By: Donald V. Watkins February 20, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Judge Joe Brown is a seasoned trial lawyer. He is also a former Shelby County, Tennessee Criminal Court judge and a former star of the "Judge Joe Brown" TV show.  He has a brilliant legal mind. I know Judge Brown as the state court judge in Memphis who broke the case involving the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., wide open. Yesterday, Judge Brown posted a post-hearing assessment of Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis on his X page (formerly known as Twitter) yesterday.  It is important to note that prior to last Thursday, Fani Willis had NOT given a sworn affidavit or testimony under oath in Donald Trump's Georgia RICO case. Here is Judge Brown's assessment of Willis' situation: “As they say in the Caribbean: ‘SHE ACTED LIKE SHE HAS GUILTY KNOWLEDGE’ Astonishingly we saw Ms. Fani Willis—the DA for Atlanta—put herself in a situation where she needed to exercise the 5th Amendment. Apparently, she failed to recognize her peril. Surely Ms. Willis should’ve recognized her testimonial hazard since the office she heads must regularly deal with this issue. What she did to potentially implicate &/or incriminate herself included, but was not limited to the following categories: $ Laundering Tax Evasion/Failure to File Tax Returns/Tax Fraud Possibly receiving (as a source of the cash): Unreported taxable income Bribes Unreported $ from DNC et al to take down Trump/misappropriation of campaign funds/failure to disclose use of campaign funds Improper Use of GA funds/Failure to Report use of GA Funds/Fraud against GA/etc. Perjury Gross Ethical Violations against the Bar Codes All in all Aside from the embarrassing lack of professionalism … We saw the pathetic spectacle of someone who continually displayed the most untrustworthy body-language/attitude & deportment Throughout the debacle she displayed the silly-girl arrogance that too many think is reflective of a strong Black Woman. It isn’t. Actually, it reflects a pathological dysfunction induced by neurotic feminism. It’s one of the things that has encouraged the disruption of social order & the family. ‘What you saw was what the Demo Pty wants you to get’ when it comes to urban leadership. That has led to the glorification of dysfunction & the breakdown of urban society. Be aware of it & vote accordingly.” I do not agree with Judge Brown's statements on Black woman and "neurotic feminism" at the end of his Twitter post. I find those comments to be sexist and inappropriate. However, I agree with Judge Brown's legal assessment that Willis has placed herself at risk of a potential federal criminal investigation with the testimony she gave at last Thursday’s hearing.  History supports my assessment. Is Fani Willis the New Marilyn Mosby? For those who think this kind of legal jeopardy cannot attach to Fani Willis, I leave you with this chilling story about Marilyn Mosby: Marilyn Mosby served as the State's Attorney for Baltimore, Maryland from 2015 to 2023. She had gained national attention following the killing of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015. Mosby led a very public investigation, followed by indictments for murder against the police officers who arrested Gray, and criminal trials (which did not produce "guilty" verdicts). Mosby became a hero in Baltimore's Black community for prosecuting the police officers who were responsible for Gray's death. Top law enforcement officials in the Baltimore area were pissed-off at Mosby for her aggressive prosecution of the police officers involved in Freddie Gray's death. In January 2022, Mosby was indicted by federal grand jury for perjury and making false mortgage claims.  In September 2023, she was convicted of perjury.  Earlier this month, Mosby was convicted of mortgage fraud in a separate trial. Moseby denied any wrongdoing, but it did not matter because the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, is infested with political operatives who favor certain special interest groups and punish others. What is more, Black elected officials in Congress and Maryland state government were too weak to prevent the injustice that was inflicted upon Mosby in retaliation for her prosecution of the police officers who killed Freddie Gray. FBI agents and Federal prosecutors in Baltimore manufactured a bogus criminal case against Mosby on "bullshit" perjury and "false claims" charges. Federal prosecutors in Maryland have a long, documented, and ugly history of politically-motivated prosecutions. It is one of the few jurisdictions where a U.S. Attorney (i.e., Thomas M. DiBiagio) was actually fired for such misconduct. Nobody in Joe Biden's Department of Justice stopped the impermissible targeting and persecution of Marilyn Mosby. From Attorney General Merrick Garland on down, they all looked the other way. Based upon my legal and political background, I believe Fani T. Willis could become the next Marilyn Moseby.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 16, 2021 Nearly one year into his presidency, most Americans realize that Joe Biden is probably one of the weakest U.S. presidents in history. He's old, slow, and apparently in the early stages of senility. In November of 2020, Biden was the default presidential alternative to a deranged, Messianic Donald J. Trump. Independent voters had to pick the best of the bad options, and Biden was their choice. As a political Independent since 2001, I endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket because I thought Vice President Kamala Harris had the potential to offset Biden's many weaknesses as a president. Harris is smart; she comes from a multicultural family background; she had a successful track-record in public office at the local, state and federal level; and, she has plenty of personal charisma on the public stage. After almost a year in office, major questions have arisen about Kamala Harris' national leadership skills and her ability to contribute to the success of Biden's domestic and international policy agendas. The real question is this: Is Harris is helping or hurting Joe Biden's presidency? Is Kamala Harris the Democrats Version of Sarah Palin? Republicans have effectively painted Kamala Harris as Joe Biden's Sarah Palin. The late Sen. John McCain made the ditzy Palin, the former governor of Alaska, his vice-presidential running mate in 2008. She promptly sank any chance that McCain had of defeating Barack Obama because Palin was never prepared as a spokesperson for the McCain campaign and her lack of preparation on major issues embarrassed McCain at every turn. Biden has placed Kamala Harris in charge of three major policy initiatives: (a) leading the Administration's push for new voting rights legislation in Congress; (b) spearheading Biden's immigration reform agenda and solving the migrant crisis at America's southern border; and (c) serving as Biden's "Czar" for transitioning the American automobile industry from hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles to electric ones. At this juncture, it is abundantly clear that Kamala Harris is not going to be the strong, forceful, and powerful vice president for Joe Biden that Vice President Dick Cheney was for George W. Bush. To date, Kamala Harris does not appear to have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to lead in these areas. Furthermore, Harris has not shown a mastery of American history, or the struggle for civil rights in America, or the paradigm shift to alternative energy technologies. Biden's New Voting Rights Legislation Appears to be Dead in the Water It is clear that Kamala Harris has no working knowledge of the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act on the grounds that "things have changed dramatically" since the Act was passed in 1965. The Court's ruling opened the way for a wave of voter suppression laws not seen in America since Southern legislatures purged blacks from the voter rolls in the late 1800s. White supremacy is on the rise in Republican-controlled legislatures, nationwide. All-white appellate court systems, government bodies, and election officials are in vogue, again. Republicans have gerrymandered legislative districts at the local, state, and federal government levels to ensure "white minority rule" in states where the 2020 census shows a severe decline in the white population from the 2010 census data. Republicans have erected new barriers and resurrected old ones to suppress voter registration and election-day voting for black and brown Americans. Republicans are also enacting new versions of the white supremacy "Redeemer" legislation that swept the old Confederate states in the 1870s. Rather than avoiding the "political thicket," federal courts around the nation have joined in the fray as protectors of the revived white supremacy political agendas. Today's federal judges sound much like the judicial scholars who gave black America the Dred Scott case in 1857 (which held that blacks have no rights that the white man is bound to respect) and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 (which approved the doctrine of "separate, but equal" public schools and accommodations that were very much separate for each race, but never equal). Today's conservative federal judges strain the law to pick "winners" and losers" in election contests. They are also eagerly rolling back the hard-fought social justice victories that were won by women and Americans of color during the last 50 years. In 2000, for example, Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court handpicked George W. Bush as the President of the United States on a 5-4 vote, even though Bush lost the popular and electoral vote. Against this backdrop, Kamala Harris has done nothing to corral the Congressional votes necessary to keep Biden's new voting rights legislation moving forward. The Democratic Party's most loyal base of voters -- African-Americans -- is being slaughtered in the political arena and Harris is doing very little about it. Realistically, Biden's new voting rights legislation appears to be dead in the water. Biden's Immigration Reform is Ill-Conceived Kamala Harris is woefully ignorant of America's long and ugly history of drafting, implementing, and enforcing overtly racist immigration laws and policies. This history is discussed in my April 15, 2019 article titled, "The Uncomfortable Truth About America's Immigration Laws," my June 13, 2021 article titled, "The Biden-Harris 'Do not Come' Immigration Policy is Racist," my August 22, 2021 article titled, "'Operation Wetback' is Back," and my September 30, 2021 article titled, "What Does America Owe Haiti and Why?" How and why a vice president, who is the daughter of immigrants of color, would push a continuation of America's two centuries of documented racist immigration laws and policies is beyond my comprehension. Kamala Harris has no chance of reforming America's immigration policies to make them fair and equitable if she does know the inequities embedded in them. Harris has never mentioned the fact that white European peasants were openly recruited to America on a "Whites-Only" basis under the Homestead Act of 1862, which was implemented by the federal government from 1862 to 1986. These migrants, many of who were homeless in Europe, were welcomed to America with open arms. When these migrants arrived in America, they were awarded 160 acres of free land per applicant (together with the mineral rights, timber rights, and oil and gas rights that accompanied the land) and given free agricultural assistance from land-grant universities that were established to help them develop and cultivate this free land. Under the Homestead Act, ten percent of the land mass of the United States was given to nearly three million white migrants, for free. What is more, the 270 million total acres awarded in land grants to white migrants came from the 1.5 billion acres of land the U.S. Army took from Native-Americans by force from 1830 to 1906. For 124 years, America boldly, openly, and repeatedly told European nations, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," as long as they were white. Law abiding peasants and criminals alike answered America's call for white Europeans to migrate to America. Interestingly, the state of Georgia was founded as a penal colony for Great Britain. Additionally, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather, who was a known criminal in Europe, migrated to America in search of better opportunities to commit crimes. In 1887, a grateful France openly thanked America for taking in Europe's white peasants and giving them a chance for a new life in the United States. This is why France gave America the Statue of Liberty, which is located on Ellis Island in New York City. Frankly, I do not think Kamala Harris is very knowledgeable about this ugly chapter in American history. If she is, what's stopping her from talking about it publicly within the context of immigration reform? Transforming America's Automotive Industry Kamala Harris' debut last week on Biden's initiative on transforming America's automotive industry to electric-powered vehicles was embarrassing. She has zero knowledge of the alternative energy industry, which is complex and highly technical. Harris will not be able to bullshit her way through this leadership role, as she has done with her voting rights and immigration reform assignments. She will have to master the technological aspects of electric-powered vehicles to know what she is doing. It is extremely difficult for a person who is not an electrical, chemical, or automotive engineer to grasp enough details to have a meaningful discussion with industry leaders about electric-powered vehicles. It took me 10 years to learn the world of alternative fuels for vehicles and airplanes, and I was working as a CEO in the alternative energy industry everyday for 14 to 16 hours per day. Eventually, the company I headed became the recognized global leader in waste to-fuels technologies in over 40 countries. Electric car industry leader Elon Musk has already dismissed Harris' leadership role in this industry sector. I agree with him in this regard. Harris Must Prepare to Lead or Get Out of the Way Kamala Harris has wasted the first year of Joe Biden's presidency bouncing around the country like a Biden groupie. She needs to get in the books and learn about voting rights laws, America's racist immigration laws and policies, and the electric-power energy sector of the alternative energy industry. This will require a lot of hard work, special expertise, and a level of dedication that is beyond the interest and reach of most career politicians. Republican politicians do not have to know much about anything because they only serve the political interests of Wall Street banks, corporate America, and the defense industry. Furthermore, their core voters occupy the high end of the wealth gap between blacks and whites in America. This gap has resulted from: (a) the 270 million acres of free land that was given to white migrants for 124 years, (b) the $7.3 trillion in bailout and rescue packages to white corporations (that are unrelated to natural disasters) in the 21st century, (c) over 150 years of "redlining" by American banks in their lending practices, and (d) nine permanent federal tax deductions that have heavily favored whites since the 1940s. When Republicans need to fire up their political base of voters, all they have to do is flood FOX TV with incendiary news reports and political commentaries from an endless parade of professional race-baiters and cultural suicide bombers. If Kamala Harris cannot get prepared to lead on the policy initiatives Biden assigned to her, she should get out of the way and let Biden appoint somebody else to lead them over the next three years.

By. Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 4, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Joe Biden wants and needs a surge in Black voter turnout to beat Donald Trump in 2024.  While voter suppression laws passed in states with Republican-controlled legislatures and governors, will hurt the traditional Black voter turnout for Democratic candidates in 2024, something much more sinister is lurking in the dark.  It’s called voter apathy. Voter apathy is profound, widespread and growing in the Black community. There is a growing disconnect between the political needs of the Black community and what those who are elected and appointed to represent this community in the halls of national, state, and local government are able to deliver. As a result, candidates of choice of Black voters who are sworn into office – whether Black or White -- deliver nothing to the Black community but symbolic gestures, commemorative events, name changes on bridges and roads, photo ops, and display-checks in token amounts from federal agencies. As a group, candidates of choice of the Black community are often impotent and useless in the economic arena.  The federal response to the 2020 COVID pandemic spotlighted this impotency in undeniable ways. In this article, I focus on the failures of political leadership that can be objectively measured. Following the Federal Money Through 44 agencies, the federal government spent $4.7 trillion in response to COVID-19.  Even though Blacks are 13.6% of the U.S. population, less than one tenth of one percent of this money went to Black-owned businesses. On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Public Law 117-58, also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”) into law. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $550 billion over fiscal years 2022 through 2026 in new Federal investment in infrastructure, including in roads, bridges, and mass transit, water infrastructure, resilience, and broadband. Recognizing that the federal government spends more than $650 billion each year on purchasing goods and services, in 2021 President Biden directed agencies to use federal purchasing power to grow federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses, including Black-owned businesses, by 50%, translating to an additional $100 billion over five years. Black-owned businesses are part of a group of disadvantaged businesses that have been awarded about $40 billion per year nationwide in past years.  The 50% increase in these annual contracts amounts to mere tokenism. For example, the top ten defense contractors, alone, raked in more than $153 billion in 2022. Much of this money comes from non-bid contracts for goods and services. Additionally, through three facilities—the New Loans Facility, Expanded Loans Facility, and Priority Loans Facility—the Federal Reserve funded up to $600 billion in five-year loans to support financial markets during the pandemic.  Businesses with up to 15,000 employees or up to $5 billion in annual revenue could participate. Not one dollar of the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion went to Black-owned businesses. With over $6 trillion federal dollars deployed to combat the economic effects of COVID and rebuild America’s infrastructure, only $60 billion per year is allocated for the group of businesses that specifically includes Black-owned businesses. This means Black-owned businesses, as a whole, received substantially less than 0.06% of this $6 trillion investment in America. This amount is disgraceful. What is worse, on September 18, 2023, the U.S. Secretaries of Education and Agriculture notified 16 governors of a $12 billion disparity in funding between 16 Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their non-HBCU land-grant peers in their states. Out of fear, complacency, and/or incompetency, none of these 16 HBCUs aggressively pursued legal action or market-driven strategies to collect the $12 billion owed to their HBCUs.   All of these HBCUs failed their students, faculty, staffs, and alumni in this regard. The Disconnect Between Black Voters and the Democratic Party is Profound and Growing Simply bragging about how well Wall Street Is doing will not translate into Black votes for President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in 2024. Bragging about the nation’s low unemployment rate will not motivate a high black turnout.  Black America already knows it did not get its fair share of the COVID-era $6 trillion. Relying upon the endorsements of Black elected and appointed officials who have proven themselves to be impotent and useless will not increase Black voter turnout for Democrats in 2024. The Black community has seen that the only people who economically benefit from government initiatives and high-profile government jobs are the relatives, friends, and allies of their elected and appointed officials. The catastrophic failure of elected and appointed officials who represent the political interests of the Black community to “bring home the bacon” is more lethal to the Democratic Party's voter turnout in 2024 than any of the new voter suppression laws. The time for sticking an economic pacifier in the mouths of Black voters is over!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 17, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Last week, viewers around the nation were glued to their television sets and computer screens as Special Counsel Nathan Wade and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani T. Willis tried to put their illicit love affair in the most positive light possible.  It was a spectacle to behold. No matter how Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee rules on defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant’s motion to disqualify Willis and her prosecution team, the Willis-Wade love affair has damaged the prosecution team’s chances of winning the RICO case against Donald Trump. The alleged love affair is now a confirmed fact.  This situation gives Trump and his co-defendants an arsenal of defensive ammunition that they never had before. New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Special Counsel Jack Smith have avoided giving Trump this kind of ammunition in his other three criminal cases. What Do Experienced Trial Lawyers Look for in High Profile Cases? I watched the hearing from the perspective of a prosecution and defense attorney, as I performed both roles in high-profile cases during my four-decade legal career. Like Judge McAfee, I have read: (a) defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant’s 127-page motion to disqualify Willis and her prosecution team, (b) Willis’ 176-page response, and (d) Merchant’s 122-page reply to Willis’ response. I understood why Willis and Wade fought hard for weeks to keep from testifying in Wade’s divorce case and at McAfee’s February 15-16th hearing. Once prosecutors become witnesses, their credibility is at issue (as is the case with other witnesses). I also understood why the first hour of the hearing was consumed with a buzzsaw of objections from attorneys for the state and subpoenaed witnesses. For a host of reasons, the prosecution team did NOT want Wade and Willis on the witness stand.  Wade and Willis lost that battle. Wade took the witness stand first.  Within the context of the 425 pages of documents filed with the court in connection with Merchant's motion to disqualify the prosecution team, Wade’s testimony at the hearing was awful.  His demeanor on the witness stand was horrible, as well. Judge McAfee’s body language signaled that he was completely turned off by Wade’s answers to Merchant’s questions, especially when Wade talked about receiving cash reimbursements from Willis for expenses incurred by Wade, with no documentation whatsoever to support these reimbursements. The “cash reimbursement” defense is typically used in cases involving drug dealers, mafia dons, and gang members. Wade’s poor performance on the witness stand is what prompted Willis to abandon her game-plan (i.e., fight every effort to compel their testimony) and storm into the courtroom Thursday to voluntarily take the witness stand. This was a huge mistake, which caught Willis’ attorneys off guard.  No prosecutor should ever voluntarily agree to be cross-examined by defense counsel. Now, there is a transcript of Willis and Wade discussing the nature and scope of their illicit love affair, under oath, and all within the context of Trump's RICO case. What is worse, this illicit love affair was NOT voluntarily disclosed to the grand jury prior to the indictment of the defendants in this RICO case or to Judge McAfee at the beginning of the case last August.  Instead, these lovers were “outed” by Merchant on January 8, 2024. The illicit love affair changes the dynamics of the case.  Instead of focusing on the allegations of election fraud and Donald Trump’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, defense counsel will: (a) wallow in the sex scandal between Willis and her married special prosecutor, (b) relive the romantic trips these two lovers took to exotic ports of call, (c) divert attention from the counting of votes in a presidential election to the thousands of dollars in cash that supposedly changed hands between Willis and Wade, without proper documentation, (d) take jurors on a guided tour of Willis' financial disclosure forms, and (e) pontificate, out loud, about whether Willis and Wade resorted to lying and perjury when the affair was “outed.” Lies, sex, and exotic trips between illicit lovers always mesmerize trial jurors. They rarely make it back from this journey to the real reason for the trial -- the criminal conduct alleged in the indictment. Willis and Wade Gave the Trump Defense Team This Gift Willis and Wade gave this gift to Donald Trump and his other RICO defendants when they commenced an illicit love affair and failed to disclose it to the proper authorities. Despite a mountain of stonewalling and barrage of objections, Ashleigh Merchant succeeded in forcing Nathan Wade and Fani Willis to testify about their love affair in open court.  Merchant cherry-picked the testimony she needed from Wade and Willis to fill-in the gaps in her written documents. There was no need for Merchant to browbeat Wade or Willis on international TV.  Her record on the motion to disqualify was about 70% complete before she started questioning Wade on Thursday. Under GA Code § 24-6-611 (2022), Wade and Willis were deemed "hostile witnesses" or "adverse parties." Judge McAfee will weigh their testimony, accordingly. He will decide if they lied on any portion of their testimony, or not. He will also decide whether Willis and Wade coordinated, synchronized, and rehearsed their testimony. No matter how Judge McAfee rules on Merchant’s motion, Donald Trump’s RICO case is now dripping with "reasonable doubt." Here are five simple examples of such "reasonable doubt:" 1. Was Donald Trump investigated and prosecuted for the purpose of enriching Nathan J. Wade? 2. Did Nathan J. Wade have a financial motive and pecuniary interest in seeking an indictment in Donald Trump’s case that was NOT disclosed to the grand jurors? 3. Were the contracts executed between the District Attorney’s office and Wade’s firm approved by Willis AFTER he became her lover?  The date that Willis and Wade became lovers is hotly disputed by the witnesses. 4. Did Fani T. Willis benefit, directly or indirectly, from any payments she approved for Nathan J. Wade and his law firm? 5. Did Fani Willis know that the contracts executed between the District Attorney’s office and Wade (and his law firm) provided the source of funding for her romantic interludes with Nathan J. Wade to exotic ports of call?

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 18, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny reportedly died on Friday at a remote Arctic prison where he was held. The anti-corruption fighter and politician had long incurred the wrath of top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, for exposing their ruthlessness and hidden fortunes. President Joe Biden immediately condemned Russia and Putin for Navalny's death, as do I. While issuing his words of condemnation, Joe Biden failed to mention the 344 inmate deaths that occurred in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from FY 2014 through FY 2021. Nearly all of these deaths were preventable. At least two of these deaths involved high-profile inmates (e.g., Jeffrey Epstein and James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr.). The day before Navalny's death was announced, Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released a scathing report on the BOP's operational failures that contributed to the deaths of these 344 inmates in federal prisons.  Horowitz divided these deaths into four categories: suicide, homicide, accident, and those resulting from unknown factors. Horowitz made the following findings regarding these inmate deaths: Suicide represents a significant risk area for the BOP, which the BOP can mitigate through compliance with its existing policies.  A combination of recurring policy violations and operational failures contributed to inmate suicides, which accounted for just over half of the 344 inmate deaths we reviewed. The BOP’s response to medical emergencies was often insufficient due to lack of clear communication, urgency, or proper equipment.  Significant shortcomings in BOP staff’s emergency responses were found in nearly half of the inmate deaths Horowitz reviewed. A lack of available information about inmate deaths limits the BOP’s ability to potentially prevent future inmate deaths.   The BOP was unable to produce documents required by its own policies in the event of an inmate death for many of the inmate deaths Horowitz reviewed Long-standing operational challenges, such as contraband interdiction, further impair the BOP’s ability to reduce the risk of inmate deaths. Contraband drugs or weapons contributed, or appeared to contribute, to nearly one-third of the 344 inmate deaths, including 70 inmates who died from drug overdoses Neither the DOJ, nor the BOP, offered any credible defense to these horrific federal prison conditions. What is more, these preventable inmate deaths cannot be blamed on bipartisan bickering. They occurred simply because top administrators within the DOJ or BOP did not give a damn about these 344 inmates, which occurred while Barack Obama and Donald Trump served as president.. Horowitz made 12 recommendations to stem the tide of preventable inmate deaths in federal prisons. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has failed miserably in every major aspect of his job, announced that the DOJ/BOP agreed with all Horowitz's recommendations.  Garland is great at giving "lip service" about DOJ's commitment to doing better, but he is woefully inadequate in his job performance. He is literally the portrait of failed leadership. Meanwhile, it is hypocrisy on steroids for Joe Biden to condemn Navalny's death in a Russian prison while the flow of preventable inmate deaths in federal prisons continues unabated. It is obvious that Joe Biden will not care about the treatment of federal inmates until Hunter Biden becomes one.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 14, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Prior to Donald Trump’s RICO indictment in Fulton County, Georgia last year, very few Americans had heard of Ashleigh B. Merchant.  She is a criminal defense lawyer who represents Trump co-defendant Michael A. Roman in the Georgia RICO case. Roman worked for the Trump 2020 campaign as director of election day operations. Ashleigh Merchant and her husband John B. Merchant, III, run their two-lawyer firm in an Atlanta suburban community. Today, everybody in America knows Ashleigh B. Merchant’s name. On January 8, 2024, Merchant filed a 127-page motion (together with exhibits) on behalf on Roman that turned a "slam-dunk” RICO case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants on its head.  She exposed the illicit love affair between Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade, her married lover. Merchant’s motion has placed the RICO case against Trump and his co-defendants in jeopardy. On February 2, 2024, Willis and Wade filed a 176-page Response to Merchant’s motion in which she acknowledged her love affair with Wade.  However, Willis claims that this illicit love affair has no bearing on the RICO case. On February 9, 2024, Merchant delivered another gut punch to Willis and Wade in her 122-page Reply to Willis’ formal Response.  The Reply contained new information and documents that called into question the credibility of Willis and Wade on several conflicts of interest-related matters presented in their Response. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who’s presiding over this RICO case, has set a hearing on Merchant’s motion for February 15 and 16, 2024.  Despite a request from Willis to block the subpoenas, Judge McAfee refused to quash subpoenas Merchant has issued for Willis and Wade to testify at the hearing. Courage, Preparation, and Flawless Execution are the Keys to Winning Criminal Cases Of the lawyers who are working within Donald Trump’s four criminal cases, Ashleigh Merchant is the only one who has demonstrated the backbone, intellectual acumen, trial skills, and capable to strike a fatal blow to Trump's RICO case.  She knows what she is doing. Since January 9th, Merchant has exhibited the courage, preparation, and flawless execution necessary to win Trump’s RICO case.  She is also proactive, rather than reactive. Merchant is actually trying to WIN the criminal case for Michael Roman, which is a rarity in today's world of criminal defense attorneys. Most criminal defense lawyers are nothing more than glorified "surrenderers" (i.e., guilty plea lawyers). The other attorneys in Trump’s four criminal cases are running a high-price clown show.  All of them together have not been able to inflict the massive damage to prosecutors that Merchant has single-handedly inflicted since January 8th. Merchant is effective because she is courageous, experienced in the courtroom, and talented. Prior to Merchant, the only criminal defense attorney who proactively used information about illicit love affairs between prosecutors, judges and bailiffs, and other courthouse personnel to torpedo criminal cases was me.  Courthouse romances are more prevalent than most people realize. I routinely exposed them to the advantage of my clients. What is more, Merchant’s issuance of subpoenas to Willis and Wade to testify at the February 15-16 hearing on her motion was a brilliant strategy.  To my knowledge, no criminal defense attorney other than Merchant has used this "ballsy" technique since my legal team employed it to free Birmingham police officer Mike Lee from felony charges of tampering with government records in the State of Alabama v. Mike Lee (1990). Our legal team in Mike Lee's case agreed that lead defense attorney Lewis Gillis would call Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber as an adverse witness for Lee's defense.  Once Barber took the witness stand, Gillis filleted him in front of stunned jurors. They were surprised to see the way Gillis surgically carved up the lead prosecutor in Lee's case. Gillis exposed Barber's political motivation for bringing the criminal charges against Mike Lee.  Gillis also kept Barber on a short leash while slicing him with razor-sharp questions about all his pre- and post-indictment comments.  Barber was nervous, unprepared, and testy during his entire time on the witness stand. Gillis’ questioning of Barber was masterful.  This move produced a shocking acquittal on all charges. Lee’s three co-defendants were convicted in separate trials that were held before and after his trial. Ashleigh Merchant is implementing the same kind of proactive defense we used in Mike Lee’s case.  She knows that no prosecutor can withstand razor-sharp questioning by a highly skilled criminal defense lawyer who has courage, who is prepared, and who will flawlessly execute his/her game-plan. If Judge McAfee forces Willis and Wade to take the witness stand, Merchant has the documents and information she needs to undermine their credibility. Typically, a highly skilled defense lawyer has far more ammunition than he/she reveals in public. The Joy of Being a Spectator to a Gladiator Fight in the Legal Arena As a retired litigator who has freed many criminal defendants from so-called “slam-dunk” criminal prosecutions, I am enjoying the gladiator contest between Ashleigh B. Merchant and Fani T. Willis. This is a criminal court version of the Super Bowl. These two women are throwing heavy-weight punches at each other in the gladiator pit. However, Merchant has successfully shifted the momentum in this RICO case in her Michael Roman's favor. The advantage Merchant has over Willis is her keen instincts as a trial lawyer.  She is waging an aggressive, multidimensional fight against Willis. Merchant is also picking up everything moving on the radar screen during her litigation battles. Merchant is also a student of body language.  She picked up on the romantic vibe between Willis and Wade in one of their early encounters in the case.  This is why she investigated this illicit love affair and was able to document it. Now, Merchant is using her sophisticated litigation skills to parlay an exposed illicit love affair between the top two prosecutors in Michael Roman's case into a pathway to freedom for him. Ashleigh B. Merchant is engaged in some "real lawyering" for her client.  We'll see if she can deliver freedom to Michael Roman in this RICO case.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 14, 2024 An Editorial Opinion On Sunday, Grammy winner Andra Day sang the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.  Black Americans regard this song as the "Negro National Anthem." Many White Americans have had the luxury of ignoring this song because they have never known the "Negro National Anthem" or realized its importance in American history. Some weak-kneed Blacks will NOT sing the "Negro National Anthem" in the presence of Whites because they do NOT want to upset them. So that we are clear, the "Negro National Anthem" is sacred to me! If you are offended by this song, you don't belong in my orbit." I will NEVER renounce the history of Blacks in America for anybody or any reason! History of the "Negro National Anthem" The “Negro National Anthem” was sung in every segregated black school across the U.S. each morning during the long, dark, and violent Jim Crow era in America.  The song was written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900 at the beginning of the Jim Crow Era. The song was performed for the first time by a choir of 500 school children in Jacksonville, Florida not long after it was written. The NAACP dubbed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the "Negro National Anthem" in 1919, which is more than a decade before "The Star Spangled Banner" was adopted by Congress as the "National Anthem" in 1931. The doctrine of "Separate but Equal," as proclaimed by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in America from 1896 to 1964. There was a "White America" and "Black America" during this period that was sanctioned by law. The vestiges of this racial divided America are present and felt today in every aspect of American society. I sang this song every morning in my all-Black K-12 classes until I graduated from high school in Montgomery, Alabama in May 1966. When court-ordered desegregation occurred across the nation in the late 1960s and 1970s, most Black public schools were closed.  White administrators who ran the nation’s school systems forbade Black students from singing the "Negro National Anthem" at their newly desegregated schools. Like so many positive aspects of black culture, the “Negro National Anthem” became a casualty of the desegregation process. The same was true for academic awards and sports trophies earned by the men/women of honor at closed black high schools. The value of this Black history and memorabilia was completely disregarded by White Americans, particularly in the Deep South. The Song’s Lyrics are Powerful Here are the lyrics to “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing:” “Lift ev’ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod Bitter the chastening rod Felt in the days when hope unborn had died Yet with a steady beat Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered Out from the gloomy past 'Til now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast God of our weary years God of our silent tears Thou who has brought us thus far on the way Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light Keep us forever in the path, we pray Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee Shadowed beneath Thy hand May we forever stand True to our God True to our native land.” The "Negro National Anthem" helped an entire race of downtrodden Black Americans endure: (a) the suffocating oppression and sweltering heat of Jim Crow segregation laws in the Deep South, (b) the Ku Klux Klan lynchings, beatings, cross burnings, house and church bombings, and (c) the entrenched systemic racial discrimination against Blacks in every aspect of society, "from the cradle to the grave." This song encouraged us to lift our voices and sing until freedom rang out across America. It is as sacred to Black America as the “Star Spangled Banner” is to White America. At the beginning of sports events in my Black K-12 schools, we sang the “Star Spangled Banner” first, followed by the “Negro National Anthem." The "Negro National Anthem’s" Relevance Today I realize that many White Americans dislike the idea of showing reverence and respect for the "Negro National Anthem."  MAGA politicians like Kari Lake (R-Arizona) make a public spectacle out of showing their disrespect for the Anthem. Today, many White Americans don’t want to be bothered with learning about or honoring anything related to Black history and culture.  They characterize this enlightenment as "wokeness," which they view as a form of "evil." I considered their aversion to learning Black history and culture to be a form of willful ignorance. In states like Florida and Alabama, government agencies have made it illegal to teach anything beyond a state-sanctioned sanitized version of Black history. I think it is fitting and proper that the “Negro National Anthem” and “Star Spangled Banner” be sung at all NFL games. The NFL, which is comprised of 80% Black players, is paying its respect to both iconic cultures. This patriotic gesture also educates White Americans on a positive aspect of Black culture, while giving Black Americans a tiny measure of the respect that has eluded them for four centuries. Right now, most of White Americans know almost nothing about Black history, culture, and our positive contributions to American society.  As the ruling class in America for 400 years, White Americans never had a need to know this information. What Whites know today about Black Americans is pretty much limited to the world of sports statistics, high-profile celebrities, and rap musicians.  For the most part, Blacks are viewed by White America as modern-day minstrels who are paid to entertain and/or serve them whenever they are in a festive mood.  Less than 10,000 of America's 47.9 million Blacks fall into the "minstrels" category. The only question I have to those who are offended by my positive editorial opinion on the "Negro National Anthem" is this:  Did your bloodline help to liberate my ancestors and me, or were they part of the group that oppressed us?

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 12, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions betrayed then-president Donald Trump.  Trump got rid of Sessions, as he should have done. Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland royally screwed President Joe Biden when the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a well-written report that highlighted Biden’s senility. On May 26, 2023, I proclaimed that Merrick Garland is the most useless Attorney General in modern history.  Today, Politico reports that the Biden White House has reached the same conclusion. I explained the role of the U.S. Attorney General in a December 9, 2021, article.  Here is what’s important about the Office of Attorney General: "First, the President appoints the U.S. Attorney General as a member of the executive branch of government. The Attorney General is a cabinet member just like the dozen or so other cabinet members who serve at the pleasure of the President.  Nothing in the U.S. Constitution places the Attorney General beyond the supervisory reach of the President. He/she is directly answerable to the President. Attorneys General at the state level are constitutional officers who run for statewide office and operate independently of the governor in their respective states. They are directly answerable to the people, and only the people. Second, the Attorney General's job in the federal system is to advance and protect the President's public policy initiatives using the federal legal apparatus to achieve this result. He/she also has a concomitant duty to enforce the labyrinth of more than 8,000 federal civil and criminal laws. Contrary to popular opinion, an unelected U.S. Attorney General is not free to detach himself/herself from the President who appointed him/her so that he/she can implement a separate, independent, and unsupervised federal law enforcement agenda. The DOJ does not join the President, Congress, and federal judiciary as a fourth branch of government. Third, the U.S. Constitution gives the President carte blanc authority to nullify the work of the Attorney General in the enforcement of federal criminal laws, with no questions asked. This grant of power was not an oversight in drafting, passing, and ratifying the Constitution. Instead, it was an express grant of power by the people to the President to overrule judicial outcomes that do not suit his liking. The President enjoys the unilateral and unreviewable right to pardon convicted federal inmates, commute their sentences to time served, and/or grant them executive clemency. The President does not need anybody's permission or approval to exercise this power. The pardon power is the ultimate supervisory authority over the Attorney General." President/Attorney General Pairings Matter America is best served when its President and Attorney General are both strong personalities and are in sync with each other. Our system of laws has always been used as a tool to drive and/or undergird public policy. President John Kennedy placed his brother Robert in the Attorney General's job to cover his back and push his Presidential agenda. Both men were rich, strong, and powerful leaders. They went to the brink of a nuclear showdown to keep Russia from becoming an influential military power in the Western Hemisphere. President Lyndon B. Johnson had a strong Attorney General in Nicholas Katzenbach. Their personal strength and aggressive leadership styles produced the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. No successors as President and Attorneys General have come close to matching Johnson's and Katzenbach's personal strength, vision for the future, and domestic accomplishments for Americans of color and poor people. Barack Obama selected Eric Holder as his Attorney General. Both of these men were highly likeable, but weak and ineffective in office.  In their minds, Obama and Holder mistakenly confused celebrity status with political strength.  Lyndon B. Johnson and Katzenbach accomplished more for African- Americans than Obama and Holder ever attempted. Joe Biden is weak, frail, and tired, and so is Attorney General Merrick Garland. More than three years after Biden assumed office in January 2021, Merrick Garland still employs avowed Trump loyalists and sophisticated white supremacists as U.S. Attorneys in southern states. What is worse, Garland's DOJ is notorious for "fixing" criminal cases for major utilities like the Atlanta-based Southern Company and Wall Street banks like Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republican Bank in 2023. The DOJ's "fixer-in-chief" was Kenneth Polite, who was Garland's handpicked chief of the Department's Criminal Division. Polite left the Department in July for a lucrative private sector job. "Fixing" criminal cases for politically connected corporations and individuals remains a signature feature of the Merrick Garland DOJ. Today, everybody in Washington realizes that Merrick Garland is a walking disgrace.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 10, 2024 An Editorial Opinion According to Google Analytics for January 2024, our news media platforms are reaching a worldwide audience of over 208,000 during a 30-day period.  This audience reach is an amazing achievement for news media platforms that do not solicit advertising or sell subscriptions for their news content. In 2013, we were based in Birmingham, Alabama and had an initial audience of 50 readers. Our sole distribution channel was Facebook. Today, we are based in Sacramento, California. Our proprietary news content exceeds 1,000 copyrighted articles on matters of significant public interest, nationally and internationally. In past years, efforts by Alabama-based news media competitors and other regressive forces in the state to de-legitimize our digital media platforms and discredit me as an independent journalist have failed miserably. Today, these media organizations are struggling financially. Many of them have been forced to sell favorable news coverage on corporate thugs and corrupt Alabama politicians for undisclosed "public relations" money just to stay afloat with scaled-back business operations. In contrast, we NEVER accept money from any source to report, slant, or spin a news story. We report the plain, honest truth -- for free. Furthermore, we are achieving market penetration in the United States and abroad at a fast pace. Our confidential news sources are diversified, trustworthy, and reliable. What is more, legacy media companies in global markets are also experiencing a slow death. At the same time, independent journalism is on the rise. Our Google-verified achievements for January tell us that serious readers around the world are thirsty for the presentation of unbiased, hard-hitting news stories on a wide range of current events by ”unbought” and “unbossed” independent journalists. This is exactly what we deliver.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 10, 2024 An Editorial Opinion I do not support the Democratic Party’s effort to re-elect a frail, old, and senile Joe Biden as president of the United Sates.  This is a selfish act of elderly abuse for political gain, and it is plain wrong. With the release of Special Counsel’s Robert Hur's report several days ago, the U.S. Department of Justice has officially determined that Joe Biden is senile.  This is the sole reason why Biden is not being prosecuted for crimes related to his retention of classified national security documents after he left the Vice Presidency in 2017. I agree with the Department's assessment in Joe Biden's case -- because of Biden's senility, he did not have the mental capacity required to commit the crime. Former president Donald Trump has been charged with these same document retention crimes in a Miami federal court and is awaiting his trial. The Department determined that Trump had the mental capacity necessary to commit these crimes. So, senility was NOT an issue in Trump's case. Who's Running the Biden White House? Personally, I do not know who is running the White House, but I know it is not Joe Biden. He's senile. What is worse, Biden's more senile today than he was four years ago. Nobody wants another senile president. Those of us who are old enough to remember President Ronald Reagan know what it is like to be governed by a senile president. Reagan, who had an affable personality, was senile during the latter part of his second term in office. Senile presidents are essentially figurehead office holders. Unelected White House aides and cabinet members run the country for senile presidents. Out-front in the Movement to "Dump" Biden as President On March 29, 2020, I published an article titled, "Democrats Must Draft a New Presidential Nominee."  In the article, I warned Democrats that they needed a presidential nominee other than Joe Biden. The Party ignored my advice and allowed the Bill/Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama loyalists to pick Joe Biden as the Party's 2020 nominee.  In turn, Biden picked California freshman U.S. Senator Kamala Harris as his Vice-Presidential running mate. Biden won the 2020 election primarily because former president Donald Trump demonstrated his colossal incompetence during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Americans were also tired of Trump's non-stop daily drama, buffoonery in office, braggadocios conduct, constant chest-pounding, narcissism, and megalomania. Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. The election was not stolen. There was no massive fraud in the nationwide voting, as alleged by Trump and his minions in over 60 court cases that he lost. In many of these cases, Trump-appointed federal judges ruled against him. The qualities that made Joe Biden an unattractive presidential candidate in 2020 are worse today.  Biden does not embody the presidential leadership qualities Americans need today. World leaders pity Joe Biden, rather than respect him. Biden is lost in the fog of senility. Simply put, Joe Biden is too old, slow, and weak to lead America in today's fast-paced, rapidly changing world. Moving Forward The bottom line is this:  I will not be an accomplice to the Democratic Party’s elderly abuse of Joe Biden.  It is cruel, disgusting, counterproductive, and dangerous for America. "Hating" on Donald Trump is NOT an acceptable reason for re-electing a senile Joe Biden as president. I would not treat an old dog the way the Democratic Party is treating Joe Biden. The party should thank Biden for his many decades of public service to America and make sure he is comfortable in an assisted living facility. Meanwhile, Democrats need to find another nominee for president or get ready for a Donald Trump presidency in January 2025.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 9, 2024 I am republishing an Op-Ed article that Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer, III, wrote on February 7, 2024, regarding his decision to deny Birmingham Southern College a $30 million loan last October.  Boozer’s decision to reject this loan was later upheld by a state court judge in Montgomery. Every Alabamian needs to read Young Boozer's Op-Ed. Here it is: “When state officials were approached about trying to salvage Birmingham-Southern College, the institution had already established the following dismal financial track record: Significant ill-considered borrowing to build facilities from 2004-2010 Miscalculating millions of dollars in Pell Grant awards Depleting its endowment fund which had been $130 million in 2000 Downgrading of its bonds to the worst risk status by Moody’s Investor Service Management instability with eight college presidents over the last 20 years Creating serious doubt about its future by declaring in December 2022 that it would close Declining enrollment of 1,268 students in 2018 to only 721 in 2023, a decrease of 43% State officials had nothing to do with creating that track record. The Alabama Legislature passed a bill in 2023 giving undisputed sole discretion to a constitutional officer with 50 years of banking, finance and investment expertise. For this reason, I believe the legislature’s “intent” was for me to do exactly as the law stipulates: 1) The State Treasurer shall require the applicant to meet five minimum criteria to be eligible and to submit a written financial restructuring plan documenting the applicant's ability to repay the loan. 2) The State Treasurer shall review all applications for loans and shall make a careful and thorough investigation of the ability of each applicant to repay a loan under the program. Birmingham-Southern does not have sufficient collateral to pledge toward yet another loan. It also cannot provide a first perfected security interest in all collateral assets. Furthermore, last December, Birmingham-Southern was placed on “warning” by its accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) citing the college’s failure to comply with governing board characteristics, financial resources, financial documents, and financial responsibility. Additionally, Moody’s Investor Services withdrew its debt rating entirely after previously downgrading it to junk bond status. And just this week, Senate Bill 31 has been introduced in the current legislative session to get $30 million of taxpayer money to Birmingham-Southern by stripping away any loan review from the State Treasurer, giving it to the bank that is already on the hook for millions loaned to the college – that would effectively surrender the hen house to the foxes! After MANY hours of thoroughly reviewing and investigating the information provided by Birmingham-Southern, I stand by my decision to deny using Alabama taxpayer dollars for a loan to an institution which I believe has been grossly mismanaged for many years. It is beyond distressed.” Young Boozer, III, is serving in his fourth term as Alabama’s State Treasurer.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on February 8, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Tonight, I watched Tucker Carlson’s entire interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  It was educational, comprehensive, and brilliant. I consider myself fairly educated on world affairs.  I have worked in the international business community since 2007.  For years, I have studied the history of countries and their development. April 12, 2022, I wrote an article about the war between Ukraine and Russia. A lot has changed since this article was published. Carlson's interview with Putin was the best interview on world affairs I have ever seen in the modern era.  I learned so much historical, geo-political, and financial information on Russia that I had never known before. Vladimir Putin is an extremely smart and savvy world leader.  He has no competitor in Joe Biden, who is old, frail, and suffering from a constantly diminishing mental capacity. With respect to Putin's dealings with Donald Trump, it is clear that Trump does not have the attention span or intellectual acumen to outthink Putin.  The Russian president seduces Trump by merely stoking Trump's gigantic, narcissistic ego. Whether Carlson is considered a "journalist" or "talk show host," he delivered a great interview with Vladimir Putin. This was NOT the soundbite journalism to which Americans have become so accustomed. Carlson will be criticized by many for his interview with Vladimir Putin, but this criticism is all "Bullshit."