7 Things: Mark Meadows’ texts released after Jan. 6 Committee moves to hold him in contempt, new U.S. Senate poll has something for everyone, Shelby slams fellow moderate Republicans and more …

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December 14, 2021

7. North Alabama middle schooler arrested for online threat

Over the weekend, a threat was made through social media by a middle schooler from Albertville Middle School. The student has since been arrested. The specifics of the threat have not been released and neither has the identity of the student.
Albertville City Schools Superintendent Boyd English confirmed that the threat was made before class on Monday, but no details have been given on what discipline the unnamed student could face.

6. Half of the teachers in Alabama want to leave

There was a teacher attrition survey recently conducted through the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, which showed that many teachers are considering leaving teaching in the Alabama school system. They feel disrespected, are paid too little, and are generally feeling burned out.
The state has about 93,000 school employees, and of those, about 18,000 responded to the survey. About 50% of the respondents have a master’s degree, about 75% are teachers, and roughly 33% have more than 20 years of experience. Around 8,600 people who responded to the survey said they plan to leave teaching within five years, but some of these were currently planned retirements.

5. Biden administration might finally have their story straight on what actually happened in Afghanistan

According to the Biden administration, there are now less than a dozen Americans stuck in Afghanistan that wish to leave. The administration has admitted that there have been about 500 people evacuated since the botched removal of troops on August 31.
Initially, President Joe Biden had promised that no citizens would be left behind when troops had fully withdrawn, but then that turned into estimates of “about 100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan with some intention to leave,” as Biden said on August 31. The official numbers have come out to more than double what was first estimated.

4. Shelby calls out Republicans who helped raise the debt limit

Recently, 10 Republicans helped to pass increasing the debt ceiling, with those being U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), John Thune (R-SD), and Thom Tillis (R-NC). However, this vote has been criticized by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).
Shelby said, “We said we’re going to let them do it on reconciliation, we’re not going to help them.” He also said that the vote for fellow Republicans was a “mistake,” as some of them had to change their position. Shelby added, “I try to keep my word.”

3. Robert Bentley: Ivey is being disingenuous

Former Governor Robert Bentley criticized Governor Kay Ivey during a recent appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” for using the phrase “righting the ship of state.” He said that there hasn’t been enough done, adding, “There are a lot of problems in the state that need to be solved.”
Bentley went on to say, “[T]he ship didn’t need to be righted because when we left, it was the best position it had been in. We cut the size of government by 25%. We paved roads and bridges across the state — $1.4 billion, and we didn’t have to raise taxes…We saved a billion dollars every year – and we paid off all the rainy day funds…I think it is disingenuous for anybody, Governor Ivey or Lynda Blanchard, to talk about righting the ship when the ship was not in bad position when [Ivey] took over.”

2. New polling shows U.S. Senate race is tight

A poll conducted last week shows the U.S. Senate race in Alabama is closer than it should be, with U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) leading the field with 31.4%, former U.S. Senator Richard Shelby’s chief of staff Katie Britt in second with 26.2% and former Army helicopter pilot Mike Durant in third with 16.6%. According to the poll, there’s still 21.8% undecided.
Britt’s campaign has a lot to like about this poll, as it shows a close race with momentum for her and has her leading in a head-to-head with Brooks. Brooks responded to the poll positively noting 86% view former President Donald Trump favorably, saying, “The lead is, in large part, because President Trump’s endorsement confirms that there is only one proven MAGA conservative in this race and that proven MAGA conservative is Mo Brooks.”

1. January 6 committee holds Meadows in contempt and releases text messages

The committee of Democrats and “Never Trump” Republicans looking into the events of the riot at the U.S. Capitol referred former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows for contempt of Congress charges, setting up a legal battle over him refusing to appear before their committee.
This happened on the same day they released text messages that he turned over to them to embarrass allies of President Donald Trump. None of these messages show any illegal behavior. Meadows turned over 6,600 pages from email accounts and about 2,000 text messages, they come from Fox News personalities, lawmakers and Trump family members.