Not gonna lie; I hopped around the local & national headlines a bit, today, without much of an agenda, but did touch on a former city of Atlanta CFO admitting guilt in a near-decade long case where he was charged with use of funds for personal gain, among other things. Kudos to the AJC for its investigation into poor handling of 911 calls by Atlanta and other metro agencies. Also, new WIC guidelines evoke reminders of former First Lady Michelle Obama pursuing healthier food options for children.

Jon Stewart of 'The Daily Show' went hard at both Israel and the Biden administration for not going hard at Israel, and if he - a Jewish American I -s showing signs of frustration, its easy to conceive how the rest of the country feels.

Today begins a six-week (I bet it's at least eight) stretch where airport passengers and employees have to live without its MARTA station "at" Hartsfield-Jackson and with current transit woes and metro growth projections, of course the region and state is behind where it needs to be. So I felt it necessary to build off the conversation had on yesterday's "The Georgia Gang" (airing locally on WAGA-TV/Fox 5) segment that dove in on MARTA, in-city "Beltline" rail, and proposed density projects like Amsterdam Walk only adding fuel to the fire.

What struck me about the convo on Fox 5 yesterday was how misinformed folks can be (and have been) on both sides of the ideological spectrum.

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HELP ME KEEP THIS SHOW AD-FREE

In late February, I reached out to ⁠Chitra Ragavan⁠, a CEO and c-suite coach, journalist journalist ⁠and podcaster whose ⁠op/ed in the AJC last week⁠ discussing Fani Willis and the perils of being an ambitious "dominant" woman in the workplace caught my eye. 

Hear us discuss Fani's dilemma, her mis-steps and how treacherous being a career-driven and successful woman in the workplace is. Follow Chitra on Twitter/X at @chitra_ragavan and read her latest blog expounding on her thoughts shared today and last week ⁠here.⁠

I'm also revisiting a February, 2023 conversation with Jonny McCoy, founder of White Flag, an app which - once you download - is there for you 24/7/365 at any point you find yourself in a mental wellness deficit. Hear Jonny's journey to accepting his needs and how the White Flag app can be there when you need someone who's "been there" to talk it through with you, too - free of charge.

Originally airing May 6, 2023 HERE

I got to hang out with CNN producer, Kennesaw State professor & Anecdotal ATL creator & host Will Edmunds. DO follow @anecdotalATL on ⁠Instagram⁠ and/or ⁠TikTok ⁠and learn SO much Atlanta history that's not "textbook history" and get to know how it came to be and meet Will with me!

Today's show originally aired July 10, 2023.

In Hartwell, a rural Georgia lake community, pastor Grant Myerholtz convenes a growing "Baptist" congregation in an unusual way (for a baptist church, anyway): he chooses inclusivity. In an era where churches big and small are seeing declines in attendance, his Mt Hebron Baptist Church has grown from a dozen to more than a hundred. 

Featured in ⁠a Washington Post piece⁠, Grant joined me last summer to let me learn more about him and his church.

Were that there were more Rev. Grants and Mt. Hebron Baptist Churches.

Two Thursdays ago, Stacey Abrams joined a Howard University symposium - "Black Women in Politics" - and I'm sharing that audio today, along with a short Q&A after it, where Abrams referenced voter suppression tactics and Medicaid expansion filibusters here in Georgia.

Meanwhile, last weekend, Fareed Zaharia invoked Abrams in a "whataboutist" stretch of sorts. In a conversation on 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' he tried comparing Abrams' not conceding in 2018 to Ronna McDaniels' appeasement of insurrectionists He matter-of-factly called Abrams an 'election denier." Stacey begs to differ. Hear her do so.

Maher, himself, comes off, lately, as the cranky old lib who's anti-"wokeism" (mostly because he hasn't the patient to learn from and about younger liberals) and I've some thoughts on his shortsightedness.

The 2024 Georgia legislative session came to an end Thursday night / Friday morning and while the GOP pushed through a number of awful bills awaiting Governor Brian Kemp's signature, not all of their "read meat" wish list made the cut. Notably, none of their anti-LGBTQIA+ garbage made it. So there's that.

New voter challenge rules passed, despite a spirited and fact-laden diatribe by Rep. Saira Draper on the House floor. The "Laken Riley Act," HB 1105, did pass, much of it on the back of misinformation about local law enforcement and coordination (or a perceived lack of) with I.C.E.

Anyhow, in my little 44-minute summation, I tried covering the highlights (and lowlights).

As Georgia's final legislative day on the calendar in 2024 - 'Sine Die' - came today, it's worth reviewing the bills jammed through both the Senate and House before the grande finale, so we'll eavesdrop on GPB's "Lawmakers" to get a feel for what's passing and what isn't. One I actually love - and spearheaded by a Republican I actually kinda like - provides renter protections & insists on livable standards for rented properties.

Meanwhile, the oft-indicted, pornstar payer-offer, hot mic bragging sexual assaulter former President and current presumptive GOP presidential nominee is ... selling $60 Bibles. I've some (agnostic) thoughts, and Erick Erickson (a broke close correct occasionally) does, too.

Also, the second high-ranking Georgia Repub in as many weeks is found guilty - this time Brian K. Pritchard, the former vice chair of the state party. His offense? Voter fraud. You can't make this stuff up!

An Alabama statehouse race saw a Democrat run, well, like a Democrat and - what do you know - she won! Sure turnout was low, but that might be the case in an election cycle where no one's excited about the choices atop the tickets. It was also, after all, just a day ago, Georgia WIN List's Melita Easters said we still have plenty of "reckoning" coming, post-Dobbs.

NBC News pulled the plug on the 'Ronna McDaniel' experiment, but I find it noteworthy the same conservative cabal that found no issues with her being given her walking papers by Trump and the RNC suddenly had advice and dismay over her treatment by the news bureau. Ya can't fire someone then be outraged when someone else finds fault with her, too. Also: yeah, for once in American history, enabling insurrectionists carries a burden.

The Maryland bridge disaster became a political football within hours of a cargo ship veering into said bridge. Somehow it became about vaccines, Hunter Biden's laptop and - get this - DEI! Also, Georgia's Rep. Mike Collins chose to whip out the "race card" and openly wonder what Baltimorians will want a replacement bridge named since they'll surely choose not to affix slave owner/white suremacist (and 'Star Spangled Banner' writer) Francis Scot Key's name to its replacement.

More discussion (thanks to a Darin Given's tweet of an Atlanta Business Chronicle paywalled story) about the much-debated Beltline rail expansion, today, too, in the aftermath of Mayor Andre Dickens' 'state of the city' speech where he touted MARTA in-fill stations but said not one word about streetcar expansion. Ho hum; another "Beltline businesses fear their business will suffer" story. Sorry; not buying it.

Also we've a term in real estate: "buyer beware." If you're unaware of forthcoming projects that can impact your quality of life, it's on you that you aren' aware. If you are, and you go "all in" anyway, again, that's on you.

Also, it rains in Atlanta - on average - 113 days per year. Someone explain to me like I'm smooth-brained how that streetcar wouldn't actually BOOST business the nearly one-third of the calendar year rain keeps people off said Beltline?

With Mifepristone being debated before the Supreme Court, Georgia WIN List executive director Melita Easters joined me to explain how we even got here.

Mayor Andre Dickens made major news at his "state of the city" address yesterday, but in doing so left more questions than answers; namely "is the money from those new MARTA in-fill stations coming at a cost to streetcar/Beltline rail expansion? It wasn't lost on me (or others) that he didn't mention streetcar/Beltline rail.

Also, Centennial Yards made headlines with their "Battery-like" plans for the "Gulch;" but since we're talking mass transit - can we now discuss the need for options from the hotel district other than "by foot" or "rideshare?"

Lastly, Ronna Romney McDaniels' hiring (she got un-hired today, by the way) really caused a stir on 'Meet the Press' and MSNBC. Let's eavesdrop.