Tag Archives: mobster

An American Tragedy – Donald Trump

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It was about a month after Donald Trump was “elected” President by the electoral college, and not by a popular vote.

I was swimming laps at the Ida Lee pool in Leesburg, and had stopped to retrieve a kicking board from the pool deck.

Trump_king3The woman, the next swimming lane over, said, “I used to love listening to the news.”

I could think of no words to ease her dismay.

A moment passed, and she continued, “I’ve gotten rid of my TV.”

Across the nation, our friends and neighbors have found different ways to cope with a President who is a brute.

On twitter today, a friend said that she played Jimi Hendrix’s “All along the Watchtower” over and over, shouting the lyrics, “There must be some kind of way outta here” given there’s “too much confusion” and “I can’t get no relief.”

Millions deal with the psychic pain of the Trump presidency by shutting Trump out of their consciousness. Continue reading →

Inside the Belly of the Beast – The Just Us System

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Sworn as an AUSA by US Attorney Paul Curran, SDNY

Sworn as an AUSA by US Attorney Paul Curran, SDNY

I’m a recovering N.Y. federal prosecutor.

I say “recovering” because you never quite get over the power and authority you enjoyed as a young man – as a ‘puppy” prosecutor.

In New York, a port city, the cases are a big deal, mobsters plot their crimes a few blocks from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in lower Manhattan, vast quantities of drugs, heroin and cocaine come into the Big Apple from every direction imaginable, there are illegal transfers of money, in and out of banks, securities fraud and oceans of bad acts and words deceiving the public, plots and devices hatched by a variety of rogues within walking distance of Foley Square, where the Courts and federal prosecutors are lodged.

If you do it right, when you’re a prosecutor, no matter the jurisdiction, your mission is to do justice for the individuals charged.

The Executive US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Sylvio J. Mollo, pulled the flag around him while he was testing my resolve to become an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Sylvio said, “when you stand before the court as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, you represent the people and the government, but, like the flag [that he had in his hand], those you represent are silent, not there with you, and they depend on you to do what’s right.”

Years after walking out of my last grand jury as a prosecutor, I started representing the Accused, upset about how the government was pushing around those they accused – in a way I’d been instructed was just plain wrong. Continue reading →

Trump tap tweet – “SAD!”

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The latest Trump pants on fire lie

The latest Trump pants on fire lie

Misdirection is the first considered refuge of a cornered politician or a guilty suspect.

Of course, some politicians and suspects have a core character that draws the line at lying once caught – and they face the music.

Mr. Trump is not, however, “that guy” who confesses to chopping down the cherry tree.

Mr. Trump charged President Obama wasn’t born in the United States without any evidence.

Mr. Trump claimed he would have won the popular vote last year if there hadn’t been voter fraud without any evidence of fraud.

Mr. Trump claimed to have had the biggest electoral vote since 1984 when President Obama bested Mr. Trump’s electoral total in both of Mr. Obama’s elections.

Mr. Trump lies about things big and small.

Afterwards, he walks his lies back, when the lies have had the desired effect that Mr. Trump contemplated, to gain tribute for himself (often) or, to misdirect public attention from his own misconduct (an almost daily occurrence now).

It is little wonder that Mr. Trump has surrounded himself with cabinet members and oval office staff who have trouble “recalling” their contacts with the Russians during or since the presidential election. Continue reading →