Treason is an ugly thing — it sullies both the traitor and those betrayed. Turncoats must lie, of necessity, spreading misinformation, fanning grievances and hatred, and disguising their true intentions in order to turn citizens against one another. Of course, this man’s traitor might be that woman’s patriot, because when words are weapons, who can say which exact phrase will cause a particular person to abuse, attack, imprison, or exterminate another human being.

American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally wrestles with this conundrum by revisiting the real-life case of Mildred Gillars, a wannabe Broadway star who settled for the role of dulcet-toned Nazi propagandist and ended up being tried for treason against the United States. . . . .

. . .Sally’s meandering singing voice dovetailed with the flatlined German jazz that provided musical breaks between her monologues ridiculing the leader of the country she was born in: “This is Berlin calling. Berlin calling the American mothers and wives. It’s a disgrace to the American public that they don’t wake up to the fact of what Franklin Roosevelt is doing to the gentiles of your country and my country.” She read dialogue that was always written by others, sometimes by the minister of propaganda himself, Joseph Goebbels. When Sally goes off script and substitutes “unbeatable” for “invincible” to describe the German army and how it will slaughter any invaders, the Nazi overlord rapes her for overstepping, while musicians and her own boyfriend avert their eyes from the crime unfolding behind the recording booth’s glass.

In the American trial, Sally was represented by the flamboyant James J. Laughlin, a lawyer known for antagonizing prosecutors and judges alike. Al Pacino is no stranger to courtroom dramas (And Justice for All, The Devil’s Advocate), but here, disheveled and hunched, he tells his assistant, “I cannot stand that damn Gillars broad. Did you see the way she walked in, like she was Betty Davis or something? I don’t want anything to do with her for the rest of the trial.” Laughlin, we learn later, has lost a son in the war, but that does not stop him from ultimately defending his unsympathetic client. His aversion to the then 48-year-old Gillars was shared by many Americans. Reporting on the trial, in early 1949, Richard Rovere had this to say in his “Letter From Washington” column for The New Yorker: “In all this weird collection of war surplus, the weirdest item by far, and most incongruous, is Miss Gillars herself.” He goes on to describe her “Miami Beach tan, the cosmetic nature of which is given away by the prison pallor of her hands.” As Gillars, Meadows conveys a woman who lunged for the brass ring of stardom but found herself spouting the nasty dross written for her by the likes of Goebbels, a writer rejected by publishers until the Nazi party’s own presses printed his novel, Michael, which sold well as his star in the regime rose. Likewise an artistic mediocrity, Sally found herself in a land where innovation, imagination, or any form of veering from the official dictates was dangerous. When the bullies and thugs rule, art serves only their purposes and only at their pleasure. . . . .

Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, will depart from her role as the organization’s executive director, the charity announced Thursday.

Cullors’ abrupt departure from the charity, which serves as the national arm of the BLM movement, came three weeks after the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that she had used her position as the charity’s leader to funnel business to an art company led by the father of her only child. Charity experts said BLM’s arrangement with the art company, Trap Heals, amounts to self-dealing and raises ethical and legal questions.

BLM Global Network did not provide an explanation in its statement Thursday for Cullors’ sudden departure. The statement said Cullors would be replaced by two senior executives who will lead the group until it “finds a new permanent team.”

Cullors told the Associated Press on Thursday that she is leaving BLM Global Network to focus on other projects, including the release of her second book and a multi-year Warner Bros. television deal.

Cullors “decried what she called a smear campaign from a far-right group, but said neither that nor recent criticism from other Black organizers influenced her departure,” the AP reported.

BLM Global Network had previously offered a vigorous defense for Cullors in April after reports revealed she had purchased four homes across the country for a total of $3.2 million since 2016.

Two other activist groups co-founded and led by Cullors — Black Lives Matter PAC and Reform LA Jails — also made payments to Trap Heals under her leadership, according to campaign finance records previously reported by the DCNF.

BLM PAC paid Trap Heals $148,000 in November to co-produce an election night live stream event on her personal YouTube channel that, according to industry experts, should have cost a fraction of that price to produce, the DCNF previously reported.

The BLM PAC live stream was so poorly produced and riddled with so many technical issues that a conservative watchdog group told the DCNF it is considering filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the “excessive payments.”

Audio and technical issues persisted when Cullors’ second guest attempted to join the stream.

Remember: A company run by the father of Cullors’ only child received $148,300 from BLM PAC to co-produce this show.

WATCH:

(8/x) pic.twitter.com/XGLiOoMiTK

— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) May 20, 2021

BLM Global Network’s statement did not say if Cullors will depart from her role as chairwoman of BLM PAC.

“With smart, experienced and committed people supporting the organization during this transition, I know that BLMGNF is in good hands,” Cullors said in the statement. “The foundation’s agenda remains the same — eradicate white supremacy and build life-affirming institutions.”

“Between the two Senior Executives and BLM Grassroots Co-Director Melina Abdullah, who is an original member of BLM and co-founder of its first chapter in Los Angeles, their immense talent will build a future where Black lives do more than matter — they will truly thrive,” Cullors said.

After almost 8 years, we say see you later to the last of our founders, Patrisse Cullors, who’s served BLM whole-heartedly. We reflect on the impact Patrisse had on BLM, & we are in deep gratitude.

Patrisse, we are in awe of you always. #ThankYouPatrisse pic.twitter.com/MOWP38DYpT

— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) May 27, 2021

BLM Global Network came to Cullors’ defense in an April 13 statement after New York-based black activist Hawk Newsome had called for an “independent investigation” into the group’s finances following reports of Cullors’ multimillion-dollar real estate buying spree.

BLM Global Network said Cullors had received a total of $120,000 from the charity since 2013 and had not received any compensation after 2019.

“To be abundantly clear, as a registered 501c3, BLMGNF cannot and did not commit any organizational resources toward the purchase of personal property by any employee or volunteer,” the statement read.

BLM Global Network did not immediately return a request for comment asking if the DCNF’s reporting on its dealings with Trap Heals played a factor in Cullors’ sudden departure.

– – –

Andrew Kerr is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Patrisse Cullors” by Patrisse Cullors.

As the United Nations human rights chief warns Israel may have committed war crimes in Gaza, we look at how Israel killed 12 Palestinian children being treated for trauma from past Israeli bombings. Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, says Gaza has become “the home of hopelessness,” particularly for young people in the besieged territory. “We humanitarian workers are sick and tired of building and rebuilding and see it all torn down again,” Egeland says of Israel’s repeated attacks on Gaza. “We are accumulating rubble, we’re accumulating dead children, and we’re accumulating hopelessness, if it continues like this.”

A scandal-plagued “VIP” program that provided members of Congress with Federal Air Marshals (FAM) often yanked from high-risk fights has been canceled after Judicial Watch exposed it earlier this month. . . . In many instances FAM were plucked from high-risk flights to accompany an elected official, leaving the high-risk plane with no coverage.

That was the case during Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ recent trip to Minnesota. Two FAM were pulled from a high-risk fight to accompany the California Democrat on the mid-April jaunt, though she was already covered by a four-man detail, according to multiple law enforcement sources interviewed by Judicial Watch. The veteran FAM sources say the politician had two air marshals reassigned to a plane that would otherwise not qualify because it was not considered high-risk. The transfer forced the high-risk flight to complete its trip without the two air marshals originally assigned to it. Waters received the extra security while traveling to Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb, after police shot and killed a black man with an open warrant related to an aggravated armed robbery. The Derek Chauvin trial was wrapping up around 10 miles away and the 82-year-old lawmaker incited the crowd, encouraging protestors to “get more confrontational” if the former Minneapolis cop was not convicted of murder for George Floyd’s death. “We gotta stay on the street, we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational, we’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business,” Waters said ahead of closing arguments in Chauvin’s trial. The former officer was convicted and the judge presiding over the trial called the congresswoman’s comments “abhorrent.” Last month Judicial Watch filed a complaint with the chairman of the House Office of Congressional Ethics against Waters for violating House ethics rules by encouraging violence and attempting to intimidate the jury in the Chauvin trial.

Coverage of Waters’ abuse of the VIP air marshal service apparently led to the program’s cancelation, according to numerous government officials interviewed by Judicial Watch. “They were not scheduling us to make sure we were available for the VIPs,” said a longtime air marshal, who is celebrating that the program is finally “done.” FAM are federal law enforcement officers whose primary function is to protect commercial passenger flights by deterring and countering the risk of terrorist activity, aircraft piracy and other crimes to protect the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The VIP service for Congress “left a glaring hole in America’s aviation security,” according to a whistleblower complaint filed this year by the Air Marshal National Council with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General. The group represents around 2,000 air marshals nationwide. In an interview with Judicial Watch, the group’s president, David Londo, called the VIP program “scandalous.” A veteran air marshal said he and many colleagues on the force often asked: “Why are we really here? To protect against terrorism or babysitting?”