According to the publisher of “Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent” is the following. “The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, [attorney] Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.”

In the brief for Silverglate’s co-authored book: “Conviction Machine: Standing Up to Federal Prosecutorial Abuse,” it says this. “In 2009, Harvey A. Silverglate, a prominent criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer, published his landmark critique of the federal criminal-justice system, Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent.”

That intro continues as follows.

“In 2014, Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor in three districts under nine United States attorneys from both political parties and who has been lead counsel in 500 federal appeals, published her landmark indictment of the system, Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, after she witnessed appalling abuses by prosecutors – more than a decade after she entered private practice. Now these two leading authorities combine their knowledge and experience to describe the problems within the Department of Justice and in the federal courts – and to offer solutions.

Together, Powell and Silverglate shine a light on the defects of the system: overzealous prosecutors, perjury traps, negligent judges, perverse limits on self-defense, vague and overabundant criminal statutes, insufficient requirements for criminal intent, and no accountability for prosecutors. Most important, they provide a much-needed blueprint for reforming the Department of Justice and the criminal-justice system, including actions an average citizen can take to help restore justice.”

There are hundreds of people who have been charged with crimes for wandering into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Many of them did no damage to property. They may have had the door opened for them by Capitol Police. While some are guilty of more serious offenses, there are good reasons to believe that federal agents and assets were embedded in that crowd of protestors in order to provoke precisely what occurred.  That is just one higher profile example of how once relatively low-profile people were turned into an ‘enemy of the state’ in order to foster a useful-to-some political narrative.

🚨SHOCKING: FBI INFILTRATED J6 TO FRAME TRUMP SUPPORTERS!

FBI Director Wray admits over 100 agents posed as patriots on January 6th! Biden-HARRIS are stalling the Inspector General’s report until after the election! This corruption runs deep! pic.twitter.com/jI64BLEpj5

— Jake Lang – January 6 Political Prisoner 🇺🇸 (@JakeLangJ6) October 11, 2024

BREAKING:

FBI confirms under oath that undercover officers, confidential informants, and FBI assets were present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th

J6 WAS A FED SETUP!
pic.twitter.com/CpAwOvlJMq

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) May 18, 2023

There is video of Capitol Police waving people into the Capitol Building or holding the door for protestors to enter.

Capitol Police waving people in on Jan 6 th! pic.twitter.com/Wn1uLZm9Fm

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) November 12, 2024

Evidence how D.C. set-up J6! FREE all J6 Political Prisoners! @SpeakerMcCarthy Ashli Babbitt?
“J6 BOMBSHELL:DOJ Video shows Capitol police holding open “upper west terrace doors” on Jan 6… over 250 individuals allowed 2 walk into Capitol by police then later arrested & abused.” pic.twitter.com/NtZYvsrqk0

— Zeke_gary2 (@ZekeGary2) March 2, 2023

The 45^th President of the United States (POTUS) was accused of fomenting that event, even though there are video recording of him specifically saying that people should go to peacefully and patriotically protest. The right for Americans to protest for a redress of grievances is constitutionally guaranteed.

Here is Trump on J6 encouraging crowd to “peacefully and patriotically” let their voices be heard

pic.twitter.com/PSqDpFpDEX

— American.357 (@ASimplePatriot) January 20, 2024

 

Here is President Trump on J6; at the ellipse calling for peace, from the White House calling for peace, and on Twitter calling for peace. He also offered 10,000 National Guard troops to local authorities, which they turned down. He did nothing to apologize for. pic.twitter.com/pygrXlFCoO

— American.357 (@ASimplePatriot) September 11, 2024

Additionally, prior House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-D) said in a video captured by her daughter that she had responsibility in the J6 matter.

BREAKING: We now have never-before-seen footage of Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitting the truth about January 6th

This is complete EXONERATION for Trump

“We totally failed. We need to take some responsibility for not moving to secure.”
pic.twitter.com/Jva7f84YhC

— George (@BehizyTweets) August 28, 2024

🚨Breaking: Nancy Pelosi ADMITS on tape J-6 WAS HER FAULT!!! pic.twitter.com/zDdx20bzX8

— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) June 10, 2024

According to left-leaning Google’s AI powered Gemini are the following.

“Key insights from the book:

• Overcriminalization:

The primary argument is that the sheer volume of federal criminal statutes, including vague and complex regulations, has created a situation where everyday activities can inadvertently violate the law, allowing prosecutors to target almost anyone they choose.

• Lack of Mens Rea:

Silvergate criticizes the trend of removing the requirement for a “guilty mind” (mens rea) from many federal crimes, meaning someone can be prosecuted even if they did not intend to break the law.

• Power of Prosecutors:

The book emphasizes the significant power given to federal prosecutors to interpret and apply these laws, potentially leading to selective enforcement against individuals or groups.

• Impact on Civil Liberties:

Silvergate warns that this overcriminalization significantly undermines individual liberties by creating a climate of fear and uncertainty regarding what constitutes a crime.

• Examples of “Everyday” Crimes:

The book provides numerous examples of seemingly innocuous activities that could be considered federal crimes, such as exceeding baggage allowances on a flight, unintentionally mislabeling a product, or sharing copyrighted material without proper knowledge.

Criticisms and Considerations:

• Focus on Federal Law:

While the book focuses primarily on federal crimes, it does not extensively address potential issues with overcriminalization at the state level.

• Potential for Abuse:

Some critics argue that highlighting the potential for prosecutorial overreach could lead to a decrease in public trust in the legal system.

Overall, “Three Felonies a Day” serves as a critical examination of the issue of overcriminalization in the United States, raising concerns about the potential for arbitrary prosecution and the erosion of individual liberties due to excessively broad and vague criminal laws.”

Note that in 2019 David Harrison via EconLib said the following.

“The book is excellent.

The title is horrible. I read through most of the book. True, I skimmed some pages but I looked at every page. Nowhere could I find backup for the book’s title.

Why do I bother making this point? Because at least once a month I see someone on Facebook or elsewhere claim, referencing Silverglate’s book, that the average American commits three felonies a day. It might be true. I doubt that it’s true. I would bet the number is more like three felonies a month. That in itself is horrendous. But that doesn’t justify wildly exaggerating the problem.”

The Simple Justice blog had a similar critique. After sharing the same blurb from the publisher posted above, that critique said the following.

“Wow.  Add to that tease the name Harvey Silverglate, formerly law partner with now Massachusetts District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, as close to defense lawyer royalty as there is, and this is a book you want to read NOW.  So when  Three Felonies a Day, How the Feds Target the innocent, wound up in my mailbox, I put everything else aside to get right to it.” So, Silverglate is touted as “defense lawyer royalty.” Nevertheless, Scott H. Greenfield for Simply Justice said: “the government could use the broad, vague wealth of laws available to it to go after the most innocuous conduct by ordinary people, the book offers nothing to suggest it actually does.”

Pardon me, but as a critique of the critique, that isn’t the point.

It may well be so that Silverglate could have done a better job of spelling out the concerns raised by the book’s critics. But what we witnessed in the Donald J. Trump prosecutions launched in advance of the 2024 election is all the proof that is needed that the federal government, or state prosecutors for that matter, can target a person and create charges that result in multiple (three or whatever number) of felonies.

In a post for FEE – the Foundation for Economic Education – Silverglate said the following.

“In the fall of 1989 the communist regimes of Eastern Europe collapsed, and two years later the Soviet Union itself was no more, replaced by Russia and a number of newly independent nations. Communism and its accompanying show trials, gulags, and politically oriented prosecutions, along with the faux legal system that undergirded it, supposedly disappeared.

Perhaps the most chilling quote of the Soviet era came from Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s head of the secret police, who bragged, “Show me the man, and I will find you the crime.” Surely, that never could be the case in America; we’re committed to the rule of law and have the fairest justice system in the world.”

“Show me then man, and I will show you the crime,” from Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s head of the secret police, is the way that this writer has that quote from Lavrentiy Beria. But the meaning is quite the same. In fact, it was precisely that quote that MHProNews used as part of the discussion for the cases against the deposed and now future President Trump.

Not that someone has to believe that Trump is a saint, but if someone can target the once and future president who is a billionaire in the ways that Trump has been targeted, then who in America is safe from prosecution? We have what amounts to Orwellian style listening devices in our homes and routinely on our persons. Cameras and mics on our laptops and smart phones can be activated remotely. More on that shortly, but back to some quotes from the post on FEE.

Silverglate is hardly alone in making that accusation. In 1998 Bill Moushey wrote a devastating ten-part series for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Win at all Costs.” Moushey described the caldron of lies that FBI investigators, prosecutors, and other federal officials regularly tell. Even when it was clear they had no case, prosecutors often soldiered on just to inflict financial punishment on people they targeted.

Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence W. Stratton recently published a second edition of their book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, which documented just how bad the federal “justice” system has become. Other writers, including well-known Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall, and a number of people associated with the Cato Institute have joined the growing chorus of critics.

…

The book recounts a disturbing number of cases documenting how investigators and prosecutors decide on a target, then find a crime to pin on him. For example, Silverglate points out that Michael Milken pleaded guilty to “crimes” that the Supreme Court a few years later would rule were not crimes at all. One of the federal prosecutors in Milken’s case bragged to a group of Rutgers University law students that the prosecutors, led by Rudolph Giuliani, “were guilty of criminalizing technical offenses. . . . Many of the prosecution theories we used were novel. Many of the statutes that we charged under . . . hadn’t been charged as crimes before. . . . We’re looking to find the next areas of conduct that meets any sort of statutory definition of what criminal conduct is.”

It is not stretching the imagination to say that Beria himself would have been proud of the tactics these prosecutors used to get Milken. …

In a Q&A with Gemini was the following question.

Can smart phones and devices like an Echo be used to listen to or observe someone?

• Wake words:

  Devices like Echo only start recording when they hear their designated wake word (like “Alexa”).
• App access:

  Anyone with access to the user’s account on the associated app could potentially listen to recordings.

• Camera features:
• Some smart devices, like Echo Show, have built-in cameras which can be used for video calls but could also be used for observation if accessed improperly.

• Privacy settings:
• Most companies offer privacy settings to review and delete voice recordings. …”

Add to that the fact that every search you conduct online could be recorded and used in the future too. You may be doing research, as this writer for MHProNews does, by using a search engine. Some searches can be ambiguous, turning up an unexpected result. That can be good, but it could also become vexing if someone with access to those searches decided to use a search against you.

This writer has criticized the personal federal income tax in the U.S. on several occasions in published articles. What if IRS decided to use that to target the author? It may take months, or years, to sort through the various issues and claims. At the end of that process, the IRS targeted party may end up not owing Uncle Sam even one thin dime. But in the meantime, how many manhours were lost in the exercise?  If we can’t criticize public officials, then what do our God-given and Constitutionally protected rights mean in practice?

Consider this response from Copilot.

Learned Hand, a judge, once said, “In America, there are two tax systems: one for the informed and one for the uninformed. Both are legal.” This quote suggests that different rules and outcomes exist for those who understand the complex tax code versus those who do not¹²³⁴⁵.

The tax system in this country is a disgrace. It is also arguably unAmerican.

When tariffs were the primary source of federal revenue, prior to the personal income tax, the federal debt was small. Note how following the enactment of the income tax and the expansion of the administrative state that it was not long before federal debt began to pile up.

Trump has floated the idea of replacing the income tax with tariffs. Doubtlessly millions cheer that notion.

A disrupter has been elected as commander in chief in 2024. Unlike 2016, this time, Donald the Disrupter is joined by a small army of other disrupters. Behind that small army is a large army of tens of millions of voters, many if not most of whom wanted him and his cohort to kick in the crooked doors, turn over the proverbial moneychangers’ tables, and shake up the status quo while restoring the American Dream.

MHI and MHARR and Trump 2.0

While this writer is presenting facts and evidence for these remarks, these insights are editorial in nature. It is not my place to say what MHARR may or may not be thinking, but my observations are coming anyway. Similarly, after years actively involved in MHI, including as a presenter and a board member elected by my peers, then more years researching and publishing about MHI, some facts and patterns of behavior have become well established. MHI has yet to formally respond to those concerns, even though in days gone by, they praise, and later they used to threaten this writer with legal action. What happened to all of that praise and threats? Is someone involved at MHI afraid of the risk of countersuits and the discovery process? Be it lawyer David Goch, or other inside/outside attorneys for MHI, the association is arguably behaving more like bullies and a protection racket than a sincere trade group. Pop them in the mouth a few times, and suddenly, a bully may just back off.

Attorney and author Silverglate may say that anyone can be targeted for prosecution (or persecution, as the case may be). The American Leviathan, God willing, will start to get reigned in.

 

This writer has no crystal ball. What we at MHProNews/MHLivingNews and this Patch contributor have is what anyone could do given the time and proper effort. We are motivated to find and expose facts, evidence, and give analysis in the effort to shed light on what is true. The 2024 election was never a sure thing. But we began the Biden-Harris era of Vichy USA with the notion that Trump would mount a comeback effort. We reported on developments and insights others in MHVille, typically those in routinely alignment with MHI, ignored or downplayed.  We uniquely reported from sources that span the left-right media divide in order to bring the most accurate information available. Very few give the level of often granular detail as evidence of the point(s) being made in a given article. Our accuracy rate is astonishing, as our regular and detail minded readers know. So, nearly a year before this election, MHProNews posted an article like the one below featuring Heritage President Kevin Roberts that clearly indicated that around the world there was concern among the insiders that Trump was at least potentially going to return to power, despite the lawfare, despite the smears, despite all that had been done to attack him and his supporters.

 

 

We have been saying for years that the Democratic Party has increasingly become the plaything of the financial, big tech, big media elites.  More and more evidence to support that insight has emerged, often from Democratic leaders and Democratic supporting media.

 

As a reminder to longtime readers, and to inform new ones, this writer is a political independent and has been since we moved to Florida. While MAGA and America First backers are making a serious effort to rid the Republican Party of RINOs, it should be obvious that at best, it will take several election cycles to accomplish that goal.

There are Democrats who have said and done good or useful things and Republicans that have too. None of this is meant to demonize anyone, even Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros, Jeff Bezos, or any of the others who have collectively made a new feudalism reality. Who called this rising form of un-American activity a new feudalism? Joel Kotkin, a former Democrat who used to work for what today is the Bezos owned and left-leaning Washington Post. 

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began to expose issues that were important that even some on the right were not doing, MHProNews/MHLivingNews reported it.

We didn’t know in April 2023 that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (a.k.a.: RFK Jr, Bobby Kennedy Jr., etc.) would eventually join forces with Trump. Let’s be clear. Without Kennedy, without Elon Musk, it is entirely possible that Trump would have lost to Kamala Harris (D). Kennedy was pulling about 4 percent of the national vote, per some polls, before he dropped out to back Trump. That alone may have been the margin of victory.  Similarly, with Elon Musk’s reportedly $100 million in support plus his use of X and other support, would Trump have won?  God alone knows. But pay heed.  Trump was an ex-Democrat. Elon Musk described himself as a moderate Democrat who supported Biden four years earlier. RFK Jr. pivoted to Trump because he was screwed, per his account of the issues, by the DNC. That is eerily similar to what Donna Brazile, former DNC chair said what happened with Hillary Clinton and the backstab of the Democratic Party of Senator Bernie Sanders (VT-Democratic Socialist).  The hypocrisy is evident for anyone willing to look at the evidence.

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-D) is finding out that the leftist wing of the Democratic Party is unwilling to accept deviation from its declared orthodoxy. It is follow the party line and espouse their group think, or you could be out.

Maura Healey accused @sethmoulton today of “playing politics” with people after he miraculously became aware that girls and boys are different. But playing politics with people is the exact goal of the Democrat Party led invasion which she won’t do anything to stop. #mapoli pic.twitter.com/WiK6ErDJzj

— JohnFGately (@johnfgately) November 12, 2024

When even moderate Dems like @JakeAuch are cautious about addressing transgender athletics — and backing his frequent collaborator @RepMoulton — it’s clear that woke taboos still have too strong a hold on the party. My latest: https://t.co/ToHon2X6a0 pic.twitter.com/Oo13TQp94E

— Carine Hajjar (@carinemhajjar) November 16, 2024

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton is calling on Democrats to be more open to opposing viewpoints. But speaking out against the party line has now landed him in hot water. pic.twitter.com/ND1d7x6H5m

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 19, 2024

What does this have to do with MHI and manufactured housing? Plenty! Because then Senator Joe Biden (DE-D) was a co-sponsor of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (a.k.a.: MHIA, 2000 Reform Act, 2000 Reform Law, etc.).  Yet, instead of publicly, pointedly or politely reminding the Biden-Harris regime of that fact, what MHI did instead is back Democratic housing plans during an election year. That New Dems housing plan was arguably more beneficial to conventional housing than it was to manufactured housing.

So, is it any surprise if MHI is publicly silent in the face of the Trump victory while MHARR has been nuanced in engaging with both parties, but clearly calling consistently for the full and robust enforcement of good existing laws regardless of party?!

MHI’s backers have several ties to big-time Democratic backers. While MHI’s PAC gives donations to members of both major parties, that doesn’t mean that they are not exhibiting a subtle bias.

No one in MHVille trade media has connected the dots like MHProNews. No one. And our rivals are among those who have said as much.

That first video captured remark by then MHI President and CEO Richard “Dick” Jennison above was one of a series of surprises that began to shock this writer into realizing what MHI leadership was doing.  The second video was in response to this writer’s complaint about Jennison’s statement to prior MHI chairman Tim Williams, President and CEO of Clayton’s sister brand, 21st Mortgage Corporation.  Jennison was apparently told to correct the record on the industry’s potential and praise MHProNews in the process of doing it. It will soon be a decade since Jennison said that the manufactured housing industry could be producing 500,000 new homes a year.  Jennison was right about that, but that also shows just how poorly MHI is performing when measured against that benchmark.

MHI is quite apparently thwarting the industry’s growth by slyly posturing being on the side of organic growth without doing what is necessary to achieve growth. 

So, MHI and its backers are apparently not on the side of the angels.

MHI should be expected to posture friendship with Trump. But Trump has a keen memory. His tussles with Warren Buffett pre-date his political career.  Buffett only added salt on the wounds that were already there.

What will actually occur in Trump 2.0 is unknown. But there are reasons for hope, even as Biden-Harris are laying the landmines for trouble on their way out the door.

What is certain is that the federal government has to be reined in. Attorney Harvey A. Silverglate and his “Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent” isn’t the first or the last to make a similar point: “The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. That threat of unjust prosecution, or persecution, the nefarious “the process is the punishment” mentality has to be rooted out. Too many federal officials are part of the problem.

Years of purported lawfare and abuse of the laws of the United States by Democrats and their donor-class supporters may move more towards a simmer, but are unlikely to end when Trump and Vance are sworn in. A new stage of 3 felonies a day could be coming. Whatever the future holds, count on MHProNews to continue to inform the industry with reports and analysis that routinely stand the test of time. Stay tuned for what’s next and how the powers that be in MHVille may face the music in the foreseeable future. A team of prosecutors could arguably be legitimately kept busy pursuing several MHI-linked pros. Wouldn’t that be worth a box of popcorn to watch?

Department of Energy (DOE) Manufactured Housing Energy Rule Litigation Update from Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR); MHI – FEA

‘Government Controlled By the People For the People’ – Trump and Allies Announce Plan to Dismantle the ‘Deep State’ and Reign in Runaway Bureaucrats and U.S. Spy Agencies; MHVille and U.S. FEA

Lie Once is Just a Lie But a Lie Repeated 1000 Times Seems True-How Liars Create Illusion of Truth-BBC-Tom Stafford-For Argument’s Sake-Evidence Reason Changes Minds-plus Sunday MHVille Weekly Recap

‘U.S. Housing Starts and Building Permits Plunge in September 2024-Under the Hood Check’ for Insights Useful to Affordable Housing Advocates-Investors-Public Officials-Manufactured Housing Pros

https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/masthead/donald-trumps-election-victory-speech-full-transcript-plus-cnn-kamala-harris-and-kevin-roberts-transition-insights-with-vichy-usa-commentary-and-analysis/

Friday Flicks – Power – Enemy of the State – Secret State – Plus Videos with Trailer Parks – Mobile Homes – Manufactured Homes in Story Line; Practical Tips for MHVille Pros-Advocates-Investors

Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)

By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.

Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.

For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.

This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.

http://latonykovach.com

Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

Related References:

The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’