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Atlanta's crime-wave & taxes spurring split + Bill Maher blasts Biden's free college

#1
C C Offline
A 'Covid crime wave' is one reason these residents want to break away from Atlanta -- but critics say a split would be devastating for the city
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/07/us/atlant...index.html

EXCERPTS: In Atlanta's well-to-do community of Buckhead, the debate over becoming an independent city has been brewing off and on for decades. Now, amid a spike in crime, calls to split from the capital have grown louder than ever. "We filed for divorce and our divorce is final," said Bill White, chairman and CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, which is spearheading the efforts for the formation of the city. "We're forming our own city, we're establishing our own police force and we will eradicate crime."

The city of Atlanta is facing what Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has called a "Covid crime wave." Homicides are up by about 63% compared to the same time last year and up 43% compared to the same period in 2019, according to late May data released by the Atlanta Police Department. The city has seen more than 300 shooting incidents since the start of the year, up 45% from what it recorded this time last year, and up 55% from 2019, according to the data.

Atlanta homicides are the highest they've been in 30 years, police say. "The crime has gotten to a point where it is just unmanageable and it seems like there is no end in sight," White said.

And that's just one of the problems: Some Buckhead residents say they're paying too much in taxes and not getting bang for their buck -- citing concerns with local public schools, broken infrastructure and lagging public services like waste collection. "We're too far gone for the city of Atlanta to help us at this point," Regina, a Buckhead resident who didn't want her last name published for fear of retaliation, said. "We've lost all faith in them."

Bill White leads the Buckhead City Committee, which advocates a split from Atlanta. State lawmakers introduced legislation earlier this year that could pave the way for a "Buckhead City" vote on the November 2022 ballot. And the Buckhead City Committee says it's raised $600,000 to support ongoing lobbying efforts and commission a feasibility study that is set to kick off in days.

White says he's confident that if lawmakers give residents a chance to vote on the matter, Buckhead City will become reality. But critics of the split warn the consequences could be devastating: Buckhead's departure would strip Georgia's capital of a huge part of revenue from that tax base and the move could stoke racial divisions between the majority White community and the rest of Atlanta, a city known as the "Black Mecca" of the South.

And, critics add, the problems Buckhead is facing aren't unique to the area, and are shared by residents across Atlanta.

[...] Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won't run for reelection. Bottoms, who announced last month she won't be seeking reelection, has faced sharp criticism over the crime spike. The mayor previously said the increase in shootings across the city was the result of a "perfect storm" of frustration, the Covid-19 pandemic and issues with police brutality. But some Buckhead residents say the mayor's policies fueled the crime surge and drove officers away from the force.

Long a proponent of criminal justice reform, Bottoms signed an ordinance into law in 2018 eliminating the cash bond requirement for some low-level offenders, who the mayor said may have previously been held in jail because they couldn't afford to pay the bail. When racial justice protests broke out in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020, Bottoms emerged as one of the country's central voices against police brutality -- and hours after Rayshard Brooks was shot by police in an Atlanta Wendy's parking lot last June, she called for the officer's firing.

In the days that followed, roughly 170 Atlanta police officers called out sick and the mayor acknowledged police morale was down "tenfold" in a department already stretched thin. In the past 12 months, more than 200 officers have resigned or left the force; only 60 were hired in the same period, according to the Atlanta Police Department.

Since Buckhead was annexed nearly 70 years ago, moving back out of the city has been a topic of debate that reignites whenever there's a noticeable surge in crime, said Atlanta City Council Member Howard Shook, whose district includes part of Buckhead... (MORE - details)


Bill Maher Blasts Biden’s Idea Of Free College: ‘I’m Not F***ing Paying For That’
https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-mahe...g-for-that

INTRO: Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher excoriated higher education on his show last Friday, calling it a “grift” and likening it to Scientology. “[College] is a racket that sells you a very expensive ticket to the upper middle class,” Maher said in a monologue that spanned more than six minutes.

“President Biden’s American Families Plan asks the taxpayers to pony up hundreds of billions so that everyone can go to college, and billions more for subsidized childcare so our kids can go to school while we go to school,” Maher continued. “I know free college is a left-wing thing, but is it really liberal for someone who doesn’t go to college and makes less money to pay for people who do go and make more?” Maher asked. “Especially since colleges have turned into giant luxury daycare centers with overpaid babysitters anxious to indulge every student whim.”

“Why is China kicking our ass?” Maher later asked rhetorically. “Because in 2019, we issued more undergrad degrees in visual and performing arts than in computer and information science or math. Say what you want about Lori Laughlin. At least she understood that one good scam deserves another. In the immortal words of her [Laurie Laughlin’s] daughter, Olivia Jade, ‘I don’t know how much school I’m going to attend … but I do want the experience of, like, game days and partying.'” (MORE)


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_x5SeXNabd8
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#2
Syne Offline
Democrat policies are leading to huge spikes in crime in every democrat city and state.
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