BOSTON – John George Jr., a former state representative from Dartmouth convicted earlier this year on embezzlement-related charges, concealed more than $1 million in wads of cash in safe deposit boxes after telling a federal judge he had less than $200,000 in available assets, according to U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston.
Federal marshals uncovered the stash and seized the funds last week, according to a statement Ortiz released Wednesday.
There's no getting around it. Americans have just gone through an annus horribilis, to borrow a phrase from Queen Elizabeth. The year of 2015 has been filled with disturbing news about acts of terrorism and the threat of more, mass shootings, racial unrest and major questions about how our criminal justice system works — or doesn't.
When you add on what many see as unsettling and contradictory political pronouncements about our future, is it any wonder that we feel frightened, frustrated and without hope? Fear — of homegrown or lone-wolf terrorists, gun violence, policy brutality, racial strife, our children's futures — has become the new American normal.
