Free Republic

Georgia’s voting deadline is unambiguous: Absentee ballots are due when the polls close on Election Day. Late arrivals are meant to be set aside, stored, and eventually destroyed without being opened. That’s what state law says, and the way to protect democratic legitimacy in an anxious age is to run elections by the book. But in the Twilight Zone of 2020, everything is apparently up for grabs. Last Monday a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that orders Georgia officials to count all ballots postmarked by Election Day, even if they don’t show up until three days later. The suit...

Organizers were in for a surprise when 4,000 boats arrived from the originally anticipated 700 in support of reelecting President Donald J. Trump.

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There were several Trump Boat Parades scheduled today around the country.Huge Trump Boat Parades took place in New Jersey and on the Potomac on Sunday. Also on Sunday there was a boat parade on Lake Lanier in Georgia. Organizers expected 700 boats — 4,000 showed up! – Organizers anticipated roughly 700 boats would participate in the inaugural “Great American Boat Parade” Sunday on Lake Lanier, however, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources says nearly 4,000 showed up. https://t.co/q1UjFQzQmB— Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 6, 2020 Absolutely incredible boat parade for @realDonaldTrump on #LakeLanier pic.twitter.com/jQn1CmdHC6— Humble Hippie 🇺🇸 (@surprisesomefr1) September 6, 2020 Georgia...

GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports on vaping associated risks to young people. Despite raising the age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, teenagers and even preteens are still at risk of exposure and addiction to vaping, pediatric pulmonologist Dr. Christy Sadreameli of Johns Hopkins says. “(Vaping) is the most common way that young people are using tobacco products and getting hooked on nicotine, which can be a lifelong addiction,” she said. Georgia’s high school vaping rate is 17%, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is lower than the national average of 27%. One...

U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., is demanding that Frontier Airlines officials explain why a gate agent banned an air marshal from wearing an American flag-themed mask on a flight. The agent at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta claimed other passengers would find his mask "offensive," according to Collins. "This infringement of a law enforcement officer's right to free speech was clearly a decision made by one of your gate agents based on their own politics," he wrote. "This is made even more clear by the fact that many passengers allowed to board the flight in this incident were permitted to...

ATLANTA — An exclusive new poll shows President Donald Trump is widening his lead in Georgia following the Democratic and Republican conventions. The latest Channel 2 Action News/Landmark Communications poll surveyed 500 likely voters about who they would vote for following the conventions.

A federal judge on Monday extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be returned in Georgia, ruling that they must be counted if postmarked by Election Day and delivered up to three days afterward. The decision will likely result in tens of thousands of ballots being counted after Nov. 3 that would have otherwise been rejected, enough to swing close elections. The ruling invalidates Georgia’s requirement that ballots had to be received at county election offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day. U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross wrote that voters must be protected during the coronavirus pandemic, when record numbers...

by Greg Reynolds The suspect in an Aug. 25 AutoZone stabbing in Georgia made his first appearance in court today. And what he told the court should give leftist BLM goons -- and their Democrat allies -- pause, if they had any conscience at all. But, more likely this disturbing story will be sent down the memory hole by the national media, who will pretend it never happened, along with all the other "mostly peaceful" racist violence (32 dead nationwide by one count), rioting, looting and property destruction causes by BLM and ANTIFA Marxists over the past 3 months...

The U.S. Marshals Service announced the results of 'Operation Not Forgotten' on Thursday. For two weeks in August, U.S. Marshals and other agencies searched the areas around Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, looking for missing and exploited children. As a result, they recovered 26 children and found 13 others who had been missing. Investigators say these children were considered to be some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area.

Black Lives Matter protesters accosted Georgia State Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat, as he left the White House to walk to his hotel after President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) Thursday night. The group of protesters shouted obscenities at Jones and the woman accompanying him. Some recognized him from his speech at the RNC and demanded that he say the name of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Louisville.

Washington, DC – The U.S. Marshals Service Missing Child Unit, in conjunction with the agency’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Georgia state and local agencies, led a two-week operation in August in Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, to rescue endangered missing children. “Operation Not Forgotten” resulted in the rescue of 26 children, the safe location of 13 children and the arrest of nine criminal associates. Additionally, investigators cleared 26 arrest warrants and filed additional charges for alleged crimes related to sex trafficking, parental kidnapping, registered sex offender violations, drugs and weapons...

Law Enforcement Today has received numerous reports from law enforcement sources in Atlanta that a number of officers have come under attack as riots are popping off in the city. Heavily armed groups of protestors have been seen in the streets. Images are starting to flood in now of what’s happening. Rioters are laying down metal slabs, reportedly to block emergency responders from being able to get to the scene. The riots are said to be in “solidarity” with protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the shooting of an armed criminal.

A clothing store in downtown Savannah, Georgia, raised some eyebrows recently when it waived a $20 appointment fee for black customers and other people of color while keeping the fee intact for white customers, WJCL-TV reported. "Most of the feedback has been that our decision to waive this refundable deposit is racist because it favors people of color, black people, and indigenous people," Blunk added the station. However, the store said that white customers who don't have $20 for an appointment can select the "don't agree" on the booking form so the booking manager can reach out and come up...

Vernon Jones, a Georgia Democrat state Rep., said during the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday that the Democrats are “infected” with the “pandemic” of “bigotry, socialism, and anti-law enforcement bias.” Jones garnered national headlines after he came out in support of President Donald Trump. He noted that a “lifelong Democrat” might seem like an odd picture at the Republican National Convention; however, he charged that the Democrat Party does not “want Black people to leave the mental Plantation they’ve had us on for decades.” The Georgia lawmaker charged that Trump is the “president that America needs to lead us...

Vernon Jones, a Democratic state representative from Georgia, speaks during the 2020 Republican National Convention about why he's voting for President Donald Trump.

The chances of President Trump getting reelected in November are looking extremely good, Newt Gingrich said Saturday night. "I'm predicting that it will be a dramatically bigger victory than people currently expect," the former House speaker from Georgia said during an appearance on Fox News' "Watters' World." A Trump victory is "beginning to build," Gingrich added.

President Donald Trump’s campaign wants to counter the Republicans who spoke up for Joe Biden during the Democratic National Convention this week with some across-the-aisle pizzazz. State Rep. Vernon Jones, the only state Democratic official in Georgia to endorse Trump, is set to lead the effort. The DeKalb Democrat plans to speak on Monday at the kickoff of the four-day Republican convention, officials said Monday. He’s the only Georgian on a list of dozens of names of speakers released by RNC organizers. Since he endorsed Trump in April, Jones has become one of the president’s key surrogates in Georgia. He’s...

Finally, the AJC should remember that our rights are worth protecting, even during a crisis. The paper chided my decision to protect private property owners from government overreach and urge – not mandate – Georgians to wear masks. This is still America, right? The only way to beat COVID-19 is by having all Georgians make smart decisions. You can mandate masks and issue stay-at-home orders, but every person will ultimately decide what to follow and what to ignore. People – not government – stop the spread. Georgians doing the right thing will make a difference, not smug editorials. This is...

At the 1952 GOP Convention, the outcome of the nomination battle been Sen Robert Taft of Ohio and General of the Army Dwight D Eisenhower would turn on whose delegates would be seated from three Southern states — Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. In this memorable speech, Taft ally Sen Everett Dirksen deployed all of his renowned eloquence for 30 minutes - apparently without notes or teleprompter! - to make the case for the Taft delegates ( and to take a famous swipe at NY Gov Tom Dewey, who was managing the Eisenhower floor campaign, but had “led us down to...