It’s the company you keep…

Interesting to see some background on top associates of the Trump White House, as reported in Craig Unger’s new book, “House of Trump. House of Putin.”

“By the 80s, attorney Patrick “Paddy” McGahn had become the new boss of Atlantic City, and with his brother state legislator Joseph McGahn, brought legalized gambling and Donald Trump to New Jersey. Trump, it turned out, was lucky to have them on his side.

“One of the first problems Trump encountered was that part of the land he wanted was owned by Salvatore “Salvie” Testa and Frank Narducci, Jr., two mafia hit men who worked for Atlantic City mob boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo and were known as the Young Executioners.

“Some of Trump’s acquaintances who were close to individuals associated with the New Jersey mafia proved to be valuable allies in the future.  Dan McGahn, the nephew of both Paddy and Joseph Mcgahn, later became White House counsel to the Trump Administration. In addition, White House counselor Kelly-Anne Conway, who also served as Trump’s campaign manager, is the grand daughter of Jimmy “the Brute” DiNatale, an associate of LIttle Nicky Scarfo.”

Publicity is the Very Soul of Justice

Keep this in mind, in this era of the Chief Executive who says that “the media are the enemy of the people.”

This is the full quotation by legal and social reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832):

“Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the keenest spur to exertion, and the surest of all guards against improbity. It keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial.

In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape, have full swing. Only in proportion as publicity has place can any of the checks, applicable to judicial injustice, operate. Where there is no publicity there is no justice.”