7. QAnon Shaman sentenced
- The most easily recognizable U.S. Capitol riot participant, Jacob Chansley, received a prison sentence of 51 months (10 that he has already served) for his role in the January 6 chaos. Chansley was seen in the U.S. Senate chamber and left a note for Vice President Mike Pence that read, “It’s Only A Matter Of Time. Justice Is Coming.” He pled guilty to a felony charge of obstructing Congress certification of the 2020 presidential election vote.
- Some legal experts, including renowned liberal Alan Dershowitz, have questioned the heavy-handedness of this case and whether the high-profile nature of his garb led to this sentencing. Judge Royce Lamberth asked Chansley’s attorneys if “he made himself the image of the riot, didn’t he?” The prosecutors asked for a harsh sentence to set an example to those who have not accepted pleas.
6. Gosar has been censured for anime video
- U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was censured for posting an anime video where his face and the faces of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Joe Biden face were pasted onto characters. In the video, Gosar’s character killed Ocasio-Cortez.
- Gosar was removed from his committees. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that this was an “abuse of power,” but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared, “We cannot have members joking about murdering each other. This is both an endangerment of our elected officials and an insult to the institution.” No one believes this will be the end of this, as Republicans will similarly remove Democrat members when given the chance.
5. Moore calls on people to focus on the bigger picture
- U.S. Representative Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) called on Republicans to look past reelection and focus on more than just campaigning. Moore suggested Republicans refocus their priorities, saying, “We tend to spend like we’re Democrats sometimes, and we really don’t act like we’re conservatives.”
- As Republicans look to regain some control in Washington, D.C. through the midterms, Moore advised, “We don’t need people looking for the next reelection. My concern is we get a lot of people here in D.C. that want to bring home the bacon to their district. But it is so much bigger picture than just your district…at the end of the day, the solvency of this nation and the border crisis and inflation – those things that can hurt all Americans, not just your district but all districts.”
4. Racist video circulating at Alabama school, school system wants to take action
- A Cullman High School student received a video of a white student chanting “white power” and “kill all the n—-rs,” which has received a strong reaction from parents in the community. The mother of the student who received the video, Jocelyn Logan, said that the video made her “very sick.” The mother of the child in the video, Amy Carter, claimed that her son was copying a video on TikTok and was not aware he was being filmed.
- At a school board meeting, a couple dozen parents complained about the video and the student in the video not facing consequences, but Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff said that the school board hasn’t received any formal complaints of racism. The board was sent the video, but since the video was outside of school, there isn’t any authority to address the issue.
3. Tim James doesn’t want us turning into Las Vegas, slams fellow Republicans
- Businessman Tim James has hinted that he may run for governor in 2022 against Governor Kay Ivey, but he’s yet to make a formal announcement. Recently, though, he criticized the way that Alabama handles education, scoring the legislature a “D.”
- James said, “You have to have a force that is willing to engage and go into the battles, fight the battles and take on the system, take on the structure, take on the bureaucracy, the unions, go into the school boards across the state.” He went on to say that Alabama “looks like a combination of California, Nevada and Colorado. California represents taxes. Nevada represents gambling. And Colorado represents marijuana.”
2. Booster shots likely to be approved soon
- The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is set to discuss recommending coronavirus vaccine booster shots to all adults, and it’s expected that the booster will ultimately be recommended. There are already some states and cities that allow adults to get a booster shot.
- The advisory panel is meeting on Friday, but it’s likely that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also officially recommend booster shots around the same time. Booster shots have become a larger topic of discussion as the vaccine has been available for nearly a year.
1. OSHA halts vaccine mandate before it starts
- President Joe Biden’s private business vaccine mandate has already seen multiple legal losses, and now it has been dealt a bureaucratic setback, as well. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it will be following a court order and suspend the planning for the enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates that affect large American businesses.
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OSHA’s website was updated to include a statement about the decision. The post read, “The court ordered that OSHA ‘take no steps to implement or enforce’ the [Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS)] ‘until further court order.’” A Department of Labor official added, “OSHA is not enforcing or implementing the reg – so they are not engaging or offering compliance assistance.”
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