Morning Reads for Tuesday, June 18
Good morning! Last week, TheDeepDark asked our readers to suggest news sources that we might overlook in our Morning Reads. Thank you for the suggestions! I try to keep up with different dailies from across Georgia, but it’s easy to miss some of the great resources we have.
One intrepid reader noted that too many Morning Reads links are behind a paywall. Guilty as charged! Here’s the thing: I won’t stop posting links that are behind a paywall. Most newspapers with a paywall offer a few freebies (the Brunswick News, for example, is extremely generous with something like 15 free reads each month). If you find that you are reading enough articles from, say, the Washington Post that you exceed their freebie limit, maybe – now, hear me out – maybe you might want to consider actually paying a little coin for the journalism you consume. Just a friendly suggestion!
- The Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation awarded more than $110K to 24 area organizations.
- If you are on social media at all, and have ever posted anything remotely related to a medical concern, chances are you have a “friend” (who is probably part of an MLM) respond with, “There’s an essential oil for that!” Anyhow, the Georgia Poison Center (1-800-222-1222) receives a couple of calls every day about these oils.
- How a Forsyth County subdivision responded when actual black helicopters descended upon their community and arrested a teen on terror charges.
- Clarity for “live-aboard” vessels in Georgia.
- Are toll lanes the answer for congestion in metro Atlanta?
- No more ring around the collar! And no more ads based on gender stereotypes in the UK.
- What really happened to MH370? (A long read, and an excellent read.)
About Author
Teri
Teri Anulewicz is a Democrat who represents House District 42 in the Georgia General Assembly. She previously spent nearly a decade on the Smyrna City Council. A native New Orleanian and quasi-Texan, Teri graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1998. She's been a front page contributor since 2015, and she compiles each Tuesday's Morning Reads.
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I think of this poem whenever I have to drive around Atlanta:
A road well travelled does not the journey ease
Nor do well placed signposts aid our itineraries
A road well travelled is rough and rutted where
Others have passed by this way overburdened with their cares
A road well-travelled may be full of risks and dangers
You keep yourself unto yourself and never talk to strangers.
This road well travelled has no final end in sight
It can be sunny in the daytime but quite frightening at night
This road well travelled can sometimes just disappear
And you stop not knowing where to go shivering with fear
This road well travelled sometimes returns you to its start
And leaves you walking round in circles with a sad and heavy heart.
My road well travelled has many toll gates on the way
Each time I ask directions there’s a need to always pay
My road well travelled is a lonely road at times
It is a real road that I know it’s not just a state of mind
My road well travelled is not just my road you see
It’s a road that many others take and it’s called anxiety.
David Keig
On that WaPo article a thought exercise … how would a diverse, progressive community (think San Francisco, Seattle, Austin Texas or upper west side NYC) treat the father of a young man arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime?
Also, I am somewhat sympathetic to the idea that a lot of these “foiled terror plots” would be considered entrapment if it were any other crime.
Despite differences in political preferences, religious affiliation, or college football allegiance, my sincere belief has always been that the vast majority of people are good and humane and kind and I’d expect that the reaction to this kind of situation would be the same in a place like San Francisco or New York or anywhere else in this country with an ingrained sense of community.
Thank you for your sincere response.
It’s the way it’s got to be if and until there’s means to establish the difference between those that would actually go through with plans and aimless wannabes.
Can’t we monitor them until they do something on their own to elevate themselves from “aimless wannabes” stage? It is just that I remember some of the rants I used to go on some decades back and consider myself fortunate that the Internet wasn’t “a thing” back then.
The majority of folks in those places would treat the parents with sympathy, some would be mad, some would be afraid, and some would worry about the value of their house.
As far as entrapment goes what about stringing along folks who prey upon children Would you consider that entrapment and would it be considered a necessary evil?
Thank you for your sincere response on the first topic. On the second the threshold for illegal behaviour in that area is far lower (no 1st or 2nd amendment protections to consider for example).
So would just discussing molesting 3 year old children be protected under the first amendment as well?
No it would not be hence my point.
Knowing very little about the details of the law or the case, I could still surmise that in a trial, the prosecution would have to prove that the defendant took “overt acts” towards commission of the crime, without undue influence from law enforcement. Thus they would have to overcome any defenses based on entrapment.
I would be more comfortable with the toll lanes if they would first address the debacle that is the northeast corridor though considering the revenue I doubt it. The single lane barrier-less “solution” serves to exacerbate traffic in the normal lanes and during rush hour doesn’t deliver the 45mph assurance anyway. Fix this before proceeding with 285 and the rest and you get my support. Doing it without dedicated entrance/exit ramps and barriers is literally a waste of everyone’s time and money.
The fix for the NE corridor is separate roadways like the NW corridor and I-75 south, but that’s big expense. There’s little if any enforcement.
Issues with the NE corridor is why there’s only a single toll lane on I-575 north of I-75. It would have been no more expensive, and possibly less expensive, to had added one contiguous lane in each direction, but it wasn’t done because of enforcement issues.
All I’m saying is that before spending billions elsewhere GDOT should quit pretending that I-85 is not a debacle. Their PR people have sang its praises for years and claim it to be wildly successful because they have convinced enough suckers to pay exorbitant tolls into a self-perpetuating revenue generator. This is not just due to lax enforcement. During rush hours when traffic in the normal lanes is going 0-5 mph it isn’t only the faint of heart that fear going 45+ when adjacent stopped traffic is only 2-3 feet away with no protection. And then we have the lane migrations across the regular lanes to get there, thus impeding everyone’s progress…
Spend the same billion to make it right like they did with the NW corridor. The half-assed conversion of the previous HOV lane is now being compounded with additions north of Suwanee. This will only exacerbate the wild lane migrations even further north. I have no doubt it will generate more revenue however. A real world proof of P.T. Barnum’s famous axiom.
More positive economic news. Stock Market up close to 400 today!
You do realize that most people credit the good economy to Obama. That’s because the unemployment rate began to drop in 2011 – which is why he got a second term – and by the time he left office was 4.7%, which is .3% lower than it was at the end of 2007 long before the crash. And it got down to 4.1%, lower than any point during the Bush presidency, before any Trump policy had time to take effect in the unemployment rate or any other measurable economic data.
So why is Joe Biden so popular? Because he was the VP of the president who is credited with saving the economy. The GOP had better stop listening to Sean Hannity talking points – you know the guy who invented the claim that the economy and the war in Iraq were going fine until Obama came along and wrecked both because of his hatred for America – and realize this before it is too late. Otherwise the electorate will start seeing Trump as having done his job already by keeping Hillary Clinton – who they justifiably feared would wreck Obama’s economic progress – out of office. And why Biden is leading in the polls over his social democracy and social democracy-lite foes even among likely Democratic primary voters … they don’t want someone who will wreck the Obama recovery either.
If you want someone to blame, make it Paul Ryan, who didn’t allow either the border wall or the infrastructure plan through the GOP-controlled house or even so much as come up for a vote. Even launching pre-emptive investigations that would have headed off the current fishing expeditions that Nadler and company are undergoing would have been better than what Ryan did, which was nothing.
O.K. Keep telling yourself about that. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2015/02/11/unemployment-is-dropping-thanks-to-a-republican-policy-that-obama-opposed/#64f57d3632c1
No I don’t think most folks credit Obama with the economic success.
I don’t know anyone that does. His policies slowed growth . How do the massive tax increases, massive new regulatory burdens and war on energy help the economy? Obamacare was a job disaster. Please name something that Obama did to help the economy. There must be something…I can’t think of a thing. The Fed lowered rates. That was it.
Trump has done the opposite of Obama and unleashed the growth.
I know one! Cash for Junkers!! That one was Adam Smith like in its brilliance.
Following your logic that a president should get credit/blame for whatever happens on his watch, donald trump is the worst president in the history of the USA.
Trump inherited an immigration issue that was largely resolved by the Obama administration. Border crossings were at a 25 year low when Trump took office. His disastrous policies and racist rhetoric with respect to immigrants have driven that number up to such a point (just like you claim he did for the stock market) that he’s had to declare a national emergency.
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/04/the-stats-on-border-apprehensions/
When offered 25 billion to pay for the wall (that Mexico was supposed to pay for) in return for DACA guarantees, he turned the deal down.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/19/border-wall-democrats-respond-470687
Trump walked away from TPP with absolutely no strategy for countering China in SE Asia and now the Chinese own him. His trariffs are a disaster for both China and the US but China is partnering with all the nations Trump left standing at the alter. And, they are partnering with each other leaving the US out in the cold as far as future market share.
I can list 50 other examples but I don’t think anything would change the minds of trump’s voters, even a murder committed in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
You can believe whatever you want to but the is no method to trump’s madness, just madness!
Hey, you know what’s dumb? Equating the stock market with the strength of the US economy as a whole. You know what’s even dumber? Pretending that the President has a significant impact on the stock market. You know what’s equally dumb? Pretending that one person – even the President – can significantly impact the economy in a way that is immediately measurable.
Judging a President’s impact on the economy based on the stock market or short term numbers is like using miles per hour to measure the speed of a glacier.
But since DTM/Noway/whoever this new person is asked the question, I think a more present and pressing question is this: what new laws has Trump passed and/or what old laws has Trump rescinded that have “improved” the economy or altered its performance in any significant way from the direction it was trending during the Obama years? Be specific with your answer.
Did you punt on the question about what Obama did to help the economy much less the market? I simply asked If anyone could name a specific policy…anything… that Obama did that helped create a job… Right now no one has offered a thing.
Offering a blank check for shovel ready jobs when he admitted there were no shovel ready jobs does not count.
If you can’t think of anything then say so. And after that I’ll be glad to answer your question.
Is that fair enough?
I don’t think anyone expects you to appreciate an answer that wouldn’t fit onto a baseball hat, and this is a bit of a complex issue. Context matters. And you have already pre-eliminated two possible answers for no apparent reason or evidence.
So here’s my answer:
https://www.thebalance.com/job-creation-by-president-by-number-and-percent-3863218
“President Obama created 8.9 million jobs by the end of December 2016, a 6.2 percent increase. There were 152.3 million people employed at the end of his term. That’s compared to 143.4 million working at the end of the Bush administration.
But that doesn’t give the total picture. The economy lost 8.5 million jobs as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. It kept shedding them until December 2009. Since that low point, Obama created 16 million jobs, a 11.6 percent increase.”
“…Job creation would have been stronger during Obama’s term if Congress hadn’t passed sequestration. In his last FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted that these austerity measures forced the government to shed 600,000 jobs in four years. In the prior recovery, the economy added 400,000 jobs during the same period.
Maybe no one answered your question because they knew it wasn’t a serious question.
As Benevelous has pointed out (not that it needed to be pointed out, it’s just common knowledge at this point) there were 8.9 million more jobs at the end of Obama’s term than the end of Bush’s term. Either you believe that the President bears responsibility for job numbers and unemployment rate – and that the President’s actions with regard to economic indicators are immediately measurable – or you don’t.
If you think we should attribute these things to the President, then you should be giving Obama credit for the jobs he created.
If you don’t think we should attribute these things to the President, you shouldn’t be crowing about how Trump “unleashed the growth.”
You’re trying to have it both ways. The President I don’t like isn’t responsible for good economic numbers. Meanwhile, the President I do like is responsible for good economic numbers. The reason people around here don’t take you seriously or engage with you in a respectful manner is because you’re routinely presenting bad faith arguments. You’re doing a disservice to yourself and to this site by approaching everything at such a severe slant.
Trust me it is a DEAD SERIOUS question. If there is no answer, then why on earth would we want to return to polices that offered no help. Isn’t that why we have elections?
Maybe I am doing a service by asking OBVIOUS questions that need to be answered.
So now you speak for the entire site. Really? Who appointed you judge and jury?
Well Benevolus you listed no policies so I guess that is a giant punt.
The economy did whatever it did despite who was in the White
If there were a lot of policies that did then I am sure we would have had someone list them.
I absolutely speak only for myself, but for me you bring nothing to the table here. I will go watch Minister of Propaganda Hannity and just get it from the source if I have any questions about Herr Trump’s party line. This “discourse” is a perfect example of why I don’t bother to engage with you regardless of your nom de guerre. Or as stated by that noted philosopher Bruce Lee: “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
And Will plays the Nazi card! Really!? Pretty weak.
Have had this opinion for awhile. Georgia Tech’s elite status was great for the state in the 80s, 90s and 00s but has long since passed diminishing returns. The SBOR needs to get serious about putting more money into competing engineering programs at UGA, Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State … although with the latter two it would be problematic as they are not considered research universities in their other programs. It is especially frustrating when you consider that unlike the competition Georgia doesn’t have a private research university with an engineering program a la Duke (North Carolina), Miami (Florida) or Vanderbilt (Tennessee). Sure consolidating all the state’s resources into a single engineering school accounts for having a single better regarded engineering program than Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina etc. offers but being better than those 4 is not near good enough anymore.
https://www.ajc.com/blog/get-schooled/has-georgia-tech-rise-elite-college-status-come-with-price/X3EIocuu9mZbKizrtswT2L/
To what end? More profit? Prestige? What does more competition in this area achieve? Who benefits? Is there a market for this product?
Better idea… eliminate Georgia Tech and have UGA subsume its engineering programs.
I would be curious to know about the role the fbi informant played in the Forsyth County case.
A few years ago, there was a similar incident in North Georgia. A group of old men got involved, and were egged on by an informant. This blog post talks about that case. The post has links to a podcast, and a detailed article in Esquire magazine. One person said, instead of using informants to egg them on, the government should have sent someone to have a chat. Say we know about you, and if you don’t stop there will be trouble.
The links to this post do not always work. Here is the blog post, which has links to the podcast and magazine article. https://chamblee54.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/do-you-feel-safer/
Okay who knows anything about HR 2210 Invest in America Act floating around congress? Thoughts? Pros? Cons? No clue?
Discuss!!!
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2210
Cus I like graphs.
https://www.axios.com/fossil-fuel-subsidies-climate-change-a4cbbc79-8828-40af-bf7c-dacdb51c927d.html
If we had a wall on the Mexican boarder, this would never have happened… (written in sarcastic font Noway… cus I know you’re watching)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/over-16-tons-cocaine-seven-shipping-containers-seized-massive-bust-n1019021
Oh hey, looks like the white supremacists are marching in Orlando to support Trump.
https://twitter.com/philipindc/status/1141067843905249283?s=21
It’s Philadelphia, MS without any of the subtlety.
Now we play the racist card when all else fails. Sound familiar? I ask a simple not threatening question. Can you name some pro growth policies? And I am the bad guy. You fall back on the old playbook right?
There’s no “racist card.” They’re literally white supremacists.
It’s pretty clear you’re only here because you’re seeking attention and validation you can’t find offline.
I’ll pray for you.
As they watch Trump’s re-election launch, the opposition has just soiled their Depends in fear. They have absolutely no chance. None.