Morning Reads For Monday August 24th
Good morning. I’m filling in for Theresa this morning to bring you a few articles of note:
Georgia Covid update: 1800 new cases Sunday. 33 new deaths reported statewide in the last 24 hours. 83% of the state’s critical care beds are full. (Edit: Despite being on the CL-E’s front web page this morning, this article/data is a week old)
Northridge Medical Center in Commerce will close, the second Georgia hospital to shutter this year.
Tax revenues held in much stronger than expected for the year ending June 30th. Much of the rainy day fund remains, but the economic skies are cloudy.
There are people who walk among us that think the best foot Georgia Republicans can put forward at the National Convention is Vernon Jones.
Savannah parade celebrates 100 years of women’s suffrage.
Hall County is reopening libraries today.
The deathtrap of a construction project to fix the I-16 to I-75 interchange is halfway done.
You have the right to an attorney. If you want to appeal? You’re on your own.
Georgia film production slowly returning to normal.
Reality TV series shooting in Macon; Looking for “drive in” audience.
Plasma treatment for Covid-19 given emergency use authorization.
Those California blackouts? Don’t blame the wildfires. Sometimes, it’s because the state insists on using alternative energy as baseline power which freaks out the grid from time to time.
Current projections from the National Hurricane Center: Marco to arrive in Louisiana as a tropic storm today/tonight. Laura to arrive as a Hurricane overnight Wednesday into Thursday.
And, PSA, for those of you who haven’t noticed but may pretend to care, I’ve moved my weekly column to Tuesday mornings, at least for now.
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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The text part of today’s monday morning reader is boring. The pictures, from The Library of Congress, are pretty good.
The writers for 2020 are recycling their scripts.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/kim-jong-un-coma-sister-take-control-south-korean-official-alleges
The article on California’s blackouts was interesting, if too technical for me in many spots.
Reactions to the blackouts were typical: Newsom blames the regulators, the wind people blame the solar people, the WSJ wants to bring back coal, and the diesel folks are ready to sell you a generator.
My own uniformed view is that anyone trying to provide power to 40M residents in a huge state with difficult terrain in the face of record temps, 1M+ acres of wildfires, and covid lockdowns can expect problems, and that rolling blackouts beat full blackouts any day.
Politico asks “What do Republicans believe? What does it mean to be a Republican?” and never gives an answers. I’m sure Vernon Jones will tell us.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/24/republicanmeltdown-trump-convention-400039
That piece is a powerful criticism about the party’s current focus on conflict instead of solutions. It appears that Trumpism is just anti-Democratic-ism. Which actually makes sense in a way–not good sense, but pieces fit together to form an ugly picture. The desire for power corrupts, and I feel it would be easier for the Repub party to just concede so it can peacefully purge and rebuild, but since that won’t happen, I see the purge being a great conflict and schism, and the rebuilding prone to splinter coalitions. Who knows, maybe we’ll even get a third party for the 30% die-hard Trumpists? A place for all the Q-believers and other unhealthy phobias, at least through one election cycle of healing, but probably two.
Vern Jones has officially withdrawn his reelection efforts, yes? He didn’t rescind like he did his resignation? So, perhaps he will be formally announcing a switch to the Repub party… Then, he can move out of his district (where he would never win under Repub platform) and go to a new district where he can win as a Repub. Maybe. All I feel is that his core supporters over the years, and Repubs at the convention or otherwise, run the risk of getting burned by association.
I haven’t been in a while, but I’ll be hitting that I-75/I-16 interchange in a week or so. Will see how it goes…
Remember that guy that was going to pay off all the student loans at Moorehouse College? Well he might just need that cash. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/billionaire-tech-investor-robert-smith-faces-criminal-tax-inquiry-2020-8-1029524147
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-falwell-relationship/
WASHINGTON – In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader.
Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.”
My memories of the Fountainbleu seem less scandalous now.
Falwell’s original statement:
“Jerry Falwell Jr., suspended as president of Virginia’s Christian-focused Liberty University after a string of embarrassing acts, said that he has suffered depression caused by a former family friend who had an affair with his wife and who has been threatening to expose it.
In a statement exclusively to Secrets, Falwell revealed his wife Becki’s affair for the first time and said that it was short lived and that the two reconciled quickly.
But, they claimed, her former lover has threatened them over the past several years and that they are done with it hanging over their heads.
“I’m just tired of it,” said Falwell of the anxiety he’s felt about the affair becoming public and embarrassing his family and Liberty. “It’s just got to end,” he added.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/exclusive-falwell-says-fatal-attraction-threat-led-to-depression
The Reuters article said they were shown emails and videos by Granda that supported his claims of a 7 year affair and Falwell’s involvement.