Shane Rogers-Mauro, a classmate of Bill Pryor's at Northeast Louisiana U, says the future judge outed him in college -- pointing to a Kavanaugh-like tendency to abuse others and act in devious ways

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Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice as attorney general, is a closeted gay subject to blackmail; Obama admin. already has threatened to use "secret" against Sessions

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The secret lives of Dennis Hastert, Bill Pryor, and other public officials raise the ugly specter of blackmail

Bill Pryor at badpuppy.com

What happens when a married public official presents himself as heterosexual but leads a homosexual life in the shadows? It raises concerns about one of the ugliest words in the English language--blackmail.

We've seen it in Alabama with the rise to power of U.S. Circuit Judge Bill Pryor. We are seeing it now in the fall of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert. We are likely to be hearing more about it in the coming days as Hastert appears in court today and his case unfolds--probably with stories of more victims and various politicos who helped cover for the speaker.

Concerns about blackmail prompted Alabama law enforcement officials to open an investigation when they received a tip, not long after Gov. Fob James appointed Pryor attorney general in 1997, that nude photographs of the new AG had appeared at the gay-porn Web site badpuppy.com. Investigators tracked down the photos and their source--in Monroe, Louisiana, where Pryor attended college. Investigators also conducted surveillance on Pryor's residence in Montgomery and noted a number of late-night male visitors, including one who went on to become a well-known national political figure.

As it turned out, Pryor's secret life actually helped his professional career. According to multiple press reports, certain Republicans hold copies of the porn photos to help ensure that Pryor pushes for favorable outcomes on cases before the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In other words, Pryor's dalliance with gay porn makes him vulnerable--particularly since he almost certainly did not disclose it in his Senate confirmation process--and the very conservatives who put him in power use that to make the Eleventh Circuit even more corrupt than it already was.

As for Hastert, an article written after his recent indictment indicates Capitol Hill insiders are abuzz about the possibility that the speaker was ethically compromised because of his secret life. An article from 2011 suggests Hastert's sexual secrets long ago caused him to fall victim to blackmail--on the international stage.

The recent article, titled "Hastert Questions Consume Capitol," comes from The Hill and reporter Scott Wong. Writes Wong:

House Republicans are questioning whether anyone tried to use former Speaker Dennis Hastert’s dark secret against the Illinois Republican during his two decades in Congress.

The Capitol has been abuzz about the Hastert allegations this week, and several GOP lawmakers are raising the specter of whether anyone demanded political favors in exchange for their silence.

“Was there any undue influence able to be imposed based on the knowledge of a secret that could damage him?” asked one House GOP lawmaker, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. “That’s sort of the scrutiny we all have to endure, and as you look retrospectively now at what we know: Was there an appropriate filter?

“It doesn’t have the same kind of stench to it from a political influence standpoint,” the lawmaker added. “That said, everything starts somewhere.”

Other lawmakers, quoted by name, voiced even stronger concerns:

The fact that the former Speaker put himself in a position where he could have been blackmailed is “nauseating,” remarked freshman Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). For Congress, “certainly it’s a black eye all the way around.”

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), too, is worried Hastert had been “compromised” while serving as Speaker — a powerful job that put him second in line to the presidency.

“Not that our founders were saints, but you’re giving payouts like that, you’re getting blackmailed. It compromises you,” Yoho said in an interview.

“When you become compromised, how does that influence somebody’s decision-making knowing they’ve got something held over their head, someone saying: ‘Yes, you will vote this way.’ ”

An article from four years ago suggests Hastert already has been blackmailed. Brad Friedman published the piece, titled "FBI Whistleblower: Hastert, Burton, Blunt, Other Members of Congress 'Bribed, Blackmailed'", on May 25, 2011, at Huffington Post. Friedman focuses on the deposition of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, and she unleashes damaging information about a number of GOP politicos, including former U.S. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) and former U.S. Rep and current U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO). But the most alarming allegations involve Hastert.

Here is Friedman's overview of the revelations from Edmonds' testimony:

The under-oath, detailed allegations include bribery, blackmail, espionage and infiltration of the U.S. government of, and by current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials and agents of the government of Turkey. The broad criminal conspiracy is said to have resulted in, among other things, the sale of nuclear weapons technology to black market interests including Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Libya and others.

Even as many of these allegations had been previously corroborated to varying extents, by a number of official government reports, documents and independent media outlets (largely overseas), not a single major mainstream media outlet in the U.S. has picked up on Edmonds' startling claims since her deposition has been made fully available. . . .

Though Edmonds was careful to not "discuss the intelligence gathering method by the FBI," she notes in her deposition that her claims are "Based on documented and provable, tracked files and based on...100 percent, documented facts."

Here is the key information from Edmonds' deposition about Hastert:

Dennis Hastert: "[S]everal categories. The acceptance of large sums of bribery in forms of cash or laundered cash ... to make it look legal for his campaigns, and also for his personal use, in order to do certain favors ... make certain things happen for foreign entities and foreign governments' interests, Turkish government's interest and Turkish business entities' interests. ... other activities, too, including being blackmailed for various reasons. ... he used the townhouse that was not his residence for certain not very morally accepted activities. ... foreign entities knew about this, in fact, they sometimes participated in some of those not maybe morally well activities in that particular townhouse that was supposed to be an office, not a house, residence at certain hours, certain days, evenings of the week."

Hastert used a townhouse for "certain not very morally accepted activities," and foreign entities knew about?

Those concerned about blackmail in the Dennis Hastert story might be too late. It looks like it already has happened. And one can only wonder, at this point, how many of his allies in the U.S. House knew about it.

"Perversion Files" Might Unveil Some Horrific Truths About The Boy Scouts

When I was a little fellow, the general rule in our elementary school seemed to be that you could be involved in sports or scouting--but it was pretty hard to do both.

Scouting events tended to take place after school and on weekends, the same time that sports practices and games took place. I'm sure some kids found a way to do both, but it always seemed like an either/or proposition for me.

Since I was always more into playing ball than hanging out in forests, it was an easy decision to choose sports. After reading the latest news about The Boy Scouts of America, I think that was a wise choice.

As an adult, and a progressive who supports equal rights for gays, I'm blown away by the hypocrisy that seems to permeate Scouting in America.

An Oregon lawsuit has uncovered evidence that the Boy Scouts have long kept an extensive archive of secret documents that chronicle the sexual abuse of young boys by Scout leaders over the years. Scouts officials reportedly gave the documents the charming name of the "perversion files."

Attorney Kelly Clark represents a 37-year-old Oregon man who is seeking $14 million in damages, saying he was sexually molested in the early 1980s by an assistant Scoutmaster named Timur Dykes. Reports The New York Daily News:

Clark said the victim suffered mental health problems, bad grades in school, drug use, anxiety, difficulty maintaining relationships and lost several jobs over the years because of the abuse.

Dykes was convicted three times between 1983 and 1994 of sexually abusing boys, most of them Scouts.

Although there have been dozens of lawsuits against the organization over sex abuse allegations, judges for the most part have either denied requests for the files or the lawsuits have been settled before they went to trial.

The Boy Scouts had fought to keep the files being used in the Portland trial confidential. But they lost a pretrial legal battle when the Oregon Supreme Court rejected their argument that opening the files could damage the lives and reputations of people not a party to the lawsuit.

Could the Boy Scouts wind up with a scandal similar to the one that has enveloped the Catholic Church? And what about the Scouts' long-held contention that homosexuality is inconsistent with their values?

My impression has been that Scout leaders tend to be parents of boys who are Scouts. In other words, Scout leaders tend to be married and therefore not homosexual--at least by appearances.

So isn't it curious, and more than a little sickening, that an organization standing against homosexuality would for years tolerate child molesters among its leaders--especially when quite a few of those molesters probably were married men?

My guess is that most rational people long have concluded that there is no link between homosexuality and child molestation. Isn't it ironic that a case involving the Boy Scouts now seems to provide more proof that there is no such link? If parents want to cast a wary eye toward someone, the "perversion files" seem to suggest they should look toward a married man who has children.

The stakes are high in the Oregon case. Writes The New York Daily News:

The Portland trial comes as the Boy Scouts are marking their 100th anniversary.

"They spent a century building the Boy Scout brand," said Patrick Boyle, author of a book about sex abuse in the Boy Scouts. "It's one of the most respected organizations in the world."

The trial "can only erode what they have been doing for 100 years," he said

Brother Says Major Bashinsky was Shot in the Head at Golf Course

The older brother of a deceased Alabama lawyer writes on his blog that a private source told him Major Bashinsky was shot in the head next to the golf-course water hazard where his body was found.

Sloan Bashinsky, writing at his blog goodmorningfloridakeys.com, also says Major Bashinsky was bisexual and wonders if that might have played a role in his recent disappearance and death.

Law-enforcement officials in the Birmingham area have not released information about cause of death in the Major Bashinsky case. But Sloan Bashinsky, in a post dated today, writes:

I learned through private sources last night that Major was shot in the head by a pistol, beside the golf course pond. The pistol was found. It appeared Major’s body had not been there long, before it was found.

Sloan Bashinsky is the namesake of the renowned late Alabama businessman who became CEO of Golden Enterprises, maker of Golden Flake potato chips and other snack foods.

While the senior Bashinsky was known for his business acumen, his two sons both went into the law. Major had a solo practice in Birmingham, focusing on wills, estates, trusts, and financial planning. He was reported missing on March 3 after failing to return home from work as usual.

Sloan has written five books about the law, including The High Legal Road: A New Approach to Legal Problems (1990); Kill All the Lawyers: A Client's Guide to Hiring, Firing, Using, and Suing Lawyers (1986); and Home Buyers: Lambs to the Slaughter? (1984).

I've read two of Sloan Bashinsky's books and found them to be well written and exceedingly helpful to the layperson. It appears that Sloan Bashinsky is the rare lawyer who writes and speaks truthfully about his profession. My guess is that several of his books have made him an unpopular figure in the Alabama legal community. That makes me think I would like Sloan Bashinsky a whole lot.

Sloan now lives in Key West, Florida, where he produces a Web site called goodmorningkeywest.com as a companion to his blog, which appears to be updated daily. Both sites make for fascinating reading, even the parts that precede the disappearance and death of Major Bashinsky.

Sloan appears to be a straight shooter about his family's difficulties, and writes that his brother was deeply conflicted on a number of fronts:

In yesterday’s post, I disclosed my deceased brother had been bi-sexual, and he had struggled with that when he lived in Birmingham.

Received this feedback by email from an old Birmingham friend:

Well, if you wanted to further embarrass the B family in the light of everything else going on, you have certainly accomplished it.

My reply back to him:

As long as you have known me, do you really think I want to do something to embarrass the B family?

If I had my way, I wouldn’t even be involved in this.

If law enforcement had talked with me, I may never have been put to write anything about Major. Or at the very least, it might have been written very differently.

Sloan then writes about where his own instincts are taking him regarding Major's death:

About a week ago, I was shown in a dream that Major’s sexual orientation was somehow in play in his disappearance. I learned yesterday through a private source that law enforcement became aware of that early in its investigation. Perhaps that explains why law enforcement has been so tight-lipped. Perhaps that explains why the news reports have said nothing about it. Perhaps it was hoped the keep the whole subject under wraps, to save the Bashinsky family further embarrassment.

I had a dream around 6 a.m. this morning, to the effect that my family, in particular, and Birmingham people, in general, need to rise above their Puritan attitude about people whose sexual orientation is different from what they perceive to be God’s plan. The dream specifically targeted Puritans.

Sloan writes that he was accepting of Major's sexuality:

Major once lived in San Francisco. Later, he lived in Key West. Both cities are well-known to be gay-friendly. Some years ago, the Key West City Commission adopted the gay creed, One Human Family, as the city’s own creed.

That is not, however, why I live in Key West. I am straight. All seven of my wives and several girlfriends, including a Birmingham gay woman, who is like a sister to me today, would all attest to that. As would they attest to my acceptance of men and women with gay or bisexual orientation. It never was a factor for me with Major. And it still isn’t.

Sloan provides insight about the area where Major's body was found:

Highland Avenue, which runs from 5 Points South, where Major’s car was found by his oldest daughter, Sloan (who was named after me), all the way to and down the side of the golf course, is heavily populated with gays. The city park next to Independent Presbyterian Church is widely-known as a pickup station for gays. The pond is about two blocks east of the church.

We all are children of God, every last one of us. None of us are going to hell because of our sexual orientation. None of us. St. Paul proved it.

Sloan Bashinsky writes powerful words about homosexuality and religion:

I want law enforcement to leave no stone unturned. I want law enforcement to get to the rock bottom of what happened to Major. And if God uses Major’s sexual orientation to try to shift Birmingham, and more specifically, Mountain Brook and Major’s relatives and friends out of their Puritan prejudice, then good for God.

Every Christian I know seems to have placed St. Paul on the same pedestal as Jesus, and only a few of them know Paul was homosexual, and that is why he condemned it and preached celibacy.

It was that very perspective that enabled me to convince a number of gay men to attend a very different kind of Sunday school class at Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, which all of my family attended when I was young. A Sunday school class who accepted those gay men with open arms and love. In 1996, this happened.

If Major had felt safe being openly bi-sexual in Birmingham, maybe he would still be alive. Please give that possibility serious consideration as you go through your own soul-searching over what happened to him, and to his wife and four children, who are in a living hell right now over his death.

Draining the Bush DOJ Swamp

Is it possible that some of the muck finally is being removed from the cesspool created at the Bush Department of Justice?

Are the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and Office of the Inspector General (OIG)--both units of the Justice Department--capable of cleaning up the mess from within?

I put a lot of faith in what Scott Horton writes at Harper's.org, and he has indicated that he has little faith in OPR. Horton seems to hold OIG, particularly director Glenn Fine, in pretty high regard.

So what to make of news reports that OPR and OIG are combining to unearth evidence of criminal activity in the political machinations by loyal Bushies at main Justice?

Like Horton, I'm not convinced these DOJ units are "man enough" to truly drain the Bush sewer. But at least they are exposing political hacks like Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson. And perhaps that's a belated, if worthwhile, start.

The New York Times gets appropriately riled up in an editorial today, calling the OPR/OIG findings "appalling" and saying Attorney General Michael Mukasey's response was "disgracefully lukewarm."

Richard B. Schmitt, of the Los Angeles Times, adds to the story today with a major piece about employees or job candidates being rejected based on rumors about homosexuality.

The bottom line? The Bush Justice Department was willing to break the law in its efforts to appoint only conservative Republicans to what are supposed to be apolitical positions.

Was this mindset present when U.S. attorneys were being appointed? I suspect that it was.

And what did the public wind up with as a result? In Alabama, we have political hacks like Leura Canary in Montgomery and Alice Martin in Birmingham.

Canary led the effort to get former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman, and that case has become the "poster child" for political prosecution by loyal Bushies.

But don't forget Alice Martin. We certainly haven't here at Legal Schnauzer. She was the first prosecutor to go after Siegelman, with a case that was so weak it was promptly booted out of court. She has a lengthy record of going after Democrats, particularly those with dark skin, while ignoring wrongdoing by Republicans. And in the shameful case of Alex Latifi, she appears to have intentionally ruined a man's business, all because he happens to be of Iranian descent.

I have my own Alice Martin stories, and they point very strongly toward her involvement in my termination at UAB. Martin reportedly is under investigation by OPR and OIG, and I will make sure folks in those offices know about my experiences with our local prosecutor.

My research in recent days is yielding some interesting connections between Alice Martin and UAB, connections that might help explain why I no longer have a job. I've also uncovered connections between the Department of Justice and the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.

Many more details to come.