The Art of The Fraud

Remember last year, after the Annunciation Church massacre when Lisa Demuth, Speaker of the Minnesota House, met with grieving parents to assure them she would do something to restrict guns and assault weapons?

Then remember when she met with NRA zealots soon after that to assure them she would NOT restrict their guns or assault weapons?

Subscribe

Talk about speaking with forked tongue!

Before anyone could hold Demuth accountable for this blatant flip-flop, though, Minnesotans got bombarded by FRAUD! FRAUD! FRAUD!

The Hubbard Broadcasting Company became especially intrigued with this topic. At one point, reports about it were featured during televised news broadcasts at 11AM, 6PM, and 10PM, day after day. When they weren't giving daily updates, they were advertising upcoming reports about it. Even if you turned off the TV, you'd still come across more FRAUD! Reports from The Minnesota Star Tribune and The St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The only way to stop this pervasive FRAUD! Flow was to completely shut down and shut out all the media in your life. Although these reports on fraud waned as local media covered the ICE invasion during the winter of 2026, FRAUD! returned with a vengeance as the midterm election time neared. But now Republican candidates like Lisa Demuth and Michele Tafoya are unabashedly weaponizing it in their political ads.

Not only are Minnesotans repeatedly bombarded with a continuous loop of verbal and visual messages about FRAUD! they're also reminded, over and over again, that the Democrats are to blame!

Completely lost in their political attack ads, however, was the fact that many of these fraudsters HAD BEEN apprehended. They had already been arrested, even jailed, even prosecuted — or at least, been assigned court dates. In fact, the fraud that involved feeding needy children, which happened around the COVID panic, was already being handled before the FRAUD! Bombardment began in 2025. You'd never know that from the PAC game plan that Demuth and Tafoya embraced, though.

The GOP thinktank, along with the lemming-like media, became so obsessed with crucifying Governor Walz and keeping him from running for a third term, they ignored the complex modus operandi of fraud itself.

If they'd consulted any expert about fraud – any psychologist from the FBI or veteran from law enforcement – they might have realized how insidious this crime really is. The very nature of this criminal deception makes it difficult, almost impossible, to detect – especially at the beginning stages of the con. That's when the fraudsters pull out all the stops to convince their victims to like them, really like them. Because they're masters of deception, they succeed at gaining everyone's trust.

By the time victims of fraud realize their money is gone, it's too late. And yet, sometimes victims are plagued with the unease of "something doesn't feel right" – but good luck in taking that emotional apprehension to court.

In fact, in 2020 the Minnesota State Department of Education became suspicious about the sudden growth of Feeding Our Future and stopped making payments to them. So this cagey nonprofit took them to court. That's right. Feeding Our Future sued them. The judge in the case stated payments couldn't be withheld without any proof. That is, funding couldn't legally stop without checking receipts, verifying records, or looking into the "questionable conduct." So payment had to be resumed.

The fraudsters took the state agency to court – and won!

Remember, fraud is deliberately designed to secure unlawful gain by keeping its victims emotionally off balance. That's why logic takes a back seat when it comes to identifying and reacting to it. Fraud can blend rational thought and unexpected gut feelings on high speed until only the confusion of second guessing yourself remains.

Could anyone ever imagine that a fraudulent nonprofit would have the audacity to actually bring a lawsuit against the very state agency they're scamming?

Of course not. That's why these scammers involved the legal system. They wanted to maintain their aura of "everyday people normalcy." They wanted to maintain their front as good, trustworthy common folk because they figured truly honest people would indeed have become so indignant they would have sued anyone who accused them of fraud.

These fraudsters knew exactly which emotional buttons to keep pushing. Using the court system was a stroke of diabolical genius. So were their cries of racial discrimination because they happened to be Somalis – not everyday white people. And yet, a fraudulent white woman was also masterminding their scam. Then too, evoking hungry children during the COVID pandemic stopped Minnesota's vigilant watch dogs from heeding their uneasy feelings of "something doesn't feel right."

And let's not forget these scammers, like all criminals in America, are "innocent until proven guilty" – something that Demuth and Tafoya continue to ignore in their latest barrage of televised ads.

The most reprehensible thing about their attack ads, however, remains the way they keep accusing their opponents of acting in ways that are blatantly uncharacteristic. Both Amy Klobuchar and Peggy Flanagan are dedicated public servants. Cheating taxpayers or looking the other way when taxpayers are being cheated? Simply not on their respective radar.

Senator Klobuchar is a dedicated, hard-working politician who's proven she can work both sides of the aisle. She's the real thing: a caring patriot.

Lt. Governor Flanagan is another idealistic, thoughtful politician who seems too introverted for politics – definitely not your typical extroverted campaigner. That perceived aloofness made me want Angie Craig to run against Michele Tafoya…And yet, I NEVER believed that Flanagan had anything at all to do with defrauding Minnesotans in any way. She's not that kind of a person.

Look, I'm not pro-fraud. No one is, except, of course, the criminals who perpetrate it. (Shame on them.) Unfortunately, these criminals will always be with us. They will always find sneaky ways to fool, scam, and cheat innocent people – like the ones in Minnesota.

So the only way to effectively and efficiently stop fraud would have been for The Minnesota State DHS to become completely paranoid. That is, treat everyone who applied for monetary assistance like a lying, no-good cheat. And yet, that would have meant more delays with numerous interviews and inspections both before and after the state government monies were given out.

Such paranoia also would have required a larger workforce for inspections, application reviews, and one-on-one interviews. That would have required more time and money from the State Legislature – two expenses that are required for such heightened vigilance that the Republicans would refuse to include in their budget.

In fact, if the Democrats in charge of Minnesota's state budget had delayed monies to feed the hungry children at the time, Republicans would have denounced them as heartless villains. Then both Demuth and Tafoya would have skewed that financial restraint into cruelty and non-caring. And a new GOP battle cry would have been flooding the media: We're the Republicans! We care! We feel your pain!

Oh, the irony!

Neither Demuth or Tafoya realize that winning the election also means they're going to lose. Why? Because winning means they'd both be beholden to a President who'd rather pee on The Bill of Rights than abide by its guidelines.

ATTENTION, Lisa & Michele:

As long as sociopathic oligarch Donald J. Trump inhabits the Oval office, he's going to expect both of you to obey and flatter him. What do you suppose would happen if you refused to go along with any of his lame-brained, UnConstitutional plans? Let me put it in simple terms you'll both understand: He will control the Republican Party, and you'll have to do whatever he wants.

If you don't dance to his tune, he'll drag you across the dance floor, smash your face on the punch bowl then send you the bill for all the broken glass. Yeah, he's "that kind" of a guy – figuratively, not literally speaking.

Yes, figuratively. Of course I wouldn't want you(or any reader) to assume I meant that Trump could be capable of such illegal acts, like sexually assaulting women…or demolishing The Kennedy Center…or barring reporters he doesn't like from The White House.

So let's just respectively conclude that his own words and deeds have led countless Americans to believe that he's a raving control freak who really gets out of control whenever he feels he doesn't have complete control of anything or anyone. And that includes both of you, Lisa Demuth and Michele Tafoya.

That's why your feelings of "I am woman, hear me roar," will diminish as you both pledge undying allegiance to a dysfunctional despot who is leading our nation into economic ruin and destruction.

And no voter on either side of the aisle ever wants something like that to happen.