Georgia Republicans Mark Guilty Verdict for Laken Riley’s Murderer as Democrats Mourn ‘Transgender Day of Remembrance’

Laken Riley

While the majority of Georgia Republicans issued statements on Wednesday marking the guilty verdict reached in the case against Jose Ibarra, who a court determined killed August University nursing student Laken Riley in February, at least three Democratic members of Georgia’s U.S. House delegation instead posted messages marking Transgender Day of Remembrance.

An illegal immigrant who entered the country in 2022, Ibarra was determined during the trial to be a member of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Prosecutors said he was “hunting for females” when he encountered Riley, who was jogging when she was attacked.

Read More

FDA Vaccine Regulator Shunned COVID Booster, Warns the System Lets ‘Hierarchy Overrule Science’

vaccine shot

A 30-year veteran of the Food and Drug Administration said at a congressional hearing this week he resigned in part because top brass sidelined his office to rush the full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in August 2021, apparently to legally enable a vaccine mandate, then a booster under emergency use authorization over the objections of the agency’s outside advisers.

But former Office of Vaccines Research and Review Deputy Director Philip Krause perhaps saved his biggest embarrassment to the FDA for the end of Wednesday’s hearing on alleged Biden administration political interference in COVID vaccine review: He declined the booster.

Read More

Progressive Lawmakers Offer Unwitting Path for January 6 Prisoners to Sue Federal Government

Some of the most progressive Democrats in Congress are supporting new legislation that could help an unexpected group: those who were arrested and imprisoned without trial for playing a role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson (Ga.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.) on Wednesday reintroduced the Bivens Act, which would allow citizens to recover damages for constitutional violations committed against them by federal law enforcement officials.

The bill, which the lawmakers first introduced last year, seeks “to provide a civil remedy for an individual whose rights have been violated by a person acting under federal authority.” It would do this by adding five words — “of the United States or” — to a longstanding provision enacted in 1871, known as Section 1983, which gives individuals the right to sue state or local officials who violate their civil and constitutional rights. The additional words would include federal officials in the statute.

Read More

Commentary: Biden’s Desperate Race to the Lying Bottom

On Monday, Joe Biden uncorked the largest lie of a 50-year political career overstuffed with them.

“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” he tweeted. “Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”

Read More

Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson Insists Packing U.S. Supreme Court Will Attract More Public Support

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) said members of the public should prepare for several Congressional hearings where he and other elected officials will make their case for increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices. Johnson chairs the U.S. House of Representatives’ Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Staff at the Decatur-based website Decaturish.cominterviewed Johnson this week in a question-and-answer-style format. The congressman said expanding the number of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court “will…gather support as we make the case for reform in the justice system.”

Read More

Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson Insists Packing U.S. Supreme Court Will Attract More Public Support

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) said members of the public should prepare for several Congressional hearings where he and other elected officials will make their case for increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices. Johnson chairs the U.S. House of Representatives’ Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Staff at the Decatur-based website Decaturish.cominterviewed Johnson this week in a question-and-answer-style format. The congressman said expanding the number of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court “will…gather support as we make the case for reform in the justice system.”

Read More