All of this, along with film director James Mangold, who tweeted, “I’m not going to make a movie in Georgia” after the bill was passed.
Some of the state’s leading Democrats are curbing talk of economic punishment. State Senator Jen Jordan urged the Liberals to “stop this boycott nonsense in Georgia”.
“I would prefer people and companies to use their economic power in this state to make changes rather than not coming here at all,” said Jordan, who is expected to run for attorney general.
MP Teri Anulewicz, who represents the area near Braves Stadium, hopes the All-Star game will stay in Atlanta and the players will “join this fight”.
But unlike previous boycott attempts, like the threats that surfaced after Georgia crossed one of the country’s strictest abortion lines, Stacey Abrams is not pushing Democrats to stave off the economic threats.
Instead, Abrams and the Fair Fight constituency she founded continue to pressurize companies to take a stand, and fights are pending over election restrictions in other states and in Congress.
“GA is just the beginning, and executives must make a decision NOW: stand with Jim Crow 2.0 and the US Capitol insurgents, or stand with democracy,” tweeted Hillary Holley, a senior executive at Fair Fight.
Kemp meanwhile said the threats will only harm the “hardworking” Georgians who are still struggling during the pandemic.
“It’s ridiculous that they should do that. I can tell you that the Masters will not bow to this, ”said the governor. “We’ll have a great week in Augusta. Of course you can’t play the Masters if you’re not in Augusta. “
***.
Governor Brian Kemp signs the Capitol elections revision, flanked by lawmakers.
The folks at CNN have an important story about the Callaway Plantation painting in Washington, Georgia that served as the backdrop for Governor Brian Kemp’s signing of the Electoral Restriction Act.
The play interviews Kimberly Wallace, who discovers that her family members have worked on the plantation for generations, including her father, who was a partner there. The look, she said, was “very rude and very disrespectful to me, my family, and the blacks in Georgia.”
Kemp spokeswoman Mallory Blount told CNN that the hubbub over the painting was an attempt by the media to “distract” from the new law.
“The house in the painting was built in 1869 after the abolition of slavery,” she said. “The painting was selected by the Georgia Council for the Arts’ Art of Georgia program, which is rotating various works of art for display across the state capital.”
The artist Olessia Vladimirovna Maximenko was born in 1980 in the former Soviet Union and now lives and works in Washington, Georgia. Her work was also selected for exhibition under the US State Department’s Art in Embassies program.
Another story from history:
Job Callaway built a log home on the property in 1785, which, according to the plantation’s website, became a 3,000-acre plantation in the 1860s. The plantation has a slave hut that was built in 1840, it is said.
***.
We have been inundated with questions from readers whether their own representatives voted Yae or Nae for SB 202.
You can see how your legislature voted on the bill page on the General Assembly’s website.
The full text of the bill can be found in the AJC’s Legislative Navigator.
***.
January 6, 2021 Atlanta: Gabriel Sterling, manager of the electoral system at the Georgian Foreign Ministry, spoke to the press on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, from the GEMA headquarters about the current election results of the US Senate. Georgia voters sent the Ebenezer Baptist Church pastor to the US Senate. The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a high-ranking pastor from the same ward who was once led by Martin Luther King Jr., becomes the first elected Black Democratic Senator – not just from Georgia but from across the South. Democrat Jon Ossoff won his Senate race over Republican incumbent David Perdue. He would be the second Jewish candidate to win a nationwide race in modern Georgia – and the youngest since Joe Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972. (Sam Nunn, who was elected in the same cycle, was 34). (John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com)
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Gabriel Sterling, now listed with the Chief Operating Officer for the Secretary of State’s office, receives two Pinocchios from the Washington Post fact checker after telling PBS that Georgia will be no different from the state of Delaware from President Joe Biden once that Distributing food and drink is prohibited at polling stations.
The Post goes into great detail when comparing the laws of different states against unreasonable elections at polling stations, but concludes with this ruling:
“This stitch falls too short as a clever topic of conversation. Sterling said Georgia wanted to draw a “light line,” but he cannot claim that the Delaware line is as light. Sterling deserves two Pinocchios. “
***.
Amid controversy over Governor Brian Kemp’s signing of the electoral law on Thursday, the Senate lost unanimous passage of a bill designating a bridge near the port of Savannah for former US Senator Johnny Isakson.
The Ga. 307 Bridge crosses the Georgia Ports Authority’s mega-railroad location in Garden City. Since the State House has already approved the measure sponsored by Speaker David Ralston, it is now going to Governor Brian Kemp for signature.
***.
Under the gold dome (legislative day 39):
- 10:00 am: The Senate meets;
- 10:00 am: The house comes in.
***.
Congress is taking its two-week Easter break, but don’t call it a vacation. US Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will both cross the state to discuss the COVID-19 relief package recently passed by Congress.
This week Warnock will travel to Ft. Gordon in Augusta, visiting veterans in Savannah and touring local farms in Peach County. Further stopovers will be announced.
Ossoff announced eleven stops this week, including vaccination sites in Atlanta, Macon, Columbus, Savannah, Augusta, and Albany, as well as visits to local public schools and swing by Ft. Benning in Columbus.
***.
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has agreed not to block her critics on social media while in office.
The deal was reached with Ben Meiselas, co-founder of anti-Trump PAC MeidasTouch. He sued Greene in February, accusing her of violating the First Amendment by blocking the Los Angeles-based PAC from her personal Twitter account after posts criticizing her were posted.
As part of the settlement, Greene did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $ 10,000 for Meiselas legal fees.
***.
Mayors Hardie Davis Jr. of Augusta and Van Johnson of Savannah have jointly drafted a joint statement for their home newspapers on the benefits they expect from the COVID-19 relief package just passed by Congress.
“After all, as city officials, we cannot overemphasize the importance of direct aid to states and local governments. Many communities have lost income, frozen taxes, or refunded business fees in order to ensure the survival of residents and businesses. Most managed to cut back without essential services like sanitation pickups, public safety layoffs, or other downsizing.
“With these funds, we can continue the operations on which the residents depend. The passage of President Biden’s US rescue plan is a vital lifeline for Georgians in dire need of help. The unique challenges we face affect everyone. “
– Savannah Morning News
***.
School systems across the state will also receive large inflows of money from the American bailout plan.
For example: Floyd County Schools north of Atlanta, which, according to the Rome News Tribune, are worth $ 2.4 million. The county school board will meet on Monday to discuss how they will use the funds:
“This includes programs like the summer school and tutoring for students who have fallen behind due to the pandemic.
(Superintendent Glenn White) also suggested that the funds could be used for the teaching coaches and interventionists that the school system would like to discontinue for the 2021-2022 school year. These staff will assist the teachers in the classroom and help the students maintain their class standards. “
– Rome News-Tribune
***.
Former US Senator Sam Nunn has not been in the Senate since 1997, but his work is still changing the world. This is not an exaggeration, as David Frum writes for the Atlantic in “The bombs that were never fired”.
While the rest of us were embroiled in the all-important 2020 elections, the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan cleared its last stocks of weapons-grade uranium last September.
The milestone was made possible by laws passed by Nunn and the then Sen almost 30 years ago. Richard Lugar as the Soviet Union and its massive nuclear arsenal got into disarray.
Frum says the two men literally helped save civilization. “Remembrance and gratitude are due.”
