And that’s just the way those folks with the power and money like it.

Well, love it. Because if we’re fighting, they are amassing more power and money. And again, it doesn’t matter what we’re fighting over or about, there will always be select elite ready, willing and able to take your side and (not) solve things to your liking and demands, no matter the cost to civil society.

Because you were never part of the equation. Well, perhaps a minor “X factor” waiting to be cancelled, but you are never part of the answer, unless you bring them more power or money, that is. Then they’ll let you hang around for your keyboard-warrior usefulness. Which is to say you’ll keep the fight alive until they get what they want. Just look at things people have been fighting about for centuries already.

And thanks to social media, these things are now eternal.

Try these on for size.

Of course, we’re going to go to Massachusetts and the Lindsay Clancy case.

Honestly, it sickens me more than a little to put this in a column. It will be the same feeling for my next example as well, but I pay myself to write, so write I shall.

Now, even though most of the Clancy hubbub is dying down, it hasn’t stopped her attorney from more gamesmanship and trying to throw more tonnage of pasta on the wall to see what sticks. Thankfully, little to none has. But I’m sure Chef Boy How-dy is boiling up more to toss as I type.

But let’s get to the premise of the trial and the division among the people without getting caught up in the previous or latest “defense” ploys to allow Clancy to get away with murder. The social media threads speak for themselves in terms of ridiculousness and their own insanity, but they serve a purpose. To sow division in swaying public sentiment, and therefore a jury (which in the first trial, save one, needed no swaying), to come back with “not guilty by reason of insanity.”

Which is an insane purpose in and of itself, but not when you look at it from the perspectives of ultimate power and money. In today’s world, any “not guilty” verdict brings millions to Clancy in her pending civil suits and untold riches for her legal and civil lawyers. You don’t think the pile of you-know-what attorney of Clancy’s wouldn’t market his reputation as “the murderer’s best friend” to represent anyone one who takes a life? Right along with getting referral fees to the litigators who will reap millions suing on behalf of the victims AND defendants.

And don’t get me started on judges whose conceit enjoys the power over literal life and death (not of the victims, of course, no notoriety there) in these “trials of the century.” How I wish there was only one per century, but we’ve killed that in America as well.

So yes, the Clancy case isn’t about those poor kids looking mommy in the eye as she strangled the life out of them. It was, and is, all about power and money.

How about the next trial we can expect over at, you guessed it, Cornell University?

Again, let’s try to get to the crux of the situation (or alleged crime, before all too many start pecking away). And folks, that’s the behavior of all involved, period. That’s what allowed, or created, the scenario to play out like it did. Because no one is arguing about what occurred overnight two years ago. We’re fighting about where on the scales of justice does inebriated behavior fall on that scale.

But also notice the real investigation didn’t begin until someone sued someone. So now it becomes about money, which will in time reveal truth, and the many abuses of power. Take any tact you choose on that. And yes, there will be a huge fight in time about consent and the power it has – but remember, those seven guys are gonna use the same argument regarding consent.

But that’s what living in a drug-and-alcohol-induced, Only Fans world will get you. Frankly, the other folks on trial here should be the folks at Cornell demanding an essay from the guys about behavior, although I’m sure they’re in the civil suit. That, and Cornell should cease to exist as a place of “higher learning.” Unless by “higher” you mean …

And if you don’t think power and money got involved in how this was all handled two years ago, I’m selling a bridge.

How about something on a lighter, yet inane, side of things?

Yes! It’s the WNBA versus the Indiana Fever. Yup, this “gives me fever.” Full disclosure, I’m a fan. Which to some, also makes me have some racial concerns. But this isn’t about that, except where it is. Which is the league allowing coaches and players, as well as their fans, to call Fever fans racist. That’s a serious problem (among a few) at the core of the league.

But where do we fight? Whether or not A’ja Wilson gets every call her way? Well, she does, even to the point now of going into the stands and threatening fans who don’t act as she demands. But that’s not her fault. How do you expect someone to act when the rules no longer apply to them? I’d say exactly like A’ja.

But to my point, the power and money folks in charge don’t care about any of these scenarios except if they keep us fighting. Because they’re not about rules, laws and civil order. If they were, they’d do the simple solution to resolve any of the above. They’d apply the rules and laws equally and unbiased to all involved so that the people were obeying the rules, laws and civil order.

With them applied, Clancy would be serving time, nothing happens at Cornell besides study groups in the middle of the night, and the Fever advance in the playoffs.

But where’s the power and money in that?

In Truth and freedom.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of The Business Times. Reach him at  424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com