Tag Archives: Georgia

Are we witnessing revolution in Georgia? Pro-EU protests sweep the nation

The Georgian Dream government tried shifting to Russia – but now faces a popular uprising and constitutional crisis

By Stephen Jones. Published 12-3-2024 by openDemocracy

*Protests on October 28, 2024 against the official results of the Georgian parliamentary elections of October 26, 2024.. Photo: Jelger Groeneveld/flickr/CC*

Constitutional upheavals are rare but in Georgia, they come repeatedly (1992, 2003, and as of this week, now 2024). We might even call them revolutions, not ideologically, but in the broad sense of mass mobilisation, a forced transfer of power, and the passing of sovereignty to a new group of rulers.

Over the past three decades, these types of revolutions have become endemic in the Georgian political system. Persistently, democratic breakthroughs in the country lead not to institutionalised democracy, but to corrupt and unaccountable governance.

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What poll watchers can − and can’t − do on Election Day

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By Mollie J. Cohen and Geoffrey D. Sheagley. Published 11-4-2024 by The Conversation

When most people think of their experience of voting in person, they may remember other voters at the polls, or the hardworking election officials checking people in and helping people submit their ballots. But in many elections, a third group is often present: poll watchers.

Poll watchers are ordinary citizens who volunteer to observe elections on behalf of an organization. Many of them do so on behalf of a specific political party. Other volunteers are nonpartisan poll watchers; they observe the action at polling places on behalf of nonpartisan organizations, including domestic groups and international election watchdogs such as the Carter Center or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

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Watchdog Files FEC Complaint Over Elon Musk Effort to Buy Voters

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Musk’s latest attempt to aid Donald Trump “appears to veer smack dab into violating federal law against paying people to register and vote,” said Public Citizen.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-23-2024 by Common Dreams

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk may be able to “throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election,” as one legal expert said of his latest ploy to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen on Wednesday said Musk has crossed a legal line in recent days by offering voters direct cash payments in exchange for signing a petition.

The group filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over Musk’s pledge to award a randomly selected registered voter in a swing state with $1 million each day until Election Day, if they sign a petition in favor of the First and Second Amendments.

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Georgia Judge Rules Election Officials Can’t Refuse to Certify Results

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One commentator called the decision a “huge victory for democracy” and a “huge defeat for Trump’s attempts to scuttle the election.”

By Julia Conley. Published 10-15-2024 by Common Dreams

Democratic officials and voting rights advocates on Tuesday celebrated “a victory for voters” in the crucial battleground state of Georgia after a county judge ruled that local officials must certify results regardless of claims of “election fraud”—an occurrence experts have found to be “vanishingly rare” despite Republican claims to the contrary.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge James McBurney handed down a ruling late Monday in a case brought by Fulton County Board of Elections member Julie Adams, who worked with the America First Policy Institute, a group with ties to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on the lawsuit.

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Airlines and Hotels Price Gouge Floridians Fleeing Milton

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“Sky-high prices to escape Florida before a deadly hurricane—and Republicans still criticize price gouging bans,” said one outraged resident.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-8-2024 by Common Dreams

*I-75 in Tampa on October 8, 2024. Photo: Matos Zuly/X*

U.S. President Joe Biden called on Floridians in evacuation zones to leave their homes “now, now, now” on Tuesday, and the mayor of Tampa issued a stark warning that those who “choose to stay” are “going to die” from the expected impact of Hurricane Milton—but desperate residents are grappling with the fact that hotels and airlines may make evacuating impossible for many.

Florida bars companies from price gouging during an emergency like Milton, but as thousands of people began evacuating the state’s western coast on Monday, accusations poured in about sky-high airline ticket prices and hotels in neighboring states that are charging exorbitant rates.

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Judge Strikes Down Georgia’s Six-Week Abortion Ban in ‘Absolutely Epic Ruling’

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“Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy,” Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 9-30-2024 by Common Dreams

*Protesters march in an October 2, 2021 abortion rights demonstration in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: John Ramspott/flickr/cc*

Reproductive rights defenders cheered Monday’s ruling by a Georgia judge striking down the state’s six-week abortion ban as a violation of “a woman’s right to control what happens to and within her body,” a decision that means the medical procedure will be legal up to approximately 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney excoriated the LIFE Act, which was signed into law in 2019 by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and prohibits abortion care after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. The so-called “fetal heartbeat” law—a medically misleading term—is applicable before many people even know they’re pregnant.

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Climate Movement Says ‘Hurricane Helene Must Be a Wake-Up Call’

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“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-29-2024 by Common Dreams

*Flood waters reach almost to the roof of this building in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina. Photo: Josh Griffith/X*

As emergency crews have worked through the weekend to rescue people and restore essential services across several southeastern U.S. states, green groups in recent days have pointed to the death and damage from Hurricane Helene as just the latest evidence of the need for sweeping action on the climate emergency.

Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday, then left a path of destruction across hundreds of miles of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. As of early Sunday, at least 64 people are confirmed dead—including at least two people in Virginia—though that figure is expected to rise.

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Hurricane Helene power outages leave millions in the dark – history shows poorer areas often wait longest for electricity to be restored

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By Chuanyi Ji, Georgia Institute of Technology and Scott C. Ganz, Georgetown University. Published 9-27-2024 by The Conversation

*Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida. Photo: NOAA*

Hurricane Helene left more than 4 million homes and businesses in the dark across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas after hitting Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 storm late on Sept. 26, 2024. As Helene’s rains moved inland, and mountain rivers caused devastating flooding, officials warned that fixing downed utility lines and restoring power would take days in some areas.

Electricity is essential to just about everyone – rich and poor, old and young. Yet, when severe storms strike, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities often wait longest to recover.

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Georgia Woman’s Death Marks First Confirmed Case of Fatal Post-Roe Abortion Denial

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Amber Nicole Thurman’s death “is the logical outcome of the Georgia abortion ban working exactly as intended by horrifically punishing women who try to access abortion care,” said one advocate.

By Julia Conley. Published 9-17-2024 by Common Dreams

*Amber Nicole Thurman is seen with her son in a photo she posted online in 2020, two years before her death. Photo: via Facebook*

Reproductive rights advocates have warned for years that abortion bans and restrictions like those now in place in 22 U.S. states would kill pregnant people, and have been dismissed as “hyperbolic” by right-wing lawmakers and activists.

On Monday, new reporting shed light for the first time on the case of one woman whose “preventable” death was the result of an abortion ban—and as ProPublica reported, “there are almost certainly others.”

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How the 14th Amendment prevents state legislatures from subverting popular presidential elections

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By Eric Eisner and David B. Froomkin. Published 8-29-2024 by The Conversation

Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election not only failed, but some of them also rested on a misreading of the U.S. Constitution, as our new analysis argues. The relevant constitutional provision dates back to just after the Civil War, and contemporaries recognized it as a key protection of American democracy.

In November 2020, as it became clear that Trump had lost the popular vote and would lose the Electoral College, Trump and his supporters mounted a pressure campaign to convince legislatures in several states whose citizens voted for Joe Biden to appoint electors who would support Trump’s reelection in the Electoral College votes.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Georgia

The Georgian Dream government tried shifting to Russia – but now faces a popular uprising and constitutional crisis

Musk’s latest attempt to aid Donald Trump “appears to veer smack dab into violating federal law against paying people to register and vote,” said Public Citizen.

One commentator called the decision a “huge victory for democracy” and a “huge defeat for Trump’s attempts to scuttle the election.”

“Sky-high prices to escape Florida before a deadly hurricane—and Republicans still criticize price gouging bans,” said one outraged resident.

“Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy,” Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision.

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is *exactly* when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.

Amber Nicole Thurman’s death “is the logical outcome of the Georgia abortion ban working exactly as intended by horrifically punishing women who try to access abortion care,” said one advocate.

“To those insisting that, ‘This is not the time!’ to have those other conversations, I say: This is exactly when we need to be having them,” said one climate scientist.