Tea Party group plans protest of Drag Queen Story hour in Mobile
An Alabama Tea Party plans to host a demonstration on Saturday, September 08, 2018 in order to protest the Drag Queen Story Hour being hosted at the Ben May Main Library in Mobile, Ala. The event as described by Rainbow Mobile the group hosting it, “is exactly what it sounds like; drag queens reading stories to children in a library, bookstore, or school.” According to their website Rainbow Mobile is a relatively new group and they are promoting this event as the first of its type in the area. Founded in January 2018, Rainbow Mobile is a local nonprofit organization based in Mobile, Alabama, with the mission of building a stronger, happier, healthier and more connected community for LGBTQ people throughout Southwest Alabama.” Our goal is to create a physical LGBTQ Community Center in Mobile that will help build a strong, healthy, vibrant community and be an agent of change in the world movement working toward the liberation and empowerment of all LGBTQ people. The event’s description on Facebook: “Khloe Kash will be our drag queen storyteller, trained and assisted by a local elementary school teacher. We will be reading two books: Stella Brings the Family, by Miriam B. Schiffer, and Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. We will also have movement breaks between each book. Towards the end of the hour, kids will be able to participate in a fun arts and crafts activity.” The organizers noted on their facebook event page that the event is not being hosted by the library itself. The space they have reserved is the Armbrecht/Briskman Meeting Room which holds 60 people. According to the application the library’s policy is “The library welcomes the use of its meeting rooms by community businesses, groups, and organizations. As an institution for education and free speech and in accordance with Article 6 of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, the library makes its meeting rooms available on equal terms to all groups regardless of the beliefs and affiliations of their members. Permission to use a library meeting room does not constitute library endorsement of any group’s policies, objectives, goals, or beliefs.” The Common Sense Campaign TEA Party has planned a protest against this event, and will be holding up signs in front of the library Saturday. “Drag queens reading kids stories about homosexuality and transgenderism appears to be the latest craze sweeping public libraries in the United States and Canada,” says an e-mail sent by the party. “Kids love to play dress up, so they will be pulled in by this person,” the e-mail continued. “We need to go into Mobile respectfully holding signs in opposition of this.” The TEA party is not the only group in opposition of these types of events. According to AL.com, Drag Queen Story Hours across the nation have drawn scorn from several conservative groups, and Alabamians on Facebook.
Doug Jones warns Alabama may be most affected if pre-existing conditions are eliminated from ACA
U.S. Senator Doug Jones is stepping up to defend pre-existing conditions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which the Trump Administration argues are unconstitutional. In February, 20 attorneys general, including Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) arguing changes made during the 2017 tax bill made the ACA unconstitutional. “The attorneys general argue that a Supreme Court decision in 2012 saved the ACA from being declared an unconstitutional overreach of congressional power by declaring the penalty a tax and pointing out that Congress has the power to levy taxes,” the Washington Post reported. “Without the tax penalty, they argue, ‘the Court should hold that the ACA is unlawful and enjoin its operation.’” In a court filing in June, the Trump administration specifically “urged the Texas federal court to strike down two provisions from the ACA: one that requires insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions, and the other that prevents insurers from charging individuals a higher premium because of their pre-existing condition,” according ABC News. Jones pushes back Now, Jones is warning that Alabama may be one of the most affected states if those protections are eliminated. “I have just spent the last couple of weeks in a couple of roundtables listening to people affected: 900,000 people in Alabama affected by pre-existing conditions; and that’s just the people affected not their families,” Jones said. People are scared to death that they’ll lose protections for pre-existing conditions. I’m stunned at the way the Administration is saying they want to protect them, but at the same time taking actions that would roll back these protections. pic.twitter.com/v3tmpJfVAe — Doug Jones (@SenDougJones) August 21, 2018 “One in three Alabamians under age 65 lives with a pre-existing condition that would’ve left them with no health insurance or higher-cost insurance before the ACA was passed. That ranks Alabama among the states with the highest rates of residents with pre-existing conditions in the country and makes our state one of those hurt most if protection for pre-existing conditions is rolled back or eliminated,” Jones wrote in an Op-Ed to AL.com. “And that’s not just a possibility – these protections are under serious threat because the Trump Administration is refusing to defend key provisions of the ACA in court.”
New study ranks Alabama as the 28th freest state in America
America may be the land of the free, but apparently the same can’t be said about Alabama. In a new study released Tuesday by the Cato Institute — a libertarian think tank dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace — Alabama was ranked the 28th freest state in the nation. By individual category, Alabama scores 19th in fiscal policy, 23rd in regulatory policy, and 49th in personal freedom. The study, Freedom in the 50 States, ranks each U.S. state by how its public policies promote freedom in the fiscal, regulatory, and personal freedom spheres. To determine these rankings, authors William Ruger and Jason Sorens examined state and local government intervention across a range of more than 230 policy variables — from taxation to debt, eminent domain laws to occupational licensing, and drug policy to educational choice. According to the study: As a socially conservative Deep South state, it is unsurprising that Alabama does much better on economic freedom than on personal freedom. But three of its four neighbors do substantially better on economic freedom (Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia), with only Mississippi doing worse. Alabama’s overall freedom level has remained essentially flat since year-end 2014, while it has improved a bit since 2000 even in terms of non-federalized policies. Alabama has always been one of the lowest taxed states in the country. Its combined state and local tax collections, excluding motor fuel and severance, were an estimated 8 percent of adjusted personal income in fiscal year 2017. Alabama’s debt burden is also fairly low compared to other states. On regulatory policy, Alabama does especially well on land-use and labor policy. In fact, it scores first in that area. However, it does well below average on its tort system and certain cronyist policies. Indeed, it ranks 35th in the cronyism index. The state is one of the worst in the country on personal freedom, despite benefiting from the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision. Other factors keeping its personal freedom score low include high beer and spirit taxes, above-average wine taxes and a ban on direct wine shipment, and harsh cannabis laws where it is possible to receive life imprisonment for a single marijuana trafficking offense. To improve on its freedom rankings, the authors suggest several remedies, including: encouraging the privatization of hospitals and utilities to bring government employment down closer to the national average. Private utility monopolies will, however, require careful rate regulation; improving the civil liability system by tightening or abolishing punitive damages and abolishing joint and several liability; reducing its incarceration rate with thorough sentencing reform, including abolishing mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenses and lowering maximum sentences for marijuana offenses and other victimless crimes. “Measuring freedom is important because freedom is valuable to people,” write Ruger and Sorens. “State and local governments ought to respect basic rights and liberties, such as the right to practice an honest trade or the right to make lifetime partnership contracts, whether or not respecting these rights ‘maximizes utility.’ Even minor infringements on freedom can erode the respect for fundamental principles that underlie our liberties. This index measures the extent to which states respect or disrespect these basic rights and liberties; in doing so, it captures a range of policies that threaten to chip away at the liberties we enjoy.”
Walt Maddox, former Governor Don Siegelman join forces in Selma
Combining forces, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walt Maddox and former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman spoke together on Tuesday at the opening of the African-American Episcopal Church Conference in Selma, Ala. Both men spoke to the attendees about the upcoming November general election, Maddox for his own campaign and Siegelman for his son, Joseph Siegelman‘s campaign for Attorney General. “I’m running for Governor because we hear the shouts,” Maddox said during his speech at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church according to his campaign website. “We hear shouts of the ballot box in Montgomery. We hear shouts about the mental health system across the state of Alabama. We hear the shouts about the hospitals in Alabama that are closing.” “Do you hear the shouts?” Maddox continued. “Our problems in Alabama deserve a solution. As Christians, we hear those shouts. If I’m elected Governor of Alabama, we will honor those shouts.” You can watch Maddox’s full speech here. Siegelman spoke for his son’s campaign, and told attendees to vote for Maddox as next governor, “My son’s a Civil Rights Attorney in the Johnny Cochran firm,” Siegelman told the crowd according to the Selma Times-Journal. “He works for the people and I’m real proud of him.” “Vote Walt Maddox as the next Governor of Alabama,” he continued. Siegelman’s endorsement of Maddox is just one in a list of Democratic leaders who have endorsed him over the course of his candidacy. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin endorsed him in May, saying he influenced how he governs his city, “Walt’s ability to convince people to work together – black and white, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican – has inspired how I seek to lead Birmingham to a new era of excellence,” Woodfin said according to AL.com. Former Alabama Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks, Mobile-Democrat Sen. Vivian Figures, and former state Sen. Roger Bedford have also endorsed Maddox in his bid governor.
Randall Woodfin, Terri Sewell tour North Birmingham Superfund Site
Earlier this month Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week insisting that they add the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site to their National Priorities list. On Wednesday, Rep. Terri Sewell and Mayor Randall Woodfin were joined by city, state and neighborhood leaders — including Councilor William Parker, State Rep. Mary Moore and EPA Region 4 Superfund Division Director Franklin Hill — during a tour of the Superfund Site, which consists of contaminated soil from industrial pollution. According to Hill, the study site of roughly 2,000 properties revealed that 390 sites have undergone the contamination removal process; 127 sites are in need of treatment. “What’s concerning all of us is the fact that there are 500 or so sites that are either abandoned properties or people refused to allow the EPA to come on and remove from those sites,” Sewell said. “I think it’s important to get active members of the community involved to reach out to hesitant residents.” “There are real, tangible issues here that have affected people where they live, where they eat, where they sleep every single day,” Woodfin said. “What we’re committed to, based on everything that has happened, is that this area gets the resources, focus and attention it needs to make sure the residents get what they need to be safe.” “No neighborhood should ever be left with toxic soil – that’s an environmental injustice that hurts our families and our children,” Sewell added on Facebook about her visit to the site. “We’re joining together today in our fight for a full cleanup that corrects that injustice. Our families deserve better.” History of the site On July 19, 2018, a federal jury convicted a coal executive and an attorney who represented the coal company in a criminal conspiracy to prevent the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site from advancing to the NPL. According to EPA guidelines, a site may be included on the NPL if it scores 28.50 or greater on the agency’s Hazard Ranking System. The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site scored a 50. In the letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Woodfin said: “As a result of these illegal actions, thousands remain at risk, including the 1,070 people living in 394 public housing units and 751 children attending Hudson K-8 school.” “The United States Attorney has already done their part by exposing this criminal hoax and bringing those responsible to justice,” the letter continues. “Still these injustices continue until The North Birmingham 35th Avenue Superfund Site is placed on the National Priorities List and all necessary resources are provided to the people of this community.” Woodfin has asked residents to sign a petition urging the EPA to take action. The petition has garnered nearly 2,000 as of this was published. View the press conference below:
Texas Congressman cites Alabama civil rights events as he defends NFL players taking a knee
The internet is abuzz with a video of Democratic U.S. Rep. from Texas, Beto O’Rourke, who’s invoking Alabama civil rights history in his quest to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. During a town hall meeting in Houston last week, O’Rourke was asked by an attendee whether he thought NFL players who choose take a knee during the national anthem are disrespecting the U.S. military and American people. “My short answer is no, I don’t think it’s disrespectful,” O’Rourke answered. “Here is my longer answer – but I’m gonna try to make sure I get this right, because I think it’s a really important question. And reasonable people can disagree on this issue. Let’s begin there, and it makes them no less American to come down on a different conclusion on this issue. Right? You can feel as the young man does, you can feel as I do, you are every bit as American all the same.” O’Rourke went on to reference the 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. that killed the girls. Along with the March 7, 1965 march across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. When a group of roughly 525 African American protesters planned to cross the bridge on their civil rights march to Montgomery to demand the right to vote. At the bridge they where they were met by more than 50 state troopers and a few dozen men on horseback. When the demonstrators refused to turn back, they were brutally beaten, leaving at least 17 hospitalized, and 40 others injured. “Those who died in Philadelphia, Mississippi, for the crime of trying to be a man, trying to be a woman in this country, the young girls who died in the church bombing. Those who were beaten within an inch of their life crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama with John Lewis,” O’Rourke detailed referencing several other historical civil rights challenges Americans faced. O’Rourke went on to say he thinks NFL games are essentially a great, nonviolent platform for players to protest police brutality and injustice during the national anthem. “Non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it,” O’Rourke concluded. Read his full response below: My short answer is no, I don’t think it’s disrespectful. Here’s my longer answer, but I’m going to try to make sure I make that I get this right because I think it’s a really important question. And reasonable people can disagree on this issue, let’s begin there. And it makes them no less American to come down on a different conclusion on this issue, right? You can feel as the young man [who asked the question] does, you can feel as I do, you’re every bit as American, all the same. But I’m reminded – someone mentioned reading the Taylor Branch book … ‘Parting the Waters: [America] in the King Years’. And when you read that book and find out what Dr. King and this non-violent, peaceful movement to secure better – ’cause they didn’t get full – civil rights for their fellow Americans, the challenges that they face. Those who died in Philadelphia, Mississippi, for the crime of trying to be a man, trying to be a woman in this country, the young girls who died in the church bombing. Those who were beaten within an inch of their life crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama with John Lewis, those were punched in the face, spat on, dragged out by their collar at the Woolworth lunch counter for sitting with white people at that same lunch counter in the same country where their fathers may have bled the same blood on the battlefields of Omaha Beach or Okinawa or anywhere that anyone ever served this country. The freedoms we have were purchased not just by those in uniform, and they definitely were. But also by those who took their lives into their hands riding those Greyhound buses, the Freedom Riders in the Deep South in the 1960s who knew full well that they would be arrested, and they were, serving time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Rosa Parks, getting from the back of the bus to the front of the bus. Peaceful non-violent protests including taking a knee at a football game to point out that black men, unarmed, black teenagers, unarmed and black children, unarmed, are being killed at a frightening level right now including by members of law enforcement without accountability and without justice. And this problem – as grave as it is – is not going to fix itself. And they’re frustrated, frankly, with people like me and those in positions of public trust and power, who have been unable to resolve this or bring justice for what has been done and to stop it from continuing to happen in this country. So non-violent, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it.
Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty on 8 charges
Paul Manafort, the longtime political operative who for months led Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign, was found guilty of eight financial crimes in the first trial victory of the special counsel investigation into the president’s associates. A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday on 10 other counts the jury could not agree on. The verdict was part of a stunning one-two punch of bad news for the White House, coming as the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was pleading guilty in New York to campaign finance charges arising from hush money payments made to two women who say they had sexual relationships with Trump. WHAT HAPPENED IN COURT? The jury returned the decision after deliberating four days on tax and bank fraud charges against Manafort, who led Trump’s election effort during a crucial stretch of 2016, including as he clinched the Republican nomination and during the party’s convention. Manafort, who appeared jovial earlier in the day amid signs the jury was struggling in its deliberations, focused intently on the jury as the clerk read off the charges. He stared blankly at the defense table, then looked up, expressionless, as the judge finished thanking the jury. “Mr. Manafort is disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts,” said defense lawyer Kevin Downing. He said Manafort was evaluating all his options. The jury found Manafort guilty of five counts of filing false tax returns on tens of millions of dollars in Ukrainian political consulting income. He was also convicted of failing to report foreign bank accounts in 2012 and of two bank fraud charges that accused him of lying to obtain millions of dollars in loans after his consulting income dried up. The jury couldn’t reach a verdict on three other foreign bank account charges, and the remaining bank fraud and conspiracy counts. WHAT’S NEXT FOR MANAFORT? The outcome, though not the across-the-board guilty verdicts prosecutors sought, almost certainly guarantees years of prison for Manafort. It also appears to vindicate the ability of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team to secure convictions from a jury of average citizens despite months of partisan attacks, including from Trump, on the investigation’s integrity. The verdict raised immediate questions of whether the president would seek to pardon Manafort, the lone American charged by Mueller to opt for trial instead of cooperating. The president has not revealed his thinking but spoke sympathetically throughout the trial of his onetime aide, at one point suggesting he had been treated worse than gangster Al Capone. The president on Tuesday called the outcome a “disgrace” and said the case “has nothing to do with Russia collusion.” WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE MUELLER PROBE? The trial did not resolve the central question behind Mueller’s investigation — whether Trump associates coordinated with Russia to influence the election. Still, there were occasional references to Manafort’s work on the campaign, including emails showing him lobbying Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on behalf of a banker who approved $16 million in loans because he wanted a job in the Trump administration. Manafort urged Kushner to consider the banker, Stephen Calk, for secretary of the Army. Though Kushner responded to Manafort’s email by saying, “On it!” Calk ultimately did not get an administration post. For the most part, jurors heard detailed and sometimes tedious testimony about Manafort’s finances and what prosecutors allege was a yearslong tax-evasion and fraud scheme. Manafort decided not to put on any witnesses or testify himself. His attorneys said he made the decision because he didn’t believe the government had met its burden of proof. His defense team attempted to make the case about the credibility of longtime Manafort protege Rick Gates, attacking the government’s star witness as a liar, embezzler and instigator of any crimes while trying to convince jurors that Manafort didn’t willfully violate the law. Gates spent three days on the stand, telling jurors how he committed crimes alongside Manafort for years. He admitted to doctoring documents, falsifying information and creating fake loans to lower his former boss’ tax bill, and also acknowledged stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars without Manafort’s knowledge by filing fake expense reports. On Wednesday, defense lawyers asked the judge to keep under seal a bench discussion that referenced the special counsel’s pre-trial dealings with Gates. Prosecutors had initially asked the judge not to make the discussion public because of Mueller’s ongoing probe. WHAT WAS THE EVIDENCE? Beyond the testimony, prosecutors used emails and other documents to try to prove that Manafort concealed from the IRS, in offshore accounts, millions of dollars in Ukrainian political consulting feeds. Overall, they said, he avoided paying more than $16 million in taxes. Central to the government’s case were depictions of an opulent lifestyle, including a $15,000 ostrich jacket, luxury suits and elaborate real estate that prosecutors say was funded through offshore wire transfers from shell companies in Cyprus and elsewhere. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III repeatedly grew impatient with prosecutors as they sought to demonstrate Manafort’s garish tendencies. The clashes between the judge and the prosecutor became a sideshow of sorts during the weekslong trial, with the judge at one point appearing to acknowledge that he had erroneously scolded them. After the trial, Ellis complimented lawyers on both sides for “zealous and effective representation.” He also remarked on his surprise at the level of attention the case has received and the criticism he received for his management of the trial. “We all take brickbats in life,” Ellis said. ANOTHER TRIAL LOOMING? The trial in Alexandria, Virginia, is the first of two for Manafort. He faces a trial later this year in the District of Columbia on charges of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukrainian interests. He is also accused of witness tampering in that case. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Federal appeals court blocks Alabama anti-abortion law
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked Alabama anti-abortion legislation on Wednesday, that would have outlawed a commonly used second-trimester dismemberment abortion procedure. The legislation, SB363: the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, originally passed in 2016 and called for a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions; during which the fetus is removed in pieces with forceps. This type of procedure accounts for approximately 95 percent of all abortions in the second trimester. The legislation also allowed an exception in the event of a “serious health risk to the mother.” Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Randall Marshall told the Associated Press that the ruling means “Alabama politicians can’t put an “ideological agenda” over a woman’s health and decision-making.” “I am disappointed that the 11th Circuit sided with the lower court in this case, but it is encouraging that the court recognized the State’s important and legitimate interests in ending barbaric abortion procedures—in this case, procedures that literally tear apart babies living inside their mothers’ wombs,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement. “Our legal team is carefully considering whether we will petition the Supreme Court for review of this case. We expect to reach a decision soon.” In June of 2016 the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the restrictions, saying they would dramatically cut abortion access and close the state’s two busiest clinics — the West Alabama Women’s Clinic in Tuscaloosa and the Alabama Women’s Center in Huntsville. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, the clinics in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa performed 72 percent of the 8,080 abortions in Alabama in 2014. Scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1 of 2016, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson temporarily blocked the enforcement of the new law in July of that year.
Alabama politicians call for stronger laws following arrest of illegal immigrant in Mollie Tibbetts murder
The fact that the suspect in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, the University of Iowa student who disappeared on July 18, is an illegal immigrant has left Alabama lawmakers calling for stronger border security. Republicans U.S. Reps. Bradley Byrne (AL-01) and Mo Brooks (AL-05) have seized the opportunity to condemn their Democratic counterparts for their open border policies that have caused the murder of an American citizen. “Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today but for illegal aliens and Democrat insistence on open borders and amnesty. Mollie Tibbetts’ confessed illegal alien murderer never should have been in America and Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today if he wasn’t,” said Brooks. “America’s death toll from illegal alien murders, vehicular homicides, and drug overdoses rises as Democrats shamefully turn a blind eye to the carnage wrought as they clamor for open borders and even more illegal alien amnesty.” The suspect in the case is 24-year-old Christhian Rivera. He worked at a farm for the past several years not even three miles from where Tibbetts was staying the night she disappeared. Rivera was arrested Tuesday after leading authorities to the body of Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles away from Brooklyn, Iowa, where she was last seen going for an evening run, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Rick Rahn said. “I can’t speak about the motive. I can just tell you that it seemed that he followed her, seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day, for whatever reason he chose to abduct her,” Rahn told reporters. Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder, and is being held on a $1 million cash bond. “This is an example of why I feel so strongly about securing our border, building the wall, and cracking down on illegal immigration,” Byrne posted on Facebook.” “It is a shame that some continue to block common sense border security measures. It is even more shameful for sanctuary cities in the U.S. to provide safe harbor for those in our country illegally.”
Pure hypocrisy: How progressives respond to gun crimes vs. illegal immigrant crime
Today another family mourns a senseless act of violence. The search for Mollie Tibbetts the 20-year-old college student whose disappearance has captivated the nation since July 18 after when she vanished going on her daily jog has come to a heartbreaking end. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was questioned by authorities after being caught on video following her in his car has led authorities to her body and confessed to her murder. Within moments of the news breaking that Rivera was an illegal immigrant advocates of secure borders began pointing to the case as another example of why tougher border security is needed. The White House tweeted a statement by President Donald Trump about it. He then retweeted it. The loss of Mollie Tibbetts is a devastating reminder that we must urgently fix our broken immigration laws. pic.twitter.com/0Kaz0FQw36 — The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 22, 2018 Let me be clear, in case you don’t already know my position: I believe we need increased border security and we need to enforce the laws we have by deporting those in the country illegally. We should not reward those who have jumped ahead of those attempting to enter our nation legally by granting blanket amnesty to them or their children. We need comprehensive immigration reform for guest workers and we need to empower immigration officials to do more not less to protect legal citizens. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this growing problem. Illegal aliens are not all bad but they also aren’t all valedictorians. We need a clear and consistent way to address illegal aliens understanding that most if not all will have a personal story that will touch your heart and that that story isn’t enough for us to disregard our immigration laws altogether. Back to today’s arguments: The jump from the crime at hand to the policy implications of border control that happen whenever an illegal is involved in a high profile case is as tasteless to me as when gun control groups seize upon gun crimes to push their agenda. I’m not sure what an appropriate length of time is to address the issue but within minutes seems cold on both accounts. That said there is a blatant hypocrisy in the way that people from the left and right react to crime and the criminals who commit them. With nearly every high profile gun crime comes immediate calls for gun control but in the case of acts of violence by illegal immigrants those very same people shout that an entire group shouldn’t be persecuted for the acts of one or a few. Which is it? Can one act or one person define an entire population? (The answer being no of course.) We need to address both issues gun crime and illegal immigration on their own. The questions we should be asking for gun crime isn’t how to add regulations it’s actually the same one we should be asking about immigration: How do we enforce the laws we have? How do we identify and stop those who are at the highest risk for committing crimes? How do we make our nation safer? It is through rational policy debate not emotionally charged finger pointing that we will solve our toughest problems. Let me bottom line it for you: If you think we need to regulate guns every time there’s a gun crime but call foul when people point to closing the borders when illegal aliens commit crimes you might be hypocrite but in both cases you’re not making us any closer to solving the problem either. We can do better and we should for the victims of all crime.
Candidate profile: Emily Steele for Monroe County District Judge
In the June 5 Republican primary, Emily Steele beat Lori Womble with over 68 percent of the vote, in the race for Monroe County District Judge. Incumbent George Elbrecht is not running for re-election this year. Steele now faces against Democratic candidate Donna Silcox in the November 6 general election. But who are these candidates, and what do they hope to accomplish? Republican candidate Emily Steele: Steele, born and raised in a small town in west Tennessee attended the University of Alabama school of Law, graduating in 2009 with her Juris Doctorate. From there, she practiced civil and criminal law as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, and is currently a partner at Steele Law, LLC in Monroeville, Ala. Steele also worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Monroe and Conecuh Counties, “as an assistant district attorney… she prosecuted violent crimes and sex offenders, and she has also regularly appeared in district court to prosecute misdemeanors and traffic offenses,” her Facebook profile reads. While serving in that office, Steele made every effort to digitize the District Attorney’s office, leaving the office in early 2018 with digital backups of all case files accessible through an internet connection. She also served on the SORNA resource council, and the ADAA’s Domestic Violence Resource Council, according to her campaign website. But Steele does not confine her work to her office. She has also been a member of the Health Foundation Board, the Chamber of Commerce board, and has worked with the Distinguished Young Woman of Monroe County program. You can follow her campaign on her website, Facebook and Instagram.
Petition circulates to save Alabama’s Little Cahaba River
One concerned Alabama resident has started a Care2 petition to stop the Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT) Cahaba Beach Road project, which would pave and widen of Cahaba Beach Road and construct of a two-lane bridge across the Little Cahaba River. The new road would stretch across the Little Cahaba River from U.S. 280, allowing over 8,000 cars a day to travel across an environmentally sensitive area, and cost anywhere from $10 million to $20 million WBHM reported. The Little Cahaba is a major tributary of the upper Cahaba River Basin watershed, which includes 190 miles of bluffs, shoals, and sharp ridges before entering the lower Cahaba Basin on the Coastal Plain. Now the ALDOT and Shelby County wish to open Cahaba Beach Road, which has been closed to through traffic for two decades. Doing so, they claim, will create more “connectivity,” which Cahaba Beach Road resident and petition creator Trae Watson explains “would come at the direct expense of an undeveloped wilderness surrounding a source of Birmingham’s drinking water.” “The Little Cahaba is a special jewel of peace and quiet that is enjoyed daily by bikers, hikers, educational youth groups, and plain folks seeking a moment of solace in their busy lives,” the petition reads. “This road doesn’t solve traffic problems—it creates more. It would potentially send thousands of vehicles, including eighteen-wheelers, barreling through the surrounding neighborhoods. If it succeeds, this short-sighted idea will cause yet another special habitat to be lost for all generations to come,” the petition continues. In signing, petitioners affirm: No to routing 280 and Liberty Park traffic onto Cahaba Beach Road and other already heavily traveled, curvy roads; No to the risks posed by construction and traffic over the Little Cahaba which takes water from Lake Purdy to feed the Cahaba River and Birmingham’s water supply; No to jeopardizing TWO federally protected water cleaning mussel species in the river; No to spending millions of dollars that Shelby County doesn’t have to create yet another traffic problem; No to destroying the quiet wilderness of the Little Cahaba River which is enjoyed by countless citizens and is one of the few remaining natural environments amidst the encroachment of urban sprawl. The time of publishing, the petition had 922 supporters — 699 of them being from Alabama — of its 1,000 signature goal. Once complete, it will be shared with the Alabama Department of Transportation; Federal Highway Administration; Shelby County Commissioners Lindsey Allison and Rick Shepard; Alabama Senator Jabo Waggoner; Alabama Senator Mark Blackwell.
