Dear Friends and Patriots,

This is another article that should provoke lots of thought, but probably doesn't. It's the saga of a federal indictment of two scammers in Boston—Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband Clark Grant. As you'll read, the couple ran a foundation in Boston called Violence In Boston (VIB) that had allied itself with Black Lives Matters (BLM). As evidence shows, they were caught spending money they raised through their foundation on themselves. They were busted! Sounds good so far, doesn't it? I'll comment on it, but want you to read it now so you understand my thought process. It's not long at all, so it's easy to digest. Here's the link to the article by Cortney Weil that was posted yesterday on The Blaze.

My initial reaction was probably what yours is, "Gee, I'm glad the feds still bust a few fraudsters. Justice hasn't died entirely." Then I began to think about it, and now I'm not all that pleased.

This story is just a shiny toy! It distracts from the truth that major crimes are going uninvestigated and major criminals don't worry much about the DOJ and FBI. The two principles in the case discussed in the article are so small-time they are hardly worth the trouble. So, why are they in trouble? I think it's a bit of tokenism. Look at the money they supposedly scammed and underreported. The claim is their 5 years of scamming netted them and "... their co-conspirators, more than $145,000." Gee, think of that. They worked 5 years and managed to scam $145,000, and Hunter Biden was pulling in that much in less than a month. One couple is facing a total of 81 federal charges so far— yet Hunter can't seem to get indicted for anything, even illegal gun possession.

See how this works? The DOJ and FBI are colluding to take down what I call "poverty scammers" while the big criminals take a walk. It appears many of the scams the Grants committed were state crimes. Why doesn't the Federal Attorney's Office in Boston just defer to the state of Massachusetts to try them? Oh, that's right, that probably wouldn't happen. The feds need one in the "win" column, and they have to punch their "UNBIASED HERE!" tickets. They don't prosecute BLM and ANTIFA for burning down cities and killing people, but they go after the lowest level pair of dumb scammers they can find. It’s tokenism, pure and simple. Are you watching? Doesn't that toy just gleam?

Scams like the Grants are running are in operation all over the country. Small-timers set up tax-exempt foundations that advertise as public interest operations, then the principles of the foundation live off the proceeds. It's so common you could probably find several in any medium-sized city and many in the large ones. They aren't hard to find at all, and it only takes a cursory audit to find evidence of malfeasance. So, why don't governments—city, state, and federal—bust them more often? Because they serve a purpose. They're the low-level, non-violent criminals who are always kept around in case a public prosecution is needed. Every now and then the headhunters have to take a scalp and raise it above their heads. Otherwise, who needs them? Taking a scalp like the Grants every once in a while is used as justification for the continued presence of entire office staffs.

Think about this. The Grants are charged with misusing about $145,000. That's not good. To demonstrate the level of not goodness, the feds have put in significant time in doing audits, investigations, and now are about to go to prosecution (if you believe them). What do you think has been spent so far, and what do you think the total bill will be? Any estimate you can calculate will be much more than they scammed. The article states the two could be imprisoned for decades. The "housing cost" per federal prisoner is now just about $145,000 per year. That means, if the two go to jail the taxpayers will spend twice the amount they ripped off for each and every year they serve. Then, there's that fine. They are liable for up to $1M. Who expects them to ever pay a fine? With what? They had to scam to live. Where will they ever get money to pay a fine—at the horse track? There is justice, and there is stupidity. Trying and imprisoning the Grants—that's just plain stupid. But, that's not what is going on. Even the feds in DOJ aren't that dumb.

The statistics on federal prosecutions are interesting. Only 2% of people charged by DOJ ever go to trial. They don't like to talk about that number. They prefer to brag about their 95% conviction rate. What does that tell you? It tells me DOJ understands the economics of what they're doing, so in the grand scheme of things they don't go to trial very often. When they do, it's usually when they have the occasional slam-dunk case. Most of the time, they get the accused to sign off on a plea bargain that allows them to dispense with all but a few of the charges. The Grants have 81 charges between them, but in the end, they could plea down to 2 or 3 charges each and serve a year or so in jail, and possibly much less. That's how "justice" works in America today.

The Grants can't be very smart people. Maybe they thought they were too small-time to be noticed. Who's going to worry about a couple and their friends who are skimming an average of $30K a year? That's extremely small potatoes, don't you think? But, they didn't understand that whenever powerful people feel the need for publicity, they were ripe to be their easy pickings. They positioned themselves on the vine of criminality way too low. The feds didn't have to reach up to pick them off the vine. They just reached straight out and grabbed the lowest-hanging fruit that looked likely. The feds understand the value of taking down phony community activists. They know they can do that in any city, on almost any day, for almost any minor scam. They only do that kind of take-down when they are in dire need of good publicity.

If there's a lesson in all this for us, it's this: we have to be aware of the games. We have to understand that these minor cases are blown up into national stories on purpose. Sensationalism hides the real criminality. It's difficult to keep our eyes focused on the big criminals when there are so many shiny toy prosecutions dangled in front of us, yet we must find ways to maintain our focus. We always have to keep questioning what's going on. We have to think these things through. What is it they don't want us to see? Is it something to do with Hunter or Joe Biden? Is it something to do with Jeffrey Epstein? Is there something newly revealed about child abductions they don't want us to see? Did they just find yet another Democrat Congressman living outside the district they represent? What are they trying to obscure? They're just trying to occupy our thoughts, sight, and hearing. They're trying to block us from perceiving something that truly matters. What could it be this time?

I've quoted Rosanne Rosannadanna before, and I'll do so once again, "It just goes to show. It's always something!"

In Liberty,

Steve