7. Gun buyback at the end of the month
- CrimeStoppers will be buying firearms on June 29 at First Baptist Church in Montgomery. The organization claims that the event has been a success in the past, and they’ll even let you drop off your guns anonymously.
- These events are wildly ineffective, as studies have shown the buybacks usually ended up getting guns that did not fire and had no impact on violent crime outcomes.
6. Trump closer to getting funding to defend the border
- U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) worked to get the Senate Committee on Appropriations to approve legislation that will provide $4.59 billion to deal with the overwhelming flow of migrants at the border.
- Shelby argued the situation is at its breaking point and that action needs to be taken. The legislation advanced with a 30-1 vote, but the Senate still needs to vote on the measure and its chances as a stand-alone bill in the House are unclear.
5. Gloves are coming off against Joe Biden
- As Democrats start pounding on Biden for his gaffes, media outlets are tearing into the former vice president’s son’s business dealings. Also, a woman in Arkansas is alleging the younger Biden fathered her baby.
- Biden still has one defender in U.S Senator Doug Jones (D-AL), who responded to the bad-faith attacks on Biden for his defense of segregationists by saying, “I’m not sure he needs he to apologize.” But when referencing Biden’s comments on the term “boy,” Jones added “he may want to acknowledge that that one term was not the appropriate term to use for sure.”
4. Brooks says the U.S. shouldn’t be defending foreign tankers’ shipping lanes
- On the House Floor on Thursday, Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) suggested that countries with oil interests in the Persian Gulf defend the Persian Gulf shipping lanes after Iran attacked Persian Gulf tankers, instead of America intervening with military action.
- Brooks read from the report about the tanker attack, as well as reading that the report concludes, “These sophisticated attacks were most likely carried out by a state actor.” He stated that the report doesn’t accuse anyone of the attacks.
3. War coming?
- On Thursday, President Trump warned that America won’t stand for Iran shooting down the U.S. drone as it flew over the Strait of Hormuz, as well as stating, “They made a very big mistake.” Trump went on to say that he finds it hard to believe that it could’ve just been someone “who was loose and stupid,” which left the chance of a U.S. response unclear.
- Reports out Friday morning indicate that military operations were underway but were eventually called off.
2. Roy Moore is running
- To no surprise, Roy Moore announced on Thursday that he’ll be entering the 2020 U.S. Senate race for the same seat that he lost to Doug Jones in 2017. He said, “Can I win? Yes, I can win.”
- This will be a source of non-stop embarrassment to Alabama and Moore himself, as he is already choking up lines like, “I would like to make more personal contact with people” and that he is “not going against President Trump,” to which Donald Trump, Jr. responded in a tweet, “This is pure fake news. I can assure everyone that by running, Roy Moore is going against my father and he’s doing a disservice to all conservatives across the country in the process.”
1. Doug Jones is smiling
- With Roy Moore entering the race, Doug Jones is trying to deceptively frame the Republican primary as a divisive race between Roy Moore and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) pick for the Republican position. Alabama’s media is here to help.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) personal senator strongly projected while pontificating on the race, “It’s now clear that my opponent will either be an extremist like Roy Moore or someone handpicked by Mitch McConnell to be his Senator, not Alabama’s.”
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.