Free Republic

If you’ve ventured outside lately, say, to run to the store for groceries, you’ve likely encountered a familiar scene: Masks dangling from faces. Safe distances of 6 feet reduced to mere inches.Some not wearing masks at all.That’s what makes Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to lift the shelter-at-home mandate so dangerous. *** As you might expect, the decision to end the state’s most ambitious attempt to slow the spread of the virus drew criticism from healthcare professionals.One went as far as to say that Kemp could be setting the stage for “a punishing new wave of infections.” They think the governor...

Gov. Brian Kemp appears poised to ease social restrictions that created disruptions for millions of Georgians amid a still-spreading global pandemic. A month-old shelter-at-home order is set to expire just before midnight Thursday. But Kemp kept Georgians in the dark Wednesday about what comes next in the state’s fight against the coronavirus. *** But by easing the restrictions, Kemp would be disregarding dire warnings from public health officials. *** Easing restrictions now would cause the virus to strengthen and spread, said Rebecca Mitchell, an epidemiologist and visiting assistant professor at Emory University. Mitchell is running as a Democrat for a...

A broad majority of Georgia voters support a statewide shelter-in-place to combat the spread of the coronavirus, according to a University of Georgia survey released as Gov. Brian Kemp debates whether to extend stay-at-home orders set to expire Thursday night. The survey found about one-half of registered Georgia voters support the mandate that took effect April 3, and an additional one-quarter of voters “somewhat back it.” Only about 10% of Georgians oppose the idea; the rest are neutral or undecided. And roughly 62% of Georgia voters disapprove of Kemp’s decision to ease restrictions on restaurants, theaters and close-contact businesses such...

The evening was already surreal, what with President Donald Trump throwing Brian Kemp under the bus and disavowing the governor’s plans to begin allowing small businesses to open doors closed by the pandemic. “Would I do that? No,” Trump had said from the White House. “I want to protect people’s lives. But I’m going to let him make his decision. But I told him I totally disagree.” Back in Atlanta,at 10 p.m., with her 9-year-old daughter looking over her shoulder, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms received a text on her phone: “[N-word], just shut up and RE-OPEN ATLANTA!” Seven minutes later,...

We all look forward to the day we can put this pandemic behind us, but given Georgia’s performance so far, Gov. Brian Kemp is moving too soon and confusing citizens. He is risking a resurgence of the coronavirus in our state. Yes, the statistical models have started to bend in our favor. While just models, these different analyses of COVID-19 cases and deaths, suggest that the state may be past its peak and a dire situation is getting better. *** The state ranks among the nation’s worst for its number of COVID-19 cases and the deaths. The state ranks in...

The South Bend Mayor stopped by the KCCI studios Saturday afternoon to spend time with our panel of undecided Caucus-goers. Buttigieg answered their questions, including this one from Ivette Muhammad, a mother of eight. “I've heard you are wanting to start a family. Is that something you hope to do soon, perhaps in the White House?” Muhammad asked. “It is. This year the campaign is not conducive to it, but we are looking forward to it. Chasten will make an amazing dad. I'll try to hold my own and it is something we're looking forward to. I can't imagine raising...

In head-to-head matchups, former Vice President Joe Biden ran strongest against Trump, leading the president 51% to 43%, fueled by solid support from women and independents. Other matchups against South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are much tighter. The findings provide an early snapshot of the developing race in Georgia one year out from the election and strengthens claims that the state will be a 2020 battleground. *** For Democrats, the most encouraging finding might be the shift of independents, a largely white bloc of voters that has traditionally leaned...

On Thursday, The Root placed Stacey Abrams at the top of the list of the most influential African Americans in the country. “A year after a shady election denied her the chance to become America's first black female governor, Abrams is still that chick causing all that conversation,” the editors wrote. In its 10th year, The Root 100 is an annual list of influential African Americans 25 to 45 years old. The Root is an online magazine launched by scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and publisher Donald E. Graham. The list is compiled using an algorithm that calculates the reach...

Buttigieg is a public school teacher by day and a social media superstar by night. He boasts 381,000 Twitter followers —about half as many as Democratic presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Sen. Amy Klobuchar and just enough to match Julián Castro. And he’s not even the one running. Buttigieg's online popularity is attributable largely to just how adorable and supportive he is of the presidential campaign. He regularly tweets encouraging messages during his husband's busy schedule, not to mention he lives a pretty active political life of his own. And, of course, this works with young voters. (As a teacher,...

More than 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains were found at a deceased abortion provider’s Illinois home Thursday while his family sorted through his belongings, authorities said. *** The macabre discovery of fetal remains contains echoes of the case of Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia doctor who is serving a life sentence after a jury in 2013 convicted him of murder for snipping the spinal cords of three babies who lived for a few moments outside the womb. Investigators found dismembered remains in milk jugs and glass jars inside Gosnell’s clinic. The remains allegedly found at Klopfer’s home also resonate because of...

The family of a Georgia Tech student shot and killed by a campus police officer two years ago this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the school, the officer and the state’s Board of Regents. *** Schultz had previously sought mental health counseling from Georgia Tech and with professionals off campus. The lawsuit also says Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia failed to properly accommodate students having a mental health crisis. *** The lawsuit says Schultz’s death was “the result of Georgia Tech’s and the State of Georgia’s failure over time to properly train their personnel...

"Because my party's been so allergic to religious language, we've forgotten that people need to be made aware of their choice," Buttigieg told CNN. "I've got to speak up, if only to point out the hypocrisies of those now in power," he added. "Time will tell whether that's smart politically or not." Thus far, it seems to be working. Progressives, particularly LGBT Christians, have cheerfully circulated his critiques of the religious right and lauded the gay Christian's candidacy as a watershed moment for a community long shunted to the margins of church life. *** The son of a former Jesuit,...

Police arrested a Rhodes Scholar from Georgia Tech at this week’s Jewish-led Never Again Action protest at the Atlanta Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. In a guest column, Calvin Runnels, a native of Baton Rouge, explains why he protested and why more Americans ought to join him. (He and another activist were charged with disorderly contact under a city ordinance during Monday’s protest, which drew more than 100 people.) Runnels graduated Tech last year with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. One of 32 Rhodes Scholars in 2018, he is pursuing postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. He is...

By the time Hillary Clinton took the stage in Atlanta on Friday to address a venerated civil rights group, many in the room had invoked the incendiary tweets by the man who defeated her that roiled politics in Georgia and the rest of the nation. And Clinton held little back at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, labeling President Donald Trump’s assertion that four liberal congresswoman of color should “go back” to their home countries as racist before presenting the activists in the hotel ballroom with a challenge. “We are better than this, but we better start proving it, not just...

Brenda Lopez Romero was about 12 years old when she and her father stopped at a diner just north of Helen. As they walked in, several white men stood up from their table.“Are you lost?” they said. “Did you just cross the river?”Then that phrase: “You need to go back where you came from.”A native of Mexico, Lopez Romero remembers the sting of those racist taunts. *** Lopez Romero, now a 36-year-old immigration attorney, state representative from Gwinnett County and candidate for U.S. Congress, says she never thought she would hear similar language coming from the President of the United...

Is there a shy Trump voter factor the way there used to be “shy Tory factor” in polls? Probably. *** Let’s say the shy Trump voters are worth a five-point swing in favor of Trump compared to the most recent numbers in key states. In a matchup against Joe Biden, Trump would still lose Michigan, lose Pennsylvania, and lose Wisconsin, as well as losing the national popular vote by a slightly larger margin than in 2016. If Biden won those three states, and kept Hillary Clinton’s states, he’s at 278 electoral votes and Trump would be a one-term president. If...

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Aliyah Johnson stood petrified for several long seconds, mouth agape, eyes wide, as Mayor Pete Buttigieg walked in the door. When she finally shook off her paralysis, she barreled into his chest for an embrace before breaking into inconsolable sobs. The 19-year-old Columbia resident had been looking in vain for Buttigieg all over the South Carolina Democratic Party Convention. When he made a surprise appearance at a meet-and-greet with black millennials at a bar called Truth, she knew it would be her chance. She had never met him before, but Johnson needed to tell him her...

Democrats’ “dream ticket” would have Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) in the top slot and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg as her running mate. That’s according to former San Francisco mayor and California State Assembly speaker Willie Brown, who is widely respected as a political pundit with inside into internal Democratic Party politics. *** Brown went on to add that Harris would be good enough at debating to throw Trump off his game, and Buttigieg is “level-headed and likable” enough to provide a contrast to the president. Buttigieg currently leads in the money stakes, having raised over $24 million in...

BUTTIGIEG REBUKES MAN AT CAMPAIGN EVENT FOR INSISTING HE TELL BLACK PEOPLE TO 'STOP COMMITTING CRIME AND DOING DRUGS' Buttigieg, who has been mayor of South Bend since 2012, took questions from attendees Thursday at the Carroll County Democratic Party barbeque. One man, who identified himself as Dave Begley, proposed a new tactic to supposedly help the 2020 hopeful tackle the tensions between "police and the black community" in his hometown. "Mayor Pete, there has been some controversy in South Bend between the police and the black community, and I have a solution for you, and I'd like you to...

Earlier this week, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, wrote an essay in The Atlantic expressing disappointment that Democrats routinely forgo talking about how their faith informs their politics. “Unfortunately, choosing not to talk much—or even at all—about faith and religion has become common in today’s Democratic Party,” Mr. Coons wrote. “That choice, I believe, is the wrong one.” Mr. Coons, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, said Democrats choosing to ignore faith “hides away the deep, passionate and formative faith backgrounds of so many Democrats who are seeking or serving in office.” Plus, it “ignores the clear fact...