Morning Reads for National Take the Stairs Day (January 12)
Good morning! I’m assuming that some of y’all made a resolution to be healthier this year. National Take the Stairs Day is here to help! It’s also, for the record, National Stick to Your Resolution Day, just in case you’re wavering in your resolve.
Finally, it’s Hot Tea Day, and I’m currently drinking some because I’m still not warm from my walk into the building. I don’t know how it is this morning in your part of the state, but here in the middle, there’s frost all over the place. I hope you’re indoors and warm or at least outside and wearing glove warmers and a good hat that covers all of your ears.
Now, let’s get to the news.
Pat Conroy
- My alma mater finally won a football Natty for the first time since I was eleven months old. Here’s how to join the celebrations this weekend.
- Some/many/most(?) of us are going to see winter weather on MLK weekend.
- President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were in Atlanta yesterday to talk about voting rights.
- New guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency has put Georgia Power’s coal ash plans up in the air.
- Governor Brian Kemp has proposed $250 tax refunds for every Georgia taxpayer.
- Rural Georgia is becoming more Latino. (Alternate link.)
- Though it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in Georgia, Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller is looking to increase his anti-Hispanic cred by pushing for that to be written into the state constitution. (Alternate link.)
- Saying Georgia Medicaid’s transportation service is in disarray would be too kind.
Alice Walker
- Prices in December 2021 rose 7% over prices in December 2020, marking the highest inflation in over 40 years. (Alternate link.)
- The Department of Justice has created a Domestic Terrorism Squad. (Alternate link.)
- COVID was the leading cause of death for police officers in the United States in 2021.
- Public school attendance in the United States has dropped significantly, with many parents citing COVID as the cause for seeking alternate learning options for their children. (Alternate link.)
- Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has won a special election in Florida to succeed the late Alcee Hastings in the House of Representatives.
- The Navy will drain a fuel tank system in Hawaii that has been blamed for tainting drinking water.
- A judge in New York has decided not to dismiss the civil sexual assault case against Prince Andrew.
- With the successful operation where the genetically-modified pig heart was transplanted into a human earlier this month, some are hoping these organs could address the United States’ critical shortage of organ donors. (Alternate link.)
- The World Bank has slashed its global growth forecast for 2022, citing debt, rising inflation, and income inequality.
- The Greek Olympic sailing coach is now facing rape charges stemming from the #MeToo movement.
- Quebec will soon begin levying fines on unvaccinated residents.
- Eight soldiers in Burkina Faso have been arrested for conspiring against the government.
- The New York Times has taken a deep dive into China’s “zero COVID” policy, which ends up being pretty horrifying in practice. (Alternate link.)
Flannery O’Connor
- An energy supplier in England has advised customers to eat oatmeal, do star jumps, and cuddle with pets to cut down on costs this winter. It was received about as well as you’d expect.
About Author
Holly Croft
Holly is an archivist at one of Georgia's institutions of higher learning. In a past life, she was a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. She cares a lot about records management, open records laws, and privacy laws. Political persuasion? It's complicated. What's not complicated is that she's proudly equal parts Bulldog and Tar Heel.
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The big questions was where was Stacey yesterday? Was she at a Selena Montgomery book signing? What was so important that she could not be with the President. If you have open heart surgery you reschedule it if the President calls. Snubbing President Biden that way was shameful. She lost my vote.
The contempt or snark aside (well, I just wouldn’t put it aside, I’d put it in the trash)- I believe it’s a legit question. Instead of the snark or contempt, I’ll attempt to actually answer and opine. One thing is, we now know that the voting rights bill may have been facing an impossible ask in terms of the filibuster and all that. It’s likely many have known that or suspected that for a good while. So, perhaps there was a temporary loss of hope, or a sense of futility, that fed into Ms. Abrams’ s decision- and the same decision of a good # of other voting rights advocacy groups. They all did make statements about just getting the filibuster rules changed and all that.
Another thing pointed out by pollsters is the Pres.’ poor poll #s. If that’s the reason you skip, I don’t like it. But it’s also common political practice, so no need to feign indignation.
I’ going to put my money on something else, though, that kind of incorporates a bit of both those, though, and say it’s a way to distance herself from federalizing the statewide election. It’s inevitable that national issues and political feelings filter up and down from state-level issues and elections, but if a legislative bill is already sunk, you don’t cling to it and therein commit suicide by drowning. Similarly, clinging onto the past (Presidential elections or otherwise) is sure to inhibit growth into the future, if not outright commit self-harm.
Also, Abrams is going to need to differentiate herself for those who may be able to see further than simple party labels, or for those that would otherwise assume her policies would be anything but her own, even if they significantly align with democratic and Democratic platforms.
Overall, seems like politics as usual to me. But maybe that’s not snarky enough.