Kemp's commitment to reform and serving the public interest knows no bounds

Kristi E. Swartz@bizwriterkristi.bsky.social · 6h ago

Gov. Kemp picks familiar face to replace PSC regulator who stepped down early www.ajc.com/politics/202...

Detectives believe it's increasingly unlikely the unredacted files will be shared to investigate whether Mandelson sent confidential government info to Epstein, partly because the files may damage Donald Trump's reputation Story: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

Delighted that a well-informed parent gets it: 'Don't extend TADs. Work with Fulton County Commission to properly tax commercial properties. Businesses need to be paying their fair share for public goods and services. The money is there.' www.ajc.com/opinion/2026...

If Atlanta Public Schools board extends TADs, future funding will be at risk

Atlanta Public Schools board of education should not vote to extend Tax Allocation Districts, which will divert funding away from future generations of students.

ajc.com

For those who care about Fulton County, Rohit answers some key questions in this thread. #GApol

Rohit For Atlanta@rohitforatlanta.bsky.social · yesterday

Hey Julian. 👋🏽 You know me. We’ve been around each other for 10+ years. You were at our launch event. You know I’ll always answer your questions.

Nebraska is gonna have a Senator who's way more progressive than Atlanta's mayor & council. Nebraska! What's it gonna take for a reset? (Money out of politics, of course.) #GApol

Dan Osborn@osbornforne.bsky.social · yesterday

Cameras going up with no one explaining where the footage goes. Algorithms built to hook our kids and never let go. Data centers draining water our farmers can’t get back. Nobody voted for any of this. It’s time we redeclare our independence and ban these predatory algorithms.

Andre unhinged over losing 2028 Dem Convention. Rhetoric puts tourist $$$ over defeating MAGA. AJC: Dickens accused Dems of "abandoning Atlanta, abandoning the South, and once again abandoning Black voters.” How many destructive, petty, race-baiting tirades has he launched in 2026? #GApol

Maybe Atlanta would have more luck if we had progressive leaders, focused on building a more equitable city? Instead it's boondoggles for billionaire real estate developers & team owners, prevarication on data centers, Cop City. Know what? That might attract the GOP. www.ajc.com/politics/202...

Atlanta falls short again in Democratic convention sweepstakes

The city had been one of five finalists to host the 2028 convention. Party leaders on Thursday narrowed their choices to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia.

ajc.com

But, but, but. Axios says *two* Admin sources insist secret VLCCs are bringing almost pre-war levels of crude through the Strait. So why is there any drawdown?

Bill McBride@calculatedrisk.bsky.social · 2d ago

SPR now at 293.4 million barrels and falling fast

Fight the spin! Don't let OpenAI get away with pretending a 3.2GW data center is worth $20B. It's worth 10x that! With implications for the taxes it should be made to pay. If they expected to pay, they'd go away!

maggie-lee.bsky.social@maggie-lee.bsky.social · 3d ago

OpenAI hiring a "community engagement lead" for the data center in Effingham. It's a remote job somehow jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/ab2a6...

This case for a moratorium on data centers is written very well! @kelseabondatl.bsky.social you might find it helpful

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy@cleanenergy.org · 4d ago

Read more about our call for a moratorium: ow.ly/bacQ50ZB1Fe (6/6)

13 politically tone-deaf CMs? Have they really not picked up on the overwhelming unpopularity and fear of AI data centers?

Atlanta Community Press Collective@atlpresscollective.com · 4d ago

The motion to refer the data center task force back to city utilities passes 13-1. Kelsea Bond is the sole no vote. Utilities Committee Chair Council member Liliana Bakhtiari says Bond has their full support to work on this, but they want to make sure that people actually show up to the meetings.

As if the data center industry doesn't have enough political power already, through the enormous amount of cash it deploys!

Atlanta Community Press Collective@atlpresscollective.com · 4d ago

"Think about adding someone, or some entity from the data infrastructure space...to this task force, so we can truly have a robust conversation," Collins says.

You'd think the Ressler bros would reward Keisha for her efforts to funnel a couple billion of our taxes from the Gulch into their pockets. Or maybe they have buyers' remorse? Wishing she hadn't dragged that deal across the line? www.bisnow.com/news/atlanta...?

Bottoms, Jackson Seek Atlanta CRE Support for Governor

Explore the race as Bottoms and Jackson court Atlanta CRE execs for governor.

bisnow.com

There's so much that is reportorial malpractice in this piece it could be a case study, if there were any schools of journalism left. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/u...

Top Admiral Praises Sailors but Concedes Hardships After Visit to U.S.S. Lincoln

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the difficulty of the carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment but said mental health issues were lower than on other vessels.

nytimes.com

#GApol

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 5d ago

A 17-month-old tragically died. Georgia wants to jail his mother over the accident. www.ms.now/opinion/deja...

While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings.

Developers get all their brownfield remediation expenses credited against the project's property taxes. A State office OKs the amount. So Schools, County & City pay the remediation cost. The project pays no property tax until the remediation cost has been offset.

Atlanta Community Press Collective@atlpresscollective.com · 2w ago

Mardis says brownfields represent redlining and generational harm. The proposed data center site is a brownfield. Mardis says there are tax rebates for developers rehabilitating brownfields

Great stuff. Starts around 30.00. electjon.com/live/

Watch Live: Rally with Jon Ossoff

Senator Jon Ossoff is MAGA’s #1 target in the 2026 midterms. Join his grassroots movement in Georgia and help him fight back.

electjon.com

Kelsea says tell Atlanta Council to back the task force to review data centers. www.instagram.com/reels/Db9Gh9...

Kelsea Bond on Instagram: "Stop the Big Tech Buildout! 🔌⚡️💦 Big Tech companies are scrambling to build data centers all over the Southeast, and Georgia has already become 4th in the nation for these ...

479 likes, 20 comments - kelseabondatl on August 12, 2026: "Stop the Big Tech Buildout! 🔌⚡️💦 Big Tech companies are scrambling to build data centers all over the Southeast, and Georgia has already be...

instagram.com

Good story but a 3.2GW facility is likely worth $200B, not $20B! Why it matters. 1. How will OpenAi fund $200B? They just cut prices by 80%. Financially stable, not! 2. Local tax on a $200B facility should be 10x tax on $20B. What sweetheart tax deal are local pols giving the tech bros this time?

@ericdmintz.bsky.social · 6d ago

Georgia Power wants to build a $20 billion, 3.2 GigaWatt, 2,600 acre data center campus for OpenAI in Effingham County, GA. Opposition from local residents has been largely overlooked. Here is Part 1 of the story from The Current. (Part 2 to follow.) thecurrentga.org/2026/07/22/2...

Because Xai makes $2B per month in rent from Anthropic & Google for their Memphis Colossus data centers. How could they possibly pay as much as poor people do for the water they waste?

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 6d ago

MEMPHIS: why are residents paying higher rates for water than xAI? From @protectouraquifer : www.instagram.com/reel/DcBkWYH...

If Supt. Looney had not voted for development authority tax breaks for every Fulton warehouse & data center in the past few years, he might not have a budget gap that he's solving by hiking tax on working families. Why don't Fulton families hold him accountable? www.appenmedia.com/alpharetta_r...

Fulton County schools eye millage hike to ease deficit

At the Fulton County Board of Education’s Aug. 11 work session, Superintendent Mike Looney announced he will propose a one-mill tax increase at the board’s next meeting. Looney said the increase — whi...

appenmedia.com

#GApol Wingate is not a bad actor. I had them sit at the Invest Atlanta board table to talk through their plan on Boulevard in O4W. Seemed worth giving them a shot - and so it turned out. The bond they want is simply low-interest $$$ because the feds don't tax it. Costs Atlanta nothing. Pls sign.

Griffin Wasdin@heflinhollis.bsky.social · 7d ago

Help! We need your signature to convince Invest Atlanta fund this project to preserve affordable homes and add hundreds of new apartments to my neighborhood. The NIMBYs are trying to run out the clock in the existing subsidy which is set to expire in 2032.

Is @justinjpearson.bsky.social emphasizing how much Musk is profiteering off Memphis's misery? He's renting out his Colossus hyperscalers for $2B per month to Anthropic & Google. That's $72B guaranteed. Unfathomable greed. See Anthropic deal below. www.basenor.com/blogs/news/a...

Anthropic Will Pay SpaceX $1.25B/Month for AI Compute

Anthropic has agreed to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion per month for AI compute capacity through May 2029 — a contract that could generate more than $40 billion in total revenue for the Elon Musk-linked com...

basenor.com

#GApol. Not wrong

@marcus4america.bsky.social · last wk.

Whole. Ballot. Energy. #Gapol #Fyp. #Downballot

Does the AJC love Jackson's ad spending going into parent Cox's coffers? Framing every politics piece to make anti-Trump positions the extremes! It's not Ike's Republican party we're faced with, it's Orange Mussolini's. Corruption, strategic defeat, cruelty, lawlessness? - forget all that! #GApol

Andisheh Nouraee@andisheh.com · last wk.

“Sharpens anti-establishment pitch” is a campaign press release, not journalism. Ffs ajc stop accepting the right-wing framing for every issue. Jackson has banked zillions from a healthcare system that leaves 1.2 million Georgians without coverage. Jackson and his party like it that way.

#GApol

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy@cleanenergy.org · last wk.

OpenAI's request for massive amounts of power from Georgia Power puts existing customers at risk. We’re asking regulators to reject this request unless robust ratepayer protections and full public transparency are guaranteed. Read the full statement ➡️ ow.ly/K2v350ZzvcU 🔌💡

Really impressed that Ruwa Romman kept her cool and got great messages across in this interview. Some of us would have lost our temper with Tia Mitchell's lazy, repetitive red scare nonsense. Rick Jackson's money seems to talk. #GApol

My Sandwich Giver@mysandwichgiver.bsky.social · last wk.

I 💜 @ruwaromman.bsky.social Check out her smart interview on the AJC Politically Georgia podcast.

Oh, look! Stupid wastes of millions are not a law of nature in local government. They can be stopped, albeit with enormous effort. Let's tell Atlanta City Council & Invest Atlanta. e.g., Don't spend $600-700k+ / unit for affordable apts when they're selling for < $200k? @kelseabondatl.bsky.social

Andisheh Nouraee@andisheh.com · last wk.

It took months of sustained citizen advocacy from a broad cross section of the city, but Decatur's school board has finally hit pause on the new $23-28M preschool building the city doesn't actually need because there is space in existing buildings. www.decaturish.com/schools/deca...

"can still be held at bay by a lesser adversary willing to wage asymmetric warfare to find any advantage it can" Does this remind anyone of a key story in the US founding myth? Redcoats forming into a square, maybe? Anyone?

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 2w ago

Every new story you read about our Iran war strategy makes, in comparison, George W Bush look like Sun Tzu or Alexander the Great. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/u...