Tag: Georgia

MTG, Ya Think?

Recently the firebrand from Georgia has made some out of context comments about her GOP colleagues….but recently she made one that gave me a chuckle.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is publicly clashing with GOP leadership again—this time taking aim at what she calls a pattern of “weak” Republican men in Congress. Greene, who’s lately been sparring with House Speaker Mike Johnson over the handling of the government shutdown, accuses him and other male colleagues of marginalizing the party’s more forceful women, per the Washington Post. She argues that while President Trump has promoted women to top cabinet positions, GOP women in the House are sidelined. Currently only one Republican woman chairs a committee, compared to five Democratic women in top committee positions.

Greene, who won her Georgia district by criticizing Republicans, is no stranger to intra-party fighting. She previously tried and failed to oust Johnson from the speaker’s chair and had a stormy relationship with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy until they reconciled. Her campaign against House leadership has seen her break with Johnson on high-profile issues, including supporting Democratic efforts to extend health care subsidies and pushing for the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, she’s arguing Johnson has pushed Republican women to the side, expanding on an argument she made earlier.

House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain pushed back, saying Johnson has treated women fairly and promoted members based on merit. Greene, however, maintains that women like herself and Rep. Elise Stefanik are too often excluded from real influence, chalking it up to intimidation or jealousy. “Weak” Republican men are trying “to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something,” she says. She also suggests GOP women—like those who’ve signed on to the discharge petition related to the Epstein files—are more willing to sustain pressure from the president or Johnson. Male colleagues “don’t want to get yelled at,” she says.

She has stated the obvious!

Where the Hell has she been?   the GOP has been that way for as long as I can remember.

With all her epiphanies I just wonder where the Hell she has been for all those years?

What will she stumble upon next?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will Georgia Be Ground Zero?

Many people are saying that Trump will unleash his minions to bring chaos to the 2024 election if he does not win….

A sizable minority of Americans said they would try to invalidate the presidential election results depending on which candidate wins, according to a new poll. In the latest World Justice Project survey, 14% of Republicans said they would “take action to overturn the 2024 election based solely on who is declared the winner.” Eleven percent of Democrats said they would do the same.

The survey — which is completed annually — also found widespread distrust in elections and the courts that arbitrate them. “Today, trust in many U.S. institutions, government accountability, and overall rule of law is considerably lower than it was ahead of the 2020 election,” Elizabeth Andersen, the executive director of the World Justice Project — which works to advance the rule of law around the globe — said in a statement.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article292616804.html#storylink=cpy

….and it is shaping up that Georgia may be the ground zero that they are looking for.

There have been several reports of the antics by Trump loyalists in the background in Georgia.

A network of county election officials in Georgia is strategizing behind the scenes to help Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

The Guardian, along with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, obtained emails through a public records request from a group calling itself the Georgia Election Integrity Coalition, which includes election officials from at least five counties in the state. The emails show favoritism by the group toward Trump, as well as efforts by the group to show fraud in the 2024 elections, despite no vote yet having been cast.

Emails were sent between the officials, as well as election deniers in Georgia and around the country. These included groups like the Tea Party Patriots, or TPP, and the Election Integrity Network, or EIN, a group founded by former Trump adviser Cleta Mitchell. Members include Michael Heekin, a Republican member of the Fulton County board of elections, and his colleague Julie Adams, Debbie Fisher of Cobb County, Nancy Jester of DeKalb County, and Roy McClain of Spalding County. All of them have a history of refusing to certify election results, and Adams works directly for the TPP and EIN.

In the emails, members discuss how to combat scrutiny, in one case regarding a letter from a Democratic attorney warning officials against refusing to certify election results. Adams sent a different email under her Tea Party Patriots address with a meeting agenda including an item about a “New York Times reporter traveling to several counties in Georgia.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/186116/emails-georgia-election-officials-trump-chaos

The chaos has already started with early voting….in Georgia….

Georgia is one of the battleground states seen as crucial to deciding the next president, but don’t be surprised if the state can’t report results on election night. The state board of elections on Friday voted 3-2 to require all counties to hand-count ballots to verify the machine count, reports USA Today. As the Washington Post notes, that has the potential to delay results for days or weeks because only the smallest counties will be able to get the count done by the next day, as mandated. “Military ballots have already been issued,” complained Ethan Compton, elections supervisor in the state’s Irwin County. “The election has begun. This is not the time to change the rules. That will only lower the integrity of our elections.”

Voting rights advocates were similarly irked, saying the late change has the potential to not only delay the count but “lay the groundwork for spurious challenges,” per Reuters. The board is controlled by three members approved by Donald Trump, who has previously praised them as “pit bulls,” notes USA Today. One of them, Janelle King, has said her mission is “to ensure that every vote is counted accurately and every election is conducted correctly going forward.” NPR has called the state a “must-win” for both Trump and Kamala Harris.

For a more detailed analysis then this article would help….

https://www.commondreams.org/news/georgia-hand-count

If you recall Georgia was a Trump favorite to find and disqualify a number of ballots making him the winner….so I would expect nothing less than a similar attempt in 2024.

Great stuff, huh?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Where The Hell Is South Ossetia?

Many people are asking what next for Putin….just a few thoughts on that question…..

South Ossetia, officially part of Georgia (the country not the state), is separated from Russia’s North Ossetia region by a border running high in the Caucasus Mountains. Much of the region lies more than 1,000 metres above sea level.

A source of tension since the break-up of the Soviet Union, South Ossetia hosted a brief war between Russia and Georgia in 2008. Moscow subsequently recognized South Ossetia as an independent state, and began a process of closer ties that Georgia views as effective annexation.

Now some will be asking why is this important…..good question.
I preface the answer with something I wrote recently about another possibility for conflict in the region around Ukraine….

https://lobotero.com/2022/03/29/whats-next-for-putin/

In the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine other possibilities for the increase for violence in the region is emerging.

Since the region is awash with Russian influence….remember in Ukraine when the Crimea voted to join with Russia? We;ll something similar is brewing in Georgia’s South Ossetia region…..

The leader of Georgia’s breakaway republic of South Ossetia has said he’s ready to take steps to join Russia, and a referendum is expected to be held within the next few months.

South Ossetia is a de facto independent state and has been recognized by Russia and several other countries since the brief 2008 war. Russia intervened in 2008 to help South Ossetia fight off the forces of then-Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, but most countries still recognize South Ossetia as part of Georgia.

“I believe that unification with Russia is our strategic goal, our path, the aspiration of the people,” said South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov, according to Al Jazeera. “We will take the relevant legislative steps shortly. The republic of South Ossetia will be part of its historical homeland – Russia.”

A spokeswoman for Bibilov said the region was planning to hold a referendum on the matter in light of the “window of opportunity that opened in the current situation,” referring to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

 Viktor Vodolatsk, a member of Russia’s State Duma, said a referendum will likely be held in May or June. Russia’s Tass news agency reported that South Ossetia is holding consultations with Moscow on the referendum.

Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani reacted to the news on Thursday and said that “it is unacceptable to speak of any referendums while the territory is occupied by Russia.” Zalkaliani said the referendum “will have no legal force.”

The US also made it clear that it wouldn’t recognize the referendum. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the US “will not recognize the results of any effort by Russia or its proxies to divide sovereign Georgian territory.”

(antiwar.com)

If this is successful it will give Russia yet another jumping off point for further excursions into Georgia (the country not the state)…..something that happened in the early 2000s.

Are we looking at more flexing of muscle by Russia?

I keep going back to my previous post….About 9 years ago I wrote that this region needs to be watched….few did….and now we have the real live mash-up in this region….

Looking For The Linchpin

Thoughts?

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–11Feb22

From the ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ files…….

Our Congress has our share of idiots representing people and then we have Morons…..and one of the largest mental midgets is one Taylor-Greene from Georgia……

She has made many claims, outrageous claims, that it is getting hard to follow her gaffs…..now we have cold soup making her rhetoric…..

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest headline-making comment involves … cold tomato soup. The Republican congresswoman from Georgia on Wednesday ranted about “Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress” (see the clip here), leading many to guess that the word she was looking for was “Gestapo,” Germany’s Nazi-era secret police. She also made a reference to the jail in Washington, DC, as the “DC gulag,” a reference to Soviet-era labor camps.

Needless to say, the gazpacho jokes were rolling on Twitter, the Guardian reports. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s take: “At least she leads by example. She clearly banned all books from her house years ago.” Greene had been criticizing the subpoenas the House of Representatives’ January 6 committee has issued to those in former President Trump’s circle when she went on the rant, Insider reports. The “gulag” comment was a reference to alleged January 6 rioters being held in the DC jail. As for the “gazpacho” comment, there’s no evidence that either soup or members of the Capitol Police force are spying on lawmakers or doing any of the things Greene claimed.

She was talking specifically about an allegation from Rep. Troy Nehls, a Republican from Texas, who claimed Capitol Police entered his office without his knowledge in November and took pictures of confidential legislative products, NBC News reports. He says intelligence officers later visited him to ask about one of the items photographed. The Capitol Police chief denied the claim, saying Nehls’ door had been left open after hours and protocol was followed. “If a Member’s office is left open and unsecured, without anyone inside the office, USCP officers are directed to document that and secure the office to ensure nobody can wander in and steal or do anything else nefarious,” he explained. Officers later followed up with Nehls’ staff simply to determine no other action was needed, he added.

You just cannot make this stuff up.

Where do they find such idiots?

Just proves that if you have the cash you can run….even if you have no intention of governing.

So very true…..’you can’t fix stupid’!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From The “Can’t Fix Stupid” Files

Closing Thought–26Apr21

The Georgia legislature has a solution to crime and shootings…..make daylight savings stupidity permanent……

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill that would make the state have daylight saving time all year, according to multiple reports. 

The Republican governor signed Senate Bill 100 earlier this week, on April 21, according to WSB-TV. The bill was greenlit by the Georgia General Assembly in March and aims to prevent residents from switching their clocks two times a year, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  

Image

“This state, including all political subdivisions thereof, shall observe daylight savings time year round as the standard time of the entire state and all of its political subdivisions,” the bill states. 

According to the AJC, Congress still has to approve the bill. As Insider’s Grace Panetta previously reported, lawmakers in many states have been pushing to make daylight savings time permanent, but have not seen action from Congress. Daylight saving time has been associated with sleep deprivation, car crashes, heart attacks, and strokes.

https://www.insider.com/georgia-gov-brian-kemp-signs-daylight-savings-bill-2021-4

Are the politicians really this lame?  Or is it that the Georgia voter is just that stupid?

Yet another prime example of you ‘can’t fix stupid’…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From The ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’ Files

By now we all have heard of the attempts to suppress the vote in many Red States…..Georgia has one of the most restrictive….it even includes a portion that bans anyone from giving food or water to people waiting in the hot Southern sun…..

But wait the Georgia governor has made another ‘stupid’ statement about this portion of the restrict state law……

The GOP governor then responded to criticism of the law’s provision limiting the distribution of food and water at polling stations, confirming that polling centers can still provide refreshments and that people can bring their own food and water with them.

“They can order a pizza. They can order Grubhub or Uber Eats. The county officials can provide water stations,” he said, adding that the restriction on handing out food and water “is just within 150 feet of the precinct.”

“If you’re 151 feet, campaigns can set up tables, food trucks, they can hand out flyers, put up signs,” he continued. “This has been the case in Georgia for a long time and many, many other states.”

Several social media users condemned Kemp for suggesting that voters order food, with some saying that the statement was “tone deaf,” as many people may not be able to afford food delivery services. 

(thehill.com)

He is trying to walk back a restrict and unfair law….and illustrates just how much of political hacks they truly are.

These morons just cannot help being stupid…..and are prime examples of the statement that you “can’t fix stupid”…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

From The “Can’t Fix Stupid” Files

There are stupid around every corner these days….so for that reason I will from time to time do a post that will be entitled “From The Files Of ‘Can’t Fix Stupid’……..

There are stupid actions and more stupid reasons for that action…..and this illustrates just what I am writing about……

Surely by now most people know about the black Georgia lawmaker that was arrested on felon charges because she knocked on the governor’s door during his secret signing of the restrictive voter bill….

Now we have the reason (excuse) for her arrest…..

The Georgia State Patrol lieutenant who arrested a Black state lawmaker as she knocked on Gov. Brian Kemp’s door in an attempt to witness him signing controversial new voting restrictions into law says he was concerned about an attack at the state capitol similar to what happened January 6 at the US Capitol. Rep. Park Cannon, a Democrat, refused his orders to stop knocking, the officer says in a 13-page incident report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. With January 6 on his mind, he feared protesters at the capitol would be “emboldened” to follow suit if he did nothing to stop Cannon, he says.

He said the “agitated” protesters in the lobby “began to get louder as she was refusing to follow my commands,” and that he tried to de-escalate the situation before ultimately handcuffing her and taking her to jail. She’s been charged with two felonies, obstruction of law enforcement and preventing or disrupting General Assembly sessions or other meetings, Fox News reports. Other officers say demonstrators tried to breach Kemp’s office door after Cannon’s arrest, a charge witnesses flatly deny. Cannon led a march at the statehouse Monday that was attended by Martin Luther King III.

Seriously?

How lame is this?

Was there a pack of rabid idiots with chair legs or bear spray?  Were any protesters attacking a police line?  Were there people yelling instructions as to who was to be targeted for injury?

This is an excuse for stupidity!

It is true….you really ‘can’t fix stupid’!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Georgia On My Mind

There has been lots of coverage and speculation over the run-off election in the state of Georgia……it is all about control……

As of this writing one race is too close to call and the other seems like the Dem has won…..

The Associated Press and other outlets called one of the two Senate runoff races in Georgia: Democrat Raphael Warnock beat incumbent Kelly Loeffler, becoming the first Black senator Georgia has ever elected. Democrats must also win the other race, which remained too close to call as of the time of this posting, in order to win control of the chamber. As ballots were being counted, President Trump and his allies were on Twitter making familiar claims. Specifically, that a scheme was underway to, yes, steal the election. “Looks like they are setting up a big ‘voter dump’ against the Republican candidates. Waiting to see how many votes they need?” Trump himself mused. Others in the GOP had similar takes: “Democrats scrounging up votes from mystical places again….,” tweeted Tomi Lahren, while Kayleigh McEnany wondered, “Why are they stopping the vote count in Democrat Chatham county, Georgia? This sounds familiar!”

Trump’s take on the evening had the New York Times‘ numbers guy, Nate Cohn, replying: “DeKalb County (and all Georgia counties) posted the exact number of in-person early votes long before election day. They even posted their names, addresses, etc.” Trump was also tweeting about his own, ostensibly lost, race: “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!” Meanwhile, observers of the runoff were tentatively noting things also looked good for Democrat Jon Ossoff, though all the votes are not expected to be counted until later Wednesday. Decision Desk HQ had called the race for him in the wee hours of Wednesday, but no other outlets had as of this posting.

Osoff is creeping ahead of Perdue as of this writing.

I await the comments from Donald the Orange and his mindless supporters.

This is gonna be EPIC!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Phone Call For History

By now the whole country knows about the infamous phone call that Trump made to the SecState of Georgia (the state not the country) about the voting in the state.

In case you missed the news I have a short breakdown for my reader.

“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes.” That’s what President Trump said to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday in an “extraordinary” hour-long phone call, the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner reports. The Post has a recording of the call, during which the president alternates from flattery to threats of criminal liability in an attempt to get Raffensperger to pursue unfounded claims of voter fraud in Georgia, which Trump lost to President-elect Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. “Well, Mr. President, the challenge you have is the data you have is wrong,” an “exasperated” Raffensperger told Trump, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution, pushing back on “sham theories” that included ballot stuffing, ballot shredding, and tampering with voting machines. “There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, claiming to have won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”

At one point, the president reminded Raffensperger, “you’re a Republican.” Trump also mentioned Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Georgia: “Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative.” Fallout from the call spilled onto Twitter on Sunday with Trump tweeting that Raffensperger is “unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters,’ dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” Raffensperger’s tweeted response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.” Legal experts tell the Post that the call put Trump in “legally questionable territory.” From a moral standpoint, law professor Edward B. Foley tells the paper, the call was “inappropriate and contemptible.”

This incident sounds a lot like the violation of our Constitution…..but that is just my thought.

There are a few thoughts about the the infamous phone call…..

When the Washington Post published its scoop on President Trump’s leaked phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state, the newspaper noted the POTUS may have been skating on thin ice, legally speaking, with his attempts to get Brad Raffensperger on board with overturning Joe Biden’s win in the state. A law professor said that while it could be hard to prove the president knew he was pushing behavior that’s actually illegal, it’s still clear that Trump “was already tripping the emergency meter. So we were at 12 on a scale of 1 to 10, and now we’re at 15.” In the wake of the Post‘s piece, there are a number of similar takes coming out. Politico, for example, talks to legal experts and lawmakers who say Trump’s requests “could violate federal and state statutes aimed at guarding against the solicitation of election fraud.” More on that and other news related to the call:

  • Specifically, those experts say, the problematic parts of the call are Trump’s urging that Raffensperger “find” exactly the right number of votes to put him ahead of Biden in the state, plus his implication that Raffensperger and his aides might be criminally liable themselves because they didn’t report so-called election interference. (There is no evidence for such interference.)
  • But the New York Times reports that while many of the lawyers it spoke to agreed Trump either broke the law or came close, actually prosecuting him would be challenging. One lawyer notes that Trump could point to the fact that he made no attempt to conceal what he was doing as evidence that he did not intend to break any laws, or did not realize there was a federal law that might have prohibited what he was doing.
  • Some Democrats are saying the call could be criminal. Congressional Democrats are suggesting they will be probing any legal implications, with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin specifically calling for an investigation, the Hill reports.
  • Even Republicans are speaking out, the AP reports, noting they are concerned Trump’s effort to “sow doubt” on the election is “undermining Americans’ faith in democracy.” More on that, including who is saying what, here.
  • The leak came ahead of a big week politically: Georgia’s runoff, which will determine which party controls the Senate, is Tuesday, and Congress will certify the presidential election results Wednesday. At least a dozen incoming and current GOP senators, plus more than 100 GOP representatives, plan to challenge the certification.
  • As for the runoff, Trump mentioned it in the call, suggesting Raffensperger’s failure to go along with his plan could result in the Republicans, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, losing. Trump is holding a rally in Georgia on Monday, and he told Raffensperger he would be complaining about the Georgia presidential election results at the event. On Sunday, he retweeted a call for Perdue and Loeffler to back the “do not certify” and “stop the steal” movement. CNN has a piece about how Trump’s Georgia antics are making things difficult for the senators as they fight to keep their seats.

Oh goody!  Just what we need in this time of extreme division in the country.

Personally, I think this person, Trump, should be prosecuted for violation of the US Constitution…..of course he will not…..but to me that is a violation of the Constitution as well.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

A category during the pandemic…..

It seems that the governor of Georgia (the state not the country) has decided to BAN….read that term again….BAN the wearing of face masks during the rise in cases in his state….

Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places, the AP reports. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks. An increasing number of other states order residents to wear masks in public, including Alabama, which announced such a ban Wednesday. But Kemp, a Republican, has instead been trying to encourage voluntary mask wearing, including telling fans that reduced infections from mask-wearing would make college football season possible. Kemp’s move is likely to infuriate local officials in communities that had acted, including Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Rome and the governor’s hometown of Athens-Clarke County. Overall, mask orders by Wednesday were covering 1.4 million of Georgia’s more than 10 million residents.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was the first local official to defy Kemp and order masks, and had said police would start writing $500 citations to businesses that didn’t enforce the law. “It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us,” Johnson wrote on Twitter Wednesday night. “Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.” Kemp’s new order also bans local governments from requiring masks on public property, which void requirements that some governments have imposed for citizens to wear masks inside city and county buildings. Kemp was among the first governors to ease earlier restrictions, and while infections declined for weeks afterwards, they began to rise in June. Wednesday’s numbers showed nearly 2,800 people hospitalized statewide with the COVID-19 respiratory illness, the highest on record and a number that’s nearly doubled since the beginning of the month. Georgia is now averaging 24 deaths over the past week, the highest level in nearly four weeks.

Yet another Republican authoritarian that decides what the people need…..the freedom of choice will be taken away……and yet voters still rush to the side with every election…..and there is where the category comes in…..

Stupid Is As Stupid Does.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”