Editor’s Commentary: Democrats are scrambling to distance themselves from this. They are going so far as to blame it on Donald Trump. But with zero doubt we can say that Laken Riley died as a direct result of Democrat policies. We must not allow them to drop this story in the memory hole.
After Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz denied that the community where nursing student Laken Riley was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant was a sanctuary city, residents pointed to a video from 2020 that appears to show then-candidate John Williams, now the Athens-Clark County Sheriff, stating that he would not cooperate with ICE.
In the video, Williams told an Athens Politics Nerd reporter that he did not intend to cooperate with detainers, as he saw it as the sheriff’s responsibility to protect the community. He argued that a culture of fear would prevent the community from helping law enforcement in times of need.
While campaigning, Williams promised that he would not contribute to a “culture of fear” and emphasized the importance of building relationships with the community. He stated that the police would not do any round-ups or contribute to a culture of fear, as they wanted people to both respect and trust law enforcement.
The sheriff’s past comments were brought up after angry Georgia residents interrupted Girtz during a press briefing on the city’s plan to increase public safety. Protesters accused the mayor of lying and claimed he had “blood on his hands” for the murder.
Girtz denied that Athens was a sanctuary city and said that Georgia law did not allow for sanctuary cities. He reiterated that there had been no legislation from the government creating sanctuary city status.
Article generated from corporate media reports.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
