New Book Trailer

       This is the new book trailer for my historical thriller, Gods of Our Fathers. My goal this year is to relaunch as many of my backlisted titles as possible and I'd appreciate it if you would pay more attention than you have to them in the past. So far this year, I've unofficially relaunched Tatterdemalion through two interviews focused on it. I'm also working with another Facebook friend who's reworking The Toy Cop, which, after we're finished, I'll pitch to several major indie publishers.
     Again, Gods of Our Fathers can be found on Kindle here and the paperback is here.

Good Cop, Bad Cops, Pt 1

(By American Zen’s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)

(Disclaimer: The proprietor of this blog and Mr. Wilson have an ongoing years-long friendship, in which the former has benefited on several occasions by the generosity of the latter. However, that in no way, shape or form has influenced the blog owner’s decision to post an article about his case nor the content of what is written below.)

Introduction

We need police. That’s the long and the short of it.

     Whatever your view of the very real problems our society faces in bad cops who shoot unarmed African Americans or the mentally disabled when sent to the scene of a medical emergency, the simple fact is that those cops take a lot of oxygen from the honest, dedicated law enforcement professionals whose good to society far outweighs the bad we incessantly hear about on the news and social media.

     The need for some law enforcement was understood in the days of the Roman Empire and in AD 6 answered in the form of the vigiles urbani. And 1823 years later, Sit Robert Peel well understood the need for a professional police force and that’s how Scotland Yard was created, with the passage of the Metropolitan Police Act, in 1829.

     So obviously, there will always be the need for “the thin blue line” because where there are laws, there will always be criminals. And latter day human society is always in desperate need of good cops to make up part of that vital buffer between civilians and lawlessness and disorder. But what happens when cops forget whatever high-minded ideals that led them to apply to the Academy when they turn on their own, when pensions and reputations are at stake?

     We all remember what had happened to Serpico. And Serpico was an exception that gradually became more of a norm than an exception. And today, I will write at length about the bizarre case of Antone Raneo Wilson, a good cop who got railroaded by his own. Not only his own, but lazy, collusive, avaricious attorneys (including three who were suspended), a famously corrupt Boston political power structure and virtually every principal involved. It’s a case that is so intensely radioactive that no mainstream media journalist or attorney will touch it with the proverbial 10 foot pole. (Most recently a reporter with the Boston Globe looked into it then, like Homer Simpson or Sean Spicer, slowly melted into the bushes). That was when I was contacted by former Mass State Trooper Antone Wilson.

The Beginning

It began on a miserable, wet rainy day in December of 2000 in Franklin, MA. It wasn’t even a routine traffic stop. Franklin, in Norfolk County in southern Massachusetts, is generally a friendly city, one of just 14 granted a charter to run a city government. It’s the kind of place where, when you hear a car backfire, you assume it’s a car back-firing and Honor Roll high school graduates bound for college make the front page of the local paper.

     However on this day, off duty State Trooper Antone Wilson was driving through Franklin and ran into a detail manned by three officers from the Franklin Police Department. He stopped long enough to ask for directions and one of the young officers, perhaps resenting his posting on a foul day, was immediately surly. The situation quickly escalated and when Trooper Wilson was asked for ID, he produced his State Police creds.

     Rather than de-escalating what was already a needless confrontation, the Franklin Police essentially detained Trooper Wilson as they wouldn’t hand him back his badge and ID for upwards of 20 minutes. At one point, one of the young officers even deliberately nudged Trooper Wilson’s shoulder with his own in order to manufacture an escalation. Trooper Wilson was by this time already 39 years-old and didn’t bite on the bait.

     It ought to be mentioned that despite Franklin’s lowkey reputation and outward gentility, at this exact same time the Franklin Police Department was already under federal investigation from the Chief on down for corruption. Even 16½ years ago, the allegations went back three decades.

     Ironically, even though Trooper Wilson was the one being wronged, it was the Franklin Police Department who’d fired the first salvo in the form of a complaint against Trooper Wilson for assault and verbal abuse. They almost surely did this to cover their own asses as a pre-emptive counter suit to protect itself from what they expected to be Trooper Wilson’s own complaint. However, Trooper Wilson never filed that complaint.

Can We Spell Conflict of Interest, Boys and Girls?

As if tempting the Fates into bringing about a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Franklin PD had filed a complaint that had brought about an investigation into Trooper Wilson for misconduct, specifically regarding physical assault and verbal abuse. As if that wasn’t enough, the Massachusetts State Police had saddled him with an attorney who was jurisprudence’s answer to a canvasback club fighter on the take.

     Without immediately making full disclosure to his client, this attorney represented not only the MA State Police union but also the Franklin PD’s union. Almost immediately, as if trying to sweep it under the rug, Mr. Wilson’s representation was, in his own words, “increasingly strident” about getting his client to admit to some guilt in the interests of speedy resolution. Attorney/client privilege is intended to protect the client from prying outside parties, not the attorney from his own client.

     Deeply suspicious of his own lawyer’s intentions and motivations, Mr. Wilson then asked him, repeatedly, if he also represented the Franklin PD’s union and his concerns about collusion were dismissed. Eventually, as the investigation gained traction, Trooper Wilson was in the absurd and very unenviable position of watching growing evidence proving his innocence rebuffed by his own attorney. Yes, Antone Wilson’s own attorney was working in concert with investigators to ensure some responsibility for misconduct would be proved or admitted to. Finally, after confronting his lawyer by asking him if he was indeed working for the Franklin PD’s union, he answered in the affirmative, albeit vaguely. As much as honest individuals hate to use the word, Trooper Wilson realized his concerns about a conspiracy were well-founded. Putting a cherry to this revelation was Wilson’s ominous caveat: “(Y)ou’d better not be telling state secrets.”

    Several days before Trooper Wilson’s disciplinary hearing, two senior officers who’d been assigned to the board were replaced. This was particularly suspicious because Wilson had expressed to his original attorney his satisfaction with the two officers that were subsequently removed. This action was unnerving because it implied that Wilson's attorney had shared confidential information with the State Police (remember the quaint notion of attorney/client privilege?). The move, Wilson suspected, was a final attempt to force a negotiated settlement in an attempt to forestall a disciplinary hearing. It was clear that the "prosecution" didn't want a hearing that would compel the sworn testimony of the Franklin PD "witnesses" and generate a permanent, transcribed record. Trooper Wilson was convinced his own attorney was abusing his trust by sharing confidential, privileged information with the same party (the Mass State Police) that was attempting to get nonexistent dirt to stick on him. He was, nevertheless, determined to force the hearing.

     As the rescheduled hearing approached Trooper Wilson's plainly useless attorney had recused himself from the case and the replacement attorney-appointed without Wilson's prior consent- would be presenting the case. "I understood," Wilson later stated, " that there were only two real scenarios: The hearing would be 'on-the level' or it wouldn't" What Wilson didn't understand was that this was the beginning of an ordeal that would endure for over 17 years...
(Part 2)

Good Times at Gotham City, 6/24/17

Trump Administration, Government Hires All the Attorneys, Imports More From Russia

President Donald J. Trump arrives at Edwards AFB with his lawyered up lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Washington --- The Trump administration and United States government has hired so many attorneys in recent months that the nation is "perilously close" to running out of lawyers, making it all but a certainty that the government will have to start importing attorneys from Russia.

     President Trump himself began the lawyer-hiring frenzy after firing former FBI Director James B. Comey on May 9th, forcing Deputy DOJ Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to hire Robert Mueller as Special Prosecutor into the FBI's Russia investigation. Since then, Mr. Mueller has hired an astounding 13 attorneys to assist him in his ever-expanding investigation, with more expected to be hired.

     Just weeks after setting up a Super PAC of his own, Vice President Mike Pence has also hired an attorney. In order to avoid the appearance of impropriety, the Vice President has set up a GoFundMe account to pay his legal fees. "So far, after just a day, we've collected $410 from 41 donors," the Vice President said before the Naval Observatory, "so I'd say the campaign is going swimmingly well. Plus, I've added an incentive to anyone kicking in $10,000 that I'll go to their gay neighbor's house and personally heckle them on their front lawn for one hour."

     The lawyer hiring frenzy has reached such proportions, even Mr. Trump's own lawyer, Michael Cohen, has hired his own attorney. "Admittedly, this is going to be awkward," said Mr. Cohen. "I mean, suppose the President testifies before Mr. Mueller as he's promised and he asks me for advice? Will I have to ask my own attorney for advice before giving the President my advice?"

     Obviously, this has resulted in a backlog of legal cases from coast to coast, with litigants not having their scheduled cases tried because their attorneys are now working for either Mr. Trump, Mr. Mueller or other members of the administration. "Seriously, this is like something out of the Twilight Zone," said Travis County Judge Martin Wexler. "We've all fantasized about how happy the world would be without attorneys. Well, it's time to reap the whirlwind, folks."

     Consequently, law schools have accelerated their curricula in order to fast track law students toward graduation so they can take their state bar exams. Critics of the "lawyer drain", as it's called, have likened it to accelerated military basic training in order to get raw, untrained recruits into the battlefield that much faster. Says New Mexico attorney James "Slippin' Jimmy" McGill, "Pretty soon the legal landscape will be filled with idealistic 20-21 year-old attorneys with outdated notions about truth, justice and the American way. It makes me want to go out and kill Superman with a kryptonite dagger."

     However, even the accelerated law school curricula isn't enough to keep pace with the Trump administration's and Justice Department's hiring frenzy. This has forced the President to sign an executive order allowing Russian attorneys into the United States while waiving the usual State Department regulation of work visas. The first C5A transport plane that is expected to import 1000 Russian attorneys is slated to touch down at Edwards AFB by July 1st.

     "The fake news will scream bloody murder about these fine Russian attorneys not knowing American law. But who cares if they're not qualified? That's never stopped me before," said the President on Twitter.

     Thus far, the administration has failed to release the list of names of these Russian attorneys but Wikileaks is about to release documents that suggest at least 677 of the 1000 Russians either have ties to President Vladimir V. Putin, US Amassador Sergey Kislyak, several billionaire oligarchs and Politburo officials.

     "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that the President is hiring Russian attorneys... yet," said Press Secretary Sean Spicer in a statement released through his attorney's attorney through their own spokesman's attorney.

Ballots Then Bullets

     I am so sickened right now.
     It's a noteworthy day even in this bullet-riddled republic of ours when two mass shootings take place within hours of each other. The first was in Alexandria, VA when a practice was being held for the annual Congressional baseball game that's held for charity. A random and lone gunman from Michigan showed up with an AR15 and began spraying fire, eventually hitting four people. One of them was House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who's in critical but stable condition. Another victim was a lobbyist who's also in critical condition. The shooter, James Hodgkinson, later died at the hospital.
     The next incident happened in San Francisco at a UPS sorting facility. Six UPS workers were shot and three were killed before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Two mass shootings in one day, Flag Day. And we will soon forget these and await the next ones. Nothing will change.
     Of course, the right wing nut jobs who accuse the left of politicizing everything because heaven forbid they would ever stoop to such levels will be short-stroking the fact the VA shooter was a Democrat and a Bernie Sanders backer without ever once touching on two crucial points: That their own are far more often responsible for mass shootings and terrorist attacks than the left and the need for strict gun control laws. One of their own Congressmen is now in critical condition after getting his hip shattered by a 5.56 slug. But, hey. Freedom!
     And I can perfectly imagine Trump saying this on Twitter:

     But the plain fact is Congressmen are getting shot while playing baseball. You have to wonder what went through Scalise's mind as he fell from second base, his hip shattered, and began crawling away from the gun fire toward the outfield. Was he thinking of every single vote he ever cast against gun control measures? If he was, who could blame him?
     But today's shootings are all of a piece. The harsh, nasty tone struck by the Trump administration, when they deign to come out of their hidey holes, is inspiring a lot of hatred. Shooting Congressmen and others is obviously not going to fix what's wrong with this country. The gun nuts keep calling for more and more and more guns and ammo then everyone acts surprised when mass shootings escalate.
     We're living in enough fear as it is. We have to remove our shoes, submit to invasive body searches and having our naked bodies scanned. We have to consent to our bags being checked before walking into a ball park or a courthouse or a school. And still this sort of shit keeps happening, now at the rate of two a day.
     I wonder if Alex Jones will promote another conspiracy theory that Alexandria didn't happen and that Scalise was fooling us the whole time?
     And now right wingers are realizing for perhaps the first time (or maybe they're not, since they're inherently stupid) that the 2nd Amendment applies to those of both sides of the political spectrum. Yes, we should have a substantive debate about gun control. The problem is, we're not yet mature enough to have that discussion.

"Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

     This was more than a casual reference to a 53 year-old movie. James Comey uttered this phrase to Senator Angus King in yesterday's testimony for some very good reasons.
     First and most chillingly, it underscored how literally a ruler's most casual comment can be taken by those beneath him. According to British legend, the monarch Edward II said it in a fit of pique at the end of his contentious relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The line passed into popular usage with the 1964 film, Beckett starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. The very next day after the king's casual command, as the ironically-named Sen. King reminded us, four knights confronted Thomas Beckett at Canterbury and eventually assassinated him.
     Of course, Edward's grievances with the Archbishop of Canterbury were vastly different than Trump's with Comey. But the parallels are irresistible and Comey made a very telling observation with the quote.
     Indeed, Trump's entire administration from Day One has more resembled a despotic monarchy than a modern day democratic administration in a free republic. As with all despots, he demanded a loyalty oath from Comey during their private dinner together last winter. With Trump, loyalty is everything and those who are not loyal are enemies, or, as Eric Trump recently said in his eliminationist rhetoric to Sean Hannity, "not even people."
     Trump, dullard though he is, was barely smart enough to glean that Comey didn't swear fealty to him. This was proven when Trump learned Comey was spearheading an investigation into Michael Flynn's dealings with the Russians. While Trump may not have been the exact focus of the investigation, he nonetheless knew many in his administration, past or present, would lead directly to him. The fat spider in the center of the web sits in the center in case any of the outer strands are pulled.
     It's hard to believe that there's still debate on whether what Trump said to Comey constituted obstruction of justice. Comey flatly said he interpreted Trump's troubling comments as such- That his hamfisted attempts at discretion came off sounding like baleful edicts. Listening to Comey yesterday, one actually felt pity for him, especially among women who'd been powerless secretaries or subordinates who knew what it felt like to be pressured into doing something they didn't want by a more powerful male figure.
     And Trump's entire attitude toward governance more closely resembles a dictatorship or a despotic monarchy that considers the land one rules to be one led by men, or a single one, and not by law. And of course, at least in theory, the United States is run by, in the words of John Adams in the Massachusetts Constitution, "a government of laws and not of men."
     It's a distinction Trump has never understood (nor needed to in the corporate world), doesn't now nor ever will.

Question:

      OK, so let me get this straight:
      The former Director of the FBI called the President a liar on national television, said he took detailed notes on his meetings with Trump because he thought he would lie about those meetings. Then today Trump claims Comey gave him "total and complete vindication."
      John McCain then asks Comey during the hearing about the Trump-Russia investigation about... Hillary Clinton's emails. Then repeats the question to Comey in written form.

      Theresa May attempted a power grab by ordering a snap election, thinking her Tories would win 100 seats in Parliament and wound up losing a dozen, giving Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party 18 more, ended up in a hung Parliament and, in the process, seriously eroded her power, forcing her to reach across the isle to the DUP in Northern Ireland for cooperation for her disastrous Brexit move.
      And now Alan Dershowitz is splitting hairs and trying to get us to believe there's a division between actual crimes and "political sins."
      What alternate universe did some cruel and capricious gods find these people and why did they inflict them on us in ours?

The Infantilism of Donald Trump

      Over 20 years ago, a neighbor of mine once told me a story about a middle school-aged boy who'd brought a knife to school. When caught with the clearly prohibited weapon and questioned by school officials, the boy explained that he knew the knife was outlawed on school property but that breaking the law was OK because he hadn't intended on using it. My friend's intent in relating this anecdote was this was the perfect delineation between the juvenile and the adult mind.
     Not concerned with consequences, the more insular juvenile mind will happily break laws and rules because they honestly believe good intent makes them immune to punishment. And this is really one of the hearts of the matter: the civic infantilism of Donald Trump, an infantilism he inspires in his voters and supporters.
     Former FBI Director James Comey's highly anticipated and heavily-watched testimony before the US Senate today underscores that peculiar brand of political infantilism in Donald Trump that we've never seen in any other president. And Director Comey even attempted to cover for Trump up to a point by saying his peculiar brand of obstruction was rooted more in ignorance than criminal intent.
     A future jury, hopefully, will literally be out on that one. However, the statutes (such as 18 U.S. Code § 1505 and 1512, for instance) regarding obstruction clearly do not make distinctions of intent. Obstruction is obstruction. Even Major League Baseball understands that- If the batter (Ed Armbrister aside), however unintentionally or accidentally obstructs the catcher as he's trying to throw to a base, it is still obstruction and the runner is automatically out.
     In a civic sense, Donald Trump is palsied or infantile. What he thought was clever, sophisticated methods of persuasion were, in fact, criminal. Director Comey said in no uncertain terms today that Donald Trump was not the focus of the Russian investigation. But in light of the Director expanding upon his now famous notes of a January meeting with Trump (after which the 6'8" former Director asked Jeff Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump again) in which the latter hoped the investigation would end, it should be all but obvious to anyone, regardless of party affiliation, that Trump, if he isn't already, ought to be included into the main thrust of such an investigation.
     Ana Navarro, the Republican CNN commentator and Trump gadfly, made an excellent distinction when she'd said on TV that when a private citizen hopes for something and the President of the United States hopes for the same thing, it is two vastly different things. She nailed it.
     And in Trump's Mr. Bill/Sluggo mentality, intent is everything. He should have known, as had his 44 predecessors, that Presidents shouldn't even broach federal investigations, especially when that same President is even tangentially involved in such a probe. And Trump telling Director Comey in that winter meeting that he hoped the latter would make the investigation go away already skirted, if not outright fractured, the laws prohibiting obstruction of justice.
     And then, there was this:

“He told me repeatedly he had talked to lots of people about me, including our current attorney general and had learned that I was doing a great job and that I was extremely well-liked by the FBI workforce, So it confused me when I saw on television the president saying that he actually fired me because of the Russian investigation and learned again from the media that he was telling, privately, other parties that my firing had relieved great pressure on the Russian investigation.”

     Those "other parties" were, of course, Russian diplomats he entertained in the Oval Office after kicking out the US media. Trump was also quoted as calling Director Comey "a nut job" and that firing him "eased the pressure" the Russian investigation was exerting on his administration.
     Calling an FBI Director who's well-respected and well-liked on both sides of the aisle a "nut job" reveals more about Trump's tenuous grasp on how government actually works than on how it does Mr. Comey. And a month ago, in a now-infamous interview with NBC's Lester Holt, Trump actually admitted he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation, despite the furious denials by his flacks and that he crossed the line by asking the FBI Director if he was under investigation.
     Of course, anyone in such a position, and one personally spearheading an investigation of such enormous import, would never answer that question (Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe reminded us and the US Senate that it is not the FBI's or DOJ's policy to discuss ongoing investigations with those involved or not in such inquiries).
     Former Director Comey's statements to the US Senate today contradict almost radically with Trump's personal statements, his tweets and the public pronouncements by his surrogates. In fact, Comey even admitted that he was so concerned that Trump would lie about the dinner meeting and the phone calls (which he did), that he was inspired to take more detailed notes than to which he was accustomed.
     And one of the biggest takeaways from the three hour-long testimony was when Comey was asked by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) if Trump had ever asked him if the federal government was doing anything to prevent Russia from meddling in our electoral process and Comey simply answered, "Never."
     What Trump did instead ask him, improperly if not illegally, was if he was the focus of the investigation regarding Russia's role in the last elections. Which is quite believable and even expected from someone trying to quash an investigation into a hostile nation's meddling in our sacred electoral process, someone who enormously benefited from such interference.
     And these were just some of the revelations, some surprising, some not, that were brought to light during the open hearing. I'm sure that everyone who has a stake in this, meaning every American citizen, would give anything to be a fly on the wall for today's closed session.

Backlist

     Hi, all. Sorry for the lack of posting since the latest Assclowns went up on the 2nd. I've been a little busy wheeling and dealing on Facebook and with publishers since last April and trying to get a book contract with an outfit that doesn't expect a fee in return (Yeah, I've run into a few of them.). Plus, I've been working with a new beta reader out of Chicago who's doing a serious rewrite of THE TOY COP. But rest assured, I'll be back in full pit bull mode when Comey testifies before the Senate the day after tomorrow. Until then, if you haven't already, please take the time to review my available titles And if you buy a copy of anything, please remember to leave behind a review. Reviews are almost as good as money and sales to an author.
     My Kindle titles:

https://www.amazon.com/Tatterdemalion-Veracious-Account-Buffalo-Ripper-ebook/dp/B00WH7IFM4

https://www.amazon.com/American-Zen-Robert-Crawford-ebook/dp/B00AHXZ7Q2

https://www.amazon.com/The-Toy-Cop-ebook/dp/B00APSB4SY

https://www.amazon.com/Misanthropes-Manual-Robert-Joseph-Crawford/dp/1483954579

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011ZJ0YM8

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1QX3S5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019SHMVZW

     Links to the paperback versions:

https://www.createspace.com/4633360 (Tatterdemalion)

https://www.createspace.com/5920087 (Gods of Our Fathers)

https://www.createspace.com/4076183 (American Zen)

https://www.createspace.com/6782677 (Bridge of Tarnished Angels- Short stories)

https://www.createspace.com/5609260 (The Kid- Scott Carson short story)

https://www.createspace.com/4220601 (The Misanthrope's Manual)