination of service of those failing to respond to said missive. The sitting president’s I’m with you- keep pitching, my boy, apparently turned to comme ci, comme ça or you’re on your own, partner.

His second attempt at support reportedly said something to the effect that “employees who did not follow Musk's orders would be ‘fired’ or … ‘semi-fired,’” leaving muddied the meaning of “’semi-fired.’” And post Trump the OPM messaged a declaration that employee responses to the South African’s “demands (were) optional”; and not responding “would not lead to termination.”

The consensus of opinion in some sectors, this writer observes, is that there is not only callousness and carelessness; but there is incompetence (and therefore weakness) all round.

Some “Trumpers have concluded that Musk is incompetent or … a threat, or both.” Moreover, the writer continues, the sitting US president has a habit of attracting and hiring incompetents” — as “he is himself an incompetent manager”— and questionable online content makers. The author cites the current appointment to deputy FBI director, a man whose salient qualifications are apparently “far-right, extremely whack-a-doodle, Trump-cultist podcast[ing]” heard to declare that “his mission is to ‘own the libs’ because they are ‘pure unadulterated evil.’”

The management incompetence and questionable judgment of the sitting president was evidenced in “his first term” which was “marked by all kinds of turf wars … among … underlings, usually ending in someone being (pushed out)”: vast turnover of employees and general destabilization or chaos. In his second term, “the turf wars” are seen to start “much earlier and are developing much quicker.”

Four is a long pull of years for a US President. And what happens from here to there is anybody’s guess. What is known, the writer concludes, is that the sitting president seems to be intimidated by the South African; and a general manifestation of the former’s character and behavior is spinelessness. “… Even as Musk steps on every toe in Washington, Trump doesn't have the courage to rein him in. … Will The Donald (eventually summon the courage to) impose some discipline on Musk? And, if so, will it actually come from the President, or will he send someone like Stephen Miller to do it?”

Stephen Miller, an influencer and hanger-on around media and federal government with seemingly questionable or extremist views has been in recent years a White House Director of Speechwriting (January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021) and, serving with Jared Kushner, a Senior Advisor to the President (January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021). His current double roles are United States Homeland Security Advisor and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy (both since January 20, 2025).

“That's where things stood as of 2:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday. Who knows what the situation will be by, say, 2:00 p.m. PT on Tuesday?” Source: Electoral Vote “Which Inmate Is Running the Asylum?” https://www.electoral-vote.com/

Money Plays?

Quid Pro Quo?

Revolving Door

Inmates Running the Asylum 

Run amok

The Face of US Politics

Corruption, Chaos, Carelessness, Callousness, Calculated Incompetence

There is a critical difference between the Forty-sixth and the Forty-seventh US President. And mind you, I am not one who falls in love with or holds membership in a fan club for politicians of any stripe. So, bear that in mind. 

The Forty-sixth had long overstayed his time in office. And, clearly, he was suffering a serious mental impairment. Yet, foolishly, his political party exploited this in order to manage him. Impairment (any kind of incompetence) weakens a person, leaving them terribly vulnerable. Perhaps, also, he was corrupt, criminally abusive of public office. Criminality and unethical behavior should be checked and reprimand, chastised or otherwise subjected to the rule of law—not matter who is involved. But I believe, also, that the forty-sixth was knowledgeable of public service and knew or should have known the proper role and functioning of government (the US Government). He knew what government was supposed to do. His long years (in two branches of government) would have taught him, firsthand, the difference and necessary distinction between public service and private enterprise.

The Forty-seventh is totally ignorant of that critical distinction and difference. In my view, he is uncaring of that difference and distinction and has no interest learning, let alone or honoring it. In his ignorance (ignorance also impairs, weakens, leaves vulnerable), he is also arrogantly disrespectful of government and of public servants. The forty-seventh is a private enterprise man, a buyer and seller of stuff, a wheeler-dealer. A merchant centered on self: on getting more than giving. He hasn’t a clue and cares less about Government of by and for the People.

Government, US Government, was not created to buy and sell stuff; nor was it (or its employees or leaders) meant to be bought and sold (or to preach a religion)—the essence and meaning of corruption, breakdown, destruction of all that is of (We the People American cultural) value.

Government, US Government, was not intended to serve or pander to special interests (and if it was, the system was also a work in progress toward building a more and more perfect Union). Government should be a vital servant of ALL the people—having the whole society in mind, clearly cognizant of (and emotionally embracing) the principle that the health of the whole society (society as a whole) and government (up and down the spectrum) is dependent on the health and wellbeing of all the country’s people.

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

Links: https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

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Email: Nolandanisland@hotmail.com or Authorswork@gmail.com

Calculated Chaos, Corruption, Carelessness

The Trump-Adams-USAG Affair Against the Public Interest

Public Servant Eric Leroy Adams 

• Employee of the New York City Police Department (1984–2006)
• Member of the New York State Senate (January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2013)
• President of Brooklyn, Borough of New York City (January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2021)
• Mayor of New York City (Incumbent: January 1, 2022 -).

INDICTED by GRAND JURY

Reported by DOJ

“For nearly a decade, ADAMS has used his prominent positions in New York City government to obtain illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel. ADAMS solicited and accepted these benefits from foreign nationals, businessmen, and others. ADAMS then pressured the New York City Fire Department to facilitate the opening of a foreign government’s Manhattan skyscraper that had not passed a fire inspection. To conceal this criminal conduct, ADAMS took steps to hide his receipt of improper benefits from the public and law enforcement,” allegations in the Grand Jury indictment released by the US Department of Justice Thursday, September 26, 2024.

“ADAMS, 64, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, which each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.”

The announcement concludes “As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the Indictment and the descriptions of the Indictment set forth … constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.… The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” PUBLIC CORRUPTION Press Release Thursday, September 26, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams Charged with Bribery and Campaign Finance Offenses https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-charged-bribery-and-campaign-finance-offenses

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation

“The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hagan Scotten, Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, and Derek Wikstrom are in charge of the prosecution.” Case assigned to U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho.

QUID PRO QUO sort of 

Anything Goes when Power Wants what it Wants

Associated Press, Reuters reporting February 11 and 14, 2025

The US Department of Justice on Monday February 10, 2025, “ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, arguing in a remarkable departure from long-standing norms that the case was interfering with the mayor’s ability to aid the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration.”

“The memo also ordered prosecutors in New York not to take ‘additional investigative steps’ against the (man) until after November’s mayoral election.” The memorandum “left open the possibility that charges could be refiled after that following a review.” Offenhartz, Jake, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker “Top Justice Department official orders prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams,” Associated Press February 11, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/eric-adams-indictment-109ef48bd49bc8adc1850709c99bf666

Lawyer and lobbyist, former Attorney General of Florida (January 4, 2011 – January 8, 2019) and current United States Attorney General (Incumbent February 5, 2025 - ) Pamela Jo “Bondi” (acting Deputy Emil Bove) “… in her first day on the job … issued a directive stating that Justice Department lawyers who decline to appear in court or sign briefs would be disciplined and possibly fired” (Reuters). Cohen, Luc and Sarah N Lynch Reuters February 14, 2025 “Trump DOJ’s order to drop Eric Adams case sparks mass resignations” February 14, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/manhattan-us-attorney-sassoon-resigns-after-request-drop-eric-adams-case-2025-02-13/

• Danielle Sassoon resigns as Manhattan US Attorney
• John Keller and Kevin Driscoll resign from DOJ
• Three other DOJ deputies resign - Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke and Marco Palmieri
• https://www.reuters.com/world/us/manhattan-us-attorney-sassoon-resigns-after-request-drop-eric-adams-case-2025-02-13/

Opposing Chaos, Caprice, Corruption 

Language of Weaponization
as the Language of “isms” (terrorism, racism, fascism, etal)

Defending the Public Interest: DANIELLE RENEE SASSOON Ivy League graduated lawyer clerked with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (2012-2013), lead prosecutor (along with AUSA Nicolas Roos) in the Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried case at trial 2023 [on wire fraud (2 counts), conspiracy to commit wire fraud (2 counts), conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering charges; defendant now serving 25-year prison sentence]; January 21, 2025, appointed by US President Donald Trump United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“… [T]o reward Adams’s opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment. … is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent….”—DANIELLE R. SASSOON, United States Attorney Southern District of New York February 12, 2025, writes to Attorney General of the United States Pamela Jo Bondi (former personal attorney of Donald Trump and his February 2025 appointee to office of US AG)

Excerpt from Sassoon’s letter to Bondi

The memorandum sent by acting Deputy to the USAG, Emil Bove “states that dismissal” of the case against New York Mayor Eric Adams “is warranted because of the conduct of this office’s former U.S. Attorney, Damian Williams, which, according to Mr. Bove’s memo, constituted weaponization of government as defined by the relevant orders of the President and the Department.”

However, … “dismissing the case will amplify, rather than abate, concerns about weaponization of the Department.”

“Despite Mr. Bove’s observation that the directive to dismiss the case has been reached without assessing the strength of the evidence against Adams, Adams has already seized on the memo to publicly assert that he is innocent and that the accusations against him were unsupported by the evidence and based only on ‘fanfare and sensational claims.’ Confidence in the Department would best be restored by means well short of a dismissal.

“As you know, our office is prepared to seek a superseding indictment from a new grand jury under my leadership.” [A superseding indictment is a formal accusation that replaces an original indictment in a criminal case. It can add, change, or remove charges or defendants. (General reference)]

“We have proposed a superseding indictment that would add an obstruction conspiracy count based on evidence that Adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI, and that would add further factual allegations regarding his participation in a fraudulent straw donor scheme.

“That is more than enough to address any perception of impropriety created by Mr. Williams’ personal conduct. The Bove memo acknowledges as much, leaving open the possibility of refiling charges after the November 2025 New York City Mayoral Election.”

Further regarding “… conditioning the dismissal on the incoming U.S. Attorney’s ability to re-assess the charges consistent with either the weaponization rationale or the law concerning motions under Rule 48(a). … [K]eeping Adams under the threat of prosecution while the Government determines its next steps is a recognized reason for the denial of a Rule 48(a) motion.”

Rule 48 “Dismissal”: (a) “By the Government. The government may, with leave of court, dismiss an indictment, information, or complaint. The government may not dismiss the prosecution during trial without the defendant's consent.” RULE 48 (A) “provides in part that the attorney general or the US ATTORNEY may by leave of court file a dismissal of an indictment, information, or complaint to terminate prosecution.” Leave of court is “a judge’s permission to do something that is not part of the normal legal process”, e.g., “starting a proceeding, filing certain documents, or appealing a decision.”

Sources Cornell Law School https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_48

Office of Justice Programs US Department of Justice https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/criminal-procedure-rule-48-fed-r-crim-p-district-court-may-not-deny

In her argument against the order to dismiss the criminal indictments against Adams, Sassoon concludes on this one issue of “weaponization.”

“… Given the highly generalized accusations of weaponization, weighed against the strength of the evidence against Adams, a court will likely question whether that basis is pretextual… (quoting sources) … (courts ‘should be satisfied that the reasons advanced for the proposed dismissal are substantial and the real grounds upon which the application is based’).”

Finally, she writes, “I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached, in seeming collaboration with Adams’s counsel and without my direct input on the ultimate stated rationales for dismissal.”

“Cannot” “in Good Faith” Carry out USAG Dismissal Orders

“Mr. Bove’s memo… (directing) me to dismiss an indictment returned by a duly constituted grand jury for reasons having nothing to do with the strength of the case, raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts,” Sassoon writes.

“The reasons advanced by Mr. Bove for dismissing the indictment are not ones I can in good faith defend as in the public interest and as consistent with the principles of impartiality and fairness that guide my decision-making.” Documents: Sassoon letter “NY prosecutor's resignation letter” February 12, 2025, via Email: The Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi Attorney General of the United States U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: United States v. Eric Adams, 24 Cr. 556 (DEH) Source: AP Contributed by AP Staff (Associated Press), Created on 2/13/2025, Last updated on 2/13/2025; Language: English https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25526481-sassoon-letter/

Reuters February 13, 2025, Update 

“Six senior Justice Department officials, including Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, resigned … rather than comply with an order to dismiss corruption charges against New York City’s mayor, according to internal Justice Department letters seen by Reuters and people familiar with the matter.…

“Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, the Trump administration’s recent pick to temporarily lead the office prosecuting New York Mayor Eric Adams, resigned her post on Thursday, according to the memorandum by Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a Trump appointee.”

Reuter’s writers cap the not-yet mid-February drunken fit of chaos, capriciousness and corruption by recalling another ill-advised precedent in US history and politics.

“Thursday’s resignations sparked comparisons from legal experts to the ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ in 1973, when senior Justice Department officials resigned after refusing President Richard Nixon’s order to fire the special counsel investigating the 1972 break-in by Republican operatives at the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.”

Caught in a vise of wrongdoing and cover-ups in the second term of his presidency, the thirty-seventh US president sought to cut off intelligence and suppress knowledge of wrongdoing. 

In a brouhaha between the legislative and executive branches of government, President Richard Milhous Nixon (setting a pattern for the Showman) started firing top-level investigators and the dominoes started falling; soon, the whole house came tumbling down. The barrage of firings and resignations, in dramatic press fashion, became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre.” 

None of this, however, has put an end to the relentless corruption in US public office (up and down the spectrum) -- reaching even farther back to New York City/New York state politics and political machine “Tammany Hall” 1789-1967 and its notorious power broker Boss Tweed (William Magear Tweed, 1823-1878). The inmates, layered with lawyers, just craft clever meanings and keep changing meanings; legalize behavior unbecoming public office, and behaviors that are clearly unethical and criminal.  

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

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