Extreme LIV's L-E "soundoff": "Fees, lotteries and civil forfeiture programs pay for government through the middle class and poor. Republicans don't like taxes on the rich, but love regressive tax vehicles. Is the Republican middle class on board?" -- "Republicans....love regressive tax vehicles"?  Hey, it's not Republicans that drool over SPLOST, LOST, and other sales taxes; there's no tax more regressive than the lottery and SPLOST/LOST sales taxes. and not one of the ones we suffer from in Columbus have been brought to fruition by a Republican or the local minority Republican voter base.  Democrats have learned they can get people to vote taxes on themselves simply by promising it will affect only the Republicans.

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Online story: "CBS46 is uncovering why some city workers say they need free tickets to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We're learning a battle is brewing between Invest Atlanta, an economic team led by Atlanta's mayor, and the city's ethics board. * The group says the free tickets are crucial to helping Atlanta's economic growth. * I reached out to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, but he is not talking about it on camera. The mayor's office simply sent us an Invest Atlanta letter asking the ethics board to expedite consideration of tickets for football and soccer games." -- He. Invest Atlanta< schedule those games here at Columbus' Civic Center, and the Civic Center manager has the power to give away free tickets to anybody he wishes.

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Online headline: "The (GA) GOP debate over a minimum wage for cops and deputies" -- You know.. I'd hate for a police officer to believe he/she was earning "the minimum" while putting his/her life on the line.. Each community should demonstrate how much it respects the jobs our law enforcement neighbors do... and starting with the politicians who set the priorities.

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From the "it's absolutely amazing" department - L-E headline/story: "‘Record’ job creation nudges Georgia’s unemployment rate lower * Georgia’s employers are creating “record numbers” of jobs, pushing the state’s unemployment rate lower from 4.9 percent in May to 4.8 percent in June. * That compares to a rate of 5.3 percent in June a year ago. Furthermore, the current jobless rate hasn’t been this low this September 2007, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday. This also is the fifth month in a row that the Peach State’s rate has declined." -- Lowest percent since 2007... 5 straight months in a row... whuile this is wonderful.. even "amazing", what's "ABSOLUTELY AMAZING" is that this L-E generated story did not mention that 8 of the bad ten years were under Obama, and the uplifting 5 months in a row are under TRUMP.

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From a L-E/Dusty Nix Editorial on information in the above article: "But as Ledger-Enquirer business writer Tony Adams documented in a recent report, the rate of job growth here is considerably slower. And that’s among the better local job figures, at least for now." -- Guess this a as close to an admission that Columbus has suffered under Tom-LYING-son's reign, and that Trump's efforts are still not capable of overpowering her influences...

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From the "Gomer Pyle" department - Online headline: "John Lewis backs Stacey Abrams in Georgia governor's race " -- Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!..... NOT!

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From the "maybe you should rethink single-pay government healthcare" department - Online headline/story: "Baby Charlie Gard Loses His Fight and the State Gets its “Death Wish *  Because the British government and London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital have fought Charlie’s parents for the last five months, his condition has progressed too far for even the most experimental treatments to offer hope *  The British government has failed to perform its most basic function and protect one of its most innocent and helpless citizens. *  parents of baby Charlie Gard have announced that they are giving up the fight to save their son. *  Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates, tearfully explained in court this morning, “We only wanted to give him a chance of life. A whole lot of time has been wasted.”" --  I tell you what.. when you hear Democrats, and mainscream media.... and some Rinos,, talking about keeping any part of OObamaCRAP.. remember Charlie Gard.. and Keep your GARD up!"

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I'm going to be parsing some "Thaw the Freeze" advocates properties this next few weeks.. and their neighbors.. Since he was so anxious to vote on it, I'm starting with soon-to-be-EX-Representative John Pezold.. His plan really backfired on him. but his next door neighbors will have mixed emotions.. Comparing last year's tax database figures with the recent "new" ones, Pezold's home dropped $144,647.00 since last year.. a whopping 25+%.. If the Freeze had been "thawed", he'd have benefited nearly $2400.00.  As it stands now.. he just lives in a house that lost $144,647.00 in value and is stuck with the old frozen tax rate.. serves him right. Now, lets look at his two neighbors on each side.. one belongs to a bank out of foreclosure.. it used to belong to a ministry and paid no taxes, so Columbus will at least gain something here, though since it moved into the hands of a bank, the property value this year is over $125,000.00 less than 2016's figures.. On the other side, his neighbor's home lost $53,000.00 in value, though she will still have to pay the :frozen" rate though her assets are now lower. There's another home on Pezold's street that's separated from Pezold's house by one of the aforementioned examples.. this neighbor (though she lives in Ft Walton Beach so I assume she's declared Florida his home state for estate purposes) probably has mixed emotions.. unlike her next door neighbor she doesn't have a H1 homestead exemption, and his home actually rose in value by some $15,000.00 and without  the Freeze, her taxes will be higher this year.

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L-E headline/story: "Motorists caught in distracted driving sting face court dates this week * On June 1, a special detail from the police department’s Motor Squad set up along Bradley Park Drive and issued 96 citations, most for distracted driving and no seat belts in just two and a half hours." -- If the Mayor and CPD really want to make "driving while distracted on a cellphone" a steady source of income, she should post undercover police in all the known drug-laced neighborhoods and catch drug dealers making sales while behind the wheel of their cars.

 

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Since it began last year as "Together 2016" and now has evolved into "Together 2017", the L-E has run daily ads promoting the individuals who are part of this group.. I still am waiting for the answers to "Who is footing the ad bills?", and "How much has been spent on ads that could actually have been spent on projects?".. Oh, one other question remains unanswered.. "What are the positive results from any of the announced projects?".

 

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Editorial cartoonists are a mixed breed... some..few actually.. have an observant eye that captures the overall political mood of the country.. most.. especially the ones that the Columbus L-E chooses to print, seem to have nothing to do but parse Trump/Republican efforts in a way to strike down all their efforts to Make America Great Again.

 

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Many Columbus restaurants are offering great specials this week..What a great opportunity to have great "date nights" and enjoy the best of Columbus' food fare at a comfortable price. Get out. ... and ..ENJOY!

 

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Wow.. after seemingly lower numbers, the L-E's "Foreclosure Section (though split in 2-sections to disguise it as best the L-E can) has over 8 pages of foreclosure ads.. Here's Tom-LYING-son's true legacy...