Father of three in England and substitute teacher in Connecticut have their lives upended by computer viruses that launch pornographic images onto screens

Consider a father of three in England and a female substitute teacher in Connecticut. How might their lives intersect? The answer, in one instance, is that their computers contracted viruses that led to pornography charges, turning their lives upside down.

The 2003 case of Julian Green in the UK received international news coverage and might be the best-known example of virus-borne child porn wreaking havoc on someone's life. In about the same time frame, Julie Amero was trying to fulfill the thankless task of being a substitute teacher, in Norwich CT, when students saw pornographic images popping up on her school-issued laptop. The images apparently were of adult porn, but Amero still faced criminal charges that took years to resolve.

Could a virus, pop-up ad, or spam be responsible for images that are central to the pending Missouri child-porn case of U.S. v. Scott J. Wells? It's too early to say, but if that proves to be the case, Wells will not have been the first person to be put through hell because of a computer virus linked to porn. From a New York Times piece on the Julian Green case:

One evening late in 2001, Julian Green's 7-year-old daughter came upstairs from the computer room of their home in the resort town of Torquay, in western England, and said, ''The home page has changed, and it's something not very nice.''

When Mr. Green checked the machine, he found that the family PC seemed almost possessed. The Internet home page had somehow been switched so that the computer displayed a child pornography site when the browser software started up. Even if he turned the machine off, it would turn itself back on and dial the Internet on its own.

Mr. Green called the computer maker and followed instructions to return his PC to a G-rated state. The pornography went away, but the computer still often crashed and kept connecting to the Internet even when ''there was no one in the blinking house,'' he said.

The call to customer service, it turned out, hardly was a solution:

But Mr. Green's problems were only beginning. Last October, local police knocked on his door, searched his home and seized his computer. They found no sign of pornography in his home but discovered 172 images of child pornography on the computer's hard drive. They arrested Mr. Green. This month, Mr. Green was acquitted in Exeter Crown Court after arguing that the material had been gathered without his knowledge by a rogue program created by hackers -- a so-called Trojan horse -- that had infected his PC, probably during innocent Internet surfing. Mr. Green, 45, is one of the first people to use this defense successfully.

While a case that played out in the British legal system sets no precedent in the United States, legal experts say the technical issues raise two troubling possibilities. For one, actual child pornographers could arm themselves with a new alibi that would be difficult to disprove. Or, unknowing Web surfers could find themselves charged with possessing illegal material that a lurking software program has acquired.

''The scary thing is not that the defense might work,'' said Mark Rasch, a former federal computer crime prosecutor. ''The scary thing is that the defense might be right,'' and that hijacked computers could be turned to an evil purpose without an owner's knowledge or consent.

''The nightmare scenario,'' Mr. Rasch said, ''is somebody might go to jail for something he didn't do because he was set up.''

How bad can this be for the wrongfully accused?

Mr. Green was eventually exonerated, but his life has been turned upside down by the accusations. His ex-wife went to court soon after his arrest and gained custody of their youngest child and his house. Mr. Green, who is disabled because of a degenerative disk disease, spent nine days in prison and three months in a ''bail hostel,'' or halfway house, and was allowed only supervised visits with his daughter.

''There's some little sicko out there who's doing this,'' Mr. Green said, ''and he's ruined my life. I've got to fight to get everything back.''

He said he had no clue how the rogue software showed up on his computer. ''I never download anything. and as far as I knew, no others had,'' he said.

While the Green case was resolved relatively quickly, the Amero case in Connecticut dragged on for about four years. From a report at Wired:

Accused of letting impressionable students see pornographic pictures as she browsed the web in her classroom, former Connecticut school teacher Julie Amero dodged felony charges last Friday by agreeing to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and surrendering her state teaching credentials, according to the Hartford Courant.

But if a soon-to-be released forensic report about her hard drive is accurate, Amero's guilty plea is hardly justice – since the school computer had adware, the anti-virus software on the computer had been discontinued, and the technical testimony at her trial was amateurish and flawed.

Julie Amero

 Amero, a substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut, was arrested after students in her class reported that they'd seen pornographic images on her computer screen on Oct. 19, 2004. Amero said the computer wouldn't stop sending pop-ups and that she didn't know what to do with the computer.

In January 2007, she was convicted of four felony pornography charges and faced up to 40 years in prison.

Computer-forensics experts came to Amero's aid, attempting to correct what they feared a court had botched. From an article at the Hartford Courant:

The state of Connecticut spent two years investigating before it won a speedy conviction of Julie Amero -- the infamous Norwich porn teacher -- this January.

But it was never as tidy as the Norwich Public Schools, the Norwich police, the state of Connecticut and the Norwich Bulletin newspaper made it seem.

In truth, Amero, a clumsy computer novice, was the victim of malicious software that took over the PC in the classroom where she was substituting on Oct. 19, 2004. Since Amero's arrest, the state has refused to even consider this possibility.

Then, a few weeks ago, as Amero faced sentencing, Assistant State's Attorney David J. Smith filed a startling motion in Superior Court:

"The state has not completed a full examination of all the issues which may affect its position at the sentence hearing."

Translation: We were wrong. We are trying to figure a CYA way out of this mess.

How did the truth come out. The Courant explains:

Thankfully, a team of computer security experts from throughout the country, drawn to the case by outraged Internet bloggers and a handful of journalists, has presented Smith and his bosses with the truth.

Amero didn't click on the porn. Software that might have blocked the porn was months out of date. Critical evidence was mishandled. School and police computer "experts" who testified were woefully ignorant about computer security and porn spyware to the point that their testimony was blatantly false.

The state's case began unraveling soon after the hapless jury voted to convict. A firestorm of pressure -- from university professors and software executives to programmers -- forced repeated postponements of Amero's sentencing.

But never underestimate public officials when they are cornered. When Amero is finally sentenced, expect a deal that keeps the egg off the many faces behind this sham trial.

Inevitably, Amero will be exonerated. We all deserve an apology for this insulting case.

As the Courant predicted, the case ended with a whimper, as Amero pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

In goofy marijuana-possession case against former NFL player Dorial Green-Beckham, Missouri cops can't keep their stories -- or their math -- straight

Dorial Green-Beckham mugshot

How screwy was the probation-revocation proceeding in Springfield, Missouri, that caused former NFL player Dorial Green-Beckham ("DGB") to land in the Greene County Jail for 90 days? Based on local press reports, the sentence was grounded largely on the word of police officers who apparently cannot count.

As my wife, Carol, and I know from firsthand experience, Circuit Judge Jerry Harmison tends to buy anything crooked cops and prosecutors throw at him -- and that's why Green-Beckham now is behind bars. But was Harmison's ruling based on facts and the law? We don't have access to the full court file, but news accounts suggest there is enough doubt to choke a rhinoceros on the marijuana-possession charge that caused DGB's probation in a DWI case to be revoked.

How goofy is the justice system here in the Southwest Missouri Ozarks, once perhaps best known as the home to Jed Clampett and his family of hillbillies, before they moved to Beverly Hills? Even Jed likely would have been amused by the DGB charade, had he heard about it while lounging around his "cement pond."

When Green-Beckham was arrested last December on the drug charge, the headline in USA Today was "Ex-NFL WR Dorial Green-Beckham arrested with pound of marijuana, police say." The headline in the local Springfield News-Leader was pretty much the same -- "Dorial Green-Beckham caught with pound of pot after drug raid in Springfield, police say." So, it's established that cops caught DGB with a pound of pot, right? Well, not exactly.

First, I should note that I'm a novice when it comes to matters involving marijuana and the like -- except for my reporting on MJ cases involving my nephews -- Blake Shuler and Noah Shuler. But my research indicates a pound is quite a bit of pot.

While I'm hardly an expert on pot, I apparently know a lot more than the loons in the Springfield Police Department. This is from a local newspaper account of Green-Beckham's recent probation-revocation hearing, written by reporter Harrison Keegan:

. . . testimony provided more details about the December drug arrest. Police initially said Green-Beckham was found with a pound of marijuana and officers discovered an additional 7 pounds of marijuana at the house.

On [March 8], however, officers said Green-Beckham had less than 35 grams of marijuana in his pocket when he was arrested, but investigators believe he was also responsible for an additional one pound of marijuana found inside the house.

Green-Beckham was not the target of the drug-related search warrant.

Let's allow that to sink in for a moment. OK, what does the above tell us?

(1)  Cops said last December -- to the accompaniment of blaring headlines -- that Green-Beckham was found in possession of a pound of marijuana.

(2) Now, roughly three months later, cops say Green-Beckham had less than 35 grams. "Oops, our bad," say the cops.

(3) How much less than 35 grams did DGB possess? Was it 5 grams, 2 grams, 1 gram? Cops don't seem to have an answer. We probably would have no reason to believe them if they pulled an answer out of their collective fannies?

(4) What happened to the 7 pounds of marijuana that was originally in the house? Did cops smoke it, eat it, sell it? We don't know, but it apparently had nothing to do with the guy who now is in jail.

(5) Cops now say they "believe" DGB is responsible for 1 pound of pot found inside the house. Why do they "believe" that? DGB did not reside in the house, and cops claim he was not the target of the search warrant. Is Dorial Green-Beckham now behind bars based on what clueless cops "believe" but cannot prove?

DGB with the Philadelphia Eagles

A little math adds to the circus atmosphere surrounding this case. Our research indicates 1 pound of pot equals roughly 450 grams. Now that DGB is said to have possessed less than 35 grams, it appears cops missed the total by a mere 415 grams (at least). As for the mythical 7 pounds of grass, that is 3,150 grams for which cops no longer can account. Gee, these guys are precise, aren't they? Would anyone, other than Judge Jerry Harmison believe a word these clowns say?

Why does 35 grams seem to be a magic number for Springfield cops? It's probably because the city code, section 78-261, is called "Possession of thirty-five grams or less of marijuana." That probably is the code section under which Green-Beckham was arrested.

Harmison's actions in the DGB case are no surprise to Carol and me. We saw Harmison over and over ignore cops' inconsistent statements, even outright perjury. He apparently took much the same approach to the DGB case. (Motions re: perjury, inconsistent testimony, and court errors in the Carol Shuler case are embedded at the end of this post.)

How ugly might the incarceration of Dorial Green-Beckham be? I will admit that I am a cynic toward law enforcement, but I don't think it takes a huge leap of imagination to consider the following: Green-Beckham's pro football career has been pretty much a flop, so far, but he still is a wealthy guy, especially by Springfield, MO standards. When the Tennessee Titans signed DGB in 2015, he received $5.3 million in guaranteed money and a signing bonus.

It's safe to say that DGB probably has enough money to last a lifetime, if he handles it wisely, and he's the most celebrated black guy in Springfield, MO -- maybe in the city's history. In an area known for its right-wing politics, it's not hard to find people here with less-than-progressive views on race -- and that likely is especially true among law enforcement.

Given cops' inability to keep their story straight, is it possible they did target Dorial Green-Beckham and even planted a baggie of weed on him? We might never know the whole truth, but that scenario would not surprise me one bit.

Hidden cameras, traffic stops, and envelopes stuffed with cash were part of Florida prostitution sting that has ties to politics, Trump, and the Republican Party

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Former football standout Dorial Green-Beckham and my wife, Carol, share the distinction of being cheated by the same crooked courts in the Missouri Ozarks

Dorial Green-Beckham

I never dreamed my wife, Carol, would have something in common with a former player in the National Football League. In a roundabout way, Carol now even has a connection to Coach Nick Saban's recruiting operation with the Alabama Crimson Tide. No kidding.

How did this happen? Well, it centers around Dorial Green-Beckham ("DGB"), who might be the finest athlete Missouri ever has produced. Like Carol, Green-Beckham has been exposed to the hideously crooked and incompetent "justice system" in Missouri. In fact, they both have been on the receiving end of dubious rulings from Greene County Circuit Judge Jerry Harmison, an appointee of scandal-plagued and departed GOP governor Eric Greitens.

Harmison cheated Carol last spring, finding her guilty of misdemeanor "assault on a law enforcement officer," even though the "victim" (deputy Jeremy Lynn) admitted in a written report and in sworn testimony that he initiated contact with Carol -- meaning, as a matter of law, Carol could not have committed the offense. (Motions re: perjury and multiple court errors in the Carol Shuler case are embedded at the end of this post.)

Green-Beckham appeared before Harmison last week on a prosecution motion to revoke his probation in a DUI case, following his recent arrest on a marijuana possession charge. That might seem like a fairly straightforward court matter. But officers from the Springfield Police Department turned it into a scene from a Three Stooges movie. Harmison, as he showed in Carol's case, apparently believes prosecutors and law-enforcement officers can do no wrong, so he ruled against Green-Beckham -- sentencing him to 90 days in jail -- even though overwhelming doubt surrounds the drug charge that led to the probation revocation.

We will have more details about the DGB court fiasco in a moment, but first, we have established he and Carol share the "distinction" of being cheated by the same crooked judge in Missouri and by the same inept law-enforcement community. So, how does all of this connect to Nick Saban and Bama's recruiting machine?  Well, I will admit it's a stretch, but hang in there with me on this.

Dorial Green-Beckham, while playing at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, set a national high-school record for receiving yardage. At 6-6, 225 pounds, with world-class speed, Green-Beckham was ranked the No. 1 college-football recruit in the nation for 2012. DGB was such a scintillating prospect that Nick Saban his own self recruited him -- and as we know from watching Bama rack up national championships like many folks get parking tickets, Nick doesn't recruit just anyone, only the best.

Green-Beckham wound up spurning Saban -- along with Auburn, Arkansas, Texas, Ohio State, and just about every powerhouse in college football -- to sign with his home-state Missouri Tigers. Green-Beckham had two fairly productive season at Mizzou before being dismissed from the program after a couple of brushes with the law. He transferred to the University of Oklahoma but never played for the Sooners before entering the 2015 NFL draft.

The Tennessee Titans drafted Green-Beckham in the second round, and on June 1, 2015, the Titans signed him to a 4-year, $5.6-million contract with $3.0 million guaranteed and a $2.3-million signing bonus. As a rookie with Tennessee, Green-Beckham played 16 games with 549 receiving yards and four touchdowns. After one season, the Titans traded DGB to the Philadelphia Eagles, for whom he appeared in 15 games, with 392 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 2016. The Eagles waived him in summer 2017, and Green-Beckham, despite possessing all of the attributes that should make him a star, has struggled to get a foothold in the NFL. He has not played the last two seasons.

Judge Jerry Harmison and Green-Beckham attorney
Tyson Martin

DGB's sports legacy, however, does not end with football. I've never seen him play basketball, but I know a few folks who have, and they say he might be a better basketball player than a football player. He received numerous scholarship offers from high-major college basketball programs, and probably would have received even more if it had not been widely assumed he would choose the football route.

Before his most recent legal troubles, Green-Beckham reportedly had attracted attention from teams in the Canadian Football League. I would like to see him get his life straightened out and hook up with a college basketball program, where I suspect he quickly would become a star. He might even develop into an NBA prospect, although 6-6 is considered an "in between" height for pro hoops -- sort of a forward and sort of a guard.

Any hoop dreams DGB might hold will be difficult to achieve while he's in jail. What kind of process led to his current incarceration? Calling it a joke would be kind.


(To be continued)

Prisoners and the public end up paying for the hidden costs of dreadful food, lacking in portions and nutrition, served at correctional facilities in the U.S.

A food tray at an Alabama jail

In recent years, the dreadful food served at correctional facilities has sparked riots in at least three states. The unrest has come as multiple studies show the poor fare served at prisons and jails comes with high economic and social costs that could easily be reduced.

The issue is big news in Alabama, where several sheriffs have been exposed for essentially starving inmates to help pay for their personal projects. It hits close to home because I had to survive on jail food for five months (Oct. 2013 to March 2014) after being "arrested for blogging" and tossed in the Shelby County (AL) Jail.

I lost roughly 25 pounds on a jail-food diet, and I tended to clean my plate at most meals -- there just wasn't much to clean. According to a recent report at Mother Jones, inmates around the country know hunger is a major part of the incarceration experience:

Jose Villarreal remembers going to bed hungry most nights during his 10 years in solitary confinement at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison. Dinner might consist of mashed potatoes, bread, and a slice of processed meat—never with salt, and always cold. Shouting through air vents between their cells, his neighbors would count the number of vegetables on their trays: eight string beans one day, 26 peas the next. “It became almost a joke,” Villarreal recalls.

This low-nutrient fare is typical of many corrections systems, which calibrate menus to meet budget demands and minimum calorie counts. Prices per meal range from about $1.30 to as low as the 15 cents that Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio once bragged about spending. The high-starch meals are often served up by scandal-plagued private companies. Meats are typically processed, and fresh fruit is rare, in part because it can be turned into booze.

To supplement tasteless grub, prisoners turn to the commissary, says Kimberly Dong, a Tufts University assistant professor researching prisoner health. This behind-bars bodega stocks items like Fritos and ramen, which inmates mix together to concoct dishes such as “spread,” a San Francisco County Jail specialty often made from noodles topped with hot chips, cheese sauce, and chili beans. “It’s like a carrot and a stick,” Villarreal says of the choice between commissary and facility-provided food. “But even the carrot is dipped in poison.”

I've already noted that my own health has not been the same since, on the evening of Oct. 23, 2013, Alabama deputies unlawfully entered our home, beat me up (without showing a warrant, stating they had a warrant, or even stating their reason for being there -- over a 100 percent civil matter), doused me with pepper spray, and hauled me to jail. Inmates around the country have felt the impact of jail and prison food. From Mother Jones:

This uninspiring diet is likely taking a toll on inmates’ health. It’s not just that prisoners are 6.4 times more likely to be sickened from spoiled or contaminated food than people on the outside, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined in 2017. Prison food can damage their long-term wellness. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 44 percent of state and federal prisoners have experienced chronic disease, compared with 31 percent of the general population, even after controlling for age, sex, and race. Chronic illnesses common among prisoners—high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart problems—are linked to obesity, which is in turn associated with highly processed, high-carb jailhouse fare. And because inmates disproportionately come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, they’re already more likely to experience chronic disease than the general public, so prison grub can exacerbate preexisting conditions.

Prisoners aren't the only ones who pay for being exposed to crappy food; taxpayers pay, as well:

Corrections facilities often cut corners on food in an effort to save money. But this may cost taxpayers more in the long run. According to a 2017 analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative, after staffing, health care is the public prison system’s largest expense, setting government agencies back $12.3 billion a year. Outside prisons, there’s ample evi­dence that improving diets can shrink health care spending: One study of food stamp recipients found that incentivizing purchases of produce while reducing soda consumption could save more than $4.3 billion in health care expenses over five years. Extrapolating from these numbers, similar changes for America’s 2.3 million prisoners could save taxpayers more than $500 million over the same time period.

As for Jose Villareal, he is now out of prison, but he does not feel well, and he can't do much about it:

A year and a half after his release, Villarreal still isn’t sure what is medically wrong with him. Lacking health insurance, he hasn’t seen a doctor since he got out, but he traces his damaged eyesight and trouble sleeping in part to a prison diet that made him physically less resilient: “If I had better, nutritious food, I think it would have helped me.”

Founder of Florida massage parlors, where Robert Kraft was busted on prostitution charge, arranged for Chinese execs to attend Trump fundraiser in 2017

Cindy Yang and Donald Trump

The founder of a Florida massage-parlor chain recruited Chinese business executives to attend a fundraiser for Donald Trump in New York City near the end of 2017, according to a report yesterday at the Miami Herald. Meanwhile, NBC Sports reports that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft probably is not the best-known person involved with the prostitution investigation that originated at one of the parlors Li "Cindy" Yang started. From the NBC Sports report:

Adam Schefter said on ESPN that Kraft isn’t the most famous person — there’s someone else whose name hasn’t surfaced yet who’s better known than Kraft.

“I’m also told that Robert Kraft is not the biggest name involved down there in South Florida,” Schefter said.

There’s no word on who the biggest name is, and it’s unclear why the authorities in Florida would name Kraft publicly but not name this bigger name. But it appears that this story is going to get significant traction, and not go away quietly as Kraft would surely prefer.

As photos continue to surface of Yang with Republican personalities and political figures, evidence mounts that she is a significant figure in the party's fund-raising circles. Reports the Miami Herald:

A Chinese-American massage-parlor entrepreneur arranged for a group of Chinese business executives to attend a paid fundraiser for President Donald Trump in New York City at the end of 2017, according to a source who was present at the event.

Cindy Yang, whose family owns a chain of South Florida day spas where prostitution is said to have taken place, also runs a Florida-based consulting business called GY US Investments that promises to introduce Chinese investors into the president’s orbit.

Yang was present at the Dec. 2, 2017, fundraiser, held at Cipriani restaurant in Manhattan, according to a photograph that circulated in Chinese-language media at the time. The source, who asked for anonymity to discuss the private fundraiser, said Yang identified herself as an official at the National Committee of Asian American Republicans, a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee founded in the summer of 2016.  . . .

Reports in Chinese-language media said nearly 100 Chinese people attended the New York fundraiser in December 2017, out of roughly 400 total guests. The event was hosted by the Republican National Committee. Officials at Trump Victory and the RNC did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

Could this point to more unlawful activity connected to Trump? The answer is yes:

Foreign visitors may attend fundraisers as long as they don’t pay their own entry. But only citizens and permanent residents are allowed to donate to U.S. political campaigns. It would be illegal for foreign nationals to reimburse a U.S. citizen for paying their way into a fundraiser. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has been examining whether money from abroad influenced the 2016 election. There is no evidence that Yang or her businesses are part of that investigation. . . .

Since the New York event, Yang has advertised her ability to introduce Chinese investors to the president, his family and his advisers.

On the Chinese-language website for GY US Investments, Yang claimed to be hosting a “conference for international leadership” at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private resort in Palm Beach, on March 30. The guest speaker is advertised as Elizabeth Trump Grau, the president’s sister. Trump Grau could not be reached.

“It is the first time for Chinese to play the leading role [at] Mar-a-Lago,” the website claimed.

How did Yang come to rise in GOP circles? That is not fully clear, although a Saturday article at Mother Jones provides considerable insight:

Yang, who goes by Cindy, and her husband, Zubin Gong, started GY US Investments LLC in 2017. The company describes itself on its website, which is mostly in Chinese, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.” But the firm notes that its services also address clients looking to make high-level connections in the United States. On a page displaying a photo of Mar-a-Lago, Yang’s company says its “activities for clients” have included providing them “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.” The company boasts it has “arranged taking photos with the President” and suggests it can set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.” (The same day the Herald story about Yang broke, the website stopped functioning.)

Yang seems to reside in a world very different from the one she occupied previously. Reports the Herald:

Yang’s consulting business and new-found political relevance were a far cry from her previous main line of work: Running a chain of Asian day spas in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Online commenters on adult-themed and other websites have stated that spas owned by Yang and her family — which operate under the brand name Tokyo Day Spas — have offered sex. Allegations of prostitution at the spas have been reported to at least two local police agencies in South Florida, according to law enforcement records obtained by the Herald, although no charges appear to have been brought against Yang or the spas as a result of those tips.

Here are just a few photos that have surfaced since Friday of Cindy Yang with Republican luminaries:

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Yang

Donald Trump Jr. and Yang

Sarah Palin and Yang

Has Alabama "Luv Guv" Robert Bentley lost his political marbles over Karl Rove's reported plans to groom him as a candidate for vice president in 2016?

Karl Rove

When "Luv Guv" Robert Bentley reached a plea agreement on criminal charges in April 2017, he essentially signed a contract with the state of Alabama that, among other things, held he would not "seek or serve in any public office." The agreement was reached under the auspices of a court -- signed by Bentley, his attorney (William Athanas), and two members of the attorney general's office. To top it off, Bentley waived his right to appeal any provision of the contract and acknowledged that he was signing it knowingly and voluntarily, with assistance of counsel.

Most rational people, it seems, would realize that such a signed document was binding and rock steady. So, why is Bentley apparently planning a 2020 run for the U.S. Senate -- which certainly seems to qualify as "any public office," the kind Bentley agreed not to seek? (The plea agreement is embedded at the end of this post.)

Is Bentley irrational, a man whose clouded "Christian thinking" has left him unable to determine right from wrong? Has Bentley convinced himself that he is among God's "chosen ones" -- the elect -- so he doesn't have to worry about accountability? Has Bentley's ability to grope former political aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason in delicate places convinced him he has super powers?

We don't have definitive answers to those questions at the moment. But we have discovered an element to the Bentley quagmire hat might be illuminating.

In April 2016 -- one year before Bentley's resignation as governor -- we reported that GOP guru Karl Rove had been grooming Bentley as a possible candidate for vice president. Based on a report from D.C. investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, Rove was desperate to keep Donald Trump from the White House and thought Bentley might be part of a team that could make that happen. With his kindly "Dr. Welby" demeanor, Bentley might have been seen as the anti-Trump -- a white version of Ben Carson, M.D., who was making political inroads at the time.

Never mind that Carson performed brain surgery, and Bentley was mostly a Dr. Pimple Popper. In Rove's quirky mind, the white coat and "M.D." after the name probably were seen as magical. This is from our 2016 report:

Republican political guru Karl Rove was promoting Alabama Governor Robert Bentley as a possible vice-presidential candidate in 2016, but those plans imploded from recent revelations about Bentley's extramarital affair with a former senior adviser, according to a new report from a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.

Wayne Madsen reports today that Rove's reputation as a strategic wunderkind took a huge hit with the stillborn presidential campaign of Jeb Bush. Now. Bentley's sex scandal involving Rebekah Caldwell Mason has raised even more questions about Rove's judgment.

The Bentley revelations are part of an article titled "Rove backing Cruz and Hillary at same time." Sources tell Madsen that Rove is desperate to keep Donald Trump from getting the GOP nomination--or from becoming president.

With that in mind, Rove is backing Ted Cruz in an effort to generate a brokered convention and cost Trump the nomination. If that doesn't work, Rove reportedly is planning to offer advice to the Clinton campaign to help overcome Trump in the general election.

The Clinton people had to be thrilled to know Karl Rove was willing to give them advice. ("Hey, Karl, we'll get back to you on that, OK.") And given that Trump, with just a little help from Vladimir Putin, bested both Cruz and Hillary Clinton . . . well, maybe Rove isn't such a guru after all. Shouldn't a GOP brainiac have seen the "Putin Putsch" coming?

Robert Bentley and Rebekah Mason

Rebekah Mason -- now known in Alabama as "Home Wrecky Becky," having cost Bentley his marriage of 50 years -- was front and center in the plan to spiff up the good doctor for the national stage. Writes Madsen:

The value of Rove's political acumen has plummeted in GOP circles since the collapse of the Jeb Bush campaign. Another political decision by Rove is also subject to ridicule. In the lead up to Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley's successful re-election campaign in 2014, Rove and his acolytes, who view Alabama as a personal political fiefdom, convinced Bentley that he would be a highly-sought-after vice presidential running mate in 2016.

To prepare for a spot on the national ticket, Bentley's chief adviser, and, as it turned out his reputed mistress, Rebekah Mason, a married mother of three, began acting as Bentley's fashion adviser. Among other makeovers, Mason advised Bentley, a former dermatologist, to ditch his trademark khaki trousers for Brooks Brothers suits.

Rove's plans for Bentley now lie in ruins as Bentley faces impeachment over his alleged affair with Mason. A leaked conversation in which the evangelical Bentley refers to Mason's breasts and buttocks has all but ended the governor's statewide political career, let alone any hope for national office.

Has Bentley, in the upside-down world of Trump's creation, convinced himself that he still has political appeal? Has Rove -- having gotten George W. Bush "selected" president twice, despite a DUI arrest and reports of high-level drug use -- decided Bentley can be rehabilitated? If Trump is indicted or impeached, might Bentley finally get to serve as the "anti-Trump," salving the wounds of the GOP base?

As Madsen sees it, Bentley might not be the only one in need of rehabilitation:

Rove earned the nickname "Turd Blossom" from George W. Bush for Rove's supposed knack for finding success in political adversity. However, Rove has recently become more "turd" than "blossom" in Republican circles.

The same might be said of "Luv Guv" Bentley.

Michael Cohen's testimony before a U.S. House committee includes one sentence that likely points to Donald Trump's settlements of child-sex allegations

Michael Cohen

One sentence from Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony last week suggests the man in the White House is more dark and depraved than most Americans probably can imagine, according to a report from a D.C.-based investigative journalist. Specifically, Cohen's words hint that Donald Trump is a child molester and has been for years.

Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), a subscription Web site, has written extensively about payments to settle allegations of child-sex complaints against Trump, dating to 1989 -- with Cohen, as Trump's "fixer," apparently at the heart of several negotiations. Most recently, in mid January of this year, Madsen published an article titled "Why is Trump so afraid of Cohen's testimony?" (We have followed Madsen's reporting with several posts here at Legal Schnauzer -- from Jan. 16, 2019; May 3, 2018; Dec. 13, 2017.) Writes Madsen:

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen had a rather poignant response to a focused question during his testimony before the House Government Oversight Committee on February 27.

Cohen responding to a question from Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) about the "catch and kill" operations that were conducted by National Enquirer publisher David Pecker on individuals bringing sexual-assault allegations against Trump. Cohen revealed that Pecker "spent money" to hide alleged affairs during the 2016 campaign.

Raskin specifically asked, "So David Pecker had done this in other cases of other mistresses or women?" Cohen replied, "Other circumstances, yes," adding, "Not all of them had to do with women." Cohen appeared to add the final statement to emphasize the matter of allegations against Trump not merely being limited to women. WMR has reported on Trump's past sexual allegations involving underage girls -- involving him and convicted child sex assaulter Jeffrey Epstein -- and boys.

WMR is aware that during the 2016 campaign, pressure was brought by legal representatives for Trump on two women who alleged that Trump raped them when they were 13- and 12-years old, respectively.

It appears no one asked a followup question during the public portion of Cohen's testimony. But Madsen reports that the subject of Trump and child molestation is ripe for investigation:

Cohen's reference to the catch and kill tactics involving Pecker and Trump, some of which predated Cohen's hiring by Trump in 2007, and Cohen's comment that "not all of them had to do with women" may be a reference to the following list of out-of-court settlements reached by Trump with minors:

Madsen then lists six cases where Trump allegedly reached out-of-court settlements with minors. We have reported on those cases here. They involve three girls and three boys, all 10 to 13 years old at the time of the alleged assaults. From a Madsen preview of Cohen's testimony, published in January 2019:

While Cohen will avoid certain subjects still under investigation by Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, he may provide some insight into the types of embarrassing things he "fixed" for Trump, before they ended up in scandalous court trials. This may include Cohen assisting Trump in paying off victims of Trump's sexual assaults over the years.

In addition to Stephanie Clifford, aka porn actress "Stormy Daniels," and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Cohen reportedly helped settle a number of rape cases involving Trump. WMR received a list from a reputable Republican source of these settlement claims, all of which involve male and female minors.

Why is Alabama "Luv Guv" Robert Bentley apparently planning a U.S. Senate run, when his plea agreement clearly blocks him from seeking "any public office"?

Robert Bentley and Rebekah Caldwell Mason

Former Alabama governor Robert Bentley reportedly is contemplating a 2020 run for the U.S. Senate, even though his plea agreement on criminal charges plainly states that that he neither will seek nor serve in public office.

We reported last week that Bentley had traveled to a national governors conference in Washington, D.C., with Rebekah Caldwell Mason -- the former aide with whom he had an extramarital affair that ended his marriage of 50 years. We noted, however, that news outlets had described the plea agreement in varying terms -- and we had not seen the agreement -- so there was some doubt about what it actually says. That doubt no longer exists.

The agreement was reached on April 10, 2017 -- signed by Bentley, his lawyer William Athanas, Special Assistant Attorney General Eleanor Brooks, and Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart -- and at least two news outlets (Alabama Political Reporter and the Andalusia Star) posted links to the document at that time. We have embedded the plea agreement at the end of this post, and there no longer can be any doubt about what it says.

Item No. 4 in the plea agreement reads:

4. The Defendant will not seek or serve in any public office.

Item No. 6 reads:

6. The Defendant will waive any and all objections to venue and his right to appeal any issue.

Item No. 7 reads:

7. By signing this document, the Defendant represents that he is an adult; is competent to enter into this agreement and plead guilty; is satisfied with the work of his attorney; has been advised of his rights by his attorney; and that he intelligently, knowingly, and voluntarily agrees with the terms of the Plea Agreement.  

In a Facebook post last week, State Auditor Jim Zeigler reported the following:

In January Bentley obtained clearance from the prosecutor to run for a federal office even though his plea agreement stated he would not run for office. The U.S. Senate is a federal office.

Who was "the prosecutor" who might have discussed such a clearance with Bentley? Brooks and Hart no longer are with the Alabama Attorney General's Office, so the answer to that question most likely would be the AG himself, Steve Marshall -- whom Bentley appointed to office. (And yes, that is a foul odor you are smelling.) If such a clearance was provided, it clearly violates the terms of the plea agreement. But then gain, Marshall clearly violated Alabama's PAC-to-PAC transfer law, but no one has held him accountable for that.

What are the take-home points from items No. 4, 6, and 7 above?

1. Bentley agreed to not seek, much less serve in, "any public office," which clearly covers both state and federal positions.

2. Bentley waived any right to appeal or contest terms of the agreement. If he had doubts about item No. 4, he should have raised them before affixing his signature to the document.

3. Bentley acknowledged that he is a competent adult, that he understood the agreement, and reached it with the advice of legal counsel, with which he was satisfied. Again, if Bentley had doubts about item No. 4, he should have notified his attorney and sought clarity from prosecutors. Bentley's signature indicates he knew what he was signing.

Alabama Political Reporter's article from two years ago leaves little doubt what the plea agreement says:

According to the plea agreement, Bentley will also pay back $8,912.40 to his campaign committee’s bank account, and then he will turn over the $36,912 left in his account to the state. He has agreed never to run for office again, has waived his rights to appeal and has promised to perform 100 hours of community service.

Bottom line: Regardless of what Bentley might be planning -- or any "clearance" Steve Marshall might have provided -- Alabama's "Luv Guv" is blocked from seeking any public office, at any level.

Right-wing loons -- Jacob Wohl, Laura Loomer, Ali Akbar -- claim U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is in Congress on the heels of immigration and student-loan fraud

Jacob Wohl ant Laura Loomer

A 21-year-old GOP operative, who is banned from Twitter for creating fake accounts, has a accused a freshman U.S. representative of using deceptive tactics to get elected to Congress. Yes, a proven fraudster is accusing someone else of fraud. That's what passes for Republican "ethics" in the age of Trump.

Jacob Wohl and fellow right-wing loon Laura Loomer held a press briefing last week at CPAC in Washington, D.C., claiming U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) married her brother and engaged in student-loan fraud in order to attain legal-immigrant status and run for Congress. Wohl and Loomer have launched a petition to have Omar removed from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Conservative media outlets have targeted Omar since she ran for the Minnesota Legislature in 2016. The allegations intensified when, in 2018, she became the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress.

The Wohl-Loomer allegations came after the pair joined Ali (Akbar) Alexander -- a fellow GOP fraudster, who has felonies on his criminal history, a record of trolling for gay sex at grindr.com, and self-proclaimed ties to Alabama's political and legal establishment -- on an "investigative mission to Minneapolis, designed to produce dirt on Ilhan Omar. Here is how USA Today described Wohl's role in the Omar inquiry:

He flew to Minnesota last week to “investigate” the rumor that Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother, a mission for which he tried to fund-raise $25,000 from his online followers. Wohl’s trip to the heartland devolved into bizarre tweets in which he suggested that Minneapolis was so overrun by Somali jihadists that he had to wear a bulletproof vest and travel with a team of “security professionals.”

How was the press briefing received outside the right-wing bubble? Mediaite.com reports that Wohl and Loomer were widely mocked on Twitter -- in an article titled "Twitter Mocks Jacob Wohl’s Weird Press Conference Outside of CPAC: ‘I Can’t Stop Laughing At This’"

Did the right-wing Three Musketeers come up with damning information against Omar? That's hard to say. This is from a report on the press briefing at spectator.org:

Rep. Ilhan Omar “married her brother and she defrauded the United States,” Jacob Wohl said Thursday afternoon in a press conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Announcing the result of a recent investigation by the website Culttture that took a crew of conservative activists to the freshman Democrat’s Minnesota district, Wohl presented the findings of their investigation in an eight-page report concluding that Omar’s marriage to her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, was “part of a nefarious attempted immigration scheme… in the service of two federal felonies: immigration fraud and student loan fraud.”

If such an eight-page document contained any substance, you might expect right-wingers to have plastered it all over the Web. But we can't find it anywhere, not on Scribd, not on culttture.com
-- a site Ali Akbar founded. Culttture provides a brief article about he press briefing, but we see no sign of the supposedly explosive report. One journalist wrote on Twitter that the report was marked "Privileged and Strictly Confidential." A press release is deemed "confidential"? I've been in professional journalism for more than 35 years, and I've never heard of that one.

A video of the press conference can be found at Culttture, but it appears to contain little of substance. Wohl claims the allegations are supported by "public records, bank records, utility bills, you name it . . . " but we see no sign of such public records in the report. (Note: Ali Akbar does not speak at the briefing, but he can be seen during a scan of the slim crowd at 9:59 on the video.)

How goofy has the right wing's "youth movement" become? We invite you to check out an Ali Akbar video -- at the link below -- about threats and security measures associated with the Minnesota "investigation." Never mind that evidence suggests it was nothing more than a glorified fund-raising effort.


Ali Akbar on Periscope about "Little Somalia" trip to Minneapolis


We will give the final word to Vox's Jane Coaston, who penned a superb analysis of the Jacob Wohl phenomenon and his most recent press-conference disaster:

To begin with the facts of how we even arrived at this moment: Wohl was at CPAC this week alongside Jack Burkman, a Republican lobbyist with a shady past, to provide evidence of a supposed scandal involving Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). They, along with a host of other people on the internet, claim that Omar’s ex-husband Ahmed Elmi is actually her brother and that she married him to help him get US citizenship.

This conspiracy theory is largely nonsensical. First and foremost, there is no evidence Elmi is Omar’s brother. Elmi is a British citizen whom Omar married in 2009 before separating from him in 2011. There is no evidence that Elmi and Omar are related in any way.

Meanwhile, it is perfectly legal for a US citizen to petition US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to bring a brother or sister to the United States, making it entirely unnecessary to marry one’s own sibling to do so.

Importantly, Elmi never received US citizenship (he moved back to England following their separation), meaning that if, under some bizarre circumstance this conspiracy theory were true, the entire reason for the marriage — getting Elmi US citizenship — never actually materialized.

So, why is Wohl targeting Omar, as he did Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Coaston has the answer:

Why Wohl chose Omar as a target for this operation is fairly obvious — like Mueller, she is deeply unpopular with many, to put it mildly. To her critics, she has used anti-Semitic tropes and made anti-Semitic comments. And not to mention that she is deeply opposed to President Trump, and as part of the midterm wave that gave Democrats control of the House in 2018, she received lots and lots of mainstream media attention — but the right argues, little criticism.

But where many conservatives saw a big problem, Wohl and a few others saw an opportunity, in a conspiracy theory that wove together two favored hobbyhorses of the far-right: immigration and Islam. Wohl and right-wing activist Laura Loomer (best known for handcuffing herself to Twitter’s New York headquarters to complain about being banned from the service) traveled to Minnesota in late February to find the truth about Omar.

They went with Ali Alexander, a Republican operative and founder of the MAGA-centric website Culttture, which is meant to track the activities of MAGA figures like Loomer and Wohl (the inspiration for the website came from, according to Alexander, an LSD trip.)

But first, they needed funding. On the Culttture site describing the “Investigate Ilhan Omar Fund,” the page states that if donors contributed $25,000 to the Fund, the money would support Wohl and his allies so that they could “go to Minneapolis and Washington D.C. to conduct a meticulous investigation into Ilhan Omar in order to ascertain the truth of the allegations against her. The Democratic Media Complex won’t!”

In other words, the anti-Omar campaign is a grab for money and attention -- one that is woefully short on substance. How bad was the press conference, after Wohl and Co. had braved the perils of snowy Minnesota? Writes Coaston:

But after facing down the many dangers of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Wohl’s CPAC press conference — which was meant to, according to the press release sent to reporters, provide “clear evidence” that Omar committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother and “should face felony charges” and be expelled from Congress — was a dud. 

Rather than focusing on Wohl’s purported findings, reporters spent more time asking Wohl about the collapse of Wohl and Burkman’s previous scheme to falsely accuse Robert Mueller of sexual assault, a plot that backfired so badly that the FBI got involved. And the “investigation” in which Wohl and Burkman had taken part in resulted in a “confidential” document that revealed absolutely nothing.

Jacob Wohl and his gang appear to be experts at hosting press conferences that prove to be duds.