Dolly's Gone, Trump's Still Here, and The 2030 Project Keeps Fighting

In partnership with

Champions for Change: 2030 Project Candidates Stand Up for Gun Safety

This past Saturday, at the Georgia Majority Champions for Change event, community leaders, survivors, and advocates came together around a simple idea: preventing gun violence is a shared responsibility, not a partisan wedge issue. From stories of loss to policy solutions like universal background checks, red flag laws, and safe storage requirements, the evening underscored how "common sense" gun safety measures save lives while respecting responsible gun ownership.

Georgia Majority for Gun Safety points to science and public opinion to make its case. Nationally, 90% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun sales, and 82% of gun owners support requiring safe storage of firearms. In Georgia, 33% of parents rank gun violence in their top three concerns for their child, and gun violence remains the leading cause of death for Georgia children between the ages of 1 and 17.

2030 Project candidates Ethan Wolfe, Beth Fuller, and Michelle Kang have all signed the Georgia Majority for Gun Safety pledge, affirming their commitment to advancing these reforms and working with community partners to reduce gun violence across Georgia. The pledge connects their campaigns directly to the grassroots movement that is educating voters, supporting survivors, and pushing state leaders to finally act.

For Ethan Wolfe, that commitment is rooted in personal experience and local culture. A lifelong South Georgia gun owner, Ethan has been clear that gun safety is about training, responsibility, and keeping families safe, not taking firearms away from law-abiding people. He supports requiring people to learn how to operate and store firearms safely. Safe storage and education are simply part of being a responsible gun owner.

Beth Fuller and Michelle Kang bring the same values to their districts, aligning their campaigns with Georgia Majority's public health approach: keeping guns secured around children, closing loopholes that let dangerous individuals access firearms, and investing in community-based violence prevention. Together, this 2030 Project slate demonstrates that candidates can be pro-community, pro-safety, and pro-responsibility.

As the election approaches, the Georgia Majority pledge is more than a campaign talking point; it is a plan to create a safer Georgia for children. Ethan, Beth, and Michelle, supporting Georgia Majority for Gun Safety, will strive to convert widespread public backing for gun safety into real legislation, aiming to make Georgia safer for all families.

2030 Athens/Oconee Team Appreciation Dinner!

This past week, members of our 2030 team based in the Athens/Oconee area met for dinner in Athens. Though team members have been working closely together for months, because most meetings are held virtually, many attendees had never met each other in person. The dinner was the perfect environment for our team members to meet face to face and learn about each other.

While there were certainly a lot of political discussions around the table, the dinner allowed for members of the 2030 project to make connections beyond the shared interests and goals that brought us together in the first place.

We discussed upcoming events, news stories, and campaign strategies. We also talked about Georgia football, our hometowns, and our schools. The attendees of the dinner were split between UGA students and Oconee High School students, creating a great setting for team members to connect over shared classes, clubs, and extracurriculars.

After dinner, the team walked to Athens City Hall, where we gathered for pictures and continued the conversations we began at the restaurant. Though the evening was winding down, the connections made by 2030 Project members were just starting up.

Beyond connections strengthened by the dinner, members of the team gained a renewed sense of energy, motivation, and determination. Sitting around a table with like-minded young people who all share the common goal of flipping the Georgia State House by the end of 2030 was inspiring, and learning about everyone’s unique perspective and role within the team gave everyone confidence in our ability to achieve our goal.

The 2030 Project has never felt more connected, more energized, or more motivated to put our heads down and get to work. Election day is coming up, and our team at The 2030 Project is more than ready to elect Democrats to office. None of this- the dinners, the roundups, the work in these five districts- happens without people like you. If tonight's story moved you, consider chipping in here to fuel the final stretch.

Blurred Lines in Georgia’s Campaigns: Keisha Lance Bottoms vs. Rick Jackson

Two years, almost three, into the Trump presidency, lines continue to be blurred. There is no order. There is no moral code in politics. It’s just a field of chaos, confusion, and cynicism. Georgia is now witnessing, first-hand, the blurred lines.

Over the last week, Keisha Lance Bottoms confronted Rick Jackson over personal attacks on her husband. She was recorded telling Jackson to “Stay away from her family.” Understandably so. Moreover, to the shock of no one, Jackson was also recorded suggesting that Governor Kemp will call in the National Guard for Georgia’s upcoming elections. Whether that information is viable or not, there is a bigger theme at play here. 

Politicians are resorting to personal attacks on one’s families and demeaning the integrity of Georgia voters daily. Is this what Georgians want to represent them? As American citizens, more specifically Georgians, we should stand for class, grace, and respect. However, the last two years have been a disparaging image for our politics. As Georgians, we need to elect the best representative who will advocate and work for the best interests of the people but also who will restore the class, grace, and respect that American politics once possessed.

Another Trade War, Eh?

This past Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada would match the U.S.’s tariffs “dollar for dollar.” The two countries have been negotiating since July 20th when Trump announced a 50% tariff on alcoholic goods, dairy products, and motor vehicles. The U.S. tariffs are projected to affect around $28 billion in Canadian goods.

Canada’s response should frighten us. 

Canada’s tariffs are expected to affect over $20 billion in U.S. goods and will go into effect September 8th. The trade war has led to an unsavory view of the United States, with over 80% of Canadians describing their relationship with the U.S. as negative. Meanwhile, a majority of Canadians view China more favorably than America for the first time in decades. China’s manufacturing sector has greatly outpaced the U.S. over the past decade, and our comparative trade advantage is the result of over a century of diplomacy driven by our proximity and shared interests. It has already turned to other nations to bridge the gap, as the Canada-Mexico Action Plan 2025-2028 illustrates. If the U.S. and its interests continue to diverge, Canada will not hesitate to look across the Pacific for trade. And if one of our greatest allies can turn its back on us, who’s to say they will be alone?

These trade wars are making us weaker, more vulnerable, and for what gain? The administration is telling us to trust its wild-west style of diplomacy. Look where that has gotten us. Trump said that talks had been productive on Truth Social. He delayed the date when the tariffs would go into effect. He said we “had a DEAL.” It fell apart. Sound familiar? It’s the same playbook that he’s used for other countries we’ve butted heads with, and Prime Minister Carney had enough. 

Haven’t we all?

Gary, Indiana Spent 12 Days in the Dark

A derecho packing 99 mph winds tore through northwest Indiana on August 11th, cutting power to over 300,000 people. In Gary, a city that's 78% Black and one of the poorest in the state, the outage stretched on and on. An astonishing twelve days later, residents were still cooking on open flames, running nebulizers off dying batteries, and sleeping with windows open just to catch a breeze.

Mayor Eddie Melton didn't wait quietly. He pushed NIPSCO publicly, called President Trump directly asking for federal help, and met with Republican Sen. Jim Banks to apply pressure from every direction he could reach. "We're looking at all options right now to participate and figure out how we hold them accountable," Melton said.

Yesterday, power was restored to nearly all of Gary. But the anger hasn't gone anywhere. Republican Gov. Mike Braun has ordered a formal investigation into NIPSCO's preparation and response, saying the utility "failed to keep its end of the bargain." NIPSCO says it will cooperate fully.

The questions that outlasted the outage are ones worth sitting with. Reporting has surfaced that data centers in the area never lost power while residents did. Businesses are still waiting, with no restoration timeline, because NIPSCO prioritized hospitals and homes first. And seven Indiana deaths have been tied to the storm and its aftermath.

Gary's blackout reminds us infrastructure failures don't land evenly. The families with the fewest resources had to weather two weeks without electricity. Whether Braun's investigation produces real answers, or just a headline, is worth watching.

Trump to Revoke 200K Visas of Asylum Seekers Starting This Week

The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the B-1 and B-2 visas of up to 200,000 people who have applied for or are seeking asylum in the U.S., potentially the largest visa revocation ever. It's the latest step in Trump's broader immigration crackdown.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott says agents are identifying immigrants who entered as visitors and later filed for asylum. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau put it bluntly on X: "Asylum isn't supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration laws; rather, it's supposed to provide a narrow safe harbor for persons persecuted... But the system has long been swamped by frivolous asylum claims."

Reports from outlets like NPR describe the move as largely performative. It won't eliminate anyone's asylum claim or trigger immediate deportations. Instead, seekers lose their visitor status while their applications stay pending, leaving them in limbo and newly vulnerable to deportation. The move is less a policy fix than a signal, a deterrent aimed at asylum seekers while the immigration process itself stays just as backlogged and confusing as before.

Legal challenges are all but guaranteed. The New York Times reports that a federal judge in New York, Jeanette A. Vargas, already struck down a related attempt to stall visa releases for people from 75 countries last Friday. The administration should expect similar resistance here.

Landau argues asylum has been used to "circumvent" the law, but it's worth noting how often this administration has circumvented due process itself. Between raids on public businesses and streets, which Human Rights Watch links to at least 50 deaths, the targeting of foreign nationals who criticize its policies, and now this, a pattern is hard to miss.

Whether this survives legal challenge remains to be seen. But it raises a real question: how far can executive power stretch before something gives?

Wild Horses Being Sent to the Slaughter by the Trump Administration

There's something deeply disturbing about the idea that America's wild horses, animals that have long symbolized freedom and the spirit of the West, are ending up in slaughter pipelines after being removed from public lands. A New York Times investigation, as reported by Fox10, found that hundreds of federally protected wild horses have been sold through government programs for as little as $25 and later sent to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

Under the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has accelerated efforts to remove wild horses from public lands. In Colorado alone, more than 800 horses have already been captured this summer as part of large-scale roundup operations designed to shrink herd populations. Federal officials say these removals are necessary because of drought conditions and limited resources, but many advocates argue that fertility control programs would be a far more humane solution.

The BLM denies knowingly selling horses to slaughter, and buyers are required to sign contracts promising not to. But the Times found a loophole: once a horse is sold rather than adopted, federal anti-slaughter protections largely fall away, and one Ohio livestock trader was able to acquire around 500 BLM horses before some ended up at slaughterhouses across the Canadian border.

What makes this situation worse is that taxpayers are funding a system that appears to be failing the very animals it was meant to protect. These horses are supposed to be safeguarded under laws designed to preserve America's wild herds, not treated as disposable commodities.

This isn't just a debate about land management. It's a question of values. Wild horses are part of America's history and identity, and allowing them to end up in slaughterhouses represents a failure of stewardship. If population management is necessary, there are humane alternatives that don't risk sending protected animals to such a brutal fate. Americans can disagree about public land policy, but no one should be comfortable with a system that turns national symbols into slaughterhouse inventory.

For animals that have come to represent freedom, survival, and the American frontier, we should expect better from our government. America's wild horses deserve protection, not a one-way ticket to a slaughterhouse.

The free newsletter making HR less lonely

The best HR advice comes from people who’ve been in the trenches.

That’s what this newsletter delivers.

I Hate it Here is your insider’s guide to surviving and thriving in HR, from someone who’s been there. It’s not about theory or buzzwords — it’s about practical, real-world advice for navigating everything from tricky managers to messy policies.

Every newsletter is written by Hebba Youssef — a Chief People Officer who’s seen it all and is here to share what actually works (and what doesn’t). We’re talking real talk, real strategies, and real support — all with a side of humor to keep you sane.

Because HR shouldn’t feel like a thankless job. And you shouldn’t feel alone in it.

Sign Up Free