Georgia is a swing state and when it comes to the electric car revolution, it's acting like one. When it comes to jobs, Georgia has been a major beneficiary of the inflation reduction act. Rural Georgia is being called the "battery belt," and Gov Brian Kemp says he wants to make Georgia the "electric mobility capital of America." So Kemp must get verklempt when he describes the importance of transitioning to electric cars and the fight against climate change. Actually, not so much. WaPo (Free Article): Georgia is gaining thousands of jobs from electric vehicle manufacturing. But lawmakers are hesitant to fully embrace EVs — or the fight against climate change. "Last month, the state Senate passed a tax on public EV charging. Along with the governor, most state lawmakers rarely mention 'climate change' — or the emissions reductions and environmental benefits of switching to electric vehicles." (Even when the risks and benefits are staring you in the face, mentioning reality can be a untenable political message.)

"Zoe knows that what I do is critical for our multibillion-dollar company to continue doing what it does, so she provides what I ask of her, over and over, year after year, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with her job. Even though it eats up hours of her time. Even though she is not authorized to give me any of that information. And, most important, even though every single thing she knows about me, and everything I've ever told her, is a lie ... All of which is to say, this seemingly innocuous phone call is taking place in a capitalist ecosystem defined by outrageous, unchecked excess and, yes, rampant deception. The world of corporate spying is shady but lucrative, and I am one of the best." In Narratively, Robert Kerbeck describes his High-Flying Life as a Corporate Spy Who Lied His Way to the Top. (He sounds electable.)

"A jury was seated Tuesday to hear a voting machine company's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in a trial that will test First Amendment protections and expose the network's role in spreading the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election. Jury selection came a day after the judge granted a one-day delay that offered time to see if the two sides could work out a settlement." Jury seated to hear case about Fox's false election claims. I was actually worried that the two sides would make a deal. Let's have the trial and force Fox to finally operate in a setting where you have to tell the truth. You can't put a price tag on the damage their support of the Big Lie did to America (even if their own viewers will hear more about Hunter Biden's laptop than this case.) Here's an idea: Make Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity deliver the news under oath. Here's the latest on the trial.

"Perhaps it was fate, then, when an orphaned eaglet, just a week or two old, was brought into the sanctuary this month, having survived a fall from a tree during a storm in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., about 60 miles southeast. In a way, Murphy was the 'obvious choice' for a foster parent." NYT (Gift Article): An Eagle Who Adopted a Rock Becomes a Real Dad. "Murphy, a bald eagle at a bird sanctuary in Valley Park, Mo., had been incubating a rock, and his keepers did not have the heart to separate them. He seemed ready when an eaglet needed a dad." (By the time the eaglet becomes a teenager, Murphy will wish he'd stuck with the rock.)

Shots Fired Everywhere: A day after we learned of the insane shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl "when he mistakenly went to the wrong Kansas City, Missouri, home to pick up his younger brothers," we're learning that "a 65-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a 20-year-old Saratoga County woman Saturday evening after the car she was in mistakenly drove up the man's driveway." These shootings come during the same week as the mass shooting at an Alabama sweet-16 birthday party and news of a man who shot three people after food order was delivered to wrong house. And these are just the cases that made national headlines. We don't live in a simulation. We live in a shooting range.

+ Putinjustice: "A Moscow court on Tuesday upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested while on a reporting trip last month and held on an allegation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny."

+ RSVP Shooter: "Senate Democrats are eyeing an invitation to Justice Clarence Thomas — whose friendship with a billionaire GOP donor has drawn heightened scrutiny in recent weeks — for a forthcoming hearing on the Supreme Court's ethical standards." (Oooh. They're gonna send him an invite. That'll teach him.)

+ Ecuador Mat: "Ecuador has long been known as one of the most peaceful countries in Latin America, but its soaring murder rate is comparable to Medellin, Colombia during the reign of Pablo Escobar. Ecuador's homicide rate jumped 245 percent between 2020 and 2022." The cartels are spreading. Here's Vice on the latest stop. Mexican Cartels Are Turning Once-Peaceful Ecuador Into a Narco War Zone.

+ Heart Breaking-News: "He's fully cleared, he's here and he is of the mindset; he's in a great head space to come back and make his return." Bills' Damar Hamlin OK to play after suffering cardiac arrest. Um, good?

+ McCurtain Call: "GOP officials from McCurtain County, Okla. are being investigated by the FBI after they were caught on tape expressing their frustration about it not being socially acceptable beat up and hang Black people, as well as their desires to hire hitmen to kill newspaper reporters."

+ Fort Noxious Here's a headline that's juuuust a little concerning: The US economy could depend on McCarthy corralling his extremist Republican troops.

"Federal prosecutors say they've nabbed a would-be hitman after he submitted a job application to a website he believed let people hire assassins for pay." It's a killer work if you can get it.

+ Authorities investigate video of man allegedly harassing San Francisco sea lions. "In the video, the man appears to shotgun a beer before throwing the can onto the ground and backflipping into the water, to the apparent glee of the person filming the stunt. He then proceeds to swim toward the dock and chase after the sea lions while waving his arms around. The sea lions start barking frantically and jump into the water to get away from the intruder." I guess everyone handles Twitter withdrawals in their own way...