By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 19, 2023 An Editorial Opinion After researching and writing many articles about the (a) engrained culture of corruption within the Southern Company and (b) inherent dangers arising from the company's fatally flawed, poorly constructed, and inadequately inspected nuclear-powered Units 3 and 4 at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro Georgia, I am now able to declare the “WINNERS” and “LOSERS” in this sordid mess. The culture of corruption within the Southern Company is legendary. This utility giant runs one of the most successful racketeering enterprises in American history. Since 2017, the Southern Company has also engaged in a massive $27 billion, multi-year accounting fraud scheme that dwarfs the $2.7 billion financial fraud scheme that operated at HealthSouth Corp. from 1996 to 2002. As discussed below, the Southern Company fears no state or federal prosecutor. Beginning in late 2022, the Southern Company was able to “fix” a federal investigation into its own criminal conduct. The Southern Company used a slick influence peddling campaign in Washington to redirect the focus of President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice from its corporate criminal activities to the investigation and prosecution of former president Donald J. Trump. Southern Company operatives also "saved" Jay Town, a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, from his own potential criminal culpability in the infamous North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. In return, Jay Town now bashes Donald Trump on NBC Nightly News and local media outlets in Alabama like Yellowhammer News. The rollout of Town's recent anti-Trump media campaign constitutes a thinly-veiled effort by the Southern Company to poison the jury pool against Donald Trump for the benefit of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Special Counsel Jack Smith ahead of Trump's New York and Miami criminal trials. Once Jay Town was successfully "flipped" from a Trump loyalist to a Trump critic, his own criminal exposure at the Department of Justice miraculously melted away. Because of the Southern Company’s gross mismanagement of the Vogtle projects, Units 3 and 4 are seven years behind schedule. These two projects drove Westinghouse Electric, LLC, the original contractor, into bankruptcy. The original construction costs of $14 billion for Units 3 and 4 have ballooned to nearly $35 billion. Today, these units are more than $21 billion over budget. Winners In my view, the “winners” are the people who avoided swallowing the Southern Company’s gigantic share of the company's $21 billion in losses at Vogtle and $8 billion in losses at the company’s coal gasification plant in Kemper, Mississippi. Some of these people actually benefitted economically from the failed executive decisions that adversely impacted the Vogtle and Kemper projects. 1. Southern Company Shareholders The biggest WINNERS in this mess are Southern Company shareholders. Despite the $29 billions in losses associated with the Vogtle and Kemper construction projects, the company has paid its shareholder dividends in increasing amounts for 22 consecutive years. Since 2017, the Southern Company has been forced to borrow money to pay these much touted dividends. 2. Thomas A. Fanning Former Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning is a WINNER. Since Thomas Fanning assumed the CEO position in 2010, shareholders have had the power to approve or reject his slate of recommended nominees for the company’s board of directors. Shareholders have approved all of these nominees on every occasion. In turn, these board members have condoned, approved, and/or rubber-stamped all Fanning’s $29 billion worth of mistakes and gross errors in judgment at Vogtle and Kemper. Instead of firing Fanning, the company's board members rewarded him with consistent raises in salary and bonuses during his tenure as CEO. In 2022, Fanning made $24 million in total compensation. Any other New York Stock Exchange/Fortune 500 CEO in America would have been fired for incurring $29 billion in cost overruns on the Vogtle and Kemper construction projects. Remarkably, Thomas Fanning’s $29 billion in screwups earned him a promotion to the position of Executive Chairman of the Southern Company Board of Directors at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on May 24, 2023. Thomas Fanning still runs the Southern Company. He oversees all of the company's operations from his Executive Chairman's position. What is more, Fanning is still making big bucks – for doing much less day-to-day work. All of this makes Thomas Fanning a DOUBLE WINNER. 3. Christopher C. Womack New Southern Company CEO Christopher C. Womack is a WINNER. In May 24th, Womack succeeded Thomas Fanning as CEO. Womack even gained a seat on the company’s board of directors that was created especially for him . Womack, a notorious womanizer, reports to Thomas Fanning. His job is viewed as a symbolic “wokeness” gesture for political and public relations purposes in Washington and New York. Today, Womack is considered the "poster boy" for President Joe Biden's diversity and nuclear energy initiatives. Unfortunately, Womack does not have the educational background, engineering credentials, or operational experience to actually run the Southern Company. Based upon credible reports from Southern Company "insiders," Thomas Fanning and his loyal cronies actually run the company for Womack, who is 65-years-old. Losers 1. Nine Million Southern Company Customers The Southern Company’s 9 million customers in a six-state service area (i.e., Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Illinois) are the biggest LOSERS in this mess. These 9 million customers are stuck with paying the tab for Thomas Fanning's $29 billion in construction-related mistakes at Vogtle and Kemper. These 9 million customers do not get dividend checks like the Southern Company's shareholders. Instead, they get jacked-up monthly electric power bills, with no end in sight. They also pay for an army of lobbyists and compromised state and federal public officials who engage in non-stop efforts to dismantle their consumer and environmental protection rights at all levels of government. They have never been in a position to fire Thomas Fanning or curb his pay. They have never had an opportunity to vote on the individuals who serve on the Southern Company’s board of directors. These 9 million customers have never be able to participate in the multi-billion dollar “grifting” deals that board member David J. Grain and others exploit from the Southern Company’s network of affiliate companies and vendor relationships. Furthermore, they do not get $365,000 checks each year for rubber-stamping Fanning’s $29 billion worth of construction mistakes. What is worse, each one of Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers has already been forced to pay $913 in advance charges for the cost overruns at Vogtle. Once Unit 3 becomes operational, these Georgia-based customers will be hit with another $3.78 per month increase in their electric bills. Tragically, the Southern Company’s 9 million customers have been gouged, financially raped, regulatory abused, and betrayed – repeatedly and with impunity. The Georgia Public Service Commission, the Alabama Public Service Commission, the Mississippi Public Service Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Joe Biden White House, and the U.S. Department of Justice have sold out these 9 million customers, without ever blinking an eye. Each one of these government agencies was charged with protecting the consumer and environmental protection rights of the Southern Company’s 9 million customers, and each one knowingly and willingly failed to do so. Each one of these agencies was corrupted by the Southern Company’s pervasive influence peddling schemes and the tens of millions of dollars in “dark money” contributions that have been funneled to greedy public officials for the sole purpose of undermining their sworn public duty and promised public service work. 2. Kimberly Greene Kimberly Greene is a LOSER. Ms. Greene was far more qualified than Christopher Womack for the Georgia Power CEO job that was awarded to Womack in November 2020. Additionally, Ms. Greene should have been selected for the Southern Company CEO job on May 24, 2023. The objective professional qualifications between Womack and Green are not even close. Greene’s credentials in the energy sector trump Womack’s all day, every day. Frankly speaking, Kimberly Green was not promoted to the Southern Company's CEO position on May 24th because she is a smart, strong, hardworking woman in a male-dominated, Old South “Good Ol’ Boys” club. For the reasons explained in my May 23, 2023, article, Kim Greene must be having a miserable time in reporting to her boss, Christopher Womack. 3. Residents of Georgia and South Carolina Living Within 40 Miles of Vogtle The residents of Georgia and South Carolina who live within 40 miles of Vogtle are LOSERS. As explained in my June 17, 2023, article, Units 3 and 4 will likely experience a Level 5 to 7 catastrophic nuclear disaster shortly after Unit 3 goes into commercial service. In light of the engineering flaws, shoddy workmanship, and lack of thorough, proper, and independent quality control inspections at Units 3 and 4, this nuclear disaster is inevitable. Since 2017, politics has trumped public safety in the construction of the Units 3 and 4. Today, these units are nuclear deathtraps. More than 500,000 residents within an 11-county area surrounding Waynesboro, Georgia will have to be permanently resettled after the likely nuclear disaster at Unit 3. Thousands will become seriously ill from radiation poisoning. Many will die. At this juncture, nobody inside of state and federal government appears to care about these residents or their likely plight. 4. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is a LOSER. Like every other government agency in America today, the NRC has succumbed to influence peddling of the highest order. The NRC knows that Units 3 and 4 are not safe, but the Commission is allowing the Southern Company to self-certify the safety of these nuclear power units on a conflict of interest basis. The NRC is under tremendous political pressure to approve Units 3 and 4 for commercial operations in time to politically benefit Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. After all, Biden designated Christopher T. Hanson as Chairman of the NRC on January 20, 2021 -- his first day in the White House. The NRC's five Commissioners have apparently yielded to this political pressure. In 1979, the NRC promised the nation that it would never allow another Three Mile Island nuclear disaster to happen on America soil. Following the meltdown at Three Mile Island, the NRC said the Commission would always place the health, safety, welfare, and lives of Americans above the greed of nuclear power plant owners/operators and the politicians who take their laundered money. Well, it appears that the NRC lied when it made these promises in 1979! Epilogue Southern Company customers have been royally screwed by everybody who was charged by law with protecting their consumer and environmental protection rights. Today, Republic lawmakers in Washington are tripping over themselves as they investigate the financial dealings of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden with Bursima Holding Limited. Burisma is a privately owned oil and gas company headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on Burisma’s board of directors from 2014 to 2019. Hunter Biden reportedly made $5 million for rendering services of dubious nature to Burisma while he was a hardcore, crack-smoking, drug addict. Nobody in Washington has bothered to look into the Southern Company’s undisclosed financial ties to Biden family members and those who operate within the family’s political and social orbit. We have! Stay tuned!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 20, 2023 An Analysis and Editorial Opinion Crack-smoking, tax-evading, drug addict Hunter Biden was given the plea deal of the century by Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice. Biden’s criminal case was “fixed” in plain view of all Americans. Hunter Biden is NOT going to prison for his crimes. The First Family is safe, for now. Merrick Garland handled Hunter's embarrassing criminal matter for his dad – President Joe Biden. All three men -- Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, and Merrick Garland -- are corrupt to the core. Merrick Garland reported this “fix” in a letter to a federal court in Delaware, which is notorious for railroading black criminal defendants. Read the letter for yourself. It's disgusting. Welcome to the corrupt, "rigged," weaponized, and multi-tiered federal criminal justice system! To be clear, there is a stand-alone federal criminal justice system for Hunter Biden and similarly situated privileged white offenders. There is another federal criminal justice system for ordinary white federal criminal defendants. There is a separate, wholly unequal, and much harsher federal criminal justice system for black Americans and other defendants of colors. In this system, Hunter Biden would have been labeled a "dopehead" and dangerous "career criminal." Finally, there is a politically-motivated and highly weaponized federal criminal justice system operating against Donald J. Trump. Remarkably, all of these federal criminal justice systems are operating out in the open for the first time. “White Privilege” Worked for Hunter Biden To protect the viability of Joe Biden's re-election campaign, Attorney General Merrick Garland reduced Hunter Biden’s litany of felony tax evasion charges to two misdemeanors. Merrick Garland dropped his gun possession charge against Hunter Biden, who is an acknowledged drug addict. Federal law makes it a felony for a person to possess a firearm who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Hunter Biden is a known crack cocaine user and longtime drug addict. Garland allowed Hunter Biden to enter a federal pretrial diversion program for non-violent, first-time offenders. This is the same kind of program that sent white America into a rage in 2019 when black actor Jussie Smollett, who pled guilty to non-gun-related charges in Chicago, was admitted into a state of Illinois pretrial diversion program. Smollett was re-indicted on the same charges in 2022, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 150 days in jail. His sentence has been stayed pending an appeal. Hunter Biden will NOT be subjected to the Jussie Smollett treatment. Merrick Garland took care of that problem for Hunter and his dad. Hunter Biden is now basking in the warm glow of Democratic Party sanctioned "white privilege." Joe Biden must be very pleased with this First Family plea deal. Merrick Garland’s decision to drop the gun possession charge allowed Hunter Biden to escape a mandatory minimum 5-year prison sentence on the gun charge, alone. Black drug offenders are routinely tagged with this gun possession felony charge and 5-year minimum sentence, which is imposed on top of their drug-related charges. Hunter's "whiteness" saved him from this felony charge. America is witnessing the federal criminal justice system at work for a privileged white defendant in real time. Only the wealthiest, politically connected white defendants can get the “Hunter Biden Deal.” I have seen the "Hunter Biden Deal" happen several times during my long legal career. None of the offenders who got it deserved it. What is more, I have personally seen a white, privileged, drug offender from Iowa, who was connected to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), gain admission to a pretrial diversion program and avoid prison 17 times over a 15 year period. I have seen a white, privileged drug offender in Alabama, who was connected to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabam), go into pretrial diversion and avoid prison 9 times. No black defendant in America facing the same federal criminal exposure as Hunter Biden has ever gotten the “Hunter Biden Deal.” None will ever get this deal. The Trial Judge Assigned to Hunter Biden's Case Should Reject This Plea Deal The trial Judge assigned to Hunter Biden’s case should reject the “Hunter Biden Deal.” It is the product of a politically-motivated abuse of prosecutorial discretion. It is also repugnant to the fair administration of justice and rule of law. Republicans lawmakers in Washington should be incensed. This “fix” must be investigated on Capitol Hill. Americans should be outraged. The Biden administration believes we are stupid enough to allow Hunter Biden’s “fixed” criminal case to go down without a fight. Merrick Garland should resign, immediately! He is a fraud. Garland has brought nothing but shame and disgrace to the U.S. Department of Justice. Merrick Garland is harder on police officers across America than he is on Hunter Biden. I have zero respect for him as the nation's top prosecutor. The Department of Justice officials who negotiated and approved the controversial "Hunter Biden Deal" should resign and face federal criminal charges for obstruction of justice. MAGA Republican supporters of Donald Trump should be raising pure hell about the “fix” in Hunter Biden’s case. Equal justice just went out the window with the "Hunter Biden Deal." Jurors in Trump’s federal criminal case in Miami should invoke “jury nullification,” without reservation or hesitation. Additionally, Judge Aileen Cannon should use every judicial tool in her arsenal to make sure that her courtroom is not used as a political weapon against Donald Trump. She is uniquely qualified to put an end to the multi-tiered federal criminal justice system in Trump's case. Finally, Joe Biden must be defeated in 2024. Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the Biden family are a national disgrace.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 17, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Yesterday, the Atlanta-based Southern Company filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing that its long-planned, chronically flawed, newly constructed Unit 3 nuclear power plant at the company’s Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia has failed again during pre-operational testing. According to the 8-K, “On June 16, 2023, Georgia Power Company (“Georgia Power”) announced that during the start-up and pre-operational testing for Plant Vogtle Unit 3, Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. identified, and is in the process of remediating, a degraded hydrogen seal in the main generator and has started the planned maintenance outage. Considering this remediation and the remaining pre-operational testing, Georgia Power now projects that the Unit 3 in-service date will occur in July 2023. [T]he projected schedule for Unit 3 primarily depends on the continued progression of pre-operational testing and start-up, which may be impacted by further equipment, component, and/or other operational challenges. Ongoing or future challenges also include management of contractors and vendors and/or related cost escalation. As testing continues, new challenges also may continue to be identified, which may result in required engineering changes or remediation related to plant systems, structures, or components (some of which are based on new technology that only within the last few years began initial operation in the global nuclear industry at this scale). These challenges may result in further schedule delays and/or cost increases.” In street language, the company's Form 8-K alerts the public that (a) the hydrogen seals on Unit 3 are defective and must be replaced, and (b) as pre-operational testing continues, new flaws in the plant’s operating systems, structures, and major equipment and component packages may be discovered and they may require engineering changes and remediation. If Unit 3 was a new car that was sold in Georgia, it would be declared a "lemon" and would be covered by Georgia's Lemon Law. In the world of cars, a "lemon" is synonymous with broken, flawed, and defective vehicles. They must be replaced or repurchased by the manufacturer. Vogtle is a Nuclear Radiation and Contamination Deathtrap Vogtle Units 3 and 4 (which is a replica of Unit 3) are nuclear radiation and contamination deathtraps that range in scale for a potential disaster from the Three Mile Island Level 5 meltdown in Pennsylvania in 1979, to the Chernobyl Level 7 nuclear disaster in the old Soviet Union in 1986 and the Fukushima Level 7 nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. The construction of Units 3 and 4 was first announced on September 8, 1971. The Southern Company's application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to design, build, own, and operate Units 3 and 4 was submitted on February 13, 1973. Construction permits for the units were first issued on June 28, 1974. For financial and political reasons, the Southern Company's plan to build Units 3 and 4 was scrapped for the next 32 years. In 2006, the Southern Company announced its intent to build Units 3 and 4. Licenses to own and operate Units 3 and 4 were issued by the NRC on February 10, 2012. Today, the construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 is seven years behind schedule due to: (a) a endless series of construction delays, (b) a multitude of outdated design and engineering flaws, (c) shoddy workmanship that is pervasive throughout Units 3 and 4, (d) inadequate inspections by Southern Nuclear Operating Company, federal and state regulators, and other interested parties, and (e) substandard remediation work. In January, both Bechtel, an engineering, procurement, and construction firm hired by the Southern Company in 2017, and Southern Nuclear Operating Company, the licensed operator and construction management firm for Vogtle Units 3 and 4, missed the engineering checkoff during construction for the installation of the structural support systems required to prevent Unit 3 from vibrating during start-up testing and commercial operations. This costly mistake is analogous to installing a motor in a new car without installing proper motor mounts to keep the motor from vibrating and tearing loose from the car frame over time. The design and engineering flaws, shoddy workmanship, and remediation work at Vogtle Units 3 and 4 have resulted in $21 billion in cost overruns for these two construction projects, which were originally budgeted at $14 billion. Today, the total cost of the two Vogtle units is estimated at $31 billion. Based upon industry reports, Units 3 and 4 have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. These failure rates are the product of: A culture of production over quality A culture of poor inspecting or non-inspecting of work High personnel turnover and absenteeism Significant work backlogs High first-time component testing failure rates, and Need for extensive rework and retesting. Conflicts of Interest and Influence Peddling Increase the Likelihood of a Catastrophic Nuclear Disaster at Vogtle In my June 4, 2023, article titled, “Politics Trumps Public Safety: The Southern Company’s Making of a Nuclear Disaster at Vogtle,” I identified the many conflicts of interest and influence peddling schemes that undermine the safety and soundness of Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle. In 2022, the Southern Company raked in $59 billion in utility customer money. The company and its political allies redirect a big chunk of this money to: (a) the National Democratic Party, (b) political action committees that support President Joe Biden, (c) Georgia’s two Democratic U.S. Senators, (d) GOP members of the Georgia Public Service Commission, and (d) a host of state and federal lawmakers from both political parties. This river of customer cash has caused nearly everybody who is in a position of authority to protect the environment and promote public safety at Vogtle to look the other way. The Southern Company is listed in the Top 10 utility companies that donated the most “dark money” to friendly regulators and greedy politicians between 2014 and 2020. The company acknowledge funneling at least $8.4 million to politicians and utility regulators during this period, according to an article published by the Guardian on June 15, 2023. The actual amount of “dark money” that was laundered through 501(c)(4) non-profits to line the pockets of regulators and politicians during this six-year period is incalculable. This is particularly true in light of the fact that the "dark money" was often funneled through Southern Company vendors who, in turn, made the necessary "donations." The Southern Company’s free flow of cash to greedy politicians has cleared the way for the White House, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Georgia Public Service Commission, and the NRC to (a) ignore the warning of nuclear safety defects at Vogtle and (b) allow the Southern Company to self-certify the safety of Units 3 and 4. Influence peddling in Washington by Southern Company board members Ernest J. Moniz (a former Secretary of Energy), Kristine L. Svinicki (a former Commissioner and Chairwoman of the NRC), Colette D. Honorable (a former FERC commissioner), and Dale E. Klein (a former NRC Commissioner) serves as icing on the cake. Co-opting Mainstream Media Organizations The Southern Company’s Washington, D.C. office has successfully coordinated public relations initiatives that completely co-opt and shut down negative investigative news stories that were developed for publication by Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. These Southern Company “catch and kill” initiatives occurred in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The Southern Company’s “catch and kill” of a Wall Street Journal investigative story was proudly celebrated by the board of directors during a dinner at the company’s annual shareholders meeting last month. This effective approach to managing media content from New York-based news organizations is an extension of the Southern Company's “capture and control” program that began at its Alabama Power affiliate in 2017. National Public Radio (NPR) “outed” this creative program in a December 19, 2022, article titled, “In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics.” On December 21, 2022, NPR published an article that described how Southern Company operatives used an ABC News producer to spy on former Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning’s girlfriend (Kim Tanaka) from 2017 to September 21, 2022. The NPR article, titled “She was an ABC News producer. She also was a corporate operative,” exposed the undercover spying activities of ABC News producer Kristen Hentschel. Sacrificing Public Health, Safety and Welfare at Vogtle for Southern Company Profits Except for the Southern Company and its Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear Operating Company affiliates, no capable and qualified nuclear power experts are independently vouching for the safety and soundness of Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle. Additionally, no government entity has studied the health risks of bringing Units 3 and 4 online for commercial service. The last available study of these risks was published on June 20, 2007 by an environmental protection group named Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (www.bredl.org.) From the time Vogtle nuclear power Units 1 and 2 began commercial operations in 1989 to the date of the Blue Ridge report in 2007, average radioactivity levels in drinking water, river water, and sediment downriver or at the Vogtle plant skyrocketed as high as 44.6%. During the same periods, the cancer death rate for children and adolescents in the 11 counties closest to Vogtle rose 58.5%, compared to a 14.1% decline nationally. The death rate in Burke County GA (where Vogtle is located) rose sharply for all cancers, especially for blacks and for children and young/middle age adults, while U.S. rates declined The government agencies that are charged by law with protecting the environment around Vogtle and preventing a catastrophic nuclear disaster at Vogtle have been effectively anesthetized by the flow of the Southern Company’s "dark money" in Washington and Georgia. It appears that the federal and state regulatory agencies involved with the Vogtle projects have bought into the Southern Company’s “fake it ‘til you make it” profitability program. At this juncture, these agencies seems to be focused on delivering regulatory approvals that have more to do with propping the Southern Company’s stock prices and appeasing the Joe Biden administration than providing and promoting public safety at Vogtle. Epilogue Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are outdated, fatally flawed, "lemon" nuclear power projects. Nuclear medicine experts expect a lot of people within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle to get sick and die from radiation poisoning when the highly-likely nuclear disaster occurs at the fatally flawed nuclear power Units 3 and 4. More than 350,000 people had to be permanently resettled after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Experts expect that at least 500,000 people living in 11 counties within the 40-mile radius of the Vogtle contamination area will have to be permanently resettled. Of course, the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta Georgia will have to be played somewhere else, as the residents of Augusta will have to be resettled. At this juncture, our best hope as a nation is that the Southern Company corporate executives and federal and state government officials who could have prevented the likely nuclear disaster at Vogtle will be around to get prosecuted for second degree murder, reckless endangerment by radiation poisoning and contamination, and the willful destruction of private property within the contaminated area.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 20, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Today, crack-smoking, tax-evading, drug addict Hunter Biden had a great day! Hunter and his dad, President Joe Biden, pulled off the criminal case "fix" of the 21st century. Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice announced to a U.S. District Court in Delaware that it had reached a “sweetheart” plea deal with Hunter Biden, making the "fix" official. Unbelievably, the United States’ entire criminal case against Hunter Biden was reduced to two “no jail-time” misdemeanors -- solely for political reasons. Merrick Garland also approved Hunter Biden’s entry into a federal pretrial diversion program on a related gun possession felony charge. Garland’s exercise of prosecutorial “grace” on this charge saved Hunter Biden from a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison. Hunter Biden is now free to continue his junkets around the world on Air Force One -- courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. He will also continue to get Secret Service protection -- at taxpayer expense. Congress must investigate this plea deal. It stinks from the foul odor of public corruption! The Democratic-controlled Senate will not touch this matter. After all, Joe Biden is the head of the Democratic Party and Hunter Biden is America's "First Son," with all of the privileges and benefits that this status entails. The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee must conduct the investigation. This is one time when Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) must be smart, prepared, and even-handed -- something he has not been good at doing in the past. Everybody in America knows that Merrick Garland “fixed” Hunter Biden’s criminal case. It’s Jim Jordan’s job to prove it in a public hearing. We don’t need hyperbole and GOP showboating. Hyperbole and showboating feel good and are easy to do, but they are NOT effective techniques for exposing this kind of public corruption by the nation's top law enforcement agency. This is a "Watergate" moment, and it must be handled right. We have been here before with Attorney General John Mitchell, who served a President Richard Nixon's Attorney General from 1969 to 1972. Mitchell was indicted, tried, and convicted for his role in the infamous Watergate break-in. He served 19 months in a federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base for his crimes. The American public needs Jim Jordan’s Committee to develop and meticulously present the relevant facts regarding Hunter Biden’s plea deal in a full and fair public hearing. Jordan should follow the hearing format used by the January 6th Committee. It was impressive and effective. Despite holding a majority of the seats in the House, Republicans have been incredibly weak and amateurish in presenting evidence of wrongdoing by the Biden White House and its executive departments. Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Committee must NOT blow this public hearing like it blew the recent FBI whistleblower hearings. This is one time when the American people do not need mindless Republican minions in Congress who merely parrot GOP-prepared talking points on FOX News. Instead, we need high-quality, focused, and professional leadership in this Congressional probe.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 21, 2023 An Analysis and Editorial Opinion If you live within a 40-mile radius of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant owned by Southern Company affiliate Georgia Power Company (and three other utility partners) and operated by Southern Company affiliate Southern Nuclear Operating Company, you are in grave danger of a catastrophic nuclear disaster whenever Unit 3 begins commercial operations. The Vogtle Plant is located near the city of Waynesboro in Burke County, Georgia. On June 16, 2023, the Southern Company publicly announced that commercial operations at Unit 3 will commence in July. Unit 3 is unsafe. It is riddled with basic engineering flaws and years of shoddy workmanship. It is enveloped in a culture of inadequate inspections and endless remediation work. Based upon industry reports, Units 3 and 4 (which is a replica of Unit 3) have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. Units 3 and 4 are "lemon" nuclear power plants and deathtraps of monumental proportions. Units 3 and 4 should have been scrapped years ago like the Southern Company’s fatally flawed $8 billion coal gasification plant in Kemper, Mississippi. Remarkably, the Southern Company's political chokehold on the Joe Biden White House has kept the two "lemon" nuclear projects at Vogtle alive and moving toward commercial operations and a nuclear disaster. The Southern Company's chokehold on President Joe Biden and his administration makes Southern Company Executive Chairman Thomas A. Fanning and new CEO Christopher Womack smile and beam with pride. In fact, these executives get giddy every time they defeat an initiative that promotes public safety at Vogtle, environmental protections at other Southern Company power plants, and consumer rights for the Southern Company customers -- all while using customers' money to defeat these initiatives. What is worse, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Georgia Public Service Commission have completely abdicated their statutory responsibility to ensure public safety in connection with the commercial operations of Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle. This abdication has been aided by an unprecedented amount of influence peddling by Southern Company officials and paid operatives in Washington and Georgia. These federal regulatory and oversight agencies have allowed Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear to essentially self-certify the safety of Units 3 and 4 much like the Federal Aviation Administration allowed The Boeing Company to self-certify the airworthiness of its new 737 MAX aircraft, two of which fell out of the sky in 2018 and 2019 and killed 346 passengers and crew members because of engineering flaws in the structural design of the aircraft. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is headed by Christopher T. Hanson, who was handpicked by President Biden to assume the chairmanship of the Commission on the first day of his presidency. Hanson's leadership at the Commission has been woefully inadequate. He is providing the same low calibre of leadership at the Commission that contributed to the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. Political accommodations and "fixes" in Washington have become the hallmark of the Biden administration. For example, on June 20, 2023, Biden's Department of Justice announced that it had resolved or “fixed” a criminal case against Hunter Biden on felony tax evasion and gun possession charges in a way that allowed Hunter to avoid going to prison. An Imminent Catastrophic Nuclear Disaster is 99% Likely at Vogtle As a result of the Southern Company’s demonstrated political muscle and notorious “dark money” contributions to powerful public officials and anti-consumer protection political action groups in Washington and Georgia, politics has trumped public safety at Vogtle. Today, there is a 99% probability that a Level 7 nuclear disaster will occur at Vogtle Unit 3 within 90 days after it becomes fully operational. Level 7 is on the scale of the worst nuclear disasters at Chernobyl in the old Soviet Union in 1986 and Fukushima in Japan in 2011. Vogtle Units 3 and 4 were built using outdated engineering plans and specifications. They are fatally flawed. No capable and qualified, truly independent panel of nuclear experts has certified the safety and operational soundness of Units 3 and 4. A catastrophic nuclear power event has occurred only once before in America, and it resulted in the Level 5 nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island. Vogtle will become the second and most deadly nuclear disaster in U.S. history. The tragedy here lies in the fact that the Vogtle nuclear disaster is completely preventable. Nuclear medicine experts expect a lot of people within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle to get sick and die from radiation poisoning when the Level 7 nuclear disaster occurs at Units 3 and/or 4. More than 350,000 people had to be permanently resettled after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Experts expect that at least 500,000 people living in 11 counties within the 40-mile radius of the Vogtle contamination area will have to be permanently resettled. Of course, the famous and prestigious Masters Golf Tournament will no longer be played in Augusta Georgia, as the residents of Augusta will have to be resettled. Augusta is located 33.5 miles from Vogtle. It is Cheaper to Pay Claims for Death, Personal Injuries, and Property Damages Than It is to Fix Vogtle Units 3 and 4 The Southern Company has apparently determined that it is cheaper to pay claims for death, personal injury, and property damages than it is to fix the fatally flawed, highly defective, and extremely dangerous Units 3 and 4 nuclear power plants at Vogtle, which have cost the ownership group over $35 billion to date. This construction amount is $21 billion over the original project budget of $14 billion. Units 3 and 4 cannot be fixed to make them safe because the design flaws are structural and embedded throughout Units 3 and 4. The Southern Company’s only hope of coming out of this financial nightmare is two-fold. First, the Southern Company will make its own insurance claim for property damages at Vogtle after the nuclear disaster occurs. Georgia Power is also a member of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, a mutual insurer established to provide property damage insurance in an amount up to $1.5 billion for members' operating nuclear generating facilities. Second, the Southern Company will seek a “bailout” from Congress to make up for the shortfall between the $1.5 billion in property insurance proceeds and the $35 billion spent on the construction of Units 3 and 4. Remember, Congress bailed out Boeing with $50 billion for the defective 737 Max airplanes under the pretext that the money was needed for COVID relief. Risk mitigation experts at the Southern Company have already estimated the amount of losses associated with third-party deaths, personal injuries, and property damage claims. These third-party claims will be handled within the policy limits of Georgia Power’s nuclear insurance coverage under the Price-Anderson Amendments Act (Act), which provides funds up to $13.7 billion for public liability claims that could arise from a single nuclear incident. Residents Must Prepare for the Nuclear Disaster No one at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Georgia Public Safety Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will guarantee the public that these regulatory and oversight agencies took all of the steps reasonably necessary to protect the public and prevent a catastrophic nuclear disaster at Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle. No head of these agencies will swear under penalties of perjury that his/her respective agency decisions were free of Southern Company influence peddling that might have directly or indirectly impacted final agency approvals. Allegations regarding the Southern Company's "fitness" to own and operate Vogtle Units 3 and 4 were formally resolved in the company's favor on June 20, 2023, without the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking the separate and distinct Complainants to submit evidence supporting their allegations or holding a formal hearing to consider their complaints. Please notice that June 20, 2023 is the same date that the Department of Justice announced the "fix" in Hunter Biden's federal criminal case. As such, residents within the 40-mile radius of Vogtle must prepare to fend for themselves in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster at Vogtle. The lessons learned from Three Mile Island have been forgotten. Regulatory decision-making is once again driven by political considerations and corporate money that is injected into a corrupt political system. First, these residents must read and understand the evacuation plan for leaving the contaminated area after the disaster occurs. Second, these residents should do their best to enjoy their loved ones and friends, as a lot of them will be dead or dying after the disaster occurs. Life, as they know it today, will take a dramatic and tragic turn after the nuclear disaster at Vogtle occurs. Third, residents with valuable personal property inside this 40-mile radius should relocate this property to an alternative safekeeping site outside the 40-mile radius -- right now. Unfortunately, the individual Commissioners on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Georgia Public Service Commission cannot be sued personally for approving the commercial operations at Vogtle's fatally flawed Units 3 and 4. These Commissioners enjoy qualified immunity from third-party lawsuits. At this juncture, our best hope as a nation for seeking justice in this matter is that the Southern Company corporate executives and federal and state government officials who could have prevented the nuclear disaster at Units 3 and 4 will be around to get prosecuted for second degree murder, reckless endangerment by radiation poisoning and contamination, and the willful destruction of private property within the 40-mile contaminated area.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 23, 2023 An Editorial Opinion America, Hunter Biden’s tax evasion and gun possession case is a clear example of “white privilege” operating freely and openly within the federal criminal justice system. If you do not see this “white privilege,” it is because you do not want to see it. Let’s compare Hunter Biden’s preferential treatment within the federal criminal justice system with Wesley Snipes’ nightmare experience. Hunter Biden’s Tax and Drug Case Hunter Biden, who is white, failed to pay federal income taxes and possessed a firearm while being addicted to crack cocaine. Hunter Biden lied on the application he signed to buy the gun in question. Hunter falsely claimed that he was not addicted to illegal drugs when, in fact, he was. Hunter Biden will be allowed to enter a federal pretrial diversion program. Because of the gun possession charge, the Deputy Attorney General had to approve Hunter Biden's admission into the program. Was Hunter Biden brandishing this firearm? The photo below answers that question. White House claims that Attorney General Merrick Garland had nothing to do with this case are pure bullshit. The Department of Justice's "fix" of this major criminal case for America's crackhead, gun-toting, First Son required Merrick Garland's prior knowledge and approval. The Department of Justice has agreed to recommended probation for Hunter Biden, who did not have to cooperate with law enforcement authorities or give up the names of his drug dealers. Apparently, "snitching" is beneath the dignity of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden's drug dealers remain free to roam the streets of Delaware. They continue to peddle their crack cocaine to young teenagers and adult drug addicts. Thanks to a whistleblower complaint filed in Congress, we now know that IRS Criminal Division agents working on Hunter Biden’s case were impeded and/or blocked from conducting a full, fair, and proper criminal investigation into the First Son's case. Wesley Snipes’ Tax Case On October 12, 2006, actor Wesley Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn, and Douglas P. Rosile were charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and one count of knowingly making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States. Snipes was also charged with six counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns by their filing dates. No drugs or guns were involved in Wesley Snipes’ federal criminal case. Wesley Snipes, who is black, maintained his innocence. He pleaded “Not Guilty” and stood trial on the felony and misdemeanor charges lodged against him. On February 1, 2008, Snipes was acquitted on the two felony charges. He was found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal income tax returns (and acquitted on three other "failure to file" charges). On April 24, 2008, Snipes was sentenced to 12 months on each of the three misdemeanor convictions, which ran consecutively. He spent nearly 3 years in prison. Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal is Failure of Justice Hunter Biden’s plea deal is a failure of justice on many levels and in many respects. The Hunter Biden versus Wesley Snipes comparison is a clear example of how “white privilege” operates openly, freely, and often within the federal criminal justice system. This dual system of federal criminal justice, based upon race, operates consistently, whether the sitting president of the United States is a Democrat or Republican and whether he is white or black. What is worse, most trial judges knowingly allow this race-based disparate treatment within the federal criminal justice system to run rampant, even though they have the power to stop it. Please notice that neither the American Bar Association, nor the Federal Judges Association, has spoken out against the "fix" in Hunter Biden's federal criminal case. Finally, we know of no black criminal offender with federal tax evasion and gun-possession charges who has been offered Hunter Biden's "sweetheart" deal -- ever! This deal is reserved for the most politically connected white offenders.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 24, 2023 A review of statistical reports compiled annually by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on firearms cases handled by U.S. Attorneys around the nation from FY 2001 through FY 2021 shows that at least 185,082 of these cases were processed and concluded during this 20-year period. The statistical report for FY 2021, which was published in December 2022, is the most recent one available online. According to a DOJ letter submitted to a Delaware federal court on June 20, 2023, Hunter Biden was charged with a “firearms offense – namely, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(3) and 924 (a)(2) (2018).” Section 922 is a felony “weapons” offense, as defined in the annual DOJ statistical reports. According to the reports, none of the 185,082 “weapons” cases prosecuted during this 20-year period was referred by DOJ to a pretrial diversion program. U.S. v. Hunter Biden is the first and only time a federal offender has enjoyed this kind of preferential treatment in a firearms case. Claims by the White House and DOJ that Hunter Biden was treated like all other federal firearms offenders are complete and utter "bullshit." Hunter Biden is either the luckiest federal firearms offender in U.S. history or a beneficiary of the most corrupt Department of Justice in modern history.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 24, 2023 An Editorial Opinion When the U.S. Department of Justice “fixed” First Son Hunter Biden’s felony criminal case on June 20, 2023, this brazen act of "white privilege” forced the nation to focus on the history of "whiteness" in America. This is one of the times when "white privilege" was conferred on a person whom many Americans view as "white trash," for the reasons depicted in the photos below. Tim Wise, a well-known antiracist activist, essayist, and author of seven books on racism, inequality, and "white privilege," explains the history of "whiteness" in America in this 3-minute video. It's the best explanation I have heard. Take a listen.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 25, 2023 An Editorial Opinion On June 20, 2023, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified Southern Nuclear Operating Company about two willful violations of the Commission’s “Instructions, Procedures, and Drawings” for nuclear power Unit 3 at the Southern Company’s Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. In its letter to Southern Nuclear, the NRC found the following two violations: “[A] former test engineer employed by a contractor of Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) . . . . deliberately falsified completion of a required step associated with hot functional testing (HFT) procedures at Vogtle Unit 3. The first [violation] involved the failure to obtain ambient temperature pressurizer shim gap measurements and record the values on the appropriate data table in accordance with the procedure, placing SNC in violation of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50 Appendix B, Criterion V, ‘Instructions, Procedures, and Drawings.’ The second [violation] involved the failure to maintain complete and accurate information in accordance with 10 CFR 52.6, ‘Completeness and Accuracy of Information,’ when the contract test engineer signed off a procedure step confirming the pressurizer shim gap measurements had been taken, when in fact they had not.” Southern Nuclear, an affiliate of the Southern Company and the designated “operator” of Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle, admitted that the two violations occurred. According to the NRC letter, “[O]n May 12, 2021, while recording HFT measurements at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (°F), [Southern Nuclear] found two reactor coolant system support settings out of tolerance and the plant was cooled down to ambient to reset the supports. [Southern Nuclear] conducted an extent of condition to reverify that all required ambient measurements were recorded and discovered the pressurizer shim gap measurements had not yet been obtained even though the procedure was signed as completed." These two violations, which occurred in 2021, had “no actual consequences and the potential safety significance was very low” only because the “issues were identified during HFT with no fuel loaded into the reactor core.” (Emphasis added) Today, Unit 3 is still riddled with design and engineering flaws, as well as shoddy workmanship. Unlike the testing in 2021, there is now fuel loaded into the reactor core. Southern Nuclear employees and contractors felt pressured by Southern Company senior management executives to falsify construction-related inspections and test results in order to bring Units 3 into commercial operation as soon as possible. Citing Brett Wingo's whistleblower case, Southern Nuclear employees and contractors have been reluctant to report these "quality control" problems and "performance assurance" issues to top managers at the Southern Company. Southern Company Top Brass Crucified Whistleblower Brett Wingo In 2012, a whistleblower named Brett Wingo alleged that the Southern Company’s Kemper, Mississippi coal gasification plant construction project was mismanaged and that the company fraudulently concealed cost overruns and mislead investors about project delays. Although engineers told management in February 2014 that the company should not promise completion of the Kemper construction project by the year’s end, the Southern Company ignored that advice. The engineers were told by plant managers to present an optimistic picture to avoid a financial calamity. The Southern Company sued Wingo on February 19, 2015, to stop him from talking about the concealed cost overruns and project delays. Wingo was subsequently fired when he would not keep quiet about the Southern Company’s mismanagement of the Kemper project. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration subsequently ruled that Wingo's firing was illegal. The agency stated that Wingo should be rehired and paid back wages and benefits. Wingo was offered $975,000 by the company to keep quiet, but he did not stop talking. In August 2017, Wingo filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the Southern Company stating that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's order to reinstate him was being ignored. Wingo also claimed he had reported safety concerns and unrealistic construction schedules internally, but he was warned that he was “digging a hole for his career and not to become a martyr.” Wingo raised his concerns with Southern Company executives as high as former CEO Tom Fanning. He also reported them to PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was managing the project before Wingo was fired. The Southern Company mistreated Brett Wingo and made his life miserable. This mistreatment was meant to deter employee whistleblowing activities. The $3.5 billion Kemper plant was more than $4 billion over budget and well behind schedule. The equipment failed to capture the promised amount of carbon dioxide and keep it out of the atmosphere. In the end, Thomas Fanning conceded that ending the coal gasification operations at the Kemper plant was in the best interest of all parties involved. In 2021, the demolition of the Kemper coal gasification plant commenced. In all, the Southern Company wasted nearly $8 billion on this failed power plant. Southern Company Whistleblowers Depend on Independent Journalists to Warn the Public About the Highly Probable Level 7 Nuclear Disaster at Vogtle Unit 3 After the Southern Company's crucifixion of Brett Wingo, whistleblowers at the company began sending their internal information about the outdated design plans and specifications, structural engineering flaws, shoddy workmanship, inadequate inspections, and falsified documents relating to the construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and testing failures to independent journalists in the region. Kevin B. Forbes, who serves as the chief executive officer of CDLU, Roger Shuler, who is the owner and publisher of Legal Schnauzer, David Meckley, the owner and publisher of The Meck Report, and my online news organization, www.donaldwatkins.com, have been entrusted with the journalistic responsibility for informing the public about the nature and scope of the deathtraps commonly known within the nuclear power industry as Vogtle Units 3 and 4. As reported by National Public Radio in articles published on December 19 and 21, 2022, the Southern Company has been able to effectively compromise financially struggling legacy media organizations in the South. What is more, the Southern Company has been highly successful in its creative “catch and kill” program that prevented the publication of unfavorable investigative articles about former CEO Thomas Fanning and his mismanagement of the Southern Company that were developed by Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal in 2022 and 2023, respectively. A Level 7 Catastrophic Nuclear Disaster is 99% Likely at Units 3 Based upon industry reports, Units 3 and 4 have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. These failure rates are the product of: A culture of production over quality A culture of poor inspecting or non-inspecting of work High personnel turnover and absenteeism Significant work backlogs High first-time component testing failure rates Need for extensive rework and retesting, and The willful falsification of tests results. Today, there is a 99% probability that a Level 7 nuclear disaster will occur at Unit 3 within 90 days after it becomes fully operational. Level 7 is on the scale of the worst nuclear disasters at Chernobyl in the old Soviet Union in 1986 and Fukushima in Japan in 2011. The chart accompanying this article depicts the seven levels of nuclear events. Level 7 is the most destructive category of a nuclear and radiological event. We have publicly warned the residents who will be most affected by the Level 7 nuclear disaster at Vogtle to leave an 11-county area surrounding Vogtle, as soon as possible. No agency of the federal or state regulatory agency is adequately protecting their vital interests with respect to the safety and soundness of the anticipated commercial operations at Units 3 and 4. When the Level 7 nuclear disaster occurs, deaths and serious bodily injuries from radiation poisoning, along with massive property destruction, will reign-down upon the unsuspecting and innocent men, women, and children who live within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle. Based upon the credible whistleblower complaints and supporting documentation we have received to date, no other outcome is likely or probable. Southern Company officials have: (a) lied to state and federal regulatory agencies, (b) gouged and cheated the company's utility customers for over a decade, (c) co-opted greedy and morally bankrupt politicians who accepted “dark money” campaign contributions to sellout their constituents, (d) concealed design problems, engineering flaws, and shoddy workmanship from external safety monitors and inspectors, (e) and willfully falsified critical pre-operation test results. Unbelievably, the NRC and the Georgia Public Service Commission have allowed these same Southern Company officials to self-certify the safety and soundness of Vogtle Units 3 and 4. As was the case with the Southern Company’s coal gasification plant in Kemper, Mississippi, politics have trumped public safety with respect the NRC’s regulatory approvals of Vogtle Units 3 and 4. The NRC is rushing to issue a final approval for Unit 3 to begin commercial operations so that President Joe Biden can (a) brag about this new “clean energy” nuclear power plant during his re-election campaign and (b) showcase the Southern Company’s affirmative action hire of new CEO Christopher C. Womack, who is black. Hundreds of thousands of residents in the 11-county area surrounding Vogtle will be forced to permanently resettle solely because of a political decision that is designed to help Joe Biden, whose presidential approval rating is in the toilet. Epilogue Residents within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle have entrusted their public safety to the Southern Company, a proven corporate serial cheater, and the NRC and Georgia PSC, two of the primary government entities that this serial cheater has corrupted. This lax agency oversight and public corruption have created an extremely high risk of catastrophic deaths, bodily injuries, and property destruction from a Level 7 nuclear event at Vogtle. Unit 3 is about as safe as the OceanGate submersible that was lost at sea last Sunday on a dive to the Titanic. Unfortunately, an estimated 500,000 residents living within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle have trusted the Southern Company to do the right thing at Units 3 and 4, at their own risk. The Southern Company has done nothing to earn their trust. ********************************************************************************** For your information, we are providing Georgia Power Company's 2023 Emergency Plan for a Nuclear Disaster at Vogtle Units 3 and 4. Click here to read or download the plan.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 29, 2023 An Analysis and Editorial Opinion On June 21, 2023, I published a warning to all persons living within a 40-mile radius of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant owned by Southern Company affiliate Georgia Power Company (along with three other utility partners) and operated by Southern Company affiliate Southern Nuclear Operating Company. The warning advised these residents that they are in grave danger of a Level 7 catastrophic nuclear disaster after Unit 3 begins commercial operations in July 2023. On June 25, 2023, I published a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) letter describing how the Southern Company falsified critical test data on Unit 3. A catastrophic nuclear event was avoided during the hot functional testing of Unit 3 solely because no fuel was loaded into the reactor core. Unit 3 at Vogtle is located near the city of Waynesboro in Burke County, Georgia. Once Unit 3 is brought online for commercial service, it will become the first nuclear power plant built in America in more than 30 years. Vogtle Unit 3 is a “Lemon” with a Potential for a Chernobyl Level 7 Nuclear Event Vogtle Unit 3 is considered a “lemon" by many nuclear power experts. The construction of Unit 3 is 7 years behind schedule and more than double its original budgeted cost. Based upon NRC records and industry reports, Units 3 and a companion unit designated as Unit 4 have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. These failure rates are the product of: A culture of production over quality A culture of poor inspecting or non-inspecting of work High personnel turnover and absenteeism Significant work backlogs High first-time component testing failure rates Need for extensive rework and retesting, and The willful falsification of tests results Today, there is a 99% probability that a Level 7 nuclear disaster will occur at Unit 3 within 90 days after it becomes fully operational. A Level 7 nuclear event is on the scale of the worst nuclear disasters at Chernobyl in the old Soviet Union in 1986 and Fukushima in Japan in 2011. The Southern Company’s influence peddling in Washington and Georgia, coupled with “dark money” campaign contributions to key politicians in state and federal government, have brought the unthinkable at Vogtle Units 3 to the precipice of a disastrous reality. To date, no state or federal government official has guaranteed the public that a Level 7 nuclear event will NOT occur at Unit 3 after it becomes fully operational. The reason for the lack of a public safety guarantee is simple: Politics have trumped public safety. When the Level 7 nuclear disaster occurs, death and serious bodily injury from radiation poisoning, along with massive property destruction, will rain down upon the unsuspecting and innocent men, women, and children who live within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle. This article discusses the need for affected residents to prepare for initial and delayed deaths from this Level 7 nuclear event. While I sincerely hope I am wrong about the nuclear disaster at Unit 3, the credible whistleblower complaints and supporting documentation we have received to date suggests that no other outcome seems likely or probable. Southern Company officials have: (a) consistently lied to state and federal regulatory agencies about the quality of their work at Units 3 and 4, (b) openly gouged and cheated the company's utility customers for over a decade, without adverse consequences from regulators or law enforcement officials, (c) co-opted greedy and morally bankrupt politicians who accepted “dark money” campaign contributions to sell out their constituents, (d) intentionally concealed design problems, engineering flaws, and shoddy workmanship from external safety monitors and inspectors, and (e) willfully falsified critical pre-operation test results. Against this devastating backdrop, residents within a 40-mile radius of Unit 3 must decide whether they will entrust their lives to public officials who coddle corporate liars, shady contractors, and compromised politicians, or they will take the steps reasonably necessary to protect their own lives, as well as the lives of adult family members and children living with them. This article discusses what these residents must know to prepare for initial and delayed deaths from the Level 7 nuclear event at Unit 3. An upcoming article will address what the estimated 500,000 surviving residents need to know about the process of permanent resettlement, including their new life in old, nasty, and dilapidated Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer homes that are normally used to house hurricane victims on a temporary basis. Another future article in this series will address the relocation of the Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta, Georgia and what that entails for the PGA Tour. Nuclear Reactor Accident According to an April 4, 2018, report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on radiation emergencies, a nuclear reactor accident can result in the environmental release of radioactive material that is present inside the reactor core. If the core is damaged severely, exposure to high doses of radiation will cause injuries and deaths. Unrelated trauma may also be involved. This will occur in potentially hazardous areas of the nuclear plant and would likely affect only workers or responders. Environmental contamination with radioactive material can lead to internal contamination of the public with radionuclides like iodine. This internal contamination may increase the risk of developing cancer years after the incident. Initial Deaths and Delayed Deaths A radiation emergency from a nuclear power plant accident may result in initial deaths during the emergency and delayed deaths after the emergency. Initial deaths would occur at or near ground zero, caused by the blast, heat, prompt radiation, or flying debris. Blast injuries would include perforated ear drums, lung and gastrointestinal injuries, trauma due to flying debris, fractures and crush injuries, smoke inhalation, and exacerbation of chronic conditions. Heat or thermal injuries (from direct absorption of thermal energy) would include flash burns and flame burns caused by ignition of clothes or indirect effects of fires. Delayed deaths would occur from Injuries sustained in the initial blast Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) Combination of injuries and ARS Clinical effects decrease with increasing distance from the reactor meltdown and/or explosion; therefore, it’s important to know the location of injury or death of the affected resident. Exposure to radioactive materials also increases risk of malignancies years after exposure. The effects of radiation on the human body are depicted in the chart below. Deaths Caused by Acute Radiation Syndrome Radiation emergencies may lead to Acute Radiation Syndrome. ARS occurs when a person is exposed to very high levels of radiation, usually over a short period of time. These 3 types of ARS may result in death: Hematopoietic syndrome (absorbed dose 0.70 – 6 Gy) Nausea and vomiting (within hours), reduced lymphocyte count (1-2 days), reduced neutrophil and platelet count (days to weeks), infection, possible death within 30 days. Survival is possible, but less likely with combined injuries (thermal burns or trauma). Gastrointestinal syndrome (absorbed dose 6 – 10 Gy) Nausea and vomiting (within about an hour), reduced lymphocyte count (one day), reduced neutrophil and platelet count (less than one week), severe infection, bloody diarrhea, dehydration, death from 3 to 10 days. Very few will survive at this absorption dose level even with treatment. Survival is not possible with combined injuries (thermal burns or trauma). Neurovascular syndrome (absorbed dose 20 – 50+ Gy) Nausea and vomiting (within minutes), mental status changes (disorientation), shock, cerebral edema, death within 48 hours. Survival is not possible. Epilogue A catastrophic nuclear power event has occurred only once before on America soil, and it resulted in the Level 5 nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island. Vogtle Unit 3 will become the second and most deadly nuclear disaster in U.S. history. Based upon the estimated number of deaths from the Chernobyl nuclear accident, between 4,000 to 60,000 people within a 40-mile radius of Unit 3 will die a slow, painful, and needless death. Politicians from across the nation, led by President Joe Biden, will offer their empty “thoughts and prayers” to the families of those killed from the reactor meltdown and/or explosion. The U.S. flag atop the National Capitol in Washington will fly at half mast for a few days. Numerous investigations into the cause of the nuclear disaster will be launched. Criminal prosecutions will ensue against top Southern Company executives and key regulatory officials. Finally, the Southern Company has decided that it is cheaper to pay claims for death, personal injury, and property damages from its $13.7 billion nuclear insurance policy than it is to fix the fatally flawed, highly defective, and extremely dangerous Units 3 and 4 nuclear power plants at Vogtle, which have cost the ownership group over $35 billion to date. Only time will tell whether the Southern Company will pay dearly for this cold, hard, calculated, deadly, corporate decision.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 30, 2023 An Editorial Opinion When it comes to matters of race, some things never change. Consider these poignant observations. First, affirmative action that INCLUDES racial minorities in the socio-economic progress of this nation is now outlawed. The U.S. Supreme Court killed this type of affirmative action yesterday on a 6-3 vote in a college and university admissions case involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Second, affirmative action that EXCLUDES racial minorities is still fashionable. This is why the overwhelming majority of the 5,996 publicly traded companies in America have all-white boards of directors. This is also why the 19-judge Alabama appellate court system is all-white today in a state that is 26% black. Since 2000, every vacancy on the state supreme court has been filled by the gubernatorial appointment of a white lawyer or white lower court judge. Third, the relatively small number of black athletes in colleges and universities across America who can run, catch, and/or dribble a ball in an outstanding manner can get into any school, college, or university regardless of their academic qualifications. Academic standards do not seem to matter very much in cases where black athletes are used to produce hundreds of millions of dollars each year for major university athletics programs. Fourth, legacy admission programs at prestigious white colleges and universities have always been available to underachieving white students, and they remain available today. The Supreme Court did not touch this category of affirmative action that has overwhelmingly white beneficiaries. Simply put, predominantly white graduates of these colleges and universities can always get their children and close relatives admitted to these fine educational institutions under a legacy admission program, regardless of how low their academic qualifications are. Fifth, this Supreme Court is now functioning much like an Old South, "Redemption Era" court. A majority of the Justices is on a judicial "holy mission" to take America back to the pre-Brown v. Board of Education era -- with all deliberate speed. Brown was the 1954 landmark case that outlawed state law mandated racial segregation in public schools. Sixth, Clarence Thomas has always been the nation's best known and greatest beneficiary of affirmative action. Thomas has never made it in life on his own merit. Admissions standards for educational institutions always had to be lowered for him. Thomas has never had the intellectual acumen to be a great lawyer, appellate court judge, or Supreme Court Justice. In fact, Thomas is ranked as one of the five worst Justices in Supreme Court history. Thomas' professional ascent within the federal judiciary has been based on his political philosophy and not his intelligence. Clarence Thomas is viewed by many Americans as an unabashed political "whore." Today, Thomas has the highest unfavorability rating on the Court. As far as I can determine, Thomas has never ruled in favor of any black civil rights litigant's legal claims in his 31 years on the Supreme Court. What is worse, Clarence Thomas has shown that he hates black people. Thomas also hates the fact that he is black. Experts say there is no known cure for Thomas' self-hatred psychological condition. What is more, Clarence Thomas' vote on the Court has always been "for sale" for the right price, in the right case, for the right billionaire. Harlan Crowe owns him. Yesterday's Supreme Court decision in the college and university admissions case was one more milestone along the Court's journey to a place in time when blacks had no legal rights that white men were bound to respect. The final destination for this journey is the Court's affirmation of its infamous 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. African-Americans refer to this dreaded journey as a "Trip to the Land of Misery."

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 2, 2023 An Editorial Opinion In today’s self-centered and fickle society, so many individuals seek unearned fame and glory for doing nothing out of the ordinary. Then, there are the true heroes -- those who stand head and shoulders above the rest of us. One of them is an unnamed Allen, Texas police officer. He is not seeking fame or glory. He is not paid hundreds of millions of dollars for throwing, catching, or running a ball in a football game. He has no fear of danger. He is kind and gentle, but he is also trained to kill active shooters. This hero is paid a meager police officer’s salary to protect lives and promote public safety in Allen, Texas. He makes less than an equipment manager on an NFL team. Without hesitation, this police officer ran towards an active shooter at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas on May 6, 2023, when everybody else was running away from danger. The shooter killed 8 innocent people and wounded 7 others before this officer stopped the killing spree. In the span of three and a half minutes, this unnamed officer went from talking to a mother and her two little children in the mall's parking lot about the importance of wearing seat belts to taking down an active shooter. When he heard the first shots fired, this officer grabbed his long gun and ran toward the zone of danger. He killed the shooter while this cold blooded murderer was still firing his assault rifle at innocent victims. What is more, we got to see this police officer in action, from start to finish, courtesy of a bodycam video that was released last week by the Allen, Texas police department. The video is gut-wrenching, emotionally draining, and inspirational at the same time. This officer’s run towards danger was more valuable than any dash to the end zone during a Super Bowl game. Yet, he will not be showered with a parade, or a contract extension, or a visit to the White House. He will not get a salary hike or a big bonus check for doing his job that fateful day. None of those things motivated this unnamed police officer to spring into action at the outlet mall on May 6th. Stopping the massacre motivated him. This police officer makes me very proud to be an American. He represents the best among the nation’s police officers. He’s one of the “good ones.” My Experiences with Police Officers Have Been Diverse and Impactful My early experiences with police officers were very different from the one depicted at the beginning of the bodycam video of the Allen police officer. That officer was kind, warm, and gentle with the mother and her two children as he discussed the importance of seats belts. As a 12-year-old boy in 1960, I watched a white Montgomery police officer verbally abuse my mother during a routine traffic stop in our all-black neighborhood. The officer threatened to kill my mom for simply asking basic questions about this traffic stop. During his tongue-lashing, the officer told my crying mother that the “MUN” (which stands for “municipal”) preceding the numbers on the license plate of his motorcycle stood for “Murder U Niggers." The officer did not care that he was abusing my mother in front of her young son. From 1974 to 1985, my life was routinely threatened by white police officers because of my aggressive prosecution of landmark court cases that challenged excessive police violence against unarmed black citizens in cities across Alabama. The worst threats came during my handling of a wrongful death case against the Montgomery police department (MPD) involving the fatal shooting of Bernard Whitehurst. On December 2, 1975, Whitehurst was shot and killed by Montgomery police officer Donnie Foster. The MPD claimed that Whitehurst was a fleeing felon who fired shots at Foster while facing him in a crouched position in the backyard of an abandoned house. My investigation revealed that Whitehurst was an innocent unarmed black man who had been shot in the back while attempting to climb over a fence. The pistol found beside Whitehurst’s body was a “throw down” gun that was “planted” by police after his death. Within minutes after the shooting, a voice on the police radio screamed, “We done shot the wrong nigger.” The Whitehurst case evolved into a national police scandal that the Washington Post called “Alabama’s Watergate” in an April 3, 1977, two-page feature story. The scandal resulted in the resignations of the city's mayor and police commissioner, the indictment of three police officers for perjury, and the firing or resignation of eight others. In 1975, I represented Sidney Williams, a black corporal in the MPD who sought a promotion to the rank of sergeant. His promotion was blocked by the MPD’s intentional use of racially biased promotional tests. Every officer above the rank of corporal was white. Corporal Williams sued the MPD to stop its use of discriminatory promotional tests. We won Williams’ case and the exams were scrapped for the next 10 years. This landmark court victory cleared the way for a wave of deserving black officers to rise through the ranks of the MPD all the way up to the rank of police chief. Williams retired as a major in the MPD and later served as chairman of the Alabama Pardons and Parole Board until his retirement in 2007. In 1983, an out-of-state black family was mourning the death of their mother/grandmother on Todd Road in Montgomery when two white police officers mistook the Michigan and Ohio mourners' license plates as a gathering of out-of-state drug dealers. Unbelievably, these officers raided the funeral gathering on a no-knock basis and violence erupted in and around the home as the occupants “stood their ground”. The officers, who were believed to be home invaders, were shot and subdued during the ensuing melee inside the home. Eleven of the mourners were subsequently arrested and four of them were viciously beaten while in police custody. My investigation into this matter as a Montgomery city councilman resulted in the reduction of felony criminal charges to misdemeanors in four of the cases and the dismissal of all charges in the remaining eight cases. Throughout the Bernard Whitehurst, Sidney Williams, and Todd Road cases, I received a barrage of death threats. These paradigm-shifting cases produced positive changes within the MPD for two reasons. First, former Montgomery County DA Jimmy Evans, who was white, was an exceptional prosecutor who exhibited tremendous courage and bravery by investigating and prosecuting crooked police officers. Unlike many gutless prosecutors today, Evans held police officers accountable for breaking the law. Second, a cadre of good police officers, both black and white, covered my back, protected my family, and provided me with the vital evidence I needed to expose the widespread police misconduct in those cases. Defending Police Officers In 1982, I defended Uniontown police lieutenant Sammy Plummer, who is white, in a wrongful death case brought by the family of David White, a black suspect who died in a 1981 shootout with Plummer during an attempted arrest. Plummer was shot several times during the incident. After a hard-fought and emotionally charged trial, a mostly black Perry County jury cleared Plummer and the city of Uniontown of wrongdoing in David White’s death. Lt. Sammy Plummer’s case was the first time in Alabama history that a black civil rights attorney defended a white police officer who had been accused of using deadly force against a black suspect. My defense of Lt. Plummer generated a lot of controversy and criticism against me in the state’s black political circles. I did not care because Lt. Plummer was a great person and a fine police officer. From 1985-1998, I routinely defended Birmingham police officers while serving as special counsel to Birmingham mayor Richard Arrington, Jr. During this period, I also worked closely with white and black police officers to solve a host of heart-wrenching violent crimes in Birmingham, including the 1994 execution-style murders of five innocent victims at the Changing Times Lounge. At the time, this massacre was the largest mass murder in Birmingham’s history. “Good” Versus “Bad” Police Officers During my decades of very diverse and personal interactions with a multitude of white and black police officers in Alabama, I have learned that police officers fall into two distinct groups -- “good ones” and “bad ones.” Police officers like Lt. Sammy Plummer, Major Sidney Williams, the black and white MPD officers who helped me expose the Whitehurst and Todd Road police cover-ups, and the unnamed Allen, Texas police officer who took down an active shooter are the “good ones.” They acted to protect and serve our communities on an unselfish basis. Police officers like Donnie Foster, the two Todd Road home invaders, and the ones who, in recent years, have senselessly killed unarmed, non-violent African-Americans during routine traffic stops and simple misdemeanor arrests fall into the category of “bad officers.” However, these officers represent less than one tenth of one percent of all police officers in America. As a nation, we must value, protect, and support the “good ones,” while quickly repudiating and punishing the misconduct of the “bad ones.” To the unnamed police officer in Allen, Texas, “Thank You!” Very few officers in America could have neutralized that deadly threat in three and a half minutes. Yours, was truly a remarkable act of bravery.