On Sunday, three days after the triple terror strikes in Paris, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley let it be known that he wouldn't cooperate with any federal effort to relocate Syrian refugees in his state.
Alabama currently has one U.S. State Department approved refugee processing center in Mobile. No Syrian refugees have been processed through there.
"After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. As your Governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way," Governor Robert Bentley said…. "I will not place Alabamians at even the slightest, possible risk of an attack on our people."
Bentley isn't alone. Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana and a Republican presidential candidate, sent a similar letter to the federal government this weekend, under slightly more hysterical circumstances. From WWLTV in Lousiana:
Jindal's letter came at the end of a day in which multiple blogs reporting that 10,000 Syrian refugees had already made their way to New Orleans went viral. Many of the blogs were published earlier this month but appeared to gain new life following Friday's terror attacks in Paris.
Here's the headline from one: "Report: First Load Out of Anticipated '10,000 Syrian Refugees' Has Arrived in New Orleans…."
Specifically, local bloggers picked up a September report that President Barack Obama had said the entire United States would admit 10,000 Syrian refugees over the course of a year. The actual number of Syrian refugees processed through New Orleans so far: 14.
Keep calm and carry on, New Orleans.
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Conservative governors elsewhere are also making clear their objections to allowing Syrian refugees to resettle in their states.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott both declared their opposition in tweets, with Abbott adding that "security comes first."
And Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Sunday the state would not accept any Syrian refugees until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fully reviewed its procedures.
It is also stoking a new debate in Congress as Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates called for an immediate halt in the resettlement effort, even as the White House said it would move forward with the program.
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We've heard nothing new from Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on this issue since the Paris attacks, but expect increasing pressure. From a premium edition tome by our AJC colleagues Shannon McCaffrey and Kristina Torres:
"Here in Georgia, that should begin with an immediate suspension of any settlement of refugees within our borders," the Republican from Columbus told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Fifty-nine Syrian refugees have settled in the Atlanta area since the Syrian conflict began in 2011 and that number is set to grow as the United States prepares to open its doors to more of the displaced.
The counterpoint, from Ted Terry, the mayor of Clarkston, where many refugees settle:
"There you have 1 million Syrian refugees simply walking across the European continent and resettling," Terry said. "The Syrians we see arriving in Clarkston now have been waiting two years, sometimes three years, often at camps in Turkey."
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After claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks, ISIS now says it's coming to Washington. From Reuters:
The message to countries involved in what it called the "crusader campaign" was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.
"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," the man said.
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We see on Facebook that the Donald Trump presidential campaign has recently held organization meetings of volunteers in Roswell, west Cobb County, and Forsyth County. But at least one, in Walton County, didn't come off. "We were at Applebee's last night," one potential volunteer noted on Friday. "No one was there – what happened?"
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Federal employees, you've been warned. The government issued new guidelines for what you can and can't do to support your favored presidential candidate. From The Washington Post:
If your job is in intelligence or law enforcement, you can "like" or comment on a tweet from a candidate when you're not working — but you can't share or retweet it even when you're off duty.
And if you're on a coffee or lunch break at the office, you must walk out of your building to post anything on social media that would be considered partisan, even from your personal smart phone or laptop. Even from the bathroom or cafeteria.
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Former congressman Jack Kingston is wading into the political sphere again, this time with an endorsement in the Dec. 1 runoff for Savannah's mayor.
The Republican posted on Facebook that Eddie DeLoach is his pick over incumbent Mayor Edna Jackson because of his tough-on-crime stance. Wrote Kingston:
Savannah has had over 11,000 "shots fired" incidents this year, with an average of 16 shots per incident. We've had 39 murders. That's why addressing crime is Eddie's number one issue. But he can't do it without your vote.
Just another example of how the former U.S. Senate candidate is trying to stay in the political fray just in case an opportunity reveals itself.
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Our AJC colleague Ernie Suggs pulled Saturday duty to monitor 40 Confederate enthusiasts who rallied at Stone Mountain Park to protest a plan to put a bell tower honoring Martin Luther King Jr. atop the granite block.
He left with this bit of info from Bill Stephens, CEO of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association:
"The bell is not on the agenda, but it is not going to be shelved," said Stephens, dispelling chatter that the project was dead. "I don't know where that came from. On Tuesday, we are planning on moving forward with the [the museum project]."
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The Marietta Daily Journal today takes a look at Jimmy Dickens, the first African-American ever to be elected to the Kennesaw City Council:
"I just give God the glory," Dickens said. "I appreciate the two candidates that ran against me for not making it a mud-slinging, dirty campaign. We made our issues about Kennesaw and not about each other."
Dickens will be sworn in today.
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Hollywood blockbuster? Check. Graphic novel series? Check. Opera? Well, that's a new one for U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta. From Roll Call:
The opera, which premiered in San Francisco in 2007, underwent a complete transformation after the Supreme Court upended the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Now there's a new second act set during the Civil Rights era that features a young John Lewis — now the veteran congressman from Georgia.
Los Angeles-based tenor Frederick Ballentine has the particularly daunting task of portraying Lewis, a leader of the seminal march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., that sparked passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
"He seems just like some of my friends from back home, because I looked at him from back when he was 25," Ballentine told CQ Roll Call about Lewis. "I had to just turn him into the voice of young black people at the time, and that is essentially what he was, I think."
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