May 16, 2019 6:00 AM
Morning Reads – Thursday, May 16, 2019
Today is 31st anniversary of both the Surgeon General ruling nicotine is addictive much like cocaine and heroin and the Supreme Court ruling that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.
Peaches
- Another GA city contemplates making mayoral position full time.
- “Journalists must hold government accountable.”
- Small town in South Georgia set to crackdown on the bees.
- President Jere Morehead should not be a scapegoat for race issues at UGA.
- Georgia’s Christian Right Had a Bad Week.
- New policy could hinder liver transplants.
- State Corrections agency at center of discrimination complaint.
- Sandy Springs ending privatized initiatives?
Jimmy Carter
- No Mercy: How A Kansas Town Is Grappling With Its Hospital’s Closure.
- White House launches tool for reporting social media ‘bias’.
- Don’t Blame Capitalism for Surging Student Debt and High Tuition.
- Courts to Government Officials: Stop Censoring on Social Media.
- “The Crime of Being Black in a City That Doesn’t Want You There.”
- 99 years in prison for doctors who perform abortions in Alabama.
- Contractor v. Employee conundrum carries on.
- North Carolina sues Juul company over appeal to those under 18.
- Trump signs order setting stage to ban Huawei from U.S.
Sweet Tea
About Author
Jessica Szilagyi
19 Comments
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I love the fact that the states with the worst infant mortality rates are the ones passing these abortion laws. Republicans don’t care about you after you are born unless you are white and wealthy.
The “Hollywood boycott” thing is overwrought First, I hate to sound like a typical right wing type, but it is just virtue signaling. Why? The law will be overturned by the courts long before it ever takes effect just like all the other abortion laws have been. And any parts of it that get upheld on appeal will become law of the land: all 50 states.
Next, Hollywood needs to tend to their own problems. Like this:
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/disney-fox-layoffs-1203216165/
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/wga-to-members-there-is-no-deal-fire-your-agents-at-midnight-1203188712/
Hollywood economics are increasingly unsustainable. Folks would rather be on YouTube, Facebook or online gaming than watch TV or go to the movies. So revenue from advertising, cable subscriptions and movie ticket sales have been plummeting for decades. That’s why there has been so many mergers. The only companies that are going to be able to survive long term are the vertically integrated ones that own all phases of production, promotion, distribution and post-theatrical like Disney (who owns ABC plus multiple cable and streaming networks), Warner Brothers, Viacom and Comcast/Universal.
We have no idea what the entertainment industry landscape going to to look like 10-15 years from now. Georgia could do everything that they want only for them to still close up shop for reasons that have nothing to do with us.
You are correct on several points. The boycott GA is only supported by a few voices that can afford to not work in GA. There are local filmmaker groups petitioning producers to keep work in GA. This is a big industry that creates well paying jobs for men and women that are taxpaying Georgia residents. It also creates an economic benefit for thousands of local businesses around the state. Many are begging the industry to stay and support the working people of Georgia. Production is not expected to slow over this law since it is not in effect. ‘Wait and see’ is the current attitude. Things may change in the future if any legislation is passed or goes into effect that is perceived as against basic human rights and American values.
The entertainment delivery system is changing. Current competition in streaming content is driving new players to compete by creating new content to lure new subscription customers. This is another plus for Georgia. We have a mix of feature film, traditional broadcast TV, and made for streaming productions happening here.
The business is cyclical. Many factors, mostly cheap production, drive where filmmakers produce. Some location will eventually offer a better deal and pull business out of Georgia. It has happened before in Georgia. The current infrastructure of studios spaces and support businesses is so large here that it would not happen overnight.
Cus I like graphs, and I just lectured my nieces (22 & 25) on the proses and cons of having credit cards on Monday over dinner.
https://www.axios.com/credit-crisis-banks-us-debt-4b77bbc4-395b-4c1e-9be4-b29d72548315.html
Walmart has indicated that some items will increase in price due to the tariffs. Lucky for them this will not effect their core area of consumer spending and growth, which is food. This increase is due mainly to it’s online sale and curb side pick up for groceries.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-16/walmart-posts-best-first-quarter-in-nine-years-but-tariffs-loom?srnd=premium
Stacey Abrams has yet another article in the New York Times today. It starts: “In the mid-1960s, when my father was a teenager, he was arrested. His crime? Registering black voters in Mississippi.”
This is the first I have heard of this. Maybe I missed it.
Google does not have much information.
Does anyone know about this?
One more thing. “Across the country, voter purges employ an easily manipulated “use it or lose it” rule, under which eligible voters who exercised their First Amendment right to abstain from voting in prior elections can be booted off the rolls.”
Not voting is a first amendment right, according to Stacey Abrams.
Being obsessed with Stacey Abrams, you might have missed some of these other Georgia stories:
– Georgia governor postpones Los Angeles trip as film industry protests .
– Georgia insurance commissioner suspends himself following fraud …
– Sen. Kristen Gillibrand visits Georgia to speak out against ‘heartbeat bill’
– Primo Hoagies to open its first Georgia location today
– As pecan growers worry about tariffs, Georgia Grown program looks …
– Georgia to launch new ‘crisis alert badge’ for teachers
– Georgia bans female correctional officer from wearing Muslim hijab
– Racist robocall in Georgia spreads rhetoric saying ‘Negroes … aren’t
Choosing to abstain from voting is also a First Amendment right according to the First Amendment.
There’s a reason we don’t have compulsory voting in this country. Well, multiple reasons, and the First Amendment happens to be foremost among them.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Which one of those protects the right of citizens to not vote?
Has anyone considered how bizarre it is for a candidate to fight for the right of citizens to not vote?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/opinion/stacey-abrams-voting.html?fbclid=IwAR05LU-wAA-nQ5EKARytZs-51S6cQ6axQogdjia9CIY6GAf1IhT0jnAsE28
Here is the article. I apologize for discussing this article without providing a link.
The First Amendment protects the moments when we speak and the moments when we remain silent. For example, the government cannot sanction me for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. In remaining silent, I am exercising my right to free speech.
Similarly, when one has been given the franchise, a vote is speech – an expression of the voter’s preference regarding a candidate or an issue. Refusing to vote can also be an expression of the voter’s preferences regarding a candidate or an issue. After all, how many people spent 2016 saying they were going to sit out because they didn’t like either candidate?
Abrams’ isn’t “fighting for the right of citizens to not vote,” she’s fighting against the state removing the right to vote because a citizen has chosen not to vote for an arbitrary period of time. What’s bizarre is an entire political party dedicating itself to making sure fewer people vote and making it harder for people to cast their ballots.
What are the laws when it comes to purging voter roles? Has it been deemed legal to purge rolls based on voting inactivity?
Per Alito last year, failing to vote cannot be the sole reason for purging voters. “A state violates the failure-to-vote clause only if it removes registrants for no reason other than their failure to vote.”
The Ohio law at issue purged voters if they hadn’t voted in the last six years and failed to respond to a mailer confirming their residency. Breyer’s dissent boiled down to calling b.s. on Ohio’s stated reasoning for the law – making sure people update their registrations when they move – by noting that the number of voters purged vastly exceeded the number of people in Ohio who had actually moved.
What if blue states passed laws saying if you don’t buy a gun for three years you lose the right to do so until you prove to the government that you are entitled to do so? Imagine how conservatives would eat a cow.
Democrats lack the backbone to do anything that bold.
I will say, if SCOTUS overturns Roe (they won’t, because John Roberts’ cares too much about his reputation and the reputation of the Supreme Court), the only available solution for Democrats is to retake the Senate and go nuclear:
Once you’ve done that… strike down Heller, Citizens United, Shelby County v. Holder, Exxon Shipping v. Baker, Janus v. American Federation, Abbot v. Perez, and whatever decision overturns Roe.
And before you go “Americans won’t support such a blatant power grab!” I’d say the following:
The 9th Circuit is more than 2x as busy as the next busiest circuit. It covers 20% of America’s population and 40% of its landmass. It takes significantly longer to get an appeal heard and decided in the 9th than it does anywhere else. As a matter of practicality, the 9th Circuit needs to be split.
We’ve got a huge backlog of federal cases as the result of Democrats refusal to process Bush judicial appointees during the back part of his term, the Obama Administration’s failure to prioritize judicial nominations during the early part of his term, and the Republicans refusal to process Obama judicial nominees during the back part of his term. Trump has had a lot of vacancies to fill. Even if you were to fill all of them, there’d still be a need for more federal judges to help manage the caseloads.
It’s complete BS that 3.8 million Americans in Puerto Rico and DC have no say in the way the Federal government is run. DC has more citizens than Vermont and Wyoming, yet those states have 6 votes in Congress. Puerto Rico has a bigger population than UT, IA, NV, AR, MS, KS, NM, NE, WV, ID, HI, NH, ME, MT, RI, DE, SD, ND, AK, VT, and WY. They deserve real representation in Congress.
If we really want to limit abortion, why don’t we just require every 15-16 year old boy to undergo a vasectomy? The procedure can then be reversed when the man is ready to have children.
Free condoms for everybody, men and women. The savings in legal costs for the no abortion states would probably pay a big part in the cost.
There are free condoms all over every college campus, still hasn’t stopped legions of dudes from convincing girls to have sex without one.
When women finally take control and banish us to lives underground and manual labor, we’ll have earned it.