On Wednesday, The Atlantic published a piece with as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/why-georgia-reopening-coronavirus-pandemic/610882/">insulting a title</a> as can be imagined toward the state government of Georgia, called, “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice.” The subtitle read,“The state is about to find out how many people need to lose their lives to shore up the economy.”
Amanda Mull of The Atlantic calls Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen the state last week a “U-turn” that “has left Georgians scrambling.” She follows with this pronouncement: “Kemp’s order shocked people across the country … Kemp’s move to reopen was condemned by scientists, high-ranking Republicans from his own state, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms;  it even drew a public rebuke from President Donald Trump, who had reportedly approved the measures before distancing himself from the governor amid the backlash.”
Then Mull segues to her central thesis: “Public-health officials broadly agree that reopening businesses—especially those that require close physical contact—in places where the virus has already spread will kill people.” After admitting that many other states are quietly considering similar moves to Georgia’s,” the Atlantic accuses Kemp of “acting with particular haste.”
Mull writes of the “dozen local leaders, business owners, and workers” to whom she spoke that they are in a “struggle between a state government and ordinary people” before plunging to describing Georgia’s “brash reopening” as “a morbid experiment in just how far states can push their people. Georgians are now the largely unwilling canaries in an invisible coal mine, sent to find out just how many individuals need to lose their job or their life for a state to work through a plague.”
Mull quotes Harry Heiman, a public-health professor at Georgia State University, slamming the state government as he stated, “They’ve long prioritized policies that they believe support businesses, even though those same policies might not be good for workers or for the communities that those workers come from.” Heiman postulated a racial aspect to the reopening of the state: “We’re opening up businesses that are not only high-touch and requiring proximity, but we’re also choosing industries where racial- and ethnic-minority communities are disproportionately represented.”
Mull breathes, “All Georgians can do now is try to protect themselves as best they can. If social distancing decreases because lots of businesses reopen, another deluge of COVID-19 cases could be inevitable. Because of how infections tend to progress, it may be two or three weeks before hospitals see a new wave of people whose lungs look like they’re studded with ground glass in X-rays. By then, there’s no telling how many more people could be carrying the disease into nail salons or tattoo parlors, going about their daily lives because they were told they could do so safely.”
After Kemp announced the reopening of Georgia on April 20, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-governor-brian-kemp-decision-to-reopen-has-support-of-top-public-health-official">appeared on Fox News</a>, where he explained:
<blockquote>I announced this on Monday so we can have time to educate the public and the business owners that this is just not handing them the keys back to go back to where we were. This is a measured approach with a lot of different requirements and guidance that we’re going to be putting out. And I’m very confident of that step. It was done in conjunction with public health officials based on the data that we’re seeing in our state and the gateways to the phase one part of the president&#8217;s plan.&#8221;</blockquote>
Kemp continued:
<blockquote>I spent all weekend working with Dr. Toomey, who’s a &#8230; great epidemiologist, a great public health official, one of the best I think in the country. I did not make this decision without her support. We pored over this data. We’re looking at all kind of different models. I’ve had hospital CEOs that I’ve been &#8230; in contact with that reached their peak way back on April the 6th. &#8230; They support a measured opening which is what we are doing. It&#8217;s going to be very limited in scope, basic operations. We’re talking about a few businesses that I closed down to help flatten the curve which we have done in our state.
But for us to continue to ask them to do that while they lose everything, quite honestly, there are a lot of civil repercussions of that, mental health issues. We’re seeing more patients in our trauma centers in our state because people are just you know, they’re tired of it.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.  
&nbsp;

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Holds Coronavirus Press Conference

The Atlantic Mocks Georgia Governor Reopening State: An ‘Experiment In Human Sacrifice’

Brian Kemp

Coronavirus

Georgia

The Atlantic

A lot of small businesses in Georgia are in desperate straits. The business owners, many of them sole proprietors, make too much to get stimulus checks. They do not qualify for unemployment. Either they got denied payroll protection program money or the fund ran out.
These businesses — barbershops, tattoo parlors, massage therapists — are services. They cannot mail haircuts or tattoos. They depend on customers. Many of them have longtime clientele. Those businesses are on the verge of going bankrupt while waiting for their customers to come back.
Concurrently, hospitals in Georgia are asking for permission to reopen for elective surgeries. The massive wave of COVID-19 patients came in parts of the state, but never at the scale expected or modeled. Field hospitals have been set up, but they remain empty across the state. Intensive care unit capacity, hospital capacity and ventilator capacity never maxed out. The number of daily cases has dropped for a week except for one expected spike. That spike was expected and came because of a nursing home outbreak. The spread of the virus in the community has stopped.
For more than a month, people demanded Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp listen to the experts. He did. When they said to close the state, he closed. Now the very same experts have told him he can begin a slow reopening of the state. Kemp got the President&#8217;s blessing and proceeded.
Those struggling sole proprietors and small businesses could open if they met certain criteria regarding safety and sanitation. The requirements of the regulations — masks, temperature checks, regular wipe downs — make it almost impossible for any but the most desperate to comply. Bowling alleys, for example, can technically open, but practically, they cannot comply with the sanitation requirements.
The barber in the small town, with the loyal patrons who all know one another, will be able to open without getting arrested, ticketed, fined or otherwise punished. The tattoo artist who knows his customers will be able to work if he and his customer are comfortable and masked. Desperate small businessmen who cannot get federal money and do not qualify for other benefits will have a lifeline with their destinies in their own hands.
Unfortunately, a national media that has long resented Kemp for having the audacity to beat Stacey Abrams in 2018 decided to attack the governor without any appreciable understanding of what all his requirements for opening entailed. The media blowback made its way to the White House, where the President, who privately supported Kemp, then publicly threw Kemp under the bus. The President, who has been tweeting out in support of liberating states, seems to only want Democratic states liberated, and the states controlled by his own party are to stay in lockdown.
The governor of Georgia is trying to help small businesses in hard times. The virus is not going away. We will have to chart a path forward with the virus in society. The governor decided to try — with the President&#8217;s blessing — only to then be attacked. We are in a crisis none of us has dealt with in our lifetime. It would be helpful for governors to know they can have a trusting relationship with the President and the President&#8217;s team.
President Donald Trump throwing Kemp under the bus is not helpful and will undermine other governors attempting to reopen their states. Gov. Jared Polis in Colorado is also trying to reopen his state. The media has largely avoided Polis. One must wonder what the media reaction would be if Polis were a Republican.
Polis&#8217; actions should have given Trump an opportunity to deflect from criticizing Kemp. Instead, Trump&#8217;s attack on Kemp will only embolden Democrats who want to take back Georgia.
I think Kemp should have waited another week or two and worked to get everyone educated and clear on the data. The data is, however, on his side, and the experts most familiar with Georgia agree. We need a path forward around a virus that is not going away, and Kemp should be encouraged, not condemned, for trying to find that path.
To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

ERICKSON: Loyalty And Viruses

COVID-19

Donald Trump

Roughly two-thirds of restaurant employees have lost their jobs since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States, according to an industry study.
The National Restaurant Association <a href="https://www.restaurant.org/Articles/News/Restaurants-on-track-to-lose-$80-billion-in-sales">released</a> measurements and predictions of the coronavirus and subsequent government regulations’ impact on the restaurant industry on Tuesday. The industry group said the sector has already experienced massive losses that will continue through 2020.
The NRA surveyed 6,500 restaurant owners and operators across the United States and found that, since March, 8 million workers have been laid off or furloughed and four in 10 restaurants have closed. The restaurant industry lost about $30 billion in sales in March and estimates another $50 billion in lost sales by the end of April. That total is expected to grow to $240 billion by the end of 2020.
The coronavirus lockdowns implemented by all but eight states in the U.S. have led to record-shattering increases in unemployment. The Department of Labor reported on Thursday that 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week, bumping up the total number of filings received since March to more than 26 million.
The number of unemployment claims is well over the roughly 15.3 million Americans that were jobless at the height of the Great Recession that resulted from the 2008 financial crisis.
Protests by hundreds of workers, many of whom have been deemed &#8220;non-essential&#8221; and forced to leave their jobs or cease operating their businesses, have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lockdown-backlash-builds-protests-organized-in-multiple-states">broken out</a> across a handful of states. Some state and local governments have continued to crack down with strict isolation policies, locking up parks and playgrounds to prevent people from gathering outside.
By Friday morning, the United States had reported nearly 900,000 cases of the coronavirus with over 50,000 deaths. New York is the worst hit state reporting nearly 270,000 cases of the pathogen and roughly 21,000 deaths.
A handful of states have begun moving toward lifting stay-at-home orders while maintaining varying degrees of social distancing. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has put forward the most aggressive opening strategy that, according to The <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/24/nation/trump-approved-georgias-reopen-plan-before-bashing-it/">Associated Press</a>, won President Trump’s approval before the president flipped and criticized Kemp’s approach in a press briefing on Wednesday.
&#8220;I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities,&#8221; Trump said at a White House coronavirus task force briefing.
&#8220;I think it’s too soon, and I love the people,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;I love those people that use all of those things, the spas, the beauty parlors, the barbershops, tattoo parlors, I love them. But they can wait a little bit longer, just a little bit — not much — because safety has to predominate.&#8221;
The House <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-set-to-approve-484-billion-bill-to-aid-small-businesses-hospitals-11587641659">passed</a> another installment of emergency aid on Thursday totaling $484 billion to go toward replenishing a federal loan fund to help small businesses and aiding small hospitals.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.

A Sign At The Dosie Dough Bakery Has A Coronavirus Message

Majority Of Restaurant Employees Already Lost Their Jobs Over Coronavirus

Economy

As Georgia&#8217;s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp takes steps to ease some of the state&#8217;s coronavirus social distancing measures, President Trump expressed his &#8220;strong&#8221; disagreement with Kemp&#8217;s decision to reopen &#8220;certain facilities.&#8221;
&#8220;I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities,&#8221; Trump said at the coronavirus briefing Wednesday, as reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-reverses-course-says-too-soon-georgia-reopen-n1190061">NBC News</a>. &#8220;But at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right. I want him to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he&#8217;s doing.&#8221;
Kemp has been one of the more aggressive governors in moving to reopen as quickly and as safely as possible. &#8220;Due to favorable data [and] more testing, gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools [and] massage therapists can reopen Friday, April 24 with Minimum Basic Operations,&#8221; Kemp <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1252339586291949568">announced</a> on social media Monday. &#8220;Minimum Basic Operations includes, but is not limited to, screening workers for fever and respiratory illness, enhancing workplace sanitation, wearing masks [and] gloves if appropriate, separating workspaces by six feet, teleworking if possible [and] implementing staggered shifts. Subject to specific social distancing [and] sanitation mandates, theaters, private social clubs [and] restaurant dine-in services will be allowed to reopen on Monday, April 27. &#8230; Bars, nightclubs, operators of amusement park rides &amp; live performance venues will remain closed.&#8221;
Amid pushback and overwhelmingly negative coverage from the mainstream media, including CNN, Kemp has defended his plan to get the state reopened and people back to work. In an appearance on Fox News Tuesday evening, Kemp told Martha MacCallum that his handling of the reopening is being guided by the state&#8217;s top public health officials, who, he said, support his &#8220;measured approach&#8221; to reopening.
“I announced this on Monday so we can have time to educate the public and the business owners that this is just not handing them the keys back to go back to where we were,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-governor-brian-kemp-decision-to-reopen-has-support-of-top-public-health-official">said</a> the Republican governor. &#8220;This is a measured approach with a lot of different requirements and guidance that we’re going to be putting out. And I’m very confident of that step. It was done in conjunction with public health officials based on the data that we’re seeing in our state and the gateways to the phase one part of the president’s plan.&#8221;
Kemp stressed that he made the decision with the guidance and approval of epidemiologist <a href="https://dph.georgia.gov/kathleen-toomey">Dr. Kathleen Toomey</a>, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
&#8220;I did not make this decision without her support,” Kemp explained. &#8220;We poured over this data. We’re looking at all kind of different models. I’ve had hospital CEOs that I’ve been … in contact with that reached their peak way back on April the 6th. … They support a measured opening which is what we are doing. It’s going to be very limited in scope, basic operations. We’re talking about a few businesses that I closed down to help flatten the curve which we have done in our state. But for us to continue to ask them to do that while they lose everything, quite honestly, there are a lot of civil repercussions of that, mental health issues. We’re seeing more patients in our trauma centers in our state because people are just you know, they’re tired of it.&#8221;
On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department revealed that another 4.4 million Americans filed new jobless claims, bringing the total to over 26 million in just five weeks since the implementation of widespread shutdowns.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.

Trump: I ‘Disagree Strongly’ With Georgia Opening Some Facilities

On Monday, Republican Govs. Brian Kemp and Bill Lee, of Georgia and Tennessee respectively, announced major moves in reopening their economies.
In Georgia, fitness centers, beauty shops, and other businesses are eligible to reopen starting on Friday, while Tennessee will see its stay-at-home order expire on April 30.
&#8220;The current White House criteria to reopen America includes three phases, and Kemp said that the state was &#8216;on track to meet the criteria for Phase One&#8217; by having adequate testing, hospital capacity, and contact tracing of the virus,&#8221; <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/kemp-restaurants-other-businesses-to-reopen-in-georgia-amid-covid-19-fight">Fox 5 Atlanta</a> reported Monday.
In order to meet the federal threshold of &#8220;phase one&#8221; in reopening, Gov. Kemp said the state of Georgia will be partnering with Georgia Health system to &#8220;double down&#8221; on testing, according to the report.
&#8220;Testing defines the battlefield and aids our long term strategy,&#8221; the Republican noted.
With COVID-19 under control in Georgia, the state will be allowed to resume elective surgeries, and &#8220;gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, beauty shops and salons, barbershops, body art studios, and more would be able to open Friday, April 24,&#8221; reported Fox 5 Atlanta.
The businesses will be reopening with new guidance, allowing additional sanitation measures and social distancing, for example.
By April 27, said Kemp, movie theaters and dine-in restaurants will be allowed to reopen, again, with social distancing measures.
&#8220;By taking this measured action, we will get Georgians back to work safey, without undermining the progress we all have made in this battle against COVID-19,&#8221; the governor said. &#8220;Today&#8217;s announcement is a small step forward and should be treated as such.&#8221;
&#8220;Georgians who are small business owners, those people have good common sense and we&#8217;re trusting them to use it, but if they abuse it, we will take further action,&#8221; Kemp added. &#8220;But I believe they can do it as part of this measured approach.&#8221;
In Tennessee, residents will see Gov. Lee&#8217;s stay-at-home order, dubbed &#8220;Safer at Home,&#8221; expire at the end of the month, &#8220;allowing the &#8216;vast majority&#8217; of businesses in Tennessee to reopen beginning Friday, May 1,&#8221; reported <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/gov-lee-tennessees-safer-at-home-order-will-expire-april-30-allowing-most-businesses-to-reopen/51-91eb56fa-e0a7-4b98-93ef-66a80e75b53d">WBIR</a>.
“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” Gov. Lee said. “These businesses will open according to specific guidance that we will provide in accordance with state and national experts in both medicine and business.”
The governor will be working with several county leaders and their health departments to &#8220;plan re-opening strategies,&#8221; the report noted.
“While I am not extending the safer at home order past the end of April, we are working directly with our major metropolitan areas to ensure they are in a position to reopen as soon and safely as possible,” Lee said. “Social distancing works, and as we open up our economy it will be more important than ever that we keep social distancing as lives and livelihoods depend on it.”
On April 24, state parks will be allowed to begin reopening in phases, the Republican said at a Monday briefing.
&#8220;Mayors from Tennessee&#8217;s four largest metropolitan areas, including Knoxville, said last week they formed a task force of health and business professionals that will guide the phased reopening process,&#8221; WBIR reported. &#8220;The task force will begin meeting this week, saying they will publicly announce their initial discussions, findings, and action steps.&#8221;
The governor emphasized that maintaining social distancing will be vital while the state reopens the economy.
&#8220;The only way we can do that is if Tennesseans remained committed in social distancing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It will be lifted as a mandate, but not as something necessary for us to participate in.&#8221;

IT BEGINS: Republican Governors Announce Major Moves To Reopen Economy As Early As Friday

Tennessee

Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp intends to select business executive Kelly Loeffler this week to represent the state in the United States Senate and fill the seat of retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA).
Isakson is scheduled to give his farewell address on the Senate floor tomorrow and Kemp is expected to officially announce that he has selected Loefller to fill the Senate seat on Wednesday during a news conference in Atlanta.
&#8220;The pick comes despite strong opposition from prominent allies of President Trump, who is reported to have favored Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., for the seat,&#8221; NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/02/783453064/georgia-governor-sparks-fight-with-trump-allies-over-senate-appointment">reported</a>. &#8220;Loeffler is a wealthy businesswoman without political experience. The CEO of Bakkt, a bitcoin-focused subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., casts herself as a &#8216;lifelong Republican&#8217; and tells a personal narrative of working her way up the corporate ladder from her family&#8217;s farm in rural Illinois.&#8221;
Numerous Trump allies told The Daily Wire that selecting Loeffler to the position instead of Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), who is the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, was a mistake by Kemp that could cost him down the road.
A source close to the White House told The Daily Wire: &#8220;Brian is going to learn how unhappy people are with this decision the next time he tries to raise any serious money.&#8221;
A source close to the Trump campaign told The Daily Wire: “Now is not the time to nominate a liberal, establishment elitist like Kelly Loeffler. Doing so hurts President Trump and jeopardizes the conservative successes of the last three years. Rep. Collins is the obvious choice to represent the people of Georgia as he has an actual record of achievement and is a proven fighter for his constituents.”
A third source, who is a former White House official, told The Daily Wire: &#8220;It’s disappointing that Gov. Kemp would appoint a never-Trump, Mitt Romney donor to the open Senate seat in Georgia. The Governor should remember that he wasn’t elected to do the bidding of the swamp, he was elected to stand with President Trump to fight back against it. Make no mistake about it, Kelly Loeffler is the swamp’s choice for Senate in Georgia.&#8221;
Trump publicly praised Collins on Monday for his performance over the weekend defending the president against impeachment.
Trump tweeted: &#8220;Great job by [Rep. Doug Collins] of Georgia over the weekend in representing the Republican Party, and myself, against the Impeachment Hoax!&#8221;
During an interview on Fox News this weekend, Collins addressed the possibility that he could be selected to the Senate seat, saying, “I appreciate the support I&#8217;ve received from the president and many others &#8230; I have a big job in the next three weeks and that&#8217;s impeachment.”
Kemp fired back at the notion that he was not selecting a strong Republican to fill the seat, writing on Twitter: &#8220;I stand with hardworking Georgians and [POTUS]. The idea that I would appoint someone to the U.S. Senate that is NOT pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-freedom, and 100% supportive of our President (and his plan to Keep America Great) is ridiculous. The attacks and games are absolutely absurd. Frankly, I could care less what the political establishment thinks. Happy Thanksgiving! More information after the holiday!&#8221;
WABE, NPR&#8217;s Local Atlanta Radio Station, reported: &#8220;Phil Kent, conservative pundit and public relations consultant, worked with Loeffler in 2013 when her name was previously floated as a candidate to replace former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. He vouched for her conservative platform.&#8221;
“I know she was a big opponent of Obamacare,” Kent said. “She’s a proponent of the second amendment. She was very tough on illegal immigration. So she would check some of those boxes with the president.”
WABE added that Loeffler wrote the following in her cover letter to Kemp: “From working on the family farm to creating jobs and opportunity in the business world, I have been blessed to live the American Dream. I am offering myself to serve hardworking Georgians as a political outsider in the United States Senate to protect that dream for everyone.”

Brian Kemp Kelly Loeffler

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Bucks Trump With Senate Pick, Trump Allies Issue Warning. Kemp Fires Back With Statement.

U.S. Senate

Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams continued to promulgate her longstanding claim that her 2018 election was “stolen” because of voter suppression.
“I think the election was stolen from the people of Georgia,” Abrams said on Sunday while appearing on MSNBC’s “American Swamp.”
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
“I don’t know that empirically, I would have won,” she continued. “But if you add together the thousands of people who faced extraordinary long lines, who faced hurdles that should not happen in a democracy, the votes that we know were not counted, the secretary of state who was also my opponent in the race purged more than 1.4 million voters over basically an eight-year period.”
Abrams and her campaign have been routinely accusing now-Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of racist voter suppression going back even prior to Election Day. Kemp, however, handily won the statewide election by more than 55,000 votes.
Following Abrams’ loss, she appeared regularly on cable news shows and delivered countless speeches repeating the assertions, but there has been no evidence to corroborate Abrams’ claims of voter suppression.
Regardless, the former Georgia state lawmaker continued to accuse Kemp, who served as Georgia secretary of state during the election, of purging residents from the voter rolls in order to keep people — primarily African-Americans — from voting.
While the law that allowed Kemp to purge voter rolls — as a way to remove people who had moved out of the state or had died — was enacted by Democrats, Abrams criticized the “aggressiveness with which it was applied” and stated that “people were purged who had not matched any of the criteria for being removed from the rolls.”
Abrams <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/13/georgia-gop-gubernatorial-voter-suppression/">went after Kemp</a> for a similar reason a month prior to the election, calling on him to resign after contending that he was blocking black constituents from registering to vote. The Georgia GOP pushed back, explaining that the aforementioned applications were in a “pending” status — neither purged nor blocked, as Abrams claimed.
Pending applications were flagged due to missing information on registration forms, typically caused by failing to include registrants’ driver’s license numbers, but voters with pending applications could present identification at the polls to receive a regular ballot and vote.
At the time, the Georgia GOP further criticized Abrams’ own voter registration initiative for being responsible for a large portion of the flagged applications.
The <a href="http://newgeorgiaproject.org/about/">New Georgia Project</a>, which was founded by Abrams to register “all eligible, unregistered citizens of color in Georgia” to vote, canvasses with paper forms rather than via the Online Voter Registration (OVR). Since the OVR system prohibits a “pending” status, if the New Georgia Project had registered voters online, 40% of the applications in question would not have been flagged as “pending,” according to the Georgia GOP.
Following the election, Abrams and her voter initiative Fair Fight Action <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5331615/Fair-Fight-Action-v-Crittenden-Complaint.pdf">sued the state of Georgia</a> over alleged widespread, racially motivated voter suppression. Interestingly, the lawsuit condemns legislation that Abrams herself <a href="https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/the-jolt-blue-democratic-debate-for-governor-takes-vouchers-early-voting/vWMKIkWj3DfX7YlwmcgBPO/">helped pass</a> as a member of the Georgia General Assembly.
“We cannot undo centuries of oppression and centuries of bad action with good intention and good will without actually putting in place laws to force our better angels,” Abrams said of the ongoing lawsuit.
Accordingly, she has refused to refer to Kemp as the “legitimate” governor and has repeatedly declined to concede the election because, she stated, a concession implies that the race was “right and true and proper.”

Stacey Abrams

WATCH: Stacey Abrams Is Still Promoting Unfounded Claim That Her Election Was ‘Stolen’

2018 Election

Over the weekend, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp mocked &#8220;C-list celebrities&#8221; over their threats to boycott the state for signing a so-called &#8220;heartbeat bill&#8221; into law.
The pro-life legislation protects the unborn from abortion when they have a detectable heartbeat, which is around six weeks gestation. Kemp, a Republican, was faced with threats from Hollywood players, such as abortion activist Alyssa Milano, that they would no longer work in GA if he were to sign the bill. But two weeks ago, Kemp chose the lives of the unborn over potential Hollywood dollars.
And Kemp is not exactly impressed with the boycott &#8212; or those involved, mocking them as &#8220;C-list.&#8221;
&#8220;I understand that some folks don&#8217;t like this new law. I&#8217;m fine with that,&#8221; the governor said on Saturday, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/kemp-mocks-list-celebrities-threatening-boycott-over-anti-abortion-law/kS7Podf6NnCGI4BevKOcUK/">according</a> to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
&#8220;We&#8217;re elected to do what&#8217;s right &#8212; and standing up for precious life is always the right thing to do. We are the party of freedom and opportunity. We value and protect innocent life &#8212; even though that makes C-list celebrities squawk,&#8221; he added.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45265/moral-paragons-50-actors-sign-letter-alyssa-milano-hank-berrien">reported</a> by The Daily Wire in March, some 50 actors signed onto a <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/03/hollywood-actors-george-heartbeat-bill-petition-letter-alyssa-milano-alec-baldwin-1202584496/">letter</a> penned by Milano to the Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Gov. Kemp threatening the state over the pro-life legislation.
&#8220;As actors, our work often brings us to Georgia. We&#8217;ve always found your state to be populated with friendly and caring people. We&#8217;ve found the hotels in which we stay and restaurants in which we dine while filming there to be comfortable and of a high quality. We&#8217;ve been glad to bring millions of dollars in revenue to support Georgia&#8217;s schools, parks and communities,&#8221; the letter opens.
&#8220;But we cannot in good conscience continue to recommend our industry remain in Georgia if H.B. 481 becomes law,&#8221; it continues.
&#8220;This dangerous and deeply-flawed bill mimics many others which have already been deemed unconstitutional,&#8221; the letter claims. &#8220;As men who identify as small-government conservatives, we remind you that government is never bigger than when it is inside a woman&#8217;s body or in her doctor&#8217;s office. This bill would remove the possibility of women receiving reproductive healthcare before most even know they are pregnant and force many women to undergo unregulated, hidden procedures at great risk to their health.&#8221;
Milano, amazingly, then calls the pro-life legislation &#8220;evil&#8221; before leveling the threat: &#8220;we will do everything in our power to move our industry to a safer state for women if H.B. 481 becomes law.&#8221;
But pro-life legislation is sweeping the nation, despite Hollywood threats. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the strictest pro-life bill into law, outlawing abortion with an exception for the life of the mother. Other states, like Ohio and Kentucky, have enacted &#8220;heartbeat&#8221; legislation, too.
Even Louisiana, where a Democrat is serving as governor, is looking to enact legislation to protect the unborn with beating hearts. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a rare pro-life Democrat, signaled his support for heartbeat legislation making its way to his desk, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47394/party-break-louisiana-abortion-bill-poised-be-amanda-prestigiacomo">reported</a> on Saturday.
&#8220;When I ran for governor, I said I was pro-life and so that&#8217;s something that&#8217;s consistent,&#8221; said Edwards, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/louisiana-governor-breaks-with-dems-indicates-hell-sign-heartbeat-legislation">according</a> to Fox News.
&#8220;My position hasn&#8217;t changed. In eight years in the Legislature, I was a pro-life legislator,&#8221; he added.
Edwards&#8217; faith directs him in supporting life, but Fox News noted that the governor also has &#8220;personal significance&#8221; attached to the cause: &#8220;Nearly three decades ago, he and his wife decided to have his daughter, diagnosed as a baby with spina bifida, against the doctor&#8217;s advice to abort.&#8221;

Georgia’s Pro-Life Governor Mocks ‘C-List Celebrities’ Over Abortion Boycott

Abortion

Hollywood

On Tuesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, ignoring threats from the Hollywood community that they would boycott his state if he signed the so-called &#8220;heartbeat bill&#8221; which would ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/07/health/georgia-abortion-bill/index.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=2019-05-07T15%3A02%3A09&amp;utm_source=twCNN&amp;utm_term=link">signed it with a flourish</a>, stating, &#8220;(The bill) is very simple but also very powerful: a declaration that all life has value, that all life matters, and that all life is worthy of protection. I realize that some may challenge it in a court of law. But our job is to do what is right, not what is easy. We are called to be strong and courageous, and we will not back down. We will always continue to fight for life.&#8221;
House Bill 481 is similar to bills in other states; in January an Iowa state judge <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/us/iowa-fetal-heartbeat-abortion-unconstitutional/index.html">struck down</a> the state&#8217;s &#8220;fetal heartbeat&#8221; law, which had been signed into law in May 2018 by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who <a href="https://governor.iowa.gov/2018/05/gov-reynolds-releases-statement-after-signing-heartbeat-bill">said</a>, &#8220;I understand and anticipate that this will likely be challenged in court. However, this is bigger than just a law. This is about life &#8230; It is immoral to stop an innocent beating heart &#8230; my faith leads me to protect every Iowan, no matter how small.&#8221; Republican state Sen. Rick Bertrand had said when the bill was debated, &#8220;This bill will be the vehicle that will ultimately provide change and provide the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade. There&#8217;s nothing hidden here about the agenda.&#8221;
In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a law in March that banned abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, anticipating the possibility of lawsuits and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-abortion-law-gov-phil-bryant-signs-heartbeat-abortion-law-today-2019-03-21/">saying he wasn&#8217;t worried</a>: &#8220;They don&#8217;t have to sue us. It&#8217;s up to them. If they do not believe in the sanctity of life, these that are in organizations like Planned Parenthood, we will have to fight that fight. But it is worth it.&#8221;
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a similar bill in April, <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/11/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-signs-heartbeat-abortion-bill/3437541002/">asserting</a>, &#8220;The signing of this bill today is consistent with that respect for life and the imperative to protect those who cannot protect themselves.&#8221;
The Writers Guild of America East and West slammed HB481, saying it &#8220;would make Georgia an inhospitable place for those in the film and television industry &#8230; It is entirely possible that many of those in our industry will either want to leave the state or decide not to bring productions there.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45265/moral-paragons-50-actors-sign-letter-alyssa-milano-hank-berrien">reported</a> in late March, 50 actors sent a <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/03/hollywood-actors-george-heartbeat-bill-petition-letter-alyssa-milano-alec-baldwin-1202584496/">letter written</a> by abortion advocate Alyssa Milano to Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Kemp threatening the state of Georgia with a boycott if the state passed H.B. 481.
<a href="http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-us/display/20192020/hb/481">H.B. 481 states</a> that the &#8220;full value of a child begins when a heartbeat exists&#8221; and requires &#8220;physicians performing abortions to determine the existence of a detectable human heartbeat before performing an abortion,&#8221; stating, &#8220;it shall be the policy of the State of Georgia to recognize unborn children as natural persons,&#8221; and asserting &#8220;unless otherwise provided by law, any natural person, including an unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat, shall be included in population based determinations.&#8221;

GA Governor Signs ‘Heartbeat Bill’ Into Law, Defying Hollywood Threats

According to a new <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/ajc-poll-kemp-approval-ratings-the-rise-trump-still-underwater/5EDalXwOSNvonieS90ixEN/">poll</a> from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the favorability numbers for Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp have been surging, of late. Perhaps most interestingly, as The Journal-Constitution also highlights, is that Kemp&#8217;s polling surge has coincided with Georgia&#8217;s legislative advancement of a fetal heartbeat protection pro-life bill that large swaths of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45494/frankel-arrogant-hollywood-boycott-georgia-great-jeremy-frankel">cultural and political Left</a> have fearmongered as retrograde and abhorrent.
Per The Journal-Constitution:
<blockquote>
Gov. Brian Kemp&#8217;s approval ratings are on the upswing after a legislative session dominated by his embrace of an anti-abortion measure, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll shows. &#8230;
The poll shows 46% of registered Georgia voters have a favorable impression of Kemp as he nears his third month as governor, 9 points higher than the 37% rating he tallied in the AJC&#8217;s January poll as he was sworn into office.
He&#8217;s outpacing [President] Trump, who was the model for Kemp&#8217;s campaign. About 40% of Georgia voters approve of the president, statistically unchanged from 38% in January. Nearly 56% of Georgians disapprove of Trump, compared with Kemp&#8217;s 39% disapproval rating.
</blockquote>
Kemp&#8217;s polling surge flies in the face of a coordinated Hollywood <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/45494/frankel-arrogant-hollywood-boycott-georgia-great-jeremy-frankel">effort</a> to shame and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45265/moral-paragons-50-actors-sign-letter-alyssa-milano-hank-berrien">boycott</a> Georgia due to its advancement of the pro-life legislation.
Even more fascinating, given the nature of Georgia&#8217;s fetal heartbeat bill, is that Kemp&#8217;s standing has actually improved with women, as well. More from The Journal-Constitution:
<blockquote>
[T]he poll showed Kemp&#8217;s difficulties with women and his standing with men improved over the past three months.
His support among men jumped from 44% to 55% over that span, while his reviews among women ticked up 7 percentage points to 38%. About 46% of women rated him unfavorably, compared with less than one-third of men.
</blockquote>
As Erick Erickson <a href="https://theresurgent.com/2019/04/12/after-fetal-heartbeat-law-stacey-abrams-popularity-craters-in-georgia-kemps-surges/">notes</a> at The Resurgent, Kemp&#8217;s polling surge has transpired as the state&#8217;s <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ben-shapiro-stacey-abrams-wants-divided-america-opinion-1321606">new leftist icon</a>, Stacey Abrams, plummets in her own favorability numbers:
<blockquote>
Stacey Abrams, meanwhile, saw her popularity crater. She was at 52% favorability and is now at 45%. The troubling part is that her unfavorability is also 45%. She is both far more polarizing and far more disliked than Brian Kemp. &#8230;
Abrams has badly played her hand and the new polling suggests Democrats probably want to look for a candidate elsewhere.
</blockquote>
Georgia&#8217; fetal heartbeat bill currently sits on Kemp&#8217;s desk, awaiting its formal gubernatorial signature and enactment into law. Just yesterday, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45878/ohio-governor-signs-bill-protecting-unborn-babies-amanda-prestigiacomo">reported</a>, Ohio signed into law its own fetal heartbeat bill:
<blockquote>
&#8220;The signing of this bill today is consistent with that respect for life and the imperative to protect those who cannot protect themselves,&#8221; [Republican Governor Mike] DeWine said before signing the bill, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The legislation protects unborn babies with beating hearts, which can be detectable at around six weeks gestation, from the fatal procedure of abortion.
The bill, which includes an exception for the life of the mother, was introduced to the House on Tuesday and signed by the governor by 3:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.
</blockquote>
As The Daily Wire noted, Ohio&#8217;s fetal heartbeat bill had twice been previously vetoed by former governor John Kasich. Kasich had allegedly voiced concerns over the &#8220;legal bill taxpayers would foot,&#8221; according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Take That, Hollywood: Georgia Governor Kemp’s Popularity Surges As Fetal Heartbeat Bill Progresses

Fetus

Georgia Republican Governor-elect Brian Kemp shot down claims made by Democratic conspiracy theorist Stacey Abrams on Tuesday after Abrams suggested that she lost because the election was rigged against her.
&#8220;We saw the &#8216;easy to vote&#8217; part &#8212; we had 1.4 million more voters in this election than we did in the last governor&#8217;s race. A historic turnout,&#8221; Kemp said. &#8220;We have a million more people on the rolls because I pushed for and implemented online voter registration where people could register to vote 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If my opponent and her activist groups had used the online system, they wouldn&#8217;t have had as many problems as they did with the folks that they were registering.&#8221;
&#8220;Nobody&#8217;s questioning the Democrats&#8217; wins, knocking off one of our congresswomen in the state of Georgia,&#8221; Kemp continued. &#8220;They&#8217;re not questioning the local races that they won. This is really just political rhetoric.&#8221;
Kemp then addressed Abrams&#8217; claim that he set up fewer polling locations in urban areas.
&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s just a mistruth. The county elections officials, the local elections boards have the sole responsibility for how many polling locations they have and where they are,&#8221; Kemp said. &#8220;That has been the rule of law and the way it works in Georgia under Republican and Democrat Secretaries of State. So that&#8217;s just not true. And by the way, the one county that this was an issue with before the election, they&#8217;re controlled by Democrats. She&#8217;s blaming me for a problem that they created and it&#8217;s just ridiculous.&#8221;
&#8220;We have laws on the books in Georgia, and I know she may not like some of the laws, but we take an oath of office and the county officials have a duty to follow the law and the elections rules that we have in our state,&#8221; Kemp said. &#8220;We check citizenship. We require people to show photo ID when they vote. And we verify this information before people go on the voter rolls.&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wstid1XGLY4?start=13" width="560"></iframe></div>

WATCH: Stacey Abrams Claims Election Was Rigged. Brian Kemp Destroys Her Claims.

After more than a week, and losing by an insurmountable number of votes, Democrat Stacey Abrams finally conceded the governor&#8217;s race to Republican Brian Kemp, the former Georgia secretary of state. Well, sort of. She announced that she had given up her campaign, but made clear that she was giving no &#8220;concession&#8221; speech because democracy had failed in Georgia.
In her first interview since losing to Kemp, Abrams was given a chance to change her tone a bit on the outcome of the election, but ended up doubling down on her rhetoric that her defeat was illegitimate and that Kemp had &#8220;benefited from his own perfidy.&#8221;
Asked by CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper if she would call Kemp the &#8220;legitimate&#8221; governor-elect, Abrams said instead that she would only call him the &#8220;legal governor of the state of Georgia,&#8221; the &#8220;legal victor.&#8221;
&#8220;But what you are looking for me to say is that there was no compromise of our democracy, and that there should be some political compromise in the language I use, and that&#8217;s not right,&#8221; she said, <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/politics/stacey-abrams-refuses-to-call-brian-kemp-the-legitimate-gov-of-georgia/">Law &amp; Crime</a>&#8216;s Alberto Luperon notes. &#8220;What&#8217;s not right is saying something was done properly, when it was not.&#8221;
When pressed by Tapper if it was really fair to accuse Kemp of suppressing votes by expunging those who had not voted for several elections, as all states do, Abrams accused Kemp and others of a &#8220;deliberate and intentional&#8221; attempt to undermine legitimate voters. As evidence, she cited the single example a 92-year-old civil rights activist who allegedly learned election day that she&#8217;d been expunged.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not sufficient to simply purge voters from the roles for inactivity,&#8221; she charged. &#8220;He removed voters who were eligible. He also denied access to 3,000 new citizens who should&#8217;ve been added to the roles, but he prevented them from being able to vote.&#8221;
After calling the democratic process in Georgia corrupt and refusing to declare the winner legitimate, she then lamented the decline of &#8220;trust in our democracy.&#8221;
&#8220;The larger issue is this: Trust in our democracy relies in believing that there are good actors who are making this happen, and he was a horrible actor who benefited from his perfidy,&#8221; she said.
Kemp has slammed the claim that he oversaw the suppression of votes as a &#8220;farce.&#8221;
&#8220;This farce about voter suppression and people being held up from being on the rolls &#8230; is absolutely not true,&#8221; said Kemp in the candidates&#8217; first debate in October.
&#8220;Earlier this month, a report from The Associated Press found that over 53,000 voter applications in Georgia &#8213; <a data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-voter-suspensions_us_5bbeaef6e4b0c8fa1367f40a">nearly 70 percent of which were from black people</a> &#8213; were on hold for verification with Kemp&#8217;s office,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stacey-abrams-brian-kemp-governor-debate-georgia_us_5bcfd603e4b055bc94860d4d">Huffington Post</a> reported at the time.
But Kemp explained that anybody whose registration was &#8220;pending&#8221; simply had to show up with a valid ID to vote, which HuffPost admitted was true. These voters could show up and vote, but could not vote absentee or by mail until resolving the issue.
Video of Abrams&#8217; interview with Tapper below:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QZXCKPEpUV8" width="550"></iframe></div>

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