Pardon me while I close a few "open tabs" on the laptop heading into the weekend.
- A ruby-red, Trump-adoring Georgia county"found out" about 700 "green energy" jobs planned for at a new battery plant south of Newnan aren't coming, after all. While the Norwegian company spoke ofinflation and costs, it's hard not to connect the "drill baby, drill" dots.
- The Georgia Senatepassed SB-1, banning trans girls & women from scholastic & collegiate sports. Senator Kim Jackson (D-41) sought to soften the blow, a bit, byinserting an amendment to "require school districts ensure that boys’ and girls’ teams be given comparable funding, access to facilities, equipment and other accommodations.," thinking Republican supporters of the bill would sure be consistent with their rhetoric. They were not. The bill now moves to the House for consideration there.
- Steve Bannon revealed, in a 2019 Frontline interview, the Trumpian 'flood the zone' effect, and -as MSNBC's Jen Psaki pointed out recently - it works. Hence my cautioning folks left of center against freaking out over issues that rattle their sensibilities that don't even emanate from the White House. TheNFL's "end racism" switch-a-roo, for example. R-E-L-A-X. Bigger fish to fry.
- Author and political historian Heather Cox Richardsonnoted Thursdaynight that the Trump administration is "gaming Google" to "create a mirage of mass deportations." She also pointed out that the GOP - since Reagan - has been spinning this yarn that the federal government has been "taking" tax dollars from white conservative voters and "trying to hand tax dollars and power to undeserving Black and Brown Americans, women, and LGBTQ+ Americans." Also that Trump's been targeting CBS and '60 Minutes' for selectively editing their interview with then-VP Kamala Harris (a lie -here it is; watch for yourself).
- Friend of the show Jay Bookman penned his latest Georgia Recorder op/ed, panning any notion of Georgia joining 39 other states in permitting sports wagering. I've no real opinion on this, though,he makes solid correlations between bankruptcy, lower credit scores, etc., in states that welcome the practice; but I do think if Democrats want to make some headway with Republicans eager to move on this, that they use the tax dollars from it for a big-ticket wish-list item that needs to be on someone's radar.
