"They applauded, politely, at the end. But what must they have thought about the directives they received from a defense secretary whose views were shaped as a National Guard officer in Iraq 20 years ago and a commander in chief who avoided service because of a medical exemption?"
Source: column by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius
This "police immunity" law takes effect today:
Under the new law, an officer charged for excessive use of force can ask for a pretrial hearing to determine if immunity applies under the new standards.
The judge would hold the hearing within 45 days of the request and issue a decision within 45 days after the hearing."
“Until the state receives sufficient rainfall to alleviate the severe dry situation, especially in central Alabama, this elevated fire danger will persist for the foreseeable future,”
A small transition team will remain through January 2026 to ensure a close of operations. The team will focus on compliance, final distributions and resolution of long-term financial obligations, including continuity for music rights and royalties, according to the CPB."
(source: HERE)
There have been at least 324 mass shootings – defined as when at least four people are shot, not including the shooter – in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Alabama Space Flight Center expert quoted in a NY Times story about lightening:
“We are now in the golden age of lightning measurement and research,” said Christopher Schultz, a meteorologist and lightning specialist at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
“Florida Board of Education signs off on a charter school expansion” via The Associated Press — Florida’s Board of Education has approved new rules allowing charter schools, specifically “schools of hope,” to operate inside traditional public school facilities at no cost. This expansion, building on a law signed by DeSantis, requires public school districts to share their underutilized spaces — including classrooms, gyms and cafeterias — and provide services like maintenance and security to the co-located charters. Supporters argue this offers better educational opportunities for students in low-performing areas. However, public school advocates slammed the move as “parasitic,” warning it will drain critical resources from traditional schools. State Board members defended the policy, arguing that such charter programs are necessary because the public school system has failed to support its students.
From Martin at The Capri!
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Sinking...sinking....sunk?
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(from an AL.COM Story)
"Overall, Trump’s approval rating is underwater by 17 percentage points, a slight improvement from the -18 net approval rating he had in the YouGov poll last week.
About four in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable view of Trump compared to 56% who have an unfavorable view of the president.
At the start of his second term, Trump had a +3 net approval rating.
When he took office for a second time in January, Trump enjoyed a +13 net approval rating among white Americans. He now has an approval rating of -2 with that group.
Among Hispanic Americans, the president was underwater by 12 percentage points to start his second term. He is now underwater by 30 percentage points."
Full story is HERE.
As tens of thousands of people mourned the conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sunday, President Trump made a seemingly unscripted remark that summed up the retribution campaign that has come to define his second term.
“I hate my opponent,” Mr. Trump told the crowd at the memorial in Arizona, “and I don’t want the best for them.”
Mr. Trump has used the full might of his political and executive power to express that mind-set in myriad ways, sparing no facet of American life. He has attacked law firms, universities, political leaders, government agencies, late-night TV hosts, news organizations and cultural institutions, and Mr. Kirk’s killing has only accelerated that campaign. Mr. Trump and his top advisers have signaled a broad crackdown on liberal groups, making the baseless argument that they are part of a violent conspiracy.
The president’s comment on Sunday was in keeping with his pugilistic style of politics, although the context was striking: He spoke just minutes after Mr. Kirk’s widow, Erika, said she forgave her husband’s killer.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do,” she said. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love.”
Mr. Trump could not feign forgiveness. “I am sorry, Erika,” he said before contradicting her.
“He did not hate his opponents,” the president said of Mr. Kirk. “He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie.”
"Charlie’s life was short, but it was full. It was defined by truth, anchored in faith, and devoted to the country he loved," the organization's tribute to its co-founder reads. "His legacy will endure for generations."
Not in MY mind, but I AM sorry he was killed (as I am about almost every murder victim)
Following a steep decline throughout the 60s and 70s, America’s fertility rate has hovered slightly below the replacement-level fertility rate for many decades.
This decline is due to a mix of social and economic changes:
These trends are already posing major challenges. A recent study found that there are 5.7 million more childless U.S. women of prime childbearing age than would have been expected if pre-Great Recession fertility patterns held steady, contributing to what the authors call a looming “demographic cliff.”
In fact, U.S. population growth is now almost entirely driven by immigration, as births alone are no longer enough to offset the nation’s below-replacement fertility rate.
SOURCE: HERE
former Miss America Mallory Hagan.
THANK YOU for your honest comments about
charlie kirk.
From an AL.COM story:
"In a TikTok video after Kirk’s assassination, Hagan described the conservative political activist as a “vile human being,” and “bigot and a racist” who “spread hate” against Black people and members of the LGBTQ+ community."
The city of Opelika has removed signs that recognize it as the hometown of former Miss America Mallory Hagan after comments Hagan made about slain political activist Charlie Kirk.
From a N.Y. Times editorial:
"If the American ideal of freedom means anything, it is that Americans can engage in an extremely wide range of political speech, including the tasteless and the offensive.
President Trump is himself a purveyor of tasteless and even threatening language, speaking in ways that no previous president did. Yet his own exercise of his First Amendment rights has not stopped him from encroaching on those of others. He has punished universities, immigrants, law firms, federal prosecutors, military leaders, national security officials and others for voicing opinions with which he disagrees."
source: HERE
Tomorrow is Chief Meteorologist Shane Butler's 10th Anniversary at ANN. Keep up the good forecasting!
“This is beyond McCarthyism,” the American Civil Liberties Union’s Democracy and Technology Division director Christopher Anders said in a statement. “Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke. The Trump administration’s actions, paired with ABC’s capitulation, represent a grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms....the decision..."spurred an outcry and accusations that ABC had buckled to a censorship campaign targeting one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics.
(From a Washington Post article after ABC suspended the Jimmy Kimmel's show.)
From The New Republic:
Others are even pushing for a statue of Kirk to be erected in the Capitol. In a draft letter to Johnson last week, GOP Representative Anna Paulina Luna said a statue would serve as a “permanent testament” to Kirk’s “life’s work, his courage, and his sacrifice.” Supporting the effort, Republican Representative Andrew Clyde told a NOTUS reporter, “We have a statue of [Martin Luther King Jr.] in the Capitol, don’t we?”
Notably, part of Kirk’s life’s work was distorting the history of the Civil Rights Movement. He attacked King as an “awful” person and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a “huge mistake.”
from a Montgomery Advertiser story:
Source: A story in The Advocate
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Related: New York Post targets trans people with ‘harmful’ reporting on Charlie Kirk murder, critics say
The remarks came during an exchange with Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the far-right Real America’s Voice network and the boyfriend of Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. In front of a small group of reporters comprising the press pool, Glenn showed Trump an image of the Progress Pride flag hanging in front of a business and claimed it was a “trans flag” displayed on 14th Street, a main thoroughfare in the capital, which is long associated with LGBTQ+ nightlife and businesses. He asked whether the president would consider requiring the removal of the flag.
Related: JD Vance declares war on left-leaning organizations while hosting Charlie Kirk podcast
"A lot of people are very threatened by this flag. It means a lot of different negative things to people, violence," Glenn claimed.
Speaking last year in support of Trump’s plan for mass deportation, Kirk warned that the incoming president would not tolerate dissent or resistance. “Playtime is over. And if a Democrat gets in our way, well, then Matt Gaetz very well might go arrest you,” he said.
It is also important to mention that Kirk was a powerful voice in support of Trump’s effort to “stop the steal” after the 2020 presidential election. His organization, Turning Point USA, went as far as to bus participants to Washington for the rally that devolved into the Jan. 6 riot attack on the Capitol.
His death was announced in a statement by publicist Cindi Berger, who did not cite a cause."
SOURCE: HERE.
