7. Former President Donald Trump, fresh off a Bud Light influencer-style Truth Social post, responded to President Joe Biden’s cowardly rejection of an interview on the CBS Super Bowl pregame show for the second consecutive year by offering to bring “ratings gold” by doing it himself. CBS rejected the offer, proving that they are more interested in politics than giving the American people a look at the options this year or even ratings.
6. In a move that hopefully is the first of many to come, a mother in Michigan has been found guilty of manslaughter for allowing her child to have access to a gun his parents bought him 4 days before the shooting and not getting him mental health treatment despite warning signs that he was contemplating violence. Jennifer Crumbley wrote in texts to an affair partner on the day of the shooting that she “failed as a parent” but this is a good sign for people who want parents to be responsible for giving firearms to their troubled children, the father of the shooter is up next.
5. The Legislature had not been in session for a full day when the American Civil Liberties Union had suggested that democracy may be in peril, “SB1 is a direct threat to democracy and we are committed to fighting it.” The thing putting democracy at risk, according to the ACLU, is a bill that would ban ballot harvesting from paid operatives who pressure people for their ballots.
4. Alabama’s Democrats are handling another year as a super-minority party in the Legislature by offering up some pretty interesting legislation, including a bill that says men in the state must either pay for a woman’s abortion if she wants one or get a vasectomy. In an oddly reasonable take, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham) opined that men and women are both responsible when someone gets pregnant, “The last time I checked a biology textbook, it takes a woman and a man to make a baby. Men in Alabama need to be held to the same level of responsibility as women.”
3. President Joe Biden made a statement that is worthy of 4,495 Pinocchios from the Washington Post (one for each year of his life) stating, “Every day, between now and November, the American people are gonna know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.” The truth is Biden single-handedly did this when he ended wall construction, ended Title 42, ended the emergency declaration, ended “Remain in Mexico,” said he wouldn’t deport anyone for 100 days, told asylum seekers to surge the border, enabled catch and release, and refuses to this day to enforce the law.
2. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey gave her State of the State address yesterday and declared that the “State of the State is strong” but gambling was what people were waiting. Ivey laid out a suggestion where the lottery was the focus, a crackdown on illegal gambling was promised, and casinos were not mentioned by name but they loom. Lastly, Ivey advocated for a vote by the people for the first time since 1999 saying, “Now is the time for Alabama voters to have another say on this issue.”
1. Gov. Kay Ivey also advocated for Education Savings Accounts that would amount to $7,000 in tax credits for kids going to private school and $2,000 in tax credits for homeschooling but there are a lot of strings attached in the form of testing and even the ability of the state to audit schools even though the money doesn’t go to those schools directly. This bill will require a good bit of work to both pass and be something school choice advocates can support.
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Dale Jackson is a thought leader for Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on WVNN, on Talk 99.5 from 10-11 a.m., and on Talk Radio 103.9 FM/730AM WUMP from noon to 1 p.m.
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