January 1, Father, Son Face Murder Charges in GA Shooting

This Day in History | 1945

Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during World War II.

Good morning Middle America, 

As we predicted yesterday, the case of Ahmaud Arbery, is now a murder case. Police in Brunswick Georgia have arrested a father and son for the February shooting of Arbery, who was out on a jog, according to his family. 

Everyone with a brain wants to see due process and justice served here, which we know will be next to impossible with the current state of our hyper polarized media. This is an important story, and we’re well equipped to help you navigate all the b.s. that’s about to be attached to this story. 

Also we have a couple of stories for you on former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who is now a free man. The Justice Department has asked the judge in his case to drop the charges against him. The move sent shockwaves through the political industrial complex, with conditioned reactions from all the usual suspects.  Hat Tip to CBS News and Catherine Herridge who got an interview with Attorney General William Barr, and Barr seems to give zero effs about what the resistance thinks about his decision to drop Flynn’s case. 

And if you are one of the 33 million Americans out of work now, yes you read that correctly, 33 million people are out of work right now according to the latest numbers from the Labor Department, don’t count on getting another check from the federal government. 

Republicans aren’t sold on the idea of another round of pandemic relief. And why should they be? With so many dead people getting checks the last go round. 

Finally today – we have some quick follow ups to bring you on stories we reported earlier in the week. 

The Texas hair salon owner who defied a judge to open her business is now out of jail. 

NFL legend Brett Favre is returning the $1.1million dollars he inadvertently received through a charity accused of squandering donations. And Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is home and recovering after her hospital visit earlier this week. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon 

Father, Son Arrested & Charged with Murder in Shooting of Ahmaud Arbery

(WJXT) – The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has arrested Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, in the deadly shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, according to a news release Thursday night.

They were both charged with murder and aggravated assault and booked into the Glynn County jail.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests the day after it began its own investigation at the request of an outside prosecutor.

The shooting death of Arbery, 25, has been passed through three district attorneys in the two and a half months since the man was shot and killed while jogging through a Glynn County neighborhood the afternoon of Feb. 23.

Read more here

U.S. Moves to Drop Case Against Trump Ex-Adviser Flynn, Who Lied to the FBI

(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly asked a judge to drop criminal charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn following mounting pressure from the Republican president and his political allies on the right.

The move drew furious criticism from congressional Democrats and others who accused the department and Attorney General William Barr of politicizing the U.S. criminal justice system by bending to Trump’s wishes and improperly protecting his friends and associates in criminal cases.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who served as an adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign, had been seeking to withdraw his 2017 guilty plea in which he admitted to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russia’s U.S. ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump took office.

Learn more here

Attorney General William Barr on Flynn Case: History is Written by the Winner”

(CBS News) – The Justice Department on Thursday moved to dismiss charges against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S. — but in January, Flynn asked the court to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea, citing the government’s “bad faith, vindictiveness and breach of the plea agreement.” 

In a motion filed in U.S. district court, federal prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss the single count of making false statements to the FBI, claiming the government concluded that the FBI’s interview of Flynn “was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation.”

Attorney General William Barr joined CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge to discuss the reasoning behind the motion. 

Watch the interview here

Republicans Not Sold on New Round of Relief Checks

(The Hill) – Senate Republicans are pouring cold water on including another round of stimulus checks in the next coronavirus relief bill.

The record $2.2 trillion pandemic bill signed into law March 27 mandated one-time payments of $1,200 for people making up to $75,000 a year, but most of the checks have already been distributed.

The White House and Democrats are signaling support for doing at least one more round of checks. GOP senators, however, say they aren’t sold yet on the need for a second round, and several said they are strongly opposed to the idea.

Find out more here

Friday Follow Ups

Texas Salon Owner Jailed for Defying Governor’s Order Freed

(AP) – A Texas salon owner who defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency orders and was jailed for keeping her business open walked out free Thursday to cheering supporters after the governor weakened his enforcement of coronavirus safeguards and a court ordered her released.

Shelley Luther, owner of a Salon A La Mode in Dallas, wore a mask while leaving jail less than 48 hours after a judge sentenced her to a week behind bars for flouting public health orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Her punishment had become a rallying cry for Republican lawmakers and conservative activists who have railed against lockdown measures in Texas, even as the state reopens at a speed faster than many others in the U.S.

Luther, who refused to apologize or promise to keep her business closed even after a Dallas judge said dong so might keep her out of jail, said she was overwhelmed as she walked toward a crowd chanting her name. In April, Luther tore up a cease-and-desist letter in front of TV cameras at an “Open Texas” rally in the Dallas suburbs.

Read more here

Brett Favre to Repay $1.1 Million for Speeches He Didn’t Make, Auditor Says

(NY Times) – The Hall of Fame quarterback was the unknowing recipient of money intended to help needy families in his home state, Mississippi, officials said.

The Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre will repay the state of Mississippi $1.1 million in speaking fees for appearances that he has never made, money that should have gone to needy families but was misspent by public officials, the state auditor said on Wednesday.

The auditor, Shad White, said that his office had received a $500,000 payment from Mr. Favre on Wednesday and that Mr. Favre, who is from Mississippi, had agreed to pay the balance in installments in the next few months.

He said that Mr. Favre, 50, had no knowledge that the payments that he received in December 2017 and June 2018 from the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center had been funded with federal welfare grants.

Find out more here

Supreme Court’s Ginsburg Discharged from Hospital

(Reuters) – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at 87 the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest member, was discharged on Wednesday from hospital where she was treated for a benign gall bladder condition and took part remotely in arguments in two cases.

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Ginsburg is “doing well and glad to be home” after being discharged from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Learn more here