Tonight's half-time performance by Kendrick Lamar, whom Rolling Stone has called the greatest rapper now performing, might be called a case of accidental diplomacy.
Last week, when it was announced that President Donald Trump would attend the college national football title match between the universities of Alabama and Georgia, many immediately noted the potential for a truth-to-power moment.
Lamar has been a frequent critic of Trump. He gave a mention to the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia in a track on his most recent album, entitled “Damn.” To wit:
Donald Trump is a chump,
Know how we feel, punk /
Tell 'em that God comin' /
And Russia need a replay button,
Y'all up to something.'"
A rhythmic Lamar protest isn't necessarily a sure thing. In an interview published in Rolling Stone in August, the rapper expressed a certain amount of what might be called Trump fatigue:
"I mean, it's like beating a dead horse. We already know what it is. Are we gonna keep talking about it or are we gonna take action? You just get to a point where you're tired of talking about it.
"It weighs you down and it drains your energy when you're speaking about something or someone that's completely ridiculous."
But here’s where the accidental diplomacy comes in. The people in charge of the event have dumped the build-a-city-in-three-minutes effort that normally surround attempts at half-time entertainment.
Lamar’s free, non-ticket performance will occur in nearby Centennial Olympic Park. Inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, spectators will be watching a big-screen TV extravaganza.
The original decision was clearly logistical, but now has a political payoff. When half-time arrives for the Trump entourage, the Assistant Secretary in Charge of the Remote can simply hit “mute” on the suite’s TV screens.
Any confrontational lyrics disappear, and if all goes well, on Tuesday morning an entire nation will enjoy a Twitter storm that never happened.
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As part of today's game coverage, the New York Times looks at the strangeness of the Bulldog fight song – derived from the favorite fight song of federal troops during the Civil War. A taste:
The tune's journey demonstrates its power to stir feelings of righteousness, no matter the substance of its words. And at a time when how to commemorate the Civil War is a divisive question, the melody's beloved status among Georgia fans suggests that the culture wars are not always a full-time struggle.
"Associating it with the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' was not really something we did," said Harvey H. Jackson III, a historian of the South at Jacksonville State University who earned his Ph.D at Georgia. "It was a college football fight song."
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President Donald Trump will no longer be announcing the "winners" of his "Fake News Awards" immediately before he attends the Georgia-Alabama College Football Championship game in Atlanta. He tweeted Sunday that he's delayed the unveiling of his list until Jan. 17.
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Before coming to Atlanta today, President Donald Trump will address the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual convention in Nashville. He'll be accompanied by his secretary of agriculture, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Expanding broadband in rural America is expected to be the thrust of Trump's message – coinciding with one of the main objectives of the Georgia Legislature's 2018 session, which begins today. UPI quotes Grace Koh, special assistant for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity at the National Economic Council:
"[W]hen you have very little incentive to build out because the costs of deployment are high, and very little promise of return because the revenue base is small, it makes it difficult to actually justify a business case for building that out," she said. "Well, we have to change that."
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On the eve of Nathan Deal's last legislative session, at Sunday's traditional Wild Hog Supper, the governor was a mite reflective. "I'm looking forward to a little peace and quiet where we're not always in the spotlight. We are going to miss it. Going from a fast-paced lifestyle to slow down considerably is going to be an adjustment," he allowed.
As for his agenda, he said, don't expect any barn-burning initiatives in his final year: "Nothing of monumental significance. We have confronted some very large and important issues, and the state has prospered because of it. We'll tweak some of those." Read more about what to expect from Deal here. (Greg Bluestein)
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Credit: Bob Andres
Credit: Bob Andres
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State Sen. Josh McKoon, also at the Wild Hog gathering, also sounded a pensive note to his hometown paper ahead of the opening gavel. The Columbus Republican, now a candidate for secretary of state, told the Ledger-Enquirer the fire-breathing tone he used to fight for ethics overhauls and the "religious liberty" legislation could have been different. From the piece:
"If I had to do the first seven years over, knowing what I know now, I would try harder to persuade people internally of my position before going out to the grassroots," McKoon said. Today, McKoon said he has supported much of the governor's legislative agenda.
"The speaker, now that is a different story," McKoon said. "If I had that to do all that over, I would have tried harder to engage with him and have a dialog. I did try, but I should have tried harder."
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Just in case you need some quick backgrounding, Our colleague Bria Felician has put together this list of set-up pieces for this year's legislative session:
-- How election-year politics could shape Georgia's legislative session
-- Rural Georgia finally gets the Legislature's attention
-- Georgia lawmakers to tackle transit funding in metro Atlanta
-- A wide range of health care woes face Georgia Legislature this year
-- Stalled progress doesn't dampen supporters' hope for casinos in Georgia
-- Will election year keep Ga. lawmakers away from controversial issues?
-- In preparing next Georgia budget, Deal faces many challenges
-- A Georgia guide to Washington for 2018
-- Georgians have 26 billion reasons to watch budget this year
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State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, has become the unquestioned champion of medicinal marijuana in the Legislature. This year he will again attempt to pass legislation that would allow in-state cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
In the meantime, he's kind of ticked off at U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has green-lighted increased federal prosecution for possession of marijuana -- which remains a forbidden Schedule 1 drug. Peake's Facebook post on Sunday:
Jeff Sessions may have changed the course of history, if only Congress will have the guts to CHANGE THE DAMN LAW!
Peake also linked to this Daily Beast article: Republicans: Instead of Whining About Jeff Sessions, Legalize Pot.
On the same topic, given the shift by Sessions, Denis O'Hayer of WABE (90.1FM) fame late last week dug through a recent interview with B.J. Pak, the new U.S. attorney for the North District, and pulled out an unused portion in which Pak addressed marijuana prosecution.
Pak, who has supported Peake’s past medicinal marijuana legislation, said no change in pot enforcement policy should be expected from him:
"From our perspective, we don't prosecute users of drugs. Our resources don't allow us to do that. We have enough traffickers and violent criminals who are dealing in drugs, that -- I can't remember the last time we actually prosecuted a user. I just don't see that."
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Someone at a Atlanta magazine with a good ear for anecdotes noted these lines from former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young in last week's eulogy for reknowned Atlanta architect John Portman:
"One night, Charlie Loudermilk, Herman Russell, John, and I got together and, as they were prone to do, they started arguing about who started out the poorest. The way they decided was, who was the last one to get indoor plumbing? Of course, John wins everything. He was the last one to get indoor plumbing of this gathering of millionaires around the table."
