Once again, Alabama lawmakers are looking at gambling and lottery legislation. Currently, there are two gaming proposals from Republicans making their way through the legislature.
State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) is sponsoring a comprehensive gambling proposal in the Senate, which would create a lottery, five new casinos, two satellite casinos, sports betting and statewide regulation of gambling. If approved by the legislature, it would also be placed on the ballot for a vote as a constitutional amendment.
State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island) is sponsoring an alternative bill in the House, which he calls a “clean lottery bill.” His bill would allow Alabama citizens to vote on whether or not to establish a state education lottery. The Alabama House Committee on Economic Development and Tourism voted to advance Brown’s bill last week.
Tuesday, during an appearance on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Albritton discussed why he supports a comprehensive gaming plan over a simple lottery bill.
“My feeling is that a lottery does not solve the problem,” he said. “It only increases the difficulty. A lottery doesn’t provide any benefit to the state. It only provides a small position there. It doesn’t help the state with mental health or any other issues. A lottery will only exacerbate the problem and it won’t solve it. The only thing that’s going to solve this is when the state operates its sovereign control and regulates this industry, just like it does in any other industry that’s in the state.”
Albritton also detailed how passing a simple lottery bill would still expand gaming in Alabama.
“If the public does not want an expansion of gaming then do not pass a lottery,” he explained. “A lottery will expand gaming in two different ways. Number one, geographically. If the lottery passes you will have sales at every street corner, in every small filling station, wherever. It will be throughout the state. That’s the greatest expansion we can have in Alabama. Second expansion is once you adopt a lottery in a state, that triggers federal law, which means that the lottery is defined as a class three gaming, well that fits in with the same thing as the poker and the roulette and everything else.”
The state senator then made the argument that a comprehensive gaming plan would bring more benefits to the state than a simple lottery.
“A lottery will do nothing but expand gaming. It has very little gain or assistance for the state,” he argued. “The casinos are already here and we’re not taxing them. My proposal taxes them, it controls them, it limits them where they are, it gives us the authority to control where they are, what they’re doing, what games they have.”
Albritton said the tax revenue from his proposal would go to many different programs in the state, including the construction of new mental health facilities.
“The main function of this, I’m trying to do, is replace mental health facilities and mental health training and mental health aspects of the state that we do not have now and haven’t had for a generation,” he continued. “That’s number one. Number two, trying to help and deal with the rural hospitals and the medical care in rural areas so that we can get the technologies and things involved there to provide the care for people that can’t travel, if that makes sense. Then we take, spread it through the different counties, local governments, and various avenues of the state general fund, and also scholarships for schools.”
The Senate Tourism Committee already approved the plan, but it has not yet come up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Senate candidate Mike Durant took to Twitter on Saturday to blast his Republican primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), over the issue of fighting voter fraud.
Durant posted, “We need strong Republicans who will fight for election integrity, not weak-kneed Republicans who will waffle like Mo Brooks.”
We need strong Republicans who will fight for election integrity, not weak-kneed Republicans who will waffle like Mo Brooks.
We won’t move on and we won’t forget! https://t.co/JBaW4BmFRu#alsen #alpolitics
— Mike Durant (@MikeDurantAL) March 19, 2022
During an appearance Monday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” Brooks said he had done more to fight voter fraud than any other candidate in the Senate race.
“OK, you want to fight voter fraud? Fantastic,” he said. “Detail us what you did November 3, Election Day, and January 6 to help us win. Did you contribute to any of the audits going around the United States of America, those efforts, help pay any of the litigation costs that were occurred in court? Did you take a public position, at least say something in our support?”
Brooks also said his opponents should prove they actually supported Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“You claim that you supported Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, prove it!” he protested. “Where is your public statement? Where is your Facebook post? Where is your tweet? Where is your campaign contribution?”
The congressman also reiterated that the only effective way to combat future potential voter fraud is to win elections.
“The only way to fix this election fraud problem is for us to win enough seats in legislatures and in Congress that we have the power to vote and fix it. That’s it,” he explained. “There is no other recourse folks. We have to get past this big bad loss. We can’t dwell on it. We can use it to motivate, OK? But we have to win elections in 2022 and 2024 or else we’ve lost our republic.”
Brooks acknowledged it’s not going to be easy for him to win the primary.
“I’ve always known this was going to be a tough fight,” he said. “I’m a principled conservative, and we conservatives, unfortunately, we tend to be frugal, which means we’re less apt to give a bunch of money as opposed to these special interest groups, that are funding, as a way of example, to the Katie Britt campaign.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Last week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James released a statement criticizing the Alabama Numeracy Act that was approved by the Senate earlier this month.
James said in the statement, “I call on Alabama Legislators to vote ‘NO’ on SB171. Also known as the Alabama ‘Numeracy Act,’ this bill claims to rid Alabama of Common Core math. However, this legislation does not remove Common Core math from our schools. It actually allows the state to spend $92 million to hire math coaches who will train kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers on how to teach Common Core.”
The full bill, SB171, is sponsored by State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) and can be read here.
Friday, during an appearance on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” Orr defended the bill.
“I think it’s just a red herring that Tim James is going after,” Orr said, “and disappointed that he’s doing that cause I had this bill written by non-state department, non-bureaucratic type educators.”
The state senator explained that while his bill bans the use of Common Core curricula in grade school, some similar math concepts that existed before Common Core will have to be taught for students to be able to take the national standardized tests.
“The NAEP, which is the national assessment test,” he explained,” it’s the gold standard that all the states use and take and compare themselves with, they’re using in that test some Common Core type questions of how to figure problems out, math problems. So if we don’t teach or align ourselves to teach what’s on the NAEP, which is the test, we’re going to do very, our students are going to very poorly.”
Orr also said he can’t get too worked up about talking Common Core in math.
“If we’re talking about history or social sciences and things like that then yeah,” he protested. “If there’s real 1619 interpretation of our history as opposed to what it was then, that’s something that we can really debate, but when we’re talking about math and how people figure out mathematical problems then, I don’t know, I can’t get too worked up about it.”
The state senator said he got advice directly from teachers when writing this bill.
“I went to the front lines of teachers and said, ‘OK, we’re doing terribly. There’s nothing coming out of Montgomery that I see to change all this. If you were king or queen for overall the schools, what would you do and how would you do it?’ And that’s the bill that we have,” Orr concluded.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech via video to a joint session of Congress, in which he asked for more military aid from the United States
U.S. Army veteran and Republican candidate for Senate Mike Durant said he supported giving the Ukrainians what they needed to hold Russia back.
Friday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Durant said the United States should help Ukraine but needed to be smart about it.
“We can’t make decisions based on emotion,” he said. “We’ve got to make decisions that make sense and don’t escalate this thing beyond, you know, where it is already, which is just almost incredible.”
Durant explained what’s he’s currently hearing from his sources about what Ukraine really needed right now.
“We need to give them what they’re asking for,” he explained. “They are the ones who know best what they need, and what I’m hearing, I mean I get involved with some conversations that are pretty close to folks on the ground there, they want more stingers, they want more Javelins, they need radio communications, they need UAVs.”
The Senate candidate expressed some concern about sending them MiG fighter jets but didn’t rule it out completely.
“Are these old generation MiGs that, ya know, they get up in the air and they’re up against more advanced version of that aircraft, they’re just going to get blown out of the sky?” he asked.
He reiterated why it’s important to be specific on the kind of aid the United States was sending to the country.
“We need to give them our full support, but it has to be systems that will make a difference to them, that they already know how to use, they have the logistics for, parts, training, all of that,” he said.
Durant also expressed how Ukraine has done much better fighting back against Russia than most people expected.
“They have far exceeded anyone’s expectations in holding their ground at this point,” he said. “The Russians have taken much more heavy losses than I think anyone thought, certainly than they thought.”
The Army veteran added he hoped they could force Russia to agree to reasonable peace terms.
“We need to do everything we can to continue that and try to get them to at least stop, so that we can get them to the negotiating table and try to bring an end to this,” he concluded. “That is the best scenario at this point to resolve this, to find a way to, you know, come to terms to stop the fighting.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
The Biden administration continues to negotiate with Iran over a new nuclear agreement, which would be a revised version of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The Trump administration pulled out of the previous agreement with Iran in 2018.
One Alabama congressman and the current ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee says he can’t see himself supporting any new deal with Iran.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) joined WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program” on Tuesday to explain why the United States shouldn’t join any new agreement with the Middle Eastern country.
“I don’t trust Iran any more than I trust Pakistan or Turkey,” he said. “Iran will never agree to any deal that allows international inspectors to come in and if we can’t inspect I’m never going to trust them.”
Rogers said that no matter what deal is made, Iran is going to continue pursuing nuclear weapons.
“The fact is Iran is going to continue to enrich uranium, so they can get away, no matter what the deal says,” he explained. “Once that happens, everybody in that neighborhood is going to want to have weapons, nukes.”
The Alabama congressman was not optimistic that the United States would be able to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons while Joe Biden is still president.
“I do not see that being the case until we have a strong president, and we will not have a strong president for at least two and a half more years,” concluded Rogers.
Rogers also took a shot at Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over their current handling of foreign policy.
“I worry about everything the Biden administration does,” he said. The only thing that worries me more is if that Vice President’s involved.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Last week, the Alabama Senate passed a bill that would prohibit wake surfing in a public body of water that’s less than 50 acres in size, in any portion of public water where the width of the portion is less than 400 feet and within 200 feet of a shoreline, dock, pier, boathouse or any other structure.
Senate Bill 281 is sponsored by State Sens. Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) and Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) and is being carried in the House by Rep. Ginny Shaver (R-Leesburg). The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 26-0 with nine abstentions. It also passed the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee with one amendment. The full language of the bill can be found here.
Friday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” Shaver explained why the wake surfing ban was necessary.
“There’s been a lot of public outcry about the issues concerning wake boats and wake surfers due to the damage that the wakes cause to lake property, just the nuisance they cause by people who are not considerate of others,” she said.
Shaver also gave more details about where legislators have been hearing complaints.
“About a year or so ago there was a public meeting and over 200 people from that area attended with concerns about these issues, so it’s not just a one-person problem,” she said.
The lawmaker also defended the amendment to the bill that would limit the ban to only lakes created by damming or river.
“Passing legislation is a compromise situation,” she protested. “If some things can get passed, some things can’t and sometimes compromises are made to get what you can get.”
Shaver went on to explain why the bill was crafted in a specific way.
“The proximity and the areas closest to the shoreline, that’s where the damage is going to happen, and so that’s why the proximity is the measure,” she explained.
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
In February, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn announced that he was endorsing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant.
Flynn served as the nation’s 25th national security adviser in the Trump administration and was previously the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Prior to Durant’s entry into Alabama’s U.S. Senate race, Flynn had expressed support for the candidacy of U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville).
Friday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Flynn explained why he is now supporting Durant instead of Brooks.
“I never endorsed Mo Brooks,” he protested. “I just I made a comment at the great event I attended in Birmingham, but then when I heard Mo Brooks talk about that we have to get past the 2020 election, when he made that comment, I think it was at a rally that Donald Trump had in Alabama, actually, when I heard him make that comment. I was infuriated.”
Flynn was referencing comments Brooks made at last year’s rally in Cullman when he told the crowd “don’t look back” and insisted it was time to “look forward” to the next election.
The retired Lt. General went on to explain why those comments by Brooks made him so upset.
“I know we have to move forward and we have to look, we have to get more people registered, we have to get more people volunteering as precinct leaders, as poll watchers, we’ve got to get more people involved in this, in the lifeblood of our election system,” he said. “If people can’t see what happened in 2020 in the Presidential election and frankly in the down ballots as well then they’re blind. They’re doing nothing more than reading headlines and listening to the mainstream media.”
Former President Donald Trump also expressed disappointment this week over Brooks’ comments at the rally but has not yet rescinded his endorsement for Brooks.
In a Thursday statement to Yellowhammer News, Brooks campaign spokesman Will Hampson explained that Brooks understands the problems with the 2020 election better than any of the other candidates.
“President Trump also knows Mo’s position on 2020 has never changed: the 2020 election was fraught with voter fraud and election theft on a massive scale, and that Mo Brooks was the ONLY one in this race to stand with him on January 6th,” Hampson said.
Flynn concluded by explaining why Durant was the right person to be Alabama’s next senator.
“We need to choose leaders who are warriors,” he exclaimed, “who are ready to get in there and mix it up in the halls of Congress and the United States Senate and Mike Durant is exactly that type of guy.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
During an interview with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump said he was disappointed with U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and his performance in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.
Trump expressed concern over what Brooks said at last year’s rally in Cullman where he told rally-goers to “look ahead” to the midterm elections instead of just looking back to the 2020 Presidential election.
Thursday, during an interview on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks’ (R-Huntsville) U.S. Senate campaign co-chairman Stan Mcdonald reiterated that Trump and Brooks are in agreement about what happened in the 2020 election.
“That election was stolen, and Joe Biden, he is an illegitimate President,” he protested. “Now, that is exactly the logical conclusion that both President Trump and Mo Brooks share.”
Mcdonald then said that Brooks was the only candidate who will say publicly the election was stolen.
“Mo Brooks is the only candidate for Senate that says that,” he explained. “The other two cannot say that.”
The co-chair said that while the other two candidates will address election issues, they won’t come out and say directly that the election was stolen.
“One of them has said of course we all believe in election integrity and how important it is, and the other one was asked about it at a meeting and said no more questions. Walked away from it. So it’s not even a close call,” he concluded.
Mcdonald also believes that Trump will continue to support Brooks in the Senate race.
“I think President Trump, when he looks at it, will understand that Mo is the only principled conservative in the race that will stick by him and stand by him,” he said. “He’s examining some things right now it sounds like, if we’re to believe the whole story, but upon close examination, what he’s going to find is this is the way Mo Brooks wins.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Under current Alabama law, individuals, corporations and unions in Alabama can make unlimited contributions to candidates. In 2013, then-Governor Robert Bentley signed into law the Fair Campaign Practices Act, which eliminated the state’s $500 limit per election for direct corporate contributions to candidates.
One candidate for Alabama governor this year wants to change that.
In a Thursday interview with WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” gubernatorial candidate Lew Burdette called for a limit to the number of contributions donated to campaigns in Alabama.
“We’re one of five states, five, that allows unlimited campaign contributions,” he said, “and that’s just wrong. It buys favor and influence. Everybody in Alabama knows we have a corrupt state. We’re the fourth most politically corrupt state in Alabama, which just breaks my heart as a lifelong Alabamian growing up in a small town, you know, how can we be the fourth most politically corrupt state? And it starts with the money, right Yaffee? Just follow the money.”
While he did not commit to a specific number that should be the limit, Burdette is trying to set an example by putting self-imposed caps on his own campaign.
“We have to limit campaign contributions, it just can’t be unlimited,” he added, “so that’s why I’ve self-imposed, and people, Yaffee, they said, ‘You know, Lew, you’re so crazy,’ but you know you’ve got to put a stake in the ground and say this is the right thing to do, and so I self-imposed a $10,000 limit on my campaign.”
The candidate did acknowledge that he is not calling for limits on how much of the candidates’ own money can be contributed to a campaign.
“Personal money is one thing,” he said. “We have a couple of candidates in this race and they’re putting a lot of their personal money in there and that’s their prerogative. It’s their money and that’s what they out to do, I mean they should be allowed to do that.”
Burdette also took a shot a Governor Kay Ivey for how much money her campaign has accepted.
“Kay Ivey has accepted $5.3 million in campaign contributions since 2017, greater than $10,000,” he exclaimed. “And all it does is buy favor and influence.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech via video to a joint session of Congress. Zelensky thanked the United States for its support but also reiterated that his country needs more assistance. The Ukrainian president once again asked for air defense systems and fighters.
One Alabama congressman who was in attendance for the speech agreed with Zelensky. During an appearance on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) said he supported finding a way to send Ukraine fighter jets.
“What’s the difference between a MiG and a Javelin?” he asked. “I mean, a weapon’s a weapon. If we’re going to supply them with weapons that’s fine.”
Carl said there would be bipartisan support to get more fighters to Ukraine soon.
“To get him those additional planes I think you’re going to see the Democrats and Republicans push for us to get Poland to do that,” he said, “whether it comes through us or through Poland, and we’ll replace them, of course, with an F-16, so I think you’re going to see the Democrats and Republicans pushing the President to go along with that portion of his request.”
While the Alabama congressman does support sending more military aid to Ukraine, he did caution that a no-fly zone would be going too far because “it’s impossible to comprehend that we could or would do that.”
“The no-fly zone, that’s a tough one,” he lamented. “I mean, that is a true act of war when you start shooting down aircraft, you know, from another nation.”
Carl praised the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people and argued that Putin’s power was diminishing as a result of this war.
“I think the [Russian] oligarchs are going to control a lot of what’s going on with Putin,” he argued. “I mean, you go to bed you’re worth two billion and you wake up the next day you’re only worth one billion, I mean that speaks volumes to those wealthy people, so they’ll get enough of losing money and they’ll either get [Putin] replaced, or replace him any way that they need to.”
The congressman concluded that he doesn’t see how Russia ultimately wins this war.
“Putin’s got a time clock on him, and I don’t know what the end game is for him,” he advised. “Even if he does take the country of Ukraine over and manages to keep NATO out of it, he’s still got to deal with the inner cities and that’s where he’s really going to get beat.”
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
As potential peace negotiations continue this week between Russia and Ukraine, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee said he doesn’t believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about stopping the war.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) joined WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program” on Tuesday to point out why he’s not optimistic about peace coming to Ukraine any time soon.
“I think that Putin is just playing games,” Rogers lamented. “I don’t think he’s planning any serious peace negotiations. I think that he’s going to keep trying to bomb Kyiv into submission and that we’re going to see a long insurgency campaign after this, so I’m not optimistic about any peace talks.”
Rogers reiterated that he doesn’t believe Putin is negotiating in good faith.
“I don’t think Putin has any intention of negotiating,” Rogers argued. “I think he wants to be vindicated in taking all of Ukraine or at least going back to the old Soviet border in the western part of Ukraine and anything less than that, and installing a puppet government, anything less than that he’s going to view as a failure and I don’t think he sees failure as an option.”
The congressman also warned that China is watching how the U.S. and the rest of the world is responding to Russia’s aggression.
“The fact that the Chinese President is now threating any country that helps [Taiwan] shows that they’re paying attention to what Putin is doing, ya know Putin threatened any country that helped Ukraine and all of a sudden you saw a bunch of NATO countries, but specifically Poland and the U.S., pull back from giving those MiG jets, so they see a country that’s afraid of threats so now they’re threating. That’s all the more reason to double our efforts because we cannot allow Taiwan to be taken,” he concluded.
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Last week in the Alabama House of Representatives there was a strong debate over HB 312, also known as the “divisive concepts” bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver (R-Dadeville). The bill came before the Alabama Committee on State Government, which, after hearing from both sides, passed a motion to carry the bill over, delaying it.
The bill has a few controversial provisions, including one that “would prohibit public K-12 schools and public institutions of higher education and their employees from using or introducing courses of instruction or units of study directing or compelling students to adhere to or affirm certain concepts regarding race, sex, or religion.”
While most of the voices in opposition came from the Democratic side of the aisle, one Republican, Rep. Mike Ball (R-Madison), joined them in speaking out against the bill.
“If you read the bill, those are ideals that should be embraced, but they are not the kind of thing that can be imposed, because when you start to impose ideals you create resentment and opposition,” said Ball Monday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
He also argued that something like this should be handled by the State Board of Education instead of the legislature, which already put forward a ban on teaching Critical Race Theory.
“That’s where it should be, the legislature shouldn’t be enacting laws every time they see something they don’t like. There’s a certain amount of restraint. Just because you have the power to do something doesn’t mean you should,” he argued.
Even though Ball is speaking out against the bill, he said he doesn’t plan on doing anything that would stall or kill the bill.
“We’re just taking the wrong approach. I mean, I don’t plan to filibuster or try to kill it, the votes are there to pass it if they want to pass it. I just want people to think about what we’re doing,” Ball concluded.
The Alabama Senate Government Affairs Committee has already approved the Senate version of the bill in a 6-1 vote.
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
The Florida Legislature recently passed a controversial bill on parental rights in education, which opponents of the bill have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”
While the bill doesn’t include the word “gay,” it does include a section that says, “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate.”
One state senator believes a version of this bill should be considered in Alabama. During an appearance on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said he’s willing to take up the fight to get something like the Florida bill passed in Alabama.
“This is something that I think we need to establish as a policy in this state, that we’re not going to get into sexual orientation and gender identity at such tender ages,” said Orr.
Orr suggested that the best approach to get this done would be to offer it as an amendment to a current bill on education.
“I’m thinking maybe we ought to amend the CRT legislation that’s floating around the state house that I certainly hope we’re able to pass,” he advised.
The state senator also said he wanted to bring it up to the rest of the Republican caucus to see if it would be able to get enough votes to pass.
He added, “Ultimately I’m but one member, and if the votes aren’t there, then it won’t happen, but I certainly feel strongly enough about it that, if they’re willing to go down that road, to take the issue, get the amendment drafted offer the amendment, and take all the blowback that you know that’s coming.”
Orr admitted he doesn’t know if gender ideology is currently being discussed in any Alabama schools but said he believes taking preventative action on the subject is a good thing.
“My goodness, should we really be going down the road regarding sexual orientation and gender identity to kindergarteners, second graders, third graders? Are you kidding me? It’s just outlandish that we even have to put something like this in the code, but evidently it’s being done in classrooms potentially around the country and possibly here in Alabama,” he lamented.
Michael Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
So this past week it finally happened. I caught COVID. I don’t know which one for sure I caught, but my educated guess is it was indeed Omicron. I caught it while I was down in Florida for Christmas vacation and was the first one in my family group to catch it. I started feeling a little off Christmas Day but got hit hard by it that night. I had the works: fever, headache, congestion, fatigue, you name it. The first couple of days were rough, but I seem to be on the mend now.
If you didn’t know already, yes, I’m vaccinated. In my family group that I spent time with during the vacation, two of us were vaccinated and boosted, three of us were vaccinated and not boosted, one of us wasn’t boosted and had a previous infection, and one of us wasn’t vaccinated at all. The only two people who didn’t catch it or have any symptoms were the unvaccinated person and one boosted person. The virus wants whom it wants, apparently.
I already see some who caught it as well talking about testing being the key to slow the spread. Why are we still playing this game? You can throw that assumption out the window. While I don’t wish this on anyone, I also recognize reality. Looking at all the available data, this thing is going to spread. Testing, masks, Biden, Trump, Nick Saban, the Infinity Stones and vaccines aren’t preventing that reality.
The worst part of it beyond the actual illness is when I went to the doctor, I had to wait over four hours to get tested. I noticed most people there for tests weren’t sick. I overheard several people were getting tested because their employer made them or as a simple precaution. Just so you know, if you’re not sick and still going to get tested, you’re making actual sick people wait longer. People mainly went to the doctor when they were sick. It’s strange seeing the opposite now in waiting rooms.
I also thought it was weird that once I tested positive the doctor did nothing for me — didn’t even want to check me out to see how it was affecting me, didn’t offer any treatment advice. The doctor just wanted me to get out as soon as possible and go home. I’m going to miss the days when doctors actually checked on sick people I guess. That’s why I knew I had to share this experience with my listeners.
It never crossed my mind to blame anyone for me getting it, except maybe the Chinese Communist Party. I don’t blame Trump, Biden, DeSantis, or the unvaccinated. This variant was inevitable. I wish most people would come to grips with that fact.
The good news is Omicron seems to be milder than the previous strands. The bad news is a lot more people are going to catch it before it makes its way through the population. I’m doing better and hopefully will be back to 100% soon. I’m thankful that I have a job where I can work from home so I could tell you all about it.
Michael Yaffee hosts “The Yaffee Program” on WVNN in Hunstville, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.