Over the weekend, Savannah demonstrated why the debate in Ferguson, Mo., over lost trust between police and the community it is assigned to protect, really matters. The lede from the Morning News:
Maj. Larry Branson, who heads the department’s criminal investigation division, as quoted from the above video:
"As a community, we have to weigh our fear of giving information to the police, against our brothers, our mothers, our friends, our fathers dying in the street.
"Now, Savannah's not a particularly violent city. But it seems that a lot of folks want to take matters into their own hands and use firearms."
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Over at our premium site, our AJC colleague Jeremy Redmon reports that Georgia Republicans are already looking for ways to push back against President Barack Obama's stated intention to go it alone on immigration reform:
McKoon described his legislation as a pre-emptive strike now that President Barack Obama is reportedly preparing to expand the deferred action program. Obama has pledged to act unilaterally by the end of this year now that immigration overhaul legislation remains stalled in Congress.
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On Monday, as U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson formally announced his campaign for a third term in office, it seemed appropriate to ask him about his future colleague David Perdue's pledge to quit the chamber after two terms. Said Isakson:
"We have term limits every two years, every six years, every four years. That's the best term limit you can possibly have - the voters term limit."
So what is his case for no term limit? "What happened this year when we took back the majority in the United States Senate -- let the voters decide," he said. "Don't put down on paper something you hope will work, when you let the voters know you'll work every election."
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Isakson also had harsh words for President Barack Obama's plans for an executive order that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the U.S.
Said Isakson:
"It will be the most polarizing thing the president of the United States can possibly do. It will be wrong to do. The American people have spoken out loud and clear. They want security first. They don't want amnesty. And they don't want open borders. And I think it would be a tragic mistake for the president to make. And it would really divide Washington. And divide America."
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Obama's expected immigration action could force another shutdown showdown. Politico has a look at how Republican leaders are trying to sidestep such a scenario:
The options include offering a separate piece of immigration legislation on the floor aimed at tightening border security and demanding the president enforce existing laws, promises to renew the effort next year when Republicans have larger numbers in both chambers, and passing two separate funding bills — a short-term bill with tight restrictions on immigration enforcement agencies, and another that would fund the rest of the government until the fall.
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The Senate is set for a key vote tonight on a bill to limit NSA snooping in various ways that passed the House earlier this year. It will rely on a combination of Democrats and civil libertarian Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold.
Exiting U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, is not a fan. A couple months ago he said the bill would limit our ability to monitor ISIS. Chambliss promised to The Hill last week that he'd try to filibuster it. The bill, he said, is "terrible."
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The Senate will also vote today to confirm three Georgia judicial nominees, which as we point out on the premium site, is the final act this year in the confirmation drama. Tom Crawford notes a tribute to the late Gov. Carl Sanders embedded in there, too:
Senators voted 67-29 to invoke cloture and break a filibuster on the confirmation of Mark H. Cohen to be a U. S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Georgia. Cohen was a partner at Sanders' Atlanta law firm, Troutman Sanders.
Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson voted with the majority to break the filibuster, which paves the way for Cohen to be confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday and sworn in this week as a judge.
Sanders once noted that he and Cohen were the only two partners at Troutman Sanders who actually had argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court – with both of them winning their cases.
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