Magic, Fraud, and the Perfect Christmas Gift

Three Decembers ago an amazing young magician took me to see SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS in a basement on the Lower East Side . . . an experience limited to 20 guests of master magician Joshua Jay.

The six things that ensued were impossible.

Now you can see them without flying to New York or waiting in the freezing cold for the unmarked door to open or paying the whatever the ticket price was; paying, instead, just $25.

If you like magic, step right up.

And what an environmentally friendly last-minute gift.  No wrapping required.

Magic is not fraud (unless, like Uri Geller and some others, you claim to have supernatural powers).

But fraud is.

Which brings us, of course, to the former president.

Yesterday I linked to the executive summary of the January 6 committee report.

Today, a summary of his tax returns.

Among the things to note are that he lied when he said he would “absolutely” release them if he ran for president, lied when he said they were under audit, lied when he said he couldn’t release them because they were under audit (nothing prevents a taxpayer from doing that).  One presumes he also lied on his taxes, although unless they are audited, we can’t know for sure (only that his company was criminally convicted).  His returns were not audited because he installed a head of the IRS whom he knew would not audit them.

You know all this — and so much more.  He faked his SAT scores by getting someone else to take the test, faked an excuse to dodge the draft, faked his golf scores, faked his investigation into Obama’s birthplace, faked a plan to provide everyone tremendous health care at a tiny fraction of the cost (“and it’s going to be so easy”) — we could go on for  days.

Newly-elected Congressman George Santos, seems to be giving him a run for his money.  But he may not even get to take his seat in the House, let alone the Oval Office.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Bundle up.