Here's a new wrinkle in the ongoing gun debate, courtesy of The Guardian:
The unpublished Harvard/Northeastern survey result summary, obtained exclusively by the Guardian and the Trace, estimates that America's gun stock has increased by 70m guns since 1994. At the same time, the percentage of Americans who own guns decreased slightly from 25% to 22%.
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Even as Donald Trump rises in the polls, Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson holds him at arm's length.
Isakson, competing for a third term in November, was asked Monday at Oglethorpe University whether he’d be willing to stand by some of Trump’s more divisive proposals if he’s elected. Echoing other Republicans, he said he sees his role of “holding each other in check.”
Pressed on whether he would stand up to Trump if he was venturing to violate the law, Isakson kept his answer simple:
“This United States senator will never support anything that’s against the U.S. Constitution, no matter who supports it - a Republican or a Democrat. I would never support something I felt like is contrary to the intent of the U.S. Constitution.”
Isakson also continued to hedge on the fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Barack Obama hopes to bring to a vote in the lame-duck session after the election. Isakson said it was a moot point because legislative leaders have vowed not to bring it to a vote.
“When it comes up, I will thoughtfully consider it. I am supportive of free trade,” he said. “But until they tell us we’re going to vote for it, I’m not going to do my homework on it. I’ve got to do my homework on other things right now. But I’m for free trade and fair trade.”
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The latest polling data show that Georgia is falling further out of Democrat Hillary Clinton's reach.
Donald Trump has a 3-point edge over Clinton in a poll released Monday by Monmouth University, while U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has built a solid lead in his re-election bid.
The poll found that 45 percent of likely Georgia voters back Trump and 42 percent support Clinton. About 8 percent say they'll vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson and 5 percent are undecided.
Clinton leads Trump among black voters statewide by an 88-4 margin, while Trump holds a 66-20 advantage among white voters.
"There has been some talk of Georgia becoming part of a demographic realignment in presidential politics," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "However, Clinton is not quite making the needed inroads among young white voters to take the lead here."
Isakson, meanwhile, appears to be on the verge of avoiding a runoff in the contest against Democrat Jim Barksdale and Libertarian Allen Buckley.
The poll has him leading the race with 50 percent of the vote, and Barksdale trailing at 34 percent. Buckley has about 5 percent and another 10 percent of likely Georgia voters are undecided.
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Gov. Nathan Deal is enjoying relatively high approval ratings, according to a Morning Consult poll.
Some 57 percent of Georgia voters gave Deal a favorable approval rating, while 28 percent gave him an unfavorable rating.
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Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, is warning of a "constitutional crisis" should Donald Trump be elected president. From the Marietta Daly Journal:
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Long time Democratic activist Pat Pullar sends the photo below as proof of the hold that Donald Trump has on evangelicals in metro Atlanta:
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Donald Trump Jr. caused an uproar Monday when he compared the refugees streaming out of war-torn Syria to poisoned Skittles.
The candy company offered this response:
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Just because you need to read about something other than Donald Trump. From the good people at Georgia Tech:
Combining two types of electricity generation into one textile paves the way for developing garments that could provide their own source of energy to power devices such as smart phones or global positioning systems.
"This hybrid power textile presents a novel solution to charging devices in the field from something as simple as the wind blowing on a sunny day," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering.
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