The Ron Show

Ho hum; another mass shooting in the US takes the lives of two (hopefully that'll be all) and inuring nearly three dozen more in rural Vienna, Georgia over the weekend. The existence of a block party didn't cause it. The town not having a police department didn't cause it. That 'everybody's packing' in rural Dooly County (and throughout Georgia and the U.S., let's be ho...

PLUS: Rick Jackson's shadowy TX data center project is as shadowy as that PAC ad campaign he swears he wasn't tied to before he got into the GOP primary. The Georgia Elections Board thought now was the time to ⁠ invite the Trump Department of Justice to intervene on the state's use of touchscreen voting machines and QR codes to tabulate votes ⁠ -less than two weeks before early voting...

Also, why are Georgians pessimistic about the future? Could it be that the GOP's created a miserable 'current' for the middle class? Thank goodness there's still remnants of sanity in our legal system despite the flood of Trump-appointed ne'er do-wells. The latest Trump administration judicial loss being the rebuff of the Trump Department of Justice having access to sensitive v...

PLUS: Where's Geoff, Mike and ... Stacey? Former Biden DOJ special prosecutor Jack Smith was made to testify under oath before a Senate Judiciary committee hearing, and Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt (R) "outed" Smith ... as a Caitlin Clark fan ... while trying to "gotcha" Jack into confessing he'd been to Atlanta - because he was at a Hawks/Warriors game on February 3,...

Georgia Humanities' President Mary McCartin Wearn wrote a salient op-ed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution that fills in a lot of gaps in Rick Jackson's made-for-TV (ads) autobiography. From Team Jackson, you'd believe, he singularly overcame his broken family, alcoholic mother, being a foster child and living in Techwood Homes, without much mention of (as the AJC detailed in a 2015...

If you're like many Americans who spend the weekend absorbing football games on Saturday and Sunday, it was awful hard to miss that spray-tanned, purse-lipped face that won't let us escape his orbit anytime soon. Between his appearing at half the Texas-Tennessee college game Saturday (wreaking havoc on the coaches' communication equipment) to the Air Force One flyover at halftime (seri...

Upon review of my upbringing - between my Mom's almost all-black female staff of co-workers (who'd often babysit my sister and I) and some of my earliest educators in elementary school, to my college (and still) bestie Sonya - I've been influenced by African-American in ways that I have to conclude shaped my civil rights, political and sociological views over time. I'm not saying t...

It's a plan that worked for Donald Trump in 2024: when faced with the prospect of getting his debate clock cleaned by a more veteran politician (who I suppose just happens to be a black woman), Rick Jackson is making history in ditching debate after debate . Jackson said 'no' to WXIA-TV/Tegna, was a no-show at a Macon debate, and has now stiff-armed the Atlanta Press Club's debate...

Cathy Woolard is someone I've long admired - as a trailblazing out politician in Atlanta, one of the early believers in the Atlanta Beltline project and for just being a grounded and outspoken liberal in a sea of right wing nonsense (often appearing on FOX-5's "The Georgia Gang" having to smack down silliness from the likes of Phil Kent). That she's leaving a city she's p...

With less than 45 days to the midterm election, it was great catching up with metro Atlanta-based political consultant (Sagamore Hill Consulting) Andrew Heaton to talk Bottoms-Jackson, Collins-Ossoff, and down-ballot opportunities for Georgia Democrats, too.

I'm a diehard 'Bernie Sanders' progressive and yet I often find myself at odds with 'litmus test-driven' progressives who - in my opinion - poison their movement (whichever one it might be) by being unforgiving or intransigent purists. I happen to think that's playing out now with the whole Ed Sheeran / Macklemore flap and there's evidence of it when Sheeran can't g...

Being a former pop music radio exec, I know a lot about both Macklemore and Ed Sheeran; enough to know their character and a good bit about the business side of what they do. I mention that because I've seen a lot of vilification of both: Macklemore by pro-Israeli people who think that nation's military actions in Gaza are/were fully justified and can see no wrong done by anyone involved,...

The latest Rasmussen poll on the Georgia gubernatorial race seems a bit of a Jackson-leaning outlier , but its there are some unmistakable truths: 1) the early lead Keisha Lance Bottoms seemed to enjoy in most polls has shrunk and 2) Rick Jackson's campaign, its allies and party have WAY more to spend than Bottoms' campaign, allies and the Democratic Party of Georgia . The Georgia Senate p...

The Supreme Court, this week, pulled the reins on the Trump administration's intent to use the United States Postal Service - to curb mail-in voting this cycle. Good! Does this mean we're at the precipice of swinging momentum away from the dark Trump chapter in American history? Leave nothing to chance, I say, and underestimate that man and his minions at your own peril, but time is - and...

Adam Cleveland , husband, father, UGA alum, handyman-turned-lawyer is now also a politician - the Democratic nominee for state House District 48. He joined me Tuesday to explain why he felt he had to upend his ideal life to step into the fray to defend democracy in trying to help flip the Georgia House for the Democratic Party. His district (R+9 in 2024) is one of a handful in the state and among...

Ariel Hart, writing for the Georgia Recorder and States' Newsrooms, covered the rollout of GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson's healthcare coverage initiative in a piece Ron reviewed. Details are lacking while bluster and proclamations were offered in abundance. He did say he'd be 'Trump with a southern accent,' though, so that shouldn't be a surprise. On Trump, it&#3...

On the 25th anniversary of the horrific three-pronged terror attack on American soil, Ron assesses where the United States is, societally, diplomatically and politically. Are we any less Islamophobic a society? Ehh. As the mayor of New York City, ⁠ Zohran Mamdani gave remarks at Ground Zero ⁠ - which drew (Islamophobic) outrage. Okay, but are we less-prone to involving our military in a Middle Eas...

Years and decades from now historians and psychoanalysts will dissect the Trump era and Donald's chronic need to lie about his accomplishments and whereabouts - never mind the narcissism and predatory behavior in so many facets of his life. That said, his predilection for perpetrating himself as a military hero (despite avoiding service in the Vietnam era) and now with his post-9/11 behavior b...

PLUS: Rick Jackson's effective ads vs Keisha Lance Bottoms' retail style - which will win? The Rick Jackson campaign has taken a two-pronged approach in the race to be Georgia's next governor: portray him in a softer, more human role with his past foster advocacy while also running those nefarious-toned attack ads against his opponent. My take? It seems to be working, and polls show he...

Shawn Harris , vying to unseat Republican Clay Fuller in Georgia's 14th Congressional district, is also a cattle farmer, and like many in the trade, is suffering mightily under Trump's looming beef import plan. Hear how it's literally impacting his and other farmers' wallets, and how Harris' dogged pursuit to represent the rural northwest Georgia district once held by Marjorie...

At Cobb County's 'Back to School' faculty rally, superintendent (and Trump fan-boy) went off on a 12-plus minutes long political bender that sent dozens of Cobb educators heading for the aisles and exits, prompting scrutiny from the school system. On with me to discuss the event, the tone, the aftermath and the intimidatory effect of the grilling teachers are taking (will there be disc...

Donald Trump's March executive order aiming to curb mail-in voting (except for when he uses it, of course) drew swift legal action from dozens of states and voter rights organizations, and to hear the Supreme Court's conservative majority rationalize it, it's the swiftness to act that drew their rebuke. At issue, though, is a little-known precedent -the Purcell principle. From CNN: &qu...

Marilyn Marks, executive director at the Coalition for Good Governance , has long warned that Georgia's physical set-up for voting at precincts - using illuminated touch screens - violates Georgia Constitutional law by denying one's right to privacy when voting. It turns out, that's not the only way "ne'er do wells" can find out how you voted: she tipped off a Princeton U...

PLUS: Alpharetta's aversion to icky renters & why would a Billy Linville crossover endorsement matter when Rick cant' get Burt on board? Earlier this week, the Democratic Party announced its finalists for the 2028 DNC convention and Atlanta didn't make the shortlist (Denver, Philadelphia and Boston all did); a decision that - on its face - is sort of inexplicable given Georgia'...

Medicaid expansion, predatory lending (to hospitals from the likes of Rick Jackson's Jackson Healthcare), vaccine confusion, gun (and school) safety, and a post-primary vibe check ... all that in Thursday's conversation with Georgia House Rep. Dr. Michelle Au (HD 50).