By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 22, 2023 This is a personal message to the vicious critics of Carlee Russell. It takes no courage to publicly berate a young, distraught woman whose tragic personal experience is subject to more than one interpretation. Show me some real courage by taking a direct, firm, and public stand against the present-day forces of "in-your-face" racism, subjugation, and failed leadership in Alabama: 1. Publicly criticize the all-white, 19-judge Alabama appellate court system in a state that is 26% black. Criticize the Confederate flag-waving Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. If you are a black lawyer with expertise in litigating civil and criminal cases, lead the effort to desegregate Alabama’s all-white appellate courts. This will tell me whether you have “balls” or you are just a talker. 2. Publicly criticize the federal, state, and local officials who failed to force six industrial polluters to clean up the toxic pollutants that have been killing the innocent men, women, and children who have lived in North Birmingham and the city of Tarrant since 1933. 3. Publicly criticize Walter Coke (which is now Bluestone Coke), U.S. Pipe, Alagasco, KMAC, ABC Coke, and the Drummond Company for knowingly polluting the air and ground in North Birmingham and the city of Tarrant since at least 1933. 4. Publicly criticize the failure of federal, state, and local law enforcement and government agencies to protect the lives of the 4,000 or more residents of North Birmingham and Tarrant from a slow, painful death from environmental pollutants in their neighborhoods. 5. Publicly criticize Jefferson County, Alabama Circuit judge Tamara Johnson, who is shielding the misconduct of the Drummond Company and Balch & Bingham law firm in the Oliver Robinson bribery case from public view for no good and valid reason. While you are at it, take a close look at Judge Johnson’s largest campaign contributors and tell me what they have in common. 6. Publicly criticize Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and his Republican political allies for continuing to overtly discriminate against black voters by racially gerrymandering the state’s newest Congressional redistricting map. 7. Publicly criticize the complete lack of an economic empowerment agenda for African Americans in Alabama by the federal, state, and local government officials. This is one of the many reasons Birmingham is dying. 8. Publicly criticize the fact that black state and local officials in the Birmingham metro-area fought harder to save Birmingham Southern College than they have ever fought for any HBCU in Alabama. Interestingly, Birmingham Southern is shown on the chart below that was prepared by Balch & Bingham in 2015. Birmingham Southern one of the many entities that the Southern Company, Alabama Power, U.S. Pipe, Alagasco, KMAC, ABC Coke, and the Drummond Company reportedly relied upon to suppress the environmental justice rights of the residents of North Birmingham and Tarrant. 9. Publicly criticize U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) for jeopardizing the readiness of America’s armed forces with his ignorant political hold on promotions within the top military command and control structure. 10. Publicly criticize Alabama’s legendary practice of engaging in the mass incarceration of African-American and poor white criminal offenders. This practice amounts to a legal form of modern-day slavery. Carlee Russell's critics should grow some “balls” and publicly attack one of the many conditions that is killing the future of African-Americans, poor whites, women, and children in Alabama. They are plentiful. Their silence on the ten matters listed above is deafening. As I watch the people who are throwing spitballs at Carlee Russell, I am reminded that none of them has EVER been on the frontline of any fight for civil rights, environmental justice, social justice, or constitutional rights in Alabama. For the most part, Carlee Russell's critics are spitball throwers and social media pundits. The only "target" they are comfortable enough to publicly attack is a distraught young woman who needs our empathy, love, and support at this time. If these critics need to somebody to pick on right now, let it be me. Please beware, I tend to hit back -- very hard. Just ask Howard Koplowitz.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 23, 2023 Eugene "Bull" Connor served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the 1950s and 60s. He strongly opposed the civil rights movement. His brutality against black Americans and whites of interracial goodwill was legendary. As an avowed white supremacist, Bull Connor enforced legal racial segregation and denied civil rights to black citizens, especially during 1963's Birmingham Campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He is well known for directing the use of fire hoses and police attack dogs against civil rights activists, including against children supporting the protests. Bull Connor’s mantra was, “Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law.” National media broadcast Bull Connor's law enforcement tactics on television, horrifying much of the world. The outrages served as catalysts for major social and legal change in the Deep South and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Back to the Future Last week, Alabama returned to the Bull Connor era in bold fashion when it proudly rejected a U.S. Supreme Court mandate to revise its Congressional districting map for the purpose of creating two majority black districts as a remedy for the state’s purposeful racial gerrymandering of its Congressional districts. In Milligan v. Allen (June 8, 2023), the ultra-conservative U.S. Supreme Court found that: “[E]lections in Alabama were racially polarized; that “Black Alabamians enjoy virtually zero success in statewide elections”; that political campaigns in Alabama had been “characterized by overt or subtle racial appeals”; and that “Alabama’s extensive history of repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination is undeniable and well documented.” An example of the Court's finding of "repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination" lies in this sad fact: Today, the Alabama Supreme Court is all-white in a state that is 26% black. This all-white status has existed since 2001. What is worse, the state's supreme court is led by Tom Parker, a Confederate flag waving chief justice who "pals around" with known white supremacists. In an Alabama Supreme Court case decided on November 18, 2022, Chief Justice Parker asserted (in a concurring opinion) that the state Supreme Court had no duty to blindly follow the mandates of the U.S. Supreme Court. Former Alabama governor George Wallace called this viewpoint the "doctrine of interposition and nullification." On Friday, Alabama’s Republican-controlled state legislature and Republican governor resurrected Bull Connor’s mantra in grand style. They sent this loud, clear, and unified message to the world: “Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law.” This is why I will not spend one second of my time bashing Carlee Russell. She deserves my empathy, love, and support, not my criticism. The people who are suppressing our legal rights on every front have my time and attention. We must stop them before it is too late. Like Bull Connor, these Republican state officials will hurt our children and grandchildren and think nothing of it. As a people, African-Americans in Alabama have been dragged back into the legal battles that our people fought and won in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Once again, we are in the fight of our lives. I am frightened because our leaders today have demonstrated to me that they have no fighting skills. Only those who are truly ignorant of American history do not realize what is happening to us.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 24, 2023 [Late Breaking News: Last Friday, engineers with the Southern Nuclear Operating Company tried to raise the power at Vogtle Unit 3, again. At 32 percent power, the reactor coolant pump speed started decreasing and the operators had to perform another scram (or emergency shutdown) of the unit. Unit 3 is back to zero power, as of this morning. This is the second time since July 9, 2023, that Unit 3 has almost experienced a nuclear meltdown.] American companies often choose corporate greed and cost savings over public safety. When this choice occurs, people usually die. This choice occurred at Ford Motor Company in the 1970s. The Ford Pinto was so defective that it was a rolling deathtrap. The Pinto’s gas tank would explode upon impact when hit in the rear by another vehicle, thereby condemning the driver and passengers in the Pinto to a fiery death. By all accounts, the Pinto was a “lemon”car. Ford knew the Pinto was fatally flawed but decided it was cheaper to pay death claims than it was to recall and fix the car’s exploding gas tanks. Ford's lapse in business ethics and reckless disregard for human life are back in vogue. Both despicable traits have been fully embraced by the Atlanta-based Southern Company, its former CEO/current Executive Chairman, Thomas A. Fanning, its former general counsel/current president of Southern Gas Company, James Y. Kerr, II, and its Lead Independent Director, David J. Grain. This time a lapse in business ethics and reckless disregard for human life will kill up to 60,000 people in a single industrial disaster that is completely preventable. Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 are Deathtraps The Southern Company has constructed two fatally flawed deathtraps at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia (which is 33.5 miles from Augusta, Georgia). In automobile terms, we would call them “lemons.” In nuclear power circles, these "lemons" are called Vogtle Units 3 and 4. Southern Company internal documents acknowledge that Units 3 and 4 are riddled with design flaws, engineering defects, shoddy workmanship, and poor construction management. The amalgamation of these factors (and many more) virtually guarantees that a Level 7 nuclear disaster will occur at Vogtle within 90 days after Unit 3 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. Over the course of time, up to 60,000 people within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle will die from radiation poisoning and related illnesses. Based upon industry reports, Units 3 and 4 have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. The testing failures at Units 3 and 4 are non-stop. With $35 billion in construction costs on a project that was originally budgeted for $14 billion, the Southern Company is now too deep in a financial “hole” to abandon Units 3 and 4 like it did in 2021 with the company’s $8 billion debacle with the Kemper, Mississippi coal gasification plant. The principal owner and operator of Units 3 and 4 (i.e., Southern Company, acting through affiliates Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear Operating Company) have successfully hoodwinked, gaslighted, and flat-out lied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) repeatedly and relentlessly since construction started on these units in 2009. Their nefarious activities, coupled with influence peddling and strategic “dark money” contributions to federal and state political entities, have kept these construction projects alive. Thus far, NRC chairman Christopher T. Hanson has exercised extreme caution in his dealing with the Southern Company and Executive Chairman Thomas Fanning because the company's reputation for business ethics is in the toilet. New CEO Christopher Womack does nothing to enhance the company's tarnished reputation for business ethics. Womack came to the job with his own set of personal problems. Internally, Womack is viewed as a "light-weight" who is not taken seriously by Fanning and the Southern Company's Management Council. Because the Southern Company has not been profitable since 2017, and because the company pays quarterly dividends from borrowed money, the Southern Company is committed to bringing Units 3 and 4 online -- at all costs. The company, which desperately needs the anticipated revenues from Units 3 and 4, has engaged in a "fake it till you make it" strategy for years. The company's game plan today calls for fixing the fatal flaws in Units 3 and 4 "on the fly" after these units go into commercial service. As late as June 2023, Southern Company contractors were still falsifying test results at Unit 3. On July 9, 2023, Southern Nuclear Operating Company had to perform an emergency shutdown of Unit 3 during testing to prevent it from melting down. The safety of Units 3 and 4 has been hopelessly compromised so many times that a Level 7 nuclear disaster is inevitable. The latest safety lapse was publicly revealed on July 18, 2023. On July 21, 2023, Southern Nuclear Operators tried to raise the power at Unit 3, again. At 32 percent power, the reactor coolant pump speed started decreasing and they had to perform another emergency shutdown of the unit. Unit 3 is back to zero power, as of the date of this article. The Southern Company is Highly Skilled at Ignoring Thousands of Deaths Caused by Industrial Nightmares As we reported on July 13, 2023, the Southern Company, public officials, and community leaders in Alabama condemned more than 4,000 residents of North Birmingham and the City of Tarrant to a long, slow, and painful death from toxic pollutants and the air they breathe and the ground underneath their feet. These polluted neighborhoods are 92.5% black. The Southern Company and its Alabama Power affiliate teamed with five industrial polluters -- U.S. Pipe, Alagasco, KMAC, ABC Coke, and the Drummond Company -- and other business alliance partners to: (a) create a fake 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, (b) funded it with more than $360,000 in bribery money, and (c) bribe a former state legislator to lobby against an initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up the polluted neighborhoods. A six polluter -- Walter Coke, Inc. (now known as Bluestone Coke) was tagged by the EPA early in the cleanup initiative. The Southern Company used an environmental justice suppression apparatus built and operated by Alabama Power to kill the EPA-initiated environmental cleanup of North Birmingham and Tarrant that targeted all six of the industrial polluters listed above and cost an estimated $900 million (in 2013 dollars). The cleanup cost today is $1 billion. The Southern Company's environmental justice suppression apparatus killed this EPA cleanup project, from 2015 and the present, by simply distributing less than $1 million in total to a cadre of thirsty entities and individuals, many of whom are depicted in the chart below. The chart was prepared by Balch & Bingham, the Southern Company’s longtime law firm. The industrial polluters have been spewing cancer-causing toxins in these neighborhoods since 1933. The death count from this pollution since 1933 is now in the tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. All of them were Southern Company customers. The Southern Company is Prepared for the Vogtle Unit 3 Death Count to Reach 60,000 The Southern Company is prepared for the death count from the expected Level 7 nuclear event at Vogtle 3 to reach 60,000 people, most of whom will be white. When it comes to industrial accident-related deaths, the Southern Company is an equal opportunity killer. The company’s preparation for the Level 7 nuclear disaster is explained in greater detail in my June 29, 2023, article. Unbelievably, the Southern Company has performed the same kind of internal risk analysis on Vogtle-related deaths that Ford Motor Company performed on the Pinto exploding gas tanks. Like Ford, 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. The contamination from a Level 7 nuclear event will cause the shutdown of Vogtle Units 1 and 2, as well. More than 500,000 homes and businesses serviced by Units 1 and 2 will be without power for a significant period of time. This event sets up a scenario where the Southern Company expects to ask the White House and Congress for a $100 billion emergency "bailout" package to own, build, and operate four nuclear power plants elsewhere -- at taxpayers' expense. According to our inside sources, this is the Southern Company’s calculated strategy for getting out of the financial "hole" created by its failed development of Vogtle Units 3 and 4. According to our "inside" sources, the Southern Company sees no other way out of its Vogtle debacle. As far as the company is concerned, the lives of the 60,000 residents who are living within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle are dispensable, much like the lives of the company's 4,000 or more residents in North Birmingham/Tarrant were deemed dispensable. The Southern Company’s Apparent Lock on Regulatory Bodies, Law Enforcement Agencies, and Courts The Southern Company has an office in Washington, D.C. that regularly “captures and controls” federal oversight and regulatory agencies, regardless of whether the president in the White House is a Republican or Democrat. Bryan D. Anderson, a man with a checked past, heads the company’s Washington office. The Southern Company appears to have a lock on President Joe Biden, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Whether the company has a lock on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an open question. Here are a few examples of this lock: On November 17, 2022, the Department of Justice “fixed” a False Claims Act fraud case involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in connection with a $1.3 million sole source contract awarded to PowerSecure that mysteriously mushroomed to a whopping $523 million (via highly suspect post-award contract modifications) for the repair and restoration of Puerto Rico’s power grid following the damage caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Joe Biden's Department of Justice allowed PowerSecure, a Southern Company affiliate, to escape civil liability in this case by paying the government a mere $8.4 million. To date, the DOJ has failed to prosecute any Southern Company or PowerSecure executive who participated in this $523 million fraud scheme. In April 2023, the Southern Company successfully shutdown a criminal investigation into allegations that Jay Town, the former Donald Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, “fixed” the Oliver Robinson/North Birmingham bribery case in a way that shielded the Southern Company, Alabama Power Company, former Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite, and other Southern Company executives from criminal exposure in the case. The Department of Justice now uses Jay Town as a pit bull to attack Trump in the national news media on the cases Special Counsel Jack Smith is pursuing against Trump. These were not the only times the Southern Company benefited from “fixed” federal criminal cases in Birmingham involving its top executives and business alliance partners. In 1979-80, the Southern Company “fixed” a federal RICO, price-fixing, fraud and bribery case involving Alabama Power, the Drummond Company, executives from both companies, state legislators, and others. The Southern Company reportedly bribed the trial judge with the offer of a high-paying general counsel’s job at one of its networking partners if the judge would gut the prosecution’s criminal case against the defendants, which he did. Frank McFadden, the trial judge, had a reputation for seeking and receiving “gifts” from litigants with cases pending in his court. McFadden's reputation for grifting rivals the grifting reputation earned by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the conclusion of the case, Judge McFadden retired from the federal bench and accepted his promised job as general counsel of Blount, Inc. Presently, the Southern Company has captured Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Tamara Johnson within its sphere of influence. Last week, Judge Johnson blocked public access to court filings and proceedings in a civil case brought by one of the co-defendants in the Oliver Robinson/North Birmingham bribery case against the Drummond Company and the Balch & Bingham law firm. The Drummond Company, a coal mining/coke manufacturing company, is a longtime business alliance partner of the Southern Company. Drummond owns and operates ABC Coke, Inc. in Tarrant. This company is one of the largest industrial polluters in the North Birmingham/Tarrant area. Balch & Bingham is an integral part of the Southern Company's suppression apparatus for killing EPA-mandated environmental cleanup initiatives and all perceived or real political adversaries. Balch & Bingham set up the fake 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that was used to bribe former state representative Oliver Robinson. It was funded with donations from Alabama Power Company, the Drummond Company, Balch & Bingham lawyers, and five other Southern Company networking partners. The Southern Company's dictatorial grip on Judge Tamara Johnson is obvious, extreme, tight, and debilitating. It is designed to instill fear in Judge Johnson, as well as the Alabama's other circuit court judges. Epilogue Unfortunately for the residents of Georgia and South Carolina who will be killed by the nuclear disaster at Vogtle, the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners and Georgia Public Service Commissioners 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. After the Level 7 nuclear event happens at Unit 3, our best hope as a nation for seeking justice in this matter will occur if and when all Southern Company executives and top federal and state government officials who could have prevented this nuclear disaster get indicted and 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 surrounding Vogtle. To achieve criminal justice in this case, the Department of Justice will have to overcome its long and distinguished track record of “fixing” federal criminal cases involving major corporations (e.g., Wells Fargo Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, the Southern Company, PowerSecure, Drummond Company, The Boeing Company, etc.). Additionally, state prosecutors will have to step up to the plate on the murder charges. It is highly doubtful that any American corporation will be able to get away with the mass murder of up to 60,000 innocent men, women, and children within 40-miles of the Vogtle nuclear plant where the cause of their deaths was preventable, unmistakably visible, and resulted from a cold and calculated disregard for human life.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 29, 2016; Updated on August 16, 2023 An Editorial Opinion In recent weeks, I have been flooded with calls from politicos and friends from around the nation. They all wanted to know privately whether I am supporting Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or someone else for president. At this time, I am not committed to any presidential candidate. I will not commit to any candidate until after party nominees for president have been chosen. Of course, I will be voting in the November 2024 presidential elections for the candidate of my choice. My African-American ancestors paid an unimaginable price in blood, sweat, and tears to secure my right to vote in America. To me, the right to vote is sacred. For decades, conservative political forces in my home state of Alabama have tried to take this right from me. Despite their best efforts, they failed to do so. As an Independent voter, I will be voting for the presidential candidate whose core values are closest to mine. Additionally, I am working diligently to reach, educate, and persuade up to 2 million Independent voters of all races in six swing states to follow my recommendation on a preferred presidential candidate. Since August 25, 2022, I have made substantial progress in this regard. My Familial History Shaped and Defined My Core Values I have stated on many occasions that my core values were passed down to me from: (a) my paternal grandparents, Adam and Sallie Watkins; (b) my maternal grandparents, Reverend Willie Varnado and his wife Etta: (c) my parents, Levi and Lillian Watkins; (d) my siblings, Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., Doristine, and James; (e) and my family’s close friends and frequent overnight guests, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, Mrs. Rosa Parks, and Dr. Maya Angelou. I live by these core family values everyday and I have passed them down to my five children. They have passed them down to their children. Hopefully, these core values will be passed down to the seventh generation in the Watkins family, which began last month with the birth of my great granddaughter, Azayah Jordan Deese. My core values are simple: 1. I believe in God. 2. I believe that all men and women are created equal. 3. I believe that we should lead our lives in a way that sets a good example for others to follow. 4. I believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their ethnicity, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or socio-economic station in life. 5. I believe that we should honor our fathers and mothers, as well as the many sacrifices they have made for the benefit of our families and communities. 6. I believe that a great education is the most important building block for success in life because superior knowledge is the strongest form of power on the planet. 7. I believe in public service as a civic duty, and it should be given without any expectation of a financial reward or public recognition. 8. I believe in setting personal goals and working hard toward achieving them. 9. I believe that all citizens are entitled to: (a) equal rights under the law, (b) an equal opportunity to compete on a level playing field for a successful future, and (c) equal government services that are rendered free of corruption. 10. I believe in truth, honesty, and ethics in government and in life. 11. I believe that government service should be a sacrifice, not a pathway to personal enrichment. 12. I believe in the fair administration of justice. 13. I believe in freedom of speech, without fear of retaliation or reprisals. 14. I believe in standing up for deserving individuals who are not in a position to stand up to government or private sector tyrants. 15. I believe in participatory democracy, as opposed to the oligarchies that are spreading across America. 16. I believe in superior American military might and using it to keep America safe from foreign enemies. 17. I believe that constructive criticism is the most sincere form of loyalty. 18. I believe in apologizing when I make an error in judgment or a mistake that hurts innocent people. 19. I believe in learning something positive from our mistakes in life. 20. I believe in standing up for what is right, even if I have to stand alone. The Price Paid for My Right to Vote My political independence cannot be bought or bossed. Those blacks who came to America in the hellholes of slave ships, who were denigrated, separated, and dehumanized during slavery, who were burned alive, mutilated and lynched during the 100 years of Jim Crow, who were beaten, tortured and murdered by segregationists during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, and who protected my life during the most dangerous years of my legal career as a civil rights lawyer in Alabama paid the price in full for my political independence. In light of our history in America, I will never surrender my independence to anyone, or any political party. Epilogue I do not live on, or feed off of, any political party's plantation. I left plantation politics in 2001, and never looked back. I love the freedom of thought and expression that comes with being a political Independent. I do not take money from political candidates. I usually contribute money to the ones I support. The views expressed in my article on social media are my own, and not those of any political candidate. Finally, I am proud to be an American. Despite the ugly chapters in America's history and the proliferation of political demagogues, the United States is the greatest nation the world has ever known.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 14, 2023; Updated on August 16, 2023 SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT --- Yesterday, I introduced my readers to D&N Electric Company (DNE) and Miller Electrical Contractors, Inc., in an article that unveiled a trove of racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails that were circulated between Michael W. Munroe, a DNE/Miller Electrical Contractors, Inc., officer and executive, and his intimate circle of Atlanta-area corporate owners, co-workers, bankers, and friends in 2011 and 2012. From 1993 to 2015, Michael Munroe was Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Secretary for DNE. From 2015 to 2023, Monroe was Vice President of Miller Electrical Contractors. In his executive capacities, Michael Munroe served as a contracts administrator and compliance officer for DNE and Miller Electrical Contractors. Despite Munroe’s documented racism, anti-gay behavior, and xenophobic banter at DNE, the Southern Company spent tens of millions of dollars to enrich the company's owners and executives. The Southern Company chose to overlook Michael Munroe's flaming displays of bigotry towards blacks, gays, and Muslims. The Southern Company stood by Munroe at DNE and, later, at Miller Electrical Contractors. Adding insult to injury, is this salient fact: At least 25% (or $15 billion) of the Southern Company's nearly $60 billion in annual revenues is derived from its black customers. In the ultimate act of disrespect, the Southern Company used millions of dollars from its black customers to enrich the white principals and executives of DNE and Miller Electrical Contractors while Michael Munroe was busy spewing and spreading the nastiest forms of racial hatred. The flow of Southern Company money to DNE dried up after John F. Carter, an Atlanta-based black businessman, bought a 60% equity stake in DNE in 2013. After the acquisition, Carter discovered a trove of racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails on the company's computer servers. The Southern Company contract money that was already flowing to Miller Electrical Contractors ramped up after white executives left the John Carter-owned DNE company and migrated to Miller Electrical Contractors. DNE was white-owned prior to John Carter's purchase of a majority stake in the company in 2013. Miller Electrical Contractors is, and always has been, white-owned. DNE also owned 49% of Miller Electrical Contractors. The other 51% was owned by McKendree “Ken” Miller, who was forced out of the company by former DNE shareholders Armstrong, Harper, and Charles S. Wallen in a 2017 hostile takeover. Carter's acquisition of DNE did not include a change of ownership of Miller Electrical Contractors or his assumption of control over that company. The U.S. Government Lodged False Claims Act Allegations of Contract Fraud Against DNE In choosing to continue its business marriage with DNE (up until the change of DNE's ownership in 2013) and Miller Electrical Contractors (unabated since 2000), the Southern Company ignored U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) allegations of False Claims Act contract fraud leveled against DNE at a time when Michael Munroe was overseeing DNE's contracts. This fraud allegations are described in a Settlement Agreement that DNE executed in April 2013 with the DOJ and Christian Jon Shockley, a False Claims Act whistleblower. On November 21, 2011, the DOJ and whistleblower Christian Jon Shockley alleged that DNE falsely certified that the construction materials the company used on U.S. Army posts at Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, Georgia, from October 1, 2009, to June 30, 2011, were compliant with the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 8301–8303) when, in fact, they were not. According to the DOJ and Shockley, DNE used construction materials and products that were manufactured in other countries. DNE allegedly caused fake “Made in the USA” labels to be placed on the materials and products in question. DNE paid the DOJ and Mr. Shockley a total of $121,996.00 in fines and attorney’s fees to escape civil liability in the case. DNE did not admit to any wrongdoing in the Settlement Agreement. Matthew G. Armstrong and Michael Munroe signed the Settlement Agreement on behalf of DNE. These are the same two men who reveled in the racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails that Munroe generated and circulated while working at DNE in 2011 and 2012. Neither the DOJ's allegations of contract fraud against DNE, nor the Settlement Agreement, nor Munroe's cache of racist, anti-gay, or xenophobic emails, has been sufficient to disqualify DNE and/or Miller Electrical Contractors as an approved Southern Company vendor. Birds of a Feather Flock Together In 2022, the Southern Company executed the same kind of Settlement Agreement with the DOJ, but for much higher dollar amount. On November 17, 2022, PowerSecure, a Southern Company affiliate, executed a Settlement Agreement with the DOJ in a False Claims Act contract fraud case involving a $1.3 million sole source contract awarded to PowerSecure by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Somehow, this $1.3 million sole source contract mushroomed to a whopping $523 million contract (via highly suspect post-award contract modifications) for the repair and restoration of Puerto Rico’s power grid following the damage caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. PowerSecure beat the case by agreeing to pay the DOJ a mere $8.4 million in fines for the privilege of fleecing $523 million out of a $1.3 million U.S. government sole-source contract. Like DNE, no PowerSecure executive has been prosecuted for fraud in connection with the government contract in question. Like DNE's Settlement Agreement, PowerSecure's Agreement does not bar the Southern Company from serving as an approved contractor on future federal government agency jobs. Finally, an approved Southern Company vendor willfully falsified certified test results at the company's new Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 during hot functional testing of the unit. This U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission violation became public last June. Like DNE and its two military construction projects, the Southern Company allowed the contractor involved in this falsified records incident to continue working on the Vogtle 3 construction project. Epilogue Michael Munroe retired as a vice president from Miller Electrical Contractors in May 2023. Matthew Armstrong, who was listed among the circle of former DNE executives receiving Michael Munroe’s racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails, serves as Miller Electrical Contractor’s president. John Carter has disassociated himself from all of the shenanigans caused by the former executives of DNE and the current executives affiliated with Miller Electrical Contractors. The Southern Company continues to embrace and enrich Miller Electrical Contractors as an approved vendor and valued team member.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 13, 2023; Updated on August 13, 2023 at 5:52 p.m. EST to add Southern Company revenue figures; Updated on August 16, 2023 SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT --- Many people think Christopher C. Womack is running the Southern Company because he was appointed as chief executive officer on May 24, 2023. In truth, Womack has no REAL executive authority or presence within the company. He is merely a highly-paid African-American figurehead who was appointed to the job for public relations purposes in the post-George Floyd “woke” era. Former CEO Thomas A. Fanning runs the Southern Company from his perch as Executive Chairman of the company’s board of directors. Fanning is Womack’s boss. He continues to run the Southern Company with a strong presence and dictatorial grip over Womack and the company's board of directors. Against this backdrop, it is no surprise that Miller Electrical Contractors, Inc. continues to work as a major Southern Company vendor, despite its documented history of workplace racism, anti-gay behavior, and xenophobia banter. Tens of millions of Southern Company dollars feed Miller Electrical Contractor’s brand of racist, anti-gay, xenophobic hatred. Adding insult to injury, at least 25% (or $15 billion) of the Southern Company's nearly $60 billion in annual revenues is derived from its black customers. An Documented History of Inappropriate Workplace Behavior From 1993 to 2015, Michael W. Munroe was Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Secretary for D&N Electric Company (DNE). From 2015 to 2023, Monroe was Vice President of Miller Electrical Contractors, Inc., a company in which DNE owned 49% of the shares of stock. In his executive capacities, Michael Munroe served as a contracts administrator and compliance officer for DNE and Miller Electrical Contractors. Munroe was also a prolific racist who enjoys writing and sending racist emails, caricature pictures, anti-gay jokes, and xenophobic satirical emails to: (a) his circle of personal friends, (b) former DNE employees, (c) Miller officials, including the company’s owners, its vice-president for operations, and senior project manager, (d) a former executive at SunTrust Bank, and (e) other cohorts who shared his warped values. Munroe's steady stream of racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails, pictures, and jokes was tasteless, offensive, and sickening. Collectively, this cache of documents evidences a deep seated racism that is incapable of reformation. The following documents, which were used in court proceedings, show how Michael Munroe and his cohorts wallowed in racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic behavior. Reportedly, the act of sending racist emails to his co-workers, bankers, and friends was Munroe's favorite pastime. It brought pure joy to his life. On March 16, 2012, Michael Munroe wrote this email to Katie Davis, a SunTrust Vice President for Commercial Banking in Morrow, Georgia, and others: Katie Davis, who was a 2011 member of the SunTrust Bank Chairman’s Team, was not limited to receiving a multitude of Munroe's racist emails. On December 19, 2011, she originated one of her own and sent it to Munroe, complete with a smiley face emoji and her SunTrust email address. Katie Davis departed SunTrust in January 2013. She is now an account manager at TaxCredible (formerly Alpharesults), a position she has held since June 2013. In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, Munroe sent Katie Davies, Miller Electrical co-owner Matt Armstrong, two company executives, and others an email that stated: “2012: Don’t Re-nig!” Within the context of the email chain, "Re-nig" was a dog whistle term that was used to encourage Southern white voters to vote against Barack Obama during the 2012 presidential election. Munroe’s post-election December 5, 2012, email chain featured a picture of Obama's face on a food stamp coupon. This email chain began by showing the pictures of six white presidents on U.S. currency, with a laudatory description for each president. Then, as Munroe's email recipients scrolled down, Obama’s picture appeared on a food stamp coupon, along with these derogatory comments. Among the individuals copied on the Obama food stamp email chain was a Human Resources executive at Farmers and Merchants Bank, an executive at MillerCoors Beverage Company (now known as Molson Coors), an executive at Sasco Chemical Company (Atlanta), someone at Lanier County, and a Georgia public school executive. Munroe's flaming white racism was searing in his June 9, 2011, email about "three male Niggers" who arrived at the "Pearly Gates." Banker Katie Davis was copied on this email, along with Munroe's other friends. One of the sickest jokes discusses Munroe’s desire to become a trucker driver after an 18-wheeler truck speeding through an intersection killed a car full of “loud Muslims shouting anti American slogans.” Katie Davis was copied on this email, as well. Munroe also felt comfortable enough to copy Kathy Villanueva, an administrator at ADP Payroll Services. Another disgusting Michael Munroe email describes how a “huge black man” beat a “gay man” after the gay man asked him, “Do you want a blow job?” On June 13, 2011, Michael Munroe sent an email with his "Picture of the Year" to his cyberfriends. Here it is: Birds of a Feather Flock Together Michael Munroe's display of racism, anti-gay humor, and xenophobic banter was endless and authentic. What is worse, Munroe's conspicuous racism was tolerated by the Southern Company, which knew or should have known about his conduct. Even though these Michael Munroe emails (and many others of the same ilk) were available in public court proceedings, DNE and Miller Electrical Contractors were able to pass the Southern Company's vetting and approval process to work as electrical contractors at the company's plants and facilities. Since 2016, Miller Electrical Contractors has grown and thrived off the company's vendor contracts with the Southern Company and Georgia Power. From 2014 to 2023, James Y. Kerr, II, served as the Southern Company's chief legal officer, chief compliance officer, and chief of staff to then CEO-Thomas Fanning. Kerr and his staff oversaw all compliance activities within the Southern Company's constellation of companies. Under Kerr's leadership, the Southern Company evolved into a corporate culture where purveyors of racism felt welcomed. Kerr and his colleagues in management actually brought executives into the Southern Company who had a history of racial discrimination at other companies. In 2020, Kerr summarily dismissed as a “proposition” or “hypothesis” the established fact that the North Birmingham (Alabama) Bribery Scheme of former state representative Oliver Robinson, which was organized and funded by Alabama Power and other Southern Company allies, was a racist scheme to suppress the environmental protection rights of blacks (and poor whites) in three 92.5 % black Birmingham neighborhoods. . A secret 2015 attorney-client memo that we first published on July 13, 2023, showed Kerr lying to CDLU Executive Director Kevin B. "K.B." Forbes during an audiotaped telephone conversation when Kerr disclaimed any role in the bribery scheme by Alabama Power and the Southern Company. Take a listen. James Kerr remains an executive at the Southern Company. In April 2023, Kerr became the CEO of Southern Gas Company, a Southern Company affiliate. Kerr is still Thomas Fanning's right-hand man. Christopher Womack does not have the power or authority to fire James Kerr, regardless of his audiotaped racism. The Racist, Anti-Gay, and Xenophobic Behavior was Discovered by an African-American Company After Its Purchase of DNE In 2013, DNE was purchased by an Atlanta-based company headed by accomplished African-American businessman John F. Carter. After the deal closed, Carter owned 60% of the company and the original owners became minority owners. Prior to Carter's purchase of DNE, the company was owned by Robert Nix (60%), Matt Armstrong 30%, Larry Harper 5%, and Robert Starr 5%. DNE also owned 49% of Miller Electrical Contractors. The other 51% was owned by McKendree “Ken” Miller, who was forced out of the company by former DNE shareholders Armstrong, Harper, and Charles S. Wallen in a 2017 hostile takeover. Carter's acquisition did not include a change of ownership of Miller Electrical Contractors or his assumption of control over the company. Prior to and after Carter's purchase of DNE, the company was an approved vendor for Georgia Power, Southern Company, Tennessee Valley Authority (in Knoxville), Tennessee, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia. Separately, since 2000, Miller Electric Contractors has been an approved vendor for various industrial-scale projects in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Fairburn, Georgia. The company also performed work on projects for Georgia Power, Southern Company, Tennessee Valley Authority (in Knoxville), and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. After Carter's acquisition of DNE closed, his management team discovered a cache of racist emails and photos on the company's computer servers. The emails and photos in this article were among those found on the servers. A forensic audit commissioned by John Carter also uncovered suspicious banking activities, including appeared to be fraud, forgery, and “insider” assistance and facilitation in connection with certain bank transactions involving DNE and the United Bank of Zebulon, Georgia. Carter promptly reported these suspicious financial activities to the East Point Police Department, Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. These questionable banking activities will be the subject of Part II of my special investigative report into the conduct of this major Southern Company vendor. Michael Munroe retired as a vice president from Miller Electrical Contractors in May 2023. The company continues to serve as a Southern Company approved vendor. Matthew Armstrong, who was listed among the circle of former DNE executives receiving Munroe’s racist, anti-gay, and xenophobic emails, serves as Miller Electrical Contractor’s president. John Carter has disassociated himself from all of the shenanigans caused by the former executives of DNE and the current executives affiliated with Miller Electrical Contractors. The Southern Company has not done so.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 15, 2023 Last night, Donald Trump was indicted on 13 felony charges by a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury, including the serious charge of engaging in racketeering conduct. A total of 19 defendants were indicted on 41 charges. Here are the 19 defendants: Donald Trump, former U.S. president Rudy Giuliani, Trump lawyer Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff John Eastman, Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, pro-Trump lawyer Jeffrey Clark, top Justice Department official Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign lawyer Robert Cheeley, lawyer who promoted fraud claims Mike Roman, Trump campaign official David Shafer, Georgia GOP chair and fake elector Shawn Still, fake GOP elector Stephen Lee, pastor tied to intimidation of election workers Harrison Floyd, leader of Black Voices for Trump Trevian Kutti, publicist tied to intimidation of election workers Sidney Powell, Trump campaign lawyer Cathy Latham, fake GOP elector tied to Coffee County breach Scott Hall, tied to Coffee County election system breach Misty Hampton, Coffee County elections supervisor Ray Smith, Trump campaign attorney Additionally, there are 30 unindicted co-conspirators in Trump's Georgia criminal case. Trump is Facing Nearly Insurmountable Odds in His Four Criminal Courts At 77-years-old, Donald Trump is facing two state and two federal indictments that allege a total of 91 felony counts of criminal offenses against him. The 41 new charges create nearly insurmountable odds for Trump and his co-defendant to win the case. Presently, Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani T. Willis have Donald Trump tagged as a criminal defendant and bogged down in triangulated takedown scenario. Donald Trump is now facing hundreds of years of possible imprisonment upon conviction. At Trump's age, this outcome is equivalent to a death sentence, assuming Trump dies of natural causes while imprisoned. If Trump is imprisoned in a New York or Georgia state prison facility, he would run a high risk of dying from a “shanking” (stabbing), beating, or poisoning that is administered by fellow inmates. Trump’s Secret Service protection detail and his expected isolation from the general inmate population would not be enough to prevent this possible outcome. Based upon my extensive litigation experience in high-profile criminal cases, I have ranked Donald Trump's chances of prevailing in his four criminal cases, from easiest defense victory (No. 1) to hardest victory (No. 4). My rankings assume that Trump is represented by competent defense counsel, which is a mighty big assumption in his case: 1. The Miami classified documents case 2. The Manhattan “hush money” payment case 3. The Washington January 6th case 4. The Atlanta RICO case For the reasons discussed in my August 3, 2023, article, I do not believe that a courtroom victory on all 91 felony counts is possible for Donald Trump. Prosecutors Have the Strategic Advantages in Trump’s Criminal Cases The three prosecutors in Donald Trump’s four criminal cases have the strategic advantages in these cases. They have used every technique at their disposal to maximize their chances of winning a conviction and imprisoning Donald Trump. First, they have Donald Trump trapped in a scenario where he is fighting for his life in judicial venues that are located in four states, all at the same time. Second, prosecutors only need a single "guilty" verdict on any one of the 91 felonies in order to imprison Donald Trump. In contrast, Trump must win a “not guilty” verdict or a mistrial on every one of the 91 felony counts in order to avoid imprisonment. Third, Fani Willis has secured an Indictment in Georgia that includes a RICO count against all 19 defendants. A RICO count is hard to defeat. Furthermore, all of the defendants will be tried together. The only defendant who has the financial wherewithal to fight aggressively during the anticipated 6 to 8 months-long trial is Donald Trump. The legal fees, alone, would likely bankrupt Trump's 18 co-defendants. Against this backdrop, the practical choices for Trump's 18 co-defendants are: (a) plead "guilty" or (b) accept the appointment of a public defender. Public defenders are notoriously weak, meek, and ineffective. As such, I expect to see a slew of guilty pleas from Trump's co-defendants. Fourth, Special Counsel Jack Smith has already "flipped" multiple members of Trump’s circle of legal advisors. These attorneys are now witnesses against Trump in his federal cases in Miami and Washington. Winning the Presidential Election is Trump’s Only Ticket Out of a Death Sentence Donald Trump has only one option available to him for saving his life – he must win the 2024 presidential election. Losing the election is not an acceptable option for Trump. If Trump wins the presidency, which is highly probable, he will surely pardon himself on all federal charges/convictions. Trump will also use the awesome powers of the American presidency to pressure the state pardons and parole boards and governors of New York and Georgia to grant him a full and unconditional pardon, which they will do. At this point, Donald Trump is fighting for his life. His back is against the wall. This is a "do or die" moment in history for Trump.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 9, 2023 An Editorial Opinion "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Have you noticed the loud silence coming from Alabama’s community of black elected and appointed public officials on the following topics of significant public interest? 1. The recent Riverfront brawl in Montgomery. Videos of the brawl have gone viral on the Internet and in the national news media. The brawl started when a group of unruly whites viciously attacked Damien Pickett, a 56-year-old black riverboat co-captain while he was performing his job last Saturday. Yet, the state's black political leadership has been completely silent on the brawl and its ramifications in press releases and on social media platforms. The brawl clearly signals that blacks in Montgomery and across the "Old South" who are wrongfully and viciously attacked by a menacing group of whites will no longer "turn the other cheek." They will fight back in unity. Montgomery is now the birthplace of the bus boycott (December 1955 to December 1956) and the 2023 Riverfront brawl -- two defining moments in the movement for human dignity and respect for civil rights. 2. The all-white, five-member Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, which has never had a black member. 3. The all-white, five-member Alabama Court of Criminal Appeal, which has never had a black member. 4. The all-white, nine-member Alabama Supreme Court in a state that is 26% black. This court has not had a black member since 2001. 5. The Confederate-flag waving conduct of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker, who cherishes his Confederate heritage. 6. The defiant refusal of the Republican-dominated Alabama Legislature to comply with a federal court mandate to submit a redistricting plan that contains two majority black districts. 7. The dismantlement of affirmative action programs at historically white public colleges and universities and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at major corporations. 8. The aggressive dismantlement of black economic empowerment agendas and opportunities in Alabama. 9. The non-stop poisoning of the air, ground, and water in three black neighborhoods in North Birmingham by six major industrial polluters, which requires an estimated $1 billion to clean up. 10. The skyrocketing murder rates in Mobile, Montgomery, and Birmingham, along with the state's overcrowded and filthy prison conditions. What Matters are Black Elected and Appointed Officials in Alabama Allowed to Speak Out About? Here are the safe topics for black elected and appointed officials in Alabama: 1. Securing funding for predominantly white and elitist Birmingham Southern College, in the form of a $30 million loan from the state of Alabama and $5 million from the city of Birmingham. 2. Building a new downtown football stadium for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which will receive $90 million in funding from cash-strapped Birmingham taxpayers in the amount of $3 million over a 30-year period. 3. Building a new amphitheater in downtown Birmingham, which cost cash-strapped Birmingham residents $5 million. 4. Engaging in symbolic legislative opposition against moving the Rocket Monument out of Huntsville. 5. Praising the courage of dead civil rights leaders from the 1950s and 60s during commemorative events. Who Funds the Political Campaigns of Black Elected Officials in Alabama? Approximately 96% of the campaign money raised by black elected officials in Alabama comes from Republican-leaning PACs, major Republican-oriented businesses, “dark money” entities, out-of-state corporate interests, and Republican mega donors. For all practical purposes, the state's Democratic Party is dead. It cannot fund any political campaign. Furthermore, one-third of the state's black population lives in poverty and cannot contribute money to anyone's political campaign. Who Do Black Elected and Appointed Officials in Alabama Truly Represent? Black elected and appointed officials in Alabama typically represent the political interests of Republican-leaning businesses, GOP mega-donors, out-of-state corporate interests, and traditional power-players in the state. When they do talk out about something involving their black constituents, it is usually just a "feel good" speech at an awards ceremony or annual civil rights commemorative event. Are Black Elected and Appointed Public Officials in Alabama Basically Useless? For the most part, “Yes.” With the exceptions of 2 or 3 officeholders in the entire state, black elected and appointed public officials in Alabama will only do what their Republican and corporate handlers allow them to do. These officials are often treated like "bastard children" by their GOP handlers. They are afraid to speak out about the things that matter. Parting Thoughts Of course, no white elected official in the state has condemned the violent attack on Damien Pickett. Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who wages aggressive fights to protect unborn children, has not said a word about the violence that threatened Damien Pickett's life. Steve Marshall is always missing in action when it comes to the protection of the health, safety, welfare, lives, and civil rights of blacks in Alabama. Today, blacks in Alabama are basically unrepresented in the state's political dialogue, political processes, and political apparatuses. They must speak for themselves, via their words and actions. This is the cold, hard, truth!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 8, 2023 Last Friday, Donald J. Trump, the GOP frontrunner for president, was in Montgomery, Alabama as the featured speaker at the Alabama Republican Party’s summer dinner. The venue was packed with supporters who waited in long lines to see and hear Trump speak. While Trump was talking about using money from President Joe Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 to widen Interstate-65 from Huntsville to Mobile, Ron DeSantis was in Tama, Iowa re-imaging the slavery experience of American slaves of African descent in a way that makes this ugly chapter in American history look beneficial to these slaves. To be clear, the only beneficiaries of the slavery enterprise in America from 1619 to 1865 were white men. DeSantis also spent time explaining his aggressive fight against Walt Disney World, Mickey Mouse, and a handful of Florida school children who identify as transgender. Only a handful of DeSantis’ staffers and supporters showed up for his esoteric and boring campaign speech in Tama, Iowa. It was embarrassing. DeSantis has never offered real solutions to real economic problems facing Floridians. For example, DeSantis has not offered a single practical solution for the millions of Floridians who no longer have homeowners’ insurance in his state because the major insurance companies refuse to sell them this product. Likewise, DeSantis has taken no action against Florida Power & Light for gouging electric customers with unrelenting rate hikes, or for corrupting the political process in Florida. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is imploding. He is out of touch with the pocketbook issues that threaten the quality of life for ordinary Americans. This is who Ron DeSantis really is -- a small man, with small mind, and a small world vision. Those who knew DeSantis when he was an unmarried teacher claim he was hanging out and drinking with underage female students at the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia. Some, like Donald Trump, have insinuated that DeSantis was “grooming” young girls for his personal enjoyment. Judging by the smile on his face in the photo below, DeSantis certainly seems to have enjoyed the affection these teenage girls were showering upon him. Instead of dealing with real economic issues facing voters, Ron DeSantis acts like he is running to succeed Robert Marvin Shelton as Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America, a bankrupted Ku Klux Klan group. To me, it seems like the voters with whom DeSantis seeks to connect died with Adolf Hitler in a German bunker in 1945. I am amazed that Floridia’s GOP establishment allowed Ron DeSantis to tarnish the state's positive global brand in the futile hope that he could be sworn-in as the president of the United States in January of 2025. It will take decades to repair the reputational damage DeSantis has done to Florida's worldwide, progressive image. At this juncture, one thing is clear – Ron DeSantis will not be the 47th President of the United States. After his presidential campaign ends, DeSantis will be free to pursue his warped fascist agenda on a full-time basis as a private citizen. Goodbye, Ron DeSantis. It's been nice watching you lose!

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on January 20, 2019 I never knew her name, but I never forgot my chance encounter with her. It is as fresh in my mind today as it was when I was a young child. By today’s standards, what she did would be considered “ordinary” and polite. In the early 1950s, she could have been jailed for what she did. Here is her story: It was a hot and humid summer day in Montgomery, Alabama. My mother gathered her six children for a Saturday shopping trip downtown. She made sure all of us went to the bathroom before we left the house. She also gave each one of us a peppermint to put in our pocket. This was her routine for our trips away from home. The peppermint had a specific purpose that had nothing to do with keeping our breaths fresh. If the “Colored Only” water fountain from which we could drink was not working, the peppermint would keep our mouths moist long enough for my mother to find a “Colored Only” water fountain that was working. We had been walking downtown from store-to-store and it was extremely hot and humid. I became thirsty and asked my mother to show me where the water fountain was located in a store called Gayfers. When we got to the "Colored Only" water fountain, it was not working. My mother told me to suck on my peppermint until we could get to the next store. This is when I discovered that I had forgotten to bring my peppermint. I begged my mother to let me drink out of the adjacent “White Only” water fountain that was working. At 5-years-old, I didn’t know what the signs meant anyway. A white woman was standing there drinking from the “White Only” water fountain. She heard me pleading with my mother for a drink of water. My mother tried to calm me down and then looked at her. The two women never spoke a word to each other. After the white woman finished drinking from the fountain, she kept the water flowing. With her inviting eyes and body language, she gestured for me to come drink out of the “White Only” water fountain. My mother stared at her and she stared back with a smile that only another mother could give. I slowly walked over to the fountain and started drinking the “White Only” water. To me, it tasted just like the “Colored Only” water. I drank and drank for what seemed like an eternity because I was very thirsty. After I finished drinking the water, the woman smiled, nodded her head in a farewell gesture, and slowly walked away. At that moment, two adults and one child had broken Alabama’s strictly enforced laws on racial segregation in public accommodations. We became criminals that day because a young black child in the custody of his loving mother needed water and a caring white woman, who was a stranger to us, gave it me from the “White Only” water fountain. What made her do it? Why did she care enough about me to risk being arrested and labeled a “nigger lover” by local police? Why did I matter to her? In that moment, the bravery and kindness of this unknown white woman triumphed over the arcane social mores and legal code of the day. Simply put, I was an innocent young child who was thirsty and she gave me water. What is more, she broke the law to do it. I never saw this woman again, but what she did that day helped to shape my view of humanity. Because of her, and tens of millions of Americans like her, I was eventually able to: (a) drink from any public water fountain that worked; (b) use any public toilet that was available; (c) eat at any public lunch counter that served food I could afford to buy; (d) work as the first black cashier for the Delchamps grocery store chain in Alabama; (e) attend the college of my choice; (f) desegregate The University of Alabama’s School of Law; (g) take and pass the bar exam without fear of sabotage in the scoring of my exam results; (h) practice law throughout Alabama’s 67 counties and in the District of Columbia; (i) apply for and receive the first bank charter issued to an African-American owner by the Alabama Banking Department; (j) own and manage international energy services companies; and (k) participate fully and freely in the political process across America. When I started practicing law in Alabama in 1973, a few white state court judges openly addressed me as the “nigger lawyer from Montgomery” (as opposed to “Mr. Watkins”) in front of the all-white jurors who were trying my cases. When this dehumanizing conduct occurred, I saw her spirit emerge again and again in the eyes and faces of the jurors. I did not know them and they did not know me. Yet, they ALWAYS rose above this demeaning judicial bias and did the right thing out of a sense of personal honor and integrity. I never knew her name, but her spirit has always been with me. She showed compassion to me as a child and treated me with respect as a human being. That fateful day, she gave me more than water. In her own way, she gave me enduring hope for a better world. Throughout my life, I have embraced her spirit by trying to give as much love for humanity as I have received from the kindness of strangers. PHOTO: The young Watkins siblings at the State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama in 1953. I am the second boy from the left on the front row.

By: Donald V. Watkins August 5, 2023 Donald Trump came to Montgomery, Alabama Friday night and was welcomed by a sellout crowd of 2,700 political supporters at a dinner sponsored by the Alabama Republican Party. The event turned into a Trump-MAGA love fest. Nearly every GOP official in the state proclaimed his/her undying love for Donald Trump and support for his 2024 campaign for president. Nobody at the dinner cared about the fact that Trump has been indicted on 78 state and federal felony charges in Manhattan, Miami, and Washington. Trump is waiting criminal trials in these venues. Another 30 or more felony charges are expected to be filed against Trump sometime this month by a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury. Nobody at the GOP gathering last night was talking any nonsense about "law and order." That's for street criminals. As explained in my August 3, 2023, article, Donald Trump is in a “do or die” fight for his life. Trump must win the presidency to save his own life. Losing is not an acceptable option. Trump is expected to win the GOP’s nominee for president. Trump’s gigantic lead over his rivals in the Republican primaries is mind-boggling. Based upon recent polling, the spate of criminal indictments against Donald Trump in Manhattan, Miami, Washington, and soon-to-be Atlanta has not eroded his political support within the Republican Party or derailed his chances of winning the presidency. Barring divine intervention, Trump will become the 47th president of the United States in January 2025. His victory will go down as the biggest political comeback in American history. After Trump wins the election, all of his legal troubles will be over. A New Political Paradigm America has descended in the tribal politics that defines third-world countries. The Democratic and Republican political parties are dominated by limited thinking, self-serving, unmoored, tribal activists. Neither party has demonstrated a willingness to place our country above its political agenda. Within this paradigm, there is a growing realization among voters that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is weaponized against the political opposition. This is true, but the weaponization of the DOJ goes back over a hundred years. What is more, the weaponization of the DOJ is a tool that has been widely used by both political parties. Yet, nobody in the MAGA movement seemed to care about the weaponization of the DOJ until Donald Trump became the target of its ire. Ironically, when Trump served as president (from 2017 to 2021), neither he, nor his allies in Congress or those sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, did anything to stop the weaponization of the DOJ. As explained below, the last president who tried to stop the weaponization of the DOJ was George W. Bush. The Callie House Prosecution In 1915, black social justice activist Callie House sued the U.S. Treasury Department for $68,073,388.99 in compensation for ex-slaves. The white political establishment in Washington claimed that House's fight for economic security for ex-slaves was "setting Negroes wild" and that she was meddling in "white folks things." They labeled House as "defiant" because she would not back down from seeking pensions, life insurance, health insurance, land grants, agricultural assistance, educational assistance, reparations for slavery, and burial assistance for ex-slaves and their families. In 1896, House co-founded the Rutherford County, Tennessee-based National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association (MRB&PA) with Isaiah Dickerson and turned this organization into the first national grassroots movement to help ex-slaves achieve economic security and a chance for financial independence. In 1916, at the urging of Southerners in Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, Callie House and several MRB&PA officers were indicted on bogus mail fraud charges, tried in an all-white, all-male federal courtroom in Nashville, and convicted. House was sentenced to one year in prison. White House and Department of Justice records from the era showed that House was prosecuted for the sole purpose of destroying MRB&PA's national grassroots movement for land grants, pensions, and compensation for ex-slaves. Other well-known social justice activists of the nadir who were targeted by the DOJ and FBI for persecution and prosecution included businessman Marcus Garvey and singer Billie Holiday. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the FBI’s COINTELPRO Program The weaponization of the DOJ re-emerged in full force when this federal law enforcement agency acted in concert with state and local law enforcement agencies to attack Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., actress Jean Seberg, and thousands of other social justice advocates during the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO era in a senseless bid to discredit and derail the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. The weaponization of the DOJ and FBI continued in the 1980s under their unofficial “Fruhmenschen” policy and in the 1990s, via the “Good Ol’ Boys Round Up.” In the early 2000’s the DOJ used its weaponization program to destroy prominent Baltimore investment banker Nathan A. Chapman, who was the first African-American chairman of the University of Maryland Board of Regents. In 2002, Baltimore U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiago, a George W. Bush Appointee, targeted Nathan Chapman, then-Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and other prominent Maryland Democrats for criminal investigations solely because of their party affiliation. In July 2004, DiBiagio sent a memo urging his federal prosecutors to obtain "Three 'Front-Page' White Collar/Public Corruption Indictments" before Nov. 6, four days after the presidential election. Chapman was the first one of DiBiago's political targets who was prosecuted. In 2005, the George Bush Department of Justice forced DiBiago to resign. In a 2007 New York Times interview, Deputy Attorney General David Margolis acknowledged for the first time that he asked for DiBiagio’s resignation because "[a] reasonable person could have concluded that he was trying to affect the outcome of an election, and we just can't have that." Today, the practice of using the DOJ's criminal justice apparatus to "affect the outcome of an election" is a routine occurrence. Under Merrick Garland's leadership, the DOJ is in the business of picking "winners" and "losers"in the political arena. The Donald J. Trump Phenomenen Republicans across the country now realize that the DOJ and FBI have been weaponized against Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans supporters. They spotlight the DOJ’s tough prosecutorial treatment of Trump, as compared to its undeniably lenient prosecutorial treatment of crack and powder cocaine using, tax-evading, prostitute-using, unlawful gun-possessing Hunter Biden – America’s First Son. The allegiance that MAGA Republicans are conferring upon Donald Trump is a perverse form of the allegiance that Americans of interracial goodwill conferred upon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., after each one of his 29 documented arrests on trumped up criminal charges. The arrests, themselves, are tantamount to badges of honor and street credentials in the respective movements led by each man. Trump has become the face of the MAGA movement just as Dr. King became the face of the civil rights movement. Trump’s arrests legitimize him in the MAGA movement just as King’s arrests legitimized him within the civil rights movement. Trump is a divisive political cult figure, while Dr. King was a unifying humanitarian leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Trump wants to take this country back to an unspecified time when America was great for one group of its citizens, but horrible for others. Dr. King wanted to take America forward to an America that embraced all of its citizens as equal men and women with full civil and constitutional rights.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published July 31, 2023 Georgia Power declared today that Vogtle Unit 3 has entered commercial operation and is now serving customers and the State of Georgia. Georgia Power is a wholly-owned affiliate of the Southern Company. Vogtle Unit 3 is the first newly-constructed nuclear unit in the U.S. in over 30 years and is expected to power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses. Nuclear energy currently provides approximately 25% of Georgia Power’s overall energy mix, including the existing units at Plant Vogtle and Georgia’s other nuclear facility at Plant Hatch in Baxley, Georgia. The final stages of construction and testing continue at Vogtle Unit 4, a companion to Unit 3. Unit 4 is projected to be placed in service during the late fourth quarter 2023 or the first quarter of 2024. Unit 4 completed hot functional testing in May. The Vogtle site has also received nuclear fuel for Unit 4. Last week, Georgia Power announced the receipt of the 103(g) finding from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for Vogtle Unit 4. This finding was confirmed in an official letter received by Southern Nuclear Operating Company and signifies that Unit 4 has been constructed and will be operated in conformance with the Combined License and NRC regulations. No further NRC findings are necessary in order for Southern Nuclear to load fuel or begin the startup sequence for the Unit 4. Southern Nuclear will operate the Units 3 and 4 on behalf of the co-owners: Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. Because Units 3 and 4 are riddled with design and engineering flaws, shoddy construction, poor quality controls, and the falsification of testing records, some nuclear experts have predicted that Vogtle Unit 3 will experience a Level 7 nuclear disaster within 90 days after it reaches 100% power in its commercial operations. This prediction was affirmed again today. 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. Over the course of time, up to 60,000 people within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle will die from radiation poisoning and related illnesses. Based upon industry reports, Units 3 and 4 have the highest pre-operational testing failure rates among the nation’s 92 nuclear power plants. The testing failures at Units 3 and 4 were non-stop. The Southern Company, acting through affiliates Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear Operating Company, has successfully hoodwinked, gaslighted, and flat-out lied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) repeatedly and relentlessly since construction started on these Units 3 and 4 in 2009. The Southern Company's nefarious activities, coupled with a healthy dose of influence peddling and strategic “dark money” contributions to federal and state political entities, enabled Georgia Power to bring Unit 3 into commercial service despite its fatal design and engineering flaws. The Boeing Company performed a similar political feat when federal aviation regulators allowed the company to place its new 737 MAX passenger jets into commercial service despite fatal design and engineering flaws that were known to cause these new airplanes to crash at an unacceptably high rate per 5-year period. As a result, 346 passengers and crew members died shortly after takeoff in two separate crashes of the new 737 MAX jets that were less than five months apart. After the second fatal crash, all 737 MAX airplanes were grounded worldwide for more than two years. The project development scenario for Vogtle Units 3 and 4 is similar to what occurred at Boeing with the new 737 MAX airplanes, but with much deadlier consequences in the making. At Vogtle Units 3 and 4, no federal, state, or local government agency has safeguarded and protected the public's interest in ensuring compliance with the highest standards of public safety during the 14-year design, construction, and testing phases that preceded the regulatory decision to place Vogtle Unit 3 into commercial service today. Once again, politics and corporate greed have trumped public safety. Up to 60,000 people living within a 40-mile radius of Vogtle will die as a result of this breach of the public trust.