Reality has claimed a member of the propaganda-as-news crowd. From the Washington Post:
What was real was Welch — a father, former firefighter and sometime movie actor who was drawn to dark mysteries he found on the Internet — terrifying customers and workers with his assault rifle as he searched Comet Ping Pong, police said. He found no hidden children, no secret chambers, no evidence of a child sex ring run by the failed Democratic candidate for president of the United States, or by her campaign chief, or by the owner of the pizza place.
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This is real: President-elect Donald Trump has been named Time magazine's person of the year.
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If Democrats have a snowball's chance to win U.S. Rep. Tom Price's seat, they know they need to unite behind a single credible contender for the special election.
That's why there was much lamenting in Democratic circles on Tuesday when Joshua McLaurin, a Yale-educated attorney from the north metro Atlanta congressional district said he was in.
A quick scan of Democratic poobahs yielded plenty of concerns he would dilute the party's vote. McLaurin didn't consult with top party leaders before announcing his entry. A sampling of reactions:
"Who is this guy?" "Never heard of him." "He's not our candidate." Here's McLaurin's announcement:
On the other hand, hand-picked Democratic candidates backed by party leadership haven't been doing so well lately.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side of the aisle, the field consolidated somewhat on Tuesday with Jan Jones' decision not to run.
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In Athens for an every-other-year gathering of state lawmakers on Tuesday, Gov. Nathan Deal said he was open to the plan being developed by House Republicans as a back-up to the failing schools initiative that was shot down by voters in November.
He and other supporters were tight-lipped on the plan -- nothing is finalized yet, Deal said -- but he expressed support for giving the state Board of Education more power to intervene in struggling schools. And his office said he's been in a revolving door of meetings with House and Senate lawmakers hoping to find a Plan B for the Opportunity School District plan.
"All of us are going to sit down and talk about what we can do to advance the quality of education," he said. Read more about the plan here.
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Congress will vote later this week on a four-month government spending bill that includes new money for Hurricane Matthew recovery.
The $4.1. billion in aid money for Matthew and other recent natural disasters includes funds for home and highway rebuilding, dredging and other coastal storm protection projects. Nestled in the legislation is also a special waiver for retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to serve as Donald Trump's Defense secretary.
The stopgap must be passed by Friday in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, Donald Trump's pick for health secretary, had a big meeting yesterday on Capitol Hill:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wants to move quickly to confirm Trump's cabinet nominees next month. Unhappy Democrats, who have slammed Price's stances on health care and entitlement programs, could try and slow walk consideration of the Georgian's nomination, but they don't have the votes to block it.
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