Editor’s note: The following article comes from another US citizen whose rights were continuously violated while housed in the Federal Prison System otherwise known as the BOP. This unfortunately happens on a regular basis. There are decent employees who make up the BOP workforce and there are truly evil people as well. There are times when decent employees step up but many times these incidents are ignored. I will be sharing further content from citizens with first hand knowledge of the federal prison system in hopes that people will put themselves in the shoes of these folks and get involved in changing the system. Unlike our local police departments, there is little to no oversight over the Prison Industry. This needs to change. FEDERAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM “Staycation” At The County Jail Date: February 11, 2021 Author: inside-the-walls As many of you know, I recently spent 15 days in the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas. This “staycation” was provided to me courtesy of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and City of Faith Half-Way House (COF). Please see previous blog post regarding the BOP’s allegations that I had hired a mobile billboard to circle the prison camp at Bryan, Texas (https://insidethewallscom.wordpress.com/2021/01/11/is-sis-staff-at-fpc-bryan-attempting-to-retaliate-against-me-on-this-side-of-the-walls-for-my-continuing-to-speak-out-about-their-bop-policy-violations-and-mistreatment-of-inmates/). This “staycation”, I believe, came about in retaliation to my continuing to speak out against the inhumane treatment the BOP subjects inmates, as well as the BOP’s allegations regarding the mobile billboard. This is not something new–if you have read my blog–then you know that I have been on the other side of BOP staff retaliation many times in the past. The BOP continues to punish me for my unwillingness to silence my voice and give up my constitutional rights to free speech. All in violation of my civil rights. On January 8, 2021, at 2:45 p.m., I received an email from Michael South, Facility Director at City of Faith (COF), that in part read, “Mr. Smith has specifically advised that you refrain from participating in the program while this is worked out”. The Mr. Smith referred to is “Residential Reentry Manager Sean Smith at the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) offices in Grand Prairie, Texas”. And the program referenced is my radio show Inside The Walls and Beyond. When I pushed back quoting BOP policy (https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/1480_005.pdf), City of Faith’s Federal Resident Handbook (https://cityoffaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Resident-Handbook-2018.pdf) and the Michael Cohen case (https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/cohen-v-barr/), I believe Mr. Smith became angered at me and decided to retaliate. One thing I have repeatedly documented in this blog is that BOP staff do not like inmates who are well versed in BOP policy. And that BOP staff are not trained properly in regards to BOP policy, or just choose not to follow it. Regardless, inmates who know policy, speak out about the violations of said policies, or attempt to hold the BOP accountable, are retaliated against. This has been a pattern I have documented many times during the time I was incarcerated in federal prison. On Monday, January 12, 2021, I was working at my church when I received a phone call from Mr. South of COF. Mr. South instructed me to report to COF immediately to be picked up by US Marshal Services to be transported back to prison. Mr. South informed me that “I had received an incident report and was being placed back in prison”. I immediately followed Mr. South’s instruction and had my husband drive me to the COF half-way house to self-surrender. Once there, I was served the attached incident report. After a lengthly wait, several US Marshals showed up to shackle, handcuff, and belly chain me, so I could be transported to the county jail. Once in the car with the Marshal, he wanted to know what I had done to get violated. I just handed him the incident report and let him read it for himself. The Marshal was shocked that he was “returning someone to prison for emails.” He said “he had never heard of such, and wanted to know what I really done?” When I explained to him about my blog, the BOP’s allegations regarding the billboard, and my radio show, he stated “I knew there had to be something more to this.” “You must have really hit a nerve with whatever you are reporting.” “I’ve never taken anyone back to prison unless they flunked multiple drug screens.” “And while I work for the government–I tell people all the time that it is crooked.” Then he asked me for “the name of my blog”–proceeded to write it down–and told me “I’m going to read it.” So Mr. US Marshal, if you are reading this blog post–thank you for your kindness that day, and for staying with me at the jail until I was taken to a cell. Also, I appreciate your willingness to see the incident report for the retaliation it is. Getting back to the incident report, per multiple COF staff members, stated to both me and my husband on January 12, 2021 at COF, and again on January 19, 2021, by COF staff that came to the jail to talk to me, “City of Faith did not want to write the attached incident report on me, as I had been a model resident for the almost 8 months I had been on home confinement under their supervision”. COF staff reported that “Mr. Smith is the BOP staff who forced COF staff to write the attached Incident Report”, and “move the 300 series incident report to a DHO hearing” (meaning the incident would be decided by BOP staff Disciplinary Hearing Officer (DHO)–not at the institution level (by COF staff), as is normally BOP policy for a 300 series incident report). See BOP Policy Statement on Inmate Discipline (https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5270_009.pdf). Regardless that I was served with the incident report, it does not meet BOP policy and would have failed on its face (meaning it would have had to be dismissed once it got to the DHO for review–if BOP policy was followed). There are several problems with the report which cause it to be invalid. 1. The report does not tell me (the inmate) how I have violated BOP policy 309 (violating a condition of a community program). Merely stating that I was emailing other inmates does not suffice. By BOP policy an incident report must state how exactly policy was violated by the inmate to be valid, 2. Please note under Date and Time of the incident report, the Date shows 3 December 2020 (which appears to refer to the one email that is actually quoted in the body of the incident report) and shows Date as 2:21 p (meaning 2:21 p.m.). However, in the body of the transcribed email, it clearly states that I emailed on December 3, 2020 at 9:21 p.m. This is a technicality due to the incident report not having a correct time of the violation–which would require the incident report to be dismissed by BOP policy, and 3. I do not believe by BOP policy that Mr. South is able to write the incident report (another technicality) for several reasons; first of all, Mr. South did not witness me emailing inmates, and except for the fact that I was honest when asked, could not prove that I was actually the one emailing (an inmate’s admission of guilt is not enough to be found guilty under policy), secondly, Mr. South does not have access to the BOP’s CorrLinks or Truview (as it is referred to in the incident report) email system (the monitored BOP email system used by inmates), therefore, Mr. South is not able to view the emails or information described in the body of the incident report. This means that by BOP policy, he is unable to issue the incident report–making it invalid. And if you have any doubts that this was purely retaliation, let me point out that a 300 series incident report is a low level shot–certainly not serious enough to cause an inmate to be taken to jail–basically punished–before even being found guilty of the incident. Even if I were still being housed at the BOP, I would not have been shipped for investigation regarding a 300 series shot. This is unprecedented. However, in this case, I never made it before the DHO to make my case regarding the BOP’s faulty incident report, nor was I ever found guilty of said report, because the BOP once again failed to follow policy, and did not bring me before the DHO within the 14 days required by BOP Program Statement 5270.09 Inmate Discipline Program (see above link). Instead I was held at the county jail in violation of my civil rights for 15 days before Judge Kristine Baker ordered me released–see article from Forbes Magazine regarding what transpired (https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2021/02/06/inmate-on-home-confinement-spoke-out-on-bureau-of-prisons-policy-and-ended-up-back-in-prison/?sh=4c51481a55ba&fbclid=IwAR3i0cuqe8IaLZx_1VasXUiOxA9rfzfCc4Qd7tDsDjkWsCmpzi66TX7-nbU). Additionally, the fact that the BOP choose an email to quote in the body of its incident report that clearly had to do with my radio show, is another tell tell sign that this was purely retaliation for my continued speaking out against it. It is also of note that the BOP had in December approved me to take the two classes I need to graduate in May with my master’s degree, that I was forced to put off when I had to self-surrender to prison for a crime I did not commit. Staff were also aware that I had registered, paid for, and was due to start the classes on January 13, 2021. I have no doubt that my placement in the county jail on January 12, 2021–the day before I was to start back to class–was chosen by design to derail my graduation and punish me further–especially since both BOP and COF staff had been aware of the emailing of inmates since at least late December–and I had been emailing with inmates for the over 7 months that I had been on home confinement–all through the BOP’s monitored email system. So much for the BOP or COF caring about reentry needs of inmates and helping inmates reintegrate back into society–what half-way houses are designed to do. Luckily, when I was released by Judge Baker on January 27, 2021, my graduate school advisor went to bat for me, and I was able to reregister two weeks late for those classes and should graduate in May. At least the BOP’s retaliation was a total fail in that regard. And now that I have been at a county jail–I have even more to report and speak out about! I will blog about my time there, and what I witnessed, at a later date. I have reached out to the BOP in Washington, D.C., specifically to Mr. Smith’s bosses–however, as expected, they have refused to take or return my calls to discuss this matter. Additionally, I have requested copies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of everything I signed from COF–but they too are refusing to cooperate, stating “We are not allowed to give any resident a copy of anything but their sentence computation.” However, by law, I have a right to anything I have signed. Lastly, I am currently considering filing a civil rights violation lawsuit against the BOP and all the staff involved in this incident under a Bivens action (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bivens_actions). If I do sue, I will certainly include in my lawsuit the additional torts caused by the BOP’s negligent actions against me while I was an inmate. Those torts include medical staff at FPC Bryan who refused to treat my pre-cancerous skin condition (even though they had medical records from my dermatologist stating I had to be seen every 6 months and treated for this condition)–allowing the pre-cancerous spots to become cancerous, the retaliation against me by FPC Bryan staff during my incarceration, as well as my being housed with men in adjacent cells in the men’s Solitary Housing Unit (SHU) in Oklahoma for quarantine–which has caused me to suffer from anxiety, PTSD, and panic attacks. All in violation of my civil rights. Until next time…..if you do not like what you are reading here–speak out–call your Congress men/women and Senators and demand that they reform our broken criminal “in”justice system. Be a voice. And continue to pray for all the women who are still inside the walls. © 2021 Copyright – Lynn Espejo, All rights reserved. You cannot print or use any of the content without written consent. You can read this article and others about Ms. Espejo's experience in the BOP at the following link: https://insidethewallscom.wordpress.com/ (And I highly encourage you to do so if you enjoy reading David vs. Goliath content!) All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 19, 2021 A United States president can do a thousand things right during his four-year term in office, but it only takes one bad executive decision to ruin his presidency. In 2020, Donald J. Trump's mismanagement of America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic ruined his presidency and killed his re-election chances. Last weekend, Joe Biden effectively abandoned an estimated 15,000 American military contractors and civilians who are trapped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan in the aftermath of his poorly executed withdrawal of American troops from the country. This executive action has killed Biden's presidency. Politically speaking, Joe Biden is a dead man walking. No amount of TV talking points or PR spin will breathe new life into what's left of Biden's presidency or his diminishing political legacy. After 20 years of war, $2 trillion in war-related expenditures by four U.S. presidents (i.e., George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden), and six thousand American military personnel and civilian contractor fatalities in Afghanistan, our declared enemy -- the Taliban -- won the war with the fall of Kabul last weekend. They defeated the United States in the war against terrorism. Any other PR spin coming out of the White House regarding the heartbreaking outcome of this war is pure "bullshit." The Taliban kicked America's ass! They were willing to shed more blood for their cause -- the exportation of jihad and terrorism around the world -- than we were in the fight to stop them. In war, the most committed combatant always wins. America's Losing Streak in Wars Continues America has not won a major war since World War II ended in 1945. We did not win the Korean War in the 1950s; it ended up being a stalemate with American troops still stationed in South Korea today. Cuban President Fidel Castro defeated us during President John Kennedy's Bay of Pigs debacle in the early 1960s. We lost the 12-year Vietnam War that killed 54,000 American troops by the time President Richard Nixon ended it in 1973. We are still in Iraq doing something related to the 2001 Operation Iraqi Freedom military campaign we declared against deceased Iraqi dictator and former U.S. ally, Saddam Hussein, but nobody in Washington knows what it is. And now, America has embarrassed and humiliated itself in front of the entire world with our stunning defeat in Afghanistan. In the aftermath of this tragic defeat, Commander-in-Chief Biden left 15,000 U.S. citizens trapped behind enemy lines. The Taliban now controls their fate, not Joe Biden. This executive action by a U.S. president is unforgiveable. Today, America is on its knees begging the Taliban to allow these 15,000 U.S. citizens to leave the country. No sitting U.S. president has ever had to beg a declared foreign war enemy to release 15,000 American civilians from a conflict zone. As weak and inept as President Jimmy Carter was in 1979, he only had to beg for the release of about 300 American Embassy workers who were held hostage by the Iranian revolutionaries who overthrew a puppet dictator America had installed in Iran during the 1950s. America has the most advanced military the world has ever known. What our nation has consistently lacked since the end of World War II is a president with the political courage to use the full might of our weapons and superior fighting skills of our soldiers to win victories in war. Epilogue As an American who has worked in over 40 countries during the past 15 years, including several Middle Eastern countries, I personally know that American will never be able to live down the images of defeat and disgrace that are streaming across TV screens, laptops, and cell phones around the world. What is worse, the Russians, China, Taliban, and our allies now know that we are a weak-kneed "Superpower." We can never be any stronger than the presidents we elect. Weak presidents make weak nations. As a nation, we no longer fight wars to win; we fight them to score politically-correct points at election time. Furthermore, we do not protect the allies who shed their blood along side our soldiers; we betray them. As was the case when Jimmy Carter was humiliated by Iranian extremists in 1979, Joe Biden will spend the rest of his presidency trying to get the 15,000 trapped Americans out of Afghanistan. In the process, Biden has disgraced himself and America with his failed leadership in Afghanistan. This is a major reason why I have been a political independent since 2001. I do not want to be hopelessly married to failed political leadership, whether it is served up by a Democrat or Republican president. Each president must earn my political support and maintain it by a clear and convincing demonstration of his/her superior job performance. Nothing else matters to me. Finally, if Democrats in Washington thought they had a realistic chance of maintaining their Congressional majorities in the House and Senate in the 2022 elections, they now need a serious reality check. Joe Biden's executive decision to leave the fate of the 15,000 Americans trapped in Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban single-handedly delivered control of Congress to the Republican Party in 2022. It also sealed Biden's fate as a one-term president and ended Vice President Kamala Harris' chances of winning the presidency, should Biden choose to forego running for re-election in 2024. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on May 8, 2018 On July 21, 2015, Brittney Wilk, Lisa Thompson, and Angie Ingram formed Cavalier Rescue of Alabama, Inc. (“CRAL”). All three women serve as directors of this non-profit corporation, which was established to “rescue/rehab & rehome Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.” Wilk was designated President/Co-Founder, Ingram was named Vice President, and Thompson was listed as CRAL’s Secretary/Co-Founder. All three women were involved in a November 22, 2014 Cavalier “rescue” mission at a dog auction in Wheaton, Missouri. The Greater Birmingham Humane Society ("GBHS") aided this “rescue” by: (a) providing transportation for 34 of the Cavaliers that were brought back to Birmingham, (b) providing specially trained staff members present at the auction, and (c) having its President and Chief Executive Officer Allison Black Cornelius onsite in Missouri as an observer to the events that unfolded at the auction. At the time, Cavalier Rescue USA was an approved “Rescue Partner” of GBHS. Prior to, during, and immediately after the Missouri auction, Brittney Wilk and Lisa Thompson were the Alabama coordinators for Cavalier Rescue USA. Angie Ingram was a Cavalier Rescue USA volunteer who purchased the “rescued” Cavaliers in her name. Ingram was reimbursed for these purchases by Brittney Wilk from $268,000.000 in donations raised for the Missouri auction through a GoFundMe campaign. Wilk used photos of 12 adorable Cavalier puppies that Cavalier Rescue USA "was able to save over the past year" as a hook to raise donations for the Missouri auction from 2,250 donors worldwide. After the auction, a “Cavalier Rescue USA: Checklist for Foster Dog Assessment” was completed on the “rescued” Cavaliers. Five high-price “rescued” Cavaliers were adopted to Angie Ingram, Brittney Wilk, and their friends Jasmine Lawson, Christina Carnes, and Amanda "Mandy" Johnson. Like Ingram, Carnes was also a Cavalier Rescue USA volunteer. She photographed the “rescued” Cavaliers and various scenes at the auction. Ingram, Wilk, and Thompson took it upon themselves to decide who would get ownership of the five high-dollar Cavaliers allocated between Will, Lawson, Carnes, Johnson, and Ingram. These “insider” transactions were not submitted to Cavalier Rescue USA’s board of directors for input or approval. Ingram and Carnes took ownership of the two Cavaliers that Ingram purchased from other buyers at the Missouri auction for a total of $24,200.00 using GoFundMe money. The Emergence of Cavalier Rescue of Alabama After questions were raised by donors and members of Cavalier Rescue USA in December 2014 about the purchases and placement of some of the "saved" Cavaliers, Wilk, Thompson, and Ingram disassociated themselves from Cavalier Rescue USA and announced their plans to form Cavalier Rescue of Alabama. CRAL’s 2015 tax return described its non-profit mission this way (verbatim): “Medically and emotionally rehabilitate cavalier king Charles spaniels (7 mixes of). 33 dogs rescued. prevent euthanasia and reduced breeding in puppy mills. 4 were pulled from shelters making room for other dogs in need. All were sprayed/neutered.” It is unclear whether the “33 dogs rescued” statement refers to any of the Cavaliers that were purchased at the 2014 auction in Wheaton, Missouri. CRAL reported $49,019.95 in total revenue from all sources for 2015. The organization reported total expenses of $31,340.97, with a year-end fund balance of $17,678.17. Total revenues for 2016 surged to $171,641.00. Total expenses for this period were reported at $131,182.00. The fund balance at year-end was $58,137.00. Even though the CRAL founders left Cavalier Rescue USA under questionable circumstances, they remained tied to GBHS and its CEO. CRAL’s Lasting Ties to GBHS As reported in my May 6, 2018 article titled, “Was GBHS Complicit in Stonewalling Cavalier ‘Whistleblowers’?,” Allison Black Cornelius encouraged Angie Ingram to “sue the daylights out of this woman.” The woman who drew the ire of Cornelius was “whistleblower”, Heather Halldin. Ingram dutifully followed Cornelius’s advice. The ensuing lawsuit against Halldin and six other “whistleblowers” has been languishing in an Alabama court for more than three years. Plaintiff Lisa Thompson is a well-known business owner and influential GBHS board member. Her Birmingham-based marketing and communications company, Flex Digital, designed GBHS’s logo and assists the organization its marketing and printing needs. On July 10, 2015, Lisa Thompson secured an affidavit from Cornelius in support of her lawsuit against the “whistleblowers” that Cornelius encouraged Attorney Ingram to sue. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the “whistleblowers.” Cornelius vouched for the character of plaintiffs Thompson, Wilk, and Mandy Johnson, which she said was “above repute”. Cornelius stated in her affidavit that she was able to get a “complete accounting of all donations and how it was spent” at the Missouri auction, even though she did not request one. The accounting provided to Cornelius was “fully transparent as to how the funds were spent.” When “whistleblower” Heather Halldin requested an “accounting” of the donor funds, she was stonewalled and threatened with a Cease and Desist letter from Angie Ingram. When other “whistleblowers” questioned the adoption of high-price “rescued” Cavaliers to Wilk, Thompson, Lawson, Carnes, and Ingram, they got sued. GBHS and Ingram's "rescuers" were able to sweep this controversy under the rug with the help of Joey Kennedy, the Pulitzer Prize winning Alabama Media Group reporter who wrote favorable articles about Angie Ingram and her Missouri auction “rescuers''. Kennedy also wrote upbeat stories about Allison Black Cornelius during her rise from Interim Executive Manager to President and CEO of GBHS. Kennedy departed the Alabama Media Group in February 2015. He was later given the Abe Krawchak Award by GBHS for his efforts to improve the lives and welfare of animals in this state. Kennedy turned a blind eye to “whistleblower” Karen Pearsall Orange on January 23, 2015 when she sent him an email that raised ethical questions about the Birmingham “rescuers’ ownership of some of the high-price Cavaliers they “saved” at the Missouri auction. “They used other people’s money to purchase themselves dogs,” wrote Orange. That’s not the way rescue works …. ,”she said. Instead of investigating this matter, Kennedy forwarded this email to Ingram with a message that Orange “is not a friend” and wishing Ingram, “Hugs". Three days later, Kennedy resumed his powder-puff reporting on animal shelters and rescues. On March 10, 2015, Kennedy formed Animal Advocates of Alabama, Inc., with his wife Veronica, Lucy Thompson Marsh, and two other co-founders. Kennedy was designated as the President/Director. Veronica was listed as the Secretary/Treasurer/Director. Lucy Thompson Marsh was named as a Director. Thompson and the other two shareholders owned 75% of the shares issued in Kennedy’s company. Lucy Thompson Marsh is a director of the Thompson family’s philanthropic foundation – The Thompson Foundation. She is also a former chairperson of GBHS’s board of directors and the granddaughter of the late Hall Williams Thompson (1923-2010), a legendary and wealthy Birmingham businessman. Animal Advocates of Alabama is a for-profit, advertiser-supported company that promotes itself as an educational source for “all things animal in Alabama -- companion animals, in particular". As for Angie Ingram, she maintains her ties to GBHS through her work with the Australian Shepherd Furever Rescue, a GBHS approved Rescue Partner. Ingram is also the founder of the Alabama Puppy Mill Project. The Project’s website showcases its close “Partnership” with GBHS and includes a detailed description of the relationship between Angie Ingram and Allison Black Cornelius, as written and promoted by GBHS in 2017. Stay tuned for more developments in this unfolding story. PHOTO: Angie Ingram with her Cavaliers and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society's Logo.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 15, 2021 Since taking office in January of 2021, President Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) has rightfully chastised state and local police departments in Minnesota, Louisiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and elsewhere around the nation for their racially insensitive community policing practices and the increasing use of excessive force against African-American suspects. At the same time, Biden's DOJ has provided a sanctuary for some racist federal prosecutors in Alabama. The White House has not explained this glaring hypocrisy. The Case of Lloyd C. Peeples, III Lloyd C. Peeples, III, served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2017 to 2020. He is now "burrowed" inside the U.S. Attorney's Office as a career Assistant U.S. Attorney. All of the objective evidence seems to suggest that Peeples is a racist federal prosecutor. I got to know Lloyd Peeples after he became the lead prosecutor in my criminal case. Peeples' father, Lloyd Chandler Peeples, Jr., was well-known for his hostile views towards African-Americans. Peeples appears to have adopted and practiced many of his father's racial views, albeit in a more polished and subtle manner. Peeples attended a private academy in Georgia that was established as a "white-flight" school to accommodate the children of parents who did not want their kids attending public schools that were under federal court desegregation orders. Peeples attended Washington and Lee University, which was named after Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee. As editor of his student newspaper, Peeples openly opposed the university's expanded admissions program that was designed to increase the number of African-American and women students. He attended law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama from 1995 to 1998. Peeples' first stint as a federal prosecutor occurred when he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2003 to 2012. During this period, Peeples compiled a lackluster record as a federal prosecutor. Additionally, Peeples was known to despise then-Chief U.S. District Judge for the Northern District, U. W. Clemon, who is black and who was a former civil rights attorney in Birmingham. In private conversations among his white friends, Peeples reportedly referred to Clemon as a "nigger." After Peeples' less than stellar career in the U.S. Attorney's Office, he ran his father's business from 2012 to December 2016. His father founded Container Services Corp. in 1992, which became one of the largest corrugated box manufacturers in the Southeast. Peeples lacked his father's business acumen and eventually sold the company to another operator. Peeples then formed Peeples Enterprises, which owned and operated a small pizza restaurant in Homewood, Alabama from January to September of 2017. Peeples ended up exiting from this struggling business, as well. In 2017, then-U.S. Attorney Jay Town hired Peeples to head up a new and reinvigorated version of the DOJ's infamous COINTELPRO program in the Northern District of Alabama. While the original DOJ COINTELPRO program ceased centralized operations from Washington in 1972, an informal version of the program continued in U.S. Attorneys' Offices across the Deep South for decades. Town was a campaign operative and political flunky of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). His credentials as an assistant Madison County district attorney were mediocre. Town was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by President Donald Trump in mid-2017 as a reward for his political activism on Shelby's behalf. Racism in Action By the time Lloyd Peeples requested and received my case from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for investigation and prosecution, he was able to practice his racism using a plethora of official resources provided by the DOJ. Peeples, who proudly sports a "skinhead" look, could not fathom a black man -- me -- succeeding in international business in more than 40 countries when he, as a white man from a well-connected family, could not run his father's well-established business and even failed at running his small pizza restaurant. Peeples disregarded the fact that the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey had undertaken and completed a six-month grand jury investigation of "investor fraud" allegations involving me and my businesses in 2015-2016. Led by Mr. Andrew Kogan, the head of the Economic Crimes Division within the New Jersey Office, the investigation concluded that I had violated no federal laws in connection with my business practices. Mr. Kogan is a highly respected career federal prosecutor with specialized expertise in economic crimes and terrorism cases. He is a graduate of New York University Law School and has been with the DOJ since 1999. Peeples ignored the fact that a private lawsuit filed in 2013 in New Jersey federal court asserted the same "investor fraud" allegations and was dismissed two years later -- with no money paid by me, my companies, or any insurance company to secure the lawsuit's dismissal. Peeples also disregarded the fact that a review of my personal and business records from 2007 to 2013 by Internal Revenue Service agents found no fraud in connection with the preparation or filing of my tax returns for these years. Not to be deterred, Peeples collaborated with the SEC one year after this federal agency filed a 2016 lawsuit against me alleging the same "investor fraud" allegations that were first raised in the 2013 private lawsuit that had been dismissed and raised again in the New Jersey federal grand jury probe that found no wrong-doing on my part. In short, the SEC's lawsuit alleged that several professional athletes had been "duped" out of $8 million in connection with the sale of "securities" in my businesses. In 2018, the SEC voluntarily dismissed all of its fraud claims regarding the sale of "securities". The agency then amended its lawsuit to assert fraud claims relating to two $1 million loans one of my friends made to me for the benefit of one of my companies. The loans in question were properly documented and were never in dispute. The amount owed was never disputed. By agreement with my lender friend, the maturity dates on the loan notes had been extended on more than one occasion. Furthermore, my friend had never taken any loan enforcement or collection actions, formally or informally. The entire SEC litigation exercise was undertaken only to give a federal prosecutor like Peeples pretextual cover to pursue another criminal investigation against me. Throughout the SEC case, nobody at the Commission or in the federal judicial system cared that all of my business actions conformed to the express written authority conferred upon me, as the chief executive officer of the company in question, in the signed business contracts that governed my investors, my lender friend, and me. How Peeples Misused His DOJ Platform Despite these known facts, Lloyd Peeples made me a "target" of his grand jury investigation on day-one. In Peeples' mind, something had to be wrong in my case. This black man -- Donald V. Watkins -- had to be a "crook." As a black man, I could not possibly succeed in mainstream private businesses where he failed. Hence, Peeples used the massive resources of the DOJ to "twist" the evidence and build a false narrative that sought to portray me as a "crooked businessman." Peeples' conduct of "twisting" the evidence and ignoring the pertinent provisions in the applicable business agreements created a false narrative regarding the nature and scope of the business relationship between the private parties involved in my case. Peeples added my innocent son as a co-defendant in the futile hopes of pressuring me and/or him into a plea deal. We maintained our innocence throughout this ordeal. Peeples was able to pull off his charade because he had a friendly forum -- the federal courthouse in Birmingham. This forum allowed Peeples to conduct his COINTELPRO activities in my case, unabated. Finally, Peeples attempted to sanitize his actions by bringing in a weak Clarence Thomas-like black prosecutor to work under his supervision and direction. This prosecutor has since left the U.S. Attorney's Office. Interestingly, during my trial in 2019, the federal courthouse in Birmingham showcased a shrine in the elevator lobby to Judge Edwin Nelson (deceased), one of the most racist federal judges in this court's history. My criminal case is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The parties are presently briefing the legal issues raised on appeal. Epilogue President Biden should have fired Peeples and other federal prosecutors who share his racial views shortly after assuming office. For reasons the White House has not explained, Biden failed to do so. Now that Lloyd Peeples has "burrowed" himself inside Biden's DOJ, Biden must take full political responsibility for all of Peeples' racist actions.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 12, 2021 We have entered a world where everything has been politicized. Common sense healthcare measures that are designed to fight and defeat a global pandemic are tearing America apart. Public school teachers can become criminals in many states by simply teaching the truth about white America's centuries of violence against African slaves, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. This violence has now been repackaged by today's Republicans as a "theory" that is designed to make white students feel guilty about the past conduct of their parents, grand-parents, and great-grandparents. Those who seek to protect the voting rights of ethnic minorities are under threat of arrest in Texas and elsewhere. The National Capitol in Washington is no longer the hallmark for democracy around the world. It can be trashed with impunity by those who serve one flawed, self-centered, narcissistic man as their political "god." In the midst of this politically inspired chaos, it is reasonable to ask: Where do we go from here? I am a man who has studied global and American history all of my life. I have followed the changes in human behavior, both bad and good, during my nearly 73 years on earth. As an African-American who was raised in the Deep South in the 1950 and 60s, I have seen a litany of populist politicians asserting the virtues of "states rights," "conservatism," and "benign neglect," together with the doctrine of "interposition and nullification," to systematically rob blacks, women, and other minorities of their right to equal opportunity, equal protection under the law, and the fair administration of criminal laws. "Massive resistance" to progressive thought and actions is nothing new to me. I have lived through wave-after-wave of this resistance from intellectually-challenged southern politicians and their butt-kissing minions in the news media, law enforcement, and the judiciary. The names of these politicians and their political messaging has changed over time, but the underlying racist and sexist agenda remains the same. Planning a Pathway Forward Fortunately, for all of my life, God has given me the courage and ability to stand up for those who have never had a fair chance to rise in life. They are the dispossessed and disinherited members of American society. To many, they are invisible members of our society -- the ones who clean your houses or office buildings at night, or who wash dishes and clean tables in our local restaurants, or who clean our streets, gutters and sewers, or who empty the garbage at our local hospitals, etc. They are the ones who conservative politicians target for easy cheap-shots and those who our society considers to be "nobodies." Well. they are "Mr. and Ms. Somebody" to me. They are as important to me as the super-wealthy "One Percenters" are to the Republican leadership in Washington. When my political enemies colluded to imprison me, they thought they had broken my spirit and destroyed my credibility as an influencer of public opinion. This naive attitude reflects their profound ignorance of history and human nature. Every notable political prisoner and "freedom fighter" in the history of mankind was imprisoned at some point in his/her life by those who sought to perpetuate a state of repression against a group of human beings they viewed as "inferior." Imprisonment is the price some of us must pay to liberate the minds and spirits of the dispossessed and disinherited members of society, as well as their oppressors. I am no different. Since August 28, 2019, I have had the privilege of serving as a "freedom fighter" inside of America's only legalized institution of slavery -- the federal (and state) prison system. It is the only constitutionally-sanctioned institution of slavery in the Western Hemisphere. What is more, this institution of slavery is filled to the brim with dispossessed and disinherited Americans of color. They are black, brown, yellow, and red skinned Americans. The disproportionately few whites in the prison system are truly at the bottom of American society's barrel. Yet, as "slaves," they need a humanitarian voice, too. My experience as a political prisoner has energized me. My friendship circle mirrors a broad cross-section of America. I have learned so much about my Native-American ancestors, how and why Native-Americans were massacred on a scale that constitutes genocide, and why the U.S. government took 1.5 billion acres of Native-American land by deadly force for several hundreds of years to benefit the land holding aspirations of white European settlers. I also learned how 270 million acres of this stolen land was given -- for free -- to nearly three million white European peasants who were openly recruited to America from Europe from 1862 to 1986. This 124-year gift of stolen Native American land to white settlers was the largest and most violent wealth transfer program in the history of the world. Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler marveled at the nature, scale, and scope of America's genocide against Native Americans and used it as a model for subjecting German Jews, Gypsies, Black Germans, and Gay Germans to genocide and the theft of their land and personal property during the rise of the Third Reich and World War II. I have also learned more about Hispanic-Americans than I ever knew before. In less than two decades, they will become the largest ethnic minority group in America. To my surprise, African-Americans have far more in common with their Hispanic brothers and sisters than with white Americans. Culturally, Hispanics are united by language, customs, and traditions in a way African-Americans were once united. Fortunately, Hispanics are open to a meaningful political alliance with African Americans, Asians, and Native-Americans in a way that can change the face of our national politics. The wholesale violence and brutality to which whites subjected African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Asians looms on the horizon for Hispanic-Americans and undocumented Spanish-speaking migrants at America's southern border, particularly if Republicans regain the White House. Many whites do not like Spanish-speaking migrants solely because many of them cannot speak English. As a result, whites do not trust them. Additionally, former president Donald J. Trump successfully demonized Hispanics in the way Hitler demonized Jews, Gypsies, Gays, and Black Germans. A Political Sea of Change is Coming In two years, I have been able to accomplish more political unification of diverse ethnic groups from prison than I could ever have achieved in the free world. I have learned Spanish. I read Spanish newspapers and watch news on Spanish TV channels. While federal (and state) laws make it hard for inmates to vote after they are released from prison, nothing stops me from mobilizing their relatives in the outside world into a nationwide political alliance of unified minority groups. My efforts to organize political mobility within the Hispanic community from prison has been extremely effective. This is where my focus has been since March of 2021. My goal is to target and influence two to three million forward-thinking registered Independent voters in six "swing states" in the 2024 presidential election through the formation and implementation of a nationwide alliance between black, white, Hispanic, Native, and Asian-American voters. I already own well-established social media platforms and a massive databank of statistical information that has been derived from the publication of over 600 articles on a wide range of political topics. I have an extensive political science background, first-class multimedia support resources, and sophisticated messaging experience that can be readily deployed to: (a) isolate key precincts within these swing states, (b) target my base of independent voters in these states, and (c) deliver credible and effective messaging for my multicultural political base. I have never taken campaign money from any political action committee or political candidate. I am "unbossed" and "unbought" in the political arena. This bold new political alliance is very doable, especially in my unique capacity as a political prisoner with an extensive civil and voting rights background. Given how politically divided America is today, my ability to influence two to three million independent voters in key swing states in 2024 (and beyond) will be an enjoyable and meaningful exercise in First Amendment activity between now and next presidential election. Over time, this activity is expected to produce a political sea of change in the outcome of our national elections.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on March 30, 2018 Today is Good Friday. It is also the day a Tuscaloosa, Alabama Municipal Court Judge found Tim Bailey “Not Guilty” of a Harassing Communications criminal charge filed against him by Victoria Love in November 2017. Tim Bailey is the father of Adam Bailey, a 24-year-old Northport, Alabama, man who was murdered by a group of Tuscaloosa, Alabama drug traffickers in August 2016. Victoria Love is a Material Witness in Adam Bailey’s Murder Case Victoria Love, 21, was the last person with Adam Bailey before he became extremely ill and passed out from an overdose of GHB that was unobtrusively administered to him while he was in the presence of Caleb Legrone. Ms. Love drove Adam to his Northport home after she noticed his deteriorating physical condition. She never called 911 for medical assistance once she noticed Adam’s condition. Instead, she talked to Legrone on a cellphone and left Adam alone in a truck outside of his home. At some point after Adam passed out, he was strangled. Post mortem photographs show the presence of clearly visible choke marks on both sides of his neck. Brett Patrick Davis, a close friend and drug-trafficking partner of Caleb Legrone, has admitted that Legrone made the choke marks on Adam’s neck. Legrone, who rushed to Adam Bailey’s house after talking to Victoria Love, was the last person with Adam before he flatlined at his home. After Northport police and paramedics were called to the home, Adam was taken to DCH Medical Center where he was placed on life-support for nearly a week. While Adam was lying in a comatose state at the hospital, Legrone sent Victoria Love a text message stating that he (Legrone) had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam on the night he was drugged and strangled. Investigator Jonathan C. Bryant, a TPD police officer assigned to the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit, questioned Victoria Love as part of the homicide investigation in Adam Bailey case. Bryant wrote the following summary of his interview with Love: “Ms. Love stated she picked up Adam around 8pm on 8/8/2016 from his house. She stated when she got there he was inside his room with Alan Cook. Ms. Love advised they got onto Adam's truck and were going to get something to eat. She stated she had to drive because Adam appeared to be intoxicated and unable to drive. She stated Alan got into the back seat of the truck. Ms. Love stated they drove to the Sonic in Northport and Alan got out of the truck. She stated his vehicle was parked at a house but she could not remember where the house was located. She stated Alan was driving a red Mustang. Ms. Love stated Adam was acting weird and could not stay awake. She stated she drove him home and sat in the driveway with him inside the truck for about an hour. She stated he passed out but was snoring. Ms. Love stated Caleb Legrone called Adam's phone and she answered. She stated she told Legrone what Adam was doing. She stated Legrone told her to put some ice under Adam's armpit. Ms. Love went into the house and got some ice but Adam did not wake up. She stated she left Adam in his truck and went home. Ms. Love stated she heard Alan and Adam say they took some Xanax before going out. She stated Adam was breathing when she left him in his truck.” Victoria Love’s actions on the night in question made her a material witness in Adam Bailey’s murder case. What is more, cell phone extraction records from Ms. Love’s phone showed that she made/received calls and sent/received text messages and IMG images that were transmitted from 176 different cell phone tower locations in three states between August 6 and 9, 2016. The Police File and Trial Evidence Did Not Support the Criminal Charge Against Tim Bailey On November 12, 2017, Victoria Love went to the TPD and made a report about alleged Harassing Communications directed toward her by Tim Bailey. A total of three TPD officers worked on Love’s misdemeanor harassment case, excluding the arresting officer. Interestingly, the police file in Adam Bailey’s murder case indicates that only two TPD officers worked on the case. According to the TPD police file, Victoria Love claims Tim Bailey harassed her because he posted “false allegations” about her on his personal Facebook page and on a Justice For Adam Bailey Facebook page. Investigator Ritamarie H. Thomason, the lead TPD officer in the case, noted that Tim Bailey did not call Victoria on her phone or appear at her home. After reviewing the Facebook postings that Victoria Love and her father provided her, Thomason repeatedly wrote, “I did not note any threat to Love.” Bailey’s Facebook posts encouraged Victoria Love to be forthcoming with police about what really happened to Adam the night he was murdered. Tim Bailey also promised that he would use the legal system to seek justice for his son's murder. Finally, Tim Bailey stated that he would protect Victoria Love from any harm that those who murdered his son might cause her. Following a trial in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court on March 22, 2018, Judge Rickey J. McKinney wrote, “After careful deliberation of the testimony and the evidence presented, the Court finds the Defendant not guilty” of Harassing Communications. With those words, the criminal case against Tim Bailey was over. He is once again a free man. Update on Justice for Adam Bailey The Justice for Adam Bailey page on Facebook constitutes an exercise in protected free speech. Victoria Love’s criminal case against Tim Bailey was designed to chill his freedom of speech in Adam Bailey’s murder case. In the end, it did not work. To date, police have made no arrest in Adam Bailey’s murder case. By objective law enforcement standards, this homicide investigation has been sorely lacking. The police file in Tim Bailey’s Harassing Communications case consisted of 55 pages of interview notes and records. The police file in Adam Bailey’s homicide case consists of 63 pages of interview notes and records. Finally, the Northport Police Department's records, along with the medical records from DCH Medical Center and the tape of Caleb Legrone’s 911 call, contradict the TPD’s official account of Adam Bailey’s homicide. Northport police officers were the first law enforcement officials at the scene where Adam flatlined. Stay tuned for more developments in Adam Bailey’s murder case. PHOTO: Tim Bailey was arrested on December 14, 2017 on a misdemeanor charge of Harassing Communications. On March 30, 2018, Bailey was found "Not Guilty" of this charge. He is once again a free man. PHOTO: Murder victim Adam Bailey was Tim Bailey's son. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on March 31, 2018 Without commenting on whether the death of Adam Bailey is or is not under active investigation, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a motion in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court on March 29, 2018 to quash a subpoena issued by Victoria Love for his office’s investigative files in the Adam Bailey murder case. Ms. Love filed a lawsuit on December 28, 2017, against Tim Bailey, Adam’s father, and local Justice for Adam Bailey activist, Laurie Beth Kesterson, claiming that the pair harassed and defamed her by posting “false allegations” about her on Tim Bailey’s personal Facebook page and on a Justice for Adam Bailey Facebook page. Ms. Love’s subpoena seeks production of: (a) “Any and all statements, transcripts, tapes, recordings of James Timothy Bailey . . .”; (b) “Any and all documents, records, writings, or tangible things of any kind evidencing or pertaining to an investigation into the death of Adam Bailey . . . or into an investigation into James Timothy Bailey”; (c) “Any and all investigative reports, results, summaries, notes, photographs or videos concerning an investigation into the death of Adam Bailey . . .”; (d) “Any and all correspondence addressed to the Attorney General for the State of Alabama from James Timothy Bailey”; and (e) “Any and all correspondence addressed to the Attorney General for the State of Alabama from any other person concerning an investigation into the death of Adam Bailey.” The AG claims the information and items subpoenaed by Ms. Love are investigatory materials protected from disclosure by the Law Enforcement Investigation Privilege. Information protected from disclosure includes “law enforcement techniques and procedures,” information that would undermine “the confidentiality of sources," information that would endanger “witness and law enforcement personnel [or] the privacy of individuals involved in an investigation,” and information that would “otherwise . . . interfere [ ] with an investigation,” according to the AG. Bailey and Kesterson Deny Victoria Love’s Claims of Harassment Tim Bailey and Laurie Beth Kesterson have denied all of the allegations in Ms. Love’s lawsuit. They are vigorously defending themselves against her claims of harassment, defamation, invasion of privacy, tortious interference with her business relationship, negligence, wantonness, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In her court filings, Ms. Kesterson says the lawsuit seeks to (a) restrict the exercise of her free speech rights and (b) chill the public’s “speech and debate” on matters of significant public interest (i.e., Adam Bailey’s homicide, Victoria Love’s witness interview in the Adam Bailey homicide investigation, the adequacy of the police investigation of this homicide, drug trafficking in Tuscaloosa, etc.). Ms. Kesterson has characterized this lawsuit as a First Amendment freedom of speech case because it arises out of her responsible and reasonable exercise of her right to “speech and debate” on social media about a matter of significant public interest – the 2016 homicide case involving Adam Bailey. According to Ms. Kesterson, her right to free speech is guaranteed in Section 4 of the Alabama Constitution (1901) and under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Victoria Love is a Material Witness in the Adam Bailey Homicide Investigation Victoria Love is a material witness in the August 2016 homicide case involving Adam Bailey that occurred in Tuscaloosa County. Bailey, a 24-year-old Northport, Alabama, man who was murdered by a group of Tuscaloosa, Alabama drug traffickers. This homicide was investigated by two Tuscaloosa area law enforcement agencies, with no arrest in the case. Adam’s death has also been investigated by the Alabama AG’s Office. It is unknown whether the AG's investigation is ongoing. Victoria Love, 21, was the last person with Adam Bailey before he became extremely ill and passed out from an overdose of GHB that was unobtrusively administered to him while he was in the presence of Caleb Legrone on the night of August 7, 2016. Ms. Love drove Adam to his Northport home after she noticed his deteriorating physical condition. She never called 911 for medical assistance once she noticed Adam’s condition. Instead, she talked to Legrone on a cellphone and left Adam alone in a truck outside of his home. At some point after Adam passed out, he was strangled. Post mortem photographs show the presence of clearly visible choke marks on both sides of his neck. Brett Patrick Davis, a close friend and drug-trafficking partner of Caleb Legrone, has admitted that Legrone made the choke marks on Adam’s neck. Legrone, who rushed to Adam Bailey’s house after talking to Victoria Love, was the last person with Adam before he flatlined at his home. After Northport police and paramedics were called to the home, Adam was taken to DCH Medical Center where he was placed on life-support for nearly a week. While Adam was lying in a comatose state at the hospital, Legrone sent Victoria Love a text message stating that he (Legrone) had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam on the night he was drugged and strangled. Cell phone extraction records from Ms. Love’s phone showed that she made/received calls and sent/received text messages and IMG images that were transmitted from 176 different cell phone tower locations in three states between August 6 and 9, 2016. Love’s Criminal Case Against Tim Bailey Ended in a “Not Guilty” Verdict On November 12, 2017, Victoria Love went to the Tuscaloosa Police Department and made a criminal complaint about alleged Harassing Communications directed toward her by Tim Bailey. According to the TPD police file, Victoria Love claimed Tim Bailey harassed her because he posted “false allegations” about her on his personal Facebook page and on a Justice For Adam Bailey Facebook page. Investigator Ritamarie H. Thomason, the lead TPD officer in the case, noted that Tim Bailey did not call Victoria on her phone or appear at her home. After reviewing the Facebook postings that Victoria Love and her father provided her, Thomason repeatedly wrote, “I did not note any threat to Love.” Bailey’s Facebook posts encouraged Victoria Love to be forthcoming with police about what really happened to Adam the night he was murdered. Tim Bailey also promised that he would use the legal system to seek justice for his son's murder. Finally, Tim Bailey stated that he would protect Victoria Love from any harm that those who murdered his son might cause her. Following a trial in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court on March 22, 2018, Judge Rickey J. McKinney issued the following ruling on March 30, 2018: “After careful deliberation of the testimony and the evidence presented, the Court finds the Defendant not guilty.” With those words, the criminal case against Tim Bailey was over. He is once again a free man. Meanwhile, Tim Bailey’s pursuit of justice for Adam Bailey continues. PHOTO: Adam Bailey was placed on life-support on August 8, 2016 after he flatlined at his Northport, Alabama home under suspicious circumstances. Adam was taken off life-support on August 14, 2016. His death has been investigated by three law enforcement agencies. To date, no arrest has been made in his case. PHOTO: Victoria Love was interviewed by Tuscaloosa police on August 14, 2016 about her involvement in the Adam Bailey homicide case. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on April 1, 2018 On March 30, 2018, Tuscaloosa, Alabama Municipal Court Judge Rickey J. McKinney found Tim Bailey “Not Guilty” of a Harassing Communications criminal charge filed against him by Victoria Love. Bailey is the father of Adam Bailey, a 24-year-old Northport, Alabama, man who was murdered by a group of Tuscaloosa, Alabama drug traffickers in August 2016. Victoria Love is a material witness in Adam Bailey’s murder case. Ms. Love, 21, was the last person with Adam Bailey before he became extremely ill and passed out from an overdose of GHB that was unobtrusively administered to him while he was in the presence of Caleb Legrone. Ms. Love drove Adam to his Northport home after she noticed his deteriorating physical condition. She never called 911 for medical assistance once she noticed Adam’s condition. Instead, she talked to Legrone on a cellphone and left Adam alone in a truck outside of his home. Legrone, who rushed to Adam Bailey’s house after talking to Victoria Love, was with Adam before he flatlined at his home. During Legrone’s 911 call to police, one of the persons in the home with Legrone told him to characterize Adam’s death as a “suicide.” After Adam was taken to the hospital, Legrone sent Victoria Love a text message stating that he (Legrone) had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam on the night he was drugged (and subsequently strangled). After Adam Bailey’s death, Tim Bailey began to investigate this homicide. He gathered witness interviews, police files from the Tuscaloosa and Northport police departments, medical records, toxicology reports, post-mortem photographs, cell phone extraction reports of material witnesses in the case, and other pertinent evidence in the case. An independent review of this evidence strongly suggests that Adam Bailey’s homicide was a murder. Turning the Criminal Justice System Against Tim Bailey On November 12, 2017, Victoria Love went to the TPD and made a report about alleged Harassing Communications directed toward her by Tim Bailey. Ms. Love claimed Tim Bailey harassed her because he posted “false allegations” about her on his personal Facebook page and on a Justice For Adam Bailey Facebook page. Investigator Ritamarie H. Thomason, the lead TPD officer in the case, noted that Tim Bailey did not call Victoria on her phone or appear at her home. After reviewing the Facebook postings that Victoria Love and her father provided her, Thomason repeatedly wrote, “I did not note any threat to Love.” Bailey’s Facebook posts encouraged Victoria Love to be forthcoming with police about what really happened to Adam the night he was murdered. Tim Bailey also promised that he would use the legal system to seek justice for his son's murder. Finally, Tim Bailey stated that he would protect Victoria Love from any harm that those who murdered his son might cause her. Following a trial in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court on March 22, 2018, Judge McKinney wrote, “After careful deliberation of the testimony and the evidence presented, the Court finds the Defendant not guilty” of Harassing Communications. With those words, the criminal case against Tim Bailey was over. He is once again a free man. The Beginning of the End to Law Enforcement’s Abuse of Process After we broke the story of Judge McKinney’s ruling on Friday, there was a surge of gratitude and relief among supporters of the Justice for Adam Bailey movement. To date, over 3,000 readers have viewed Tim Bailey’s “Not Guilty” story on this website. Tim Bailey’s story is gut wrenching. He has been the driving force in exposing the truth about his son's murder. After local law enforcement investigators and Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb botched the homicide investigation, Tim Bailey successfully got the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to open a separate criminal investigation, which is ongoing. AG Steve Marshall has an opportunity to do the right thing in Adam Bailey's murder case. Marshall, who has never been known as a strong prosecutor, is not publicly commenting on the case. Tim Bailey’s Harassing Communications case highlights how the criminal justice system has been misused to intimidate and harass true crime victims. No arrest warrant should have been issued in Tim Bailey's case. Tim Bailey’s ordeal comes on the heels of the 2015 Megan Rondini rape case. There, two Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department investigators tried to turn Megan Rondini into a criminal while she was filing a police report accusing Terry Jackson “Sweet T” Bunn, Jr., of rape. Sweet T is a member of a rich and powerful Crimson Tide Foundation booster family. No rape charge was brought against Sweet T in Megan's case. She committed suicide after Sweet T escaped criminal justice in her case. Judge McKinney’s “Not Guilty” verdict in Tim Bailey’s case was heartwarming. Hopefully, it signals an end to the abusive tactic of trying to turn grieving crime victims into criminals. PHOTO: Adam Bailey with his parents and sister at his graduation from the Alabama Fire College in December 2014 with the "Class of 1406 Smokehounds." All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on August 7, 2018 Today, Adam Bailey’s father took a bold step toward securing justice in connection with his son’s death two years ago. Tim Bailey filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Circuit Court against Caleb LeGrone, Matthew Allen, Ryan Allen, Sara Gibson Allen, Matthew Hartley, Jessica Hartley, Joseph Alan Cook, and Victoria Love, all of whom reside in Tuscaloosa County. The lawsuit was filed by prominent Birmingham attorney, Leroy Maxwell, Jr. Adam Bryant Bailey died two years ago, today. He was a 24-year-old forest technician for Forestry Research Contractors in Gordo, Alabama. On August 7, 2016, Adam was unobtrusively administered a fatal overdose of the "date rape" drug called "GHB" while he was in the company of Caleb Payne LeGrone, who is a close friend of a reputed Tuscaloosa area GHB dealer named Brett Davis. Shortly thereafter, Adam got extremely sick and passed out while he was in the company of Victoria Love, an acquaintance of LeGrone. Adam experienced nausea, seizures, vomiting, dizziness, depressed breathing, and unconsciousness, all of which are symptoms of a GHB overdose. Later that night, Caleb LeGrone called Adam’s phone. Victoria Love answered and told LeGrone about Adam’s deteriorating physical condition. Despite observing that Adam was unconscious and extremely sick, Victoria Love left him alone in his truck around 9 p.m. that night and went home. “Adam remained alone and unconscious in his truck for about two hours when Matthew and Jessica Hartley returned home from a party at Ryan and Sara Allen’s house only a few blocks away where they discovered him lying in his seat,” according to the lawsuit. Matthew Allen was accompanied the Hartleys to Adam's house that evening. Matthew Hartley called Caleb LeGrone and informed him of Adam’s physical condition and demanded that LeGrone come over to the house and help with Adam’s situation. Legrone arrived at the scene, but did not call 911 for several hours. When LeGrone and his friends finally called 911, Adam’s body temperature was 87 degrees Fahrenheit and he had ceased ventilation/breathing on his own for a minimum of 54 minutes prior to the call. After police officers and EMT personnel were called to the scene, Adam was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa where he was placed on a respirator for six days. He never regained consciousness. While Adam was lying in a comatose state at the hospital, Legrone sent Victoria Love a text message stating that he (Legrone) had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam on the night of August 7th. On August 14, 2016 at 10:27 a.m., Adam was taken off the respirator and declared dead. Adam Bailey's Autopsy Report was Woefully Inadequate On August 16, 2016, an autopsy by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences listed Adam Bailey’s cause of death as a “Seizure Disorder” and the manner of death as “Undetermined”. A toxicology report confirmed the presence of various substances in Adam’s body, but none that would have caused his death. Some of these substances were administered to Adam as part of his emergency room and ICU medical treatments. However, the autopsy procedures were woefully inadequate, given the circumstances surrounding Adam's homicide. Among other things, the autopsy did not test the vitreous humor area of Adams’ eyes, his tear ducts, or his hair for the presence of GHB. An overdose of GHB would have killed Adam and could have been detected in his body at the time of the autopsy through these testing procedures. Additionally, photos taken of Adam’s body at the funeral home in August 2016 clearly show choke marks on both sides of Adam’s neck. Yet, these marks were not mentioned in Adam’s autopsy report. In fact, the report states that Adam’s neck was “unremarkable”. Medical Records and Post Mortem Photos Yield Key Evidence In November 2017, an independent review of Adam Bailey’s medical records revealed that he had been dead for about one hour before EMT were called to the scene of his Northport home. Based on blood chemistry, it is estimated that Adam stopped ventilation/breathing approximately one hour before cardiac electrical activity was re-started with IV medication administered by the EMTs who responded to the 911 call. When the EMTs arrived at Adam’s home, he was found in an asystole state (i.e., he had zero cardiac electrical activity). Using a certain arterial blood gas, qualified physicians can extrapolate an estimated time that Adam’s ventilation/breathing had stopped. This estimation deals with blood chemistry and gas exchange and how long it takes to accumulate carbon dioxide in the blood. Specifically, once a person quits breathing the heart will continue to do some work but without ventilating the carbon dioxide will accumulate in the blood stream. Based on physiology and a review of Adam's blood gases, it is estimated that Adam had stopped breathing about one hour prior to the EMT intervention. Witness statements, post-mortem photos, and other independent evidence in the case suggest Adam was the victim of a GHB overdose and choking. Conflicting Police Department Reports The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit investigated Adam’s death. The case was closed on March 10, 2017, without determining (a) what substance caused Adam’s fatal overdose and (b) who made the choke marks on his neck. Furthermore, there was no following up police work on Caleb LeGrone’s false cover story. The Northport Police Department's records, along with the medical records from DCH Medical Center and the tape of Caleb Legrone’s 911 call, contradict the Tuscaloosa Police Department’s official account of Adam Bailey’s homicide in several material aspects. Northport police officers were the first law enforcement officials at the scene where Adam flatlined. The glaring conflicts between the two police department reports on Adam Bailey's homicide has never been reconciled. The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit police file in Adam’s case, when viewed under objective and professional law enforcement standards, is sorely lacking in basic detective work. No arrests have been made in connection with Adam Bailey’s homicide. Persecuting A Grieving Father On November 12, 2017, Victoria Love filed a misdemeanor charge of Harassing Communications against Tim Bailey. The case was tried in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court on March 22, 2018. Bailey was represented by Attorney Leroy Maxwell, Jr. On March 30, 2018, Judge Rickey J. McKinney wrote, “After careful deliberation of the testimony and the evidence presented, the Court finds the Defendant not guilty” of Harassing Communications. With those words, the criminal case against Tim Bailey was over. He was once again a free man. Interestingly, the Tuscaloosa Police Department investigative file in Tim Bailey’s Harassing Communications case consisted of 55 pages of interview notes and records. The police file in Adam Bailey’s homicide case consists of only 63 pages of interview notes and records. Epilogue Despite everything that has happened to Tim Bailey and his family since Adam's homicide, this grieving father continues his courageous fight for justice in Adam Bailey’s homicide case. Tim Bailey has done more to properly investigate this death case than any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency. Finally, Attorney Leroy Maxwell, Jr., is the same lawyer who represents the family of Megan Rondini, the 20-year-old University of Alabama honors student who committed suicide in 2016 after Tuscaloosa County law enforcement officials failed to pursue criminal charges in her July 2, 2015 rape complaint against local playboy/sexual predator, Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr, who was 14 years older than Megan at the time. Maxwell has already won a favorable settlement from the University in the Rondini case. PHOTO: Adam Bailey and his family (parents Tim and Jan Bailey, and sister Cassie) at his graduation from the Alabama Fire College in December of 2014. Tim Bailey never stopped fighting for justice in Adam Bailey's August 7, 2016 homicide case. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 1, 2021 On January 6, 2021, they were prepared to die defending America's National Capitol, as well as the lawmakers inside. They are: Capitol Police Officer Aquillino Gonell, Metropolitan Police Department Officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, and Capitol Police Pfc Harry Dunn. These brave men, along with hundreds of their fellow police officers, fought off armed Trump "patriots" and violent white supremacists who were intent on stopping Congress from certifying Joe Biden as President of the United States, and California Senator Kamala Harris as Vice President. Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election by seven million votes. Despite unfounded claims by Trump that he lost the election due to massive voter fraud, none of the 60 state or federal courts that examined this false claim in post-election lawsuits, none of the 50 state election boards and commissions, none of the 51 or more state or federal government law enforcement agencies, none of the 51 or more state or federal cybersecurity agencies, and none of the country's 16 national intelligence agencies found any such fraud. This truism did not matter to Trump's patriots. They wanted to: (a) damage the Capitol, (b) stop the certification of the election's outcome and (c) hang Mike Pence, Trump's hand-picked vice president. Pence, a right-wing conservative from Indiana, refused to commit treason by blocking the certification process, as Trump had demanded. They were organized, trained, and armed for an insurrection. The battle for the Capitol lasted for more than 3 hours. Sgt. Gonell, Pfc Dunn, and MPD officers Fanone and Hodges nearly died in the line of duty during the battle. The lawmakers inside the Capitol were terrified as Trump's "patriots" broke through the ranks of the "thin blue line" of police defenders. None of the lawmakers rushed to join the ranks of the brave police officers who were defending the Capitol in hand-to-hand combat against "patriots" who were intent on destroying it and harming the public officials inside of it. Instead, the lawmakers and their staffs ran for safety as the battle raged. Investigating the Insurrection Last Tuesday, a bipartisan committee in the House of Representatives started hearings to find out what happened on January 6th and why. I call this committee "bipartisan" because Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) serves on the panel. Ms. Cheney is the only Republican member of Congress who demonstrated decency, political integrity, courage, and a commitment to the rule of law by serving on the committee. The rest of the Republican House members were afraid to participate as committee members because they did not want to incur the political wrath of Donald Trump. In short, they are political cowards. New video footage from police body cams worn on January 6th show just how violent and profane Trump's "patriots" were that day. They beat, stomped, tased, and attempted to kill some of the police officers who fought to prevent them from entering the Capitol. They also called uniformed black officers like Dunn "niggers." They destroyed property around and inside the Capitol as they paraded through the Senate and House Chambers carrying their Trump and Confederate flags and other racist paraphernalia. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee would have been proud of Trump's "patriots" on January 6th. They achieved something that Lee's Confederate army could never do -- they breached the National Capitol and nearly overthrew the duly elected government of Joe Biden before it was sworn-in. Fortunately, this Trump-inspired coup d'etat failed, but not before it inflicted physical and psychological damage upon scores of police officers who were prepared to die to defend our Capitol and the rule of law. Sadly, five people did die inside the Capitol during the insurrection and melee that day, including a Capitol police officer. Republican lawmakers who were saved from harm on January 6th have elevated Trump's "patriots" to "hero" status and are now defending them. The Capitol police are their new enemies. What is more, some of these Republican lawmakers had the nerve to tell the American public that what they saw in the police body cam videos was not real. They have even attempted to "whitewash" this tragic event by claiming that Trump's "patriots" were simply enjoying a normal tourist visit of the Capitol. Angry White Mobs Waving Confederate Flags Are Dangerous History has shown us that angry white mobs waving Confederate flags are dangerous. They tend to act in the violent, irrational, and destructive manner we saw on January 6th when matters of race are involved. We have seen this pattern of violent behavior before on many occasions. For example, we saw this kind of irrational and destructive violence in 1957 on the campus of The University of Alabama when Autherine Lucy attempted to desegregate the university under court order. White supremacists in Tuscaloosa exploded with raging violence and destroyed university buildings and property. We saw it again in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958 when the "Little Rock Nine" integrated Central High School. An angry white mob overran police officers to attack them. Four years later, we saw it on the campuses of The University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi when Vivian Malone, James Hood, and James Meredith desegregated these universities in 1963 under federal court orders. The white rioters broke through the ranks of law enforcement officers to attack the U.S. Marshals who were escorting these three black students to their respective campuses. And, we saw it again in Montgomery, Alabama and Birmingham, Alabama during the summers of the "Freedom Rides" in the early 1960s when white mobs brutally beat black "freedom riders" and their white sympathizers as they sought to desegregate buses and trains that traveled through the South. In 2021, it is now the race of brown, Spanish-speaking men, women, and children from Central and South America who seek entry into America that is fueling the violence we saw on January 6th. Trump won the 2016 presidential election on one issue -- he pledged to do whatever it took to stop or slow the "Browning of America." For the next four years, President Trump used race-baiting language, bullying, and Nazi-era immigration policies and practices against migrants of color at America's southern border to deliver on this promise. By doing so, Trump became a hero to many of his 72 million white voters who never want to live in an America where whites are the "minority" population. If this demographic shift occurs in the future, as predicted by population experts, Trump's voters want "white minority rule" firmly rooted in our state and federal governments. Epilogue What Trump's "patriots" did at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was disgraceful and indefensible. Their violent insurrection was laced with racial underpinnings. Their Confederate commander on January 6th was Donald J. Trump, a defeated presidential candidate who rallied his "patriots" to "take back their country," as he watched on TV from the safety and security of the White House's Oval Office. Nothing else can credibly explain: (a) the shocking violence Americans saw against Capitol police officers on January 6th, (b) the widespread destruction of government property inside the Capitol, (c) "patriots" shouting the word "nigger" at the black police officers who defended the Capitol, (d) the wave of anti-black voter suppression laws sweeping the nation in 2021 in Republican-controlled state legislatures, and (e) the wholesale failure of Republicans in Washington and around the country to openly and proudly support the Capitol police officers who saved their lives on January 6th. Today's Republican Party has evolved into a modern-day version of the old South's White Citizens Council. Instead of condemning insurrection and white racism, it has become the standard-bearer of both. In America, white racism "Trumps" all. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. 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By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 8, 2021 Most Americans have never heard of Eugene Jacques Bullard (1895-1961). Bullard was the first black American fighter pilot. He was also a decorated World War I and II military hero who was celebrated in France after each war, but officially ignored, physically abused, and grossly mistreated in America. Bullard was raised in Columbus, Georgia as the seventh of ten children born to William Octave Bullard, a black man from the Caribbean Island of Martinique, and Josephine "Yokalee" Thomas, a Native-American woman from the Creek Indian Tribe. When Bullard was a youngster, his father was nearly lynched by a white mob over a workplace dispute. Despite this racist incident, William and Josephine Bullard continued to instill in their children that African-Americans had to maintain their dignity and self-respect in the face of extreme white racism against blacks. Bullard's father, whose ancestors were Haitian, also told his children stories about France's early abolition of slavery following the successful end to the Haitian Revolution by the Island's enslaved indigenous population in 1804. This was the only successful slave revolution in the Western Hemisphere. Bullard's father also told him that France was a nation where blacks were treated the same as whites. By the time Bullard was a teenager, he had made his way to Europe and settled in France in search of a life free of Deep South racial prejudice. Bullard's World War I Military Service World War I began in August 1914. On October 19, 1914, Bullard enlisted in the French Foreign Legion as a foreign volunteer. By 1915, Bullard was a machine gunner in a couple of Marching Regiments of the Foreign Legion. He sustained serious battle wounds while fighting in one of his unit's military campaigns. On October 2, 1916, Bullard joined the French Aeronautique Militaire (French Air Service), where he served as a gunner. He later trained to become a fighter pilot. Bullard flew over 20 combat missions for the French Air Service during World War I. He is credited with shooting down one or more German aircraft in air-to-air combat. Bullard was awarded the Croix de guerre, Médaille militaire, Croix du combattant volontaire (1914-1918), and Médaille de Verdun, along with a host of other honors for his distinguished military service to France during the war. White racism prevented Bullard from flying for the United States Army's all-white Air Service after America entered World War I. Bullard sought to fly in the Lafayette Flying Corps for the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces, but the American Air Service only chose white pilots. Bullard was one of the few black fighter pilots during World War I. The others were William Robinson Clarke, a Jamaican who flew for the British Royal Air Force, Domenico Mondelli from Italy, and Ahmet Ali Celikten of the Ottoman Empire. America would not allow blacks to serve as fighter pilots until World War II when the famed "Tuskegee Airman" were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama as combat pilots and placed into service over the skies of Europe during the last two years of the war. After the World War I ended, Bullard returned to Paris, where he married a French woman from a wealthy family in 1923, fathered two daughters, and operated a popular nightclub named "Zelli's." Bullard continued to operate various nightclubs and athletic clubs in Paris and other European cities until the outbreak of World War II. Bullard's World War II Military Service When World War II began in 1939, Bullard, who also spoke fluent German, agreed to a request from the French government to spy on the German citizens who still frequented his nightclub. After Germany invaded France in May 1940, Bullard volunteered again for the French Foreign Legion and served in an Infantry Regiment. Bullard was wounded again on June 15, 1940 while defending Orleans, but he was able to escape to neutral Spain. In July 1940, Bullard returned to the United States and settled in New York City. Bullard, who divorced his wife in 1935, was able to buy an apartment in Harlem from the proceeds of a financial settlement he received from the French government for his war-related injuries. Bullard quickly learned that the fame he enjoyed in France as a war hero did not follow him to the United States. Bullard Was Severely Beaten During the Peekskill, New York Riots In 1949, black entertainer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson scheduled a concert in Peekskill, New York to benefit the Civil Rights Congress. Before Robeson arrived for the concert, an angry white mob attacked the concert-goers with baseball bats and stones. Thirteen people were seriously injured before police could put an end to the rioting. Bullard was one of the injured patrons. None of the white assailants, who included state and local law enforcement officers, were prosecuted. Graphic photos taken during the riot captured two police officers, a state trooper, and another person beating Bullard. These photos were published around the world. Unknown in His Own Country, Bullard Died a Decorated French War Hero The momentousness of Eugene Jacques Bullard's life was matched only by the speed and efficacy with which it was marginalized and "forgotten" by his home land -- the United States of America. In the 1950s, Bullard lived alone in his New York City apartment, which was decorated with his 14 French war medals and numerous military commendations. In New York, Bullard worked as a perfume salesman, a security guard, and an interpreter for famed Jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. Bullard's final job was his employment as an elevator operator at the Rockefeller Center in upper Manhattan. In 1954, the French government invited Bullard back to Paris to serve as one of the French soldiers chosen to rekindle the everlasting flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. This was the second highest honor France bestowed upon Bullard. The highest honor would occur five years later. In 1959, General Charles de Gaulle visited the United States and demanded to see Bullard before he visited U.S. government officials in Washington. President Eisenhower and top officials in the Defense and State Departments had no idea who Eugene Jacques Bullard was. They eventually found Bullard working at his elevator operator's job. When General de Gaulle met with Bullard, he was shocked to see how badly France's decorated war hero was being treated in the United States. Calling Bullard a "veritable heros francais” ("true French hero"), General de Gaulle made him a Chevalier de a Legion d'honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honor). This is France's highest military honor. On December 22, 1959, Bullard was interviewed on NBC's Today Show by Dave Garroway about his meeting with General de Gaulle and his distinguished service as a French military hero in World Wars I and II. He mesmerized the Today Show's viewers and received hundreds of letters of appreciation after his appearance. Bullard wore his elevator operator uniform during this TV interview, which symbolized the reality of black life in America at the time. Bullard died in New York City of stomach cancer on October 12, 1961, at the age of 66. He was buried with full military honors in the French War Veterans' section of Flushing Cemetery in the New York City borough of Queens. His friend, Louis Armstrong, is buried in the same cemetery. [Author's Note: Donald V. Watkins acknowledges and credits the historical research and photos of the life, military service, and death of Eugene Jacques Bullard that have been published: (a) on Wikipedia; (b) in Susan Robeson's biography of her grandfather titled, "The Whole World in His Hands: A Pictorial Biography of Paul Robeson;" (c) in the 1970s documentary titled, "The Tallest Tree in Our Forest;" (d) in a documentary narrated by legendary actor Sidney Poitier titled, "Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist;" and (e) in John H. Wilson's article, "America's First Black Fighter Pilot Fought for the French." As a nation in 2021, we do not know the true history of African-Americans because so much of our history was deliberately omitted from history books that were written and published by the white historians, authors, and journalists of the nadir. The website www.donaldwatkins.com is committed to making the positive contributions of African-Americans known worldwide.]. 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By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on August 11, 2018 If President Donald Trump wants a legitimate reason to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he need look no further than the criminal investigation rogue federal prosecutors in Birmingham have been conducting in my case since October 2017. Rosenstein has permitted Lloyd Peeples, the First Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and his sidekick, Assistant United States Attorney Xavier Carter, to engage in widespread lawlessness while conducting a grand jury investigation that has violated countless Justice Department guidelines. In reality, Peeples has used my case to resurrect the old Alabama State Sovereignty Commission (1963 to 1973) within the present-day Birmingham U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Sovereignty Commission functioned as a state-sponsored intelligence agency that spied on Alabamians suspected of sympathizing with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s. Its targets included law abiding school teachers, factory workers, businessmen/women, and ministers, among others. The Commission kept lists of suspected activists and did everything within its power to destroy them (e.g., getting suspects fired from their jobs and evicted from their homes, disrupting their lives with trumped-up criminal charges, and causing them financial distress). The only thing that has changed since the Sovereignty Commission’s heyday and its resurrection in the Birmingham U.S. Attorney’s Office is the names of its new members. How Peeples’ Lawlessness Got Started Peeples’ investigation in my case commenced with a review of the same “securities fraud” allegations that Andrew Kogan, the highly respected Chief of the Economic Crimes Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey investigated for six-months in 2015 and 2016. Kogan's investigation was based upon a complaint by a disgruntled New Jersey-based stakeholder in one of my businesses who filed a civil lawsuit in 2013 and dismissed it, with prejudice, in 2017. The New Jersey prosecutors, who have far more experience in investigating and prosecuting economic crimes than Peeples, closed their investigation after finding no wrongdoing on my part. Peeples, who was operating a Homewood, Alabama pizza parlor when he was tapped for the top assistant’s job in October of 2017, basically runs the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham. Jay E. Town, who became U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama on August 17, 2017, lives in Huntsville and rarely works in Birmingham. President Donald Trump's White House vetted Town for the U.S. Attorney’s job prior to his appointment to the position. Town was confirmed for the job by the U.S. Senate. Peeples, who is the surrogate U.S. Attorney, was never vetted for the top job by the Trump Administration and he did not need Senate confirmation for his position. Yet, Peeples is running the office while Town sits in Huntsville each day wallowing in partisan politics while drawing a full-time salary as U.S. Attorney. Peeples has authored and published news articles that are openly hostile to women and minorities. These articles were exposed recently in my article titled, “A Pizza Man is Leading the Charge”. Peeples has attempted to sanitize his hostility toward minorities by collaborating with Xavier Carter, an African-American prosecutor who has zero experience in investigating or prosecuting economic crimes. Carter dutifully fulfills the role played by the “Jewish Ghetto Police” in Nazi Germany by doing exactly what Peeples tells him to do, whether it violates Justice Department guidelines or not. All of these COINTELPRO-era activities are happening underneath the nose of Rod Rosenstein, who knows or should reasonably know about all of them. Roving Rogues When the SEC announced in July that it was dropping two-thirds of its baseless “securities fraud” allegations against me (with the remaining one-third hanging on by a thread), Lloyd Peeples shifted the focus of his investigation toward manufacturing a criminal case around frivolous allegations of “bank fraud”. Peeples has tried to give life to so-called Regulation O allegations in a FDIC investigation that resulted from a direct order from former Alabama governor Robert Bentley to former Alabama Bank Superintendent John Harrison in 2013 to run me out of the banking business. This gubernatorial order is described in “Surviving Hatred in Alabama”. As an accommodation to the Alabama Banking Department, the FDIC trumped-up baseless allegations that accused me of an “apparent” Regulation O violation with respect to a loan Birmingham-based Alamerica Bank made to one of my business partners and a loan the bank made to one of my sons. Regulation O governs bank loans to executives and directors of the bank. I was chairman of the bank at the time these loans were made, but I played no role in the loan intake, bank underwriting and due diligence process, or approval process. Additionally, I complied with all known business affiliation disclosure reporting requirements, before, during, and after my bank charter was issued. For the past five years, the FDIC has steadfastly refused to recognize that the loans in question fell squarely within the well-known, published exceptions to Regulation O. The FDIC has recognized these exceptions for similarly situated bank officers and directors at other regulated banking institutions. My request for equal treatment irritated bank regulators, who described this request as “buffoonery” on my part. Given Lloyd Peeples’ regressive views on women and minorities, he welcomed the chance to conduct a full-scale criminal investigation on a regulatory issue that has stalled in an FDIC administrative proceeding that was convened for the purpose of determining whether a Regulation O violation occurred in the first place. A "Witch Hunt" in Birmingham Last Tuesday, Lloyd Peeples expanded his criminal investigation to include a probe of First Highland Group, LLC (“FHG”), which is my real estate development company. Peeples subpoenaed all of the financial records relating to FHG. Like the other transactions Peeples has investigated, his probe of FHG will be a complete waste of time, resources, and taxpayers’ dollars. Because he is a rogue prosecutor who is trying to manufacture a crime (as opposed to investigating one), Peeples has made a litany of elementary mistakes in the case. His probe of the FHG financial transactions presumably grows out of a lawsuit initiated by FHG’s former mortgage lender and a counterclaim filed by FHG against this lender regarding certain lender liability claims. These claims and counterclaims were litigated from 2013 to 2018. The case never proceeded to a trial and no liability was ever adjudicated on any of the claims or counterclaims. The parties in the case eventually resolved their differences in an amicable fashion. On July 3, 2018, all of the claims and counterclaims in the case were dismissed, with prejudice. Yet, Peeples is trolling the FHG financial documents like a scavenger looking for pizza crust crumbs to eat. At this juncture, Lloyd Peeples is conducting what President Trump calls a "witch hunt". His SEC case has collapsed. His FDIC case is going nowhere fast. His FHG case is dead on arrival. He has hoodwinked and misled a federal grand jury for many months with a presentation of one-sided, cherry-picked, anecdotal information that disintegrates under the bright light of the pertinent documentary evidence for the financial transactions in question. Peeples does not have the professionalism, objectivity, or manhood to conduct himself like the reputable New Jersey federal prosecutors who conducted a full, fair, and objective review of the evidence and closed their investigation. Instead, Peeples is acting like an erratic pizza parlor operator with a personal axe to grind. Rod Rosenstein, either through negligence in supervision or a reckless disregard for the integrity of the Justice Department’s guidelines for handling criminal cases, has allowed Peeples’ rogue conduct and prosecutorial abuse in my case to flourish. He has done absolutely nothing to stop this prosecutorial abuse. If Rod Rosenstein cannot “police” a "tainted" rogue federal prosecutor in Birmingham, Alabama who is actually a “stand-in” for a “figurehead” U.S. Attorney, then he deserves to be fired, immediately. PHOTO: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein