A rookie Democrat in the state Senate says he's under "no false illusions," but he's moving forward with a bill that would require parties in the throes of divorce to get a judge's permission before newly purchasing a firearm.
Sen. Michael “Doc” Rhett has pre-filed
.
He acknowledged "there's some challenges in the mechanics" of implementation, suggesting he was revising the bill to grant judges greater discretion over whether or not to mandate a "cooling off period" in light of either a history of domestic violence or a protective order.
Future historians will have to decide whether this is the era in which the South formally redefined the phrase “Lost Cause.”
***
As Christmas arrived, Macon's former mayor picked a fight with Bibb County's sheriff over Donald Trump's campaign rally at the Macon Coliseum in November. Jack Ellis, who was narrowly defeated in 2011, took issue with Sheriff David Davis' decision to award deputies some holiday overtime to patrol the event. From the Telegraph of Macon:
"Not so in generous Macon-Bibb County, Georgia," Ellis wrote. "One of the poorest cities in the country took on all of those costs."
Davis acknowledged that the Bibb County Sheriff's Office paid roughly $15,000 in overtime pay incurred on Nov. 30, but he said that has been standard practice when national candidates visited in the past. Bibb deputies provided security at the Macon Coliseum as well as an escort to the venue.
One problem with Ellis' complaint: In the hours before the rally, Bibb County District Attorney David Cooke, like Ellis a Democrat, publicly warned Trump supporters that they would be prosecuted for any acts of violence against anti-Trump protesters. That's an implied call for significant law enforcement presence.
***
Secretary of State Brian Kemp has added some extra firepower to his staff as he navigates a thicket of thorny political issues. State records show that Brian Robinson - the former communications guru to Gov. Nathan Deal - has a $6,000 monthly consulting contract with Kemp's office.
Kemp lost his go-to spokesman this summer when Jared Thomas left for a private sector gig. Robinson signed the contract shortly after Thomas departed, but his role is heightened as Kemp tries to soften the fallout of the data breach that exposed confidential information of more than 6 million Georgia voters.
Asked for comment, Robinson said he "appreciated the advertisement" for his firm.
***
Chelsea Clinton is coming to Atlanta on Jan. 14. Bill and Hillary's daughter will headline a fundraiser for her mother hosted by Mayor Kasim Reed. It's one of the first campaign events she's held since announcing she's pregnant with her second child.
***
In D.C., The Hill newspaper reports that House Speaker Paul Ryan is catching hell for that trillion-dollar spending deal with Democrats that keeps the federal government open through next September. Even Ryan's new beard is being trolled as "Muslim."
The Hill article has a line describing the antipathy of talk radio:
Laura Ingraham denounced the spending package as an "omni-bust" and said Ryan should be "regarded as a declared enemy of the Base."
Linguistically, this is an interesting turn of phrase, for there is already an entity calling itself "the Base" -- capital letter included. If memory serves, it is Arabic in nature.
About the Author
