Saxby Chambliss wants to get Medieval on Edward Snowden.
In a speech at the University of Georgia, the former Georgia Republican U.S. senator and vice-chair of the Intelligence Committee had some sharp words for the infamous leaker.
this juicy portion of the video in which Chambliss talks about his own experience with the massive
-- and the CIA's:
"This is real and it's very personal. I've already seen some instances where they've come after my credit cards, and I don't know how they got it out of that. But I guess you have to give 'em all your financial information when you go through one of these background checks.
"So I guess that's the way they got it. I don't know. But this is real and it's going to be felt by lots of Americans. And the worst part of it, not unlike the Snowden incident -- which I hope none of you have any sympathy for him, because we need to hang him on the court house square as soon as we get our hands on him.
"But just like with Snowden, we're going to lose American lives as a result of this breach. And the reason we are is because the Chinese now have possession of all of our folks who have gone through background checks over the last 20 years.
"They know where the CIA agents are, even though there was some agreement, some firewall on some CIA background checks, they do have information relative to where some of those those folks are and who they are and what their cover is. And it's creating a very, very serious situation for us from that standpoint."
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U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, is breaking with President Barack Obama on the Iran nuclear deal. Here's what Scott had to say in an interview with Denis O'Hayer and Martha Dalton on WABE 90.1-FM:
"Under this agreement … it allows for Iran to get a nuclear bomb. In essence it sort of permits it to, within the agreement, without Iran even having to cheat at all."
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On attacking Confederate monuments and the state of Georgia, there's the polite way and the not-so-polite way.
Our AJC colleague Katie Leslie reports the Atlanta City Council passed a resolution asking Gov. Nathan Deal to study how to add to Stone Mountain:
"That would make Stone Mountain, I think, an enlightened place that reflects all of Georgia's history," he said. "…Georgia's history is much greater than the four years of the Confederacy; it's much more diverse and rich than that period which has been highly romanticized, particularly in the last 50 to 60 years."
And Creative Loafing reports that Valdosta activist Mark George, of the Mary Turner Project, filed a 37-page civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice against Deal and the General Assembly because:
"Georgians (3 million of whom are black) are having their tax revenue used to celebrate and glorify the failed Confederacy, a treasonous government that A) espoused the racial supremacy of white people and B) sought to preserve and expand the enslavement of black people."
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In today's premium edition, our own Greg Bluestein has a deep, visual-heavy look at the controversial Palmetto Pipeline project. A taste:
Morris is the chief executive of Morris Communications, which runs the newspapers in all three major markets that the pipeline would span. He also owns Millhaven, more than 20,000 acres of hunter's paradise, row crops and timber stands that could lose an 11-mile stretch to the pipeline.
In early May, when Kinder Morgan surveyors visited the property, they were promptly told to leave and accused of trespassing. A local deputy who was called to the scene wrote in a police report that a Kinder Morgan supervisor told him: "You can't stop the pipeline, they have enough money to push the pipeline through the county."
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The Republican presidential field grows to 16 today with the entry of Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The big immediate question for Kasich is whether he will crack the top 10 in national polling to make the first debate, in Kasich's home state on Aug. 6.
A pair of former Mitt Romney pollsters are out with a new memo questioning the wisdom of placing a golden opportunity for a lesser-known candidate at the whims of polls that survey as few as 210 Republican primary voters across the country.
As Jarrett Lewis and Nathan Klein write:
"A survey of only 341 voters is less than the average political consultant would use for a contested Congressional race, let alone an extremely complicated and dynamic Presidential nominating contest. Quinnipiac, for example, interviewed nearly double that amount (666) for a statewide poll of caucus-goers in Iowa."
Lewis and Klein say in addition to talking to more people, the polls should be weighted to early-voting states, where voters have gotten to know the huge field of candidates better. They also say the polls should ask voters whether they plan to vote in the primary, a different universe of people than self-identified Republicans.
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At this early point Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are the most aggressive in courting Georgia's GOP presidential primary voters.
Cruz, according to GAPundit's Todd Rehm, is adding a 4 p.m. stop at Sprayberry's BBQ in Newnan to his Aug. 8 itinerary in the state, when he goes from speaking at the RedState Gathering in Atlanta to a 7 p.m. Muscogee County GOP event in Columbus.
That same day after his own RedState speech, Huckabee is off to Perry to a 8th Congressional District GOP fish fry at the state fairgrounds.
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The Harlem Globetrotters will soon make their home in Metro Atlanta.
But you need not worry about a name change, since the Globetrotters are now based in Phoenix. Yes, Phoenix.
From the Gwinnett Daily Post:
Herschend Enterprises recently announced it will spend the next year moving the world famous team from Phoenix, Ariz., to the Atlanta area. The family entertainment company, whose corporate offices are located in Peachtree Corners' Technology Park, bought the team in October 2013.
"Based in Phoenix since 1995, the Globetrotters' move to Atlanta, the corporate headquarters for HE, is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016," the company said in a statement.
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