#sullivan and cromwell

[kramlabs]

Gina Haspel and Kash Patel, the plot thickens

Link: https://x.com/thechiefnerd/status/1867191997871841365?s=46

[immaculatasknight]

The hegemony of organized crime

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

By Stephen Millies

Discrimination in hiring is a U.S. capitalist tradition. Now, it’s Palestinians and their supporters who are being targeted. Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the biggest corporate law firms, doesn’t want law school graduates who’ve protested the mass murder of Gaza’s children and their families.

So much for freedom of speech and freedom of thought. This is like how Communist Party members and others were fired during the 1950s and later.

[demifiendrsa]

Merry Little Batman - Official Trailer

Poster

Synopsis

This Christmas, Damian Wayne wants to be a Super Hero like his dad—the one and only Batman. When Damian is left home alone while Batman takes on Gotham's worst Super-Villains on Christmas Eve, he stumbles upon a villainous plot to steal Christmas and leaps at the chance to save the day.

[nando161mando]

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 17 May:

1650 – Oliver Cromwell’s army is defeated in the second assault on Clonmel, suffering its heaviest losses. The following day, the Mayor of Clonmel negotiates honourable terms for surrender with Cromwell, who did not realise that O’Neill and his soldiers had left the town. Annoyed at being outwitted, Cromwell nevertheless keeps to the terms. 1730 – Elizabeth, widow of William Molyneux, marries…

[beardedmrbean]

NEW YORK (AP) — The leader of a New York City church where pop star Sabrina Carpenter filmed provocative scenes for a music video was stripped of his duties Monday after church officials said an investigation revealed other instances of mismanagement.

Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello was relieved of “any pastoral oversight or governance role” at his church located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

An investigation launched after the video revealed that Gigantiello made unauthorized financial transfers to a former top aide in New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration, which is being investigated on charges of corruption, Brennan said.

“I am saddened to share that investigations conducted by Alvarez & Marsal and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP have uncovered evidence of serious violations of Diocesan policies and protocols at Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation Parish,” the bishop said. “In order to safeguard the public trust, and to protect church funds, I have appointed Bishop Witold Mroziewski as administrator of the Parish.”

Gigantiello's administrative powers were taken away after Carpenter’s video for her hit song “Feather” sparked criticism last November.

The priest has now also been cut from his pastoral duties, giving Mroziewski “complete authority over the parish,” including on liturgical matters, though Gigantiello will still be able to say Mass with Mroziewski's approval, said diocese spokesperson Adriana Rodriguez.

Brennan, who oversees Catholic churches in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, said he also relieved a deacon who had been appointed as a temporary administrator during the investigation. He said the deacon had used racist and other offensive language during private conversations in the parish office that had been secretly recorded at Gigantiello’s direction.

Gigantiello didn’t respond to email and Facebook messages seeking comment Monday.

Released on Oct. 31, 2023, the “Feather” music video revolves around men behaving badly toward Carpenter before meeting grisly deaths.

At points in the video, the former Disney Channel star is seen pulling up to the distinctive brick church in a pink hearse and then dancing in front of the church’s ornate altar wearing a short black dress and a black veil alongside a colorful array of faux coffins.

The diocese at the time said it was “appalled” and that proper procedures for filming had not been followed.

Besides relieving Gigantiello of administrative duties, Brennan also dropped him from fundraising duties as vicar of development for the diocese and conducted a spiritual rite to restore the sanctity of the church.

In a letter to parishioners last November, Gigantiello said approving the filming was a “lapse in judgment” and maintained he wasn’t present at the time and didn’t realize how provocative the shoot would be.

On Monday, Brennan said a broader review uncovered other instances of administrative impropriety.

Among them is an ongoing investigation into Gigantiello’s use of a church credit card for “substantial” personal expenses, he said.

From 2019 to 2021, the monsignor also transferred $1.9 million in parish funds to bank accounts affiliated with Frank Carone, Adams' former chief of staff, Brennan said.

The bishop said Gigantiello failed to seek prior approval for the transactions and didn’t properly document them, in violation of the diocese’s investment policies and protocols.

Carone’s law firm repaid $1 million of the funds, along with about 9% interest, according to Brennan. Gigantiello also requested early repayment for the remainder, but without the substantial interest called for under the loan notes, the bishop said.

Federal investigators have subpoenaed the Brooklyn church seeking information about Carone and Gigantiello’s financial dealings, though neither has been accused of any wrongdoing.

Brennan stressed the diocese is “fully committed” to cooperating with law enforcement in its investigations.

Carone didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, but Gigantiello has defended his stewardship, telling The City, a local news outlet, that the investments were legal and yielded a significant return for the church.

Meanwhile, the commotion set off by her music video hasn’t been lost on Carpenter.

She made light of it during a concert at Madison Square Garden in late September, just days after Adams became the first New York City mayor indicted while in office.

“Damn, what now?” she said cheekily to the Manhattan crowd. “Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?”

[antappreciationanonymous]

New Zealand Bug of the Year 2024! [VOTE!!]

The second Annual New Zealand Bug of the Year competition will soon be underway. Mark your calenders, and ready yourself for January 1, 2024 (or the day before for you day-behind losers)!

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The Specifics:

The competition is being held by the Entomological Society NZ (ento.org.nz) and there are 20 bugs in the running. They include ancient ticks, glow-in-the-dark larvae, and cockroach-hunting wasps. You can suggest species for Bug of the Year 2025 here: https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/recommendations/ (pssst, submit the Southern Ant!)

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The list of species:

Globular Springtail (Dicytroma spp.) (Photo credit: Andy Murray)

2. Minute Grasshopper (Sigaus minutus) (Photo credit: Danilo Hegg)

3. Rangatira Spider (Dolomedes schauinslandii) (Photo credit: Mark Anderson)

4. Orange-spotted Ladybeetle (Coccinella leonina) (Photo credit: John Sullivan)

5. Tuatara Tick (Archaeocroton sphenodonti) (Photo credit: Rob Morris)

6. Cromwell Chafer Beetle (Cormocephalus rubriceps) (Photo credit: Danilo Hegg)

7. Katipō Spider (Latrodectus katipō) (Photo credit: Andrew Simpson)

8. New Zealand Glowworm (Arachnocampa luminosa) (Photo credit: Markus Nolf)

9. Hobbit Psylid (Psylla frodobagginsi) (Photo credit: Grey Smith)

10. Black Cockroach Hunter Wasp (Tachysphex nigerrimus) (Photo credit: Tony Wills)

11. Forest Ringlet Butterfly (Pepe pouri) (Photo credit: ento.org.nz)

12. Carové's Giant Dragonfly (Uropatala carovéi) (Photo credit: 'Cheryl')

13. Scree Cicada (Māoricicada mangu) (Photo credit: William Harland)

14. Giant Centipede (Cormocephalus rubriceps) (Photo credit: The late, the great Phil Bendle)

15. Mt. Cook Flea (Pharmacus montanus) (Photo credit: Danilo Hegg)

16. New Zealand Praying Mantis (Orthodera novaezealandinae) (Photo credit: the late, the great Phil Bendle)

17. Superb Giant Land Snail (Powelliphanta superba) (Photo credit: Rob Morris)

18. New Zealand Red Admiral (Vanessa gonerilla) (Photo credit: Tony Wills)

19. Mount Arthur Giant Wētā (Deinacrida tibiospina) (Photo credit: Carey-Knox-Southern-Scales)

20. New Zealand Velvet Worm (Peripatoides novaezeelandiae) (Photo credit: Frupus)

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And, there you have it. Go out and vote, folks!

https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Space Cowboys

Rating: PG-13

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane, Loren Dean, Courtney B. Vance, Barbara Babcock, Rade Šerbedžija, Blair Brown, James MacDonald, Jon Hamm, Toby Stephens

Release year: 2000

Genres: action, thriller

Blurb: Frank Corvin, Hawk Hawkins, Jerry O'Neill, and Tank Sullivan were hotdog members of Project Daedalus, the Air Force's test program for space travel...but their hopes were dashed in 1958 with the formation of NASA and the use of trained chimps. They blackmail their way into orbit when Russia's mysterious Ikon communications satellite's orbit begins to degrade and threatens to crash to Earth.

[kramlabs]

:

:

:

[immaculatasknight]

The real antisemites

[mightyflamethrower]

Top U.S. Law Firms Warn University Deans to Stop Turning Students into Brainwashed Antisemites

Boston, MA – October 18: A pro-Palestinian protest of Harvard students and their supporters, ends on the lawn behind Klarman Hall, at Harvard Business School, after starting in the Old Yard by Massachusetts Hall. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Some of the largest law firms in the United Stats have written a letter to law school deans, warning them to stop producing brainwashed antisemites if they want their graduates to get jobs at major firms.

“Everyone at our law firms is entitled to be treated with respect and be free of any conduct that targets their identity and is offensive, hostile, intimidating or inconsistent with their personal dignity and rights” 24 law firms began in their letter to law school deans.

“We prohibit any form of harassment, whether verbal, visual, or physical,” the letter continued.

Boston, MA – October 18: A pro-Palestinian protest of Harvard students and their supporters, ends on the lawn behind Klarman Hall, at Harvard Business School, after starting in the Old Yard by Massachusetts Hall. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

“Over the last several weeks, we have been alarmed at reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assaults on college campuses, including rallies calling for death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel,” the firms added.

“Such anti-Semitic activities would not be tolerated at any of our firms,” the letter declared. “We also would not tolerate outside groups engaging in acts of harassment and threats of violence, as has also been occurring on many of your campuses.”

The firms then advised law school leadership to work at preventing the churning out of bigoted graduates from their schools, reminding the deans that unlike what has been taking place on college campuses, there exists “zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment” in the workplace:

As educators at institutions of higher learning, it is imperative that you provide your students with the tools and guidance to engage in the free exchange of ideas, even on emotionally charged issues, in a manner that affirms the values we all hold dear and rejects unreservedly that which is antithetical to those values. There is no room for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism or any other form of violence, hatred or bigotry on your campuses, in our workplaces or our communities. As employers who recruit from each of your law schools, we look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses.

“We trust you will take the same unequivocal stance against such activities as we do, and we look forward to a respectful dialogue with you to understand how you are addressing with urgency this serious situation at your law schools,” the letter concluded.

According to Reuters:

A Sullivan & Cromwell spokesperson said on Thursday that senior chair Joseph Shenker spearheaded the letter to the law schools known in the legal industry as the “T-14,” as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Other signatories include some on the nation’s biggest and most profitable law firms, including Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Latham & Watkins; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

On October 7, the Iranian-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas carried out a terrorist attack against Israel, which resulted in more than 1,400 dead civilians, and also involved rape, kidnappings, and innocent civilians being set on fire.

As Breitbart News reported, the mass murder of Jews in Israel has galvanized students across the U.S. into putting on pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations on their college campuses, and issuing pro-terror statements, opening the eyes of many who are now shocked to see how widespread antisemitism is on college campuses.

Wake up kid. Your professors have turned you into a JEW hating Nazi.

Old Chinese saying: Take care. You become what you hate.

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

The NY Times

By Benjamin Weiser and Jonah E. Bromwich

Feb. 2, 2025

Danielle R. Sassoon, the Southern District of New York’s interim United States attorney, was unequivocal: There was “concrete evidence” of crimes by Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, and his claims that his prosecution was politically motivated were meant to divert attention “from the evidence of his guilt.”

Ms. Sassoon’s vigorous defense of the corruption charges against Mr. Adams came last month in a letter filed in her name with the judge overseeing Mr. Adams’s case in Manhattan federal court. But senior Justice Department officials have raised the possibility of dropping the charges altogether and on Friday, Ms. Sassoon was in Washington to discuss the prospect.

Now Ms. Sassoon, who last month was placed in the top prosecutor’s post by the Trump administration, may face a crucial decision. The Southern District is the nation’s most prestigious U.S. attorney’s office, handling complex and challenging cases involving high finance, national security and public corruption. It has a reputation for independence and for fending off interference, particularly from officials in Washington.

Should Ms. Sassoon seek dismissal of the charges, she risks a potential uproar and even resignations among the office’s more than 200 assistant U.S. attorneys. Refusing such a directive could lead to another dismissal: Ms. Sassoon herself.

“It’s a defining moment for the office in terms of its independence and integrity,” said Jessica A. Roth, a former Southern District prosecutor who now teaches at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Dropping the charges without good cause, Professor Roth said, “would be totally demoralizing for the professionals who work there — to everybody who has been trained in a culture of following the facts and the law, without regard to political influence or favor.”

Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Southern District, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Justice Department.

Ms. Sassoon, 38, who joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2016, is best known for the successful fraud prosecution and 2023 conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

She also prosecuted Lawrence V. Ray, who received 60 years in prison after being convicted in 2022 of extortion and sex trafficking related to his abuse of Sarah Lawrence College students.

A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Ms. Sassoon clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, and is a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group. In November 2023, she was named co-chief of the Southern District’s criminal appeals unit.

When she was named to lead the Southern District last month, she filled a job that had been held by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. until Mr. Williams stepped down in December.

Ms. Sassoon is expected to serve only briefly, until Mr. Trump’s selection for the post, Jay Clayton, a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, is confirmed by the Senate. Mr. Clayton served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Mr. Trump’s first term.

But Ms. Sassoon has had a whirlwind debut. On Wednesday, she sat in the back of a courtroom, observing the sentencing of Robert Menendez, the former Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey, who received 11 years in a corruption case. On Friday, she was in Washington, meeting with Justice Department officials and Mr. Adams’s lawyers to discuss dropping the mayor’s case, The New York Times reported.

Mr. Adams, who has been charged with bribery and fraud in the first prosecution of a sitting mayor in modern New York City history, is scheduled for trial in April. Mr. Adams has pleaded not guilty. Mr. Trump, himself a felon, said prosecutors had treated Mr. Adams “pretty unfairly” and that he was considering pardoning the mayor.

Under the law, the attorney general also can ask the presiding judge to dismiss the indictment. But if Ms. Sassoon agreed to seek dismissal of the charges, Mr. Trump could avoid the appearance of interference, and Mr. Adams, who has denied wrongdoing and is running for re-election, could argue that he was innocent all along.

Ms. Sassoon could also resign. Mary Jo White, who served as the Southern District’s U.S. attorney from 1993 to 2002, told The Times in an interview as she departed from the post that she had threatened to quit three times during her tenure.

She said that when she assumed the position, one of her long-admired predecessors, J. Edward Lumbard Jr., who was the U.S. attorney under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, told her, “Be prepared to resign on principle two or three times.”

Ms. White declined recently to comment on the issues in the Adams case.

Shira A. Scheindlin, a former Brooklyn federal prosecutor who later served more than two decades as a Manhattan federal judge, said any perception that the Southern District had dropped the Adams case at Mr. Trump’s behest could taint the entire office. It would, she said, diminish the credibility of prosecutors in the courtroom.

“The judge wouldn’t know who was speaking,” she said. “Are they merely a ventriloquist repeating what they are told to say by somebody sitting in D.C., or is this their own judgment?”

Daniel C. Richman, a former Southern District prosecutor who teaches criminal law at Columbia University, said the ripple effect could also extend to how jurors see cases and whether witnesses are willing to assist the government.

For someone who believes the office is “just carrying water for the administration,” Professor Richman said, “their cooperation could depend on their political preferences.”

Mr. Trump and his allies have long argued that the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have mistreated conservatives for political reasons and have promised to bring them to heel. They favor ending the department’s independence, a norm reinforced by Watergate and the ensuing crisis that ended in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

The Southern District has long been referred to facetiously as the Sovereign District, an acknowledgment of its prized autonomy, its willingness to vie with other districts for important cases and its pre-eminence among the nation’s prosecutor’s offices. Its alumni have included former U.S. attorneys general, F.B.I. directors and countless federal judges.

Mr. Trump and his allies have tried once before to exert control over the Southern District and use it to pursue his critics. During his first term, the Justice Department pushed the office to open a criminal investigation of former Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the book “Holding the Line” by Geoffrey S. Berman, who was the Southern District’s U.S. attorney at the time.

Attorney General William P. Barr announced in June 2020 that Mr. Berman had resigned and that Mr. Clayton would replace him. But Mr. Berman denied he had stepped down, and was then fired by President Trump. Mr. Berman did not contest the action after he was assured that his deputy would lead the office.

In 2018, Southern District prosecutors investigated Mr. Trump’s involvement in a scheme that led to the conviction of his former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. (Mr. Trump, who was not charged, was identified by prosecutors in the case as “Individual-1”).

Last month, Mr. Trump referred disparagingly to the office in a post on Truth Social when he issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road drug marketplace who was serving a life sentence in a case prosecuted by the Southern District.

“The scum that worked to convict him,” Mr. Trump said, “were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me.”

But Mr. Trump has also relied on two of the office’s alumni as defense lawyers in several of his own criminal cases.

And after his re-election in November, he appointed the pair — Todd Blanche and Emil Bove — to high posts in the Justice Department.

Mr. Trump named Mr. Blanche, a former co-chief of the Southern District’s violent crimes unit, as deputy attorney general, the department’s No. 2 post. Mr. Bove, a former co-chief of the district’s terrorism and international narcotics unit, was the president’s choice for the No. 3 position.

Mr. Blanche’s post requires Senate confirmation, as does that of Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, so Mr. Bove has run the Justice Department in the interim.

The presence of Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove at the Justice Department had been a comfort to some Southern District veterans, who believed the pair would be sympathetic to its tradition and culture of independence. The view was that they might also provide something of a buffer between the office and Mr. Trump’s political whims.

But in the early days of the new Trump administration, Mr. Bove has overseen the transfer of many longtime Justice Department officials to less desirable positions, and ordered the scrutiny of scores of F.B.I. agents. Under his watch, more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the federal criminal investigations into Mr. Trump — his former adversaries — have been fired.

[usnewsrank]

Trump appeals hush money conviction, names new lawyers

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump has appealed his conviction for covering up hush money payments to a porn star and appointed new lawyers to expunge the first conviction of a former president, his legal team said Wednesday. Trump named lawyers from the prestigious firm Sullivan and Cromwell in an effort to overturn the New

[usanewsrepost]

Sullivan & Cromwell to Represent Trump in Legal Matters #breakingnews #t...