In the incoming Senate, Democratic senators will represent at least 20,314,962 more people than their Republican counterparts — and that’s if we assume that Republicans win both runoff elections in Georgia. If the two Georgia seats go to the Democrats, the Senate will be split 50-50, but the Democratic half will represent 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.
[link:https://www.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-court|

A white military veteran shot and wounded a 15-year-old girl when he fired his gun into a car carrying four Black teenagers during a tense confrontation at a rally in support of President Donald Trump near the Iowa Capitol last month.

Michael McKinney, 25, is charged with attempted murder in the Dec. 6 shooting in Des Moines. McKinney, who was heavily armed and wearing body armor, told police he fired the shot in self-defense. A resident of tiny St. Charles, Iowa, McKinney has posted on Facebook in support of the far-right Proud Boys and against Black Lives Matter.

In a news release detailing McKinney’s arrest, the state police described an afternoon shooting at a parking lot and didn’t mention the Trump car rally or the race of those involved. A city police spokesman said initial reports indicated the shooting was traffic-related. Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt said the agency released the immediate facts and circumstances as required.

But a review by The Associated Press shows the shooting was sparked by a belligerent political clash between a large group of white Trump supporters and four unarmed Black girls all aged 16 and under.

[link:https://www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/white-army-vet-charged-in-shooting-of-black-girl-at-trump-rally/5740674/|

Mr. Trump, a Republican, had been insinuating that Hillary Clinton, his likely Democratic opponent, did not have the stamina to serve as president. In response to questions about his own health, he ordered Dr. Bornstein to issue “a full medical report.” Mr. Trump predicted that although he would be 70 when he took office, the oldest president ever to be inaugurated for the first time, the report would show that the state of his health was “perfection.”

He soon released a four-paragraph letter signed by Dr. Bornstein saying that his blood pressure and unspecified lab test results were “astonishingly excellent,” and that his strength and stamina were “extraordinary.”

Dr. Bornstein finally said publicly in 2018 what many had suspected all along: that Mr. Trump himself had written the letter saying he would be the healthiest president ever.

“He dictated that whole letter,” he told CNN. “I didn’t write that letter.”

[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare|

The federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law was passed in 1970 as the "ultimate hit man" in mob prosecutions. Prior to RICO, prosecutors could only try mob-related crimes individually. Since different mobsters perpetrated each crime, the government could only prosecute individual criminals instead of shutting down an entire criminal organization. Today, the government rarely uses RICO against the Mafia. Instead, because the law is so broad, both governmental and civil parties use it against all sorts of enterprises, both legal and illegal.

RICO allows for prosecution of all individuals involved in a corrupt organization. For mob prosecutions, that means that the government can go after top leadership as well as the hit men and capos. And RICO established much enhanced sentences, as well. John L. Smith described the impact of RICO in an article for the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "After RICO, mob families began to crack under the very real threat that members and associates could be indicted en masse for a wide range of criminal activity. ... [E]ven the strongest stand-up guy would have trouble fading the 20-year (and more) sentences that began accompanying RICO convictions."

While RICO was originally aimed at the Mafia, over the past 37 years, prosecutors have used it to attack many forms of organized crime: street gangs, gang cartels, corrupt police departments and even politicians.
https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/rico/
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-96

Brian Sicknick was a Trump-supporting U.S. Capitol Police officer and military veteran who has died of injuries suffered during a pro-Trump riot on January 6, 2021, at the Capitol building, authorities say. Sicknick was injured while “physically engaging” with rioters, the U.S. Capitol Police Department said in a statement. He died at 9:30 p.m. on January 7, the department said.

Heavy found a Twitter account in Sicknick’s name. It indicates that he was a Donald Trump supporter; the cover photo is Trump’s plane. The account has been temporarily restricted for “unusual activity.” On Facebook, his cover photo is of an American flag. The mayor of South River, New Jersey, where the officer was from, told My Central New Jersey, “The family has requested privacy at this time and said Brian did his job.”