7. Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a strike in Tehran, marking a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and Israel and Hezbollah, Israel and its neighbors, and Israel and the American Left. This follows the assassination of Hezbollah’s top military commander in Lebanon. Haniyeh’s death is a major blow to Hamas, both symbolically and strategically, as he played a key role in ceasefire and hostage negotiations.
6. Shark attacks are rare, but following a shark attack on a girl from Mountain Brook, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) introduced “Lulu’s Law,” named after the victim, Lulu Gribbin. Gribbin’s parents support the measure, highlighting the need for improved alert systems to prevent such incidents. The bill would include shark attacks in Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) to swiftly inform and protect beachgoers from similar dangers.
5. Former Alabama State Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham) was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to repay nearly $200,000 in misappropriated tax funds. Rogers, who served over 40 years representing Jefferson County, resigned as part of a plea agreement involving a kickback scheme with youth baseball league organizer Fred Plump, who received $400,000 in grants, half of which went to Rogers and his legislative liaison.
4. When you do offensive things, people will criticize you, then you claim you are getting death/rape threats without sharing or reporting them, you learn nothing. French DJ Barbara Butch, who performed in a drag queen sequence during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, has learned nothing. She has filed a legal complaint after receiving online abuse, including death threats and anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist insults but Butch remains unapologetic and intends to prosecute her harassers, which will not happen. Weirdly, Paris Olympics organizers emphasized their intent to celebrate community tolerance.
3. Jail sounds terrible and six Alabama inmates filed a lawsuit arguing that the prison system’s punishment for not working violates the newly updated state constitution, which bans all forms of involuntary servitude. The inmates, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, seek an order to stop these punishments, which include loss of privileges and solitary confinement, and unpaid work inside the prisons. They argue that conditions like health hazards and unsafe work environments justify their refusal but the state argues the sanctions are part of the work release privileges.
2. State agencies are not out of the woods yet as State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) has pre-filed two bills showing them that it ain’t no fun when the rabbits got the gun. Senate Bill 5 and Senate Bill 6 change how board members are appointed for local libraries and the Alabama Department of Archives and History as part of the never-ending battle of the LGBTQ/gender/race radicalism and extremism of the unaccountable state bureaucracy. SB6 allows local library board members to be removed by a two-thirds vote from their appointing authorities and SB5 shifts the appointment of board vacancies in the Alabama Department of Archives and History from the board itself to a rotation involving state legislative leaders and the governor.
1. Megan Thee Stallion twerked and rallied the Hotties for Harris in Atlanta in a move multiple 60+-year-old television personalities declared was not weird at all as they continued to fawn all over soon-to-be-candidate for president, Vice President Kamala Harris. It was weird, Rolling Stone said, “Naturally, Megan wore a bright blue pantsuit fit for a Hottie – complete with a cropped blazer and button down, skin-tight bottoms, and a necktie to match. She took care to sensor her tracks and keep the twerking modest as she and a crew of dancers burst into ‘Girls in the Hood,’ her 2020 flip of an Eazy-E classic.”
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