Dry Alabama con man Matt Osborne resorts to insulting my wife, who allowed him and a female friend into our home after my "arrest for blogging"

Matt Osborne

We've shown that political activist Matt Osborne, the "brains" behind the Dry Alabama false-flag scam, often resorts to insults when he can't win an online argument on the merits. Osborne even hurled an insult at my wife, Carol, who allowed him and a female companion into our home just days after I was "arrested for blogging" in Shelby County, Alabama. Osborne seems to become particularly unglued when the subject of his female companion -- Carol has emails and photos to suggest it was D.C.-based social-media strategist Melissa Brewer -- comes up.

Jill Simpson, a veteran Alabama political insider, recently wrote on Facebook that Osborne has worked for years with Doug Jones, whom the Dry Alabama scam was designed to get elected. That enhances the likelihood that Osborne and his friend came to our home at Jones' direction, for reasons that had nothing to do with trying to help. Writes Simpson:

Matt Osborne I hear is spreading once again lies about me starting the Liberty Duke-Rob Riley love story and Luther Strange and Jessica Garrison love story that they have been attacking me over for several years now, which I was not involved in. . .

So you all know once and for all, Osborne and Doug have worked together for years. he is part of Doug's network of very ugly operatives running such things as Breitbart Unmasked for Doug. I might add he has screwed with me for years saying all kinds of crazy things about me for Doug and also screwed with Breitbarters claiming I did this and that when it was him and Doug Jones, his rotten Russian-bot buddy.

As for Melissa Brewer, how sensitive is that subject? Let's consider some of our interactions with Osborne on Twitter, which came after we had shown Osborne's claims that he acted within the law on Dry Alabama were false. In fact, Osborne's actions violated 18 U.S.C. 371, the same statute that Special Counsel Robert Mueller used to indict Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. From our back-and-forth with Osborne on Twitter, where he uses the handle "Stephen Miller's Fright Wig":

Matt Osborne sez:
The person who drove to Birmingham with me is my girlfriend. Her name is not Melissa and at no time did she say that was her name. Catol is simply misremembering her name. Melissa is the name of the person who started that fundraiser for you. I don't think it raised a lot but she was not involved in Dry Alabama. Neither was my girlfriend, who is apolitical. She told me after that you two struck her as looney tunes. I defended you at the time but now I can see that she was right.

(Note: I was in jail at the time, so not sure how Osborne's girlfriend could conclude I was "looney tunes." Carol, just a few days earlier, had come upon a scene in our basement that made her think I had been murdered, so a reasonable person might conclude she was a bit stressed. But Osborne's girlfriend concluded Carol was "looney tunes." Sounds like the GF is as caring and empathetic as Osborne himself.)

Legal Schnauzer sez:
We have photos of Melissa Brewer, and she's the same woman who came to our house. Carol isn't misremembering anything. Not sure why you persist in lying about this, but I guess that's become a way of life for you. Perhaps your careless actions have put Melissa in a pickle, and she's not going to be happy about it?

Matt Osborne sez:
LOL Melissa Brewer is not my girlfriend. She lives in Washington, DC, has married a completely different man and taken his surname. LOLOLOL. You are totally proving my point by insisting on this. They look absolutely nothing alike. For one thing, Melissa is about 100 lbs heavier! LOLOLOL

Legal Schnauzer sez:
I didn't say Melissa Brewer was your girlfriend. I'm saying Carol was there, we have photos of Melissa Brewer, and Carol says Melissa Brewer is the woman in our home. You aren't "proving" anything about me because I wasn't there; I was in jail, if you recall. You can take it up with Carol if you want, but she -- understandably -- thinks you are a creep. Carol has told me for several years -- long before Dry Alabama came about -- that the woman who came with you to our home said her name was Melissa Brewer, and she was the one in photos we've seen. Your insistence on lying about this makes me suspect the two of you came into our home under false pretenses, at a time of extraordinary stress, and attempted to pull a con job of some sort -- and we now know you have a taste for that kind of thing.

Melissa Brewer

This is where Osborne comes thoroughly unhinged and even insults Carol. It's classy stuff, especially for a fellow who poses online as a supporter of women's rights:

Matt Osborne sez:
Right, it's a huge CONSPIRACEE!!! against you, one in which we delivered groceries and spent an hour chatting and left, all to FOOL HER into... what, exactly? What was the objective of this nefarious scheme?

Carol is borderline personality. She's so borderline that she gets kicked out of borderline support groups, she's so borderline. She can't remember my girlfriend's name so she latched onto the name of the woman who generously started a fundraiser for you while you were in jail.

I sent Melissa an email this morning. She find this as hilarious and ridiculous as I do.

So go ahead, Roger. Make a police report about a visit you got under "false pretenses" six years ago. Go ahead, I freaking DARE YOU, you have no hair on your ass if you fail to do this. CALL THE FBI. I want you to! LOLBUCKETS

(Note: Osborne again shows his ignorance of the law. I'm not talking about a criminal complaint for trespassing; the statute of limitations on that long has run, and it's not a federal matter, so I wouldn't call the FBI. I could, however, file a civil complaint for trespassing, which has a six-year statute of limitations in Alabama, so there still is time for that.)

Matt Osborne further sez:
Melissa says her name was on the food basket she sent Carol, that's probably how she got Melissa's name. "No good deed goes unpunished" they say. 

(Note: Osborne, again, is clueless. Carol did not receive a food basket from anyone -- Melissa Brewer or otherwise. Osborne and his female companion handed Carol a bag of groceries, and that was it. Carol doesn't remember seeing a name on it.)

Matt Osborne further sez:
Feel free to call me at (931) 452-1571 if sanity overtakes you for a moment.

Why would I want to call an admitted con artist like Matt Osborne? I can't think of a reason.

Activist Matt Osborne throws an online tantrum upon learning that his deceitful actions to boost Doug Jones via the Dry Alabama scam likely violated federal law

Matt Osborne

If an individual admits to using deceptive social-media to affect a U.S. Senate election -- and then seemingly flips his wig upon learning that his actions likely violated federal law -- should the public know about his mindset, what makes him tick? Our answer is yes, and that is why we are reporting on our communications with Matt Osborne, the "brains" behind the Dry Alabama false-flag operation that was designed to help Democrat Doug Jones beat favored Republican Roy Moore in the state's 2017 special election for Jeff Sessions old Senate seat.

The New York Times, in early January, exposed Osborne's underhanded actions in boosting the Jones candidacy -- and Osborne has since claim he crossed no legal boundaries. When we recently pointed out that a law (18 U.S.C. 371, "Conspiracy to defraud the United States") prohibits interference in a federal election -- and Special Counsel Robert Mueller used it to indict 11 Russian nationals last July --   Osborne responded with a series of blog comments and Twitter messages that hinted he was about to become unglued.

Osborne's communications with us suggest he is frightfully ignorant of federal law and has the intellectual depth and emotional maturity of a churlish third grader throwing spitballs. If you live in Alabama and care about election integrity -- or if you live anywhere and care about who serves in Congress -- Matt Osborne inserted himself into your life, uninvited. So we would argue you have a right to know a little something about this guy's thought processes -- and they aren't pretty. With that, let's dive into our give-and-take with Osborne, who uses the handle "Stephen Miller's Fright Wig" at Twitter. Osborne first claims our post cited no specific law, when in fact, it did:

Matt Osborne sez:
Cite said law. Be specific. Don't just wave the name "Mueller" at me.

And remember, accusing someone of a crime that does not exist may be considered libel.


Legal Schnauzer sez:
I did cite the law. Try reading the post. A law does exist, and you've admitted you broke it. Truth is an absolute defense to libel. On the other hand, falsely calling someone "demented" and "insane," while falsely claiming a journalist reported "falsehoods" all could be libel.


Matt Osborne sez:
I did read the post. I did not "interfere" in an election, I *participated* with a Facebook page, because free speech works like that.

Good luck with your demented career regurgitating Dana Jill Simpson's libels.


Legal Schnauzer sez:
From your hometown newspaper (Florence, AL):

"Osborne said . . . ' You could trigger the viewer to reconsider voting for Roy Moore."

You admitted tampering with an election. Good luck with claiming ignorance of federal law.


Matt Osborne sez:
LOL that describes 100% of ALL elections communications

You are really bad at this whole "making me feel skeered" thing Roger


Legal Schnauzer sez:
From one of your local TV stations (Huntsville, AL):

"The New York Times tracked the page down to Osborn, who admits he created the page as an experiment on how big of an impact fake news sites can have on an election."

Again, you admit intentionally interfering with an election.


Matt Osborne sez:
Sigh. Not only did they get my name wrong, they got the "tracked down" part wrong. I approached Scott Shane myself. Fake news!

Also, I don't see any legal minds (other than yours) saying I did anything illegal.

Melissa Brewer

Since Osborne raised the issue of legal action, I made it clear that two can go down that path. Also, I tried to figure out why Osborne is so sensitive about any notion that a woman named Melissa Brewer accompanied him when they came to our home in Birmingham to visit by wife Carol shortly after my false arrest and imprisonment. Melissa Brewer, whose online profile indicates she is a "copywriter, content curator, and social media strategist" in Washington, D.C.,  wrote at least two emails after the visit to our home, and in neither did she say, "Carol, you have never met me, but I'm contacting you because . . ." or words to that effect. Also, the emails included a photo of Ms. Brewer, and Carol said, to her eyes, it was the same person who came to our home:

Legal Schnauzer sez:
BTW, we have "Melissa's" name in writing. If the two of you used a false name to enter our home -- and entered for ulterior purposes -- you both might have trespassing and invasion of privacy lawsuits on your doorstep, not to mention other possible counts.

Legal Schnauzer further sez:
I don't care whether you're "skeered" or not. You've stated that you did not cross any legal boundaries, and I'm informing the public that you did. Doesn't mean you will be prosecuted, but there are grounds for it -- probably along with your hero, Doug Jones. He surely knew.

Matt Osborne sez:
See, there you go making stuff up. There was zero involvement by the Jones campaign. Your entire oeuvre is an exercise in schizoid hyper-mentation. 

Legal Schnauzer sez:
You never have ID'd these journalists who disproved my reporting or provided links to their work on that subject. How has Jill Simpson libeled anyone? Do tell. Again, Rob Riley never denied an affair with LD (Liberty Duke), under oath, so that's a problem for your theory there.

Matt Osborne sez:
See, I don't *have* to disprove anything. Neither did (Rob) Riley.
YOU have to PROVE your assertions, and so far all you have are unsourced allegations (from Dana). That's not journalism.

Legal Schnauzer sez:
You said you knew journalists who could disprove my reporting, so I'm challenging you to do it. I will take your answer as an admission that you can't. As for Riley, he filed a lawsuit, giving him the burden of proof that my reporting was false, and he couldn't do it.

Somehow, we came back around to Melissa Brewer, still a sore subject for Osborne:

Matt Osborne sez:
HILARIOUS. The only Melissa I know about is the one who set up your fundraiser, I've never met her in person.

But please do keep making threats, they prove my point about you.

Legal Schnauzer sez:
She's the same person who came to our house, and we have (it) in writing. You are lying, which is no surprise for an admitted con artist. You don't have a point about me, other than throwing spit balls, like a 10-year old. Go back to playing with children like Jacob Wohl.

Legal Schnauzer further sez:
You traffic in deceit, you've admitted that. So anyone should believe your statement about Jones camp? Doug Jones might be a lot of things, but he isn't out to lunch, unaware of stuff in his own election effort. No use communicating with someone who is unacquainted with truth.

Matt Osborne sez:
It was not his election effort. It was my effort to elect him. Do you understand the difference, or has paranoia rotted your brain?

No use in talking to someone who sees only what they want to see.

Matt Osborne further sez (referring to the woman who came to our house with him): Nooe. That's someone else entirely. Getting facts wrong again!

Legal Schnauzer sez:
BTW, you know nothing about the sources on my work. "Dana" has not been a source on any of the reports in question. You are drinking from the Jones/Riley cup of corruption. Sad to see how far you have fallen.

Matt Osborne sez:
Well at least I am not melting down in full blown psychosis eh?

Notice that when Osborne has no substantive point to make, which is most of the time, he resorts to calling me "demented," "insane," or "schizoid" -- or he makes a reference to "full blown psychosis." He eventually throws similar attacks at my wife, Carol -- who welcomed him (and Melissa Brewer?) into our home at a time of crisis -- just days after wandering into our basement in the middle of the night, looking for me, only to come upon a messy scene that made her think I had been murdered.

All of this from Osborne, a so-called adult, who not only has no class -- but he's taken it upon himself to sully our federal elections.


(To be continued)

Activist Matt Osborne seems to flip his wig upon learning that the Dry Alabama false-flag scheme likely violated law that prohibits efforts to defraud the U.S.

Matt Osborne

The "brains" behind the Dry Alabama false-flag operation, which might have gift-wrapped a U.S. Senate seat for Doug Jones (D-AL), seemingly blew a gasket upon reading our recent report that showed his actions likely had violated federal law.

Matt Osborne, of Florence, Alabama, has claimed since The New York Times exposed his underhanded tactics in early January, that he and his associates were acting within the law. In fact, Osborne claimed no law governed the deceptive use of social media to interfere with a federal election -- such as a U.S. Senate race.

Our recent report showed that a specific law -- 18 U.S.C. 371 ("Conspiracy to Defraud the United States") -- governs such interference, and Osborne likely violated it. In fact, it's the same law Special Counsel Robert Mueller used last July to indict 11 Russian nationals in the Trump-Russia investigation.

Osborne responded to our report, via a series of blog comments and Twitter messages, with a combination of vitriol, ignorance, nonsense, insolence . . . and, well, you get the idea. Osborne, who uses the handle "Stephen Miller's Fright Wig" on Twitter, appeared unable to counter the actual law we had cited -- the law he apparently failed to uncover before diving into the Dry Alabama swamp.

Does that mean Osborne will be prosecuted? Of course not, as we noted in our recent post. Given the disheveled state of our justice system, I'm not sure the feds could stage a solid trespass case -- never mind a case of possible election fraud. But Osborne has admitted engaging in acts that appear to violate Sec. 371, and that seems to go to criminal intent, so mounting a defense if charges are filed could be a challenge.

Meanwhile Doug Jones claims ignorance of the Dry Alabama scheme and has called for a federal investigation. But it strains believability to think Jones was so out to lunch that he was unaware of a scheme designed to help him beat favored Republican Roy Moore for Jeff Sessions' old Senate seat. Could Jones wind up selling Osborne and Co. down the proverbial river in order to protect his own exalted political status? Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman can tell you about Jones' penchant for backstabbing, so Osborne might want to be getting his life raft ready.

Something certainly seems to have Osborne in a state of agitation. Consider this comment he left at our March 20 post about apparent violations of Sec. 371:

Matt Osborne said... 

Is there a law against Facebook pages? No. Is there a law against Facebook pages presenting a point of view that you don't really agree with? Again, no. The reason I am going to "escape" charges is that there are no laws against what we did. None. Zero. Zilch. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even a violation of Facebook policy.

And that was kinda the point of doing Dry Alabama. "Look, see what I can get away with? Does this bother you? Maybe enough to pass a law against it? Good, let's have that conversation."

Of course, it's unlikely that Dry Alabama put Doug Jones over the top. The fact that his signs were EVERYWHERE, the massive enthusiasm for his candidacy, is how he won. He and his team worked their butts off to win every last vote they could, and it worked. I live on a street where every yard had a Doug Jones sign in 2017 but then local Republican candidates' signs in 2018. Jones was the most popular Democrat I've seen since I was a kid watching George Wallace win his final term.

Of course, the irony here is that of the two of us, Roger, you are the one who has been to jail for publishing falsehoods. That's what you get for printing the ravings of Bob Riley's aggrieved ex-girlfriend as headlines, I suppose.

March 20, 2019 at 4:25 PM

Notice in the first paragraph that Osborne sets himself up as an expert on federal law; that quickly washes away. Notice in the final paragraph that he takes a dig at me -- and someone he claims to be the "aggrieved ex-girlfriend" of former governor Bob Riley. Here is my response:

legalschnauzer said...

Matt:

Good thing you didn't go into the law because meaningless mental exercises like the one on display here would not get you far. A few points:

(1) Who was your "legal counsel" on this matter? Whoever it was, I would urge you to fire him.

(2) There is a law, as cited in my post, and Robert Mueller has used it to indict multiple Russian nationals for "defrauding the United States" by tampering with a federal election. You violated that law by tampering with a federal election -- the U.S. Senate race in Alabama. Under federal law, statutes often are written broadly, and you must check the case law to know what you are dealing with and how the law has been applied. You should have done that before engaging in a con game like Dry Alabama and then admitting what you had done. Your ignorance of federal law could bite you on the ass, big time.

(3) You don't know whether Dry Alabama put Jones over the top, and it doesn't matter anyway. A law does exist -- even though you are trying to wish it away -- and you broke it. Does that mean you will be prosecuted? Nope. Our justice system might be too broken to do its job. And Doug Jones might successfully cover things up. But you violated the law.

(4) What "falsehoods" have I published? Can you explain how anything I've published has, as a matter of law, been found false? Or are you just taking Liberty Duke's word on that. (Rob Riley, BTW, never has claimed under oath that my reporting was false. His lack of a denial, under oath, suggests even he knows my reporting was accurate.)

(5) So you and your friend, Melissa [Brewer], came to our house because you believed I had published falsehoods? Was your presence there a con job, as I now have come to suspect? Taking advantage of a woman (my wife, Carol) whose husband has just been kidnapped inside their home? Real classy, Matt. Shows how you respect women -- not to mention your disdain for rule of law.

(6) Who is "Bob Riley's girlfriend," of whom you speak? She made me print falsehoods? How? (On the subject of girlfriends, does Doug Jones have one, not his wife? I'm hearing he does. I even have a name and address and workplace. Check it out.)

(7) Congrats on drinking the Doug Jones Kool-Aid to the max. He has a history as a backstabber (ask Don Siegelman), and he will sell you and your Netroots friends down the river at the first opportunity.

March 20, 2019 at 8:31 PM

I challenge Osborne to cite any "falsehoods" I have published, and not surprisingly, he comes up empty. I've reported several times that Osborne and a woman named Melissa Brewer came to our home to visit my wife, Carol, a few days after Shelby County deputies had kidnapped me from inside our house and taken me to jail for a five-month stay. Osborne never has indicated my reporting on that issue was off target, but now he claims the woman was someone other than Melissa Brewer -- whose online profile indicates she is a "copywriter, content curator, and social media strategist" in Washington, D.C.. In fact, the subject of Melissa Brewer seems to be quite sensitive for Osborne. Hmmm . . .

Doug Jones

To show that two can play the "dig" game, I ask Osborne to respond to tips I've been receiving that Doug Jones has a "zipper problem" that could become public in the near future. (In fact, I'm working on the story right now.) Osborne apparently did not want to go there, but he did return fire:

Matt Osborne said...

If Dry Alabama is "interference" in a federal election, then why isn't Brad Parscale [digital media director for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign] in prison right now? If It was "cheating," then lots of political operators belong in prison, too.

According to the USSC, I have a First Amendment RIGHT to lie, "cheat," and spend dark money on political campaigns.

Roger, her name wasn't Melissa. This is how good you are with facts. We came to visit Carol because we genuinely wanted to be sure she was okay and had some groceries. I wanted to bring attention to the unacceptable beating and arrest of an indie journalist, as I was one at the time. Since then, I have learned that other, better, less-insane journalists have disproven much of your reporting. It's also become clear to me that you are completely bonkers. I suspect that if I went through the IP addresses on these comments, I would find they are mostly coming from inside your house.

March 21, 2019 at 10:40 AM

Osborne has a "right" to cheat on federal elections? I suspect Robert Mueller would beg to differ. Other "less-insane journalists" have disproved much of my reporting? Surely Osborne wants to share their names and links to their work. Well . . . maybe not.

legalschnauzer said... 

Matt:

Your ignorance of federal law is blinding, and it could land you in deep doo-doo. A few thoughts:

(1) Whatever Brad Parscale may or may not have done has nothing to do with your situation. Sure, other political operators might belong in prison. But you interfered with a federal election and were stupid enough to admit it. Our system is flawed, and yes, some people get away with unlawful acts and some don't. You might get away with it, and you might not. But you clearly interfered with a federal election, "defrauding the United States," just as Mueller has alleged against Russian nationals. You can't refute that, so you try to change the subject. There is a law against what you did, and if Doug Jones put you up to it, he violated the law, too.

(2) Is the "USSC" the U.S. Supreme Court? What case are you referring to? Does it involve tampering with an election, because that's what you've admitted you did? Again, you are trying to change the subject, to dark money, First Amendment, etc. Your situation isn't about that. It's about tampering with a federal election, which you have admitted to doing. And you call ME insane? Now, that IS "hilarious."

(3) Carol told me she thought the woman's name was Melissa, and Carol usually has a pretty good memory on such things. If that's not correct, what is the woman's name? As you recall, I wasn't around for introductions.

(4) So, you thought my arrest and beating were unacceptable, but now you are OK with it? Is that the effect Doug Jones and Rob Riley have had on you? Or maybe you entered our home under false pretenses all along?

(5) Who are these journalists who have disproven my reporting? Can you provide their names and links to their articles that disprove my reporting? My reporting never has been disproven in court, as a matter of law, so how did these journalists manage to do it? I can't wait to find out your details on that. Also, can't wait for info on "Bob Riley's girlfriend." You mean he had a girlfriend, kind of like Rob's version of Liberty Duke?

March 21, 2019 at 11:28 AM

Osborne seems to engage in classic avoidance behavior. I ask him to cite these court cases that give him a "right" to cheat on a federal election; he has no answer. If Melissa Brewer did not come to our home, I ask him to state the name of the woman who did; again, no answer. I ask him to cite names of journalists who have disproven my reporting, with links to their articles; we get crickets from Matt O.

We will have more from our zany back-and-forth with Matt Osborne, who claims to be a political lefty. For now, I can only note how much he sounds like some of the right-wing loons we've encountered over the years -- especially the noxious Aaron Worthing (also known as Aaron Walker) and Robert Stacy McCain.


(To be continued)

Matt Osborne, the "brains" behind the Dry Alabama disinformation scam, continues to hurl insults with the intellectual capacity of a schoolyard spitball artist

Matt Osborne

Dry Alabama con man Matt Osborne, who dreamed up the misinformation scheme that helped give Democrat Doug Jones a U.S. Senate seat, apparently operates under the theory that if you find yourself in a hole, the best way out is to keep digging.

Since we showed Dry Alabama represented a violation of federal law that prohibits defrauding the United States via election interference -- blowing away Osborne's claim that he acted within the law -- the Florence, AL, resident has developed a major case of butt-hurtedness. In communicating with us via blog comments and Twitter feeds, Osborne has exhibited the intellectual heft of a third-grade spitball tosser. But no matter how bad he looks, Osborne keeps doubling down on his inane, insulting, and largely fact-free rants.

Here is Osborne's latest, proving that lack of class, taste, and intelligence is not limited to right-wing trolls. Self-professed liberals can go there, too. Osborne's latest round of invective appears on our April 17 post, where political insider Jill Simpson said Osborne and a female friend appeared at our home -- one week past my "arrest for blogging" in October 2013 -- after Osborne had asked around about gaining access to our computer.

My wife, Carol, invited them into our home, thinking they were friends and genuinely wanted to help at  a time of crisis -- and Osborne had arranged an interview for Carol with West Virginia-based Bob Kincaid and suggested she use Skype, which would have required access to our computer. That did not work out because our laptop at the time did not have a camera, which Skype would have required. Carol wound up doing the interview via phone, and to my knowledge, Osborne never even got a glimpse of our computer.

Carol and I both have doubts now that Osborne really was trying to help, particularly given his admitted ties to Doug Jones, whom we view as a "bastard-coated bastard with bastard filling" because of his apparent ties to theft of our jobs, our home, my freedom, and maybe even the loss of our apartment and breaking of Carol's arm in Missouri. Osborne left his first in a recent string of comments at 10:58 a.m. on April 17.

Matt Osborne said...
Deeper and deeper the crazy goes. Why yes, I did suggest Skype as one way to call into Bob's show -- because that was Bob's suggestion, made all the way from West Virginia. It's a suggestion he makes for ALL of his guests. Maybe go ask him?

(Or maybe he and Joe Manchin are part of this conspiracy, too? I'm sure Dana and Carol can think up some way to rope a whole 'nother state into their fabulous fantasy world of borderline psychosis.)

I never asked for a computer, never saw a computer, would not know how to hack a computer if my life depended on it. I don't work for Black Cube. I don't work for Doug Jones. You guys are just nuts, and it's plain to see for any fair-minded observer.

Roger, I now see why your brothers are desperately trying to help you. You do need help. You have got to get off this crazy train.

Well, what do you know, Osborne thinks my bothers -- David (the inept lawyer) and Paul (a radiology tech at Mercy Hospital), both of Springfield, MO -- have been trying to help Carol and me. How on earth did he come up with that idea?

legalschnauzer said...
Matt Osborne @10:58 --

Here is something that might come as a shock to you: When you have admitted to engaging in dishonest and deceptive behavior -- even violating federal law re: interference in a U.S. election -- people might tend to be skeptical about your word. When you've admitted to using people to get your political way, it's natural for me to wonder if you tried to use Carol. That you might have done it by entering my home, without my knowledge or approval, is alarming. Do I resent it? I sure as hell do. Will I consider all of my legal options in this matter? I sure as hell will. A few other points:

(1) No one said you tried to hack our computer. The suggestion was that you were interested in gaining access to it, and you don't deny having asked around about it. If the computer were on and right in front of you -- as if preparing it for use with Skype -- hacking would not be necessary.

(2) Who told you my brothers were trying to "help" me? You certainly didn't get that from me. Their ways of "helping" include: (a) Trying to have us declared wards of the state in a case so lacking in facts that even the State of Missouri dismissed it; (2) Lying about me making a threatening call to 911, which caused cops to storm our house with assault weapons and damn near got me shot in the head; (c) The same 911 lie did lead to cops breaking Carol's arm. That's just a sampler of how my brothers have lied about us and tried to cheat us. In fact, they are trying to cheat us at this very moment. Again, you dive into a subject where your knowledge is woefully lacking. I'd suggest you work on that because you do it over and over.

BTW, you never seem to respond to certain questions or requests, so let me repeat a few items from our previous communications:

(a) Where is the Melissa Brewer receipt that I asked you to send?

(b) Are you going to get me in touch with "RogerS"? I want to speak with him.

(c) What's your girlfriend's name, and what expertise does she have that allows her to make psychological assessments of people she never has met?

 (d) Have you asked Doug Jones about the woman (not his wife) with whom he has an unusually chummy relationship? Isn't that the public's business, given Doug's exalted role in Congress? Want to see if Doug will give you an honest answer?

(e) Can you ID journalists who have "disproven" my reporting and provide links to their work? This is the 3rd or 4th time I've asked about this, and you never seem to have a response.

A final point: It's ironic that you lob insults and taunts regarding mental health at others, bu you are the one who has admitted to trying to scam others, acting in an outrageously dishonest fashion. Perhaps you should examine your own psychological profile -- the "log in your own eye" -- before noticing the speck in someone else's eye.

I dropped a little Bible stuff on Osborne, a passage that encourages self-examination, and it seemed to fly right over his head. But Osborne, by golly, still had plenty of insults to hurl. And when asked to provide evidence that might provide illumination on some of these issues, he resorted to a cover-up worthy of William Barr --without the jowls:

Matt Osborne said...
Roger,

"Scam" has a specific meaning in law. It is synonymous with "fraud." IOW, to charge someone as a scammer requires that you can prove they got something of value by deceit. I got nothing of value by deceit in the Dry Alabama campaign as we never even solicited a donation. If I cared to make a court case out of this (which I do not), your use of this word would be a problem for you, not me.

I am not going to supply you with the names of third parties so that you can rope them into your crazyworld.

I am not supplying you with a receipt when I have no assurance that you will redact Melissa's address. She's had enough right wing lunatics coming after her for a lifetime, she doesn't need your crazy adding to her problems. And I will let her decide whether she wants to share anything with you.

I am not going to ask Doug Jones about his alleged girlfriend, and certainly not when that accusation comes from an unreliable source (you). I have no way of contacting him except maybe through his Senate office.

I am not in touch with RogerS and I have no idea how to contact that person, either. Can you contact some random commenter on this blog from five years ago? I don't think so. And I am no longer even at Breitbart Unmasked, so I have no way of even looking at the comment IP. That is not a rational request.

Finally, I mentioned Dana Jill Simpson exactly ONE TIME at BU, in passing, as it related to another story. The notion that Doug Jones was telling me to write hundreds of blog posts about her, on a site which focused on a completely different world from hers, is utterly insane and a perfect example of the real problem here: you people are nuts.

The word "scam" has a specific legal meaning, and Osborne suggested I was defaming him by describing him as a scammer -- even though he has admitted to multiple media outlets that he engaged in an electoral scam? This seemed like pretty weak broth:

legalschnauzer said...
Matt:

Webster describes scam thusly: "a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation."

You've admitted to engaging in a scam, so it is on target to describe you as a scammer. My use of the word is proper and accurate. So far, you've shown extremely limited knowledge of the law, but if you want to cite statutory or case law to support your claim about the legal meaning of the word "scam," have at it. It would be kind of a useless exercise because I'm using scam in its normal, everyday usage -- and in your own words -- it's accurate.

A few other thoughts:

(1) Your GF isn't a third party; she came to our home uninvited and could face legal consequences for that. She wants to remain out of this to keep from sinking deeper into the shit hole you've dug for her? Probably a wise move on her part.

(2) Melissa Brewer can redact her address herself. Problem solved.

(3) My understanding is that "RogerS" still comments occasionally at BU, so I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to ask him to contact me for a conversation. That of course might be a problem if "RogerS" doesn't exist.

(4) I don't expect to get an honest answer from you or Doug Jones about his girlfriend. But that story is in the works. BTW, you've yet to give an example of "unreliable" reporting on my part, and you never ID journalists who disprove my journalism or provide links to their work. Funny how that happens.

(5) You don't say who told you my brothers were trying to "help" Carol and me. Why don't you answer that question, and again, that person would not be a third party. Have at it.

Osborne next provided some information that did illumine things a bit. But unsurprisingly, he twisted it in what seems to be his standard disingenuous way.


(To be continued)

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.

Matt Osborne, a left-leaning activist from Florence, AL, tried to boost Doug Jones in Senate race by falsely suggesting Roy Moore wanted a statewide alcohol ban

Matt Osborne

A left-leaning political operative was part of a project to boost Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama's 2017 U.S. Senate election by concocting a social-media campaign that suggested Republican Roy Moore favored a statewide alcohol ban, according to a report yesterday at The New York Times.

The campaign, called "Dry Alabama," is the second Russia-style disinformation effort that might have helped Jones beat Moore in a tight race. It is the first such effort to be tied to an Alabama political operative, meaning the public might now be less inclined to believe Jones' claim that he was unaware of any digital skulduggery on his behalf.

The Dry Alabama story hits close to home because I've known one of its central figures, Florence-based writer and activist Matt Osborne, for close to 10 years. I've never met Osborne in person, but he has been in our home, under trying circumstances. About a week after my arrest in October 2013, Osborne contacted my wife, Carol, and came to our house (with a female companion named Melissa Brewer) and took photos and videos of the area in our basement where a Shelby County deputy named Chris Blevins beat me up and essentially kidnapped me by hauling me to jail for a five-month stay -- all with no mention of a warrant, any criminal charges, or his reason for being on our property, not to mention inside our home.

In October 2017, less than two months before the Jones-Moore election, Osborne contacted me via Facebook messenger and indicated he was connected to the Jones campaign -- and that I should retract a post I had written about the race. I did not retract the post, and it now appears Osborne was less-than-honest with me. Going back to read that communication today -- after reading The Times' report on Dry Alabama -- it's hard to believe Doug Jones did not know what Osborne and Co. were up to with their online schemes. (More about my communications with Matt Osborne, and his visit to our house, in upcoming posts.)

Osborne, who describes himself as a "writer, researcher, moving into the consultant space," acknowledged to The Times that he participated in Dry Alabama:

Matt Osborne, a veteran progressive activist who worked on the project, said he hoped that such deceptive tactics would someday be banned from American politics. But in the meantime, he said, he believes that Republicans are using such trickery and that Democrats cannot unilaterally give it up.

“If you don’t do it, you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back,” said Mr. Osborne, a writer and consultant who lives outside Florence, Ala. “You have a moral imperative to do this — to do whatever it takes.”

Osborne has written for a number of progressive Web sites -- Crooks and Liars, Breitbart Unmasked, Deep State Nation, and his own Osborne Ink, among others. In a dubious example of journalism, which some might label self-serving propaganda, Osborne wrote a piece at Crooks and Liars yesterday on the Dry Alabama effort, claiming his actions were not unlawful. From the article, titled "Swinging a US Senate Race in Alabama, Kremlin-Style Isn't Illegal, But It Should Be,"  which Osborne wrote himself:

. . . the 'Dry Alabama' campaign used real quotes from allies of Moore, who is an outspoken teetotaler supported by anti-alcohol campaigners, to build the impression that a vote for Moore was a vote against beer. We did not have to use any 'fake news' because there was so much real news to work with.

“I don’t think anything this group did crossed any lines,” says Beth Becker, one of the individuals who took part in the Dry Alabama campaign. In fact, we worked very hard to discern the legal lines and stay inside them. . . ."

Yet it is not obvious that any laws were actually broken. Neither Congress nor the Alabama legislature has shown much ability to write effective legislation in the social media era. From my perspective, the real 'crime' here is that political disinformation campaigns are not illegal.

Political disinformation campaigns are not illegal? There does not appear to be universal agreement on that.  Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate the matter and determine if any federal laws were broken. Doug Jones himself has called for an inquiry that goes beyond Congress, straight to the FEC and the U.S. Justice Department.

Where is this story headed? That's hard to say because it seems to be evolving by the day. From The New York Times report:

The discovery of Dry Alabama, the second so-called false flag operation by Democrats in the fiercely contested Alabama race, underscores how dirty tricks on social media are creeping into American politics. The New York Times reported last month on a separate project that used its own bogus conservative Facebook page and sent a horde of Russian-looking Twitter accounts to follow Mr. Moore’s to make it appear as if he enjoyed Russian support.

The revelations about the first project, run in part by a cyber-security company called New Knowledge, led Facebook to shut down five accounts that it said had violated its rules, and prompted Senator Jones to call for a federal investigation. There is no evidence that Mr. Jones encouraged or knew of either of the deceptive social media projects. His spokeswoman, Heather Fluit, said his legal advisers were preparing to file a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

Consider this section from The Times' report, which raises all kinds of questions:

The first of the Alabama efforts was funded by Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, who apologized and said he had been unaware of the project and did not approve of the underhanded methods. The second was funded by two Virginia donors who wanted to defeat Mr. Moore — a former judge accused of pursuing sexual relationships with underage girls — according to a participant who would speak about the secret project only on the condition of anonymity and who declined to name the funders.

Doug Jones

The two projects each received $100,000, funneled in both cases through the same organization: Investing in Us, which finances political operations in support of progressive causes. Dmitri Mehlhorn, the group’s managing partner, declined to comment on whether he approved of the tactics he had helped pay for. But after the Times report in December, he acknowledged, in a post on the online forum Medium, a “concern that our tactics might cause us to become like those we are fighting.” He declared that “some tactics are beyond the pale.”

Another organizer of the project, according to two participants, was Evan Coren, a progressive activist who works for the National Archives unit that handles classified documents. He did not respond to requests for comment. Beth Becker, a social media trainer and consultant in Washington who handled Facebook ad spending for the Dry Alabama page and the project’s other Facebook page, called Southern Caller, said in an interview that a nondisclosure agreement prohibited her from saying much about the project.

But, she added, “I don’t think anything this group did crossed any lines.”

Ms. Becker might be whistling past the graveyard with that last comment. In fact, our impression is that left-wing activists do not want to confront perhaps the most important questions hovering over the Alabama disinformation story:

(1) Were crimes committed?

(2) Did Doug Jones know about underhanded efforts to help him win?


I have information that might shine light on one, maybe both, of those questions.


(To be continued)