In the Loop
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Athens Immigrants Respond to Trump's 'Shithole Countries' Comment
Early Thursday afternoon, it seemed as if the Senate was steamrolling into a victory bipartisan effort to end the uncertainty for DACA recipients—immigrants brought to the U.S. as children by undocumented parents who were protected from deportation under the Obama Administration. A team lead by Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) seemed to have settle on an agreement to prevent the deportation of almost 700,000 DREAMers that the bill covers.
However, later that same afternoon, when President Trump was brief on the details of the plan by senators, he was frustrated with the idea of allowing the legal immigration of residents from Africa, Haiti and El Salvador, questioning, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” adding, “We should be taking more people from Norway.”
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Houston Gaines Has $100,000 for Another House Run
Houston Gaines.
Deborah Gonzalez, newly elected to represent Georgia House District 117, began 2018 with $11,466 in her campaign account; and Jonathan Wallace, newly elected to represent Georgia House District 119, began the year with $11,639 in unspent campaign funds.
Gonzalez and Wallace are Democrats. Both the 117th and 119th House Districts are split between Oconee and Clarke counties.
Republican Houston Gaines, who lost to Gonzalez in the special election in November of 2017, had $96,863 in unspent campaign funds at the end of 2017.
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ACC Police: We Got the Natty Under Control
Win or lose, Athens-Clarke County police want you to know there will be no riots in the streets of Athens tonight after Georgia plays in the college football national championship game.
The department called a news conference earlier this afternoon to discuss plans for public safety downtown. The game is in Atlanta, but local police expect a crowd along the lines of a typical UGA home game—potentially tens of thousands of people, according to Sgt. Epifiano Rodriguez.
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Junkman's Daughter's Brother Is Closing Again
Photo Credit: Jessica Silverman
Lovers of funky tapestries and eclectic novelties will be saddened to hear Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother, located on West Broad Street, is officially closing as soon as the last of the merchandise sells.
However, it’s not a retirement or sudden urge to relocate that’s shutting down the shop—it’s that rent is going by 56 percent. Owner Mark Gavron said no one approached him with an opportunity to re-sign his lease. One day, he said, a man came in and casually asked if Gavron was moving locations, since he’d seen the building was available on Craigslist. Gavron said this was the first he had heard of the news.
“It’s OK, it just puts me a year ahead of my planned retirement,” he said.
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Podcast: The State of the Left in 2018
In this episode, co-hosts Baynard Woods and Marc Steiner assess the state of the Left at the beginning of 2018.
Democracy in Crisis is engineered and edited by Stephen Frank.
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Gun Group Will Push to Expand Campus Carry in 2018
While most Athens residents would prefer to talk about repealing campus carry, an influential gun-rights group will be lobbying state legislators to expand the law next year.
Buried in AJC political reporter Jim Galloway's Sunday column are these words from John Monroe, vice president of GeorgiaCarry.org:
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Kent Kilpatrick Named ACC Leisure Services Director
Longtime Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services administrator Kent Kilpatrick has been named the department's new director.
Kilpatrick has been the interim director since Pam Reidy left in June 2016. ACC Manager Blaine Williams announced late Friday that he made the title permanent.
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Vote to End Net Neutrality Scheduled for Today
Photo Credit: Jessica Silverman
Indivisible District 10 members gathered outside an Athens Verizon store Dec. 7 to protest the end of net neutrality.
Dozens of protesters braved wintry weather last week to demonstrate in front of a local Verizon store against the rollback of Obama-era net neutrality laws, joining thousands of others at more than 700 similar demonstrations across the country.
Today, a coalition of organizations, including Free Press, Center for Media Justice, Color of Change and other groups are demonstrating in front of Federal Communications Commission offices in Washington, DC immediately prior to a scheduled FCC vote to on ending net neutrality.
Toni Reed, a co-chair of the political group Indivisible Georgia District 10, said that the effort would make “access to the internet… based on what you can afford. Deregulation will only benefit the wealthy and large corporations.”
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