5. More than 1,100 coronavirus cases in one day

• The Alabama Department of Public Health has added 1,162 coronavirus cases in the state in just one day. There were also 22 more hospitalizations bringing the total currently to 797, and there were 14 people who died, bringing total deaths to 961.
• Ten counties have 57% of the new cases, which includes Mobile, Madison, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Marshall, Morgan, Baldwin, DeKalb and Montgomery counties. There were 5,788 tests conducted across the state in one day.

4. Record jobs numbers as economy continue to recover

• The headlines screamed of June numbers far better than the experts expected. Much to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s chagrin, there were 4.8 million jobs created and an unemployment rate that fell to 11.1%, with President Donald Trump saying, “Today’s announcement proves that our economy is roaring back. It’s coming back extremely strong.”
• But tens of millions are still out of work as the American economy continues to reel from the effects of rising coronavirus numbers and a patchwork of economic lockdowns that seem to be increasing in number again.

3. Ivey open to making changes

• Governor Kay Ivey’s spokesperson Gina Maiola said that “Ivey is certainly open to the discussion” of changing Confederate holidays, but those decisions have to go “through the Legislature.”
• Maiola added that Ivey “believes that while we cannot change the past or erase our history, she is confident that we can build a future that values the worth of each and every citizen,” and the holidays in question would be Robert E. Lee’s birthday, Confederate Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis Day.

2. Tuberville attacked for his handling of a player’s rape case from Auburn

• With less than two weeks to go before the run-off for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, voters are starting to see what type of attacks former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville could see in November from U.S. Senator Doug Jones and the media.
• The attack stems from the 1999 season when wide receiver Clifton Robinson received a one-game suspension after pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor (a misdemeanor) as a plea deal following being charged with the second-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl. Robinson would later be arrested on assault charges and subsequently convicted for the battery of an off-duty police officer years after leaving Auburn.

1. No, there were not coronavirus parties in Tuscaloosa

• A Tuscaloosa City councilwoman repeated a stupid rumor that students at Alabama colleges and universities were hosting parties with bowls full of money as prizes for getting the coronavirus, and the national media ran with the story as if it was fact, but don’t expect a retraction.
• There is obviously no evidence that any such events actually took place — not a single Facebook post, tweet or Instagram story supports this narrative, but the narrative was helpful for the media and the desires for a mandatory mask ordinance from Tuscaloosa’s leaders.

• White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has announced that the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Washington, has been disbanded, adding that “Seattle has been liberated.” She emphasized that “in President Trump’s America, autonomous zones will have no sanctuary.”
• McEnany also said that “CHAZ was a failed four-week Democrat experiment by the radical left.” She added that “law and order” has been restored, and while the Democrat leadership in these areas let these issues drag on, President Donald Trump couldn’t let it go on any longer. 

5. Doug Jones is campaigning on wearing a mask

• A new reelection ad for U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has been released called “For Each Other,” where he encourages people to wear masks to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus throughout the state. 
• In the ad, he says, “Wearing masks and social distancing is about protecting each other.” He goes on to explain how wearing masks can help keep those with underlying health conditions from getting the virus and emphasized that we need to do this “so our small businesses open safely and get our economy moving.”

4. Children in Huntsville hospitalized

• While the coronavirus tends to not affect children as severely as the elderly community, they’re still not immune to the virus as there are now five children at Huntsville Hospital fighting the virus. 
• Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers detailed that one of the children is a four-month-old infant and another is a four-year-old cancer patient. Spillers is encouraging people to wear face masks, adding that “it’s time to think about others when you resist wearing face coverings.”

3. Cases continue to rise

• Alabama hospitalizations for the coronavirus have been at a record high for two days now, with the most recent number of people hospitalized reaching 776, which is 61 new hospitalizations in one day. 
• While disturbing news of parties in Tuscaloosa where kids tried to catch the virus made national news, there were 21 new deaths, making the total 947. There was a daily increase of 906 cases, making the overall case count 38,442. Since March 13, there have been 2,803 hospitalizations. 

2. Trump says wearing a mask is good when needed

• In what is a clear shift by President Donald Trump, the president is now saying he would have “no problem” with wearing masks at public events where it makes sense.
• Trump also weighed in on the calls for mandatory mask ordinances, saying he doesn’t think they are needed but that he is “all for masks” and that he “thinks masks are good.”

1. “Face masks are coming”

• Coronavirus cases continue to rise, and Madison County has seen a surge in recent days. Now, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle is considering a mandatory mask ordinance to help prevent the spread of the virus. Battle simply said that “[f]ace masks are coming,” adding he hopes to see Governor Kay Ivey look toward a state requirement. 
• Mobile is getting in on the act early, but Councilman John Williams, the single “no” vote, made it clear that he is for masks but against making them mandatory. He advised, “I think you need to wear a mask. I just simply don’t think this ordinance is going to make people wear them.”

Just wait. If the numbers continue to rise, the restrictions will return.

You will whine, “But … Dale! They can’t make me wear a piece of cloth over a part of my body.”

They can.

Alabama Code 13A-12-130: 

(a) A person commits the crime of public lewdness if:

(1) He exposes his anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act;  or

(2) He does any lewd act in a public place which he knows is likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed.

(b) Public lewdness is a Class C misdemeanor.

Is your nose the same as your genitals? No.

Is your mouth the same as your anus? No.

Now, I am not a simple small-town southern lawyer, but I think that I could probably rationalize a similar law for the part of your body that expels droplets that contain the coronavirus.

Should they? No.

Mandatory mask ordinances and orders are a bad idea because they are generally unenforceable, but the ignorant resistance to this is just as asinine.

I’ve been told masks cut oxygen and cause people to pass out.

This is clearly not true. The guy working at Walmart wears a mask eight hours a day, and he can power through it.

I’ve been told rape victims and people with autism can’t wear masks.

Let’s ignore that. Even if true, this has nothing to do with the science and is just a ridiculous red herring. This is not about 100% compliance.

I have been told that the surgeon general said not to wear masks early on in this pandemic.

What changed?

A lot.

1. The numbers
2. The understanding of the virus
3. The availability of PPE

The government shouldn’t be in the business of policing this, because it would require the police to make this work.

But what about our new socially conscious corporations? They are all about performative wokeness and their ham-fisted statements about “Pride” and #BlackLivesMatter this month, right?

If they really believe that #BlackLivesMatter (or #AllLivesMatter), they should require people to wear masks inside their stores. Obviously, this puts the enforcement on an hourly retail employee and places their employees against an army of people who don’t know what they are talking about.

Go on social media, and see how reasonable those people are.

But if they believe this is important, make these people act out. Shame them.

Here is the bottom line: All the people who refuse to wear masks in indoor public-settings have nothing on their side except the willingness to be stubborn.

The anti-mask crowd and the folks rioting in the streets are very similar in attitude, but the anti-mask crowd doesn’t have the guts to actually do anything.

They express it online and on social media, but they are an obnoxious minority, and anonymity breeds stupidity. But the Internet is not real life.

Overall, 65% of U.S. adults say that they have personally worn a mask in stores or other businesses all or most of the time in the past month, while 15% say they did this some of the time. Relatively small shares of adults say they hardly ever (9%) or never (7%) wore a mask in the past month, and 4% say they have not gone to these types of places.

Polling shows most Americans support wearing masks, but more should be doing it. Unfortunately, those that need to be convinced are unwilling to be reasoned with.

This attitude only drags out this issue, makes it worse, and damages our state further.

Also, President Donald Trump disagrees with this line of thinking, and agrees with me.

Trump to Fox Business Network, amid rising Republican pressure: "I’m all for masks. I think masks are good." Says he has worn them on occasion and thinks he looks good in them

— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) July 1, 2020

If this petulant attitude keeps up and numbers of cases keep rising, you will see more ordinances, and a state-wide mandate will follow.

Wear the stupid mask in public, or the government will attempt to make you.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden has already said that his running mate will be female, but now he’s making even more promises about potential Supreme Court picks, saying that he hesitates to “follow anything the president does at all, because he usually does it all wrong.”
• Biden went on to say that he’s “putting together a list of a group of African-American women who are qualified and have the experience to be in the court,” but he added that the list won’t be released for a while. 

5. New York wants to defund the police as AOC tells you what it means

• Attempting to bow down to the insane demands of the “Black Lives Matter” movements, such as calls to defund the police, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing through a $1.5 billion dollar cut to the city’s $6 billion budget for police that everyone knows will disproportionally hurt people of color and the poor.
• Dismissing this huge cut to the police in the nation’s largest city isn’t enough. Progressive darling and standard-bearer U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ()D-NY) reminded white liberals and the media that “Defunding police means defunding police.”

4. NYT sources: “There were dissenting opinions within the intelligence community”

• The non-stop flow of questionable information from unnamed sources continues to say that the Trump administration knew about Russian attempts to get the Taliban to kill American soldiers, even though the same sources acknowledge that “disagreement among intelligence officials about the strength of the evidence about the suspected Russian plot and the evidence linking the attack on the Marines to the suspected Russian plot.”
• Lawmakers briefed on the matter said the “the underlying intelligence was conflicting.” The White House press secretary said, “There was not a consensus among the intelligence community,” adding, “[T]here were dissenting opinions within the intelligence community, and it would not be elevated to the president until it was verified.”

3. Trump isn’t coming to campaign for Tuberville anymore

• Earlier reports said that President Donald Trump had planned to visit Mobile to hold a campaign rally for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville before the runoff election on July 14, but CNN is now reporting that Trump’s campaign has canceled the plans. 
• Technically, the Tuberville campaign never confirmed the reports that Trump would be holding a rally for him, but as the news made headlines, the campaign never said otherwise. 

2. High fatality rate for seniors in Alabama with coronavirus

• Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris, while at a press conference with Governor Kay Ivey, brought attention to the high fatality rate of those over 65 who get the coronavirus in Alabama, with about one in nine diagnosed dying. 
• Harris explained, “About three-quarters of all of [Alabama’s] deaths have occurred in our seniors, even though they’re only about 17 percent of our cases.” He described this as “a tragedy” as 926 people in Alabama have passed away from the coronavirus, with 726 of those being 65 years and older. 

1. “Safer at Home” order extended

• On Tuesday, the Alabama Department of Public Health added 854 cases to the coronavirus count, making the total case count 37,536. Governor Kay Ivey’s “Safer at Home” order has now been extended until July 31 but there are no major changes to the order. 
• During the press conference to announce the extension, Ivey did say that she will “reserve the right to come back and reverse course,” adding, “When you’re in public, for goodness sake, wear a mask.”

• Those in Alabama who have used up all of their unemployment benefits may be eligible for Extended Benefits (EB), as announced by the Alabama Department of Labor; this is just for those who have already gone through the 14 weeks of Alabama unemployment and 13 weeks of CARES Act benefits. 
• Those who receive EB will also receive the extra $600 per week from the CARES Act until it expires on July 31. EB has only been made available when the unemployment rate is over 5.9%, which will make this the first time since the 2008 recession that these benefits are available. 

5. New Tuberville ad released just two weeks before runoff

• Federal super PAC Club for Growth Action is releasing a new ad for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville Tuesday for his U.S. Senate campaign, and the main focus of the ad is how Tuberville is pro-Trump. 
• The ad takes aim at former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions by saying that “Alabama wants winners, not recusers.” It also describes Tuberville by saying he’s “a real leader, won’t back down, has Trump’s back. Enough with swampy politicians.”

4. Colleges to offer coronavirus testing

• Before students go back to college campuses in the fall, they’ll have a chance to be tested for coronavirus after Governor Kay Ivey announced that the tests would be funded through $30 million from the COVID relief funding.
• The testing will be free for students, and it’s going to be organized by the University of Alabama System, but testing is offered on all public-school campuses. Dean of UAB School of Medicine Dr. Selwyn Vickers said that the decision to have testing on private school campuses will be left up “to the institutions and their campus leadership.”

3. Huge defeat for conservatives at the Supreme Court

• Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by President George W. Bush, once again dealt a blow to the conservative cause when he sided with the court’s more liberal judges to knock down a Louisiana law “regulating abortion clinics.” This happened after Robert declared the case he cited to make his decision to be wrongly-decided.
• Obviously, the media and their Democrats’ fears that the court would lurch to the right were unfounded and Republicans hoping that Roe v. Wade could potentially be up for review seems less likely, barring another appointment and another term by President Donald Trump.

2. Many questions remain about the latest Trump-Russia story

• Of course, the American media had already made up its mind when there were reports from unnamed sources that Russia was paying the Taliban to kill American soldiers. The allegation included that the President of the United States knew about this and didn’t care. 
• Much of the pushback on the story is related to the fact that the intelligence was never confirmed nor was the president ever briefed on it, with CBS News’ Katherine Herididge reporting, “[T]he intelligence collection report reached ‘low levels’ NSC but did not go further, not briefed POTUS, or VP because it was deemed ‘uncorroborated’ and ‘dissent intelligence community.'”

1. Cases are on the rise everywhere in Alabama

• Coronavirus cases are increasing across the state, but North Alabama is also starting to see a spike after appearing to have very few issues, with 38 patients at the main Huntsville Hospital. There’s also been an increase in patients at the hospitals in Marshall County and Athens.
• Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers said that the average age of coronavirus patients in the hospital is mid-50s, but added, “Young people are not immune. It’s rare but it happens.” There’s a 16-year-old on a ventilator in Huntsville, and Madison County Commission Chair Dale Strong has said that “we don’t have this pandemic under control” anywhere in the country, not even in Madison County.

First, and reasonably so, Daniels wants the Confederate flag removed from Alabama State Trooper uniforms. This is such a non-issue, that should be resolved quickly, that State Senator Artur Orr (R-Decatur) said during a radio appearance on Friday that he didn’t even know they had the Confederate flag on them.

Daniels also wants a monument to the “Confederate Cause” that is placed near the steps of the Madison County Courthouse removed. This is happening, slowly, but the statue put up in 1905 will be moved from the courthouse to the Confederate section of Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville.

Those issues are almost no-brainers. They may take time, but they will probably happen as soon as the slow gears of government turn and make it so.

Of the more contentious discussions we will see in Alabama over this topic will be the attempted defunding of Confederate Memorial Park and the potential end of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.

Daniels has taken issue with the $600,000 budget allotment to this park, and Alabama Democratic Party spokesman Wade Perry accused State Rep. Will Dismukes (R-Prattville), who opposes this defunding idea, of disloyalty to the United States and called for him to resign.

My take: Perry is a clown. He is just using this to get attention, meanwhile the elected leaders are using his outlandish behavior to show that they are being more reasonable by contrast. They are right.

Daniels believes some local municipalities will want to keep their statues local, saying it is “so that they can have discussions about history locally.”

But last week, both Daniels and Dismukes appeared on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” and a compromise may have emerged. Both agreed that Confederate Memorial Park could continue to exist, potentially as a stopping point for removed monuments, with Daniels noting, “I’m not against moving them to the Confederate park, but I think that if we’re going to have a park it should talk about all of Alabama history park, not just Confederate history. I think that Confederate history is certainly a part of Alabama history.”

Daniels called this a “good compromise.”

With both Dismukes and Daniels, two very different leaders from two very different parties, open to the idea of compromise, we may be nearing an amicable solution for the continued operation of Confederate Memorial Park in some form.

If Alabama’s leaders could settle this issue and help us all move on, we will all be far better off.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• Of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombers, Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr., a member of the Ku Klux Klan, had been the last one living, but Governor Kay Ivey announced that he has died in prison. 
• Blanton was successfully convicted by U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) when he was serving as a U.S. Attorney in 2001 for the bombing killed Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. 

5. Trump tweeted and then deleted a video where someone said “white power”

• Over the weekend, President Donald Trump tweeted video of the retirement community The Village in Florida in which rival protests took place. In a video of the incident, a man is heard mockingly yelling “white power!” while other seniors shout profanities at each other. 
• In the video, the man who shouted about white power was driving a golf cart with Trump campaign posters, and Trump tweeted, “Thank you to the great people of The Villages.” While he has since deleted the video, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said that Trump didn’t hear what the man said but stated, “What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”

4. New York Times report alleges Russia has put bounties on U.S. troops

• In a “bombshell” report filled with anonymous sources and denied by the director of National Intelligence, there are allegations that Russia has been offering bounties for killing American soldiers, which the report says President Donald Trump knew of and did nothing about.
• The White House says the bounty allegations did not appear in the president’s daily brief and the National Security Council says it has not found the intel assessment as described by the reporting.

3. CDC team has arrived in Alabama

• Due to the continued rise of coronavirus cases across the state, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent a team to help the pandemic response through assisting the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH). 
• There are five CDC professionals that will be in the state until at least July 3. The ADPH had “requested the help of the team that includes an epidemiologist, a medical epidemiologist, an epidemiologist/data analyst, a risk communicator and an informatics/visualization specialist.” The team will be reviewing responses and giving recommendations based off data. 

2. Students will be in the classroom and online in the fall

• State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey has announced that when public schools reopen in the fall, they plan to have students back in the classroom but they will be able to choose to continue learning online if they desire or need to. according to Mackey, about 15% of parents have concerns about sending their kids back to school. 
• While additional school activities like sports and band “will resume” but “look different,” State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris has advised that they expect to see an increase in coronavirus cases when schools return in the fall, but that schools going back is “necessary.”

1. There won’t be federal mandates to wear masks

• While former Vice President Joe Biden says he will use his power to force people to wear masks, Vice President Mike Pence has said that the White House will “defer to governors” on the issue of mandatory masks when asked if there would be any federal mandates requiring people to wear masks in public amid the coronavirus pandemic. He added that they “want to defer to local officials, and people should listen to them.”
• In Alabama, cities and counties are preparing for mask ordinances in Selma, Mobile, Tuscaloosa and Decatur.

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” at people who refuse to understand that these monuments to the “Confederate cause” are coming down and we need to let the process play out.

https://business.facebook.com/watch/?v=738873370209950

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• After a noose was found in the garage for Bubba Wallace’s car at the Talladega Superspeedway, an FBI and Department of Justice investigation took place and determined that the knot in question had been in the garage since at least October 2019, so it didn’t add up to being a hate crime against Wallace.  
• Now, NASCAR has released an image of said noose. NASCAR President Steve Phelps said “the noose was real.” Based on the image, the door pull very clearly looks like a noose but the mere existence of the noose doesn’t make it a hateful act. 

5. Ivey admits mistake on shutdowns

• While speaking to the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, Governor Kay Ivey talked about how 2020 hasn’t gone how anyone expected with a year that started with a 2.9% unemployment rate before revisiting her “Stay at Home” order and the labeling of businesses as non-essential.
• Ivey said, “I never wanted to create the belief that my administration viewed certain businesses as more important than others. All jobs and all businesses are essential and important to our state.” She went on to say it was unclear if another “Stay at Home” order was possible with increasing infections of COVID-19 in the state.

4. Byrne wants to see bipartisan legislation passed

• As it becomes increasingly clear there will be no substantial police reform, U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) spoke on the House floor in favor of passing bipartisan legislation on police reform, like the JUSTICE Act that Byrne co-sponsored but was voted down by Democrats on Wednesday.
• Byrne remarked that he felt “compelled” to speak out against racism “under the present regrettable circumstance.” He went on to say that we’re all “created in the image of God and are of equal and inestimable moral worth.” Byrne also detailed how long black people have been fighting for equality and what they’ve endured along the way, emphasizing that the House has to “work together, not in parallel partisan efforts.”

3. Unemployment is still climbing

• The Alabama Department of Labor has reported the most recent unemployment numbers, showing that from June 14-20 there were 18,671 new claims, 11,311 of which were directly related to the coronavirus. The week before saw 18,367 claims. 
• Unemployment claims have decreased slowly since the initial shutdown caused by the pandemic. The claims are still more than 10 times higher than the week before the shutdown, which saw only 1,824 unemployment claims. 

2. More states leaning towards mask mandates

• As new cases of COVID-19 surge across the nation, local and state mask ordinances, with questionable enforcement plans, are becoming more common with Nevada becoming the 19th state to put one in place. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak (D) stated, “For Nevada to stay open, we must make face coverings a part of our daily lives.”
• In states without mask ordinances, local governments are starting to get in on the act. While only Birmingham and Montgomery have them in Alabama, Huntsville and other municipalities have been talking about them in recent days.

1. Alabama sees record high coronavirus numbers again

• Yesterday, Alabama saw the highest number of coronavirus cases in one day that it’s seen throughout the entire pandemic with 1,129 new cases. 
• More than 90% of Alabama counties are reporting new cases. The positive rate of infection is roughly around 8.6%, which is where it’s stayed since June 14. Cities like Decatur and Mobile have decided to cancel their 4th of July celebrations due to the rise in cases. 

The coronavirus pandemic changed that. Trump and his allies can now hardly point to 47.2 million unemployed claims in the last 14 weeks and claim success.

They can point to the pandemic and lay credible blame on that as the reason for the economic slide and hope for a rebound to push him over former Vice President Joe Biden, who barely has to leave his basement to jump in the polls.

When people talk about the pandemic damaging the economy, they are right, but then the argument jumps to “What did President Trump do to end the pandemic, blunt the impact of it, and help the nation recover?”

U.S. Representative Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) was asked about this Thursday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” and said the answer was “easy” to see.

According to Palmer, President Trump “shut down all travel between the U.S. and China, and then immediately after that shut it down between the U.S. and Europe,” and the people angry at him now criticized him for doing that early on.

Palmer is right.

Palmer emphasized, “The models were showing in March that we could have 1 million to 2 million, 2.2 million, people die from this.”

“The objective of the task force was to flatten the curve,” he said, adding that it was a “fantastic success.”

Palmer is right.

But what about now?

Now we are seeing record numbers in cases — not deaths — but cases. Deaths are dropping steadily due to better methods and the “flattening of the curve.”

Alabama saw multiple record days this week alone.

It almost appears that most Americans and the president himself are beyond this pandemic as if it is over. It’s not.

Hopefully, the number of deaths continues to decline, but if the cases continue to grow, it will be hard for the president to claim he has handled this issue effectively. This will cost him dearly in November.

It may be time for the president to reverse himself on the mask issue and declare the mask to be an essential part of both fighting this and getting him reelected.

Yes, on March 3 the authorities were wrong and lied (that is what it was) when they said masks don’t work to slow the spread because they didn’t want to see a run on masks.

That bad information persists to this day, and it could be deadly.

The latest estimate says that 30,000 people could be saved if we move towards more masks. A complacent society is not going to do that on its own.

President Trump could lead the way on this issue, and he should. It would be the best thing for the country and his reelection.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• As COVID-19 cases continue to grow throughout the country, Republican officials across the country are finding themselves calling for masks to be worn, although not required. 
• U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) says, “Everyone should just wear the damn mask.” Last week, Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has reversed his position blocking cities from implementing mask bans. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) also wants GOP convention-goers to wear masks when the Republican National Convention comes to Jacksonville.

5. Secretary of State Merrill says Democrats are inflaming racial tensions

• Recently, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State released an ad that reinforces the idea that requiring a photo ID and other ballot laws are “rooted in white supremacy,” but Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is pushing back against this narrative. 
• With Merrill as chair of the Republican Secretaries of State Committee, the record number of voters registered throughout the state while he’s been in office is being used as an example against this narrative. Merrill said, “Democrats are spreading lies and inflaming racial tensions at a time when our country most needs unity, Republicans are leading by example and giving citizens a voice and an opportunity to exercise their right to vote.”

4. Democrats oppose police reform

• The police reform bill that was led by Republicans failed in the U.S. Senate when it was voted down by Democrats. The vote to start a debate was 55-45, with only three Democrats, including U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL), voting with Republicans.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said “our Democratic colleagues are poised to turn this routine step into a partisan impasse,” but the main differences between the Republican and Democrat bills were that Democrats want to outright ban chokeholds, while Republicans want a ban unless an officer’s life is being threatened. Also, Democrats want to end qualified immunity. 

3. State Rep. Hall demands monument everyone agrees should be removed must be removed

• State Representative Laura Hall (D-Huntsville) went to the Madison County Courthouse to advocate for the removal of the Confederate monument that stands outside, and as it’s up to the Madison County Commission, Hall voiced concern “about the commission’s commitment to move forward.”
• The commission has decided to request permission to remove the monument, but since it’s over 40 years old it’s illegal to remove due to the 2017 Memorial Preservation Act and removal would result in a $25,000 fine. While Hall has called this law “unjust,” Commissioner JesHenry Malone is asking for people to be patient as they work through the legalities of having the state moved.
  

2. Repeal the Memorial Preservation Act?

• House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) has previously spoken out against the state funding of the Confederate Memorial Park, and now he’s called on the state to remove the Confederate flag from State Trooper uniforms and repeal the 2017 Memorial Preservation Act. 
• Daniels explained that he supports “fully repealing the 2017 preservation act” and very plainly explained that “it would make me feel good to remove the Confederate statues or any semblance of Confederacy in general.” He also said there needs to be more comprehension of what the Civil War was all about, and questioned how do we change “the hearts and minds of the people that are governing this state.”

1. Flynn case dismissed, Obama/Biden implicated

• After being requested by the Justice Department and a ruling from a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has been dismissed by a lower court on the same day it was revealed that former President Barack Obama and his Vice President Joe Biden pushed for his investigation even after disgraced former FBI Director James Comey told them that the Flynn call with the Russians was “legit.”
• The direct order was for “Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus be granted in part; the District Court is directed to grant the government’s … motion to dismiss; and the District Court’s order appointing an amicus is hereby vacated as moot, in accordance with the opinion of the court filed herein this date.” President Donald Trump has called this decision “Great!” but the judge still seems unlikely to make a move.

• A “part-time employee” from the Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s office has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a release from Ainsworth’s office. The release specified that the employee only works “a handful of hours each week.”
• The statement also specified that the employee that tested positive was already working in a separate workspace from everyone else and the last time they were in office was last Thursday. All of the workspaces are being cleaned, and employees will work from home while everyone’s coronavirus test results come back. 

5. Jones is campaigning on equality

• While U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) could be facing former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions or former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, he’s now campaigning on equality. In his first campaign ad, he’s asking people to “join” him on “the road to racial justice.”
• The ad, titled “Together,” is Jones discussing the death of George Floyd and a push for equality, saying, “Across Alabama folks are struggling with seeing this injustice and inequality and wanting to see that end. We cannot let this moment pass. The road to racial justice has taken far too long—but it’s a journey that we must make and we must make it together. Come join me.”

4. Attack ads are out against Sessions

• GRIT PAC has released an attack ad against former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the 2020 U.S. Senate election, using quotes of what President Donald Trump has had to say about Sessions. Meanwhile, a Trump-backed candidate in South Carolina just got crushed and handed the president a rare primary loss.

• The ad points out how Trump has described Sessions as “scared stiff,” “weak,” “mixed up,” “confused” and “ineffective.” The narrator of the ad goes on to say, “Trump couldn’t count on career politician Jeff Sessions to have his back, because Sessions only looked out for himself — that’s what career politicians do.”

3. Coronavirus vaccine is coming

• Dr. Anthony Fauci went before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee about the coronavirus and he said that getting a coronavirus vaccine is a matter of “when and not if.”
• Fauci went on to add that the coronavirus vaccine could be ready as soon as the end of this year, or early next year, and the United States has continued to increase testing to fight the virus, with about 27.5 million Americans having been tested.

2. You’ll lose benefits if you refuse to work

• As the state has reopened, many people have gone back to work, but some have refused to go back. Many speculated people would refuse to go back to work when the federal government added $600 per week to state unemployment benefits. 
• There have been 3,336 employees reported by their employers for refusing to return to work, and about two-thirds of those are under review while one third have lost benefits. Department of Labor spokesperson Tara Hutchinson has even clarified that “a general fear” of the coronavirus “is not a valid reason” to not return to work. 

1. No noose is good news

• NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has been making headlines after it was reported that a noose was found in the garage for the car he drives, and with Wallace being the only black driver in NASCAR, the news warranted investigations into if this was a racially motivated attack. It was determined to be false, but Wallace seems motivated to keep this controversy going.
• As the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice investigated the incident, they found that the “noose” in question had actually been in the garage since at least October 2019 and is part of the garage. According to a release from U.S. District Attorney Jay Town, “nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned for garage number 4 last week.”

• 16th Street North in Birmingham has recently been considered for renaming to “Black Lives Matter Boulevard,” but the Birmingham City Council has changed direction at the request of activists. 
• In a letter to the Birmingham City Council, activists argued that renaming a street that played a historical role in the civil rights movement wouldn’t send the same strong political statement that it has in places like Washington, D.C., but instead, “Renaming 16th Street would disrespect the very movement that undergirds this current fight for justice.”

5. There will be three presidential debates

• Former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign has agreed to have three presidential debates during the general election against President Donald Trump, but said that Trump asking for more debates is just him trying “to change the subject” and create a distraction.
• Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon in a letter wrote that Biden “will accept and participate in the Commission’s planned Presidential candidates’ debates for September 29, October 15, and October 22.” She went on to add that they “hope that President Trump would not break that tradition or make excuses for a refusal to participate.”

4. No football could bring major hurt to local economies

• For Tuscaloosa, not having college football this fall could be “economically catastrophic,” according to Mayor Walt Maddox. He added, “Even a mitigated football season with restricted attendance and number of ball games would have dire economic consequences.”
• From 2014-2015, Tuscaloosa County saw $18.8 million in economic impact per home game, which totaled $131.5 million by the end of the season, but if coronavirus cases continue it’ll be more difficult to have a full football season and packed stadiums safely. 

3. Coronavirus cases are starting to go down again

• After seeing a considerable spike in coronavirus cases throughout Alabama in recent weeks, it seems that daily case numbers are finally falling again, with only 433 cases confirmed on Monday. 
• Over the weekend, there were 472 cases on Sunday and 543 cases on Saturday, which is vastly different than the previous weekend when we saw 1,902 cases. Now the state’s seven-day average has fallen to 591.3, which is the lowest it’s been since June 11. 

2. Tuberville potentially does better against Jones than Sessions, but they both win

• The data firm Cygnal has released more polling data on the 2020 U.S. Senate race, in which former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in a July runoff to determine who will be on the ballot against U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in November. 
• In a general election scenario, both Tuberville and Sessions would defeat Jones, but Tuberville does a bit better with 49.7% and Jones at 35.7% and 12.7% undecided, whereas when Sessions is put in the equation, he gathers 44.7% against Jones’ 35.2%, with 17.5% undecided. 

1. Trump signing executive order on immigration restrictions

• President Donald Trump will expand immigration restrictions and limit the number of guest-worker programs allowed, which will include H-1B visas, through an executive order as many Americans are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Trump has already restricted some green cards, and this will be the first restrictions on guest-worker programs. The executive order will stop H-1B tech worker visas, some J work and education exchange visitor visas, L executive transfer visas and H-2B seasonal worker visas.

That doesn’t make him a Confederate sympathizer or a bad person. Painting him this way makes most normal people roll their eyes, but what if Alabama Democrats were being reasonable here?

What if Democrats decided that Confederate Memorial Park would be a good end spot for all of these monuments they want to be taken down?

Before America got into the business of tearing down monuments to the Confederacy, as well as George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, the common argument for removing statues was to put them in Confederate cemeteries or in museums.

Well, this park is both.

Dismukes on Huntsville WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” appeared to be open to some form of compromise and change to the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.

Dismukes said Monday that he could envision an amendment that would allow cities to move the monuments without breaking the law or waiting for a mob to tear them down.

“I think if a city takes it down, it has to go to Confederate Memorial Park and the city has to pay for the transportation and the setup fees,” Dismukes advised.

My takeaway:

What if a compromise was created that would allow all of the monuments around the state that will be coming down to be moved to Confederate Memorial Park? Maybe we could go further and create a commission to help paint an accurate picture of the Civil War-era in Alabama that everyone can appreciate and learn from, good and bad.

We could do that, or we could continue to demonize each other, call our fellow Alabamians racists with no reason and further divide ourselves.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• As former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book is set to be released, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) is suggesting that new impeachment articles and Bolton’s testimony could come soon. 
• While appearing on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Schiff was asked by host Chuck Todd if they would wait until after the November election “to start the process,” and Schiff said that “if we conclude that there are important things he says that needs to be exposed to the public” they shouldn’t wait. He added, “Exposure of this president’s conduct is the best way to protect this country.”

5. Defund NASCAR?

• Just before the GEICO 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway, someone protesting NASCAR banning the Confederate flag flew a small plane over the speedway with a banner reading “DEFUND NASCAR.” Attached to the banner was also a Confederate flag. The GEICO 500 was the first NASCAR event to allow fans to attend, only allowing 5,000 people. 
• It has also been found that a noose was left in the garage of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, the only black driver. NASCAR responded by promising to launch an immediate investigation to identify the person or persons responsible to “eliminate them from the sport.”

4. Marshall isn’t budging on defunding police

• While speaking at the Fraternal Order of Police Conference in Lee County, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made it clear that we won’t be defunding the police, but he did address the argument of more funding to mental health in Alabama by defunding police. 
• Marshall explained that they “embrace the fact that we want to encourage more resources to be in place for mental health services,” but that shouldn’t be done “at the expense of law enforcement.” 

3. George Wallace is next

• As there are efforts to remove Confederate names and monuments, there is now a push to remove former Alabama Governor George Wallace’s name from community colleges, streets, buildings and a tunnel. 
• Through petitions on change.org, people are arguing that Wallace’s name should be removed from places due to his early stance on desegregation and statements such as “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

2. Dismukes isn’t going to resign

• The Alabama Democratic Party is calling for State Representative Will Dismukes (R-Prattville) due to his “public support of the lost Confederate cause” after Dismukes posted a family picture at the Confederate Memorial Park. 
• Alabama Democratic Party executive director Wade Perry said that Dismukes is “stuck in the past,” adding, “If little Will wants to play dress-up and pretend to fight for the lost cause, he should resign. His job is to pass laws that help Alabamians, not honor folks who fought to preserve the institution of slavery.” While Dismukes hasn’t released an official statement, he’s made it clear that he won’t resign. 

1. No one sabotaged the Trump rally

• After a lower turnout than expected, just under 6,200 people, at President Donald Trump’s first campaign rally since the shutdowns due to the coronavirus, rumors began to spread that the 1 million ticket requests came from “teens on TikTok” looking to sabotage the rally. 
• Campaign manager Brad Parscale has denied this narrative, saying, “Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work.” He went on to explain the process of getting rid of false ticket requests, but Parscale ultimately said that the low turnout was due to the media narrative about the coronavirus, riots and potential for violence at the event. 

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” at everyone who has a problem with police officers being portrayed positively in the media as if it is a bad thing.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• With the coronavirus pandemic essentially shutting down business for a time and then slowing business overall, Alabama could lose about $105.2 million in tax revenue from hotels. 
• Oxford Economics and the American Hotel & Lodging Association conducted the study that delivered these estimates. The study also showed that the United States could see a loss of $16.8 billion in state and local taxes due to the pandemic. 

5. Shelby, Byrne and Roby sponsoring JUSTICE Act

• U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) has put together a police reform bill, Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and U.S. Representatives Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) and Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) have announced they’ll be co-sponsoring the bill. 
• Scott has said that this bill “takes smart, common sense steps to address these issues, from ending the use of chokeholds and increasing the use of body worn cameras to providing more resources for police departments to better train officers and make stronger hiring decisions.” The bill is also being co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

4. Biden voters are only excited about beating Trump, but they are very excited

• In a new Fox News poll, former Vice President Joe Biden is still leading President Donald Trump in the campaign for the White House, but the reason why most voters have chosen each candidate shows that Democrats just don’t want another Trump term. 
• In a replay of polling and coverage from 2016, a Fox News poll shows Biden has 50% and Trump has 38%. But 63% of those voting for Biden are doing so because they don’t want Trump. Only 31% of voters are enthusiastic for Biden, compared to 62% of voters that are enthusiastic about Trump, while 33% are voting for Trump out of concern of a Biden presidency.

3. Alabama added to Kansas quarantine list

• Due to a rise in coronavirus cases throughout the state, Alabama has been added to the travel quarantine list in Kansas with Arkansas, Maryland and Arizona. The Kansas Department of Public Health and Environment will now require those who travel to Alabama or live in Alabama to quarantine for two weeks after entering Kansas. 
• During a town hall meeting, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) floated the idea of 14-day quarantines from states with a high number of coronavirus cases, when New York is far and away the nation’s number one coronavirus problem. 

2. Football might not be possible this year, but no new large-scale lockdowns

• While on CNN, Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed the possibility of having football back this fall, and said that if there’s a second wave of the coronavirus during the next flu season, it would likely complicate things. He plainly stated that “football may not happen this year.”
• But Fauci also offered up some good news: As the United States begins to reopen, he said flare-ups might happen but issues like school reopenings and sports will be local decisions. He also doesn’t see the nation going back into lockdown.

1. Supreme Court upholds DACA

• The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was created through an executive order during President Barack Obama’s time in office. This comes after the President Donald Trump administration has tried to do away with the program. 
• The Trump administration has argued that DACA is unconstitutional since immigration laws are only supposed to be created by Congress. In response to the news, U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Saks) said he’s “shocked” and that SCOTUS has set a precedent by upholding the programs that “was created by a single memo in the Obama Administration and exempted nearly 700,000 people from our immigration laws.” He added, “President Obama created a mess, and President Trump has attempted to clean it up.”

• The Alabama State Port Authority and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have officially partnered for the Project Partnership Agreement to widen and deepen the Mobile Harbor Ship Channel. 
• U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that this agreement is “yet another milestone in the deepening and widening of the Port of Mobile.” Shelby is also the reason why only 25% of the project is state funded and 75% of funds will come from the federal government. 

5. Alabama has appealed judge’s ruling on absentee voting

• Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is fighting back against U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon’s decision to dismiss absentee ballot application requirements of multiple witnesses or a notary and a copy of a photo ID by taking the appeal to a higher court. 
• The decision made by Kallon would’ve affected Jefferson, Mobile and Lee Counties. In the appeal, Merrill is listed as a defendant, along with local officials from each of the three counties. 

4. Sessions says removal of monuments is “almost an erasing of history”

• As monuments for Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln come under attack, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that there is no “real discussion” on removing Confederate monuments before these decisions are made.
• Sessions added that “it’s a demonizing of anybody who was not perfect.” He also advised that cities in Alabama need to follow the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to take these statues down.

3. Some arrested at Birmingham protests won’t be charged

• Not only will Jermaine “Funnymaine” Johnson not face penalties for inciting a riot, but 27 other people who were arrested during protests in Birmingham also won’t be prosecuted, as announced by Birmingham City Attorney Nicole King. More than 70 people were arrested at protests between June 1-7. 
• Those who aren’t being charged were arrested simply for violating curfew or not dispersing, but otherwise protested peacefully. Those who caused damage will be prosecuted.

2. The officer involved in Rayshard Brooks shooting charged with felony murder

• In Atlanta, police officer Garrett Rolfe has been charged with felony murder and 10 other offenses, which would lead to life in prison if convicted for shooting and killing Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot. The other officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, is being charged with aggravated assault, along with other charges. 
• District Attorney Paul Howard said that “Mr. Brooks never presented himself as a threat” to Rolfe. He added that while Brooks had taken a taser from officers, he was running away and stood 18 feet 3 inches from them when the shooting took place. It’s also been reported that Rolfe proceeded to kick Brooks even after he had been shot. Brosnan has agreed to testify at the trial. 

1. Montgomery mayor demands masks

• As COVID-19 cases spike in Montgomery and hospitals see more patients, Mayor Steven Reed issued an executive order requiring that masks be worn in public that carries a penalty of $25. This comes one day after the city council refused to mandate masks.
• Speaking on the order, Reed said, “As you know we’ve been encouraging our community to wear masks. Most of our community has done just that. However, not enough members of the community have done those things and so we start to go from an encouragement to an enforcement phase.”

Birmingham would test the bill by boarding up a monument in Linn Park. A court battle later declared that the $25,000 fine was a onetime deal and if Birmingham did something to it, they would just pay the fine and move on.

Obviously, the legislature was not happy with this because that was not the intent of the bill.

There was a lot of discussion about changing the law, but not weakening it, before the coronavirus pandemic threw the legislative session into disarray.

There was talk of making the penalty provision of the law a daily fine by clearing up the wording. Some internal talk included making the fine as “little” as $5,000 daily, but that would still deter movement of monuments or rack up huge fines that would never be paid.

Enter the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and all the protests that followed.

The Confederate monuments had nothing to do with that, as that event took place in a liberal city with a liberal mayor, a liberal governor, a liberal congresswoman and two liberal senators who would probably gladly tell you the word “Dixie” is hate speech.

So obviously, monuments in Mobile, Birmingham, Huntsville and everywhere all need to come down. The media, mobs and politicians all now apparently agree.

Even those who are less enthusiastic about the idea are reluctantly ready to get these things moved so we can move on to fighting about the Washington Monument and Calhoun Community College.

While appearing on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show,” State Senator Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) intimated that the Alabama legislature is largely over this fight and ready to let some of these monuments get moved to cemeteries or museums, and the law could be changed to reflect that.

Givhan said, “If I were a betting man, I would bet that there’d be some — and I don’t know this — but I would bet that there’d be some allowance to move that’s not there.” This clearly means the momentum has shifted, legislator and local leaders want these things gone and the issue resolved.

Givhan’s home county and city have both taken steps to remove a monument to “THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE” from the Madison County Courthouse steps, but the state’s commission that oversees the approval of these decisions is about to be pretty busy, and Givhan would like to “give the Commission flexibility to be able to deal with [moving these monuments].”

My takeaway:

To put it simply, these Confederate monuments are going to move or be destroyed.

It can be done slowly legally as they are trying to do in Huntsville, or it can be done illegally as was done in Birmingham and Mobile. Either way, it is happening.

Put another “L” in the record books because this battle in the culture war is over.

Listen:

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon has issued a preliminary injunction to limit some of the restrictions placed on absentee voting, limiting enforcement of the requirement for two witnesses or a notary and providing a photo ID copy. 
• The ruling will also prevent some restrictions on curbside voting at polling places. A senior counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, Deuel Ross, said they’re “happy that the Court removed Alabama’s needless barriers to voting and that many tens of thousands of vulnerable people will now have a safe means of voting in July.”

5. Renaming the Edmund Pettus Bridge

• In Selma, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a U.S. Senator, leader in the Confederacy and white supremacist, might be renamed after a petition has already been signed by more than 114,000 people to change the name. 
• The petition requests that the bridge be renamed after U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA), who was also heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and was one of the organizers for the Selma to Montgomery March. Lewis was beaten by Alabama State Troopers during the march and suffered a fractured skull. 

4. Brooks isn’t pleased with recent SCOTUS decision

• The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that LGBTQ people will be protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects them from discrimination due to gender identity or sexual orientation. U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) said that was “the dumbest I’ve read” of SCOTUS decisions. 
• On Twitter, Brooks posted his thoughts on the issue, saying, “There is a difference between SEX (over which person has NO control) & CONDUCT (over which person has TOTAL control). In a Republic, ELECTED reps make law. APPOINTED judges interpret law. Bad.” When asked about the issue, Brooks said that it’s a “POLICY matter decided by ELECTED representatives IN A REPUBLIC.”

3. Positive test rates increasing in the state

• One of the coronavirus testing clinics in Huntsville, Thrive Alabama, has started reporting much higher positive rates in recent weeks, but the amount of people they’ve tested has stayed mostly the same. Thrive CEO Mary Elizabeth Marr is contributing this to the state reopening and “people are not social distancing, they are not wearing masks.”
• The amount of positive tests coming back had been 3% and then jumped to 14%, which led Marr to notify Mayor Tommy Battle, Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers and Crestwood Medical Center CEO Dr. Pam Hudson. Marr said that we just have to wait and “see what happens this week,” but she’s hoping people take proper precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. 

2. UAB wants you to wear a mask, Montgomery doesn’t require it

• The Jefferson County Health Officer and doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham addressed a spike in coronavirus cases across the state, and they’re encouraging everyone to wear masks as hospitalizations increase. Director of UAB Division of Infectious Disease Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo said this is not part of a second wave because “we never stopped having the first wave.” 
• In Montgomery, the city council debated a mandatory mask ordinance but could not get support to pass it, so they settled on an official request that citizens wear masks. Councilman Brantley Lyons stated, “At the end of the day, if an illness or a pandemic comes through we do not throw our constitutional rights out the window.”

1. Police reform executive order signed

• In a new executive order on police reform that President Donald Trump has signed, “chokeholds will be banned except if an officer’s life is at risk.” While speaking in the Rose Garden, Trump added, “We’re united by our desire to ensure peace and dignity and equality for all Americans.” The order also creates a federal database of police officers with a history of using excessive force and encourages the use of social workers and individuals trained in mental health issues for non-violent calls.
• While speaking about those who have lost loved ones at the hands of police officers unjustly, Trump promised that “your loved ones will not have died in vain.”

• Pastor Chris Hodges of the Church of the Highlands was recently criticized for liking posts by president of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk, and now he’s said that he’s “not the same Chris Hodges I was two weeks ago.”
• Hodges added that he’s “been tested, stripped, disciplined, broken” and that he’s still got “a long way to go.” During the whole social media firestorm, the Birmingham Housing Authority and Birmingham Board of Education cut ties with the church, which means the church can no longer volunteer with the housing authority or rent facilities at Parker and Woodlawn High Schools.

5. New York doesn’t want to know if new cases came from protests

• In the fight against the coronavirus, New York City has hired 1,000 people to do contact tracing on those who test positive for the virus, but they’re ignoring one big area that’s been speculated to spread the virus – protests.
• Mayor Bill de Blasio spokesperson Avery Cohen said, “No person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest.” But they will be asked about living situations and contacts. Information about protests will only be found if offered by the patient.

4. LGBTQ+ is now a protected class

• In a U.S. Supreme Court decision, those who are LGBTQ will be protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from discrimination in the workplace, so that they cannot be let go of or not considered for a job due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, which is already the law in many states.
• The final vote was 6-3, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito voting against the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., Justices Neil Gorsuch, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagen voted in favor.

3. Trump: Rayshard Brooks shooting was “very disturbing”

• After the shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta during a confrontation with police, there has been public outcry and comparisons of Brooks and George Floyd in Minneapolis, and now President Donald Trump has spoken up on the issue, saying that the death of Brooks was “very disturbing.”
• During a roundtable event at the White House, Trump said that he “thought it was a terrible situation.” An autopsy has found that Brooks was shot in the back twice, and both officers involved have been fired.

2. Trump could be coming to Alabama to show his support for Tuberville

• As the U.S. Senate runoff in Alabama is scheduled for July 14, it’s been reported by CNN that President Donald Trump will visit Mobile to campaign for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. 
• Tuberville’s opponent, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was the first senator to endorse Trump in 2016, responded to the news of another Trump visit by tweeting, “The people of Alabama will not be told who to vote for,” but added, “It’s always a good day when the President of the United States visits Alabama.”

1. Second-most cases per capita in Alabama

• Over the last week, June 8-14, the second-highest rate of coronavirus cases found per capita was in Alabama, as the state also saw a record number of cases for several days with 12.2 coronavirus cases per 10,000 people were added throughout the week.
• Additionally, the Institute for Metrics and Health’s death projections for Alabama have more than doubled, with a projection of total deaths moving from 1,356 to 3,612 and the projection has now soared to over 200,000 nationwide.

Was Robert E. Lee a monster?

Does Nathan Bedford Forest have no redeeming qualities post-Ku Klux Klan involvement?

Some would argue they both are irredeemable and that a conversation should be had, but that’s not what this is.

Does my beloved Fort Jackson, where I did basic training, need to be renamed, along with other military installations as U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) demands?

We are watching Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, the memorial honoring the unknown soldiers of the Revolutionary War all being targeted as well.

That is embarrassing lunacy by a mob run wild and drunk with power.

But allow me to offer a solution that will make many people on both sides of this issue unhappy, proving it is the best idea out there.

Let’s rename the offensive buildings, military installations and the like with “problematic” namesakes after people of the same surname.

There are some folks who have had similar thoughts, but they changed the name completely.

In 1986, King County in Washington changed its namesake from Alabamian Rufus King to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rufus King was a former vice president, a senator from Alabama and a slaveowner. His connection to Washington was sketchy at best. The county was named after him because the county was chartered after he became vice president.

Robert E. Lee High School? How about Robert E. Lee and Harper Lee High School?

Jefferson Davis High School? How about Jefferson Davis and Viola Davis High School?

The George Washington Memorial? How about the George Washington and Booker T. Washington Memorial?

John C. Calhoun Community College? How about John C. Calhoun and William “Haystack” Calhoun Community College?

Andrew Jackson Way? How about Andrew Jackson and Dale Jackson Way?

This solution allows the entities to remain their historical names and allows others to be honored.

As I said, no one will like this idea, meaning it is a great one that should be implemented everywhere.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.

• The Confederate Adm. Raphael Semmes statue in Mobile was removed on June 5, and now Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson has announced that the statue is being relocated to the History Museum of Mobile permanently. 
• Stimpson said that moving the statue is “the right thing to do for our community moving forward,” and added, “The values represented by this monument a century ago are not the values of Mobile in 2020.” Stimpson also explained that this decision was made through “research by a team of lawyers, historians, and city officials.”

5. No one is going to defund the police

• U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn (D-SC) has said that he’s going to push for “reimagining” of law enforcement and Congress won’t move to defund police departments.
• Clyburn went on to say that “nobody is going to defund the police,” despite outcry from the public for doing just that. He added that we have to make sure that the role police play “is one that meets the times, one that responds to these communities that they operate in.”

4. Racist graffiti found in Huntsville

• Over the weekend, an overpass at Memorial Parkway and Drake Avenue in Huntsville were spray painted black with swastikas and “black lives don’t matter.”
• Other areas of the overpass were tagged with “white rights matter” and “f—king n——r” with more swastikas. The graffiti was removed promptly and the Huntsville Police Department is investigating the incident. 

3. Rayshard Brooks is not George Floyd

• In Atlanta, Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed during an encounter with the police, and U.S. Senator Tom Scott (R-SC) said that this situation shows a further need for change in police departments throughout the country. 
• Scott said that the situation with Brooks is “a far less clear one” than the situation with George Floyd in Minneapolis. He continued, “One of the challenges in these split-second decisions is the need for more training, that’s why the de-escalation aspect is so important.”

2. Sessions says Jones will bow before the “woke mob”

• After U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) voted to rename all military installation, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that if Jones and his “woke mob” had their way they would raze the Jefferson and Washington Memorials.
• On Twitter, Jones’ millennial social media team told Sessions to “delete your account” before baselessly declaring that a man that prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan and bankrupted them that it is “tough for you to be on the right side of history when it comes to the Confederacy.”

1. Multiple days of record highs

• Alabama gained 1,014 coronavirus cases yesterday, which is the largest amount of cases found in one day since the virus tracking started in the state. 
• Daily cases have been increasing across the country since states have reopened, but the number of deaths continues to decline. In fact, Sunday’s deaths were the lowest daily total since March 26. 

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” at everyone who has a problem with police officers being portrayed positively in the media as if it is a bad thing.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=259623045101898

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 AM weekdays on WVNN.