7 Things: State delegation – minus 1 – still reacting to State of Union; Biden keeps lying; and more …

7. Devyn Thief is hit with 30+ more shoplifting charges

• The hits keep coming for Huntsville City Councilman Devyn Keith who turned himself in on 4 charges of shoplifting, after being arrested on one charge while carrying out the act, but before he was hit officially with 30 more charges of the same crime. It is alleged that Keith stole at least 30 times from 3 stores in Huntsville.
• Comically, Keith posted on Facebook that he was told not to comment any further but he will make one more comment at the next city council meeting. Some expect him to resign to spare his district the indignity of this matter from a city councilman, these people think Devyn Keith is a different person than he actually is.

6. Faith leaders want executions reviewed

• Attorney General Steve Marshall is ready to start sticking needles in the arms of condemned killers, but multiple faith leaders think the process needs some further review after the killers have expressed concern over some pain and botched executions have that kept the three killers alive. A state-run review is already underway.
• 170 faith leaders are asking for an independent review of the execution process, because they are ready for the state to get this right and get these people in the ground, “The fact of the matter is that an agency that has failed repeatedly to get its own house in order cannot be trusted to privately conduct an investigation into problems it is causing.” The faith leaders need to wait two more months for the state’s investigation to play out before the killing kicks off again, according to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm.

5. Tuberville wants to block the VA from doing abortions

• The Biden administration is very eager to start performing abortions at Veteran’s Affairs facilities in states where abortion is limited or banned but U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) has other ideas. Current VA policy is clearly in violation of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 which prohibits the VA from providing abortion services.
• Tuberville and U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) have introduced a joint resolution to stop the VA from allowing abortions because they are taxpayer-funded. Tuberville noted, “Using our VA medical facilities to provide publicly funded abortions is an unconstitutional abuse of the system, and it will not be tolerated. No taxpayer should be forced to pay for abortion services that disregard the will of millions of Americans in states with legal protections for life, rightfully upheld by the Supreme Court last year.”

4. Students walk out of school over Black History Month and low expectations

• A dispute over Black History Month and “low expectations” led to a walkout of 300 students at Hillcrest High School who claimed “psychological trauma,” which seems a bit overwrought and is disputed by administrators.  Black students at Hillcrest argued that they are singled out for dress code violations, punishment, and that the expectations for black students are too low. 
• Jamiyah Brown, a student, says they were told to leave Martin Luther King Jr. out of their Black History Month programming because the “old stuff” made people feel uncomfortable. This is either untrue or, more likely, a pretty silly lie. A spokesperson for the school said, “It is not true that faculty or staff supervising the program told students that history prior to 1970 could not be included in the program. This is a rumor started by someone not part of the student group creating the program. When several community members heard this rumor and contacted Hillcrest High administration out of concern, administration explained that this was false information that was circulating.”  The student-led Black History Month programming is still scheduled to go on Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. 

3. The president and his media are still lying about Social Security and Medicare

• Even though President Joe Biden was rebuked Tuesday night when he claimed Republicans wanted to kill Social Security and Medicare, the pathological liar was at it again today. Biden acknowledged there was a bipartisan agreement not to go after the programs less than 24 hours before he started lying about it again.
• During his State of the Union speech, Biden acknowledged, “As we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?” Yesterday in Madison, Wis., Biden apparently forgot and was right back to the well-worn reliable lie he covets so much. Biden demonized his political enemies as he read the words written for him, “Look, a lot of Republicans — their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me just say this. It’s your dream, but I’m going to use my veto pen and make it a nightmare.”

2. Alabama’s sole Democrat member of the congressional delegation said nothing about the State of the Union

• U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Montgomery) was silent about the content of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. A search of news reports, tweets, telegrams, the Telegram app, MySpace, LinkedIn, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, errand boys, and Truth Social found no comments from the Congresswoman.
• Before and after the speech, Sewell tweeted about her guests to the State of the Union, police reform, healthcare, water, and the Small Business Administration.

1. Alabama’s Republican delegation in DC reacts to Biden’s SOTU

• Needless to say, Alabama Republicans were less than impressed with both President Joe Biden’s performance at his State of the Union speech and his overall job performance. In the Senate, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) was “disappointed” because he missed the real problems in the nation and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) agreed that Biden “doesn’t seem to be living in the difficult reality he’s created.”
• On the House side, the complaints were similar, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) said, “American families are hurting because of (Biden’s) policies.” U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) took issue with the premise that the State of the Union is “strong.” U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) believes Biden’s take on the economy is hollow, “Real Americans don’t need Biden to tell them the state of our union — they’re living it.” U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) hit Biden on the border, “President Biden has done NOTHING to secure our southern border. I’ve been to the border, and it’s absolute chaos under this Administration!” U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Monrovia) noted that since Biden was elected, “There have been OVER 4.5 MILLION illegal crossings of our southern border. More than 1.2 MILLION ‘gotaways.’”