7 Things: COVID-19 hits Alabama hard again, Biden’s economic policies bear painful fruit, Tuberville gets Democrats to disown defunding the police and more …

7. Biden pushed vaccine hesitancy but won’t admit it

• In 2020, President Joe Biden discussed distrusting the coronavirus vaccine due to President Donald Trump being in power at the time of when the vaccine was created. White House press secretary Jen Psaki was questioned on whether Biden “may have created some vaccine hesitancy.”
• Instead of answering the question, Psaki basically said Biden “still doesn’t trust Donald Trump,” but when pressed on the issue, Psaki said that there hasn’t been data released that Biden was at fault for hesitancy. She also claimed that Biden has made it a “priority” to nominate someone to lead the FDA, despite not doing so in more than 200 days.

6. Arrest warrants issued for Democratic Texas lawmakers

• In Texas, arrest warrants have been issued for Democratic members of the Texas Legislature that have been absent as part of a standoff. The Democrats have refused to vote on the new voting regulations for the state, originally leaving in July.
• Even with the civil arrest warrants, it’s unlikely that things will change very much as State House Representative Erin Zwiener (D-TX) said, “Nothing about these warrants are a surprise, and they don’t necessarily affect my plans.”

5. 20 years wasted on nothing in Afghanistan

• As U.S. military are still withdrawing from Afghanistan, a new assessment has been released that shows the Taliban could take control of Kabul within 90 days, which comes after the Taliban has already taken control of three provincial capitals and army headquarters.
• With the recent activity from the Taliban, they’ve now taken control of two-thirds of the nation. The initial prediction was that Kabul would lose control to the Taliban within about six months, but due to the increased activity, the estimate has been decreased.

4. Tuberville undercuts defund the police narrative, Cory Booker celebrates

• An amendment in the fiscal year 2022 budget proposed by U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has passed. The amendment allows the federal government to remove funding from local governments that defund their police and law enforcement departments. It passed 99-0, and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), aided by a lapdog media, became the star of the day by implying this means Democrats don’t want to defund the police. They do.
• Tuberville explained the amendment as “simple,” adding, “If your city council wants to defund their police, don’t expect the federal government to make up the difference.” He went on to say that people in Alabama shouldn’t “have to pick up the tab for the local leaders in Oregon and Minnesota who value the woke ‘Defund the Police’ movement over their own community’s safety.”

3. Inflation up big

• If you like paying more for everyday items, you are in luck as inflation hit 5.4% over the last month. The experts tell you not to worry because this is “expected” after all the government spending and shows no sign of stopping with trillions of dollars of more spending being sought through reconciliation. Those on the bottom are feeling the biggest pinch.
• Talk of pent-up demand is a driving factor for inflation as travel and recreation are unleashed and more Americans are willing to leave their homes after being vaccinated. This might make sense if we weren’t seeing increases everywhere including groceries, clothes, haircuts and automobiles.

2. America can’t explore for oil, but we can beg the Saudis to make more

• Since President Joe Biden took office, America has seen its energy independence take a massive step back with pipelines canceled in the United States and energy exploration strangled. This has played very well for our nation’s friends and foes around the globe. Russia has secured the ability to supply Europe with oil, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries nations are being begged by our president to crank up production to lower the price.
• Biden’s weak plea to OPEC is needed as the price of foreign oil is soaring and contributing to increased cost at the pump and elsewhere for average Americans. A gallon of gas is now $3.186, up from $3.143 a month ago and up a full dollar over the last year. For perspective, the last time gasoline was $3+ before this May was 2014.

1. 40% of COVID-19 cases in Alabama came from three counties

• Alabama put another big number on the board with 3,900+ new coronavirus cases. According to the data, 40% of those cases came from Baldwin County (284), Jefferson County (464) and Mobile County (649). Hospitalizations are up across the state with 115 new patients bringing the total to 2,371. This is up 1,225% since July 3.
• There has been a 30% increase in hospitalizations in the Huntsville Health Systems in Madison County within the last week to 160 patients. Of those hospitalized, 87% are unvaccinated. There are also 36 people in the ICU with the coronavirus. Those who are hospitalized are between 10 months old and 99 years old. It should be noted that there are three teenagers in the hospital, and a child is in the ICU. In the whole system, there are 281 people hospitalized, which is a 36% increase.