From everything I read last year (all 111 books) if I could have the knowledge of one book instantly downloaded into the minds of other people, I would choose the book I’m about to mention.
But first, a bit of background…
For whatever reason, the recent revelations regarding Jeffrey Epstein have grasped my attention and wouldn’t let go. Because of some news sources I follow, I was aware of these crimes before his recent arrest in July 2019.
So when that happened, I got excited because I thought some shady stuff might just come to light!
Digging into Epstein you find he had powerful connections to politicians, including past and current presidents. To Hollywood celebrities. To scientists. To business and financial moguls. And to intelligence agencies.
Silly me for thinking it would go somewhere! Then Epstein committed “suicide” and for most people it faded into the background of constant other news noise. (#epsteindidnotkillhimself)
All this made Ricky Gervais’ monologue at the Golden Globes all the funnier, not to mention ballsy because of the truth behind it.
And humor is good before we dive further into darkness…
Most people want to bury their head in the sand about this stuff. To deny it even exists…despite the overwhelming proof if you only scratch below the surface. All it takes is the smallest amount of digging.
The book I’m about to mention begins with a quote attributed to Edmund Burke:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
And that is why I am sharing on this topic. Why I won’t remain silent on the topic.
I find that if you want to understand something, understanding the past can be quite useful because nothing is really new under the sun. Epstein is a modern scandal (even though it goes back decades), but similar scandals have occurred before.
I heard about the following case, which occurred before I was even born, and choose to go deep down the rabbit hole. Enter…
The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal by Nick Bryant
While I’d heard a tiny bit about this event before, I knew it was time to dive deeper. Sure, you can go to the Wikipedia page and believe that it was a “carefully crafted hoax” if you want, with its extremely sparse information and sources.
Or you can check out this book, which includes 100 pages alone of proof from documents as well as links to the web for much more. You can check out the website right here: http://franklinscandal.com/
The story begins with Lawrence (Larry) King, Jr., a rising star in the Republican party. His embezzlement led to the collapse of the Franklin Credit Union. But that is only the start because it gets far worse from there.
This story involves a pedophilia ring, run by people in powerful positions, and the covering up of such crimes.
The author, Nick Bryant, was a popular journalist, who got into this subject to disprove it. He was a skeptic. But he followed the truth where it led him. This book is the result of a seven year investigation.
The book is close to 500 pages yet reads like a thriller…because in many senses it is.
It does get bogged down in some areas including the court cases (you won’t believe how one sided the judges and prosecution can be!).
The cover up by multiple government agencies, with media in their pocket, seems unbelievable. It’s big in scale. There are a lot of people in on it. But…look…at…the…evidence.
And of course, it is likely to anger and disgust you. It might just send you into depression. Diving into this swamp was responsible for some down periods personally this past year. My world view was rocked by the implication of what this means. And I say to you, those are natural responses.
It might also inspire you. When you see the Job-like-transformation (as in Book of Job) of Alisha Owen, a victim of abuse many, many times over, you just might shed a tear. I did.
I understand that to talk about this, to even mention such a book or subject, is not good for business. I’m doing it anyway because I won’t remain silent.
The desire to turn away is normal too but I urge you to suppress that desire. Turning a blind eye will not make it go away. Instead, I challenge you to read this book.