7. Beto can’t stop talking and his fellow Democrats don’t like it
- Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has attempted to use a platform of banning and confiscating firearms to regain relevancy in the presidential race while other Democrats wish he would stop his absurd comments.
- O’Rourke said on Sunday he blames President Donald Trump for the El Paso mass shooting, saying he “has the blood of those 22 people in El Paso on his hands.” He referenced Trump’s Florida rally in May where Trump asked, “How do we stop these people from coming here?” referring to illegal immigrants, and someone responded with “Shoot them.”
6. Trump supports Saudi Arabia and authorized the release of oil reserves
- President Donald Trump responded to attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry by blaming Iran and stating we “are locked and loaded” and waiting for Saudi Arabia’s verification of who carried out the attack.
- Trump said that he believes this could impact oil prices and “if needed,” he’s approved the release of United States strategic petroleum reserves. Trump tweeted that he’s “informed all appropriate agencies to expedite approvals of the oil pipelines currently in the permitting process in Texas and various other States.”
5. There could be hope for the shuttered nuke plant
- State Senator Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro) believes the potential exists to start-up the currently mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeastern Alabama and have the plant actually produce nuclear power.
- Livingston believes that if the plant ever actually gets the green light to operate, it could have an impact similar to Toyota-Mazada. He advised, “If we’re fortunate to get both reactors going, we’re looking at the possibility of having some 7,000 construction jobs out there for maybe as long as 10 years. It would be cyclical as maybe one reactor would come on, then they would bring the construction to other one up to speed slowly, but surely – then operating 1,200-1,500 operators for both reactors. Well-paying jobs. It’s all about economic development here.”
4. State Sen. Figures says she didn’t ask for the ATRIP-ⅠⅠ appointment
- Appearing on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” State Senator Vivian Davis Figures (D-Mobile) spoke about her recent appointment to the ATRIP-ⅠⅠ committee replacing State Senator Chris Elliot (R-Daphne), mentioning how she was removed from a committee for comments she made.
- Figures stated how in the House and Senate, people are removed and appointed to committees all the time and said that she doesn’t agree with the burden of cost for the I-10 bridge being on the citizens. She added it should instead be paid for by the federal and state government, later saying that she “didn’t ask to be on this committee,” but it’s “ironic” that she’s been appointed since she voted against the gas tax.
3. Zeigler has some ideas for the future of ALDOT
- State Auditor Jim Zeigler has already said that Governor Kay Ivey needs to remove John Cooper as the director of Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), but now Zeigler thinks Alabama should remodel ALDOT to resemble the Mississippi Transportation Commission.
- Zeigler suggested that the ALDOT structure should follow Mississippi’s in the way of electing who heads the department and how in Mississippi’s case they have a three-member executive board, saying “They elect their John Cooper. And maybe we need to go to something like that because everything else that has been tried has not worked.”
2. Biden went to church in Alabama and praised his friend Doug Jones
- On Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden attended the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham memorial service for the anniversary of the 1963 bombing that killed four girls, took the bold step of rebuking white supremacy and he touted the work of Senator Doug Jones (D-AL).
- While speaking at the church, Biden said, “[C]hange comes – sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once – and progress continues. Hate is on the rise again, we’re at a defining moment again in American history. Who are we? What do we want to be? After Charlottesville, I said that I believe we’re at a battle for the soul of America. I say it again today, we’re at the battle for the south of America.”
1. Democrats fighting for impeachment again, this time for Kavanaugh
- New allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh were brought up over the weekend, and now 2020 Democratic candidates are calling for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
- But the allegation is dubious as it comes third hand from a former Bill Clinton lawyer Max Stier, who declined to discuss the allegation. He claims that Kavanagh exposed himself at a dorm party where his friends assisted him in assaulting a female student, and apparently, the FBI was notified about the incident but didn’t investigate, and previously the female student has even denied knowledge of the events.
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