A journalist pressed a top White House adviser Sunday on why President Joe Biden declined to visit the southern border during a recent visit to Arizona.
Margaret Brennan, moderator of CBS News&#8217;s &#8220;Face the Nation,&#8221; challenged Keisha Lance Bottoms, director of the White House&#8217;s Office of Public Engagement, to provide an explanation after Biden said earlier this month he was forgoing a trip to the border because &#8220;there are more important things going on.&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-defends-skipping-border-visit-arizona-says-more-important-things" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As noted by Fox News</a>, Biden has yet to visit the U.S.-Mexico border during his presidency as illegal crossings hit record highs.
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keisha-lance-bottoms-face-the-nation-transcript-12-18-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After Bottoms argued</a>, &#8220;simply because people don&#8217;t see the president at the border, doesn&#8217;t mean that he&#8217;s not working,&#8221; Brennan retorted, &#8220;Right. But why doesn&#8217;t he go to the border? He was just in Arizona, why wasn&#8217;t it worth his time?&#8221;
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&quot;Why doesn&#39;t he go to the [southern] border?&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> asks senior White House adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms on President Biden.
“I can&#39;t speak to why he has or has not gone,&quot; she says. &quot;But what the president has done is continue to lean in on this immigration issue.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/dkirUnxikl">pic.twitter.com/dkirUnxikl</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1604533307546402821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Well, you have to remember, Margaret, when the president travels it is not like you or I jumping on an airplane and getting off and going to our destination, everything comes to a halt,&#8221; Bottoms said. &#8220;So all of these things are in consideration for the president, is that the best use of resources, all of the resources that will be diverted on the ground when the president makes a visit.&#8221;
Brennan followed up, asking, &#8220;Is that why he didn&#8217;t go?&#8221;
&#8220;I can&#8217;t speak to why he has or has not gone — I&#8217;m just speaking to the fact that it&#8217;s a bit more disruptive for the president of the United States to travel than you or I,&#8221; Bottoms said.
&#8220;But what the president has done is continue to lean in on this immigration issue,&#8221; Bottoms added. &#8220;It&#8217;s something that he ran on, and what we know over the past two years, every single thing that the president has run on, he&#8217;s put time and resources into addressing that. So immigration, we know, is a problem that he did not create. Our issues with immigration are decades-long issues, and he will continue to lean the end through the White House and through Congress to get comprehensive immigration reform done.&#8221;
A flashpoint in the immigration debate right now is the fate of Title 42, which allows U.S. border agents to turn away migrants and asylum-seekers on an expedited basis because of a public health emergency — in this case, the COVID pandemic. Republican-led states are trying to keep the Trump-era policy in place as the Biden administration <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/politics/title-42-plan-biden/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">works to wind it down</a>. Amid concerns about a surge in crossings, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week&#8221; that ending Title 42 would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abbott-sounds-the-alarm-about-the-end-of-title-42-total-chaos-catastrophic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bring “total chaos”</a> to the southern border. The policy is set to expire on Wednesday.
The Biden administration needs to help of Congress to act on this &#8220;global issue,&#8221; Bottoms said during the CBS interview.
&#8220;If Title 42 goes away, we will then go back to Title 8,&#8221; she said, &#8220;which allows for a process which is the reason why the administration has asked Congress to fund more than $3 billion to help us provide the resources that will be needed to process these migrants to make sure that people are treated humanely, to make sure that the bordering communities have the resources that they need.&#8221;

President Joe Biden depares

Biden Adviser Confronted: Why Wasn’t Border Visit ‘Worth His Time?’

Biden Adviser Confronted: Why Wasn't Border Visit 'Worth His Time?'

Border

Border Crisis

Executive

Immigration

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Politics

Southern Border

White House

Former Atlanta Mayor and current senior White House adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) said during an interview Sunday morning that President Joe Biden&#8217;s speech demonizing millions of Americans as extremist threats to the U.S. was needed because the administration believes it has to &#8220;call out hatred.&#8221;
&#8220;Ahead of the president&#8217;s speech, The White House was insistent the speech would be optimistic, was about bringing people together yet in it, Biden said President Trump&#8217;s MAGA supporters are a danger to democracy,&#8221; ABC&#8217;s Martha Raddatz said on &#8220;This Week.&#8221;
&#8220;How is that a unifying message?&#8221; Raddatz asked.
Bottoms responded by claiming that Biden&#8217;s goal was to remind &#8220;the American people of who we are as a country.&#8221;
&#8220;So, the president spoke optimistically about who we are as Americans,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;We are the greatest nation in the world. But also a reminder that we have to be intentional about being the greatest nation in the world and that we have to call out hatred. We have to call out this balance and that if we don’t, our democracy is in danger.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Senior adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms on Biden’s Thursday speech: “The president spoke optimistically about who we are as Americans” <a href="https://t.co/20uyXEZigU">pic.twitter.com/20uyXEZigU</a>
&mdash; Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) <a href="https://twitter.com/FreeBeacon/status/1566418458312679424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
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TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS HOST: And let&#8217;s bring in President Biden’s senior adviser and the former mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Good morning, Mayor.
Ahead of the president&#8217;s speech, The White House was insistent the speech would be optimistic, was about bringing people together yet in it, Biden said President Trump&#8217;s MAGA supporters are a danger to democracy. How is that a unifying message?
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, PRESIDENT BIDEN SENIOR ADVISER: Well, what the president did was that he reminded the American people of who we are as a country. We are a democracy that’s been built on the rule of law. We are a democracy that values the peaceful transition of power. We are a democracy that values the right of people to go and vote safely and in peace.
And so, what the president has done as our commander-in-chief is he’s remind &#8212; he has reminded us that democracies are fragile. You know this. You’ve been across the globe. And if we are not intentional about preserving who we are as a country, if we are not intentional about reminding ourselves that there is a rule of law in this country, then we will be in danger.
So, the president spoke optimistically about who we are as Americans. We are the greatest nation in the world. But also a reminder that we have to be intentional about being the greatest nation in the world and that we have to call out hatred. We have to call out this balance and that if we don’t, our democracy is in danger.
</blockquote>
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-slammed-across-political-spectrum-for-optics-of-divisive-speech-satanic-ghoul">Biden Slammed Across Political Spectrum For Optics Of Divisive Speech: ‘Satanic Ghoul’</a>

Key Speakers At The Bloomberg Equality Summit

Top Biden Adviser On Biden’s Speech Demonizing ‘MAGA Republicans’: ‘We Have To Call Out Hatred’

Top Biden Adviser Defends Biden’s Speech Demonizing ‘MAGA Republicans’

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

MAGA

An affluent neighborhood in Atlanta known as Buckhead has paid taxes for decades that helped keep the rest of the city afloat. Far from getting a thank-you, residents appear to be increasingly targeted by criminals.
They wonder why they should remain part of the city at all, rather than forming their own independent city where they can create their own policies and where their money will be spent protecting their citizens. But Atlanta leaders who they say never seemed to care much about them are demanding that they stay anyway. 
Racial protests spurred calls to defund the police but also coincided with an increase in crime that seemed to particularly target residents of the neighborhood, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/what-would-buckhead-city-look-like-we-crunched-the-numbers/WRIYJBY2PBCEJFKWTFK2YDWXYA/">74%</a> of whom are white. Over the last year, aggravated assaults <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-police-responds-to-what-it-calls-inaccurate-report-about-buckhead-crime/85-8ef88502-70f0-47be-9e63-89ce33521a51">are up</a> 26% in Atlanta but up 52% in Buckhead. Robberies are up 2% across the city but 39% in Buckhead, while car larceny is up 27% across the city but 40% in Buckhead.
The screeching sounds of street racing are now nearly constant in Buckhead, both in the early hours of the morning and during the day, residents told The Daily Wire.
The increase in criminal activity is a stark shift for the formerly safe uptown district. The police presence in Atlanta has been slashed since last summer, when metropolitan areas around the country reeled in the wake of George Floyd&#8217;s death. Riots and demands to defund the police gripped Atlanta, exacerbated by the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks in the city just weeks after Floyd&#8217;s death.
In June 2020, Democratic Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/atlanta-police-department-morale-down-mayor-keisha-lance-bottoms-says/">acknowledged</a> that morale among Atlanta police officers was &#8220;down ten-fold.&#8221; Homicides <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/after-historically-deadly-2020-atlanta-homicides-are-up-nearly-60-in-2021/N63RJ5OKQZCZVOCNH2D6376S3E/">are up</a> 58% across the city, while shootings are up 40%. Meanwhile, arrests have plummeted 43%. Bottoms blamed the rise in crime on the pandemic, saying Atlanta is seeing a “COVID crime wave.”
By December, the Atlanta police force was <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/atlanta-police-numbers-2020/85-a54ace87-bed2-4d41-87b1-150a9b877672">down </a>more than 400 officers from its &#8220;authorized strength&#8221; of 2,046. More than 275 have quit the force since last summer. The department has said it intends to hire 250 new officers starting in July.
Earlier this month, a Buckhead man was <a href="https://www.cbs46.com/news/hurry-i-just-got-shot-buckhead-jogger-cries-for-help-in-newly-released-911-call/article_6e004932-c865-11eb-bd7e-dbd913e02c6d.html">shot</a> in the thigh as he was jogging. The shooting appeared to be random, with the victim saying that a man simply pulled up in a car and shot him. The suspect then drove off and injured a pedestrian with his car before he was apprehended, police said.
David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, told The Daily Wire that &#8220;there is a lawlessness that has taken over this area of the city.&#8221; 
&#8220;You have police officers who are completely demoralized and who are being restrained from doing their job,&#8221; Shafer said.
Shafer referenced the string of shootings at Lenox Square Mall in the heart of Buckhead, where a security guard was held at gunpoint and shot by two teenagers earlier this month. Since the 2019 holiday season, there have been at least seven shootings at the mall, home to several high-end stores.
&#8220;When I was in high school I would go on dates to the movie theater in Lenox Square Mall,&#8221; Shafer recalled, adding that now, &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t allow my adult daughter or wife to go to Lenox Square.&#8221;
Atlanta&#8217;s issues with police manpower go back to at least 2018, when the police chief <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-police-will-no-longer-respond-to-some-shoplifting-calls">announced</a> that officers would no longer respond to shoplifting calls at Buckhead stores due to an officer shortage.
Buckhead has 20% of Atlanta’s residents but 40% of the taxable property values that make up the city’s main income source. 
The notion of seceding from Atlanta appears to have been first proposed in 2008 by the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, which disseminated a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110726050507/http://fctf.org/media/June2008-2.pdf">newsletter</a> that blared, &#8220;Forming The City of Buckhead Would Result In A Reduction of Taxes By Over 50%.&#8221;
&#8220;Buckhead residents pay much higher taxes than our surrounding neighbors, while receiving fewer services,&#8221; the now-defunct group wrote. &#8220;Buckhead taxpayers are simply tired of having our votes and money taken for granted by the City of Atlanta.&#8221;
Three years earlier, nearby Sandy Springs became its own city after fighting state and local authorities on the issue for three decades.
State lawmakers filed a bill to create Buckhead City in March. The issue could show up on the ballot for Buckhead residents by November 2022.
But even if the city leaders didn’t pay much attention to Buckhead residents’ needs, they did not want them to leave, which would require the city to significantly tighten its belt.
“I think it is a terrible idea. I think it sends the wrong message,” Bottoms <a href="https://www.gpb.org/events/news/2021/04/07/ask-the-mayor-keisha-lance-bottoms">said</a> in April of the proposal. “I understand the frustration, but creating a new city is not the answer.”
Ginger Howard, Georgia’s Republican National Committeewoman, said she moved her upscale women&#8217;s apparel shop in Buckhead to a side street because of rising crime.
&#8220;It makes me really sad,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire. &#8220;In these major cities that are run by Democrats the crime is going to continue to increase if they don&#8217;t support our police.&#8221; She said she strongly supports the movement for Buckhead to form a new city with its own police force.
Resident Bill White is chairman and CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, which is <a href="https://www.becnow.com/">leading</a> that movement. White claimed Buckhead residents feel Bottoms has &#8220;violated her oath of office&#8221; by failing to keep residents safe.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know whether she doesn&#8217;t know what to do, or she doesn&#8217;t care, or it&#8217;s a combination of both,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire.
White said that while he has been in Atlanta for only three years, some families have been there for generations and &#8220;feel they are part of the fabric of Atlanta,&#8221; so it is &#8220;very sad&#8221; and difficult for residents to understand why no one from Bottoms&#8217; administration has reached out to the community.
&#8220;You would think that somebody from the mayor&#8217;s office would reach out to us if they&#8217;re so worried about Atlanta going bankrupt,&#8221; White said. &#8220;You&#8217;d think they would reach out to us and try to help us with these things. It&#8217;s crickets from them.&#8221;
 &#8220;They don&#8217;t care about us. They just want the money,&#8221; White added, remarking that if Buckhead secedes, Atlanta is &#8220;finally going to have to figure out how to live on a budget.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to take control of our own destiny,&#8221; he said.

Atlanta Police

Atlanta’s Upscale Neighborhood Funds Much Of The City. Targeted By Crime And Ignored By Politicians, Residents May Declare Independence.

Atlanta

Crime

Police

Atlanta Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms claims that Republicans in the statehouse who voted to lift Georgia’s COVID-19 restrictions contributed to the soaring crime rate in her city.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Friday, Bottoms told host Stephanie Ruhle that Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision on April 20 to ease lockdown restrictions was a major cause of the rise in crime, including a 50% jump in murders compared to pre-pandemic. <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/after-historically-deadly-2020-atlanta-homicides-are-up-nearly-60-in-2021/N63RJ5OKQZCZVOCNH2D6376S3E/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According</a> to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there were 157 homicides in 2020, up from 99 in 2019.
“Remember in Georgia we were opened up before the rest of the country, even before the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] said that it was safe for us to open so our night clubs and our bars remained open so we had people traveling here from across the country to party in our city,” Bottoms told Ruhle in response to the MSNBC host pointing out the increase in killings.
The mayor also said &#8220;COVID left a lot of people battered and bruised, not just physically but also emotionally.&#8221;
“Until we deal with the systemic issues of gun violence in this country, how easily young people, people with mental illnesses can access guns in this country, I’m afraid that this will not be the last summer that we are having this conversation,” Bottoms said.
Bottoms also said the rising crime rate is not just occurring in Atlanta.
“If it were an Atlanta issue alone then I’d know that there was something that we weren’t getting right… but I’m talking to mayors and hearing from mayors in cities and large urban areas, we’re all experiencing this which means that we all have to work together to find a solution to this gun violence that is gripping our nation,” Bottoms said.
In a post on Twitter, Kemp replied to Bottoms&#8217; claims, saying &#8220;the left’s anti-police, soft-on-crime agenda is to blame.&#8221;
&#8220;According to the mayor, rising crime in our capital city is everyone’s fault but hers. Getting Georgians back to work, back to school, and back to normal didn’t lead to more crime. The left’s anti-police, soft-on-crime agenda is to blame.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
According to the mayor, rising crime in our capital city is everyone’s fault but her’s. Getting Georgians back to work, back to school, and back to normal didn’t lead to more crime. 
The left’s anti-police, soft-on-crime agenda is to blame. <a href="https://t.co/RcjvW7wQaT">https://t.co/RcjvW7wQaT</a>
&mdash; Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1406304888200515588?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But Bottoms said the city is &#8220;doing every single thing we can,&#8221; urging young people to find jobs this summer. &#8220;We’re getting at least 1,000 young people to work this summer. That will help until we deal with systemic issues of the gun violence epidemic in this country &#8211; how easily young people, people with mental illness can access guns in this country.&#8221;
Last week, the Journal-Constitution took Bottoms to task in an <a href="https://www.ajc.com/opinion/opinion-mayor-bottoms-your-city-still-needs-you/P7B2DIDDVRHGVGNI2VT3H4LECU/">editorial</a>.
&#8220;That is not a sustainable place. We must do better,&#8221; the paper&#8217;s editors wrote. &#8220;So Mayor Bottoms your city and region still need you to be visible in this fight. You should be in front of the cameras at crime scenes. Admittedly, of late there are so many violent episodes that it’s likely impossible to visit more than a fraction of them. But you should give it a try; showing up to attest to what the city’s doing – or should be doing – to help stanch the violence.&#8221;
&#8220;Leading from the front – through visibility, action and results – serve as the best chance of keeping Buckhead as part of Atlanta. Your city still needs you, Mayor Bottoms. Please step back into the spotlight and lead the fight to make Atlanta and, by inference this region, a more-secure and safer place. Your actions just might make Atlanta a better place for us all. And it may help save lives on our streets.&#8221;

2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola – Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – Day 2

Atlanta Mayor Says Lifting Of Restrictions Contributed To City’s Soaring Crime Rate

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) Wednesday signed an <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=50644">executive order</a> to &#8220;mitigate the impact&#8221; of Georgia&#8217;s new election integrity law, known as The Election Integrity Act of 2021.
The new election bill that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law “&#8230; seeks to tighten up elections and reduce fraud by enforcing conformity across the state, amping up voter ID, restricting drop boxes, and expanding in-person voting, among additional election-related overhauls,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-gov-kemp-signs-massive-election-integrity-bill-protesting-democrat-cuffed-outside-kemps-office">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
Although Georgia has received <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-woke-corporations-who-condemned-georgia-while-still-doing-business-with-china">widespread criticism</a> from a number of corporations, Kemp said he was moving forward with his decision to sign the bill into law.
“I want to be clear: I will not be backing down from this fight,” Kemp said during a Saturday press conference after the MLB <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mlb-moves-all-star-game-to-colorado-which-has-voter-id-laws-significantly-less-diverse-than-georgia">decided to move</a> the All-Star game from Georgia to Colorado. “We will not be intimidated, and we will also not be silenced.”
According to the Atlanta mayor, the bill will hit minorities in Atlanta the hardest.
“The voting restrictions of SB 202 will disproportionately impact Atlanta residents—particularly in communities of color and other minority groups,” Bottoms said in a <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/13671/672">statement.</a> “This Administrative Order is designed to do what those in the majority of the state legislature did not—expand access to our right to vote.”
&#8220;&#8230; I am hereby directing the Chief Equity Officer to consult with the Department of Law and develop a plan of action to mitigate the impact on City of Atlanta residents of the voting restrictions imposed by Senate Bill 202,&#8221; the executive order states.
Lance Bottom&#8217;s executive order instructs the city&#8217;s non-emergency services department – ATL311 – to work with the mayor&#8217;s Office of Constituent Services to:
<ul>
<li>Train staffers on voter registration related to early, absentee and in-person voting.</li>
<li>Inform residents about how to obtain a valid form of identification for absentee voting.</li>
<li>Place QR codes with links to voter registration and absentee voting information on official mailings, like water bills.</li>
<li>Develop public service announcements that adequately articulate the new voting deadlines, timelines and requirements.</li>
</ul>
Democrats have<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-new-jim-crow-leftists-compare-georgias-election-integrity-bill-to-racist-segregation-laws"> repeatedly seized</a> on the Georgia election integrity law, saying cracking down on voter fraud is somehow comparable to the Jim Crow era.
Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/eb454">@eb454</a>.

2019 ESSENCE Festival Presented By Coca-Cola – Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – Day 2

Atlanta Mayor Lance Bottoms Signs Executive Order Circumventing GA Election Laws

Election

Election Laws

Georgia

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, has repeatedly called for Georgia state lawmakers to repeal election reforms signed into law last month, claiming corporate blowback to the law is understandable and expected.
Bottoms appeared on <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_this_morning/video/u_TJjWAcII8NhZLUQ29F09K1Kju0W4Wh/atlanta-mayor-on-mlb-relocating-all-star-game-from-georgia-over-controversial-voting-law/">CBS News</a> on Monday and blamed state lawmakers and GOP Gov. Brian Kemp for the blowback to the election reforms. She also encouraged corporations such as Major League Baseball and Delta Air Lines to continue speaking out against the reforms while failing to denounce decisions that will have negative impacts on her city.
MLB commissioner <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-mlb-moving-all-star-game-out-of-georgia-after-pressure-from-white-house">Rob Manfred</a> announced on Friday that the league was pulling its 2021 all-star game as well as its rookie draft out of Atlanta in protest of the election reforms. The state&#8217;s tourism industry is expected to lose at least $100 million in lost business, according to an official in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-county-that-voted-for-biden-to-lose-100-million-over-mlb-relocating-game-after-biden-remarks-report">Cobb County</a>, located just outside of the Atlanta area.
“I respect the decision. I understand the decision,” Bottoms said, referring to Manfred’s announcement. “But I don’t like the fact that we have been put in this position by our state legislature and our governor because the people of Georgia will suffer.”
“It’s not too late for the governor and the legislators to go back, do something differently,” she added. “They can go back in January, fix this very broken and ill-conceived law, or they can perhaps even go into special session over the next few months and make tweaks that will allow us to continue to be the open and welcoming state that we claim to be.”
She ceded the corporate backlash to the law will cause economic damage to her city and cost her residents and voters opportunities and jobs. When asked what she would want to see corporations do about the law, she responded, “just what corporations have done.”
“It looks like it’s going to be a very long and painful fight all the way around,” she continued. “But again, there is an opportunity to fix this. You have to know when to hold and know when to fold. This is hurting the economy of our state and that’s not good for anyone no matter what side of the aisle you are on.”
In several tweets over the weekend, she said the MLB “is likely the 1st of many dominoes to fall” and urged state lawmakers to reconsider the election reforms.
“Just as elections have consequences, so do the actions of those who are elected. Unfortunately, the removal of the @MLB All Star game from GA is likely the 1st of many dominoes to fall, until the unnecessary barriers put in place to restrict access to the ballot box are removed,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/KeishaBottoms/status/1378109262178648064">said</a>. “Boycotts in GA will hit the metro Atlanta hardest &amp; have a ripple effect across the state. Small businesses, corporations that support our communities, and everyday working people will suffer. It is not too late to right this sinking ship.”
“I am referencing the ability of the Legislature to reconsider the harm that has been done, not the decision of the @MLB,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/KeishaBottoms/status/1378114016023826432">clarified</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-braves-blast-mlb-for-moving-all-star-game-fans-in-georgia-are-the-victims">Atlanta Braves Blast MLB For Moving All-Star Game: ‘Fans In Georgia Are The Victims’</a>

Atlanta’s Democrat Mayor Sides With MLB On Boycott Costing Georgia $100+ Million

Voting

Members of the Atlanta city council proposed spending $1.6 million to hire a private security force specifically to protect the affluent Buckhead neighborhood amid a rise in gun violence, despite calls to &#8220;defund&#8221; the Atlanta police department.
The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/atlanta-georgia-shooting-buckhead-police-b1780440.html">Independent reports</a> that, following a shooting near a Buckhead mall that left a 7-year-old girl dead, Atlanta city leaders have been looking for a way to handle the city&#8217;s growing gun violence problem and, despite calling to defund the police earlier in the year, now want to splash out on a private security force to protect the city&#8217;s wealthier residents.
The city council has a full plan specifically for Buckhead, per a &#8220;<a href="https://sites.google.com/atlantapolicefoundation.org/the-buckhead-security-plan/home">Buckhead Security Plan&#8221; slide deck</a> made available on Monday. Objectives of the plan include, &#8220;Funding and establishing a supplementary, multi-car dedicated security patrol utilizing off-duty sworn officers of APD, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and Georgia State Patrol. The supplementary patrol will be for exclusive use within Buckhead commercial corridors and will be managed by the Zone 2 Commander at APD to augment on-duty APD patrol (NT).&#8221;
The police force is designed to work &#8220;in tandem&#8221; with existing law enforcement bureaus, and the city council is committing $125,000 to the effort initially. The <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/5-year-old-shot-critically-injured-while-riding-in-familys-vehicle/TZCXXETGBVDAVFCFSVERWGZHJY/">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a> puts the final cost of the program, however, at a cool $1.6 million.
&#8220;The private police are scheduled to start patrols in January,&#8221; the Independent notes.
Crime in Atlanta has been on an upward trend since May, as it has in most major cities. There have been more than 155 homicides in the city, &#8220;the most since 1998,&#8221; according to the outlet.
Atlanta&#8217;s authorities, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-keisha-bottoms-suggests-trump-responsible-for-8-year-old-girl-murdered-in-atlanta">as The Daily Wire reported earlier this week</a>, have been slow to accept responsibility for the surge. Atlanta&#8217;s police chief, Tuesday, blamed the coronavirus pandemic and the associated lockdowns for spurring the city&#8217;s residents to engage in criminal behavior.
“There are no other areas to socialize, people find themselves &#8211; there’s no football games to go to, there’s no high school football games to go to,&#8221; he said, suggesting that the only other alternative was to participate in violence.
Atlanta&#8217;s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who was once a front-runner to become Joe Biden&#8217;s Vice President, seemed completely at a loss.
&#8220;We owe it to our children, as well as to all of our communities, to do everything in our power to eliminate gun violence,&#8221; she said. &#8220;If there are solutions that we have not explored and enacted, I welcome the suggestions.”
Atlanta&#8217;s city council voted against &#8220;defunding the police,&#8221; <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/protests/atlanta-mayor-bottoms-on-defunding-police/85-bd8370a6-2a9b-48c5-a1ca-7d4cd85f37b4">per local media</a>, but Bottoms noted, over the summer, that city authorities could soon begin the process of rerouting funds destined for law enforcement initiatives to other community-focused efforts. Her statements<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-acknoweldges-police-morale-is-down-ten-fold-begs-officers-to-return-to-work-after-walkout"> appear to have been directly responsible</a> for a major decline in the police department&#8217;s overall morale and an associated &#8220;sick-out&#8221; that saw some officers walk off the job over the city&#8217;s decision to charge officer Garrett Rolfe with felony murder in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.
Bottoms later addressed officers directly, begging them to return to work.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-keisha-bottoms-suggests-trump-responsible-for-8-year-old-girl-murdered-in-atlanta">Related: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms Suggests Trump Responsible For 8-Year-Old Girl Murdered In Atlanta</a>

Keisha Bottoms

Atlanta Could Pay $1.6 Million For Private Security Force To Help Control Gun Violence

After a surge in murders in her city and harsh criticism from a city councilman who accused the city’s administration of lying about the “steady outflow of our officers,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who reportedly <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2020/12/13/atlanta-mayor-keisha-lance-bottoms-declines-role-in-biden-administration/">had been considered</a> for a position in presumptive President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet, responded by saying, “If there are solutions that we have not explored and enacted, I welcome the suggestions.”
As the <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/christmas-weekend-slayings-push-atlantas-homicide-count-to-22-year-high/FIC45K3CKJAPJFBDAE3FMLXP2Q/">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a> reported, “Atlanta’s homicide count is the highest it’s been in more than two decades following a violent Christmas weekend that left three people dead across the city.”
Last week, a seven-year-old girl, Kennedy Maxie, was shot in the head by a stray bullet while she was Christmas shopping with her family. She died on Saturday night.
City Councilman Howard Shook appeared to blast both Bottoms and Atlanta Police Interim Chief Rodney Bryant last week, asserting, “I don’t want to hear the word ‘uptick.’ Stop minimizing our concerns by telling us that ‘crime is up everywhere. Spare us from the lie that the steady outflow of our officers isn’t as bad as it is. And please, not another throw-away press conference utterly devoid of game-changing action steps.” The Journal-Constitution noted, “Both Bottoms and Atlanta police Interim Chief Rodney Bryant have used similar language when discussing the spike in homicides in recent months.”
Bottoms responded that focusing on violence across the nation is “not an abdication of responsibility, but an acknowledgement of the widespread severity of this issue. … While we continue to keep public safety as a top priority, senseless gun violence continues to impact innocent lives. If there are solutions that we have not explored and enacted, I welcome the suggestions, as I am always open to making the city that I am raising my children in a safer place for us all.”
In response to Maxie’s death, Bottoms <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/latest-loss-from-atlantas-rise-in-deadly-violence-a-7-year-old-girl/QBIZT7KZFBABRCGZQOHNGK5OUM/">stated</a>, “Our hearts are broken by the senseless murder of Kennedy. While the Atlanta Police Department has significant leads in the apprehension of those responsible, it does not erase the pain felt when a beautiful, vibrant and loving child is tragically taken from her family. We urge the public to continue to provide information that will lead to the arrests of the careless and heartless people responsible for Kennedy’s death.”
<a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/atlanta-police-numbers-2020/85-a54ace87-bed2-4d41-87b1-150a9b877672">11 Alive</a> reported on December 9: “The Atlanta Police Department says it is operating with fewer police officers now than it was at the start of the year. According to the department, there are 1,603 officers currently on the force, about 400 short of its &#8216;authorized strength&#8217; of 2,046 total officers.
Atlanta police spokesman Steve Avery stated, &#8220;We have been operating at less than full staffing for a while. The numbers fluctuate as people come and go.&#8221; He added that the turnover is &#8220;not out of line with what we are seeing with numerous departments across the nation today, due to the current climate surrounding policing in United States. The reasons for the attrition are varied, we have some officers opting for retirement, some deciding to pursue other careers outside of policing entirely, as well as officers taking advantage of opportunities with other departments outside of Atlanta.”

City Of Hope – Sylvia Rhone Spirit Of Life Kickoff Breakfast In Atlanta

Atlanta Mayor Slammed After Surge Of Murders, Responds, ‘I Welcome The Suggestions’

Atlanta, Georgia’s, community leaders are lashing out at that city’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, over what they say are disastrous “police reform” efforts that have left residents feeling unsafe — and may have resulted in a child’s death.
Atlanta, like many major cities, is in the midst of a violent crime wave that began in July, following massive, national anti-racism protests that demanded law enforcement agencies be defunded and in some cases, disbanded.
“As of July 11, 106 people were shot over a 28-day period, marking a sharp increase from 40 people during the same period in 2019, according to data compiled by the Atlanta Police Department,” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/violent-crime-surges-in-atlanta-amid-rising-unemployment-tensions-over-policing-11595237400">The Wall Street Journal reported</a> over the summer.
The situation hasn’t gotten better, and this past weekend, a 7-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet outside of a mall where her family had been Christmas shopping, <a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/police-identify-7-year-old-shot-family-drove-by-mall-while-christmas-shopping/45MC5IZC65ANTFUPKSZN2K2R7A/?outputType=amp&amp;outputType=amp&amp;__twitter_impression=true">according to local media</a>.
“Kennedy Maxie remains in critical condition after the shooting on Monday night. Maxie was in a car with her aunt when gunshots rang out,” local media reported. “Kennedy’s aunt says she didn’t realize her niece had been hit until a few miles later when she noticed she wasn’t feeling well in the back seat. She rushed her to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.”
The girl remains in critical condition.
Leaders, who say the incident is evidence that violence in Atlanta has gotten out of hand, blame the mayor and her police reform policies which, they claim, have made them and their communities less safe.
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“It is obvious that the civilian authorities do not control the streets and cannot provide even a token feeling of safety,” one former city council member said in a statement.
“It will take a lot to turn this around, he said, adding that there “are the three things we need to begin: Leadership; Some leadership; Any leadership.”
Another referenced Bottoms’ police reform efforts specifically.
“I don’t think that we’re doing effective policing right now because I don’t think we’re putting enough resources and attention to it like we are with the police reform work that we’re doing. We have to do both,” current city council member J.P. Matzigkeit said. “We have to tackle this. I have said that we are at war with crime, and we need to act like it.”
“I think society has overreacted,” another leader said of “defund the police” efforts. “I think it was an unfortunate reaction, and it had some serious morale results in the force. It would be great if the city did what I think is the government’s very first primary obligation, and that is to keep people safe.”
Atlanta hasn’t “defunded the police” — the city council voted down efforts to strip the Atlanta Police Department of funding — but Lance Bottoms has spoken approvingly of efforts to reform law enforcement and to “reallocate” its funding to alternative community efforts, <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/protests/atlanta-mayor-bottoms-on-defunding-police/85-bd8370a6-2a9b-48c5-a1ca-7d4cd85f37b4">per local media</a>.
“I think that a very simplified message is &#8216;defund the police,&#8217; but I think the overarching thing is that people want to see a reallocation of resources into community development and alternatives to just criminalizing&#8230;behavior, so I think it&#8217;s incumbent upon us to help people articulate that frustration,&#8221; she told reporters over the summer.
The city council, fearful that police have responded to calls for reform by scaling back their crime control efforts, is even saying they’ll consider hiring a private security force to supplement the Atlanta PD if that becomes necessary.
About the weekend’s shooting, Bottoms seemed at a loss, saying, in a statement that, “We owe it to our children, as well as to all of our communities, to do everything in our power to eliminate gun violence. If there are solutions that we have not explored and enacted, I welcome the suggestions.”
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‘Police Reform’ Efforts Behind Atlanta Crime Wave, Leaders Say

Defund The Police

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, 50, who drew attention for participating in summer protests, calling out looters, and enacting strong COVID-19 policies, declined an offer to serve in a Joe Biden administration, according to a statement from her office.
“Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was honored to have been offered a role in the Cabinet, which she respectfully declined,” Rashad Taylor, a senior advisor to Bottoms, told AJC. “The Mayor’s focus remains on the people of Atlanta and the great state of Georgia.”
“Out of respect for the process, and the other candidates under consideration, no additional comment will be forthcoming on this matter at this time,” said Taylor.
New Yorker staff writer Charles Bethea reported Friday that Bottoms had been offered the position of ambassador to the Bahamas, but Taylor denied the claim. The Biden transition team also denied offering an ambassadorship, reports The Washington Post.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Mayor Bottoms&#8217; Press Secretary did not immediately offer comment when reached this morning. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gapol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#gapol</a> (2/2)
— Charles Bethea (@charlesbethea) <a href="https://twitter.com/charlesbethea/status/1337421973421518853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
It’s not clear what position Bottoms was offered, but she has been floated as a candidate for several cabinet-level positions, including the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/atlanta-mayor-declines-role-in-incoming-biden-administration/2020/12/12/30b78404-3cd4-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html">The Washington Post</a>.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), who served as housing secretary in the Clinton administration, and who later went on to become attorney general of New York, and is now reportedly one of several people under consideration to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-cuomo-among-several-contenders-for-biden-ag">lead the Justice Department</a>.
Bottoms endorsed Biden for president back in 2019, the day after Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-biden-campaign-vetting-keisha-lance-bottoms-mayor-who-admonished-rioters-for-vp">attacked him for his opposition to forced bussing</a> in the 1970s, and for working alongside segregationists while in the U.S. Senate to pass legislation.
Then in June 2020, reports emerged that the Biden campaign was vetting Bottoms to join Biden on the Democratic ticket, a move that coincided with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), once among Biden’s presumptive top picks, falling out of favor. The senior Minnesota senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klobuchar-drops-out-of-veep-contention-put-a-woman-of-color-on-that-ticket">withdrew her name from the list</a> of vice presidential hopefuls about a week later, and said she believed it was time to “put a woman of color on that ticket.”
In July, Bottoms again made headlines when she said she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-bucks-georgia-mask-mandate-prohibition-says-shes-not-afraid-of-lawsuit-georgia-sues">wasn’t concerned about enacting a mask mandate</a>, despite Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s (R) legal opposition to cities passing their own mask mandates. (Kemp still encouraged people to voluntarily wear masks while out in public, except when eating, drinking or exercising).
“I love to quote Audre Lorde,” said Bottoms, in reference to the 20th-century American feminist and writer. “She says, ‘I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.’ I am not afraid of the city being sued and I will put our policies up against anyone’s, any day of the week.”
Kemp filed a lawsuit against Atlanta and other Georgia cities later that day, but the lawsuit was dropped about a month later, reports <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgia-gov-kemp-drops-lawsuit-against-atlanta-mayor-over-coronavirus-restrictions-11597347685">The Wall Street Journal</a>.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Former VP Contender, Turns Down Team Biden Offer

During an appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) ripped President Trump as she discussed two runoff elections in Georgia coming in January that will decide which political party controls the U.S. Senate.
Host Anderson Cooper asked Bottoms if Trump&#8217;s continued claims of voter fraud is intended to “rile up his base” to get them to the Georgia polls in January.
“How do you think it plays electorally?” Cooper asked.
“This has been a fascinating year, especially if you watch politics,” Bottoms said, “to even see the Republican president turn on the Republican secretary of state [of Georgia], whom he endorsed, and if you watch his Twitter feed —”
“He’ll turn on anybody if the situation warrants it, it seems,” Cooper said.
“He will eat his own children, I’m sure, if he found it prudent,” Bottoms said. “But he’s now picking a fight with Brian Kemp, also the governor who he was closely allied with. And so it’s my hope that even if people did not vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that they will be so disappointed and disgusted by this behavior. [As] you look at the transition, the lack of transition that’s happening, you look at our COVID numbers that are rising in the state and across the country, there’s so many reasons not to be supportive of Donald Trump at this point, and any candidates who are aligned with him.&#8221;
“So it’s my hope that when people go back to the polls on Jan. 5 they will remember that because in Georgia, Joe Biden got a nice portion of Republican-leaning votes in this state and also many independent swing voters in this state went for Joe Biden, and it’s our hope that will happen Jan. 5,&#8221; the mayor said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;He will eat his own children, I&#8217;m sure, if he found it prudent,&#8221; says Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of President Trump turning on members of the GOP that don&#8217;t support his agenda.
&#8220;He&#8217;s now picking a fight with Brian Kemp&#8230; the Governor who he was closely allied with.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/uwBwVuvajt">pic.twitter.com/uwBwVuvajt</a>
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) <a href="https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1329248616855310336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
Trump has been vocal about the vote tally in Georgia, which puts Biden up by just over 20,000 votes.
&#8220;The Georgia recount is a joke and is being done UNDER PROTEST,&#8221; Trump wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Even though thousands of fraudulent votes have been found, the real number is in matching signatures. Governor must open up the unconstitutional Consent Decree and call in the Legislature!&#8221;
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The Georgia recount is a joke and is being done UNDER PROTEST. Even though thousands of fraudulent votes have been found, the real number is in matching signatures. Governor must open up the unconstitutional Consent Decree and call in the Legislature!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1329069814195871744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump went on, saying, “Even though thousands of fraudulent votes have been found, the real number is in matching signatures. Governor [Kemp] must open up the constitutional Consent Decree and call in the Legislature!”
The Nov. 3 elections in Georgia did not decide who would serve in the Senate because the winning candidate must receive more than 50% of the vote. So both of the U.S. Senate races have been sent to runoff elections on Jan. 5. In one race, Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff, and in the other, Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler will battle Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlanta-mayor-keisha-bottoms-suggests-trump-responsible-for-8-year-old-girl-murdered-in-atlanta">Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms Suggests Trump Responsible For 8-Year-Old Girl Murdered In Atlanta</a>

Atlanta Mayor Suggests Trump Would ‘Eat His Own Children’ To Advance Agenda

Former Atlanta Police Department officer Garrett Rolfe filed a lawsuit against Atlanta Democrat Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and interim police Chief Rodney Bryant this week to get his job back, saying that his firing was unconstitutional.
Rolfe filed the suit on Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court after he was fired earlier this summer and charged with 11 counts, including felony murder, in the death of Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy&#8217;s restaurant back in June.
His lawsuit states that his use of force against Brooks, who fired a taser at Rolfe as he ran away from police, &#8220;was proper and in compliance with Georgia law.&#8221;
The lawsuit says that Rolfe was terminated &#8220;without an investigation, without proper notice, without a pre-disciplinary hearing, and in direct violation of the municipal code of the city of Atlanta.&#8221;
Rolfe noted in the lawsuit that the other officer involved, Devin Brosnan, was not fired and was instead placed on administration leave, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-atlanta-officer-charged-rayshard-brooks-death-sues-over-firing-n1235933">NBC News</a>.
&#8220;Many other city of Atlanta police officers who have been charged with crimes, including felonies, have remained employed during the investigation and pendency of their criminal charges,&#8221; the lawsuit said.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/da-says-brooks-wasnt-threat-toward-cop-he-shot-taser-at-said-two-weeks-ago-taser-is-considered-a-deadly-weapon">said</a> that the reason that Rolfe was charged was because Brooks “did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or officers.”
Yet, a couple of weeks earlier, Howard charged a police officer “for pointing a taser” at someone because a taser was considered to be a “deadly weapon” under Georgia law.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-bureau-of-investigation-responds-to-d-a-s-charges-we-werent-consulted-investigation-not-over">said</a> after Howard&#8217;s announcement of the charges that they were never consulted about the charges and that the investigation was not over.
“The GBI was not aware of today’s press conference before it was conducted,” GBI added. “We were not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney. Despite today’s occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/criminal-investigation-expanded-into-district-attorney-who-charged-officers-in-rayshard-brooks-shooting">The GBI is currently investigating Howard</a> over the subpoena&#8217;s Howard&#8217;s office issued in the case regarding Rolfe.
Howard issued grand jury subpoenas directing the Atlanta Police Department to turn over its “open investigation regarding Garrett Rolfe and the use of force incident.” Fox 5 Atlanta <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/exclusive-gbi-probe-of-fulton-county-da-paul-howard-widens">reports</a>:
<blockquote>The subpoena required that the documents be turned over for the “Grand Jury, June/July term on the of 14th day of July.” Other grand jury subpoenas were issued for phone and surveillance camera videos.</blockquote>
The grand jury subpoenas were reportedly issued while the grand jury was suspended. The grand jury “had been suspended on March 13 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The issuing of grand jury subpoenas while there is no grand jury could be “an ethical or possibly criminal issue,” according to legal experts who spoke with Fox 5.
Gable Cino, who is a law professor that specializes in prosecutorial misconduct, told the outlet, “It would be a violation of criminal law to make a knowingly false statement or misrepresentation in the subpoena which is a document that has been issued.”

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