April 3, 2019 6:00 AM
Morning Reads for Wednesday, April 3rd
Happy post-Sine Die! We’ll probably need a few days to figure out what happened last night. What does IT and legislating have in common? “Oh, don’t worry…we’ll fix it in the next release.” *ba da bum* (In all seriousness, thank you to our legislators, staffers, and the state patrol who worked long hours to transact business on behalf of Georgians.)
Yes, I know it’s not Christmas, but this song really is more than just about Christmas and should be fairly appropriate. #moarbourbon
Here:
- ICYMI: Alyssa Milano tells Governor Kemp to veto the Heartbeat Bill or else….just like she threatened when Stacey Abrams didn’t accept the results of the November election.
- Let’s just say this bill is misguided at best.
- Legislation allowing Georgia’s EMCs to provide broadband clears both chambers.
- And a crane catches fire…so take that for what you will.
There:
- Work to repair the overpass at the I-75/I-24 interchange in Chattanooga is expected to take around two weeks.
- Chicago elected its first African-American female mayor.
- Things are getting a bit testy for Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
- And Brexit is just a mess….to put it nicely.
Yonder:
- Well wishes for former Braves manager Bobby Cox.
- Acuña signs an extension with the Braves (yay!).
- The Bulldogs are going to play Clemson and Florida State in the future.
- We may get a good picture of a black hole here in the next few days (stop giggling)
- The Braves play the Cubs tonight at SunTrust Park. The Gwinnett Stripers open up their season at Coolray Field on Thursday, and the Rome Braves open up their season on the road in Kannapolis, NC on Thursday as well.
About Author
nsmith
Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.
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And a few extras (because I assembled most of these before Sine Die….and went to bed).
Medical marijuana cultivation passes as well.
Cobb County gets an extension on MARTA consideration.
Plus, the 11th hour bid to enact a cooling off period for another MARTA vote in Gwinnett gets dropped.
General Assembly service is very much underpaid. I’d like to see that pay at least doubled (concurrent with reduction in perks not typically associated with part time).
On Alyssa Milano, I will not criticize her for standing up for her deeply held beliefs and being a political activist. Either you agree with the 1st Amendment or you do not, and as she lives part time, works and pays taxes here she definitely has the right to speak out and organize here. And I am not unsympathetic to Milano’s plight. I could see not wanting to live and work in an area that doesn’t respect my lifestyle or values. Similar to her not wanting to reside in an area that does not allow unrestricted access to abortion, there are areas in this country that I wouldn’t want to live, and definitely college campuses I wouldn’t spend 4 minutes on, let alone 4 years. So if socon legislation costs Georgia Hollywood, so be it.
New York City made the same sort of decision when they took a “take it or leave it” posture with Amazon, which Amazon left for pastures more accommodating. Georgia should be willing to do the same with Hollywood, and it would be to mutual benefit just as Amazon and NYC going their separate ways were. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got a lot of grief over that deal falling apart but her concerns about increased gentrification in a city that already has some of the highest housing costs in the country weren’t wrong at all, especially if you look at tech sector cities that have no middle class anymore: https://www.forbes.com/sites/priceonomics/2016/05/11/the-african-american-exodus-from-san-francisco/#1932935d5595
So if Hollywood leaves, Georgia should redirect the resources and effort currently used to attract and retain Hollywood towards K-12 education (which includes private, magnet and charter schools), technology, transportation, manufacturing and alternative energy. Those industries aren’t anywhere near as ideological, whether to the left or right, as Hollywood. And if necessary, the film and TV industry jobs can go back to California and New York where the workers in those industries will feel more comfortable.
The Hollywood thing is great but I wonder what would happen if the economic potential of the research at UGA, Georgia Tech and Emory were fully tapped. Those schools do tons of research in energy, chemical and materials engineering, robotics and biotechnology – very high tech, just not the Silicon Valley kind that gets all the headlines – that don’t seem to translate to very many local jobs. Where are the students in those fields going when they complete their master’s and Ph.Ds and how does Georgia get them to stick around? And while the economic impact of Hollywood is great, it is nothing compared to the potential that the now-dead MMTP would have meant for the transportation sector. Plus there are things like expanding MARTA to Cobb and Gwinnett and building a second airport in Gwinnett. The state just has to get out of its own way and stop shooting itself in the foot.
So let Hollywood leave if they don’t want to be in a heavily evangelical plus Roman Catholic state. Georgia has plenty of resources at its disposal to advance on its own. Building a network of schools like the Gwinnett Math, Science and Technology School – a former charter school by the way – would benefit Georgia far more in the long run than Disney anyway.
Here’s one Georgia Actress’s take on Milano’s little tantrum yeasterday. https://deadline.com/2019/03/heartbeat-bill-georgia-ashley-bratcher-unplanned-actor-guest-column-1202584369/
Who? I’ve literally never heard of this person or their movie. But kudos to her for using the “plight of the unborn” as a chance to plug her movie for financial gain.
Bravo.
Can you expand on what resource/taxes are spent attacking Georgia films here? In real dollars. The majority of it already goes into the Tech school system and it’s penny to a dollar on what we get back in out right taxes paid by film makers (even after tax credits), and secondary spending by the vendors they pay. Each vender has to pay taxes on what they spent – be it payroll, purchasing, gas, property, tags, hotel, etc.
Lets see the math and/or the line items in the state budget.
I hope Gov. Kemp invites this vile D list actress to the heartbeat bill signing ceremony. And then I hope he invites her to follow through on her threat to boycott Georgia. Permanently.
It’s not really about Hollywood. It’s about women, mostly.
Uhhh no. It’s mostly about the innocent babies. Or at least, in any humane society, it should be.
Uhhh no. It’s mostly about distracting folks from political favors and deregulation for well-connected interest groups by focusing everyone’s attention on b.s. “culture war” issues like an abortion bill that will never see the light of day.
If Brian Kemp or any of the folks who voted for the “heartbeat” bill actually cared about “innocent babies” half as much as they say they do, we wouldn’t be chronically and systemically underfunding our foster care system and the other social services these children need once they’re born. These Republican lawmakers and their financial backers – like the actress who used “innocent babies” to plug her movie – are only pro-life to the extent being pro-life means tangible financial gain. Look no further than Houston Gaines. Dude doesn’t care about abortion. He’s just doing what his daddy’s friends told him to do.
I’ll also add that “humane” means all of “humanity”.
So we shouldn’t be so limited as to think that we can’t simultaneously consider the life and interests of both the mother as well as her unborn.
Or that we shouldn’t simultaneously address the needs of the born, whether foster care, education, etc…
If “innocence” was the public policy standard, we would be doing a lot more for more kids and adults.
Now that we have the phrase “medical futility” entering our language, may I suggest another term, “political futility”. Examples would be legislation which is put into the hopper that is meant to threaten reporters. Or legislation that is put into the hopper knowing that it plays well to a political base but that will ultimately get overturned in the judicial system. There are abundant examples throughout our Republic.
That’s my problem with the “heartbeat” bill.
It’ll get signed. Someone will challenge it and get an injunction that blocks it from going into effect. N.D. Ga will declare it unconstitutional because it plainly violates Roe. The 11th Circuit will uphold the district court because, again, it plainly violates Roe. SCOTUS won’t take the case because if you want to bring down Roe a law that outlaws abortion after 6 weeks ain’t the case to do it with.
All you accomplish with the bill is bringing negative attention to the state and wasting gobs of money defending this thing in court and pursing the appeals process. “Passing blatantly unconstitutional laws to own the libs” is just the absolute stupidest form of governance. It’s no shock that the collection of Mensa members under the Gold Dome think it’s the only way to do politics.
And yes, I’ll gladly call out Democrats passing blatantly unconstitutional laws when demographics finally turn this state blue in 2087.