Celebrity Prosecutions Let Real Criminals Go Free

Don't you feel safer knowing that the cruel monster known as Sam Bankman-Fried is behind bars awaiting sentencing for his crimes? This financial scammer bilked millions out of greedy high rollers everywhere from New York to Washington to Hollywood, as well as multiple other locations across the world. In a scheme that would make Ponzi proud, SBF pocketed his clients' dollars and, what he didn't pocket, he invested in the riskiest and most tempting offerings since Eve met a snake in the Garden. He was a living, walking, breathing red herring and it is amazing that the gullible fish who bought into his dream scheme couldn't notice the smell. He was the Wunderkind, Midas himself; surely he would turn their investments into gold.

It would have been better if he did buy gold. Instead, he frittered away his clients' dough, got caught, convicted and will now spend the rest of his days behind bars, unless he lives longer than another 110 years. Perhaps he will. In the meantime, people with dollar signs for brains will find another quick-money expert to squander their cash. I feel no sympathy for those who have lost their investments. They consciously took on a risk hoping for a big payout. They weren't giving the kid money because they liked him; they saw potential riches, invested and got sold down the river. Too bad. Try again.

Which will be easy to do so, as our country has no shortage of financial wizards who create wealth out of dreams through a creative scheme that no one ever thought of before. As long as greed reigns in the heart of mankind, suckers will be born and promptly scalped. While SBF surely did some bad things, his victims were not totally innocent. They threw their money at him hoping for a huge return and didn't get it.

I'm afraid I don't feel the least bit safer knowing that this grifter is in jail. Financial crimes are not a concern of mine and having him off the street is of no consequence to me. I don't have any spare cash to toss his way. However, I am very concerned about the other criminals that are walking our streets day and night, the kind of criminals who won't ask for my cash but will take it at the point of a gun. For many Americans, walking the street at night is the biggest risk they take, and it's not a financial one, but existential, as in life-threatening.

Here in my home state of Illinois we are doing all we can to make sure that dangerous thugs can stay out of jail and be out on the street doing the things they do best: carjacking, mauling innocents, robbing visitors, looting stores, and randomly shooting things up. They can do these things at will, knowing that if they ever actually get caught, they will be back out on the street in a matter of hours.

Illinois does a fine job of protecting the freedom of malefactors, with nary a thought about their potential victims, i.e., the rest of us. The situation is truly dire. Daily we read of new crimes committed by those who have already been arrested dozens of times, processed, and released back on the street. Judges do have some discretion, but our no-cash-bail law assures that all except for the most murderous will be able to continue their dirty work in our cities. The contention that society itself is responsible for crime, rather than the criminal himself, argues against placing any sort of blame on the perpetrator. It's a "social disease," as Officer Krupke from West Side Story well knows.

Need I mention that another dangerous criminal named Donald Trump may also soon be facing jail time. It sounds ridiculous and it is, but he is an existential threat to the political slime in the swamp called Washington and they are out to get him. If they are successful they will feel safe walking the streets knowing that the Donald will not be leaping out at them from the nearest tree waving his fearsome MAGA hat at them.

Neither SBF nor President Trump is a threat to life and limb, yet our skewed justice system centers on them while letting real criminals go free. I don't wake up in the middle of the night, sweating and fretting that Donald or Sam are outside rattling my front door hoping it's unlocked. But I do fear that it's the thug who just got let off after dragging some 86-year-old guy out of his car and beating him half to death in a nearby town. The victim lived, so the thug got off. I'm sure he will show up for his trial someday.

The recent murderous assault in Maine that resulted in the deaths of 18 innocent victims is the type of crime that should not have happened. Local law enforcement had reason to believe the madman Robert Card was dangerous and unpredictable yet he was able to walk the streets. Like every other mass shooting it roused a clamor for gun control, better supervision of risky characters, police training and a dozen other necessities about which nothing will be done. After filling the front pages of papers from coast to coast it has now faded into our nation's exceedingly violent history.

During the weekend after that tragedy more than 30 people were shot in the streets of Chicago, and dozens more in cities across the nation. These are weekly occurrences; sometimes there are more victims, sometimes less, but it happens with maddening regularity. The sad part is that the perps are generally already familiar to the police but, due to quirks in the law that eliminates cash bail, are free to prowl the streets. These occurrences are so commonplace that they barely warrant a front-page mention.

SBF made off with a lot of money that belonged to other people; Donald Trump may have exaggerated some of his holdings and mishandled some pieces of paper. Neither is a danger to the populace of this great land, and to waste time and taxpayer money scrounging up miniscule peccadilloes perpetrated by either of them is a greater crime than whatever our screwy courts can convict them of. A showpiece trial of a SBF or Donald Trump is an insult to the victims of real crimes that harm, wound, threaten, beat up, and even kill U.S. citizens, and which take place in our country every day.