Mid-Morning Reads for Not Par 3 Day

Happy Wednesday! It’s the first full week of April, so y’all all know there’s this little ol’ tournamint happening over in my hometown. Today is Wednesday, which is traditionally the Par 3 Contest, but not today. That was well worth documenting in today’s Reads, but here’s to hoping for its return next year.

Today is one of three that is celebrated as National Metric Day, so I must mention it. On this day in 1795, the National Convention of France declared “the new ‘Republican Measures’ to be legal measures in France. The units of measurement included the metre, are, litre, and gram; and the prefixes centi, deci, deca, hecto, and kilo.” This is almost exactly what became the modern International System of Units. Like we’re finally pushing toward ending Daylight Savings Time, it’s well past time to shift from Customary Units to Metric Units in the U.S. And yes, I will die on this hill, but not today.

Let’s get me off my soapbox and on to the news, shall we?

Pat Conroy

• Atlanta faith leaders will meet with the heads of Coca-Cola, Delta, Southern Company, the Home Depot, UPS, and others next Tuesday about the companies’ responses to Georgia’s new voting law.
• Last night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an executive order “to mitigate the impact” of the new voting law.
• Governor Kemp has been on Fox News many times in the last few days about the MLB moving the All-Star game “out of Atlanta,” and one of his points is that the city is “half-black,” and therefore the MLB is really the one hurting African-Americans.
  • But, point of order: The Braves already moved out of Atlanta, and where was he on that? Oh, I see.
  • Their stadium is in Cobb County, where African-Americans make up 28% of the population (still a higher share of the population than in Denver, but notably less than half).
  • Further, there have been plenty of observations in the past couple of years about the effect of this move.
• To ensure we Georgians keep our freedumbs, Governor Kemp will not support “vaccine passports.”
• Meanwhile, this lady is unfortunate proof that getting vaccinated isn’t the be all end all for going back to normal activities.
• The Georgia Recorder takes an early look at redistricting.

Alice Walker

• The U.S. vaccination rate is now five times faster than the world average.
• Nearly half of new COVID infections are in just five states.
• As many as one in three COVID survivors are being diagnosed with neurological or mental health conditions.
• Mad about companies coming out against the Republican-only passed legislation in Georgia restricting voting rights, Senator Mitch McConnell said companies should stay out of politics unless they’re sending him money. (Alternate link.)
  • Meanwhile, his home state of Kentucky became the only red state in the country to expand voters’ access. (Alternate link.)
• The vote to unionize at Amazon’s plant in Bessemer, Alabama is dragging on due to challenges from the company and the parent union.
• The Biden Administration will unveil a $150 million aid package for Palestine, restoring part of the assistance cut off by the last administration.
• COVID vaccinations are reaching the far flung places of the world by boat, camel, and snowmobile.
• The EU drug regulator has now identified a possible link between the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and rare blood clots.
• Brazil has seen over 4,000 die from COVID in the past 24 hours.
• Voters in Greenland have rejected the pro-mining party’s attempt to open the country up for development.
• The Iranian military is acknowledging that the MS Saviz, believed to be a base for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen, has been attacked. Israel is the likely source of the hit.

Flannery O’Connor

• A West Virginia man was sentenced yesterday for helping his wife fake her death in a convoluted federal health care scam.