7 Things: Gambling bill fails, medical marijuana passes, Alabama NAACP will pay people to get vaccinated and more …

7. Biden has been told not to take questions

• White House press secretary Jen Psaki was being interviewed by CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod when Psaki admitted that President Joe Biden has basically been told not to take impromptu questions. She advised it’s “not something we recommend.”
• Psaki followed up saying they tell Biden “don’t take questions,” but she tried to recover by explaining “he’s going to do what he wants to do because he’s the President of the United States.” Psaki also said that the lack of press conferences from Biden is done as a way to keep the administration focused.

6. Change in election laws in Florida and Texas

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed new legislation into law that he’s said will prevent potential election fraud going forward, while Texas worked on its own bill as well. DeSantis also said that they’re “banning ballot harvesting.” He added, “We’re not going to let political operatives go and get satchels of votes and dump them in some drop box.”
• One of the changes made is only allowing drop boxes to operate within regular voting hours so they can “be monitored in person,” and DeSantis detailed that they’re “prohibiting mass mailing of balloting…to just indiscriminately send them out is not a recipe for success.” The new laws also prohibit “the use of private funds for election-related expenses.”

5. Jury deliberating in Huntsville police officer case

• The murder trial against Huntsville police officer William Ben Darby has concluded with Madison County chief trial attorney Tim Gann saying, “The public trust has been violated in this case.”
• The jurors returned this morning to continue deliberations. Darby has claimed that when he allegedly shot and killed Jeffery Parker, he was acting in self-defense, even though Parker was pointing the gun at his own head at the time of the shooting. Darby’s lead defense attorney Robert Tuten said Darby “is a police officer, an honorable person doing an honorable profession.”

4. Democrats demand you have a very short memory on bipartisanship

• Recently, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated the obvious when he said, “100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration.” Inexplicably, the media and their Democrats have reacted to this obvious pronouncement by acting offended and demanding an end to the filibuster so they can do what they want without any pesky “resistance” from Republicans.
• What makes this all the more comical is the idea that there has been some level of bipartisanship before this administration; the media and their Democrats made it their mission to oppose the Trump administration and never even considered him a legit president, which is another hypocritical thing altogether.
  

3. NAACP is giving out money to those who get vaccinated

• In an effort to encourage more people to get the coronavirus vaccine, the Alabama NAACP is giving people a chance to win $1,000 for being vaccinated. This comes after some officials have expressed concern over how few young people are getting the vaccine.
• Alabama NAACP president Bernard Simelton said that they “keep hearing that the Millennials and the Gen Zers don’t want to get the vaccine, so we’re doing what we can to encourage them to go ahead and get it.”

2. Medical marijuana has passed

• Legislation that would legalize medical marijuana in Alabama has passed the Alabama House of Representatives. The bill was concurred by the Senate and will be signed by Governor Kay Ivey.
• Medical marijuana’s #1 advocate, State Representative Mike Ball (R-Madison), with tears in his eyes, said he worked so hard on the bill because he thought “this is why the Lord sent me here.”
  

1. Gambling dies a slow and predictable death

• The Alabama House of Representatives has failed to pass a piece of gambling legislation for another session, and it doesn’t look good with only one day remaining in the legislative session. It seems unlikely a bill will get done, even though Governor Kay Ivey has endorsed the bill.
• The House attempted to find common ground on gambling all day before an attempt was made to pass a simple lottery-only bill that was shot down instantly by Democratic leaders. Reportedly, the hang-up was about where the money was going. Republicans wanted 40% of the revenue to go to enhanced health care services and Democrats wanted language about Medicaid expansion explicitly added.