7 Things: Ivey supports Canadian truckers while your kids wear masks, constitutional carry continues to advance and more …

7. Don’t mess with Texas airports

• The State of Texas and Attorney General Ken Paxton have filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration for the federal mask mandate currently on airports and airplanes. Paxton argued that the mandate “was unlawfully issued” and “not authorized by Congress.”
• Paxton also mentioned how the mandate through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “carried criminal penalties.” He said that this “is also troublesome that any president thinks he can act above the law while hardworking Americans standby.” Paxton joined U.S. Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and officials of the Texas Public Policy Foundation in the lawsuit.

6. No one knows what the Alabama State Auditor does

• Stan Cooke is a candidate for Alabama State Auditor, and he’s advocating for ending Alabama’s involvement in alcohol sales through state-run liquor stores if elected.
• Cooke said that “the state should not be in private competition, private business or small business. I believe the state’s competition is unconstitutional.” He added that since the funds from the Alcohol Beverage Commission stores are discretionary funds, it falls under the authority of the State Auditor to “see how much money is coming in every year and then see who they are pay their leases, their rent to…When the state gets involved, things go wrong, and I think we need to be out of the alcohol business altogether.”

5. Bathroom bill has advanced

• The “bathroom bill” has advanced in the Alabama Legislature after approval from the House Education Policy Committee. The bill would prevent students from using a bathroom at K-12 schools that are outside of the gender they were assigned at birth.
• State Representative Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle) said that the bill is about safety, saying, “Almost every school district in this state is dealing with this issue with opposite genders wanting to use opposite bathrooms, and I find this to be a safety issue. It is for protection of our students.”

4. Hillary Clinton has responded to the Durham report

• The four years former President Donald Trump was in office were filled with attempts to out him and his administration on scandals that never came to fruition, but now that special counsel John Durham’s report shows that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign attempted to plant ties between Trump and Russia, Clinton is blaming Trump and claiming it’s a “fake scandal.” The media and their Democrats are on the same page, as usual.
• Clinton responded to the report, saying, “Trump & Fox are desperately spinning up a fake scandal to distract from his real ones. So it’s a day that ends in Y. The more his misdeeds are exposed, the more they lie.”

3. End of concealed carry permits advances through committee

• The bill that would end the concealed carry permit requirements in the state has advanced through the Alabama House of Representatives’ Public Safety Committee. The bill is sponsored by State Representative Shane Stringer (R-Citronelle).
• Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway said of the bill, “We are opposed to the bill because of how unsafe it makes the community. It’s going to allow more guns to be on the street.” The bill will now be considered by the full House.

2. Masks continue to fall, but not in Alabama

• Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) signed a bill that would ban mask mandates, making it illegal to force children to mask up in schools. Youngkin said of the bill, “Today we are reestablishing and restoring power back to parents. But we are also reestablishing our expectations that we will get back to normal. And this is the path.”
• Virginia is just the latest state to remove masks from the classroom, but Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey has shown no sign of a move in the direction of banning mask mandates for Alabama school children. Ivey’s opponents for governor have highlighted her inaction, with Tim James running a damning ad and Lew Burdette tweeting, “She could absolutely do this for our children. Alabama Deserves Better.” 

1. Ivey has acted out against mandates… in Canada

• Some might say that Governor Kay Ivey has done very little to actually end mandates in Alabama, but when it comes to Canadian truckers, Ivey has some thoughts. She tweeted, “I’ve signed on to a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau & @POTUS asking them to immediately reinstate the vaccine & quarantine exemptions available to cross border truck drivers.”
• This is the same governor who outright opposed a special session to end vaccine mandates and now claims credit for their demise after the legislature passed the ban on them against her will. She will act as a leader on supporting truckers not being mandated to be vaccinated by the Canadian government but she refuses to act on the forced masking of Alabama school children at the behest of teachers’ unions in the state.