7. Pelosi wants to arrest those who won’t wear a mask
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is demanding the mostly-vaccinated members of the U.S. House of Representatives to wear masks in the U.S. Capitol. Additionally, those who visit the U.S. House side of the Capitol complex could be arrested for not wearing a mask, per a new memo that was ordered by U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger which U.S. Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) released publicly.
- Visitors and staff are the only ones who may be subject to arrest, though, since House members who do not comply with the mask mandate will instead be fined starting at $500. House members will also be reported to the House sergeant-at-arms for noncompliance.
6. Brooks gives the exact reason for wearing body armor
- Recently, U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) has been criticized for wearing body armor during his speech at a rally for President Donald Trump on January 6, just before the riot at the U.S. Capitol. There have even been some who suggested that Brooks wore body armor because he knew something potentially dangerous was going to happen.
- Brooks has explained, though, why he decided to wear body armor on that day. Brooks has recalled how he was targeted with other Republicans while attending a GOP softball practice in 2017, and Brooks said, “I take these threats seriously.” U.S. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) was shot at the practice, and Brooks gave aid to a legislative aide Zack Barth who was shot in the calf.
5. Birmingham and Redstone have brought back their mask mandate
- In Birmingham, the mask mandate is back for all city employees and those visiting municipal buildings. The city announced the mandate through social media accounts saying it “applied to but is not limited to City Hall, police precincts, libraries, rec centers, venues, etc.”
- In Huntsville, a mask mandate has also been revived at the Redstone Arsenal. While most people who work on base at Redstone are still working from home, they are bringing back “full masking requirements for all employees and guests on the installation regardless of vaccination status.”
4. Kamala Harris is not good at her job
- Vice President Kamala Harris is watching her polling numbers plummet as she fades into the background after being given multiple tasks and accomplishing very little. One of her highest-profile tasks was solving the crisis at the border, and she has finally unveiled her plan. The plan is lacking any real solutions.
- Harris’ plan for the border is not focused on enforcement or stopping the current record stream of illegal aliens crossing the border. It instead focuses on remaking Central America somehow. This includes economic insecurity, inequality, combating democratic corruption, promoting respect for human rights, combating gangs and (for some reason) making it easier to come to the United States.
3. Unvaccinated students will be fined at BSC
- At Birmingham-Southern College, students who do not get vaccinated will be fined $500 going into the upcoming school year. The school has said this fee is “to offset continual weekly antigen testing and quarantining.”
- Students “will receive an immediate $500 rebate” if they are vaccinated before the fall semester starts. There will be separate move-in dates for vaccinated and unvaccinated students in the fall. The College Republican Federation of Alabama has condemned “this obvious attack on students who are not vaccinated.”
2. Hospitalizations could double what they were at the peak
- UAB is predicting that hospitalizations in Alabama could surpass where they were at the peak of coronavirus infections over the winter surge. This increase could be seen within about a month, and the estimation is made with the idea that the Delta variant spreads faster.
- UAB’s Dr. Suzanne Judd said the situation is “very scary if we stay on the path we’re on.” The projection shows that there could be 5,500 deaths from the coronavirus by October and about 8,000 hospitalizations in August.
1. Federal vaccine mandate announced
- As was expected, President Joe Biden has announced the vaccine requirement for all federal workers. If workers decide to not get vaccinated, they “will be required to mask no matter where they work and test 1-2 times a week, socially distance, and will generally not be allowed to travel for work.”
- Biden did clarify that the vaccine mandate applies to federal contractors, as well, and Biden has pushed for the Pentagon to consider adding the coronavirus vaccine to the required vaccination list. It’s also been released that this mandate will apply to about 4 million people. He also decided to quote the questionable, but too good to be checked, story of an Alabama doctor who was telling her dying patients and their families they should have gotten the vaccine.
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