Whistle-blowers eventually have a movie made about them

Salem business owners complain protests are hurting weekend business

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Historically, whistleblowers often have movies made about them.

But until Hollywood comes calling, they are often characterized as "disgruntled employees."

Karen Silkwood exposed a nuclear power plant for falsifying safety records.

Deep Throat helped guide Woodward and Bernstein through the Watergate misdeeds.

Frank Serpico exposed the corruption in the New York City Police Department.

Jeffrey Wigand revealed that the tobacco company he worked for knew that nicotine was addictive and caused cancer.

Edward Snowden exposed the details of the United States government's illegal surveillance on private citizens, but now must live in exile after being accused of treason.

All had movies made about them.

All had their lives disrupted - with the exception of maybe Deep Throat - and Karen Silkwood ended up dead.

So when the New York Times reported this week that a Justice Department whistle-blower had revealed that Emil Bove III had told subordinates in the Justice Department to ignore court orders, the whisle-blower was described as a "disgruntled employee."

Whistle-blowers take their oath to the Constitution seriously.

They are unwilling to break the law.

There are people with ethics and a moral center who will not blindly follow orders.

The New York Times revealed the story of one whistle-blower at the Department of Justice who chose not to break the law.

The account comes from lawyer Erez Reuveni who was on the front lines of shipping immigrants overseas.

Reuveni said that Bove told him and others to disregard court orders.

The complaint was filed to the Justice Department inspector general on Tuesday.

The New York Times reported that Reuveni was a career lawyer for "nearly 15 years until he expressed concern in federal court that the administration had mistakenly deported a migrant to a mega-prison in El Salvador. After balking at breaking the law, Reuveni was put on administrative leave, then fired.

Sounds like the makings of a pretty good movie.

The New York Times reported these details about the complaint:

Until now, Mr. Reuveni had stayed silent about the circumstances of his departure. A 27-page account, filed by his lawyers at the Government Accountability Project, Dana L. Gold and Andrea Meza, offers a host of new details and allegations about the inner workings of the Justice Department under Mr. Trump.

It adds that Mr. Reuveni “will continue to tell the truth in defense of the rule of law.”

In March and early April, the filing states, Mr. Reuveni “became aware of the plans of D.O.J. leadership to resist court orders that would impede potentially illegal efforts to deport noncitizens, and further became aware of the details to execute those plans.”

Top officials at the Justice Department and the White House sought to defy federal court orders “through lack of candor, deliberate delay and disinformation,” his account states.

“Discouraging clients from engaging in illegal conduct is an important part of the role of a lawyer,” the account says. “Mr. Reuveni tried to do so and was thwarted, threatened, fired and publicly disparaged for both doing his job and telling the truth to the court.”

For every laweyer joke I ever made, I apologize, because there are counselors such as Reuveni.

Reuveni said Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what.”

And when asked about a court order stopping the flights, “Bove stated that D.O.J. would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such order.”

Reuveni's account says that others in the room looked stunned.

Department of Justice officials were being told to break the law, not uphold it..

Bove, who is being considered for a lifetime appointment as an appeals court judge in Philadelphia, denied the report while testifying before Congress.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, went so far as describing the New York Times reporting as a "hit piece."

You hear that a lot from government officials even when multiple media outlets are reporting the news.

The Times went on to report that the filing contained a detail trail of emails, texts and phone records to substantiate the claims made by the whistle-blower, who was recently promotes and had defended Trump immigration policies during his first term.

Ironically, the current appointees in the Justice Department contend they are trying to end “weaponization” of the Justice Department when it appears they are the ones doing the "weaponizing."

So far hundreds have quite the DOJ and scores more have been fired or demoted.

Bove was repeatedly questioned about the complaint on Wednesday.

“I am not anybody’s henchman, I am not an enforcer,” Bove said.

I'm sure that will be in the movie as well.

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Salem protests

A reader shared her account of a recent Salem Town Board meeting where local business owners expressed concern that Saturday protests were hurting business downtown.

The business owners said their complaints were not "political," but about protecting livelihoods.

The Town Board meeting was packed and "a little unruly" at times with people speaking out of turn and making loud comments. The reader commended the town supervisor, Evera Sue Clary for keeping order. The supervisor said she would be happy to provide a space for a forum to discuss the issue and find solutions.

The reader, who has been a regular at the Salem protests, said the following:

"I’ve been attending the protests since the winter. I wasn’t aware it was causing so much disruption to the businesses, but now that I do know, I certainly want to do what I can to fix the problem. The issue of safety was also brought up. I personally have witnessed some close calls, and it’s only a matter of time before someone whose counter-protest consists of spinning his tires and fishtailing through the intersection, or someone honking in support so enthusiastically that they go through the stoplight, causes an accident. And don’t think I haven’t worried about a really bad thing like driving a car or truck deliberately into the crowd."

Alternate times and locations were discussed for the protests, but ultimately the reader said the conversation was a success, saying this:

"But on the whole, most protesters were willing to accommodate the businesses, and most businesses were supportive of the right to protest. It truly gave me hope."

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Post Office concerns

After the resignation of long-time Postmaster General Louis DeJoy earlier this year, the Trump administration floated the idea that the Post Office could be privatized.

It's an idea that has been floated before.

Unions representing postal workers have balked at the idea and that manifested itself in a protest in downtown Glens Falls on Monday in support of the Post Office.

The issue is of more concern in rural areas of upstate New York where privatization could lead to disruptions in service.

A reader told me 40 postal workers - mostly rural carriers from all over the region - came out to the protest.

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Attacking vaccines

It appears that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is escalating his attack on vaccines.

You may remember that Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - it advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy - and hired a more skeptical vaccine panel.

The New York Times reported this:

Dr. Richard Besser, who served as the acting director of the C.D.C., said: “It’s deeply concerning to me that — within minutes of the meeting starting — the new A.C.I.P. chair immediately sought to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. “I’m worried that this is a harbinger of even worse things to come.” “This and other remarks suggests that they are indeed going to be moving in a direction that will restrict access to safe, effective childhood vaccines,” said Dr. Fiona Havers, who resigned last week from her position as a senior C.D.C. adviser on vaccine policy.

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Paying for news

Tom Jones of the Poynter Institute reported this week that the latest survey from the Pew Research Center found that most consumers of news who run into paywalls will not pay.

Jones reported that 74% of those polled say they run into paywalls extremely often/often or sometimes. However, 83% said they have not paid for news in the past year. Only 17 percent have directly paid or given money to a news source.

When people ask why news sources have fewer resources, this is part of the reason why.

Most of us are willing to pay for high speed internet, cable television and expensive phones, but not for our news.

Jones reported:

What happens when consumers run into paywalls? According to the survey, 53% try to find the information somewhere else, 32% give up trying to access it and 11% try to access the information without paying for it. Only 1% actually pay for the access.

Of those who don’t pay for news, 49% said there are plenty of other places to find the information and 32% said they aren’t interested enough to pay for it. Ten percent said it’s because it’s too expensive, while 8% said the news is not good enough to pay for.

Very discouraging

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Celebrating demise

Apparently, our foreign adversaries are cheering on the Trump administration's decision to disband Voice of America.

Consider these reports from overseas:

The editor in chief of RT, the Kremlin-backed news network, crowed about President Trump’s “awesome decision” to shut down Voice of America, the federally funded network that reports in countries with limited press freedom. “Today is a holiday for me and my colleagues!”

Hu Xijin, a former editor in chief of China’s state-run outlet Global Times, wrote that the paralysis of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia was “really gratifying” and, he hoped, “irreversible.” A top aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary postedthat he “couldn’t be happier” about the administration’s move in February to gut the agency that distributed foreign media funding. Officials in Cambodia and Cuba also welcomed the cuts.

In the months since, China, Russia and other U.S. rivals have moved to commandeer the communications space abandoned by the Americans. They have pumped more money into their own global media endeavors, expanded social outreach programs abroad and cranked up the volume when publicizing popular cultural exports.

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ATF opens season

The Adirondack Theatre Festival kicks off its 2025 season on Friday night with a three-day run of the musical The Village of Vale.

ATF describes the show as "a haunting concert presentation of the original musical thriller that explores the lies we tell to protect ourselves."

Leading the cast are several actors with Broadway experience.

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Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.