What's it like to be targeted by the White, right-wing thugs -- also known as "The Cabal" -- who effectively control life, and the law, in a Red state like Alabama?

Civil-rights icon Rosa Parks

 

What is it like to become the target of the White, conservative political thugs who effectively run a Deep Red state like Alabama? Donald Watkins, with more than 40 years of experience as a lawyer in the state -- and, more recently, as an online investigative journalist at his DonaldWatkins.com Web site -- has found himself in the midst of multiple controversies that give him keen insight into that question.

How bad can it get in Alabama? This much is clear: Exercising freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Alabama is dangerous. In fact, veteran Montgomery attorney Thomas T. "Tommy" Gallion III says in his book, Shadow Government, Southern Style: A Saga of Political Corruption From D.C. to Dixie (2020), available from Amazon and Kindle eBooks that Alabama is run by a "Cabal."

Mrs. Schnauzer (my wife, Carol) and I have experiences similar to those directed at Watkins, and ours were driven by my reporting on matters of public interest here at Legal Schnauzer. My journalism apparently hit close enough to home that members of The Cabal designated my blog for shutdown. In the process, our health, safety,freedom, lives, jobs, house, possessions, and much more were put at risk.

If we were ruined financially, even killed -- and I think it's possible our lives still are in danger -- along with suffering severe physical and emotional trauma . . . well, that apparently was just part of the plan, from The Cabal's perspective. We're talking about people who do not care about the damage they inflict on others, all for engaging in activities that are protected under the U.S. Constitution. But Alabama's Cabal is part of what we call "The New Confederacy," and they do not operate under our nation's founding documents. They made up their own set of rules, which are applied for their benefit. The chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court even has argued that the court upon which he sits is not bound by rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court. We're not joking about this. "Justice" in Alabama really is that warped, and I'm not aware of anyone on the right wing who bats an eye about it. 

A leading proponent of "New Confederacy" thinking was the late Eugene "Bull" Connor, the infamous and racist public safety  commissioner of Birmingham, who is best known for siccing police dogs on peaceful protesters during the civil-rights era.  

We can provide plenty of details about what it's like to get in the cross hairs of the Alabama Cabal, and Tommy Gallion has covered them extensively in his book. (See here, here, here, here, and here.) But that is a story for another day, and we will have a post on our experiences coming shortly, But for now, let's examine the first-person account of Donald Watkins, who knows far more than most what it's like to get caught in the eye of a hurricane created by Alabama's Cabal. Under the title "Our Justice Systems Have Always Been Weaponized Against Agents of Change," Watkins writes:

On March 18, 2023, The Tuscaloosa News published an article titled, “Disgraced Lawyer Donald Watkins Blogs from Prison.” The article was published seven months AFTER the publication of a widely-read article about my release from a federal prison camp near El Paso, Texas, on August 25, 2022.

In 2018, I had been indicted and prosecuted by Birmingham, Alabama-based federal prosecutors for business-related conduct that unbiased federal prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey, thoroughly reviewed two years earlier and concluded was not criminal. I was “railroaded” in a Birmingham federal court and imprisoned for three years.

I was in and out of the federal prison system before my appeals had been exhausted.

The entire ordeal was an Alabama-led effort to undermine, discredit, and destroy me. Over a four-decade period, my landmark civil-rights cases had profoundly changed the political, educational, economic, and social landscape of Alabama. I aggressively fought all forms of racial discrimination in a state that prided itself on "massive resistance" to equal rights for its Black citizens.

I was deemed a "troublemaker" who disturbed the Birmingham business community's "good relations with the colored community." I had also been asked to leave Birmingham on more than one occasion.

After I left public office as a Montgomery city council member in 1983, Emory Folmar, the city's arch-conservative Republican mayor and then-Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, publicly proclaimed that my departure from the council “was one of the greatest blessings since the Yankee troops went home in 1870.”

Was it a coincidence that the Tuscaloosa News would trash Watkins' reputation? Not at all, Watkins writes:

The Tuscaloosa News is the same Alabama newspaper that ran an attack ad against Megan Rondini, an innocent University of Alabama honors student who identified a local Tuscaloosa playboy as her rapist in a 2015 police report. With its publication of this ad, The Tuscaloosa News openly platformed an act of “victim shaming” that maliciously targeted Megan Rondini in July 2017 (after her death).

Rondini committed suicide after Tuscaloosa County law enforcement officials refused to pursue criminal justice in her rape case solely because the designated offender/suspect came from a wealthy Tuscaloosa family that contributed mega bucks to the Alabama Crimson Tide football program.

From the moment she filed her rape report, the criminal-justice system in Tuscaloosa County became weaponized against Megan Rondini. After all, she had the audacity to timely report her rape and she demanded that her alleged well-known rapist be prosecuted.

In 2017, I was the only journalist in the state who wrote and published in-depth articles about Megan Rondini’s rape case. Out of fear that they would lose advertising dollars from corporate entities and the political bodies run by the Alabama’s rich, White, male oligarchs, the state’s mainstream press turned a blind eye to Megan Rondini’s rape case.

Watkins calls Tuscaloosa County, home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and its GOAT (Greatest of All Time) football coach Nick Saban a "Hostile Venue for Truth Seekers and the Fair Administration of Justice." How hostile can it get? Consider this: The name of former U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) popped up in a Tuscaloosa County divorce case involving a GOP political operative with extensive ties to Strange. In no time, the divorce-case file was sealed. When, and under what grounds, was the file sealed? Well, that's hard to know with the file sealed, but we have yet to see any grounds involving an adult that would lawfully merit sealing. The case did involve a very young child at the time and clearly involved issues related to his custody -- and possibly his parentage. Records that we've seen indicate the case was filed, and sealed, roughly in 2010. Some 13 years later, the case apparently remains sealed. Is the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse keeping secrets for Luther Strange and someone close to him? That appears to be the case, and Donald Watkins says that would be fitting:

Tuscaloosa is the same county where Allen May, a newly appointed White Circuit Court judge, ruled against me (without a trial) in a so-called “defamation case” that was based upon five investigative articles I wrote and published about Megan Rondini’s rape case.

Judge May, who was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Robert Bentley, applied a simple “negligence” standard to justify his adverse ruling, and not the more rigorous “reckless disregard of the truth” standard mandated in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) for defamation cases involving journalists.

Robert Bentley, a Tuscaloosa native, was forced to resign as Alabama’s governor in 2017 after I exposed his long-running illicit sex affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a married senior advisor, in my “Forbidden Love” and “Executive Betrayal” series of investigative reports. Bentley also pled guilty to ethics charges arising from his “sex-for-power” scandal.

May, by the way, has documented ties to Paul Bryant Jr., the "Mr. Money Bags" behind the Crimson Tide football program and a man with a sketchy business history that includes documented ties to wire fraud, via his Alabama Reassurance firm. 

Judge May completely disregarded my asserted legal position that truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation. A subsequent lawsuit between two business partners in an Alabama-based public relations firm confirmed that the plaintiffs in the defamation case had, in fact, thrust themselves into the Megan Rondini rape controversy, as I had reported in the articles in question.

The all-white Alabama Supreme Court (in a state that is 26% black), led by Confederate flag-waving Chief Justice Tom Parker, unanimously and summarily affirmed the ruling of the Tuscaloosa County judge.

Today, Chief Justice Tom Parker is the drum major for former Alabama governor George Wallace’s old doctrine of “interposition and nullification.” Parker has repeatedly proclaimed in writing that U.S. Supreme Court cases DO NOT bind the Alabama Supreme Court.

Tom Parker’s stated judicial views on this subject faithfully and fully embrace Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor’s 1958 infamous declaration: “Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law.”

As for journalism, it does not have a proud history in Alabama. Writes Watkins:

Alabama has been the home of co-opted and compromised journalists since the Mobile Press Register, Montgomery Advertiser, Tuscaloosa News, Birmingham News, and Huntsville Times volunteered to participate in the FBI’s COINTELPRO program to undermine, discredit, and destroy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and thousands of black civil rights activists around the country, beginning in August 1958.

Journalists affiliated with these Alabama media groups actively facilitated the FBI in its attempt to: (a) deny Dr. King and Rosa Parks “respectability” within the Black community, (b) prevent the long-term growth of the civil-rights movement, especially among youth, (c) block free speech and access to the media for civil-rights leaders, and (d) prevent the rise of a “messiah” who could unify and electrify the civil-rights movement.

These journalists faithfully adhered to COINTELPRO’s original goals. As a result, their media organizations have been unrelenting in their efforts to undermine, discredit and destroy strong and effective Black leadership in the state.

Whenever these journalists praise a Black civic or political leader today, it is usually someone who has been thoroughly deconstructed and properly “niggerized.” For those who do not know what “niggerization” means, it is the systematic act of dehumanizing a person or an entire race of people to render him/her/them fearful.

The institutions and people who administer the “niggerization” program in Alabama today have never lifted a finger to help Black people or other Americans of color share in this nation’s upward mobility, economic prosperity, political advancement, or social justice.

How have people of color, and those who support fundamental human rights for all, survived in Alabama? With difficulty appears to be the answer, writes Watkins:

My international business partners occasionally remind me that every negative article about me on the Internet emanates from sources in Alabama. Outside of the state, I have a totally different and very positive public profile.

Because of my long and effective record of protecting and advancing civil rights in Alabama, leading members of the state’s ultra-conservative political establishment, law enforcement community, and captive members of the mainstream media have gone to great lengths to portray me in the most negative light possible on various Internet platforms.

This concerted effort, which is digitally platformed by the state’s mainstream news media, is a continuation of Alabama's dutiful role in the FBI’s original COINTELPRO program.

The courageous work of a growing number of independent online journalists in Alabama, coupled with articles published on my constellation of Internet platforms, has effectively neutralized the adverse effects of Alabama-generated COINTELPRO negativity in my case.

Unfortunately, other similarly situated Black leaders in the Alabama and around the nation have not been so lucky.

Are these issues limited to Alabama and the South? No, says Watkins, and Donald Trump's MAGA movement is proof of that:

Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters are right about one thing – the FBI has a long and ugly track record of weaponizing Department of Justice resources against emerging leaders who challenged and changed the established social, economic, and political order.

However, from January 2017 to January 2021, Donald Trump headed the government that used the Department of Justice as a weapon against those who were disliked by his administration.

Listed below are the names of some well-known Black leaders who were targeted by the federal law-enforcement establishment for neutralization and destruction, commencing in 1916. These accomplished individuals led highly successful movements that challenged the status quo in American life:

1. Callie House (1916)

2. Marcus Garvey (1922)

3. Billie Holiday (1947)

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1958)

5. Richard Arrington, Jr. (1988)

6. U.W. Clemon (1996)

7. Nathan Chapman (2003)

My main issue with Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters on the question of the weaponization of the Department of Justice is simple: Where were you when the Department of Justice’s massive arsenal of law-enforcement weapons was turned on Black civil rights activists and those Whites of interracial goodwill who supported us?

Nobody within the MAGA movement has answered this question. I think we know why.

Unable to handle his own false and deceptive claims, Dry Alabama con man Matt Osborne tries to blame others for being "confused" or getting stuff "wrong"

Matt Osborne

After engaging in a substantial back-and-forth with me, Dry Alabama scammer Matt Osborne pulled a surprise by producing some evidence that actually did illuminate issues we had been discussing. But in keeping with his underhanded tendencies, Osborne tried to blame my wife, Carol, for being "confused" and "wrong" when she had not written the first word in our discussion. In fact, I was acting as translator for Carol on Osborne's jumbled ramblings, and any confusion was caused by Osborne or me, trying to grasp events that happened at our home while I was in jail.

Osborne left the following comment, on our April 17 post, at 11:42 a.m. on April 19:

Matt Osborne said...

Roger, ask Carol if these words are familiar:

"Me and the kitties got plenty of sleep yesterday. And I woke in the evening to feed them and I discovered your wonderful gift on the front porch which I can't wait to try. BTW. then I had a chicken sandwich for later dinner. So it was low-key to say the least. And I agree about it being any number of bloggers etc. These folks are psycho!! I'm trying not to let them get me down. The latest worry is spark coming out of our icemaker inside our ancient freezer. I was banging on it. Yikes!! But it is not hooked up to make ice. I may need to get a couple screw drivers, flip the circuit breaker and get the dang thing out of there! It serves no purpose whatsoever. Roger and I had talked about removing it before the arrest. I just hope it doesn't cause a fire. Now I'm scared to go to sleep But I need to just not banf (bang) it in the future."

(Note: Carol's reference to her late dinner being "low-key, to say the least." That suggests this was on date where she normally would have a special meal. Carol believes it was around Thanksgiving or Christmas, which would have been 1-2 months after the Osborne visit to our home, around Halloween.)

^^^ This is the text of the Facebook email that Carol sent to thank Melissa for the food, including typos. Melissa is under no obligation to put her account number on display for your satisfaction. No one is ever under an obligation to prove they sent you a gift 5.5 years ago just because you can't remember it.

When I arrived at the house with my girlfriend, Carol was expecting us, invited us both in the door. Then she showed us where you had been arrested in the basement and my girlfriend held the camera while Carol told us what had occurred in there. A lot of concerned people were very interested to see that video and the photos I took. Good luck getting any law enforcement agency to act on your complaint of an unarmed home invasion by a couple of people trying to help your wife.

As for who told me about your brothers: YOU DID. You have written several blog posts about them. See:

https://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2016/11/here-is-ex-parte-letter-that-my-brother.html

And:

https://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2015/10/my-brothers-are-trying-to-turn-missouri.html  

Do you now deny ever writing these blog posts, you funny little man?

Osborne seemed to think he had a "gotcha moment" here. But I'm not sure how he figured that, given that -- as usual -- he has a slippery grip on the truth:

legalschnauzer said...
Matt:

Yes, those words are familiar to Carol because she wrote them to Melissa, thinking she had met her when you came to our home. As for the food, Carol remembers you and your companion bringing a bag of grocery items with you when you came to our home. She doesn't remember a food basket appearing on our doorstep, but so much was going on during that time period, her mind likely was jumbled. At that point, Carol was running the risk of being arrested every time she opened the door. You can ask your friend Doug Jones about that because I'm sure he knows details about my arrest, theft of our home, the cheat jobs on our employment, etc. If not, he can find out from his friends Rob Riley and Luther Strange.

Carol does remember the ice-maker issue, and she obviously thanked Melissa, so there must have been a food basket. I hope you have some appreciation for the fact that, a few days earlier, Carol had come upon a scene in our basement that made her think her husband had been murdered -- as it turned out, I had only been kidnapped. But either way, that kind of thing knocks your world off its axis and your current utter lack of empathy for what we went through is a little creepy for someone who claims to be a liberal, caring about a free press, First Amendment, civil rights, etc.

 I can only attribute that change to your affiliation with Doug Jones, however far back it goes. Jones is sort of the William Barr of insurance fraud, as practiced by U of Alabama honcho Paul Bryant Jr. As U.S. attorney in Bham, Jones let Bryant and his Alabama Reassurance Co. get away with millions of dollars in insurance fraud from a case that already had been proven in Philadelphia. That's one of many reasons I find Jones to be a repugnant individual, but perhaps you will discover that on your own someday. BTW, I sure can understand why Melissa blocked Carol on Facebook, given the traumatizing "pathos" of our ice-maker issue.

Another thought or two:

(1) Regarding possible trespass, I'm talking about a civil case, which still is within the six-year statute of limitations. I'm not necessarily looking forward to bringing such a claim, but it remains a possibility -- especially since you continue to insult and trash both of us, giving us reason to believe you entered our home under false pretenses, that you never were there to actually help. (Plus, it's clear the journalists who have disproven my reporting do not exist, so you have no real reason to have soured on me or my work. That's only happened because of Doug Jones.) The possibility of ulterior motives becomes even stronger now that we know you have a taste for acting under fraudulent and deceptive circumstances. You might think your "funny little man" comment is clever, but it is just digging your liability hole deeper. (BTW, I might be a lot of things, but I'm not little; I'm 6-4, 215, and that's not a Trump tale. I also tend to be good-natured, but it's a simple fact that I'm not "little.")

(2) Of course I wrote those posts about my brothers. But you claimed they were trying to "help" us, and you certainly could not have gotten that from those posts. In fact, both posts you cite are about my brothers (especially David, the lawyer) making abusive use of the court system to hurt us. And their "incapacitated" case was so weak that even a Missouri judge dismissed it for lack of evidence. Specifically, I think David and Paul asked for it to be dismissed because they seemingly admitted they had no evidence. Bottom line: You didn't get info about my brothers "helping" us from my posts, so it must have come from somewhere else. Maybe "RogerS" told you. Oh wait, he doesn't exist either.

Before receiving a reply from Osborne, I decided to add a few facts about my family, an issue with which Osborne clearly is uninformed:

legalschnauzer said...
Matt:

I have to chuckle that you, a supposed liberal, would try to put positive spin on my brothers, both of whom are avowed Trumpists and right-wingers. Both of them, as I understand it, are serious racists. Paul, I'm told, made sport out of calling Michele Obama a "gorilla." David used to bitch about black students getting scholarships in law school. Even David's special-needs, teen-age son is a Trumper, though he probably would never have health care if Trump had his way.

I never heard a racist thought within my family growing up, but when I moved to Birmingham, my brothers apparently took over and brought Kluxerism (or something like it) to the forefront. My understanding is that my mother was horrified to see black people, quite a few of them, at our wedding. They were our friends, and I think that turned my mother against Carol, deciding it was Carol's fault that we lived in Birmingham among the "darkies." I think my mother also was convinced Carol turned me into a n----r loving liberal, even though I had generally been a Democrat for as long as I can remember -- casting my first vote for Jimmy Carter, although being stupid enough to vote for Reagan and Bush I in the '80s.

You have a tendency to mouth off about things you know nothing about. You absolutely have no clue about my brothers. Among my whole family, I'm pretty sure Carol and I are the only liberals, the ones who believe in equal rights based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, LGBLT, etc. I have one niece, Erin, who is a physician and might be a lib, but I'm pretty sure she's the only possible non-Bush/Trumper, besides Carol and me.

And you spend your time calling us kooks because Doug Jones doesn't like my (accurate) journalism? You truly are a misguided soul.

Try thinking for yourself, funny little man.

Osborne then seemed determined to prove Carol got something "wrong," even though she had not directly engaged in our conversation for even one word:

Matt Osborne said...
" . . . thinking she had met her when you came to our home";

So you now admit Carol is confused, good

" . . . As for the food, Carol remembers you and your companion bringing a bag of grocery items with you when you came to our home";

Yes, this is what nefarious agents of Doug Jones do, we all bring groceries to your door, we are sinister little grocery elves

" . . . She doesn't remember a food basket appearing on our doorstep, but so much was going on during that time period, her mind likely was jumbled";

So glad you can admit Carol is wrong.

Your threats to sue are hilarious. Bring it on if you are so confident. I DEMAND that you initiate this litigation immediately.

I decided to set a few things straight, since Osborne (known as a disinformation practitioner) obviously could not do it:

legalschnauzer said...
Matt:

Carol doesn't admit that she is wrong or confused about anything and neither do I. In this back and forth via blog comments and Twitter, Carol has not written one word. If you can find a word she's written, let me know. If you want to discuss it with her directly, give it a shot.

I've tried to translate your confused ramblings and asked her about a couple of things, but any confusion comes from my struggle to convey what you were trying to say, between all the insults and spitball tosses. I told her that you seemed to be claiming that you and your female friend presented Carol with a food basket when you came to our house somewhere around Halloween (Oct. 30?). Carol said, "No, they gave me a regular bag of groceries." And you now admit she was right about that. The food basket apparently arrived at some later date, from a person (Melissa Brewer) you claim Carol had never met. What date did Melissa send the food basket? How big a gap was there between the two food events?

Carol received a number of care packages during that time, and she was grateful for all of them. But I told her I thought you said you and your friend gave her a food basket at our house, and Carol said, "No, it was a bag of groceries." And she's right. As for me, I was in jail, so I don't know what happened, and I'm probably a pretty bad translator on these issues.

The food bag/basket issue seems meaningless to me, and I wonder why you are obsessed with it. As for someone being wrong on substantive issues, let's look at your track record:

(1) You are wrong about the law on interfering with a federal election;

(2) You are wrong about the law re: the meaning of the word "scam";

(3) You are wrong about journalists "disproving" my reporting;

(4) You are wrong about my brothers trying to "help" us;

On top of that . . .

(1) You don't deny asking around about access to our computer;

(2) You seem to admit that you are an agent for Doug Jones -- and apparently have been for some time.

Finally, any lawsuit Carol and I might file will come when we are ready, within the statute of limitations -- and we have several months to decide on that. If it happens, you will be among the first to know.

To end things on a lighter note, here is "Funny Little Man," a lovely tune from Seals and Crofts'  classic 1972 album Summer Breeze. The album is filled with great stuff and long has been one of my favorites. When Osborne pulled his "funny little man" line, I immediately thought of Seals and Crofts -- and my copy of Summer Breeze, which was lost in the bogus foreclosure on our home:







Now that I'm on a Seals and Crofts roll, I can't get off. The duo were known mostly for ballads, but here is another song from Summer Breeze, a rocker called "Say":




Finally, we have one of my long-time favorites, called "Advance Guards." It almost sounds like a children's song to me, but I think it's about a heavy subject -- thinking back over your life in the minutes before confronting possible death. Not sure if my interpretation is correct, but 45 years after I first heard it, the song still resonates. "Advance Guards" also is from Summer Breeze, but this is a live version:

Activist Matt Osborne and his ties to Doug Jones campaign -- plus his actions in Dry Alabama false-flag project -- raise red flags here at Legal Schnauzer

Matt Osborne

About a week after my "arrest for blogging" in 2013, Alabama activist Matt Osborne contacted my wife, Carol, and asked if he could come to our home in Birmingham. Carol gave the OK, and Osborne and a friend named Melissa Brewer showed up at our door with "supplies" (canned goods, cat food, over-the-counter meds, etc.) -- and they took photos and videos of the area in our basement where Shelby County deputies had beaten and abducted me.

I had been online friends with Matt for a while, generally sharing his liberal views and keeping up with his writings at various Web sites -- mostly Osborne Ink and Breitbart Unmasked. I saw him as an important Web-based voice -- a talented, intelligent guy, who was pugnacious enough to do battle with underhanded conservatives, such as the felon poser, and gay-sex troller Ali (Akbar) Alexander and his nutty National Bloggers Club.

For about four years, Carol and I have assumed Osborne came to our home in good faith, from a genuine intention to help at a time of crisis. But I started to have doubts about that when Osborne contacted me in October 2017 -- about six weeks before the Doug Jones-Roy Moore U.S. Senate special election -- and informed me he was connected to the Jones campaign in some capacity, suggesting I should retract a post about a Russian-bot attack on the Moore campaign's Twitter account.

Why did Osborne's ties to Doug Jones alarm me? Well, I've known since spring 2008 that Doug Jones is a shady, ethically challenged guy -- mainly because of his lawyer-tribe ties to despicable Republican thug Rob Riley, the oily son of former Gov. Bob Riley. In fact, I was cheated out of my job at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where I had worked for almost 20 years, after I reported on the dubious reasons Rob Riley joined Jones in a lawsuit against HealthSouth -- a story that originated with Sam Stein, of Huffington Post.

For the record, I don't think it's a coincidence that UAB concocted a bogus scheme to fire me -- falsely claiming I was blogging at work, contrary to the words of their own IT expert (Sean Maher) who had examined my work computer activity -- not long after my report on Jones, Riley, and the HealthSouth case. My blogging likely was seen as a threat to Jones and Riley's share of what would become $51 million in legal fees from the HealthSouth case, money that probably helped fund Jones' U.S. Senate campaign in 2017.

I also learned that Jones is a world-class backstabber, with a string of victims that include former Gov. Don Siegelman, late VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, and Dothan developer Ronnie Gilley. Also, it became clear that Jones was prone to look the other way at the crimes of moneyed elites, such as University of Alabama honcho Paul Bryant Jr., whose company was tied to a massive insurance-fraud case in Pennsylvania.

In short, Doug Jones is a "bastard-coated bastard with bastard filling," and I've come to believe anyone affiliated with him has a shaky moral compass, poor judgment, a strong case of naivete -- or a combination of the three.

Doug Jones

My concerns about Osborne's actions involving Carol and me grew with recent reports that he was a central figure in "Dry Alabama," a disinformation project designed to boost Doug Jones in the Senate race by falsely claiming Roy Moore supported a statewide ban on alcohol -- never mind that it's hard to see how a U.S. senator could provide political muscle on a state issue such as alcohol sales and consumption.

What about specifics that might lead us to have qualms about Matt Osborne? Let's consider:

The "RogerS" scam

Evidence suggests my arrest, at least in part, was driven by a narrative involving a mysterious character called "RogerS." Here's how we explained it in a post dated July 13, 2015:

Members of a right-wing bloggers' club concocted the notion that I was encouraging a federal lawsuit against them, and other conservative figures, and they wrote about it obsessively in the days leading to, and following, my October 2013 arrest.

At the heart of the matter is a commenter at a progressive Web site who goes by the handle "RogerS" and appears to have a fair amount of knowledge about legal matters--in fact, he was encouraging liberal activist Brett Kimberlin to file a federal RICO lawsuit against members of the bloggers club and other individuals on the right. When Kimberlin did, in fact, file a RICO suit, I wound up in jail roughly one week later. Coincidence? That's hard to say, but let's look at what we do know.

In certain corners of the blogosphere, it became popular to suggest that "RogerS" and Roger Shuler (me) were one and the same--even though I had nothing to do with the comments in question, I was not aware of any possible federal lawsuit, and I have no clue about the identity of "RogerS." Still, evidence suggests I might have paid a high price--loss of my freedom for five months and eventual loss of our home-- for something that did not involve me.

As for the National Bloggers Club, it operates under a media umbrella created by the late right-wing publisher and provocateur Andrew Breitbart--and its president, Ali A Akbar, has a criminal history and admitted connections to former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove. Akbar also has a history of trolling for gay sex on adult Web sites.

Where did RogerS originate? We've explained that, too:

"RogerS" apparently made his first appearance in a September 18, 2013, post at the progressive blog Breitbart Unmasked (BU). Interestingly, that was one day after I broke the Bill Pryor gay-porn story. "RogerS" commented about a possible lawsuit that Kimberlin was planning against a number of individuals connected to the Breitbart Network.

Another commenter on the same post replied: "RogerS is one of two very cool people in Alabama . . . Everyone should read his latest: A very "stiff" portrayal of a federal judge." That's the first sign I can find of connections forming between "RogerS," Roger Shuler, and the Bill Pryor story--and it came from a commenter at a liberal Web site.

So, RogerS grew from Breitbart Unmasked, and BU's editor at the time was . . . Matt Osborne. Let's consider a few of the questions that poses:

Ali Akbar on Grindr gay-sex app

(1) Is RogerS even a real person? Could he be a "false flag" that Osborne -- or someone connected to him -- created? After all, "Dry Alabama" proves Osborne has a taste for false-flag operations.

(2) Was RogerS created to antagonize Ali (Akbar) Alexander and his right-wing blogging loons and scare them into having me falsely arrested -- probably with the assistance of the Alabama State Bar?


Matt Osborne's in-home visit while I was in jail

Was Osborne's visit to our house, while I was locked up, an act of good faith, or one with ulterior motives?

Well, we know my arrest, on the surface, was driven by a bogus defamation lawsuit that Rob Riley and his lobbyist "gal pal" Liberty Duke filed against me. We know Rob Riley and Doug Jones have been aligned in the legal tribe for more than 10 years. And we know Matt Osborne has been aligned with Doug Jones at least since 2017.

Could Osborne's alliance with Jones date back to 2013 and beyond? Could Jones, or someone tied to him, have directed Osborne to go to our house as a ruse, designed to assist Rob Riley's arrest scheme -- and perhaps stand up for Bill Pryor's "honor"?

Why would someone want to have access to our house just days after my arrest? I can think of all kinds of reasons, most of them dark and disturbing. I like to think that Matt Osborne would not go along with such a scheme, but we now know he engaged in deceptive election practices on Doug Jones' behalf, so what would keep Osborne from entering our home under false pretenses -- designed to assist Doug Jones and his lawyer pal, Rob Riley, perhaps in their shared desire to abuse the reporter who outed Bill Pryor as a closeted gay? By the way, Jones long has professed his undying respect for Pryor.

Matt Osborne has proven he engaged in dishonest activities that deceived Alabama voters -- a false-flag scheme to benefit Doug Jones. I see no reason why he would not engage in a false flag directed at Carol and me.

Doug Jones' comments about Donald Trump and Senate Republicans indicate he's already planning to sell out black, female voters who put him in office

Donald Trump should not resign from office over sexual harassment and assault allegations, newly elected Alabama U.S. Senator Doug Jones said in an interview yesterday on CNN's State of the Union. This is the same Jones who said during his campaign against Roy Moore that former Minnesota Senator Al Franken, a Democrat, should resign over sex-related allegations that seem far less serious than those leveled at Trump.

In the same interview, Jones said he likely would vote with Senate Republicans on certain issues, listing an upcoming infrastructure bill as one possibility. "Don't expect me to vote solidly for Republicans or Democrats . . . ," Jones said. "I don't think anybody should be able to count on my vote for anything."

What's going on here? Regular readers of Legal Schnauzer know what's going on. Not even a week has passed since the election -- and Jones hasn't been installed in office, and he is proving that our reporting on his right-wing leanings are on target.

How goofy are Jones' comments about Trump? Jones essentially is saying the most corrupt president in U.S. history, who has admitted to being a sexual predator, should be allowed off the hook on those issues. From a report at Huffington Post:

Doug Jones said it’s time for his fellow Democrats to “move on” from focusing on the numerous sexual misconduct allegations against President Donald Trump.

Jones narrowly won Alabama’s Senate race last week, defeating Republican Roy Moore, whose campaign was rocked by allegations he molested underage girls decades ago. On CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Jones said Americans had a chance to decide whether the allegations against Trump mattered before the 2016 presidential election.

″People had an opportunity to judge before that election,” Jones said. “I think we need to move on and not get distracted by those issues.”

“I don’t think the president ought to resign at this point,” he continued. “We’ll see how things go.”

So, Jones wants to put the Trump sex scandals behind us, but here is what he said about Al Franken just 12 days ago:

The Democrat in Alabama’s heated Senate election says it is time for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to “step aside and let’s move on.”

Doug Jones made the comments while greeting volunteers at a campaign phone bank in downtown Birmingham.

“Initially this was part of a Senate Ethics Committee. It seems to me now that we’re at a point that it would be best for the country and what would be best for his constituents is for Sen. Franken to step aside and let’s move on,” Jones told reporters.

Why would Jones call for Al Franken to resign, while seeking to let Donald Trump off the hook? That's an easy one to answer. Franken was the No. 1 thorn in the side of Trump attorney general and former Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions. And Jones' most important base of support -- financial and otherwise -- comes from Alabama Republicans connected to Jeff Sessions. This is a clear sign that Jones, even before taking office, is serving the interests of his Republican benefactors -- while more or less saying, "The hell with black voters who put me in office."

Those statements about Trump and Franken sound like they came from Jones' Republican handlers -- and we've presented evidence that he has handlers from the right wing. We published multiple posts during the campaign, showing that Jones is closely aligned with Alabama GOP operative Rob Riley (son of former governor Bob Riley). Jones and Rob Riley joined forces to help generate $51 million in attorney fees from a HealthSouth lawsuit, and that money reportedly helped Jones' 2017 campaign get off the ground; when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2002, his campaign was stillborn because of fund-raising problems.

Our posts (see here, here, here, and here) also showed that Jones drew strong support from other Republican stalwarts, such as Karl Rove, Jeff Sessions, Tom Donohue (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and Bill Canary (Business Council of Alabama). Jones rode into office on the backs of black voters, especially black women, but the CNN interview is the first sign that he will answer to what many call the corrupt "Alabama Gang."

This likely will be the first of many times that Jones sells out his black supporters.

Alabama opposition researcher and whistle blower Jill Simpson was highly critical of Jones during the campaign, repeatedly saying he is an ethically challenged, backstabbing, DINO (Democrat In Name Only). The signs of Jones' dubious integrity are easy to find: (1) He called off an investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Reassurance after the company had been found during a Pennsylvania trial to have been connected to at least $15 million in insurance fraud; (2) Jones charged former Alabama governor Don Siegelman $300,000 for a criminal defense, did very little work on it and bailed out before trial because of Jones' scheduling conflict, and apparently did not return a dime of that money.

Jones, in essence, stole money from Don Siegelman and covered up for money stolen from insureds that involved Alabama Re and Philadelphia lawyer and entrepreneur Allen W. Stewart. Yesterday's interview with CNN's Jake Tapper likely is the first sign that Doug Jones' mask slowly is being peeled back.

We tried to warn Alabama voters about the scoundrel who was running opposite Roy Moore, but the message didn't seem to get through. Perhaps now, voters will start seeing they should have a serious case of "buyer's remorse" when it comes to Doug Jones.

What is Jones really all about? Here is a reminder, via the words of Jill Simpson:

What a hoot, I have never seen anything like this -- the Karl Rove, Tom Donohue, and Bill Canary Chamber of Commerce types claim they are staying out of the Moore/Jones race, when secretly they have all hands on deck helping Doug Jones. Doug is the Chamber of Commerce candidate in Alabama. Many progressives in Alabama have been viciously mistreated by the chamber, so that will not bode well for Doug. Many progressives have even been investigated by the chamber for working against Republicans, but by golly, the corporate guys are not helping Roy the Republican this time. Right now, it is all out war between Rove Republican elites -- Doug Jones is their guy -- and the Bannon Religious Right/White Republicans, and Roy Moore is their guy from the South and Heartland. . . .

The Rove Republicans behind the scenes are doing everything they can to help Doug Jones, and if he gets elected, he will owe them, just like they owe him for saving Rove from having to testify under oath -- by cooking the deal between the Riley/Sessions crowd and [Eric] Holder.

It's been proven over and over that Jill Simpson knows what she is talking about. The Tapper interview likely will be the first of many back-stabbings for the black voters who put Doug Jones into office

With his evasive non-answers and smarmy, smart-alecky, elitist tone, Doug Jones proves he can embarrass Alabama just as much as Roy Moore

Alabamians go to the polls today to elect a U.S. senator, and throughout the campaign, Democrat Doug Jones has been portrayed as the smart one, with the kind of integrity that would never embarrass us. Given that Republican Roy Moore is a theocrat who twice has been booted from public office -- and has been dogged by allegations that, while serving as a 30-ish district attorney, he pursued a taste for the tender flesh of teen-aged girls -- perhaps that is understandable.

Unfortunately, Jones is an accomplished con artist. He has documented ties to Republican thugs Karl Rove, Jeff Sessions, Bill Pryor, and Rob Riley -- four of the most hideously corrupt figures in postmodern American history. While Jones tends to be viewed as the relative newcomer in the 2017 race, he's been around long enough to deserve the title "swamp creature." He served as U.S. attorney under Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, he ran once before for the U.S. Senate (in 2002) and folded up shop early due to lackluster fundraising.

As both a public official and an officer of the court (while serving as a private attorney), Jones has advanced his career by using taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded facilities. Does Jones feel a responsibility to answer questions about his actions in those roles? We have two videos that show the answer is no.

In both videos, Jones dodges tough questions and does it with a tone that can only be described as smarmy, snarky, immature, defensive, insulting, and (perhaps worst of all) elitist. This is a guy who now claims he is a man of the middle class, of the people -- of women, gays, people of color, and others who have faced discrimination. I invite you to listen to both videos -- one at the top of this post, one at the bottom -- and see if those are the words and tone of a man who cares one iota about everyday folks.

I submit that Jones' statements in these videos are every bit as embarrassing as anything Roy Moore ever has said. And you will notice that Doug Jones responds to challenging questions with the mindset of a second grader -- he dishes out insults, but he offers no substantive responses on actions that call his integrity into question.

In fact, there is plenty of evidence -- in the Alabama bingo trial; the Paul Bryant/Alabama Reassurance investigation; the Don Siegelman/Richard Scrushy criminal case; the federal HealthSouth civil case; acts of arson and intimidation against Alabama whistle blower Jill Simpson; career assassinations, unlawful incarcerations, and a wrongful foreclosure and eviction against my wife, Carol, and me -- that Jones has tippy-toed to the edge of criminal activity. A real investigation probably would show that Jones has stepped way over that line.

Let's take a closer look at the two videos:

(1) Rob Riley's ties to Medicare fraud, the investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Reassurance, and snarky comments left at Legal Schnauzer from someone at Haskell Slaughter, Jones' old law firm

a. Asked about the irony of Rob Riley working with Jones on the HealthSouth fraud case, while Riley himself faced documented allegations of health-care fraud related to Performance Group LLC, Jones responded:

It's not my place to comment. You can ask any party [in the HealthSouth case] anything. Based on things I've seen that you've written, I don't think it's worth my time to comment.

b. Asked about an investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Reassurance -- which had been planned after convictions against Philadelphia lawyer and entrepreneur Allen W. Stewart -- but was canceled once Jones became U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Alabama . . . well, Jones really got on a role:

Jones: I'm trying to make sure you understand that I have read your stuff, I have seen your conspiracy theories, and I am not going to answer any of your questions because I don't trust what you will write, period.

Legal Schnauzer (LS): I'm taking it down word for word. . . . I'm asking you, who called off the investigation of Paul Bryant?

Jones: I am not going to respond to any of your questions.

LS: You were a public official then, Doug . . . 

Jones: I am not going to respond to any of your questions. . . . I've seen the garbage you write and the way you spin and the way you slant. It's the most disingenuous stuff I've ever seen. . . . It just doesn't matter to me. You're a nothing to me."

Do Jones' non-answers, and his unmistakable agitated tone, indicate he did, in fact, call off the Bryant investigation, which (according to public documents) involved roughly $15 million of insurance fraud? A reasonable person could reach that conclusion. I certainly have reached that conclusion.

c. Asked about snarky comments left at my blog by someone from his law firm, Haskell Slaughter, Jones responded:

LS: Did you write that?

Jones: Of course not.

LS: What is your IP address, Doug?

Jones: My IP address? I have no clue. I just sit at a computer and type. I don't give you the time of day, Roger. I don't read your blog anymore. I think I've wasted enough time with you. 

Click (Jones hangs up on me.)

(2) The Alabama bingo trial, and Jones' representation of Ronnie Gilley; Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Re investigation; Jones' representation of Don Siegelman, in which he charged $300,000 for a criminal defense that was not performed (Jones bailed out before trial because of his own scheduling conflict) -- and there is no indication that Jones repaid a dime.

a. Asked about his representation of Ronnie Gilley in the Alabama bingo trial -- where Jones bailed out and left Gilley with attorney David Harrison, who has a drug-trafficking conviction on his record -- Jones responded:

Jones: I've made it a policy with everybody, not just with you, that it would not be appropriate for me to comment on Mr. Gilley.

LS: Are you aware that his current lawyer, David Harrison, has a conviction for drug trafficking?

Jones: I don't want to comment at all, one way or another.

LS: But are you aware . . .

Jones: I keep trying to explain, and you ought to understand. There are ethical considerations here. It's no reflection on you and some of the things you've written about me.

b. Asked again about cancellation of the planned investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Re, in the wake of the Allen W. Stewart convictions in Philadelphia, Jones responded:

Jones: I'm not going to comment to you. (Keep in mind, this was while Jones held public office, as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.)

c. Asked about charging Don Siegelman $300,000 for a criminal defense in which he bailed out before trial -- and apparently did not return one dime of the money -- Jones responded:

Jones: I'm not going to comment one way or another on any of those matters.

LS: You're not going to comment with me on any matters

Jones: Correct

LS: I hope you understand that you were U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and the investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. involved $15 million in insurance fraud, and it was called off. You were a public official, taking tax-payer dollars, and I'm asking you as a citizen: Did you . . .

Jones: I've got other things to do, and I don't need a speech from you.

LS: It's not a speech, I'm asking you a question.

Jones: You're not going to change my mind.

LS: I'm asking you . . .

Jones: And I'm telling you I'm not going to comment.

LS: You were a public official, and I'm asking you as a citizen . . .

Click (Jones hangs up on me a second time.)

Anyone who thinks Doug Jones will act with integrity -- and be a stand-up guy while not embarrassing Alabama -- does not know the real Doug Jones. These videos represent the unvarnished Doug Jones, in all his "glory." Voters would be wise to give these videos a hard listen before going to the polls today.

For Alabamians, the choice today is between a child molester and a crook. That's really no choice at all.

Critical reporting on Doug Jones draws fire from know-nothing Democrats, but Jill Simpson stands tall on Jones' alliance with GOP bottom-feeder Rob Riley

Doug Jones

Alabama Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones conspired with Republican operative Rob Riley to hurt the chances for reversal on appeal of former governor Don Siegelman and HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, a retired attorney and prominent whistleblower said in a Facebook post over the weekend.

Dana Jill Simpson, who testified under oath before Congress about a Republican meeting (including Rob Riley) to plan a political prosecution of Siegelman, was responding to attacks against me for my critical reporting of Jones last week. Simpson, by the way, was not the only legal figure with deep knowledge of the Siegelman case to support my reporting on Doug Jones. (More on that in a moment.)

Simpson's comments come as Roy Moore and Luther Strange meet tomorrow in the GOP primary, with the winner to face Jones in the Dec. 12 general election. Moore and Strange offer a laughably bad choice for Alabama voters, but Simpson agreed with my assessment that Jones is not any better. From her Facebook statement:

Tonight I got an email saying Roger Shuler was being hit pretty hard over daring and writing negatively about Doug Jones. As most of y'all know I will not be voting for Doug or Roy or Lying Luther Strange. I think the citizens of the state picked the absolute worst slate of candidates for the Senator race and I don't like any of them enough to turn out and vote. I instead plan on using my pen to get rid of all of them in the next race as Alabamians are not going to be happy with any of these losers.

Why is Simpson down on Doug Jones? She says essentially that Jones jumped in bed with the hideously corrupt Rob Riley so they could garner millions in attorney fees from a civil case against HealthSouth -- by harming Siegelman and Scrushy on appeal of their criminal convictions. Simpson does not provide too many specifics, but she hints that Jones and Riley engaged in, or tried to engage in, obstruction of justice. From the Simpson Facebook statement (with some editing for clarity):

I must admit like Roger I don't like Doug Jones. I watched him run around with Rob Riley and do everything in his power to hurt Mr Scrushy and Mr Siegelman appeal so he and Rob could collect 55 Million in legal fees against Mr Scrushy [and] Healthsouth. I watched him say ugly things about Mr Scrushy in the Village Voice at a critical time during the appeal and I was repeatedly told he told folks in DC I was not believable or ready for Primetime. Well he isn't either in my opinion.

(Note: Public records in the HealthSouth case indicate the legal fees were closer to $50 million. With numerous plaintiffs' lawyers involved, the money was split quite a few ways; it all did not go to Jones and Riley. But they likely made a significant amount, as we explained in an April 2011 post:

As we reported in December 2009, the court awarded almost $28 million in fees and expenses for the plaintiff attorneys in the HealthSouth case. The exact figure was $27,937,317. A recent check of court records reveals that in July 2010 lawyers were awarded another $22,815,000, plus $521,003.17 in expenses--a total of 23,336,003.17.

That brings the grand total, if our math is correct, to $51,273,320.17. It's a massive case, involving 50 to 100 plaintiff lawyers, so the money will be spread around. But court documents indicate that a big chunk of it will go to the lead firms in California and New York and to the co-liaison counsel--Doug Jones and Rob Riley.

(Jones worked at the time with the Birmingham firm of Haskell Slaughter. Records from the Alabama Secretary of State show that Jones formed G. Douglas Jones LLC in November 2008. Sources tell Legal Schnauzer that Jones did that to ensure he would not have to share proceeds from the HealthSouth case with the firm. That sounds like a swell way to endear yourself to co-workers.)

Dana Jill Simpson
(From blogtalkeradio.com)

Jones' skulduggery was not lost on Jill Simpson -- then or now. Jones, she says, is all about the money, and he even will pucker up to Rob Riley's behind in order to get it. From Simpson's Facebook statement:

I additionally have never understood why [Jones] would have extended Mr Siegelman's case time except for the fact that he and Rob had a deal to screw Scrushy to get a big legal fee in a case against Scrushy -- and [it] helped [to have] . . . Scrushy [go to jail], so they could collect a large fee.

As for my reporting on Jones, it came in a post last Thursday that mostly was about the Moore-Strange showdown. Here is a sampler about Doug Jones, and we will be reporting much more between now and Dec. 12;

What about Democrat Doug Jones, who already has a spot in the Dec. 12 general election? Despite a recent poll showing that Jones could make it close against either Moore or Strange, my guess is that he will get swamped by either. On top of that, Jones is a one-trick pony candidate and a sorry human being. He has conned a few Alabamians into believing he stands for social justice and the rule of law because of his ties to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case; Jones constantly brings up the case because, well, he has nothing else to stand on.

Here is the truth about Doug Jones: (1) He's a suck-up to the Riley Political Machine, thanks to his cash-grabbing alliance with Rob Riley in a HealthSouth civil case; (2) He's a cover-up for former UA trustee Paul Bryant Jr. and Bryant's ties to massive insurance fraud. I have asked Jones multiple times the following question: Did you, as U.S. attorney, call off a planned federal investigation of Bryant, based on revelations from the Allen W. Stewart case in Philadelphia, in which Bryant's company (Alabama Reassurance) was implicated? Jones has refused to answer the question -- and that's because he had become U.S. attorney in the Bill Clinton administration when the Stewart case ended, and that's when the Bryant investigation was called off. It's hard to think of anyone, besides Doug Jones, who could have made that decision.

The Stewart case meant tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of Americans were left with worthless life-insurance policies. But evidence strongly suggests Doug Jones was more interested in protecting Paul Bryant Jr. than enforcing the law. If you still think Jones is a good dude, ask Don Siegelman about the $300,000 Jones charged him for criminal defense -- and accomplished little beyond helping the prosecution (while praising the despicable Bill Pryor) with its statute of limitations problems. Within Siegelman's inner circle, it widely is thought that the former governor never would have been convicted had his original defense lawyer, David Cromwell Johnson, not died. (And that makes you wonder if Johnson died of natural causes.) Anyone who thinks highly of Don Siegelman -- and still supports Doug Jones in the Senate race -- is blindingly ignorant, easily duped, or both.

That did not sit well with certain Democrats who apparently know little about Jones, beyond his involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case. Jill Simpson and I have seen a side of Doug Jones that he tries to keep hidden from everyday Democrats. Andrew Kreig, a lawyer and journalist who publishes the D.C.-based Justice Integrity Project, also has seen the ugly side of Doug Jones. Here is an Andrew Kreig Facebook comment on Jill Simpson's statement:

I believe what Jill says about the relevant history of Doug Jones, Roger Shuler and the overall circumstances of the Siegelman case. I can appreciate how Alabama Democrats can feel fortunate to have a relatively rich candidate in Doug Jones, and one who comes with the Birmingham Klan victory and good connections with DC Democrats. But it's important to think about how a lot of that money was made -- from the Scrushy case as co-counsel with Rob Riley -- and some of the rest of that history. More generally, part of the reason the Democratic Party is in such trouble nationally is that they've been picking deeply flawed candidates like this. Readers here may believe it's too late to do anything. But one thing people could do is not to blame Roger for pointing out, as here, things people need to know and letting the chips fall where they may.

As for Jill Simpson's thoughts on Doug Jones, she has much more to say. More on that subject is coming shortly.


(To be continued)