Hasta La Gadget!

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Neither Republican running in Georgia’s closely watched Senate race has a natural advantage in metro Atlanta, where the state’s most populous area and a ring of northern exurbs are serving as the key battleground ahead of Tuesday’s runoff.

Both Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah and former Dollar General CEO David Perdue have been spending a major portion of their time and money wooing voters along the busy stretches of Interstates 75 and 85 just before they merge south of downtown Atlanta and then as they split off heading for north Georgia and some of the most Republican parts of the state. It marks a gigantic “X” on the map, and both campaigns are zeroed in on running up their support in the area. Kingston spent all day Friday in the northern Atlanta suburbs and was back again on Sunday. Perdue has been crisscrossing all of north Georgia and the northern suburbs and exurbs of Atlanta as part of an RV tour launched nearly two weeks ago.

“It’s up for grabs,” said veteran Republican strategist Chip Lake, noting that up to 70 percent of GOP primary voters live within the metro Atlanta media market which covers much of north Georgia.

Certainly, no candidate can ignore metro Atlanta and north Georgia and have any hope of winning a statewide election. But the dynamics of this particular race, which has already garnered national attention as Republicans seek control of the Senate, means the election will likely be won or lost based on what happens there.

Kingston, a well-liked congressman in his Savannah district, dominated coastal counties in the May primary. Overall, Kingston finished second to Perdue among a crowded field of Republicans. The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will face Michelle Nunn, considered one of the top Democratic recruits in the country and among the best hopes for Democrats seeking to keep a Senate majority.

With a competitive primary for Kingston’s current seat in Congress, turnout is expected to be strong along the coast and Kingston will have to run up the numbers like he did during the primary when he claimed 78 percent of the vote in his home base of Chatham County. But the coastal areas alone can’t carry him across the finish line, and Kingston will have to perform very well in metro Atlanta and north Georgia.

“Jack Kingston can still win statewide without winning those areas,” Lake said. “He just needs to run up his margins on the coast and he needs to make sure that even though he’s not winning in those north Georgia counties, he’s not losing by a wide margin.”

Perdue, who hails from middle Georgia but has a home on the coast, did very well in north Georgia during the primary, capturing a majority of counties across the area. Although it’s his first political campaign, his cousin is former Gov. Sonny Perdue and his campaign and advisers are all veterans of state politics.

Perdue knows he must build on his primary vote totals and broaden his base of support. Meanwhile, Kingston has smartly collected endorsements from two of their former rivals with broad metro Atlanta support who finished third and fourth in the primary.

Kingston is banking on those endorsements to help him cut into Perdue’s lead, while Perdue has been using those endorsements to hammer Kingston as the establishment candidate who’s been in Washington too long.

Flowery Branch, home of the Atlanta Falcons training camp, is a key gateway between metro Atlanta and north Georgia. Perdue carried Hall County in the primary with about 38 percent of the vote to Kingston’s 19 percent. On a recent weekday, Perdue stumped for votes at Curt’s Cafeteria, a local institution serving traditional Southern fare.

JoAnne Stone of nearby Gainesville was among those looking to speak with the candidate and talk about his fiscal policies.

“I liked the fact that he’s not a politician and he has high-level international business experience,” said Stone, who is co-owner of an insurance agency. “And he knows how to balance a budget.”

The following day, Kingston made campaign stops along an arc just south of downtown Atlanta, in Henry, Fayette and Coweta counties. Perdue won all three during the primary, while Kingston finished third behind former Secretary of State Karen Handel. She has since endorsed him.

Marilyn Watts, a real estate broker and appraiser from unincorporated Fayette County, voted for Handel during the primary and was among those attending a meet-and-greet with Kingston at a coffee shop in Peachtree City.

“He is a true conservative like Karen and he has a record to run on, which will give you a clue as to what he will do in the future,” Watts said. “His opponent has no record. All we know is what he tells us.”

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Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Christina .

(Reuters) – An 11-year-girl was shot and killed during a slumber party as violence struck Chicago over the weekend, local media outlets reported on Sunday.

At least 40 people were shot, and four killed, in weekend violence in the third-largest U.S. city, the NBC affiliate in Chicago reported.

The deaths included an 11-year-old girl, shot in the head inside a first-floor bedroom on Friday night after someone fired a gun from outside the house, said Chicago Police Officer Jose Estrada.

Shamiya Adams, who died the next day, had been sitting on the floor during a sleep-over at her best friend’s home, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Chicago Police Department on Sunday had not released an official tally of the weekend violence. But reports of another outbreak of gunfire came as the city has been grappling with a wave of summer violence.

City officials condemned as unacceptable a spree of gunfire over the Fourth of July holiday weekend that left 17 dead, with 53 people shot, including five by police. Authorities said at the time that shooting deaths in Chicago were down for the year.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla.; Editing by Scott Malone and Dan Grebler)

Imam Khalid Latif is blogging his reflections during the month of Ramadan for the fourth year in a row, featured daily on HuffPost Religion. For a complete record of his previous posts, visit his author page, and to follow along with the rest of his reflections, sign up for an author email alert above, visit his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.

Last night I came home late in the evening and found that my wife, Priya, had made some chimichangas, for me to eat. I really enjoy eating everything that she makes, but when she makes chimichangas it’s particularly amazing, not because of how it tastes, or because she makes them fresh from scratch, but because of how she had made it for me once, and how I will never forget that.

Like most married couples, Priya and I argue. Little things, big things, and things that have nothing to do with either of us but find themselves unreconciled and easily taken out against each other instead of the actual source of conflict, all serve as a starting point for a fight. Sometimes it’s easily resolved, sometimes it’s prolonged. Sometimes we fight fair and sometimes we end up being really terrible to each other. The terrible arguments are the ones that are most exhausting and usually the ones that end up having us talking at each other rather than to each other. They don’t happen so often, alhamdulillah, but when they do it’s tough to digest.

One day we were having a pretty bad fight. The conversation started normal but soon escalated to a place neither of us wanted it to go. Our voices got louder and then soon became silent as we stopped talking to each other for some time. We went back and forth over the course of the day and into the evening, trying to restart the conversation and make amends, but each time ending up in argumentation again. By this point it didn’t even seem like we were hearing other.

Speaking for myself, I was quite tired. I wasn’t able to focus on anything, had started to develop a headache, and could only imagine what she was going through. We had one more conversation, the tenor of which was a little more civil. We took a breath, heard each other out and where the other was coming from and said our apologies. The day long argument was over.

I was supposed to go to a meeting that night which I had told myself I wouldn’t go to because I didn’t want to leave when we were in the middle of a fight. I asked her if should get some food for us for dinner to which she said, “Sorry I thought you were going to be at a meeting tonight so I haven’t finished making dinner yet. I thought you would eat later when you came home, but I can finish it up really quickly now.” I was a little confused and didn’t really understand what she meant by finishing dinner so I asked what she was talking about. She said, “I’m making chimichangas because I know how much you like them.” I started to cry and said, “You cooked dinner for me even when we were fighting?” My heart trembled from the thoughtfulness as I ran to hug her.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was constantly doing good for people, whether they were his supporters or not. A woman used to throw garbage upon him from her window on a regular basis and one day when the garbage didn’t fall, he went to see why and found her ill. Rather than use the opportunity to retaliate, he was compassionate for her and her circumstances, putting her in such awe that she actually became his follower.

An elderly woman is said to have needed assistance with some bags she was carrying and the Prophet Muhammad went to help her. Not knowing who he was, she started to speak to him about this man named Muhammad who was preaching a new religion and how she was against it. Every so often she would ask him his name and he would change the subject until she finally reached her destination and she asked again. He told her that he is the Muhammad she was speaking about. She too was astonished that he helped her despite hearing everything bad she was saying about him.

The people of Mecca abused and persecuted the early generation of Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad himself was mocked and ridiculed on numerous instances. When he attempted to pray, they would put the intestines of recently slaughtered animals on his back. They would humiliate him in front of his young daughter Fatima. On one occasion a man even took a rope and started to choke him with it until the Prophet’s friend Abu Bakr intervened, asking the perpetrator, “Do you want to kill a man who all he is saying is God is my Lord?” Despite these things, a regular prayer that the Prophet Muhammad would make was Allahumaghfirli qawmi, fa innahum laa ya’lamoon – “Oh God, forgive my people. Indeed they do not understand.” It’s important to note that he is not using the world ummah, referring to his nation of followers that were Muslim, but he uses the word qawm, in reference to the people of his society and locale.

It’s one thing to be good to people who are treating you well. It’s another to be good to someone who, even if just in the moment, isn’t treating you well. To me, Priya set a standard for me to aspire towards in terms of service to others and beautiful character in pursuit of a prophetic legacy. I hope I can be that good one day and I know that I’ll be reminded it of it every time I eat a chimichanga.

Say a special prayer for my Priya if you can – she’s the best mashallah.

General Electric has a great project for aviation enthusiasts, makers and 3D printer owners who are desperate to prove to people that their device can make awesome things. It’s a 3D model of one of its jet engines. It has a hand crank and is depicted in a cutaway view, so you can see how its parts move and interact.

Zoom to Thingiverse to download GE’s jet engine scale model 3D template, then check out the assembly instructions below. GE also made a gift box template for the toy.

[via GE]

Adam Levine, alleged Sexiest Man Alive and person who knows you think he’s a douchebag, is now married to Behati Prinsloo. According to People, the couple tied the knot in Mexico on Saturday night, July 19th, in front of an intimate group of approximately 275 guests, which included Robert Downey Jr.

Levine, 35, and Prinsloo, 25, got engaged in June of 2013 after dating for a year. While preparing for their wedding, Levine spoke openly about being ready to settle down. “I definitely feel like I’m sitting in the chair I’m supposed to be sitting in right now,” he told People. “It all feels very natural.”

E! News reports that Levine “looked dapper in a fitted tux,” while Prinsloo wore a white Marchesa gown. The couple, who is headed to South America for their honeymoon, received no gifts from Robert Downey Jr. or anyone else, having requested that guests donate to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

There is no report as to whether “She Will be Loved” was played on infinite loop at the reception, but it probably was.