7 Things: Don’t bet on gambling for 2023; gun control push begins … AGAIN; and more …

7. Abe Lincoln: COLONIZER?

• Showing that there is not end to the depravity of the anti-American left, a statue of “The Great Emancipator” Abraham Lincoln was vandalized with the terms “Dethrone the colonizers,” “Land back!,” and “Avenge the Dakota 38” in Chicago over Thanksgiving weekend. Lincoln was not a colonizer.
• Getting a little more accurate, there was also a reference to the “Dakota 38” which were 38 members of the Dakota Sioux who were hanged by the U.S. government in 1862; 264 were pardoned by Lincoln after he read over the transcripts of their trials and allowed the hangings of those guilty of rape and civilian massacres.

6. Alabama basketball beats No. 1 North Carolina

• Alabama’s football team is not the only squad from the school that had a great weekend. The 18th-ranked basketball team beat the top team in the nation, North Carolina, 103-101 in 4 overtimes.
• The Crimson Tide was in Portland, Ore., for the Phil Knight Invitational tournament and marked their first win against a top-ranked team since 2004.

5. Iron Bowl ends Cadillac Williams’ interim coaching gig with Bama blowout

• Before the Iron Bowl kicked off, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) told Huntsville’s WUMP-AM/FM radio show “In The Booth” that Auburn should hire interim coach Cadillac Williams as their full-time head coach if the Tigers defeated Alabama. But that seemed highly unlikely.
• Alabama rolled over Auburn in Tuscaloosa 49-27, the Tide’s third consecutive win and their 12th win in the last 16 Iron Bowls. Alabama is still looking at the outside of the College Football Playoffs with the No. 7 ranking. Florida is unranked.

4. Trump’s bad judgment, a rapper, and a rejected VP offer

• Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s ridiculous dinner with fellow candidate Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes has been criticized by the media and their Democrats, as usual, but Republicans are getting in on the act as well.
• Depending on who you believe, West requested to meet with Trump but brought Fuentes, whom Trump did not know. West says he asked Trump to be his vice president which angered the former president who tried to explain to West that he could not win the race and would only take votes from Trump. This is all absurd but some version of this event took place during the week of Thanksgiving in the real world.

3. Flu deaths increase in Alabama

• Two children and nine adults have died in the state of Alabama from the flu so far this flu season. The flu virus-led inpatient care appeared to start declining a few weeks ago and the outpatient surge had started to let up in the week ending Nov. 19.
• Other respiratory viruses continue to be a drain on pediatric hospitals, this includes COVID-19, RSV, and rhinovirus. Wash hands, cover coughs and sneezes, all that stuff you will be hearing for the rest of your life.

2. Biden pushing for a semi-automatic weapon ban, muskets fine

• After two high-profile shootings recently, one at a gay bar involving an AR-15 and one at a Walmart involving a handgun, gun control is back in the news. President Joe Biden is attempting to ban all semi-automatic weapons: “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick. It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers”
• Kudos to President Joe Biden and the other gun-grabbers for getting the fact that these are both semi-automatic weapons, and not automatic weapons or assault weapons, which they also want to ban. Banning these weapons will be pretty hard to do, especially considering support for doing so has dropped nine points and gun ownership went up 3%.

1. “Serious” gambling bill seems unlikely 

• If you are hoping for a lottery, fewer slot machines pretending to be bingo or horse racing, a compact with Poarch Creek Indians, and some clarity on what gambling will be happening in Alabama in the future … too bad.
• House Speaker-designate Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) says don’t get your hopes up: “It’s very complicated. You know, if you look at the state now, it’s not that we don’t have gambling. We do. A lot of places are opening now with electric bingo or bingo. Today, the last number I had, we’re almost at 30 facilities. So, it’s not that it’s not here. The regulation side of it, to me, is the most important part. We have got to do a better job at putting bills together to make sure that those that are out there illegally are not operating.” On the last part, “There’s also people who live in a district where there’s casinos who really want to help try move the needle, and I get that. But, I think looking forward, we’ve got to figure out what is the best thing for our state.”