THE MELODY OF FRAUD

YANKEE TEA NEWS

OP-ED

Monday, Sep. 29, 2025

By Cort Wrotnowski, Publisher, Yankee Tea News

Sung well, sung poorly, fraud has a melody.  It is a complex melody; a melody rich in counterpoint and other musical innovation.

Mark Twain once observed that there are singers who can produce the notes but not capture the music of the song.  Some are the masters of fraud must know how to single the melody of fraud beautifully.   James Comey remains such a talent.  It was on full display during questioning during Congressional testimony in 2020.  The allegation is that he lied about approving over controlled leaks by him when he worked with the FBI.

Some believe Comey is telling the truth.  The article cited here takes that perspective.  Knowing that Comey was one of the architects of the Russia Hoax, how does he get away with this?  Others are not so sure.  One commentator, John Kass, suggests Comey is reminiscent of the character, LittleFinger, from the Game of Thrones.

James Comey is among the first to be indicted.  He is also the one who is a maestro of lying, the veritable silver tongued devil.  Still waiting to be addressed was his “off the books” honey pot investigation that infiltrated the Trump campaign in 2016.  He will need to make sure he has that melody down pat.

 The Science of Lying:  Agnotology

A lie is a mere few notes in a much fuller theme of deception.  The way Comey wrpas himself in the flag is singlular and effective.  However, he is also remembering the national anthem as he speaks.  The flow of the lyrics, the resounding feel of the song.  Somehow, he weaves the spirit all together in a remarkable persuasive speech.  As musical as his lying is, there is an underlying discipline grounded in the science of lying:   Agnotology.  This is a real thing.

Agnotology is constructed as a passive form of thinking about ignorance.  But how did this “ignorance”, presented as being misinformed,  get to be that way? The argument here is that an active form of agnotology would replace that ignorance with truth.  However, what if the truth is wrong?  Now it gets very complicated.  The tools  of Agnotology depends on who is using them.  In this case, who is composing the melody of fraud and for what purpose?

There is so much lying to consider, that one has to develop a framework that structures and connects all this deception.  The work has begun, but the scope of the fraud is still unknown.  If you really want to get a handle on this you will need Satan’s libretto.