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Georgia man sentenced for assaulting law enforcement during Jan. 6 Capitol breach

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Georgia man sentenced for assaulting law enforcement during Jan. 6 Capitol breach


ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A Georgia man has been sentenced for assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Michael Bradley, 50, of Forsyth, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine, authorities said.

Bradley was previously found guilty of multiple offenses, including civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and other charges.

Back in January of 2021, Bradley made his way toward the U.S. Capitol’s Lower West Terrace Tunnel carrying a baton in a hip holster, the Justice Department said.

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According to the DOJ, Bradley raised his baton and approached officers, but he was sprayed with a chemical agent, which caused him to retreat temporarily.

Video evidence shows Bradley later returning to the tunnel and swinging his baton at the officers at least twice in an attempt to hit them.

Bradley then moved to the side of the tunnel and left the Lower West Terrace a few minutes later, the DOJ says.

The FBI arrested Bradley on Sept. 7, 2023 in Forsyth.

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Georgia gubernatorial candidate echoes MS’s late-Gov. Kirk Fordice

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Georgia gubernatorial candidate echoes MS’s late-Gov. Kirk Fordice


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  • Billionaire businessman Rick Jackson is running for governor of Georgia, drawing comparisons to former Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice.
  • Jackson, a self-funded candidate, has risen in the polls against established politicians in the Republican primary.
  • His campaign ads feature strong rhetoric on immigration and align him with former President Donald Trump.
  • The Republican primary field also includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.

Kirk Fordice-like Rick Jackson is sounding a whole lot like Daniel Kirkwood Fordice as he tries to be elected Georgia’s next governor.

Fordice came out of nowhere — actually, Vicksburg is somewhere but you know what I mean — in 1991 to become a two-term Mississippi governor.

He had money but nothing like Jackson, a billionaire businessman who’s also trying to emerge from nowhere politically to win Georgia’s top office.

“The establishment hated Trump, because they couldn’t control him. They are going to hate me,” Jackson says in an ad for Georgia’s Republican Primary on May 19, sounding like one of my favorite Mississippi governors — Fordice, because of his unpredictable personality (he could vilify or charm you, all in one sentence), not his politics. He died in 2004 of cancer.

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I stood by a cafe entrance one morning, waiting to cover a Fordice speech. When he appeared, I stuck out my hand to shake his. “I’m not shaking your damn hand. You’re part of the problem down there (referring to the newspaper),” he told me, smiling and moving on.

Jackson rose to become one of economic giant-Georgia’s wealthiest people. He came from Atlanta’s rough midtown area, ending up in the foster care system. He left college due to poor financial circumstances.

The 71-year-old Jackson wormed his way into the dynamic city’s business scene in the late 1970s, mostly of the healthcare variety with mixed success before starting a workforce staffing and services company and later an antibiotics manufacturing plant. He turned those businesses into billion-dollar enterprises.

“It’s God’s money,” he said in rural Blakely, and he’s been charitable with it.

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Jackson doesn’t try to hide his vast wealth. His family lives in a 48,000-square-foot mansion at Cumming, a place of nearly 100,000 people near Atlanta in Forsyth County, which once promoted its almost all-white population as a virtue. 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy recently wrote that Jackson will spend a ton of his own money in seeking another mansion, the one occupied by Georgia’s governor. Torpy noted that present Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was once heavily favored to win the primary race, but he’s fallen behind Jackson’s bold money bid.

“The one-time front-runner in the Republican primary (Jones) has been relegated to No. 2, the result of a $100 million Mack truck running him over.

Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare tycoon, a man with a sly smile and reptilian gaze, is the guy driving that truck,” Torpy wrote.

The GOP field includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who spurned Trump’s demand to find 11,780 votes that would’ve allowed him to win Georgia in 2020.

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Fordice was effective with some bombastic rhetoric during his run for governor, but I don’t remember it reaching the histrionic level employed by Jackson. In a major ad blitz, often referencing (Georgia college student) Laken Riley’s murderer, Jackson promises that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will be “deported or departed … any questions?”

In another ad, Jackson growled, “Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians.”

Fordice spent only $1 million to get himself elected Mississippi’s governor. He somewhat sneaked up on the establishment, riding no escalator to the first floor of his Vicksburg concrete river mats-contracting office to declare his intentions. Who could ever forget his announcement seeking the governorship that ran on page 5 of the Clarion Ledger?

Recent polling ahead of Georgia’s May primaries for governor shows the eventual Republican nominee faces a strong Democrat in the November general election, most likely former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. That’ll require another whole pot of money.

— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired Mississippi newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.

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Georgia Democrats seek answers from Justice Department over Fulton election worker subpoena

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Georgia Democrats seek answers from Justice Department over Fulton election worker subpoena


Four Democrats in Georgia’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Friday protesting the agency’s demand for personal information about Fulton County workers and volunteers involved with the 2020 election when President Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden.



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Take a look: Gulfstream welcomes students to its Savannah headquarters

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Take a look: Gulfstream welcomes students to its Savannah headquarters


Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.



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