7. Amazon’s would-be union says they aren’t behind call for boycott
- A pro-union blog is calling for a boycott of Amazon to grow support for the unionization effort at a facility in Bessemer. The image originated on a pro-union blog and called for a boycott “in solidarity with union employees” where they implore that users not use Amazon, Amazon Prime or watch Amazon Prime TV as to not “cross the picket line.”
- But the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is working to unionize the facility, says this is not their movement. “RWDSU has no affiliation with this nor did we call for it,” the group stated.
6. Biden has signed another executive order, this time on voting issues
- President Joe Biden has signed another executive order that will require federal agencies to provide more help to states with voter registration and provide more voting information. Biden signed the order on Bloody Sunday and said he wanted to “make it easier for eligible voters to register to vote and improve access to voting.”
- In his statement, Biden also called for Congress to bring back the Voting Rights Act. The executive order is also supposed to make voting more accessible for federal employees, those with disabilities, service members, and inmates.
5. Alabama city councilman apologizes for 2018 Facebook post
- Misleading newspaper headlines are alleging racism in a 2018 Facebook post made by Decatur City Councilman Hunter Pepper when he was 16-years-old that said, “See I have to go shopping there next week and we gone play a game called red rover red rover you fools get ran over!” At the time, there were protesters at the Galleria Mall in Hoover after a fatal police shooting.
- Pepper, who was elected last year and is currently 19-years-old, said that his then Facebook post was “extremely arrogant” and “very ignorant.” He also apologized for the post. Pepper added that he’s “extremely disappointed” in himself, emphasizing that he’s “not a racist individual, and [doesn’t] like racism and [is] extremely sorry for how that turned out.”
4. Terri Sewell is still pretending she might run for U.S. Senate
- For some inexplicable reason, commentators on MSNBC keep asking U.S Representative Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) if she is running for U.S. Senate and she keeps pretending she is considering it. She said Sunday, “I am doing my homework. I think it’s incumbent upon those of us who have walked the halls of Congress who know what this is about to consider running. I can’t very well ask other women to enter the race, let alone black women, to be more engaged in politics and electoral politics if I’m not willing to think about it myself. ” However, she is not.
- This is never going to happen. She represents one of the most gerrymandered districts in the nation (nine of 10 are Democrat seats), she couldn’t win in any other district in the state and there is no path to victory on this. But she knows that by keeping the door open, she can continue to be asked about this during national TV appearances and continue raising her profile.
3. Brooks is looking to 2022 and how to stop Biden
- Over the weekend, U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) spoke at the Shoals Republican Club and discussed what Republicans need to do moving forward and how to stall President Joe Biden’s agenda.
- Brooks said specifically that “[w]e’ve got to stop H.R. 1, and we’ve got to stop the amnesty and citizenship” Biden has said he’ll grant. Brooks added this is the key to regaining Republican majority in the House next year, and he added that if the Senate can also go back to Republican control, “then we will be able to neuter Joe Biden over the next two years…and set the stage as well for us taking back the White House in 2024 with whoever our nominee may be.”
2. First Senate candidate commercial is out
- Not long after it was announced that U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) would be retiring, former ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard announced she’d be running for the Senate seat. Blanchard has now put out her first campaign ad.
- The first TV ad will start airing this week and run for three weeks. Blanchard released a statement and said she’s planned “an aggressive and well-funded television campaign, and I look forward to telling my story and making my case as a Christian, conservative, Trump Republican.”
1. Coronavirus relief bill passes the U.S. Senate, Tuberville and Shelby vote ‘no’
- The $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package has passed both the U.S. Senate and the House. In the House, every Republican Representative from Alabama voted against the bill. In the Senate, both U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) voted against it.
- Despite this being for coronavirus relief, the spending bill also includes funds for Planned Parenthood, Obamacare subsidies and many other issues unrelated to the pandemic, with a minimal amount going toward schools and businesses. Shelby said that he voted against the bill “because it could only further wreck the economy and ignite inflation. This legislation includes a host of non-COVID-related left-wing policies.”
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.