7 Things: Alabama’s coronavirus trends looks better, Brooks still leading in Senate race, Biden approval rating continues to slide and more …

7. Treatment of Haitian migrants is worse than slavery, apparently

• As Border Patrol agents have struggled to get control of the situation at the southern border, there have been claims circulating online that some agents have been whipping those at the border, despite these claims being disputed.
• In response to the rumors, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) has said that she’s “unhappy with the cowboys who were running down Haitians and using their reins to whip them.” She added that this “takes us back hundreds of years. What we witnessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery…cowboys with their reins, again, whipping black people.”

6. The White House wants dishonorable discharge for soldiers who won’t get a vaccine

• Lawmakers have slipped a provision into the latest National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the military from dishonorably discharging soldiers who refuse the vaccine, and the White House wants it removed. The threat of a dishonorable discharge is a life-ruining weapon to wield against someone who chose to serve their country.
• The portion of the NDAA in dispute would stop the government from punishing members who refuse with anything other than an honorable discharge, and reads, “[M]any Americans have reservations about taking a vaccine that has only been available for less than a year.” This seems completely reasonable.

5. Marshall and Orr teaming up against censorship

• State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) will be sponsoring a bill drafted by Attorney General Steve Marshall to fight censorship from big tech, making it illegal to “censor, deplatform, or otherwise discriminate against Alabama users.”
• Marshall has been opposed to big tech and even set up a way for Alabamians to report censorship. He’s been vocally supportive of Florida’s legislation to protect speech online. Orr stated, “[S]eeing the abuses of Big Tech’s censorship should be a concern to all. Big Tech owns essential pathways for speech, possessing the power to obstruct the free flow of information and ideas and to silence users with the mere push of the button. This is a power that we cannot allow to be abused.”

4. Biden has a 53% disapproval rating

• New Gallup polls show that President Joe Biden’s approval rating has fallen to a new low of 43%, with a disapproval rating of 53%, but 90% of Democrats still approve of his job performance. 
• Among Republicans, only 6% approve of Biden’s job performance. By September 2017, President Donald Trump only had an approval rating of 37%, but Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s September ratings all exceeded Biden’s. 

3. New poll in the Alabama U.S. Senate race tells the same story

• There is another poll out in the Alabama U.S. Senate race, and the story is basically the same. U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) holds a commanding lead with 41%, and there are a lot of undecideds.
• Brooks’ challengers are grouped together with Katie Britt with 11% of respondents’ support and Jessica Taylor getting 7%. According to the poll, 39% are “undecided,” which is a pretty big number, but this is still Brooks’ race to lose.

2. CDC is allowing some booster shots

• The Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for those over 65, those with high risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 and those whose work puts them in contact with people who might have the virus. It is possible more boosters will be approved.
• The FDA has already rejected the idea of coronavirus booster shots for a majority of the United States’ population, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is continuing to look at booster shots for other age groups. Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School said, “We need safety data for younger populations and we need to really know what the benefit is.”

1. Hospitalizations show improvements in Alabama

• The Alabama Hospital Association has reported that there are less than 1,800 hospitalizations in Alabama, with the number now at 1,766. This is a great improvement from September 1, when there were 2,890 hospitalizations.
• Of those hospitalized, a vast majority are adults as only 37 children are in the hospital as of Tuesday. According to the report, 42% of people in the Intensive Care Unit throughout the state have the coronavirus, which is down from 55%. It’s been maintained that 83% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, 3% are partially vaccinated and 14% are fully vaccinated.