7. Obama found time to criticize the coronavirus response
- While giving a commencement speech for students graduating from historically black colleges, former President Barack Obama took a moment to say, “[T]his pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing.”
- Obama added that the upcoming presidential election is especially important because “we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life.” While he didn’t mention President Donald Trump or anyone in the administration by name, he made it clear who he was talking about.
6. SEC to decide this week when to reopen (more…)
Radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Alabama Democratic Executive Committee member Lisa Handback take you through this week’s biggest political stories, including:
— Who will actually get to control the $1.8 billion in CARES Act funding?
— Has Governor Kay Ivey destroyed her ability to work with the legislature after leaking their wish list?
— Do businesses need liability immunity against frivolous COVID-19 lawsuits to fully reopen?
Jackson and Handback are joined by State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) to discuss his budgets, the State House controversy and the push to provide businesses with immunity from COVID-19. (more…)
7. Alabama’s new coronavirus hotspot
- While Alabama’s recent coronavirus case numbers have seemingly plateaued as a whole, it appears that the state’s capital is seeing a spike in cases over the last few weeks, with only hard-hit Mobile experiencing more new cases of the virus.
- The White House has even said that Montgomery’s metro area is a “location to watch” for new cases of COVID-19.
6. States see decline in cases while reopening (more…)
It took 40 years in the media business, but Paul Finebaum finally said something smart earlier this week.
Appearing on ESPN’s “Get Up,” Finebaum said putting together the upcoming college football season would be “survival of the fittest.” He continued, “This is a brutal game … if you can play, you play. If you don’t, you get run over and left behind.”
In the same conversation, Finebaum reported that the Crimson Tide has already had conversations about replacing its opening opponent, USC, with TCU. TCU is scheduled to play another Golden State school, Cal-Berkeley, on September 5.
Many areas in the state of California, home to four Pac-12 teams, have stay-at-home orders in place through the summer. Its state university system has declared there will not be any on-campus classes during the Fall semester. As a result, some believe the Pac-12 will not play football this Fall and instead opt for a Spring season.
(more…)
To hear the American media tell it, just like in 2016, the 2020 election is totally over.
The only thing left to do here is to have a pesky election and count the votes. Good ‘ol straight-shooter tell-it-like-it-is Joe Biden is ready for his inauguration.
Well, like Hillary Clinton, a couple of things are happening on the way to former Vice President Biden’s coronation, and the American media learned nothing about how they mishandled the election and the scandals involving Joe Biden.
So far, there have been no less than three scandals involving Joe Biden and the “scandal-free” Obama administration that are going to ensnare the presumptive future president moving forward. (more…)
7. Professor offended by “War Eagle”
- Dr. Jesse A. Goldberg, Ph.D. has been hired to be the “Lecturer of African American & American Literature and Composition in the English department at Auburn University,” according to his social media account, and he’s already making waves for saying he won’t say “War Eagle” because it has the word “war” in it.
- Goldberg explained that this is just “the kind of language thing that sticks with me.” He describes himself as “radical anti-racist white (Jewish) teacher,” but the official Auburn University responded that Goldberg just needs to “give it some time” and he’ll see what it means.
6. Biden up nationally (more…)
7. Another stimulus bill could cost $3 trillion
- A new stimulus package introduced by House Democrats would include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, $1 trillion in funding for state and local governments, and continue the $600 in additional unemployment payments per week until January.
- The package would also subsidize rent and mortgage payments, suspend student loan payments through September, and hazard pay for essential workers. While announcing the legislative package that’s being called the HEROES Act, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “This is a moment when many millions of our fellow Americans are in deep suffering. We must have empathy for our heroes.”
6. 100,000 small businesses are finished (more…)
Alabama’s local officials wield a tremendous amount of influence on public policy and how business gets done. Recent events only serve to underscore the importance of the state’s local officials in improving the everyday lives of those they serve and helping their communities prosper.
After an extensive examination of local governments, and the men and women who occupy positions within them, Yellowhammer has compiled and ranked a list of the 10 most powerful and influential local officials from around the state. Some on the list have a heightened level of power and influence inside city limits and county lines, others extend farther out into the Yellowhammer State.
All move the needle in Alabama politics and policy.
(more…)
7. Sanders probably won’t run for president again
- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)said that “it’s very, very unlikely” that he’d launch another presidential campaign, which makes sense considering he’s 78 years old already and would be in his 80s the next go around.
- While interviewing with the Washington Post, Sanders did say that in the next presidential election, “you’re going to see another candidate carrying the progressive banner.”
6. 10 million tests by the end of the week (more…)
7. Pence press secretary has coronavirus
- Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, has tested positive for coronavirus, but said that she’s “doing well.” This comes just after someone who was working as a valet for President Donald Trump tested positive. After Miller was diagnosed, all White House press corps members were offered testing.
- This outbreak is music to the media’s ears as it allows them to ask how the country can reopen when the White House can’t even protect itself.
6. Cuomo finally stops sending COVID-19 patients to nursing homes (more…)
Radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Alabama Democratic Executive Committee member Lisa Handback take you through this week’s biggest political stories, including:
— Governor Kay Ivey has called for more of Alabama to open, but is it to soon?
— Are legislators correct when they state that the “State of Emergency” powers are too broad and need to be shared with them?
— How odd is it to see U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) backing former Vice President Joe Biden amid the sexual misconduct allegation brought against him after Jones’ stance against Roy Moore in 2017?
For months now, and for the coming months, the American media will continue to tell you what a terrible job President Donald Trump has done in dealing with the coronavirus.
They will praise blue state governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, even though their states are dealing with this terribly. They will attack red state governors like Brian Kemp of Georgia and Ron DeSantis of Florida for every perceived slight.
But if you look at the numbers, where would you rather live? (more…)
7. Joe Biden’s accuser’s ex-husband knew of “harassment”
- On the same day Tara Reade sat down with Megyn Kelly and said she wanted former Vice President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2020 presidential race, it was revealed that her ex-husband filed legal documents in 1996 referencing Reade’s issues with “sexual harassment” in Biden’s office.
- The reference to the sexual harassment came in the form of a declaration by Reade’s then-husband Theodore Dronen opposing a restraining order where he noted that Reade told him in 1996 that she was sexually harassed while working for Joe Biden in 1993 and noted that she “eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the Senator’s office and left her position.”
6. Unemployment is up again, but numbers are slowing (more…)
7. Former Alabama Attorney General mixed up in alleged mask scheme
- Former Alabama Attorney General Troy King, a failed candidate for Congress, was working as an intermediary for a company attempting to sell six million masks to the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals for $34.5 million before the entire deal blew up and no masks were delivered.
- King’s role in the fiasco appears to be that he said he could connect the company with 3M, the manufacturer of the mask, and to arrange financing to pull off the deal to sell masks that list at $1.27 for $4.90, a price that was almost certainly an attempt at “price-gouging” according to a retired Army colonel.
6. Greenville mayor and his wife have been diagnosed with coronavirus (more…)
The state of Alabama is kind of open for business right now. With that, many people who didn’t want to go back to work ended up going back to work.
Maybe they felt unsafe, or maybe they thought the unemployment money plus $600 was better than working at all and wanted to ride that out.
Guess what? It doesn’t matter.
Alabama lawmakers apparently have other options.
Alabama House Democrats, except for one legislator, have decided that they aren’t going to return to the legislature. (more…)
7. Another investigation into Trump?
- Rick Bright, who says he was removed as director of Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority after acting as a source on a story about hydroxychloroquine, has now filed a whistleblower complaint about the matter, and congressional Democrats are now poised to use this as another reason to investigate the President of the United States.
- The ousted vaccine expert alleges officials “refused to listen” to his complaints about the drug and the administration’s push for its use, so he provided a journalist with documents on the matter and was removed from his position because he was rightly perceived to be the source.
6. Rand Paul won’t wear a mask (more…)
7. Multiple Alabama cities are getting a military flyover today
- In Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, Mobile and Tuskegee there will be military jets performing flyovers over the hospitals to help show support for medical workers during the pandemic.
- President Donald Trump started this initiative to support our healthcare workers on April 23, saying, “We’re paying tribute to our front line health care workers confronting COVID-19. And it’s really a signal to all Americans to remain vigilant during the outbreak.”
6. Treasury has borrowed almost $3 trillion (more…)
One of the dumber things to happen during the coronavirus pandemic happened when the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control tried to say wearing masks was not needed.
It’s just silly and untrue.
But the WHO also opposed travel bans and repeated Chinese propaganda, so there is that to factor in as well.
Masks serve a purpose. They make you less likely to infect other people and make you less likely to get infected.
The science here is clear that wearing a mask is more about you not making other people sick. (more…)
7. Biden denies sexual assault allegation
- For a little too long, former Vice President Joe Biden stayed silent on the allegation that he sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade in 1993, and now for the second time he’s said that “it never happened.” Both times took place on MSNBC.
- While Biden has said that there should be a search in the National Archives for anything relating to the allegation, and at first he was unwilling to allow the same search for his senatorial papers at the University of Delaware, he has now said there should be a search in those files as well.
6. Ted Cruz: Coronavirus shows that China is the main threat to the United States (more…)
Radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Alabama Democratic Executive Committee member Lisa Handback take you through this week’s biggest political stories, including:
— Did Governor Kay Ivey do the right thing by opening up some of the state while ordering some business remain closed?
— The Alabama legislature well meet to discuss budgets. Will Democrats show up, and will anything else be addressed?
— Can former Vice President Joe Biden really get through this sexual harassment allegation unscathed?
Every week, it appears that our junior U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) hates the job he has, the people he “represents” and the state he “represents.”
Jones’ position on reopening the economy is standard Democratic politician/cable news hack garbage: We will never have enough tests, don’t open up businesses, keep restaurants closed, people will die and Trump sucks.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
This week, Jones went a bit further by suggesting that Alabama’s citizens don’t go to Georgia. (more…)
7. Teen charged in Voice of Auburn Tigers Rod Bramblett’s death sentenced to house arrest
- Johnston Taylor, 17, has been charged with manslaughter for the death of Rod and Paula Bramblett on May 25, 2019. He has been released on bond and is to remain under house arrest, as ordered by Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III.
- Taylor is also not allowed access to any social media, must continue his mental health and drug treatment, and is to wear an ankle monitor. Only his immediate family is allowed to visit him.
6. UAB treatment gets the blessing of Dr. Fauci (more…)
7. The FBI has some explaining to do
- It is becoming clear that former Trump administration national security advisor Michael Flynn was targeted by officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation after newly-revealed notes concerning the investigation show that agents were trying to entrap him and get him fired from his position.
- In the notes, Bill Priestap, the former head of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, asks, “What’s our goal? Truth/admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” In another, Priestap appears to understand the risks of the interview, adding, “Protect our institution by not playing games,” and, “If we’re seen playing games, WH will be furious.”
6. America’s economy had a bad quarter; It is going to get worse (more…)
7. Sure, let Biden host a women’s town hall while he’s been accused of sexual assault
- Together, a woman who silenced women, Hillary Clinton, and a former vice president who is accused of assaulting one, Joe Biden, hosted a “women’s town hall” to focus on how the coronavirus has affected women.
- During the town hall, Biden said that fighting violence against women is “the leading cause” of his life, but Biden has still not addressed the accusations against him by former staffer Tara Reade as his campaign and the media struggle with how to deal with it with any credibility.
6. Never let a crisis go to waste (more…)