The Ron Show

Now that we're (hopefully) in the final hours of "Aquapocalypse" (or are we going with "Watergeddeon?"), city council had the chance yesterday to grill its watershed commissioner, Al Wiggins, Jr., yesterday, and for the most part, the engagement was polite - with a lot of deserved commendation for the department's employees' putting in the work. That said, communica...

Author columnist and longtime journalist George Chidi of The Atlanta Objective joined me today to discuss - at length - the weekend calamity that was the "Atlanta water crisis." George was on many of the scenes over the weekend giving first-hand accounts of water main breaks. Meanwhile, questions arise as to why Mayor Andre Dickens knew of the break and still got on a plane headed to Mem...

My friend and columnist Issac Bailey penned an op/ed - 'Donald Trump - A Loser Once Again - Is Finally Held Accountable,' which I thought was worthy of some air time, too. His reaction was far more "hinged" than the bevy of unhinged responses from Fox News "personalities" like Jeanine Pirro, Jesse Watters and the Fox News pearl-clutches. Also, pols like Tim Scott were l...

We live in "the upside down" - a world where a Democrat (Senator Jon Ossoff) goes to the US-Mexico border to call out the other party for its inaction on immigration policy and a world where the "law & order party" is led by a convicted felon defended breathlessly by most of the members of said party. Rep. Lucy McBath was asked if she's much interest or given much thoug...

I happen to think having Atlantan Chase Oliver on the presidential ballot as the Libertarian party candidate this November takes Georgia off the table for Biden/Harris. Hear why I believe the actions of Mayor Andre Dickens and the majority on Atlanta's city council have cost the President a key chunk of the state's grassroots liberal activists' support. I spoke with Mishael White , aim...

Seth Taylor, a Fulton County Democratic Party captain and 2024 DNC delegate "outed" 11th Congressional district Democratic Party nominee Katy Stamper as a "GOP plant." If she isn't, she's at the very least an anti-trans "secure the border" moderate . Then again, she lives in Cherokee County, where a school board vice chair is also openly anti-trans and nothing...

This conversation originally aired July of 2023, after I'd read a piece in the Washington Post about a Hartwell, Georgia baptist preacher who was bucking the Southern Baptist Convention (the church has since left that organization) and welcoming all who sought to worship there. He's (several times now) offered prayer at Hartwell's annual pride celebration, and welcomes with a message o...

All my years in radio broadcasting taught me that low-yield responses made for garbage data to make decisions off of, so maybe Tuesday's super-low turnout means "disregard it," but I'm joined today by Andrew Heaton, political strategist with Sagamore Hill Consulting, to discuss what to (and not to) make of the results anyway. I got a little heat for opting to "shrug off&quot...

Count me among those who have doubts Georgia's Tuesday primary results are much of a "bellwether" for expectations in November. For the most part, incumbents prevailed, save for a couple here or there who fell to primary opponents. One, in particular, Rep. Teri Anulewicz, lost to a Democratic Socialist millennial named Gabriel Sanchez. Hear some of his lingo and you may come away thi...

All this social media oxygen for an NFL field goal kicker didn't translate to the polls yesterday for a pro-choice candidate , which was sort of my point: stop obsessing over a distraction, America, and get involved in a pivotal election year. Meanwhile, in Cobb County, Courier reporter Rebecca Gaunt continues keeping an eye on the hyper-partisan antics of the Cobb Board of Education - includi...

President Joe Biden chose to make a weekend of it in the ATL - extending his visit by swooping in a day earlier (with that artery-clogging motorcade, no less) to hobnob with voters at a handful of Saturday events before his Morehouse commencement speech. Before giving you that audio, I also want to share the quips of local conservative pundit Janelle King - a black conservative with her own podcas...

'Atlanta Voice' editor-in-chief Donnell Suggs joined me today to weigh in on the mindset of the black male vote, after I'd asked him (via text) if he'd read a piece in the AJC today that asked that question (by of course sitting in a barber shop to find out). Incidentally, we're learning now that POTUS plans to meet with black voters prior to his commencement visit. While we we...

While Harrison Butker's misogynistic, anti-gay commencement address is still fresh in our minds, it's noteworthy (as Page Six noted ) that his mother is a highly-respected and accomplished Emory physicist, and not a homemaker. The first presidential debate is set - and to be held in Atlanta at CNN. Who needs a whole messy convention, anyway, right? Jay Bookman (wisely) asked: "Why can...

By now you've heard at least excerpts of Kansas City Chiefs' kicker Harrison Butker as he gave a commencement address at Benedictine College in Kansas earlier this week. Today I rebut a lot of his dated, hetero-white-man-centric mindset, point-by-point.

While Donald Trump catches up on his naps in court and cable TV news fixates on that theater, there's still plenty to glean from the latest New York Times/Sienna College poll of registered voters. With Georgia showing a 49-39 margin for the indicted, embattled former President, I wanted to dive in and take a deep swim, so that's literally all I did today. So ... how accurate are political...

Emory's commencement ceremonies came & went today without much fanfare - which by most Emory students' accounts, would've been the case on the school's campus had police not been utilized to squelch protests weeks ago. It's worth mentioning (so I do), by the way, that independent studies show that 97% of American pro-Palestinian protests were peaceful - and half the ones wh...

When Joe Biden p ushed the 'pause button' on the shipment of 2000 lb bombs , Republicans freaked out and Benjamin Netanyahu says 'we'll go it alone if we have to" - as if 1. Ronald Reagan didn't similarly withhold military aid to Israel and 2. Netanyahu didn't JUST get billions from Biden & the U.S. so "is he really going it alone?" Question: what do MAGA...

Whelp; the Georgia 2020 election interference case is effectively gummed up , thanks to the unforced error thrust upon the Fulton district attorney's office by the intimacy between Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. While there's no point blowing off steam over it, I kinda do; I also go over the potential ramifications. Also, why is Wade talking to the media? Dude! Also why is Stormy Daniels&#39...

First, apologies on the upload delay; Spotify had podcasters move their podcast logins to their personal Spotify logins and that took some doing. A Georgia Tech professor determined that at least $1.2 billion in home equity has been "lost" in Atlanta as private equity swooped in to snap up homes in historic (and historically black, usually) neighborhoods. Cities, counties, states and Was...

Fani Willis signals she'll defy any calls to testify before a GOP-led Senate committee looking to investigate her. Georgia's dumped 300,000 kids off health insurance and a Georgia State Supreme Court candidate - John Barrow - is suing to be able to campaign on issues . He joined me today to discuss why he knows he's the right to discuss women's reproductive choice - and he has the...

Last week, President Joe Biden gave a statement and took two (literally two) questions on the matter of college campus protests in support of the Palestinian people, and in the process of that address, managed to alienate himself further from activists needed to win close races. Okay, so will he need to ride on "reverse coattails?" Surely that's how he gets re-elected, if he does, ri...

Dr. Janet Frick , a University of Georgia psychology professor and head of the school's Infant Research Lab , has been a vocal critic of her employer's response to pro-Palestinian protests - and she's not wild about Governor Brian Kemp's rhetoric either. She and I discuss that and what she makes of that crucial young voting bloc in a turbulent election cycle.

⁠Dr. Janet Frick⁠ , a University of Georgia philosophy professor and head of the school's ⁠Infant Research Lab⁠ , has been a ⁠vocal critic⁠ of her employer's response to pro-Palestinian protests - and she's not wild about Governor Brian Kemp's rhetoric either. She and I discuss that and what she makes of that crucial young voting bloc in a turbulent election cycle.

Chris Dowd, aka "Athens Politics' Nerd" joined to update us on the situation in Athens/Clarke County and on the University of Georgia campus, plus VPOTUS Kamala Harris launched her economic opportunities tour in nearby College Park and I have her entire sit-down to review together.

The prior weekend's White House Press Correspondents' Dinner - given all that's going on - may have felt a bit 'out of touch' to some (myself included) but Colin Jost's 23-minute set was loaded with laughs. It was also punctuated with a touching tribute by Jost for both his recently departed grandfather and the President. I thought it poignant to share the whole thing, sure...