A.M. ATL: The thing with feathers

Morning, y’all! Hope is a dimming ember lighting our ever-darkening path. At least, that’s the conclusion of a new Gallup poll about American optimism for the future. In 2025, about 59% of Americans were enthusiastic when asked to evaluate how good their life will be in about five years. More than half? I’m actually impressed.

Let’s get to it.

WHAT THE FBI ELECTIONS RAID AFFIDAVIT SAID

The affidavit used to justify the FBI’s seizure of Fulton County’s 2020 ballots was unsealed yesterday. The document shows the Trump administration relied on disproven allegations and the word of known election conspiracy theorists to justify the raid.

🔎 READ MORE: You can read the document for yourself here

These were the allegations cited in the affidavit:

• Fulton County has admitted it does not have scanned ballot images for all of its ballots.
• The county has admitted some ballots were scanned multiple times.
• During a hand recount of every ballot cast, tallies of ballots were inconsistent with the actual votes within each ballot.
• Election observers reported spotting suspiciously “pristine” ballots.
• During a machine recount, the county reported more than 17,000 fewer ballots counted than in the original tally.

The allegations are a mixture of truth, falsehoods and misdirection. Ultimately, the ballots were part of three vote counts — an Election Day machine count, a hand-count audit and a machine recount — as well as numerous investigations and lawsuits. All confirmed Trump’s loss and proved any inconsistencies did not alter the result.

Were there any surprises in the affidavit?

No. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, summed it up: “no allegations of intent, no allegations of election theft, no allegations of foreign interference, and no allegations that the statute of limitations doesn’t apply.”

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ANOTHER ICE WAREHOUSE IS COMING TO GA

The Trump administration is set to buy a second Georgia warehouse for mass immigrant detention, expanding the state’s already extensive detention network.

• The warehouse is in Oakwood, Hall County, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Oakwood’s city manager told the AJC it will receive ICE detainees in a few months.
• This is in addition to the warehouse the federal government just purchased in Social Circle.

🔎 READ MORE: The scope and cost of Georgia’s growing ICE detention sites

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

👨🏻 Sen. Jon Ossoff is attracting a new demographic of supporters: the buttoned-up “quarter-zip” faction of middle-aged white dudes.

🚢 Georgia Ports Authority President and CEO Griff Lynch plans to retire in 2027. Under his leadership, the state’s ports have become a “national gateway” for shipping second only to New York and Los Angeles.

💰 Paramount is once again sweetening the pot in its hostile takeover attempt of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company even pledged to fund WBD’s proposed $2.8 billion “breakup” payout to Netflix if it halted the merger.

$2.8 MILLION

That’s how much the city of Atlanta has spent defending its public safety training center in court since 2023. About a third of that was spent on consultant fees for legal processes that never materialized regarding a citizen-led petition to force a referendum on the site’s construction. More here.

WHEN A TREE FALLS ON A MARTA TRAIN, DOES IT MAKE A SOUND?

In December, heavy winds toppled a tree onto a MARTA train car, causing “significant damage” to both the train and tracks (but thankfully no injuries to the people aboard). The incident caused several days of service disruption on MARTA’s Red and Gold lines.

Here’s the problem: This is the first the public is hearing of it.

• While MARTA alerted customers to a fallen tree on the tracks and communicated about delays at the time, the agency did not disclose that a train had derailed.
• Train derailments are a rare and serious matter, considered by the Federal Transit Administration to be a major safety event with all of the attendant reporting and paperwork.
• The AJC learned about the derailment from reviewing MARTA’s public records log, which included a request for records related to the derailment from an unknown party. Journalism: It’s a skill, and it still matters.

🔎 READ MORE: What MARTA leaders said about the derailment

NEWS BITES

Inside the secret text group of US figure skating Olympic gold medalists

Group chat goals.

Atlanta United unveils ‘Spirit of ’96’ kit to honor 1996 Olympics, World Cup

When it comes to great uni looks, ATL UTD never misses.

Gin makers are getting weird about it, and the results are delicious

Magnolia-infused gin? Say less, I’m sold.

Pro sports races to capture Gen Z and Gen Alpha with AI and Italian brainrot

You know how elders used to say stuff like, “Back in my day, if we wanted to have fun, we pushed a hoop around with a stick! We had one single toy, and it was a ball of old twine!” When I hear meme terms like “Italian brainrot,” I start to think they were onto something.

ON THIS DATE

Feb. 11, 1966