Stephen Kruiser
The Morning Briefing
November 22, 2024
Yesterday was the third day of the Laken Riley murder trial in Athens, Georgia, and the day on which prosecutors rested their case after calling 25 witnesses to the stand.In Other News
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the case, Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered while jogging on the University of Georgia campus earlier this year. Her alleged murderer, José Antonio Ibarra, is a 26-year-old Venezuelan man who is in the United States illegally. He's been charged with felony murder, malice murder, false imprisonment, hindering a 911 call, aggravated assault with intent to rape, and kidnapping, among other things. He faces life in jail if convicted. The case has garnered national attention at a time when illegal immigration and criminal migrants are big topics in the United States.
If you haven't been able to watch any of the trial, I must warn you: It has been, at times, equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating. Full disclosure: I attended the University of Georgia myself and have spent a lot of time on that campus. I've never once felt unsafe there, which makes this murder all the more disturbing and upsetting. That said, here are the highlights.
Once upon a time, there were things that transcended politics, like your friends and family, for example. But these days, nothing is sacred, especially if you're an angry liberal.In Other News
Earlier this week, Yale psychiatrist Amanda Calhoun appeared on MSNBC with Joy Reid and suggested that viewers, particularly LGBTetc ones, should stay away from their family members this Thanksgiving if they didn't like the way they voted.
"If you are going into a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you... it's completely fine to not be around those people and to tell them why and to say, 'I have a problem with the way you voted,'" Calhoun said during her appearance on the network.
Well, here goes – it’s book launch time for Gerard Vanderleun’s book of essays! The title is The Name In the Stone.
Please go to the book website VanderleunBooks, take a look around, and order a book or books. It’s published in a very handsome-looking paperback edition, if I do say so myself, and there are a couple of hardcovers available as well [NOTE: The hardcovers, which were a very limited edition, are already sold out, but I’m going to order another print run of hardcovers, and so you can order them now although there will be an estimated delay of about ten days in mailing the hardcovers out to customers]. Here’s a link to the description of the book.
You can communicate with me about the book either at my usual email address of jaybean33@yahoo.com or at the booksite’s email address, which is info@vanderleunbooks.com . I plan to add a page of reader testimonials at the website, and you can send a review that way if you’d like.