7. Alabama kids don’t want to go to school after Halloween
- Vestavia Hills High School students have started a petition to cancel school the day after Halloween this year. Tre Stoutermire wrote for the petition that a big part of Halloween is being able to stay out late, adding, “Having to go to worry about waking up early in the morning for school shouldn’t be a problem.”
- According to Change.org, 350,000 people have signed petitions on the site this week for “Halloween related petitions.” Petitions calling for school to be canceled have also been popular.
6. Vaping deaths are due to the black market
- While the moral and media panic about vaping has led to private companies pulling e-cigarettes from sales and directly contributed to an increase in actual smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that the deaths are not linked to the nicotine-based products.
- Data involving 19 of the deaths that involve vaping products shows that 84% of those affected admitted (self-reported) to using THC products, 63% said they only used THC products and only 16% said they only used nicotine.
5. Katie Hill resigns
- U.S. Representative Katie Hill (D-CA) has resigned due to her unethical behavior, including having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, but now Hill is playing the victim because she “never thought her imperfections would be weaponized and used to try to destroy” her.
- Hill described her resignation as a “devastating decision” and she posted a video to Twitter explaining why she made her decision. In the video she referred to what she’s been through in the media as “revenge porn” and that “the right-wing media and Republican opponents, enabling and perpetuating my husband’s abuse by providing him a platform, is disgusting and unforgivable.”
4. Democrats talk to prisoners as Trump talks to sheriffs
- Democratic presidential candidates Tom Steyer and Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) appeared at a hall at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia to talk about criminal justice reform.
- Meanwhile, the media and their Democrats are not happy about the president of the United States appearing at a gathering of international police chiefs in Chicago praising police chiefs and talking tough on crime while comparing Chicago to Afghanistan and calling it “embarrassing to us as a nation.”
3. All signs point to Sessions jumping into the race
- Monday, Yellowhammer News reported that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been reaching out to former staff and is close to jumping back into the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. Politico followed with their own story as well.
- Because President Donald Trump has nothing else going on right now, expect him to start attacking his former attorney general to attempt to keep him out of the race.
2. Stories differ on officer-involved shooting death in Madison
- On Sunday night, Dana Sherrod Fletcher was shot and killed by Madison police, and chief deputy of Madison County sheriff’s office Stacy Bates said that they have video that confirms Fletcher was armed and fighting officers. Sheriff Kevin Turner advised that there will be a “thorough investigation.”
- Fletcher’s wife, Cherelle Fletcher, took to Facebook on Sunday where she claimed to witness the incident, and wrote, “At no point did my Dana have a weapon on him.” Bates detailed that Fletcher didn’t cooperate with officers and a taser was ineffective when he exited a vehicle with a gun.
1. Everyone gets what they pretended they want: an impeachment vote
- Finally, the Democrats might actually vote to formally open an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to Democratic House members informing them of a resolution that will be voted on this week that “affirms the ongoing, existing investigation” and “establishes the procedure” going forward.
- Pelosi went on to say that the vote will be held on the resolution to prevent the Trump administration from being able to “withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.” The vote is scheduled for Thursday.
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