7. The former president spent his Saturday in Georgia

• Former President Donald Trump spent his Saturday in Georgia at a “Save America Rally,” where he claimed he won the 2020 election, slammed Republicans who have been critical of him and declared jokingly that Democrat superstar Stacey Abrams would be a better governor than Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
• Why former President Trump is spending his weekends this way is unclear, but it is becoming apparent that he enjoys these events where an audience arrives and listens to his grievances, criticisms of his enemies, and his promotion of his selected candidates, so expect to see more of this.

6. Vaccine mandate in New York blocked by judge

• Judge Joseph Bianco of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has granted a temporary injunction to block the vaccine mandate for school employees in New York City, which was put in place by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). The case will now be reviewed by a panel of judges.
• Some education workers in New York have been resisting getting the vaccine, but the Department of Education has said that 95% of principals in the state are vaccinated, as well as 88% of teachers and 82% of education employees. DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson said they’re “confident” the mandate will remain “once all the facts have been presented, because that is the level of protection our students and staff deserve.”

5. Republicans disappointed with the passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act

• In a Friday vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, which has a primary focus of ensuring that abortion access is provided legislatively, rather than through a U.S. Supreme court ruling. This legislation, if it were ever to become law, would allow abortion at any time in a pregnancy. This is wildly unpopular.
• The bill is also seen as a response to states that have restricted abortion since it directly impacts some of the restrictions. U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) said that the legislation is “pro-infanticide.” U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) said the bill is “[e]xtreme, radical, unprecedented.” He added, “But this Abortion on Demand legislation doesn’t change the fact that abortion stops an innocent, human heartbeat. We must fight for life and reject this bill.”

4. U.S. has a decent vaccine supply, so now there’s a bigger push for kids to get the shots

• Currently, there are about 70 million people in the United States that haven’t received the coronavirus vaccine, and now it’s been said that there are more than 40 million coronavirus vaccine doses available, creating another push for children to get vaccinated and high-risk people to get the booster shot.
• The Pfizer vaccine is only approved for people 12-years and older right now, but the company has said that they’re working on recommending it for those five years old and older, which fits with a push in the country primarily by Democrats to demand that every person get vaccinated regardless of risk factor or age.

3. Only 2,000 migrants have been deported, 30,000 came across the border

• A surge of migrants came across the southern border recently, and President Joe Biden’s administration has only successfully removed 2,000, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The full scope of the problem is far greater than previously reported.
• Mayorkas said that there were no longer thousands of migrants camped out under the Del Rio bridge, but advised that 12,400 were allowed to set a court date “to make a determination on whether they will be removed or permitted to remain in the United States.” According to Mayorkas, 5,000 people are still being processed, but 8,000 returned to Mexico “voluntarily.”

2. Britt slams Brooks for voting “no” on the National Defense Authorization Act

• U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, calling the vote “a damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ vote in which Socialist Democrats mix motherhood and apple pie with the devil’s doings, thus forcing Congressmen to either vote against good things they like or vote for bad things they detest. In sum, Congress can and should do better when authorizing America’s national defense programs.” Brooks added that he would vote for the bill if the “onerous provisions” were removed.
• His leading opponent for the GOP nomination in the Alabama U.S. Senate race, Katie Britt, saw this as an opportunity to slam him for voting against everything from more defense spending to holding President Joe Biden accountable for Afghanistan. Britt said of Brooks, “This is the latest example of why Washington is broken and why we don’t need ineffective, all-talk, do-nothing career politicians like my opponent in the U.S Senate.” The “no” votes in the Alabama delegation included Brooks and Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville), Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) and Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), while the lone Democrat in Alabama’s delegation Terri Sewell (D-Montgomery) was joined by Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) and Mike Rogers (R-Saks) as “yes” votes.

1. Special session starts today

• The special session for the Alabama Legislature starts today. Governor Kay Ivey hopes the prison issues on the agenda will be resolved quickly.
• State Senator Chris Elliot (R-Daphne) said that some of the matters on the agenda, such as criminal justice reform, should be left for the regular session in January 2022. One of the main criminal justice reforms Ivey has placed on the agenda is sentencing reform, but Elliot has said he thinks “it’s a nod to some of the things Democrats have been asking for. But I do not think that a special session is the time to be talking about sentencing reform.”