![]() ![]() Without getting into the weeds dissecting specifics - even now, despite all the new restrictions, Georgia still has a more open voting framework than many states - this much is true: The bill was a blatant electoral power grab that was rushed through the Republican-led state Legislature just weeks after elections that saw record turnout, which isn’t a great look. And its passage spurred numerous immediate court challenges over its validity and constitutionality. The bill’s origins - based on Republicans’ understandable frustration at losing three crucial elections so badly, but also on loyalty to Trump and his repeatedly discredited conspiracy theories that Georgia’s election was stolen from him - caused activists and commentators both inside and outside the state to take up rhetorical arms. The result was Senate Bill 202, a voting procedure bill that passed along party lines. Spurred on by an infuriated base and encouraged by nationwide conservative activist groups, Georgia Republican legislators set out to overhaul the state’s voting laws. For Republicans, it was a humiliating three losses … even here in Georgia, where humiliating losses are a way of life. Two months later, Georgia voters favored two Democratic Senate challengers over Republican incumbents, shifting control of the entire Senate to Democrats. In the 2020 presidential election, Georgia voted blue for the first time since 1992, handing Joe Biden many of the final electoral votes he needed to unseat Donald Trump. If her 2006 Games were a lesson in finishing the race, 2022 is an object lesson in persistence in pursuit of a dream, no matter how long it takes.Pulling the All-Star Game out of Georgia will hurt people who need to be helped won’t even touch the true targets of critics' anger and most importantly, will do nothing to help address the crucial matters of voter suppression and education. At 36, she's now the oldest female medalist in Winter Olympics history for Team USA. Not only is the medal sweet redemption for years of pain, it’s also a testament to Jacobellis’ longevity. That's definitely something that the media doesn't always understand and you don't realize how young some of these athletes are." ![]() I'd won so many races going into it and it's a lot for a young athlete to have on their plate. "There was so much pressure on me to be the golden girl. It’s tough to say 2006 was any kind of blessing, but Jacobellis notes that if her run hadn’t turned sour, “I probably would have quit the sport at that point because I wasn't really having fun with it,” she said. “It would have been a nice, sweet thing, but I think if I had tried to (focus on) the thought of redemption, then it's taking away focus on the task at hand, and that's not why I race.” “I wanted to just come here and compete,” she said. Jacobellis swatted away any thought that this gold was some sort of redemption for the mistake in 2006. There, she outdistanced France’s Chloe Trespeuch (silver), Canada’s Meryta Odine (bronze) and Australia’s Belle Brockhoff (fourth place). ![]() Jacobellis survived a brutal seeding and qualification process that sorted out 32 competitors, round by round, four at a time, until she reached the final. ![]() Always close enough to see the podium, never close enough after Turin to stand on it. She kept returning to the Olympics, year after year, each time falling short of a medal. She took unfair grief from all sides, critics saying she got what she deserved for turning the Olympics into a me-first performance … as if the perpetual, every-single-day pain of losing gold alone wasn’t enough.Īs the years wore on, Jacobellis remained at the top of her game … but not quite at the top of her sport. Jacobellis spent the last decade and a half as a cautionary tale, a warning not to ever let up before you cross the finish line. Wednesday, Jacobellis once again found herself in the lead for the final turns of a snowboard cross race, but this time, no stunts, no showboating, nothing but a fast, relentless race that ended in gold … the first gold for the United States in this particular Olympics. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |