Morning Reads for International Rescue Cat Day (March 2)

Hello, and happy International Rescue Cat Day from my three rescues, who make my life better each day.

You, too, could have the joy of a rescue cat. Here are some rescues in Georgia.

Pat Conroy

• In a move that’s been inevitable for weeks, Sonny Perdue is now the chancellor of the University System of Georgia. I hope I’m wrong about how this goes. (Alternate link.)
• The state senate has passed a bill that would require an in-person exam for abortion pills, but it seems unlikely this will be taken up in the House this session.
• David Perdue, in his quest to be elected to anything in Georgia, has taken an anti-business stance in opposition to the Rivian plant in Walton and Morgan Counties. (Alternate link.)
• Undetected for days, Kinder Morgan has now begun cleaning up the 420 gallons of petroleum spilled in Lawrenceville in late February.
• Like Atlanta has “Grady babies,” Augusta has had “University babies.” I’m one of them! But no more. They’ll all be Piedmont babies now.
• The Georgia Historical Society in Savannah has reopened after a three year renovation. (Alternate link.)

Alice Walker

• Here are a few fact-checks on last night’s State of the Union address from President Biden:
  • One
  • Two
  • Three
• And here’s one on the Republican response from Governor Kim Reynolds’ speech.
• The U.S. added 475,000 jobs in February, beating expectations.
• While U.S. births continue to decline, CDC data suggests we may be returning to pre-pandemic birthrates.
• Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t a fan of Senator Rick Scott’s recently-released rescue plan. (Alternate link.)
• While Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke winning their respective parties’ nomination for governor in Texas were cakewalks, the real race to watch was the Republican primary for Attorney General. The current AG, Ken Paxton, will advance to a run-off with George P. Bush.
• Speaking of Texas, the parents of a transgender youth are suing to stop the state from investigating them and the parents of other transgender youth under a directive Abbott issued last month.
• The Arizona State Senate has censured Republican state Senator Wendy Rodgers for calling for her political rivals to be hanged while speaking at a white nationalist conference.
• There are several places to get good coverage of what’s going on in Ukraine, but CNN has been my go to this week. Here’s their live update stream.
• Russia has its nuclear submarines and missile launchers staging drills after President Vladimir Putin put the country on high alert two days ago.
• The Kremlin is shutting down any Russian media that’s critical of their invasion.
• The Atlantic piece about the surprise that is Germany’s new leadership is quite good. (Alternate link.)
• Eastern Australia has experienced record-breaking floods this past week.
• New Zealand police have cracked down on the vaccine mandate protest that has blocked Wellington’s city center in front of Parliament for the past three weeks. (Alternate link.)

Flannery O’Connor

• Jack Sweeney, the Florida teenager who rose to fame for his tracking of Elon Musk a few months ago, has switched to tracking the Russian oligarchs.