By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 24, 2024 Now that the presidential nominees for the Democratic and Republican Parties have been selected, it is time for me to announce the Rules of Engagement for all postings and comments supporting or opposing the nominees for all political parties on my social media platforms. So that you know, my Facebook page drives less than 10% of the Internet traffic that feeds my www.donaldwatkins.com website. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, Constitutionalist, Socialist, or Independent, you are welcome to present and discuss your political beliefs on my social media platforms! I strongly encourage civil debate regarding each Party’s nominee and political platform. We have a readership of about 260,000 per month across all of my social media platforms. My audience is racially, economically, geographically, and politically diverse.  It is also very sophisticated and engaging. Spirited debate about the nominees and political issues is encouraged.  This kind of debate is healthy for a democratic society. Here are the Rules of Engagement, effective from today through November 5, 2024: Do not post political ads on my social media platforms.  We are not beggars. We do not solicit or accept political ads or sponsored content from anybody, ever. If posted, this content will be deleted. Spam, derogatory/mean spirited memes, and/or misleading posts or comments will be deleted.  There are plenty of social media platforms that will accept misleading posts or comments, but we are NOT one of them. Harassment, personal attacks, vulgarity, and profanity will NOT be tolerated. Anyone violating the Rule for respectful, courteous, and honest debate will have his/her/its content removed or deleted.  The person submitting this prohibited content will also be permanently banned from my social media platforms. Political cartoons are acceptable, if they conform to these Rules. Guest editorials may be submitted for publication in their entirety, if they are submitted by the Party's nominee with the appropriate disclaimer. I do not want paid political hustlers or designated campaign surrogates submitting content for publication on my social media platforms. My reading audience is too sophisticated for the political hustlers and surrogates who routinely feast off presidential campaign money. My national circle of independent voter influencers read the content posted on my social media platforms on a regular basis to stay abreast on political developments that usually becomes publicly available weeks or months later.  They are all highly successful entrepreneurs. About 75 of these influencers are potential mega-donors.  Your comments will be taken into consideration by them when we caucus after Labor Day to determine which presidential nominee, if any, will earn our financial support. Please keep this point in mind when writing and posting your comments. We do not want or need government jobs and/or government contracts. We are NOT corporate welfare kings or queens. As self-sufficient political independents, we only want good, clean, transparent government. In fairness to all, polling information will primarily guide our final decision-making in the 2024 presidential race. A nominee's clear and convincing demonstration of electability is crucial for our financial support. My group is NOT in the business of funding political aspirations and/or professional campaign operatives. Our Rules of Engagement are simple and everyone is expected to comply with them, without exception. That said, let's have a good time discussing the nominees and debating the political issues between now and November 5th.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 28, 2024 An Editorial Opinion My group of independent voter influencers has begun the vetting process on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.  Our analysis of Trump began right after the Republican convention ended on July 18, 2024.  This article focuses on GOP nominee Donald Trump. For our group to support Donald Trump, we have to believe the following things: It is okay for rich and famous men to grab women “by the pussy.” It is okay for Donald Trump (or any other man) to refer to women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." It is okay to sexually abuse up to two dozen women, if you are a rich, privileged, and famous businessman in New York City. It was okay for Donald Trump to pal around with pedophile Jeffery Epstein while Epstein was partying with underage girls who served as teenage concubines on his private island in the Caribbean. (Bill Clinton was reportedly doing the same thing on the island as Trump.) E. Jean Carrol was lying about what Donald Trump did to her in the dressing room at in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City. Porn star Stormy Daniels lied when she said Donald Trump had sex with her while Melania was recovering from the birth of Trump's son Baron. She even described his penis in a way he never disputed. Trump did not pay stormy Daniels $130,000 in “hush money.” Playboy model Karen McDougal lied when she claimed Trump cheated on Melania with her. Trump okayed Howard Stern calling his daughter Ivanka a “piece of ass” during a live raido broadcast. Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s recently deceased sister and a former federal judge, lied when she said on an audiotape that “Donald’s out for Donald,” “Donald is cruel,” Donald Trump is always “lying,” and Trump cheated to get into the University of Pennsylvania by having Joe Shapiro take his entrance exam for him. Trump is a good Christian leader, who knows and practices the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Trump Bible is the word of God. Trump’s “Art of the Deal” book is second to the King James version of the Holy Bible in worldwide popularity. Trump is endorsed by Jesus Christ, as stated in a Roger Stone tweet. Trump did not commit tax and business fraud with his companies in New York City. Trump does not legitimately owe $400 million in court fines and penalties on his New York City businesses. Trump did not embezzle millions of dollars from his Donald J. Trump Foundation, which he was required by court order to pay back. Trump did not scam his defunct Trump University students out of millions of dollars by promising academic offerings that did not exist. Trump’s four business bankruptcies did not hurt scores of innocent vendors and service providers who worked diligently on Trump’s defunct Atlantic City Taj Mahal casino and three other real estate projects. The 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, but was not stolen from the thousands of other MAGA Republican candidates across America who ran for political office in 2020, including dozens of successful top-of-the-ticket Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Georgia who were far more right-wing than Trump. Trump was not complicit in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, including the attempt to hang former Vice President Mike Pence. (No wonder Republican officeholders are afraid of Trump.) Trump did not steal classified documents, which he refused to return to the federal government when he was requested to do so. Trump did not extort Ukraine in 2020 to help him win the 2020 election (which he lost). Trump did not collude with Russia during the 2020 campaign. Trump does not exude adulation for dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Trump did nothing to justify two Congressional impeachments while serving as president. Trump did not commit the 34 felonies in New York for which a state court jury convicted him. Trump could not have managed America’s response to COVID-19 any better than he did in 2020. Trump's packing of the U.S. Supreme Court with right-wing political zealots is a good thing. Trump’s separation of tens of thousands of young migrant children from their parents at the southern border was a good thing. Trump’s promise to deport 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants using the militaristic tactics first deployed in 1954 during “Operation Wetback” is a good thing. The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was a good thing. Dismantling affirmative action programs that are designed to include women and minorities in the socio-economic progress of America is a good thing, while encouraging and engaging in affirmative action that excludes them is acceptable. Wall Street will take care of Mainstreet. Trump knows nothing about the Project 2025 Manifesto. Trump is not a liar, grifter, bully, rapist, philanderer, thief, tax cheat, fraudster, racist, sexist, and insurrectionist. My legal training causes me to conduct a "preponderance of evidence" analysis on Donald Trump’s “character and fitness” to serve in public office.  This analytical approach is more useful to me than simply reviewing an endless parade of political soundbites, memes, tweets, social media posts, and polished campaign ads. Between today and Labor Day, we will conduct (and publish) the same kind of "preponderance of evidence" analysis on Kamala Harris after she accepts the Democratic nomination for president. Personally, I believe that “character and fitness” still matters for those who seek to serve our nation in public office. Republican and Democratic partisans do not seem to care about “character and fitness” attributes, but we do. My group of independent voter influencers will decide who to endorse and financially support (up to $75 million in donations to favorable Super-PACs) after Labor Day. We are not looking for an angel, but we are certainly not trying to elevate a devil to the presidency, either.  Our group’s endorsement and financial support will go to either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 9, 2023; Updated June 6, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Hunter Biden started his criminal trial on Monday in a Delaware federal courtroom. He is represented in this criminal case by Washington, D.C.-based attorney Abbe Lowell, a partner in Winston & Strawn, LLP. I personally worked with Abbe Lowell in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy, an 85-count healthcare fraud case brought by federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Alabama against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy from 2003 to 2005.  At the time, Lowell was a partner in the Washington/New York law firm of Chadbourne & Parke. Scrushy hired Abbe Lowell early in the case on the strength of his national reputation.  I was the lead attorney on Scrushy's criminal defense team -- a choice that did not sit well with Lowell. By 2003, I had won 152 straight courtroom victories in state and federal civil and criminal cases. I did not know of any criminal cases Abbe Lowell had tried that resulted in “Not Guilty” jury verdicts for his clients. In 2004, I allowed Abbe Lowell to take the lead in one of the many pretrial court hearings in Scrushy's case.   Lowell was arrogant and awful.  Lowell’s arrogance at the courthouse turned off courthouse security officers, courtroom personnel, the judge’s law clerk, and the U.S. Magistrate who was conducting the hearing. What is worse, Lowell wanted to pursue a guilty plea deal even though Scrushy was innocent of all of the charges against him. Scrushy always maintained his innocence, in private conversations and public news conferences. Furthermore, Scrushy never lied to his team of lawyers about any aspect of the case, which made defending him relatively easy. After the pretrial hearing, I consulted with Scrushy and we fired Abbe Lowell.  He was stunned by his firing, especially since the decision to terminate Abbe Lowell was made by a black attorney whom Lowell thought was inferior to him in every way. In my view, Abbe Lowell did not possess the knowledge, skills, and trial abilities necessary to win a high-profile, complex criminal case in a situation where losing was not an acceptable option.  I ran Scrushy's criminal defense team like a Navy Seals rescue mission.  I quickly discovered that Lowell was not capable of performing at the level expected of a Navy Seal.  The other defense team members I had assembled could, and they did. I later learned that Abbe Lowell’s national reputation and legal persona had been carefully crafted and widely promoted by Washington public relations firms. It was a mirage. On June 28, 2005, my defense team won Richard Scrushy‘s criminal case by defeating prosecutors on all 85 felony counts, via extensive pretrial motions and our full-court press on government witnesses during a trial that lasted six months. No white-collar criminal defendant before or since Richard Scrushy's case has defeated federal prosecutors on 85 felony charges in a single-defendant case. The Washington Post called the "Not Guilty" verdicts in Scrushy's case a "miracle," while the New York Times referred to them as a "stunner." Fortune Magazine called me,"The Man Who Saved Richard Scrushy." My record-setting victory in Richard Scrushy's case is featured in a May 2020 Netflix documentary titled, “Trial by Media,” Episode 4, “King Richard.”  Abbe Lowell's hiring and firing is discussed in the documentary. As expected, Abbe Lowell never congratulated my defense team or me on our landmark courtroom victory in Richard Scrushy's case. Lowell is a little man with a big ego. U.S. v. Hunter Biden Abby Lowell must win Hunter Biden's Delaware case. If he loses, Hunter Biden will face a mandatory minmum 5-year prison sentence for the gun possession charge, alone. Hunter Biden is paying Winston & Strawn a fortune in legal fees for Abbe Lowell’s legal services. Lowell is actually gifted at milking his high-profile clients for legal fees. I believe Hunter Biden will lose this criminal case. Absent a presidential pardon from Joe Biden, Hunter Biden will go to prison because the criminal defense skills needed to win this case are not present. Today, Joe Biden said he would not pardon Hunter Biden, if he is convicted. Finally, President Joe Biden should pardon Hunter Biden while he still has the mental capacity to do so. Hunter Biden, who is a recovering crackhead and powder cocaine addict, will not survive as an inmate in the federal prison system. Illegal and illicit drugs of all kind are plentiful inside the federal prison system. An emotionally fragile and struggling drug addict like Hunter Biden will likely gain access to these drugs again and overdose on them in a prison environment.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 13, 2024 An Editorial Opinion My criminal defense teams of past years could have won Hunter Biden’s 3-count federal criminal cases 10 times out of 10, with our eyes closed.  It was a simple case.  It was the kind of lightweight case that we would use for scrimmaging before the big games. I personally worked with Abbe Lowell in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy, an 85-count healthcare fraud case brought by federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Alabama against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy from 2003 to 2005. Scrushy hired Abbe Lowell early in the case on the strength of his national reputation, even though Lowell had been recycled among a number of big Washington law firms.  I was the lead attorney on Scrushy's criminal defense team -- a choice that did not sit well with Lowell. By 2003, I had won 152 straight courtroom victories in state and federal civil and criminal cases. I did not know of any criminal cases Abbe Lowell had tried that resulted in “Not Guilty” jury verdicts for his clients. Lowell had represented plenty of big-name clients, but I was not aware of anyone he had freed from the grips of federal prosecutors. In 2004, I allowed Abbe Lowell to handle one of the many routine pretrial court hearings in Scrushy's case.   Lowell was arrogant and awful.  His arrogance at the courthouse turned off courthouse security officers, courtroom personnel, the judge’s law clerk, and the U.S. Magistrate who was conducting the hearing. What is worse, Lowell wanted to pursue a guilty plea deal even though Scrushy was innocent of all of the charges against him.  Scrushy always maintained his innocence, in private conversations and public news conferences. Furthermore, Scrushy never lied to his team of defense attorneys about any aspect of the case, which made defending him relatively easy. After the pretrial hearing fiasco, I consulted with Scrushy and we fired Abbe Lowell.  He was stunned by his firing, especially since the decision to terminate Lowell was made by a local black attorney whom Lowell saw as inferior to him in every way. In my view, Abbe Lowell did not possess the knowledge, skills, and trial abilities necessary to win a high-profile, complex criminal case in a situation where losing was not an acceptable option. I ran Scrushy's criminal defense team like a Navy Seals rescue mission.  I quickly discovered that Lowell was not capable of performing at the level expected of a Navy Seal.  The other defense team members I had assembled could perform at that level and did so consistently. I later learned that Abbe Lowell’s national reputation had been carefully crafted and widely promoted by Washington public relations firms. It was a mirage. Lowell could not litigate his way out of a torn paper bag on a sunny day. On June 28, 2005, my defense team won Richard Scrushy‘s criminal case by defeating prosecutors on all 85 felony counts, via extensive pretrial motions and our full-court press on government witnesses during a trial that lasted six months. No white-collar criminal defendant before or since Richard Scrushy's case has defeated federal prosecutors on 85 felony charges in a single-defendant case. Tuesday’s guilty verdicts in Hunter Biden’s case confirmed that I made the right decision by firing Abbe Lowell in Richard Scrushy’s case.  This guy is an expert at getting paid, but a "loser" at winning cases. Once Hunter Biden put his life in Abbe Lowell's hands, I knew he was destined to lose his criminal case. Hunter Biden's Pardon Joe Biden should pardon his son Hunter in this case, but only if he also pardons the thousands of first-time, non-violent offenders who were convicted of violating the same federal statutes.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 23, 2024 An Editorial Opinion It’s time to take the private conversations about the Barack and Michelle Obama into the public forum. In the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, it was an open secret that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries, Michael Bloomberg, James Carville, David Axelrod, and a host of other top Democrats wanted Biden out of the race.  He was not physically or mentally fit to compete with Donald Trump. Their plan was to force Biden out of the race and handpick his replacement using the guise of an “open” convention in August.  They did not want Kamala Harris as the nominee because they did not think she could win against Donald Trump.  The internal polling available to them showed that only Michelle Obama could win against Trump. These big-time politicos pressured Biden with phone calls and the veil threat of removal from office.  They also asked mega-donors to cut off Biden’s funding, which the donors did. With Barack Obama leading the effort behind the scenes to oust Biden, these Democratic leaders were sure that they had the collective juice within the ranks of the Party’s convention delegates to handpick Biden’s replacement.  Their goal was to engineer a scenario in which the delegates would draft Michelle Obama to run against Trump. An Embarrassing Miscalculation Barack Obama and other Democratic Party leaders miscalculated two things -- (a) the perceived popularity of the Obamas within the Party, and (b) the speed at which Kamala Harris could corral the delegate votes needed to become the presumptive nominee. With the endorsement of an angry, disappointed, and hurt Joe Biden, Harris was able to garner her delegate votes in record time. The handpicking game was over before it started, and Kamala Harris won. While Democrats, and Blacks in particular, admire Barack Obama for winning the presidency in 2008 and 2012, they privately vent about the fact that Obama did nothing to include Blacks in the economic progress that other groups in the Party enjoyed on his watch.  Yes, a couple of dozen Black business owners in Chicago, New York, and California fared well from their connections to the Obama administration.  However, Blacks, in general, suffered a double whammy from Obama's presidency. First, Blacks endured the brunt of White America’s backlash from Barack Obama’s successive election victories.  This backlash has been sustained and brutal. For example, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for corporations to flow the political scene with corporate money in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, thereby diluting the value of campaign donations from ordinary citizens. In 2013, the Court gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder,  thereby rendering the Act virtually meaningless in southern states. Furthermore, affirmative action programs nationwide have been dismantled by federal courts, from top to bottom.  Additionally, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become a target on the backs of every Black and woman contractor and employee in the workforce, regardless of his/her/its superior qualifications. Second, Barack Obama subjected Black Americans to the most severe form of benign neglect of any modern-day president.  He did absolutely nothing special for Black America, even though he received over 90% of their votes. Since leaving the presidency, the Obamas have enriched themselves with lucrative book deals and speaker fees, as other former presidents have done. Meanwhile, financial security for Black families remains elusive. Publicly, Blacks hold the Obamas in high esteem.  Privately, however, they bemoan the fact that Barack Obama did absolutely nothing to improve the plight of Black America. When he was campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama wrote Black voters an attractive political check.  When they tried to cash it, the check bounced. After Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, White Democratic leaders and mega-donors believed Barack Obama could force Biden from the race and handpick his successor-nominee.  They did not realize that Obama’s bank account of political goodwill with Black voters was overdrawn.  Barack Obama may not have known this fact, either. Kamala Harris Now Owns the Democratic Party Today, Kamala Harris owns the Democratic Party. If she is successful, Kamala Harris’ election will stop four awful things from happening.  First, her election, per se, will kill the implementation of Project 2025. Second, Harris will surely kill any MAGA-sponsored legislation aimed at nationalizing a ban on abortions.  Third, a Harris presidency halts MAGA-backed efforts to pack the federal judiciary with out-of-touch, right-wing, political hacks who masquerade as judges.  Fourth, Harris will likely: (a) stop further tax cuts for super-wealthy Americans, (b) preserve Social Security and Medicare, as we know it, and (c) stop Big Pharma from gouging patients who desperately need costly prescription medicines. At a minimum, this is what Americans can expect from Kamala Harris, should she win the election.  Her minimums, alone, will stop the bleeding among working class Americans. She may not be able to pass any significant legislation, but she can stop bad conditions from getting worse. As for Barack Obama and his cohorts, their days of handpicking candidates in the Democratic Party are over.  Kamala Harris engineered a big win over the Obamas, of which she can be proud. No matter what they now say in public, none of the Party’s top leaders wanted Kamala Harris as the Party’s nominee.  She beat them all. At this moment, Kamala Harris has the political juice in the Democratic Party, not the Obamas or Clintons.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 21, 2024 An Editorial Opinion The Donald J. Trump-led MAGA political movement in America does not want to experience “wokeness.”  In fact, MAGA rails against all forms of "wokeness." Based upon American history, very bad things happened to women and minorities whenever angry white Americans railed against “wokeness.” Here are ten examples of such bad things: Between 1942 and 1946, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and place in concentration camps for no cause and without legal recourse.  Korematsu v. United States (1944). For over two hundred years in America, women had no rights over their bodies. They were the "property" of men.  Married men could rape their wives and beat them with impunity.  Doctors could impose forced sterilization upon poor women in mental institutions and prisons.  A woman's right to an abortion did not exist. Blacks had no rights that white men were bound to respect. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). Native Americans were described as “merciless Indian savages” in the Declaration of Independence and millions of them were slaughtered by colonial militias and armies of white men and vigilantes over a 300-year period from 1612 to 1912. In 1970, the U.S. military prepared a plan for the national internment of Black Americans who were deemed to be militant and a threat to white supremacy. Asian immigrants (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, and any other oriental country) were banned outright or restricted from entering America by the Page Act of 1875, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Geary Act of 1892, and Immigration Act of 1917. Up to 1.5 million non-white Mexican Americans and other non-white Hispanic migrants living in the U.S. legally and illegally were rounded up and deported in 1954 during “Operation Wetback.” In 1964, the FBI tried to force Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., into committing suicide during the Bureau's infamous COINTELPRO program (1956 to 1971). Today, Dr. King is a national hero. The Montgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative documented 4,084 "racial terror lynchings" in twelve Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and 1950.  Another 300 "racial terror lynching" occurred in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia during this period. In California and the Old West, the lynching victims were usually Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. On May 31, 1921, an angry lynch mob of 1,500 white men invaded “Black Wall Street” in Greenwood, Oklahoma, shooting and killing hundreds of black residents on the spot.  Later estimates put the death toll as high as 3,000. The mob destroyed 1,500 homes and burned down the Greenwood business district, thereby wiping out over 600 successful black-owned businesses.  After two days of mob violence, “Black Wall Street" was gone. What part of this American experience was "great," and for whom? It certainly was not "great" for me while I was experiencing the America depicted in the photo below as a young child and teenager growing up in Montgomery, Alabama. Thankfully, God populated my life with: (a) loving parents who were able to explain this open racial hatred to me while I was a young child, (b) a childhood pastor (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) who taught me how to shower my haters with "agape love," and (c) a multiracial constellation of true friends who lifted me up as I traveled life's journey. Of course, it is illegal today to teach these ten historical facts in public schools located in MAGA-controlled, Deep South, "Red States." We all know why.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on September 17, 2018; Updated on July 20, 2024 The little girl in the beach resort picture is Claudia Rose Watkins. She is my daughter. This photograph was taken on a vacation trip we took to Amelia Island Plantation resort on Amelia Island, Florida. Claudia was nearly six-years-old when this picture was snapped and I thought it was time for her introduction to an important part of African-American history. While touring Amelia Island, I showed Claudia an area called American Beach. I explained American Beach’s remarkable history in American society. American Beach is a pristine 33-acre beach front area located between the Summer Beach resort, a 450-acre complex that includes homes, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and seven condominium buildings to the north and Amelia Island Plantation, a 1,330-acre resort and residential community that includes a hotel and two condominium buildings to the south. Abraham Lincoln Lewis, a black entrepreneur and insurance company owner, developed American Beach for African-Americans during the era of Jim Crow racial segregation. At the time, beaches across the South were designated “For Whites Only” because white men did not want black men and boys to see white women and girls clad in swimsuits. Any black man or boy who looked at a white woman or girl clad in a swimsuit was at risk of being lynched. This history of American Beach is chronicled below: “American Beach, the only beach in Florida that welcomed black Americans and offered safe, secure overnight accommodations during Jim Crow segregation, was founded in 1935 by the Afro-American Life Insurance Company (AALIC), which was established in 1901 to provide the Jacksonville, Florida black community with life insurance.  The firm’s Afro-American Pension Bureau purchased a 33-acre piece of property at the beach on nearby Amelia Island, partly as an investment but also to provide it as a resort area for black Floridians who had been excluded from other beaches.  Abraham Lincoln Lewis, the President of Afro-American Life, ironically named the area American Beach because he and others felt that in the United States beach access should be open to everyone. Lewis and his partners envisioned a resort that would signify success, self-sufficiency, and respectability for middle-class African American families from Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia.  In addition to having beach access, the planned community also allowed for the building of resort and retirement homes.  Surveyed and platted on March 12, 1936, the original section of the beach property was added to the US National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2002 as being worthy of historic preservation and marker designation. Florida’s first black millionaires and largest landowners established homes there and encouraged other blacks to build homes and create the small businesses that they often dreamed of owning.  Between the late 1930s and the 1950s, tourists traveled for miles to frequent this black-owned oasis, passing dozens of resorts that were off limits to them, as made evident by the “For Whites Only” signs. Eventually, prominent entertainers made their way to the famous seaside pavilion that, over the years, hosted musicians like Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, and Duke Ellington.  For nearly three decades, American Beach thrived as an all-black recreational beach resort whose population swelled greatly in the summer months. With the advent of integration, the beach lost customers to other resorts that were now open to African Americans.  Nature, however, played a role in American Beach’s decline as well. In 1964 Hurricane Dora destroyed many homes and businesses and owners either would not or could not afford to rebuild.  Consequently, like similar resorts across the nation, American Beach residents often abandoned or sold their properties—or, if they were not property owners, simply stopped visiting. Nonetheless a small loyal group of multigenerational American Beach families kept their properties and, by the 1980s, attracted a new wave of prominent owners including tennis star Leslie Allen, TV actress Barbara Montgomery, and Emory University professor Eugene Emory.  Prominent educator Johnnetta Cole also encouraged the revival of the resort.  She and her sister, MaVynee Betsch, known locally as the Beach Lady because of her long residence in American Beach, have established the A.L. Lewis Historical Society (as a tribute to their great-grandfather who is the founder of the community) and have developed the American Beach Museum to preserve the beach community’s unusual history.” Today, Claudia is a grown woman who is living and working in London with an international circle of friends and a bright future in global business. Remarkably, American Beach still exists, but it is experiencing a transition. The modest vacation homes from the 1930s share space with vacant lots, abandoned buildings, and newer, more elegant structures. Though small in area, American Beach continues to play a large and important role in African-American history.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 26, 2024 A SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT --- Donna Michelle Wallace died on November 26, 2017.  Her death brought an end to this 36-year-old Alabama woman’s traumatic journey in life. Was Donna’s death a suicide or murder?  Was there a police department coverup in Donna's homicide case? Donna was Repeatedly Raped as a Child Donna Michelle Wallace was repeatedly raped beginning when she was seven years old.  Donna’s rapist was her stepfather. He also allowed other men who paid him money to rape Donna -- for years. Donna’s stepfather went to prison, where he died.  Her mother was arrested but never charged as an accomplice to her rape. Donna, who suffered psychological and emotional trauma as a child rape victim, began drinking alcohol to escape the pain from her childhood sexual abuse.  She was in and out of foster homes because of her rambunctious behavior. The state of Alabama eventually sent Donna to a girl's home in Huntsville, Alabama.  Once there, Donna rekindled her relationship with Wanda Pacino, her mother’s half-sister, and Rachel Bolton, Wanda's daughter.  Donna considered these two relatives to be her closest blood-related family members – the ones who truly loved her. Donna married several times in her 20s, but none of these marriages worked out. Her first marriage was to Trace Cooper.  Then, she married Bryan Wheelock. Donna’s third marriage was to Mario Vizcaino.  Then, she married Mike Stevens.  Donna’s fifth marriage was to Shawn Sellers. It is unclear whether Donna ever legally divorced Shawn Sellers -- a question that becomes critically important on November 26, 2017. This is the date on which Timothy Keith Wallace, Donna’s sixth husband, approved a recommendation by doctors to take Donna off life support following a gunshot wound to her head in their home four days earlier. Donna’s Eight-Month Marriage to Timothy Keith Wallace By the time Donna reached her early 30s, she met and fell in love with Timothy Wallace, 51, a veteran police investigator with the Huntsville, Alabama Police Department (HPD).  Wallace holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Pyschology. Unbeknownst to Donna, Wallace had already been entangled in a domestic violence situation that warranted his arrest three years earlier. On June 9, 2014, Timothy Wallace was arrested at his home on a domestic violence charge.  It is believed that the “victim" in that case was one of Wallace's sons.  Wallace was released from jail on the same day. Wallace’s arrest record for domestic violence and the disposition of his case have since been expunged from the state of Alabama’s criminal court case records. On April 15, 2016, Timothy Wallace’s then-wife, Angela Kaye Wallace, filed for a divorce from him.  She was represented by Huntsville divorce attorney Amy Ann Slayden. Timothy Wallace was initially represented in his divorce proceedings by Huntsville attorney Page Ann Banks.  Wallace replaced Banks with Robin Leann White, a former Madison County assistant district attorney who has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama since September 2018.  For reasons that are not explained in the case, court records in this 2016 divorce case list Ms. White’s Department of Justice email address for contact purposes. The couple was divorced on December 15, 2016. On March 24, 2017, Donna married Timothy Wallace at the “Marry Me of Tennessee.”  At the time, there appeared to be no record of Donna's divorce from Shawn Sellers, who refused to sign her divorce papers. Was Donna Physically Abused by Timothy Keith Wallace? On November 17, 2017, Donna Wallace suffered a severe injury to the back of her head while she was with Wallace in the dining room of the apartment where the couple lived.  Timothy Wallace took Donna to the Emergency Room. On November 19, Donna sent a photograph of her head injury to Wanda Pacino. Donna told Pacino she blacked out, but she did not know what caused her to blackout.  Likewise, Donna did not know what object caused the blunt force trauma to the back of her head. When Donna was alone at the hospital, a staff member asked her whether she thought her husband caused this injury.  Donna said she did not think so. Dr. Mathias Allen, an Emergency Room doctor at Huntsville Hospital, diagnosed the injury as “Hemorrhage subdural traumatic w/o LOC Fx skull, unspecified, closed.”  In other words, Donna had a skull fracture with bleeding on and around her brain.  After Donna was discharged, Timothy Wallace took her home. At the urging of Wanda Pacino, who is a registered LPN, Donna returned to the hospital on November 19th. Donna was experiencing excruciating pain and the concussion had her vomiting alot. Based upon a text Donna sent Pacino that day, she still had blood on her brain. However, she was now resting at home. In an April 2023 meeting between Wanda Pacino, Rachel Bolton, their private investigator (David Hill), and HPD investigator Jay Johnson (who was assigned to Donna's homicide case), Johnson admitted that he was unaware of the incident involving Donna's traumatic head injury. This admission was strange given the fact that the blunt force trauma to Donna's head occurred only five days prior to the shooting. Furthermore, Donna's "head injury" is specifically mentioned in the first line of the "Narrative" section of the HPD Incident Report. Johnson's shocking admission occurred after he claimed HPD looked into all of the pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding Donna’s death and noted that he had 25 years of experience as a homicide investigator. Was Donna Wallace Murdered? On the morning of November 22, 2017, Timothy Wallace reported that he found Donna in their bedroom with a gunshot on the right side of her head.  The bullet came from Wallace’s registered service gun -- an “Automatic Handgun.” Timothy Wallace claimed he slept in another bedroom with his children on the night of November 21, 2017, because the couple had been arguing over Donna's drinking that night.  Wallace told Wanda Pacino he did not hear a gunshot after he left Donna to go to bed for the night. Wallace told Pacino he was awaken by a call from his boss at 9 a.m. After the call, he went into the bedroom and found Donna with a gunshot wound to her head. There is no reference in the Incident Report to Timothy Wallace making a 911 call. Such a call would have recorded Wallace's voice, shed light on his demeanor, and captured any emotional distress in his voice at the time.  It appears that Wallace may have called his sergeant back to report the shooting.  After this call, HPD officers came to the scene to investigate the shooting. It appears that no outside agency joined HPD at the scene to conduct an independent investigation into this officer-related shooting. At the time of the shooting, Timothy Wallace was well-connected in the HPD, from top to bottom. There is no indication in the Incident Report as to who called an ambulance to the scene and when this call was made. Likewise, there is no indication as to how long a critically wounded Donna remained at the scene before she was taken to the hospital. HPD Officer Christopher L. Wellman prepared the Incident Report on this shooting incident.  Wellman noted the presence of nine additional HPD officers at the scene. The HPD investigators and other officers at the scene were friends or colleagues of Timothy Wallace. They retrieved four guns, several notes, a cell phone, and one fired bullet from the scene, which they logged-in as evidence. During the investigation, HPD officers treated Timothy Wallace more like a friend and fellow co-worker than a possible suspect in the shooting of Donna Wallace.  Wallace told Wanda Pacino that investigators only asked him the most basic questions about what had happened. Nothing in the Incident Report indicates that the HPD investigators tested Timothy Wallace’s hands and clothes to determine if he fired the shot that gravely wounded Donna and eventually caused her death.  The Report is also silent on whether investigators tested Donna’s hands and clothes for gunpowder residue.  Furthermore, there is no reference to any kind of blood spatter analysis at the scene. In one of his conversations with Wanda Pacino, Timothy Wallace admitted that he picked up the gun used in this homicide case after he found Donna in the bedroom.  Wallace claims he placed the gun back where he found it. This unusual action by a trained law enforcement crime scene investigator assured that Wallace’s finger prints were most likely the last ones on the gun that was used to shoot Donna. The Couple Had Been Arguing Before the Shooting “Tim states that he and [his] wife were in disagreement about her drinking while she was recovering from a head injury,” said the Incident Report.  The use of Wallace’s first name only in the narrative portion of an official police report is indicative of how close Timothy Wallace was to Officer Wellman. No name is used for the "wife" in that sentence. The couple had been arguing on the night of November 21st, and Donna left her house to get away from Wallace.  She threatened to go to Birmingham but went to a local bar instead. The couple continued to argue over the phone after Donna left their apartment. According to Wanda Pacino, Timothy Wallace and his son Austin went out and found Donna.  Timothy and Donna rode home together, while Austin drove Donna’s car home.  Upon arrival at their apartment, the couple continued to argue. Wallace told Pacino he eventually went into another bedroom where most or all of Wallace's nine children were located and fell asleep. Donna tried to call Wanda Pacino at 3:34 a.m. on November 22nd, but Pacino was asleep and missed the call.  This indicates that the shooting occurred that morning between 3:34 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., when Timothy Wallace said he woke up and found a gravely wounded Donna in her bedroom. There is conflicting evidence as to whether Timothy Wallace heard the gunshot.  In the 2023 meeting between Investigator Jay Johnson and Donna's family members, Johnson said Wallace heard the gunshot. Wallace, however, told Wanda Pacino he did not hear it.  When apprised of this contradictory fact, Investigator Johnson then said one of the children at the apartment must have heard the gunshot.  In any event, no one at the crowded apartment called 911 immediately after hearing the gunshot. The HPD classified the shooting as an “Attempted Suicide." The investigation was closed on December 1, 2017, after Jay Johnson and his team of investigators determined that Donna's death was a "Suicide." On November 26, 2017, Timothy Wallace, acting in his capacity as Donna’s lawful husband (a material fact that is in dispute), approved the medical team's recommendation to take Donna Wallace off life support.  With this action, Donna died from the injuries she sustained as a result of the gunshot wound to her head. No autopsy was performed on Donna’s body.  Her remains were promptly shipped to Birmingham for organ donation purposes and then returned to Huntsville for cremation. The So-Called "Suicide Notes" In the 2023 meeting between Investigator Jay Johnson and Donna’s family members, Johnson said HPD arrived at the “Suicide” classification based upon what he characterized as “suicide notes” that were found at the scene. After repeated requests for them, the "suicide notes" were eventually provided to Rachel Bolton in April 2024 in response to her attorney's request to the local district attorney and city officials for these records under the Alabama Open Records Act. The so-called “suicide notes” were addressed to Timothy Wallace and three of his children.  They were also written in two different inks.  Based upon the Incident Report, investigators at the scene did not seize the blue and black ink pens used to write the notes so they could be subjected to fingerprint and DNA testing. The “suicide note” to Timothy Wallace, which referenced Donna’s “brain injury” and “eternal pain,” said, “At this point honey, I just want to die.”  The entire note appears below. Nowhere in this note, or in the three notes to Wallace's children, does Donna threaten to take her own life or express a desire to kill herself.  Likewise, Donna did not express a desire for Wallace to execute a "mercy killing" of her. In fact, immediately after the separate notes to Wallace's children, Donna made an extensive listing of food items for a hearty family Thanksgiving dinner and desserts on November 23rd.  This food listing appears below. After this notation, Donna prepared a forward-looking, work-related note regarding “The Sale of Devonshire,” the company where she worked. This note contained a breakdown of the bonuses and other tangible benefits flowing to Donna and her team from the expected sale of Devonshire. Again, there is no indication in the Incident Report as to whether HPD tested these notes for the presence of Timothy Wallace's DNA on them. This testing would have been highly relevant to the investigation, especially with respect to the note about Donna's bonus money from the expected sale of Devonshire. Has HPD Stonewalled the Family’s Search for the Truth Regarding Donna’s Homicide? Wanda Pacino and Rachel Bolton have not been able to gain access to the full HPD investigative file in Donna's homicide case, despite their repeated requests for access to the file. Donna's homicide case has been closed since December 1, 2017.  Since her death, HPD and city's Legal Department have only made the first two pages of its Incident Report and the so-called "suicide notes" available to Donna's family. As late as the April 2023 meeting, Investigator Jay Johnson was still referring Donna's family to the city's Legal Department for access to the investigative file even though (a) the statute of limitations for any possible civil wrongful death lawsuit against the city expired four years earlier and (b) Johnson had previously asked the Legal Department to NOT provide any case-related information to Donna's family. During the 2023 meeting, Investigator Johnson inadvertently referred to Donna’s death as a “murder” before quickly correcting himself after he realized the implications of using the word "murder" in front of family members of the deceased in a homicide case involving a fellow police officer. There is no public record that Donna Michelle Wallace's homicide case was ever presented to a Madison County grand jury for an independent review of the pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding her death.  Furthermore, Wanda Pacino and Rachel Bolton obviously possess highly pertinent information and documents about Donna's homicide case. Yet, they were never interviewed by Jay Johnson or any other homicide investigator. Likewise, they were never called as witnesses before a Madison County grand jury that was investigating Donna's homicide. Regardless, Donna's family never stopped fighting for justice in her case. They continue to believe in Alabama's criminal justice system and want a fair, impartial, and independent investigation into Donna's death. There is no statute of limitations for murder in Alabama.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 6, 2024; Updated on July 7, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Thanks to actress Taraji P. Henson and MSNBC talk show host Joy Reid, everybody is talking about Project 2025.  This document is MAGA's World's political Bible for Donald Trump, should he win the presidency in November. The first Advisory Board member listed in the Project 2025 document (at page xi) is the Alabama Policy Institute (API), a right-wing, ultra-conservative, non-profit think-tank closely aligned with Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. Trump's status as a convicted felon means absolutely nothing to API. As we first reported in November 2023, longtime Alabama A&M University attorney Roderic G. “Rod” Steakley is a board member of API, along with his wife Linda Steakley. Rod Steakley has held considerable sway over the actions of Alabama A&M for many years. University officials have often deferred to Steakley's judgment on the most critical matters facing the institution. One of those matters is Alabama A&M's entitlement to $527,280,064 from the state of Alabama, as discussed below. On December 18, 2023, we "outed" API's and Steakley's ties to "Project 2025." Despite his ties to API and Project 2025, Rod Steakley still operates comfortably and with impunity within the bosom of Alabama A&M. What Policies are Mandated in Project 2025? The chart below summarizes the policy initiatives mandated in Project 2025, if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November. Many of them are overtly detrimental to Alabama A&M University and other historically black colleges and universities. Project 2025's official name is the “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” As an Advisory Board member for Project 2025, API endorses and helps to implement its policies and goals for Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. [Click here to read the full Mandate for Leadership]. How Does Project 2025 Negatively Impact Alabama A&M University? Project 2025 calls for Donald Trump to rescind and/or clawback federal funding provided to land-grant institutions like Alabama A&M to compensate them for underfunding that was based upon their status as a historically black college or university. Project 2025 would also allow the state of Alabama to continue its pattern and practice of giving Auburn University (the historically white land-grant institution in Alabama) more money per student than it gives Alabama A&M each year, without fear of legal consequences. Since 2007, the state has funded Auburn $1,500 more per student than the amount A&M has been awarded. On September 18, 2023, the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture notified the state of Alabama that it owed Alabama A&M $527,280,064, which is the aggregate amount the state has underfunded A&M over the past 30 years. Gov. Kay Ivey, a MAGA Republican and Trump loyalist, has disputed this debt. The state's refusal to pay Alabama A&M this $527,280,064 for past discrimination in educational funding is consistent with the goals and objectives of Project 2025. On the advice of Rod Steakley and President Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M’s board of trustees has elected to forego the collection of this $527,280,064 debt. President Wims, a closet MAGA Republican, and his board of trustees have never: (a) acknowledged Alabama A&M's entitlement to this $527,280,064, (b) discussed it publicly, or (c) taken any steps to collect this money.  One of the primary reasons for this catastrophic failure of leadership on this matter centers on Rod Steakley and his direct involvement with API. Should Donald Trump win the presidency in November (which seems highly likely based upon recent national polling), Project 2025 lays out the executive actions Trump will take in five broad policy areas affecting all federal government operations. Project 2025 calls for Trump to: (a) ban all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives mandated by the Departments of Agriculture and Education, and (b) rescind all federal directives requiring states to provide the funding needed to remedy past discrimination against blacks and women in educational institutions that receive federal funds. These actions ensure that the $527,280,064 debt owed to Alabama A&M by the state of Alabama will never be collected. This week, Donald Trump publicly backtracked from his previous commitment to implement the policies set forth in Project 2025 due to adverse publicity generated on this subject by Taraji P. Henson and Joy Reid.  Privately, however, Trump is fully committed to implementing all of Project 2025's policies. Alabama A&M Never Attempted to Collect Its $527,280,064 Debt from the State President Daniel Wims, a political sycophant of Gov. Kay Ivey, is marching in lockstep with Ivey, Rod Steakley, the state's MAGA politicians, and API to implement Project 2025’s political goals and objectives throughout Alabama. After ten months of entitlement to collect its $527,289,084 debt from the state, no Alabama A&M University official has taken any action whatsoever to collect this money. For the past ten months, President Wims has successfully gaslighted Alabama A&M students, faculty, staff members, alumni, and community supporters who questioned him about this $527,280,064 debt by simply saying he is “working on something” when, in fact, Wims has effectively waived A&M's right to collect this money through his inaction on this matter. In June, Wims was rewarded for this unprecedented sellout action with (a) a six-year contract extension that made him a multi-millionaire and (b) a show of adulation from the state's MAGA political community. Plus, Gov. Ivey has allowed Wims to handpick board members who willingly subordinate themselves to his de facto MAGA agenda. In exchange for these perks, Alabama A&M got royally screwed out of its $527,280,064. Today, President Wims is stalling for time in the hope that Donald Trump will win the presidency in November. If this event occurs, Trump will officially nullify and rescind Alabama A&M’s entitlement to this $527,280,064 as soon as he takes office as president.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 9, 2024; Updated on July 9, 2024 A SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT --- There are stunning new developments in the Donna Michelle Wallace homicide case. We featured Donna’s tragic story in a June 26, 2024, article titled, "Donna Micheal Wallace: Was Her Death a Suicide or Murder?" Since then, more than 13,200 viewers have been glued to this story. Whether Donna’s death was a suicide or murder is an open question. What is not in question is whether there was a Huntsville police department coverup in this case. How high this coverup goes remains to be seen. There are Serious Questions About the Decision to Take Donna Off Life-Support On March 24, 2017, Donna Michelle Wallace, a Huntsville, Alabama resident, married Huntsville police investigator Timothy Wallace at the “Marry Me of Tennessee” in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  One of Wallace's daughters officiated the wedding ceremony. Wallace, who became Donna's sixth husband on that day, holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Pyschology. He was also a seasoned crime scene investigator. At the time of her divorce, Donna lived in Huntsville and her fifth husband – Shawn Sellers -- lived in Georgia.  Reportedly, Sellers refused to sign Donna’s divorce papers.  As such, there was no record of Donna's divorce from Shawn Sellers in Madison County, Alabama court records. We have learned that Donna, aided and abetted by Timothy Wallace, was able to get a "quickie divorce" in Limestone County, Alabama on March 21, 2017 even though Sellers was residing in Georgia at the time.  All of the documents in Donna’s divorce case were filed on the same day (March 21, 2017), including a Judgment of Divorce and Certificate of Divorce. Timothy Wallace arranged for a Huntsville-based lawyer who was a close friend of his to handle Donna's quickie divorce.  According to Wallace’s text messages to Donna’s family members after her death, the lawyer filed the Complaint for Divorce in Limestone County to save Donna money. The legal filings in the case show an Affidavit from Shawn Sellers, an Answer to the Divorce Complaint, and a Settlement Agreement, all purportedly signed by Shawn Sellers.  These documents were the basis upon which Donna's quickie divorce from Shawn Sellers was granted. Shawn Sellers' Affidavit contains no statement that he was a resident of Alabama for at least six-months prior to the divorce filing, which is a legal requirement for a divorce in Alabama. What is more, Timothy Wallace signed a sworn Affidavit in the case as a witness for Donna.  As expected, Donna signed her sworn Affidavit as well. Despite the fact that Shawn was living in Georgia, Donna swore that he was a resident of Alabama during the six-month period prior to the divorce. Donna’s Judgment of Divorce prohibited her from marrying anybody but Shawn for 60 days from the date of her divorce.  On the same day, the Court issued an Interlocutory Order containing these provisions: “Pursuant to Section 30-2-8.1, Code of Alabama, this Decree is interlocutory and is not to be treated as a Final Decree of Divorce until the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date of filing of the summons and complaint herein. This Decree shall become final and the bonds of matrimony now existing between the parties shall be dissolved and the parties, each forever divorced from the other, effective the 23rd day of April, 2017. Neither of the parties shall again marry, except to each other, for a period of sixty (60) days after the Decree of Divorce shall become final as provided hereinabove. If an appeal is taken, then neither party shall again remarry, except to each other, during the pendency of such appeal." Despite this court-ordered provision barring Donna marrying anybody except Shawn Sellers for a period of 60 days, Timothy Wallace took Donna to “Marry Me of Tennessee” and wedded her on March 24, 2017 -- only 3 days after the divorce decree was issued. At the time, the applicable Tennessee law on marriage stated: “A second marriage cannot be contracted before the dissolution of the first.” TN Code § 36-3-102 (2015). It is commonly understood in domestic relations law that the marriage is dissolved when the divorce decree becomes "final," as stated in Donna's Judgment of Divorce and Interlocutory Order. Donna’s Death Under Suspicious Circumstances Donna Michelle Wallace was rape survivor.  Donna’s rapist was her stepfather.   She was repeatedly raped, beginning when she was seven years old.  Donna’s stepfather also allowed other men who paid him money to rape Donna -- for years. Because Timothy Wallace was a police investigator, Donna trusted Wallace enough to marry him.  Wallace, a divorcee, swept Donna off her feet. She loved him dearly. Unbeknownst to Donna, Wallace had already been entangled in a domestic violence situation that warranted his arrest three years earlier. On November 17, 2017, approximately eight months into her marriage to Wallace, Donna suffered a skull fracture in her home after she was hit in the back of her head with an object that caused blunt force trauma. Donna was hemorrhaging in and around her brain.  Wallace was at home when this incident occurred. On November 22, 2017, Donna was gravely injured from a gunshot wound to the head.  The weapon that caused this injury was Timothy Wallace’s service gun. According to Wallace, after he discovered Donna’s injured body in their bedroom, he picked up his gun and placed it back down by Donna before police arrived on the scene. There is no explanation in the Incident Report as to why Timothy Wallace, an experienced crime scene investigation, touched the gun before police arrived. On November 26, 2017, Wallace made the decision to take Donna off life-support.  Wallace made this decision in his capacity as Donna's lawfully married husband, which said status is now in dispute. Wallace’s friends and colleagues in the Huntsville Police Department investigated Donna’s homicide case.  At least ten of them were at the couple's apartment, which was the scene of the shooting. No outside, independent law enforcement agency investigated Donna’s homicide even though Wallace was on the scene of the shooting and his service gun was used to gravely injure Donna. The Huntsville police department quickly classified Donna’s death as a suicide, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. No autopsy was performed on Donna’s body.  Timothy Wallace had Donna's body cremated shortly after he ended her life-support at the hospital. The Huntsville police department's investigative file in this homicide case has been unavailable to Donna’s family members since November 26, 2017, despite their repeated requests to view it. Stay tuned for another stunning twist in Donna Michelle Wallace's tragic homicide case!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 14, 2024 Global entrepreneur, business leader, and Pelangio Exploration, Inc., board member, Kamar Jones. On July 4, 2024, Bloomberg.com announced the appointment of Mr. Kamar Jones to the Board of Directors of Pelangio Exploration, Inc. Toronto-based Pelangio is a Canadian Stock Exchange company trading under the stock symbol, (TSXV:PX)(OTC PINK:PGXPF). Mr. Jones is a seasoned executive with a unique blend of expertise in capital markets and mining consulting. With nearly three decades of experience, Mr. Jones has developed a robust understanding of the financial mechanisms that drive market success and the operational intricacies essential to mining consulting. In a separate newswire issued by Pelangio, President and CEO Ingrid Hibbard stated, "we are delighted to welcome Mr. Jones to Pelangio's Board of Directors. Kamar's experience in capital markets and concentration on mining consulting is a strong addition to Pelangio as we look to further advance our Ghanaian projects." Pelangio Exploration, Inc., is a mineral exploration company that engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It holds interests in various gold mining properties in Ghana, West Africa, and Canada. About Kamar Jones Mr. Kamar Jones is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Alabama A&M University in 1995, followed by an MBA in International Business from Louisiana State University in 2019. Mr. Jones was raised in a military family and lived throughout Europe during his childhood and teenage years. After participating in Alabama A&M's ROTC program, Jones was commissioned as an Army lieutenant upon graduation from the university. Mr. Jones is a world traveler who has an extensive background in international commerce, financial structures, and geopolitical affairs. Today, Mr. Jones is an experienced and results-oriented Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Mine Plus Group. He is also an expert in mining management, optimizing operations, and driving strategic initiatives. Mr. Jones has a proven track record in delivering mining projects on time, within budget, and in compliance with industry regulations. Mr. Jones is skilled in fostering high-performance cultures, implementing innovative technologies, and positioning organizations for long-term success. He is dedicated to driving operational excellence, building strategic partnerships, and elevating overall company performance in the dynamic mining consulting landscape. Mr. Jones, who lives in the metro-Atlanta area, is one of the very few African-Americans who serves on the board of directors of a publicly traded company with six subsidiaries and international business operations. With his professional background in finance and his business relationships at Pelangio and Mine Plus Group, Mr. Jones has established himself as a power-player in the global mining and international green energy production sectors. He is regarded as one of the "best of the best" experts in these two growing business sectors. Mine Plus Group Partners with OxyNol Solutions In January 2024, Mr. Jones led Mine Plus Group's successful effort to execute a preferred services provider agreement with OxyNol Solutions, a California-based international waste-to-fuels technology company (formerly known as Masada Resource Group). Mine Plus Group, together with Canadian-based TWD Technologies Ltd., will provide OxyNol Solutions with end-to-end project management services for the company’s planned $300 million USD waste-to-fuels (W2E) project in the Durbin/Mandeni Region of South Africa. In addition to the South African project, Mr. Jones successfully negotiated a worldwide project management services agreement between OxyNol Solutions and Mine Plus Group for the global rollout of OxyNol Solutions waste-to-fuel facilities in dozens of international markets. Mr. Jones is one of the best strategic thinkers in the energy production and mining exploration businesses. He has a special gift for addressing complex problems in large-scale commercial operations with practical and long lasting solutions.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 13, 2024. I have said this before, and I am saying it again: Violence is never the answer to political dissatisfaction in America.  Voting is. I condemn the attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump today.  This kind of political violence has absolutely no place in America. We are praying for the family of the rally attendee who was killed and for the two attendees who were critically injured. Enough is enough! We are NOT some third-world country.