The Ron Show

⁠Mark Zuckerberg announced ⁠earlier this week that Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) is getting out of the "fact-checking" business - just eight years after allowing itself to be a useful tool for Russian and pro-Trump disinformation left unchecked. Noteworthy that they're rolling this out "only" in the United States (to start with, anyway, he says ...) and on the heels of Donald Trump's t̶h̶r̶e...

Friend of the show, Marilyn Marks - executive director of the ⁠Coalition for Good Governance⁠ - joined me for a wall-to-wall conversation on election integrity in the state of Georgia. First, on the day President Carter left Georgia to be eulogized in the nation's capitol, Marilyn shared ⁠a story from Carter's political launch⁠ when he overcame a party "boss" ballot-stuffing on behalf of Carter's...

I wanted to share the touching tributes from President Jimmy Carter's friends and loved ones today, and told myself that's what I'd do, yesterday. Then I awoke today realizing the date - January 6th - and I couldn't do it. We're 23-plus years removed from 9/11 and it feels as if too many of us lost as much track of January 6, 2021 in just four years as we have that fateful day nearly a quarter cen...

In the wake of the terror attack on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street, President-elect Donald Trump made the (il)logical leap to tie the Biden administration's border actions to the carnage. Nevermind that it took mere hours for investigators to learn the murderous thug was an American-born former Army veteran who grew up Baptist but converted to Islam before being radicalized. Did Donald Trump do...

Today we're just coming to grips with the horror levied on dozens of revelers on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year's Day, and I found it notable that Ken Suguira, a sports writer with the Atlanta Journal Constitution ⁠penned - in my mind - one of the more poignant pieces of journalism from the scene⁠. There to cover the University of Georgai's football game, he was, instead, thrust int...

The New York Times released an ⁠11-minute video with never-before-seen footage ⁠of a conversation between President Jimmy Carter and the Times in 2006. A rather solid summation of Carter's perilous four-year, one-term presidency and the decision he made to contiue pursuing his ideals, domestically and globally, after leaving office. Let's eavesdrop a little. Politico's politics editor David Ciders...

When I'd heard of the passing of President Jimmy Carter, I knew right away the two conversations I wanted to have - and I'm grateful both guests had the time for me. ⁠Georgia WIN List⁠ executive director Melita Easters was a reporter on the ground in Plains, Georgia the night a triumphant Carter returned as "President-elect" and brings a wealth of anecdotes, background and insights into Carter's l...

Atlanta Journal Constitution opinion writer Bill Torpey minced few words; in fact, he may have over-flowered a bit. Nonetheless, ⁠his summarizing the aftermath⁠ of a Georgia Appeals Court ruling that Fani Willis and the Fultono County DA's office has to cough up the Trump election interference case lays bare all that Willis and Nathan Wade did to potentially ruin (my opinion) the most rock-solid c...

Friend of the show Jay Bookman ⁠penned a piece chonicling how unpopular taxpayer funded private school vouchers are ⁠with conservatives and liberals - red and blue states. He also deftly explained what's happening in Georgia as a program set to aid maybe 6% of the state's student population attend a private school - with 1% of its education budget - suddenly appears to be available to nearly 20% o...

Bill Maher's made a quite comfortable living pointing out how Fox News & right wing talk radio has manipulated a bloc of voters - in his brand of comedic political satire from "Politically Incorrect" to "Real Time" to ... well, now, this era where he doesn't sound all that awfully different than Joe Rogan, honestly. Rogan, of course, is also a white male whose political views are actually very clo...

As I'd mentioned Monday, I did a lot of reading over the weekend, and was struck by two pieces that offered two Democratic congressional reps offering differing rationales for why Democrats lost control of Washington. What's funny is, they almost actually sound the same, despite one being ⁠a blue collar district moderate,⁠ the other the ⁠new chair of the Progressive caucus⁠.

As humans, we're all curious as to what the future holds for us, individually and societally, and it's natural to wonder how we'll be remembered when we walk off into the sunset, too. Such is the case for outgoing President Joe Biden, who's⁠ making the rounds reminding audiences⁠ what his ⁠administration inherited and overcame⁠, ⁠what they accomplished, and what they're leaving for an incoming adm...

A Georgia House race decided by 48 votes may actually have been ⁠fouled up by a county elections office sending 60 or so voters the wrong ballots⁠. The problem is, the losing canddiate - a MAGA Republican - "cried wolf" in ways reminiscent of 2020 nonsense that ⁠no one took her claims seriously.⁠ It also didn't help she couldn't substantiate any of her claims. What happens next is anyone's guess,...

Donald Trump's choice to head the Department of Defense - Pete Hegseth - is as qualified for that role as I am to be a grocery chain CEO. I worked in grocery retail a few years while in high school and college; why not? What Pete IS qualified for, however, is the label ⁠"anti-gay bigot." ⁠ Like Donald; like Pete, though. Trump's attack ad targeting trans support form VP Kalama Harris - ⁠though ste...

The arrest & info we're learning about Luigi Mangione - the alleged killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is bringing out a reaction from the American people that's pretty telling. You'd think we'd be unified in our abhorrence of a blatant assassination, and yet ... we're divided. I've some theories: healthcare and health insurance isn't delivering to customers what customers pay for (tha...

President-elect ⁠Donald Trump sat down last week with 'Meet The Press' host Kristen Welker⁠, and upon further review, Welker seemed 'suppressed,' either on her own or by edict. Never mind that Trump continued spewing falsehoods; that's to be expected. That Welker rarely pushed back is of vital concern for journalistic integrity. This sit-down wasn't "Fox News-friendly" but it wasn't much tougher,...

A recent ⁠Wall Street Journal piece ⁠zoomed in on nearby Dalton, Georgia - the self-professed "carpet capital." Business and civic are already dreading the effect of a looming mass deportation promised by the Donald Trump the town and county it's in overwhelmingly voted for. The economic impact on a town like Dalton, Georgia cannot be overstated; the question is, how many other "Dalton, Georgias"...

In a move surely meant to make an examples the ousted committee members, we learned just two weeks ago ⁠that Georgia's commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, Kathleen Toomey, had informed the entire committee it was being disbanded⁠. Why? It would appear Toomey and state Republican leaders weren't thrilled that ⁠Pro Publica was able to go public with information tying Georgia's six...

⁠"The Brainwashing of My Dad" ⁠is both ⁠a 2016 documentary ⁠and ⁠a subsequent book⁠, both the inspiration of the real-life experience of author and documentarian Jen Senko, who joined me today to share her experience and insights into that very-real "vast right wing conspiracy" mechanism Hillary Clinton spoke of so many years ago. It's real; it preys on many of our nation's worth societal shortcom...

There's a vigorous debate , left-of-center, about the Hunter Biden pardon, and while the likes of ⁠Jon Stewart⁠, ⁠Leigh McGowan (aka "Politics Girl")⁠ and ⁠Rep. Jasmine Crockett⁠ all have hot (or hilarious) takes, I'm sort of indifferent but certainly not upset. Post-election, I've focused a good bit on the need for the left to have its own media "ecosystem" the way the right was grown theirs the...

I'm having a hard time being upset that ⁠President Joe Biden went back on his word and pardoned his son, Hunter, ⁠last night. I challenge any parent in the same circumstance to do any different, and while I'm happy to have this conversation w/anyone outside the MAGA bubble, I've no time nor interest in hearing from the partisans ushering in a Cabinet stocked with sexual offenders appointed by a co...

Happy Thanksgiving! Today's show originally aired July 10, 2023.  In Hartwell, a rural Georgia lake community, pastor Grant Myerholtz convenes a growing "Baptist" congregation in an unusual way (for a baptist church, anyway): he chooses inclusivity. In an era where churches big and small are seeing declines in attendance, his Mt Hebron Baptist Church has grown from a dozen to more than a hundred. ...

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is the first to officially announce his run for Georgia's Governor's office in 2026, and it begins the conversation about potential combatants (right and left) plus it has me wondering if what Democrats need is a candidate who'll inspire voters with a vision for a future Georgia that's better connected. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has made a LOT of noise about incomi...

Incoming (and again) President Donald Trump promises tariffs and mass deportations and - the way columnist Jay Bookman sees it - it's going to be a "bumpy ride" for Georgians to endure, economically. He joined me today for a wide-ranging discussion, beginning with ⁠his latest op-ed ⁠at GeorgiaRecorder.com - covering tariffs, taxes, deportation, root causation of migration, trans attack ads and mor...

New Georgia House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugely let it be known she's not well with Senator Jon Ossoff. She ⁠unleashed on him while on WABE's "Politically Georgia" ⁠podcast earlier this week, but I must admit, I felt the need to finger-wag a bit in her direction. I mean, is this necessary? Why is she picking a fight with a U.S. Senator up for re-election in two years? What concession(s) has she c...