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| Craig Monger |
The reporter who broke the cross-dressing story that led to the suicide of a small-town Alabama mayor and pastor, was experiencing a family financial crisis at the time the story of Fred "Bubba" Copeland, who died last Friday (11/3/23) of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was first published. The mother and father of 1819 News journalist Craig Monger are named in a bankruptcy proceeding involving a company called Tricord Business Group LLC. Did the Monger family's financial difficulties play a role in Craig Monger's reporting on "Bubba" Copeland? Longtime Alabama attorney Donald Watkins addresses that question in post at his website, donaldwatkins.com. Under the headline "Six Days Before Crashing "Bubba" Copeland’s World, the Monger Family’s World Crashed in Bankruptcy,"Watkins writes:
On October 26, 2023, Tricord Business Group, LLC, an Alabama limited-liability company d/b/a Tricord International, filed a corporate bankruptcy petition in a Nashville, Tennessee, federal court.
Tricord's co-owner and Chief Operating Officer Robert Earl “Bobby” Monger of Prattville, Alabama, also filed a personal bankruptcy petition in the same court on the same day.
James C. Clayton, who is listed as Tricord's other co-owner, Chief Executive Officer, and co-debtor, signed the Tricord bankruptcy petition, along with Monger.
How deep are the financial holes in the bankruptcy matter? Pretty deep, reports Watkins:
Tricord and Monger are seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize their respective debts. Tricord has listed assets of $537,478 and listed liabilities of $7,154,199. Bobby Monger has listed assets of $187,861 and listed liabilities of $3,582,755.
Tricord is a global supply chain management company with operations in India, China, Turkey, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Bobby Monger is the father of 1819 News reporter Michael Craig Monger, a/k/a Craig Monger.
Craig Monger’s mother, Julie Monger, is the Chief People Officer at Tricord. She is listed in Bobby Monger's bankruptcy petitions as his "non-filing spouse."
Watkins raises this question: Did the Crash of the Monger Family World With Tricord's Bankruptcy Cause Craig Monger to Crash "Bubba" Copeland's World? Writes Watkins:
October 26, 2023, is the day the Monger family’s world crashed. According to the two bankruptcy filings, Tricord and Bobby Monger are flat broke.
Six days after the collapse of Tricord, Craig Monger published an online article in 1819 News that ended the world of Smiths Station, Alabama Mayor Fred Lavon ''Bubba'' Copeland in every way.
In addition to serving as Smiths Stations’ Mayor, Fred Copeland was a successful businessman who owned and operated The Country Market in the Salem community. Copeland also served as a pastor at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City, Alabama.
On November 1, 2023, Craig Monger “outed” Fred Copeland’s secret lifestyle as a cross-dresser. It appears that Copeland occasionally dressed as a woman and posted photos and comments about his feminine alter ego and persona as a woman.
On November 3, 2023, an emotionally distraught Fred Copeland killed himself with a firearm.
Fred Copeland leaves behind his loving wife, Angela Copeland, and three children.
Are there any ties between the Monger family bankruptcy, and the story that led to "Bubba" Copeland's suicide? It's difficult to reach a clear-cut answer to such a question, but Watkins lays out a number of factors that might have been in play:
Craig Monger knew, or reasonably should have known, that his article would make Copeland’s life unbearable in a deep "Red State" that is filled with hatred toward its LGBTQ+ citizens. Nearly every White "Christian" politician in the state who runs for local, state, and/or federal office campaigns on a platform of hatred toward members of the LGBTQ+ community.
There are scores of high-impact players in major Alabama corporations, at flagship state universities, inside state government, on Alabama’s appellate courts, and on the federal bench in Alabama who Craig Monger could have “outed” in a legitimate pursuit of the public interest. They are well-known within the state’s community of legacy and online journalists.
For reasons known only to 1819 News, Craig Monger bypassed the “outing” of these high-impact players and targeted Fred Copeland for embarrassment, humiliation, and destruction. With his published article, Monger ended Fred Copeland’s world, literally and permanently.
The list of news-media sites in Alabama that have been weaponized for monetary gain or for the purpose of advancing special political agendas is quite extensive. This weaponization is never voluntarily disclosed by the affected news media organization itself.
That leads to issues that involve our nation's justice system. Write Watkins:
I am not a big believer in conspiracy theories. Too often, these theories are improbable and they lack an adequate factual basis.
However, Craig Monger's "outing" of small-town mayor like Fred "Bubba" Copeland is highly unusual. What is more, it follows a familiar pattern of "journalism" that I first observed during the FBI's despicable COINTELPRO activities against Jean Seberg, a well known white Hollywood actress who supported civil rights causes in the 1960s and 70s.
The FBI commenced an operation against Seberg that was directly overseen by Director J. Edgar Hoover. The Bureau used its infamous COINTELPRO program techniques to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit Seberg. The FBI's stated goal was an unspecified "neutralization" of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to "cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public," while taking the "usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau."(Documents related to the Seberg case can be viewed at this link.)
In 1970, the FBI created a false story that the child whom Seberg was carrying was not fathered by her husband, Romain Gary, but by Raymond Hewitt, a member of the Black Panther Party. The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times, with Seberg thinly disguised. It was also printed by Newsweek magazine, in which Seberg was directly named.
Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a 4 lb baby girl. The child died two days later. Seberg held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin in order to disprove the rumors.
The FBI's COINTELPRO operations took a heavy emotional and psychological toll on Seberg. She repeatedly attempted suicide on the anniversary of the child's death. In August 1979, Seberg succeeded in killing herself.
That brings us back to Craig Monger, 1819 News, and the peculiar outing of a cross-dressing small-town mayor. Writes Watkins:
Was Craig Monger's article outing" Mayor Fred "Bubba" Copeland a legitimate act of Alabama-style journalism by 1819 News, or was it a public "shaming" of a cross-dressing mayor, successful businessman, and pastor in a deep "Red State," or was it an unofficial act of continued FBI COINTELPRO activity? We may never know the answer to this question for sure.
What I do know for sure is this well-documented fact: The FBI and Department of Justice use media organizations to trash targeted Americans all of the time. Just ask the man who is pictured with Fred "Bubba" Copeland in the photo below.
Fred "Bubba" Copeland and Donald Trump
I don't see a causal relationship between the two events. If Copeland had been somehow involved in the bankruptcy, maybe, but I've seen no evidence he was. Who found out about Copeland's online alter ego and tipped off Monger? I doubt he stumbled across it on his own.
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