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TRANSCRIPT

Josie Duffy Rice: It is Monday, September 8th. I’m Josie Duffy Rice, in for Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day. The show that wonders if you watched the MTV Video Music Awards last night, because we didn’t even really know that those were still a thing. Is MTV even still a thing? Who knows? [music break] On today’s show, we discuss chipocalypse now and Russia continues to escalate attacks against Ukraine. But let’s start with some regional politics and why one seemingly small election matters. Here in Georgia, where I live, there is a crucial statewide race coming up this November for the Public Service Commission. The name sounds pretty boring, but this race actually really matters. The commissioners are in charge of regulating public utilities in the state, including electricity, gas, and telecommunications, which basically means that they regulate how much Georgia families and residents have to pay for these utilities, which means that their job affects pretty much each and every resident in the State. And currently, all five commissioners are Republicans. In the past three years, the commission has raised the cost of electricity six times. Which amounts to an average monthly increase of $43 per household. It’s a pretty big deal in a state that ranks cost of living as the most critical issue. And meanwhile, data centers in Georgia have gotten a tax break. Yes, those big warehouses full of energy-guzzling servers and equipment that are used to power AI and crypto are pushing our electrical grid to the brim and wasting our drinking water too. And Georgia’s data center market is one of the biggest in the country. Now two of the five commissioners are up for election this fall. And if you can believe this, these two seats are the only statewide election on the ballot this year, the only ones. Republicans have a major advantage in these races because while each commissioner has their own district, they are all elected statewide. But this year there are two strong Democratic challengers in District Two, which covers the eastern part of the state from outside of Atlanta all the way down to the city of Savannah. Democrat Alicia Johnson is challenging Republican incumbent Tim Echols. And in District 3, which basically covers the metro Atlanta region, Democrat Peter Hubbard is running against Republican Fitz Johnson. So here to talk to us more about this race is John Taylor, Executive Director of Black Male Initiative, a nonprofit focused on civic engagement here in Georgia. John Taylor welcome to What a Day. 

John Taylor: Thank you for having me. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So tell us a little bit about the backdrop here. What’s been going on with energy prices here in Georgia and what role has the Public Service Commission played in that? 

John Taylor: So when it comes to the increases in energy prices and the craziness that we’re seeing in Georgia, the reality is that the Public Service Commission has voted six times to increase rates for the cost of energy, and that’s been hitting Georgia residents directly. Simultaneously, they also voted to give an 80% cut to the data centers. So in one hand, we’re giving tax rebates to data centers and we’re passing those costs right on to Georgia residents who are also struggling to make ends meet. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I was going to ask you about this. Like I’m in Atlanta. I’m in Fulton County. And obviously, we’re in an off year. There are a lot of kind of municipal elections happening, but this is the main statewide election happening. 

John Taylor: That’s right. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Um. So how are you really kind of engaging with people about why they need to pay attention to the Public Service Commission and why it’s important to vote on this, especially people who might not have municipal elections, given that there also are no federal elections this year? 

John Taylor: Right. I mean, the reality is we’re doing a lot of door knocking, we’re having a lot of phone calls, we are sending out text messages to folks, and we’re doing everything we can on social media to pump the importance of this moment. I think this is more so than anything, a David versus Goliath moment. We’re looking at two incumbents who are Republican, who have been able to keep their seats and move conversations rooted in commerce and business. And we’re talking about candidates that are running as Democrats who are going to public commission meetings every day or every session and asking hard questions about renewable energy, asking questions about rate hikes, asking the commission to stand up for the citizens that it’s supposed to represent and protect. And so for us, it’s super important to get the word out and educate folks in every platform we can. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So tell us what’s really at stake if in this election we don’t elect the representatives who are concerned with cutting costs. 

John Taylor: I mean, unfortunately, our lives are at stake. That’s the right way to put it. We are dealing with a circumstance where not only our livelihood and our ability to survive and pay bills is at stake, six times they’ve raised the rates on residents. That’s preposterous. But beyond that, the use of water, the use of electricity, the way that we’re allowing data centers to come into our state and expand. The compounding health impacts for methane gas, for dioxides, for an expanded use of a water table that was not designed to handle the rigor or the load. The truth of the matter is if we don’t get folks in these public service commission seats to care about the people in Georgia, our lives are on the line. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So obviously Georgia has faced some challenges too when it comes to voting rights, voter access, right? Um. What are the biggest hurdles right now in terms of actually making sure that people can get to the polls, that their votes count, that they have access? 

John Taylor: So there’s a few. We’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of voters being purged from the roll. We’re deal with compounding and ongoing lawsuits due to the implementation of SB 202 and the changes in legislation that make it harder for good Samaritans and everyday volunteers to go out and help register Georgia voters. We’re dealing with a Secretary of State that has in many ways just missed the vote and does not care about the voting rights for folks in this state. And most importantly, we’re dealing with a board of elections that has 159 [?] and allows them to operate independently. So even though we have guidelines, we’re still battling 159 fights every election cycle. And we’re doing it with less and less resource every cycle. Because when we’re off cycle and we’re dealing with municipals, we get nowhere near the amount of resource we need to mount a credible fight. 

Josie Duffy Rice: When you mention resources, like you just did, you mentioned there’s a lack of resources. Are we just talking about money? What are the resources that we need kind of consistently to make sure that we see the kind of voter turnout and um voter interests that we want in these elections? 

John Taylor: So there’s three things that we really need. We define resources, time, money, and people. So we need TMP. We need enough time to educate our community and make sure that they get the value of these elections, whether it’s public service commission or it’s senator or its state you know congressional seats, they’re all very important. City council, mayor, these are the folks that are making the decisions about how we live our lives every day. Um. And so time is important and we’re short on time because it feels like these elections pop up on us, but because of the way we’re structured, again, they’re always there. As far as the money is concerned. Of course, money is a great aggregate that helps us defend against not having enough time. Imagine all the things we could do with all the money in the world, but money is really only useful if we can use it to do the third thing. Which is activate, educate and mobilize the people. Because we’re not interested in having transactional vote. I want folks who come out and vote and then they hold the elected official accountable. We oftentimes say that the biggest thing we dislike about politics is when candidates tell us what they’re going to do when they get in office. We would much prefer have individuals give us their track record of proven action, that they’re servant leaders already, and that they are telling us how they’re going to expand what they’ve already been doing once they’re in office. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Absolutely. I want to ask about the role of the commission when it comes to public services and what else needs to be done. So, clearly, in order for anything to be done to lower costs, to you know average families, and improve infrastructure for public services, we have to have a good public service commission. But what else needs to happen um to ensure that Georgians you know are able to keep getting the kind of public utilities that they need effectively? 

John Taylor: So there’s the things that the public service commission does, which we’ve talked about, they regulate rates, they help to make sure that we have access. They really vote for what we can and cannot do, but they also vote to increase the number of watts, um, megawatts that, you know, that companies can produce. And so this essentially says, this is how much power you can bring into, or you can generate each year. This is what it’s gonna cost. This is what it requires of you. They allow that scale to exist. But beyond that, we need legislators to put moratoriums on utility rates. We need legislators to start pushing back on these costs and be clear about the fact that we are in a place where the cost of utility, the cost of housing, the costs for wraparound services and household expenses is outpacing the economics of household. We grew up in an era where the cost of living, the COLA increase was 2.5%. Most of the folks in Georgia are not getting a 2.50% raise. But when you vote six times. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Right. 

John Taylor: To raise the cost the utilities, you’re blowing that out of the water. You’re making it impossible. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Right. 

John Taylor: For people’s pocketbooks and purses to keep up with your hikes. We need that to stop. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Can I ask you, um, the kind of challenges you’re seeing with this election, both in terms of what’s at stake, who’s on the ballot, right? And making sure that voters care and show up, do you think that they’re reflective of what’s happening across the country? Or do you see this as sort of Georgia specific? 

John Taylor: Um. I really wish this was Georgia specific, because if it was, then we’d be able to have a much different conversation. We’d be be able identify a way to build back a different dynamic. But we’re seeing this everywhere. You’re seeing this in New York with Mamdani. We’re seeing this in Texas. We’re see this in Alabama. There are so many candidates that are pushing against the status quo. They’re trying to create. Uh, what most people are calling socialist answers or socialist democratic answers. But what they’re really doing is advocating for true democracy. They’re advocating for, uh, constituents, not for big business, not for corporations, uh they’re advocating for citizens to have a voice and to actually be listened to. If we’re not clear about the fact that whether it’s the public service commission. Or we’re talking about militarized engagement and states’ rights, what we’re seeing is a rise of authoritarianism. What we’re seeing is a rise of the oligarchs, right? And so that’s ultimately what we are saying. And we don’t believe that utility costs, that the power, that the energy, the very lifeblood of a community should be randomized and set at the pace of corporate profiteers. That stuff has to be first and foremost regulated for what the community needs. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Thank you, John, so much for joining us. 

John Taylor: My pleasure. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That was my conversation with John Taylor, executive director of Black Male Initiative. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Josie Duffy Rice: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines.

[clip of CNN’s Jake Tapper] So should we expect action in Chicago this week? 

[clip of Tom Homan] Absolutely, you can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country. President Trump’s prioritized sanctuary cities because sanctuary cities knowingly release illegal alien public safety threats to the streets every day. That’s where the problem is. So we don’t have that problem in Florida where every sheriff and chief works for us, right? Or Texas. So we got to send additional resources to the problem areas which are sanctuary cities. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Texas and Florida notoriously two of the best-behaved states in America. White House border czar Tom Homan spoke to CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union on Sunday. He’s referring to Trump’s threat to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and potentially the National Guard, into Chicago. On Saturday, Trump posted an absolutely batshit meme on Truth Social, showing helicopters flying over the Chicago skyline with a fiery explosion and the words Chipocalypse Now, and it included a photoshopped or maybe AI image of Trump dressed as Lieutenant Kilgore, a character from the movie Apocalypse Now who is a psychopath obsessed with blowing up civilians in Vietnam. In his post, Trump replaces Kilgore’s famous line, I love the smell of napalm in the morning, with quote, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” adding quote, “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of War.” It’s actually not called the Department of War, but he’s referencing the executive order that he signed on Friday to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. It won’t be official until Congress approves it. In response, Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker called Trump a quote, “wannabe dictator who is threatening to go to war with an American city.” In the CNN interview, Homan defended the president saying his words are being taken out of context, despite the fact that I cannot stress this enough. Trump was the one who literally posted the meme on his own account. And the president himself seemed a little sensitive about the situation when a reporter asked him about it at the White House on Sunday. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] We’re not going to war. We’re gonna clean up our city. We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war. That’s common sense. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So to recap, Trump threatened war on an American city and is now angrily claiming that the media made it up. More than 300 South Korean workers detained at a massive U.S. Immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will be released and sent to South Korea. Kang Hoon-sik, the chief of staff for South Korea’s president, said Sunday that they had finalized negotiations with the U. S. on their release. [clip of Kang Hoon-sik speaking in Korean] Kang said that after administrative details are worked out, South Korea will send over a charter plane to bring its workers home. Meanwhile, South Korean media reported that the foreign minister is headed to the US today for related talks. US immigration authorities said last week that they had detained more than 470 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when federal agents raided the manufacturing site in Georgia. This is part of Trump’s administration’s need to prove powerful in its mass deportation agenda. But the move took many by surprise, given that the Hyundai plant has been held up as an example of economic development in the state. The lead agent of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia said during a press conference on Friday that while none of those detained had been charged with any crimes, some of the workers had entered the U.S. illegally and others had expired visas. Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles on Sunday, hitting multiple cities, which makes it the largest aerial strike since the war began. It’s yet another record-breaking move by Russia, despite Trump’s repeated efforts to broker a peace deal between the two countries. The strike killed four people, including a mother and her three-year-old child, and injured 44. It also hit two residential buildings and a government headquarters in Kyiv. It was unclear if the government building was a direct target or just had been hit by debris, according to the Associated Press. But if it was intentional, the attack would mark an escalation in Russia’s air campaign, which has so far spared government buildings in the city center. The Russian defense ministry said that it only targeted military sites. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he is working with France as an ally to strengthen his army’s defense. And in a post on Twitter, he said, quote, “Such killings now when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war.” Other European leaders expressed solidarity with Ukraine as well. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement, quote, “these cowardly strikes show that Putin believes he can act with impunity. He is not serious about peace.” 

[clip of NBC’s Kristen Welker] Would you offer rebates, though? Are you prepared to offer rebate? 

[clip of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent] So, we would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury. 

[clip of NBC’s Kristen Welker] And you’re prepared to give those refunds? 

[clip of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent] Well, I mean, there’s no be prepared. If the court says it, we’d have to do it. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday that the U.S. may have to refund some money they’ve collected from Trump’s tariffs. That is, if the Supreme Court decides that they are illegal. We are talking tens of billions of dollars in refunds to American corporations that paid extra for imports. Two courts have already ruled that Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports are illegal because it was a unilateral decision by the president when only Congress has the power to set tariff rates. The rulings prompted the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court, and the hearing could happen as early as November. Bessent says he’s confident that they won’t lose the case, and they probably will not, given who is on the Supreme court. But if they do, it would be a financial disaster. Trump recently said on Truth Social that it would, quote, “literally destroy the United States of America.” Bessent also said he isn’t fazed by the Labor Department’s report last week, showing the highest unemployment rates since 2021. And that’s the news. [music break]

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Josie Duffy Rice: That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, think about what you would do with $1.8 billion, and tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading, and not just about how two Powerball players beat the lottery’s terrible odds of one in 292 million and will split the second largest jackpot in history, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. So check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Josie Duffy Rice, and I did not win the lottery. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Fohr. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Shawn Allee, Gina Pollack, and Laura Newcomb. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. We had help from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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