7 Things: Election Twitterference continues; Legislature in path of ‘exhibition driving;’ and more …

7. Man removes child from mother’s cart and puts him in his

• A very disturbing story from an Attalla Walmart has led to a man from Tennessee to be looking at some charges after he picked up someone else’s kid and put him in his cart. The kid was acting out in the self-checkout line, the man high-fived the kid to calm him down and then took the child and put him in his cart and said, “We’re going to go to my truck.”
• The mother grabbed the kid and the man ran away to his semi-truck. Identified as a truck driver for an Illinois-based company, he returned to Attalla from Chattanooga and sat for an interview with investigators. And police have turned all the information over to prosecutors.

6. DeSantis up huge in one swing state on Trump … Florida

• Polls continue to trend away from former President Donald Trump. A new poll in Florida shows the state’s Gov. Ron DeSantis trouncing Trump in net favorability 76 to 44. To summarize, DeSantis has an 86 percent favorability rating and a 10 percent unfavorability rating… 86-10.
• Interestingly, among those that consider themselves  “Trump voters,” DeSantis was leading Trump with 95 percent favorability to 91 for Trump himself.

5. Orion capsule back on Earth

• A rocket with a ton of Alabama ties has successfully splashdown after an uncrewed 25-day mission. Artemis I mission test flight is now complete, after a long delay in the initial launch, the trip and return went off without a hitch.

• The re-entry caused the Orion capsule to heat to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it was re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere traveling 32 times the speed of sound or 24,850 mph but the heat shield held making the temperature inside the capsule 60-71 degrees. The extreme heat outside led to a 5 1/2-minute communications blackout caused by plasma buildup, as is known to happen.

4. COVID-19 spreading in China as lockdowns end

• After years of lockdowns and a lack of natural immunity because of “zero-COVID,” China is now seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases as Chinese society opens back up.
• A lack of fully vaccinated elderly individuals over vaccine availability and effectiveness, as questionable as they might be, and a massive population and a large number of tightly-populated areas could lead to a surge. The government could be foreshadowing what is coming through state media, “top epidemiologist” Zhong Nanshan said, “Currently, the epidemic in China is … spreading rapidly, and under such circumstances, no matter how strong the prevention and control is, it will be difficult to completely cut off the transmission chain.”

3. Alabama Legislature is the most conservative?

• Many in the Alabama Legislature will gladly tout the fact that the American Conservative Union’s Center for Legislative Accountability has found the body to be the nation’s most conservative compared to other states’ legislative chambers.
• The ACU study found that 74% of all votes cast during the 2021 regular legislative session were considered to be conservative positions. Some in the public might disagree and want to see a focus on school choice, spending, and tax policy changes but social issues are a big driver of this rating.

2. Nine injured being stupid while another stupid person was “exhibition driving” poorly

• Reckless stupidity involving overpowered vehicles and underpowered brains led to a tragic incident with at least nine people being critically injured out of 13 total injuries. A Dodge Charger and Nissan 370Z were both doing donuts, hit each other and went into the crowd.
• Calls for the Legislature to get involved are growing with each one of these incidents, they need to start nailing both the spectators and the participants. More people will be harmed and possibly killed.

1. Twitter continues to expose itself

• Whether it’s the banning of a former president, shadowbanning of users, suppression of negative stories, or collusion between a government and a social media company, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has exposed it all.
• The American media continues to pretend they don’t think there is a story here in any way, so they have to continue to downplay the very clear newsworthiness of this. Hilariously, the people who hate Elon Musk the most can’t quit because they need the platform and are addicted to it.