The Ron Show

Took Labor Day off (sort of) and opted to share some prior conversations today, with newly-minted American citizen (and my close friend0 Ludwig, my friend & co-founder/president of American Haircuts (and SAG-AFTRA actor) David Alexander, Alabama NAACP s state chapter chair Bernard Simelton and inclusive baptist minister Grant Myerholtz.

Covid's rearing its nefarious head again, so I figured I'd ask: what are you going to do when a new booster rolls out later this month? Are you prone to wearing a mask in close quarters? CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some "common sense" advice on how we handle it, if we feel symptoms. The antivax folks got me to thinking about that scene in "Avenue 5" where a big contingent of passenger on the space...

Governor Brian Kemp spent more time dousing the hardly-flickering embers of Sen. Colton Moore's efforts to have Fulton DA Fani WIllis removed and/or "defunded" than he did talking hurricane aftermath at a press conference pretty much called for news about the state's post-Idalia efforts. Hear what he had to say (and what I had to say about what he had to say). I'd called on Rep. Nikema WIlliams, a...

Rudy G got popped in federal court today, and will have to shell out (a minimum) of $13k to Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss - the twu Fulton County elections workers he targeted with false accusations of wrongdoing on election night, November 2020. Hear how the judge dressed him and his attorney down. There's a brewing revolt (and walkout) at the iconic Atlanta Magazine, as anti-woke corporate pin-heads...

Yesterday's judicial surprise - former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows showing up to testify for HOURS in an effort to get his trial moved to federal court - is perhaps a bit of a dogwhistle, I think. Never mind that defendants of color have spent many a decade - for more than a century, really - not enjoying the benefit of a jury that's more to their hue. There's also the curious way Vivek Rama...

Trump's trial date set - an OBVIOUS ploy to derail his presidential campaign, right? I mean, whose fault is that, anyway? It's what former North Carolina governor called "the power of Trump" that freezes the GOP and other presidential hopefuls from DOING something about it - and his even BEING a viable candidate anymore. Then there's Vivek's nonsensical 'Meet the Press' appearance and Bernie Sande...

Call it "afterglow," if you wish. Now that Donald Trump's been printed & photographed and paid his bond (with the aid of a bail bondsman?), today's show was going to be lighter and more airy, but first let's revisit Donald's tarmac tirade and Laura Ingraham's hilarious hyperbole last night. My returning guest today was Susan Greenhagl from "Free Speech for People." She collaborated with Ben Clemen...

Pretty explosive story from the Cobb County Courier exposing how recent county school board book bans didn't stem from parent/guardian complaints at all, but from "Libs of TikTok." Journalist Becky Gaunt joins me to share details from her story and how the facts all came together for it. I'm also joined by Andrew Lawrence, deputy director for rapid response at Media Matters for America, to critiqu...

My first guest today is BRAND-NEW American citizen Ludwig, my good friend from the Dominican Republic. Hear his experience - and how his pathway to citizenship lends him to having empathy for asylum-seekers today. Donnell Suggs from the Atlanta Voice joins me to give me bits from the circus scene outside the Fulton County Jail as Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani all get booked & post b...

When right wing (white nationalist) efforts to demonize major cities with "crime" tropes - as Donald Trump has to Atlanta and district attorney Fani Willis - their falsities need to be called out. Freelance journalist George Chidi joins me to do just that. We also talk - at length - about the city's fumbling the P.R. pooch when it comes to "Cop City." I head northward to check in with Cobb Associa...

A "potpourri" sort of show today. Atlanta's Democratic party-membered civic leadership is going with 'signature matching' - the same technique the state party sued the state to stop using - to verify the 104,000+ signatures the 'Cop City Vote' organizers collected. The lack of self-awareness with the mayor & council here is stunning. From Erick Erickson's "The Gathering," let's eavesdrop in on som...

*From 'Purple' to Blue* Independent tribunal, be damned! A GOP majority Cobb County Board of Education needs to pander to its base, so elementary school teacher Katie Rinderle simply *had* to lose her job to please the (not so) "silent (not at all) majority." Plenty to say about that. Speaking of the minority party still running roughshod over the idea of "democracy" in now-solidly blue Cobb, comm...

Deplorables Gonna Deplorable - The Rest We Can Dialogue With Today we learn some in the "basket of deplorables" are publishing Fulton grand juror names, addresses and social media accounts to give rise to intimidation by the far right. Deplorable. As is Marjorie Taylor Green for her latest screed on OANN - we have the audio. Other than that, I'm back on the "hear people out" mantra - even Erick Er...

While the conservative right delights in Target quarterly earnings numbers and Bud LIght's slumping sales, it's not the LGBTQIA+ getting popped in work trucks trying to meet a 14-year old girl for some "adult fun" in Cobb County. I'm begging my friends and listeners on the left: do not brush off Oliver Anthony nor the spirit behind his viral song "Rich Men North of Richmond." Also newly minted Rep...

Indictment Afterglow Fani ain't playing, and the grand jury handed over indictments for Donald Trump and 18 co-conspirators. Hear Fani's presser, catch some of the peripheral damage done, then let's focus on the wildly disparate news coverage from last night, too. While CNN and MSNBC did their best to "report" with hints of anti-Trump reaction, Fox News was out in far-right field. Media Matters fo...

So the Stop Cop City folks say they already have 80,000+ signatures to get a referendum on the ballot, but will keep collecting until next Monday. Former state & federal prosecutor and legal volunteer Alex Joseph joined me to discuss. It's Trump-a-palooza at the Fulton County courthouse as we await indictments, but in the meanwhile, a "who's who" of witnesses marched in to testify today. First, we...

Today Attorney General Merrick Garland did what many right wing pundits and pols INSISTED he needed to do, and today many of those right wing blowhards are ... angry? Make. It. Make. Sense. Incidentally, I awoke today to a fantastic, balanced look at the whole "Hunter Biden inquiry" from The New York Times' daily newsletter, "The Morning." I review it today. Hey, while we're talking "influence ped...

A MAGA-fied whackjob spent weeks all but promising to take out President Biden by sniper attack (even displaying the weaponry he'd use) gets taken out by authorities, and you'd think right wing pundits viewed him as some sort of misunderstood war hero, a victim of authoritarian overreach - a la Philando Castile or something. Even Glenn Beck is whining that the FBI over-reacted. Wait, they "overrea...

COVID rates are on the rise locally and regionally, and the CDC notes there's a new omicron variant likely pushing the numbers. Tomorrow morning, Cobb County teacher Katie Rinderle begins facing the music - all for reading a harmless little book titled "My Shadow Is Purple" - after a fifth grade student bought it at a school book fair and her class voted on it to be read. We covered this back on J...

A recent (current, maybe?) health scare on my part has me furious with corporate healthcare and I'm left wondering: when are we going to say "enough is enough" with the over-corporatizing of every facet of our economy? Atlanta Voice editor-in-chief Donnell Suggs is my guest today, discussing the latest from Donald Trump MORE than inferring that Fulton County DA Fani Willis has had (or is having) a...

"That Guy In That Thing ..." After a little headline-surfing ( we gotta talk ⁠Montgomery brawl⁠, after all ...), I got to sit down with my good friend ⁠David Alexander⁠, president and co-founder of local upscale barber chain, American Haircuts. He's also an actor - having played in several television shows and notable movies the last twelve years - everything from 'Hillbilly Elegy' to 'House of Ca...

Raffy's swag & Donald's got 'goat' problems Brad Raffensperger has his swagger, again; he ⁠spoke earlier this week to the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce⁠ and had some choice words for reporters, afterwards, about the legitimacy of 2020. First, on the indictments he said he felt "sorrowful," but not sorry, to be sure. He also ⁠stood his ground⁠ (as he did on the "perfect beautiful" phone call) on the...

So ... What If We're The Bad Guys, Here? David Brooks, New York Times' opinion writer - notably centerish-right in being so - wrote an interesting piece yesterday. In it he posited that - perhaps while the world wonders just how the Trump voter continues to be loyal to him - it may be that - in the mind of such a voter - the political establishment and the prevalence of a "meritocracy" for the bet...

I'm desperate to talk about ANYthing other than the LATEST in a long long line of indictments against you-know-who, so good news! A west Georgia highway makes the top 50 list of "most dangerous," and I'm quite familiar with it. Of course we'll cover the latest indictments, too, and MARVEL at the sad, pathetic & bootlicking reactions from the right.

Naturally JUST as today's show ends, another batch of Trump indictments hit the fan. Go figure. Speaking of the gilded one, we're seeing signs of that looming batch from Fulton County DA Fani Willis coming (I say by August 18th) as two key eyewitnesses to "fake elector" gatherings are subpoenaed just as we get head-to-head polling showing Donald and POTUS Joe neck-and-neck at 43% each. Fear not, t...