Lauren Patrick

Editor & Founder of Pretty Southern; #journalism alumni @redandblack @UGAGrady @universityofga #GoDawgs #LoveTheSouth #ATL #Atlanta 🍑 thoughts are my own

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

The city of Atlanta has quietly joined a lawsuit seeking to fight the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funding from municipalities because of their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@bluestein Georgia continues to be purple like a bruise

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

Republican Clay Fuller wins the special election runoff to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene’s unexpired term, defeating Democrat Shawn Harris and keeping the deep-red northwest Georgia district in GOP hands. #gapol

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

Welp. I did my part out in Floyd County 💙 🍑 🇺🇸

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

Deep-blue Cobb precincts, along with left-leaning voters in Rome area, help Harris cut Fuller’s lead. #gapol

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC]

This statement changes nothing.

The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat.

He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor Congressional authorization - which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any. Each day this goes on, the risk and criminality of these actions escalate for our nation and the world.

Moreover, this administration’s self enrichment, insider trading, and pure corruption off this chaos - from crypto currencies to predictive trading markets to bribe “settlements” - has placed the Trump administration’s pursuit of personal wealth squarely against the wellbeing of our nation and its people.

All of these incidents, and plenty more, have clearly driven our country past the threshold for impeachment or invocation of the 25th amendment.

We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer. None of these considerations should be partisan, but shared in good faith by Americans of all backgrounds who care for the safety and stability of the United States.

Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink.

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

Georgia’s 14th:
There are plenty of reasons Democrat Shawn Harris shouldn’t win tonight’s runoff.

He’s running in the Trumpiest district in Georgia, a conservative pocket where voters repeatedly sent Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress back when she was one of the president’s most loyal allies.

But Democrats are making the case that if any Democrat can pull it off, it’s someone like Harris.

He’s a rural cattle farmer and former military commander who is fluent in MAGA themes. He's well known in the district after challenging Greene in '24.

He has worked to connect with conservative-leaning voters by criticizing tariffs, opposing the Iran war and pushing back on some of Trump’s policies without making the race solely about him. And he’s quick to say there are areas where he agrees with the president — and others where he breaks with his own party.

Harris’ GOP opponent, Clay Fuller, brings strengths of his own: Trump’s endorsement, a résumé as both a military veteran and former prosecutor, and the cold, hard math of a district where Republican candidates combined to win roughly 60% of the vote in the all-party first round in March.

Harris must run up the margins in the bluest corner of the district — a slice of Cobb County precincts — while hoping that supporters of Republican Colton Moore, who notably declined to endorse Fuller after finishing third, stay home.

Just as importantly, Harris has to peel off a meaningful share of Trump voters who are disillusioned with the president in a district Trump carried with roughly two-thirds of the vote in 2024.

“It’s not just walking a tightrope. He has to hope for more than that,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. “He’s got to walk the tightest tightrope and then hope for a disaster to win this.”

Stay tuned.

https://t.co/QhEVQwQVSQ

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

Happy Game Day! It’s Good Clean Ole Fashioned Hate in Georgia today for #UGAvsTech!

See y’all at the Benz! #GoDawgs #HouseDivided

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@AttorneyGriggs @BrianKempGA @ossoff Thank you for speaking up @AttorneyGriggs! @ossoff is fighting for our neighbors and fellow Americans so they can have affordable healthcare. That’s true courage.

Unlike @BrianKempGA who won’t release emergency funds like other Governors to make sure Georgian’s don’t go hungry.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

The government is shutdown, but the House refuses to go back in session.

Why are we in recess?

Because the day we go back into session, I have 218 votes for the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

@SpeakerJohnson doesn’t want that to be the news.

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@jessicakmathews LOLing @FortuneMagazine Term Sheet

“And I sure got a laugh when, upon arriving on my e-bike— at a transportation conference, no less—there was no place to park my bike, and everyone at the check-in counter seemed bewildered as to what I should do with it.” 😭

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Blaming Democrats for a shutdown when you control the House, Senate, and the White House only proves you can't govern.

[Steve Inskeep @NPRinskeep]

Compelling talks on the FCC and Kimmel on NPR this morning.

A free speech lawyer says the FCC lacks legal authority to police speech or arbitrarily cancel licenses. As for companies caving in, the lawyer says:

“A spine is a terrible thing to waste.”
https://t.co/kMcdYhaT1j

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

Trolls

[Everything Georgia @GAFollowers]

Bill Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend walking around with a ‘Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl 51 Champions’ shirt.

Now I hate both of them.

[Killer Mike @KillerMike]

RIP: President Jimmy Carter as a Georgian, Southerner and Advocate for who deserve the dignity of decent shelter i am honored to say I have known a "Good Man" who truly made a difference in a wicked world.

May God bless your legacy always.

[mike luckovich @mluckovichajc]

12/29 Mike Luckovich: Eternal reunion https://t.co/8Ws6UGzrxG

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@KathrynSkeean 🥑

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@bluestein 😭😭😭

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@KathrynSkeean Nailed it 💯

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

@JessePalmerTV “Georgia is sleeping at the wheel” = accurate

#GoDawgs

[Lauren Patrick @Pretty_Southern]

Clean old fashioned hate #housedivided #ugavsgt #godawgs