Digital Alabama News

Local Officials Fight Back As Hate Groups Attempt To Push Messages Mainstream https://digitalalabamanews.com/local-officials-fight-back-as-hate-groups-attempt-to-push-messages-mainstream/ White nationalist organizations and hate groups in the New England area have made their presence known since the start of the year — holding protests, posting flyers, and displaying banners that have left officials in Boston and around the state working to combat intimidation and racist messaging. Massachusetts residents will remember the past year for many things, but at the top of the list may be the frequency and public nature of white nationalist and hate group incidents. It is part of what experts say mirrors a concerning national trend. “Their public activism and desire to insert their messages of hate into mainstream New England, that’s certainly ramped up,” Anti-Defamation League New England Director Robert Trestan said in an interview. “That’s what happened over the summer.” At least two neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups have claimed Massachusetts as its most active state — Patriot Front and the Nationalist Social Club, or NSC-131. And the last year has been marked by racist incidents, one after the other. A likely incomplete list includes a February neo-Nazi protest at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, NSC-131 appearances in South Boston at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in March, a Patriot Front march through downtown Boston in July, an NSC-131 protest outside a drag queen story hour in Jamaica Plain in July, and the group flying antisemitic banners over roads in Saugus and Danvers on the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. An outside group run by former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis is also investigating whether racist emails sent to Black students last school year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are tied to local hate groups. “All you have to do is talk to somebody who is Black, talk to somebody who is poor, talk to somebody who is trans, somebody who is a lesbian like me, we constantly live with these intimidations,” said City of Boston Chief of Equity and Inclusion Mariangely Solis Cervera. “We know what it’s like to walk in fear and to live in fear. We also know what it’s like to not let that get in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish for our communities.” Solis Cervera said she wants Boston residents to know that officials are doing their “best to ensure that we are building a city where everyone can walk safely and not be intimidated by people who, for too long, have been allowed to be free and to do as they please just because they believe they are superior to others.” The string of incidents led officials to set up a statewide hotline for residents to report hate crimes. As of mid-September, the hotline had received 160 calls, according to U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office. In response to what has happened this year, Suffolk County prosecutors added two new civil rights lawyers, one focused on district court and the other on superior court. It was a decision Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said his office made as it looked at the potential for more hate crimes in the future. “There’s a national trend going on with regards to demonstrations, exercising of free speech. Obviously, we’re seeing that here in Massachusetts in terms of the rise of white supremacist groups,” he said in an interview, adding that as national elections approach, he has “a larger concern about the possibility for demonstrations, exercising of free speech, and the groups that we just talked about, creating issues around civil rights crimes.” A map of hate flyering in the United States maintained by the Southern Poverty Law Center found Massachusetts had the second most incidents since the start of the year. Texas had a total of 311 flyering incidents, with 238 associated with Patriot-Front, compared to 283 in Massachusetts, where 268 incidents were associated with the group. SPLC tracks flyering on college campuses and public areas as well as racist stenciling, spray painting, and banner drops. Racist flyering, banner drops, and stenciling took place all across Massachusetts, with almost no community left untouched. Municipal level data provided to MassLive last month showed Fitchburg and Spencer had the most incidents — seven each — between Jan 1. and Sept. 2. In Framingham, where four incidents were logged, state Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis said he was saddened, but not surprised to see the city included on the list — though any community in the state could have been the site of recent hate incidents. “I think that folks who have shared these views, somehow feel that those views are more mainstream than they may have appeared to be,” he said. “People who may have said and done things in the shadows that were harmful and rooted in bigotry, some are now feeling that they can step out of the shadows and say these things publicly, without the scrutiny that may be existed prior to Trump’s election.” But hate incidents this year have stretched beyond anonymous stickers, flyers, and banners. Groups have crawled out of the woodwork — including Patriot Front, which marched through downtown Boston in July — to publicly spew racist imagery and rhetoric. NSC-131 has made headlines in recent months for hanging banners over roads in Saugus and Danvers bearing antisemitic conspiracy theories. The group’s leader, Christopher Hood, is involved in criminal proceedings in West Roxbury Municipal Court after an alleged altercation with a man outside a story hour in Jamaica Plain hosted by drag queens. The group stood outside a similar event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in December 2021. “This is their home base. And so they’re letting us know, and they’ve also publicly said that their focus is going to be New England, so it should not be a surprise that we’re seeing them elevating their profile here,” Trestan, the New England director of the ADL, said. “They’ve impacted every New England state in the last several months.” Back in Boston, several City Hall offices, alongside other statewide agencies, are starting to work together to amplify and create new resources for people who are impacted by the hate groups. Solis Cervera, Boston’s chief of equity and inclusion, said a handful of groups, including the Boston Human Rights Commission, Office of LGBTQ+ Advancement, and City Councilor Kendra Lara held an LGBTQ+ public safety town hall last month in the wake of the NSC-131 protest outside the drag queen story hour in Jamaica Plain. “It was the first time where, as a city, we came together, and we just created a town hall for people to come in and talk about the impact that these hate incidents are having on a day to day life,” Solis Cervera said. “We’re moving now to really take that and inform what an anti-hate campaign can look like that is involving these resources that already exist, such as the hotline.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Wes Moore And Aruna Miller For Maryland Governor, Lieutenant Governor | BALTIMORE SUN EDITORIAL BOARD ENDORSEMENT https://digitalalabamanews.com/wes-moore-and-aruna-miller-for-maryland-governor-lieutenant-governor-baltimore-sun-editorial-board-endorsement/ In Maryland, the office of governor has extraordinary institutional power, more than in all but a handful of states. Choosing the best person to serve in that influential position is often the most important and impactful decision Maryland voters make every four years. This year, it may also be among the easier choices on the ballot. The Baltimore Sun endorses Wes Moore — an author, entrepreneur, Rhodes scholar and U.S. Army veteran — to serve as Maryland’s 63rd governor. The Baltimore Democrat, who turns 44 on Oct. 15, has demonstrated a solid understanding of the issues facing state government. He has the kind of energy, compassion and charisma that inspires others, and should serve Maryland well. He also would be the first African American person to be elected to statewide office, other than as lieutenant governor on a two-person ticket, a milestone that’s been too long coming. Moore’s running mate, Aruna Miller, 57, is also a strong candidate. The two-term, former state delegate from Montgomery County, has long been an advocate for working families, the environment and STEM education, and would represent the first Indian American elected to statewide office. What makes this an even more obvious choice for Maryland voters, however, is that Mr. Moore’s Republican opponent, Del. Dan Cox, is ill-suited to the job. Maryland’s outgoing Republican governor, Larry Hogan, has repeatedly questioned the mental stability of the Donald Trump-endorsed Cox. Indeed, Cox’s own efforts to pivot away from his extremist, election-denying background have been halfhearted at best, as demonstrated by the 48-year-old Frederick County lawyer and one-term delegate’s effort to thwart early counting of mail-in ballots — a position not only at odds with the state election board but with common sense. There are other candidates whose names will appear on the ballot, including David Lashar, who heads the Libertarian ticket, and Nancy Wallace, who does the same for the Green Party. None comes close to the Moore-Miller team in life and professional experience, aptitude or ambition, however. Moore-Miller also offer the best hope for real commitment and investment from the state in Baltimore City. Moore lives in the city and has donated his time to it as a volunteer. As governor, he has pledged to put Baltimore at the center of conversations about the health of the state and to tackle the tough issues — including education, transportation and public safety — in partnership with city leadership. Our current governor has too often sought to distance himself from Baltimore and its problems, including a legacy of systemic racism that has resulted in ongoing issues of crime and poverty. The city cannot afford another disengaged governor, nor can Maryland. We are confident that the Moore-Miller team will work to address Baltimore’s core needs and to leverage its assets to the benefit of the entire state. It’s that kind of attention to detail that will ensure Maryland’s success. And on that front, we would offer some words of caution to Mr. Moore. The recent news that the water bill at his family’s residence hadn’t been paid in more than a year, accruing to $21,200, is troubling. After The Baltimore Brew first reported the delinquent account, a spokesman for the Moores told The Sun that the family immediately paid the bill “out of an abundance of caution while they review the accuracy of the charges” and that they were unaware of the outstanding balance — despite not having paid a monthly water bill since March of 2021, according to online city records. Being unaware is also the reason Wes Moore gave in 2013 after The Sun reported his family was erroneously receiving a Homestead Property Tax Credit on a Riverside Avenue property and owed back taxes. “We really just did not know,” he said at the time. Simply put, these are things he should know, as other homeowners do, especially if Maryland residents are to have confidence in his decisions while guiding the state and developing its budget. We expect that the unpaid water bill — and the news reporting on it — will serve as a lasting reminder to this. There were many qualified people in the Democratic field running for the primary nomination, and Moore won. He owes it to voters to live up to their expectations. Editor’s note — Endorsements coming Tuesday: Anne Arundel County races, including county executive, and select county council races. The Baltimore Sun editorial board endorses political candidates in races that are of particular importance to our readers for reasons such as the critical nature of the work, the tightness of the election contest and the dearth of available information that occurs when an office has no incumbents competing for it. We make our conclusions after reviewing a range of data, including: the candidates’ campaign materials and responses to The Sun’s voter guide questionnaire, news stories written about the candidates, debates they’ve participated in, and interviews we’ve conducted with community leaders or the candidates themselves. Read More…

What Kirby Smart Said After Georgia’s Blowout Of Rival Auburn https://digitalalabamanews.com/what-kirby-smart-said-after-georgias-blowout-of-rival-auburn/ Georgia continued its recent run of dominance in The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, and Auburn continued its downward trend in Year 2 under Bryan Harsin. The second-ranked Bulldogs won their fifth straight against the Tigers, and their eighth in a row in the rivalry at Sanford Stadium, in the form of a 42-10 blowout between the hedges Saturday evening. Georgia’s run game wore down Auburn to the tune of 292 yards and six touchdowns, while Auburn’s offense continued to search for answers as the season hit its midway point. Read more Auburn football: Auburn’s defense worn down by Georgia’s run game Analysis: Auburn demolished by Georgia in series’ most-lopsided game since 2012 What Bryan Harsin said about Auburn’s blowout loss to Georgia After the game, Georgia coach Kirby Smart met with the media to discuss the win, which improved the Bulldogs to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in SEC play. Auburn fell to 3-3 on the year and 1-2 in conference action. Here’s a look at everything Smart had to say: KIRBY SMART, Georgia coach Opening statement… “Like always, I’ll start with thanking the fans. I thought the atmosphere was great. We came out of the tunnel and I looked up in the rafters and it was packed. I knew that Auburn was going to be in for a tough time from the crowd standpoint, a team that had not played on the road in the SEC. I thought our crowd impacted the game. I thought our guys came out with a game plan. Striking, attacking, we really wanted to be physical. We wanted to win the line of scrimmage, we thought it would pay dividends in the fourth quarter, and in the second half being somewhat of a hot day, I thought it took its toll on them, especially in the second half for our team to be able to run the ball like it did. “That helped us. We continue to grow and get better. This team has proven its resilience. They’re tough, but we’ve got a lot of things we can clean up. We didn’t play as well as we could have, but I want to say I’m very proud of the way our team went after it and attacked.” On how satisfying the run game was… “It was good. I still think there’s inconsistencies. There’s things we missed on. We missed a block here, but a guy runs through and a couple of times our backs just made a guy miss. We had third-and-2 and Daijun didn’t touch anybody. It was much better at the line of scrimmage. We played more physical at the line of scrimmage, and I thought we wore the other team down. The environment was a little bit different, too. The heat wears on defensive linemen. Some teams have more they can use and some teams don’t.” On Daijun Edwards’ day… “I thought he did a really good job. He does a good job around the goal line, makes people miss. He’s elusive, but not so much explosive. He’s probably not going to break off a superlong run, but he gets a lot of positive runs. It’s really hard to get him for a tackle for loss. “The addition of Branson was really big for us; he’s a guy we felt like all week we had to get more opportunities for him because he’s run the ball well in practice. He’s got a bit of a burst, and was able to get some carries with Kendall being banged up and I thought he did a good job.” On the key in the second half to Jamon Dumas-Johnson playing as much as he did… “He works really hard. He missed I want to say Monday, Tuesday and he was able to go Wednesday and Thursday. Conditioned, ran hard. He runs extra after practice so he can play more snaps. I was really proud of the guys that stepped up there. Sorey got significant playing time today for the first time not on third down. Rian Davis had to step up and play because we’ve got some dinged-up guys.” On his reaction to Stetson Bennett’s 64-yard TD run… “I was happy for it. I was happy for him. It was a great call by Monk and a good designed play. They ran what we thought they were going to be in and it worked great. It wouldn’t be explosive if it wasn’t for a really good athlete. It proves again that he’s multi-dimensional, is hard to defend because of things he can do.” On Malaki Starks’ mentality after the death of a former high school teammate “You’d probably have to ask Malaki about that. We did talk to him about it. He was very close. Thoughts and prayers with his family. Malaki’s parents reached out to us. He was close to him. Malaki handled it very maturely. He did his job today.” On special team play on fake and Ladd McConkey’s punt return? “It was great. Ladd’s been really aggressive. I’m really proud of Ladd. I don’t know what Auburn was in punt cover. Somebody told me they were 1 in the country or 1 in the conference at negating punt returns with the way the punter kicks it. We worked really hard this week saying we could spark a drive, change field position and not who we put on punt return. I think Ladd will be the first to tell you he’d give a lot of credit to the guys up front who affected the kicker by almost blocking one. It speeds up. The sooner he kicks it, the sooner it gets to Ladd. They’re elite at holding the ball and not giving up returns. They probably had us on the fake. Nolan made a great play. It was one of those times where they didn’t execute but they had a good look and they checked it. Kudos for them but kudos for Nolan stepping up. That was a huge play.” On the slow starts and if the team is pressing early in games… ”I can’t define if somebody is pressing. Certainly not clicking the way we’d like to. Some of that falls on, a little responsibility on everybody. We take turns having a lack of execution and when you play really good teams that score lots of points, you can’t do that. You’ve got to value every possession. We didn’t click. When we click, we roll. Then if we don’t get start, we tend to drive, we had several three and outs where it was like, was that a wasted opportunity? We’ve got to get first downs, change the field position, be explosive. Some of that has to do with some injuries and some guys being dinged up but some of that has to do with Stetson. He knows he’s got to continue to play and play better. We’ve got to arm Stetson with people around him. He’s got to have guys around that can really help him. You can’t be one-dimensional and be explosive.” On Kendall Milton’s injury… “It’s groin. He said that he got tackled and the guy fell on him and stretched his groin out and it bothered him. I don’t know how severe it is.” On areas to improve after a 42-10 victory… ”Everything, like what does the score have to do with how we played? It really doesn’t to me. You look at the stat line and you say, ‘oh we ran the ball great,’ and I think there’s a lot of times that we didn’t block it right. We got whipped at the point of attack. There’s other times that we did it right. That’s across the board. Defensively, all we talked about was containing the quarterback. Well, we didn’t do that all the time. He got out of there. There’s an immense amount of improvement that needs to happen for our team to get to the level we need to. I think everybody has this perception of what your ranking is and what the experts say you should beat somebody by. I keep saying over and over, we won’t get caught up in that. We have to get better. We’ve got a really really tough schedule coming and we’ve got to get back. The only way you get better is practice. So we’re going to keep doing that and keep trying to rhythm and get better.” On how much freedom players like Nolan Smith have… “Yeah, that’s not freedom. We don’t say, ‘Hey, you have the freedom to do what you want.’ You play within the system. But there are overreach and overstretch. They’re a stretch team, so when teams give you that angle, a natural, good athlete can beat it underneath. We’re also breaking the pocket to get him out of there on one of those plays you’re talking about. It was third and long and he beat a guy underneath. But he was trying to break the pocket to get the quarterback out to get the scramble guy to go tackle him.” On if Georgia’s problems are experience-related… “I don’t think that’s an excuse. What does that matter? The players we’ve got are the players we’ve got. We should be good. I’m not apologizing for winning 42-10. What I’m saying is we’ve got to get better. The monster that’s created that you’ve got to live up to this expectation that you’ve got to score every drive, that was created by going out against Oregon and having a great opening. That doesn’t control how we look at things. I just celebrated in the locker room with a group of kids that are 18 to 22 years old that just beat Auburn for a consecutive, some number of times. I’m proud of them. I’m happy for them. But I’m also realistic. We’ve got to continue to grow and we have to continue to get better. It’s not about the age of your players. Every team in college football is young. That’s just the way it is.” On the second-half start… “It was huge. Disappointed in the start of the second half. That was the big talk in the locker room. What are we going to do? How are we going to execute? What kind of juice are we going to come out with? Again, it feels like there are these times, and it’s not just us. I felt that way against Kent State, it feels like teams are tired in the second half. It’s not just us, the opponent. At times, it just seems lethargic. Where you really didn’t have those lulls last week. It was cool, it was night, there was energy. And hey we didn’t play great, but there was energy and there was people running fast. As much as anything I’ve seen in the last three or four games, it’s conditioning level of teams. The temperature didn’t seem hot but it was sunny.” On Warren Brinson and Bear Alexander being pass-rushing specialists… “They better be run specialists because we don’t have enough of those. You don’t get labeled as one or the other. You have to be a run specialis...

Voters In Marjorie Taylor Greene https://digitalalabamanews.com/voters-in-marjorie-taylor-greene/ In a deep dive into the unlikely possibility that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) will lose her seat in November, some voters in her highly conservative district expressed dismay that they have to admit that she is their representative in Congress. According to the Guardian’s David Smith, reporting from the controversial lawmaker’s hometown of Rome, Georgia, MTG —as the House member is commonly referred to — is a heavy favorite to retain her seat in Congress in a district dotted with Confederate flags where “Three in four people are white and three in four voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.” With one local voter offering faint praise of the first-term lawmaker while also acknowledging she is short on being an effective lawmaker (“She puts her foot down and stands on a situation. Not backbone because she’s accomplished anything but backbone because she’ll stand up face to face with people”) other are not as pleased. According to two-term city commissioner Wendy Davis, Greene slipped into office because no one asked the hard questions. “The runoff was basically who loves Trump more? Although the media and some people had dug into this QAnon mess that she was a part of, none of the other Republicans made that an issue in their primary. Nobody had said, ‘She’s a little out there.’ Nobody had said, ‘What do you mean September 11 was a fake inside job?'” she explained. According to the Guardian’s Smith, Taylor Greene is not overly popular with local GOP leadership either. “Local Republican officials here are said to be privately dismayed by Greene’s antics since she took her seat in Congress, which have included calling for Joe Biden’s impeachment and prison visits to rioters arrested after the January 6 insurrection. Mirroring their national counterparts’ deference to Trump, however, they mostly remain silent in public,” he wrote. Julie Svardh, 49, a local insurance agent, didn’t remain silent when asked about her representative in Congress. “I’m embarrassed to be from her district. She’s a national laughingstock. The things that she says, she doesn’t know basic words. She couples off with the worst people in Washington and is very annoying. She’s not bright and she’s a bully. She’s definitely not somebody you want representing where you live,” she lamented. She elaborated, “People blindly supported Trump in this area and so anyone who supported that person just got lumped in. People didn’t read a lot or really look at the details and see what people stand for.“ John Bailey, the executive editor of the Rome News-Tribune is also not a fan and laid some of the blame for Taylor Greene’s election on the voters in a district that has become known as a “hotbed of extremism.” “Do you have that? Yes. Is that the minority? I think so. Do you have reasonable people who don’t consume good information? A lot. I’m not saying these are dumb people, I’m just saying their information consumption is habitually bad,” he explained. “I have friends who are intelligent people but their information consumption habits have been bad for a long time. They don’t intelligently consume media. Top that on decades of ‘those politicians don’t care about us’, top that on ‘the media is looking for an angle’.” As for why voters in the district look the other way over Taylor Greene’s harsh rhetoric, Bailey offered, “They’re very forgiving of gaffes and other things that they may not like because this person kind of speaks for them. The problem that you’re dealing with is rooted in apathy and rooted in this feeling of not being connected or not being important or not being represented.” Read More…

Julian Assange Supporters Protest Against US Extradition In London, DC: 'crucial That We Fight' https://digitalalabamanews.com/julian-assange-supporters-protest-against-us-extradition-in-london-dc-crucial-that-we-fight-2/ Hundreds of supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gathered in London and Washington, D.C., on Saturday to demand the U.S. government end its efforts to extradite him over the publication of classified documents. Assange, who is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, will face espionage charges if he is extradited to the U.S. He is accused of publishing information detailing crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan, and reveals instances in which the CIA engaged in torture and rendition. Britain’s High Court ruled over the summer that Assange can be extradited to the U.S. Supporters in London on Saturday formed a human chain outside Britain’s parliament that stretched from its perimeter railings and across nearby Westminster Bridge to the other side of the River Thames. JULIAN ASSANGE EXTRADITION TO US APPROVED BY BRITISH GOVERNMENT Assange’s wife Stella said the British government should speak to U.S authorities to stop the extradition attempts. “It’s already gone on for three and a half years. It is a stain on the United Kingdom and is a stain on the Biden administration,” she said. In the U.S., supporters of the Australian-born activist gathered outside the Justice Department to call on the federal government to drop its extradition bid. The protestors said they hope Assange never steps foot on U.S. soil and that he would not be treated fairly by the judicial system. “Julian wasn’t trying to help dictatorships, he was trying to stop the United States from becoming one! And that’s why they want him in jail, and that is why it is crucial that we fight to set Julian free,” 2020 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Spike Cohen said at the rally. Human trafficking survivor Eliza Bleu urged the “global elites, the ruling class” and employees of the CIA and FBI to “be a hero, quit your job and become a whistleblower.” “If it’s a choice between free speech and the United States government, trust and know, one’s gotta go! If one has to go, it ain’t gonna be free speech!” she said, adding that she is so passionate about freedom because she knows what it is like to lose it. EXTRADITION OF WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE APPROVED BY UK JUDGE Bleu said that, despite being a female trafficking survivor, she skipped out on the Women’s March that also took place on Saturday because, without a free press, there would be nobody to cover women’s issues or survivor’s issues. Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London years ago because he faced extradition to Sweden after two women accused him of rape. The investigations were eventually dropped. Multiple speakers at the rally in D.C. railed against the corporate press for their lack of journalists at the event, particularly calling out The New York Times and The Guardian for being among the outlets to also publish the contents of the documents Assange had obtained. “We need watchdog journalists not lapdog journalists,” two-time Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said. In addition to publishing war logs leaked to him by former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, Assange’s site published internal communications taken from the Democratic National Committee and then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign that shed light on the DNC’s attempts to boost Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. Assange has been blamed for impacting Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency in 2016. The Wikileaks founder is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts over the publication of classified documents. The U.S. has said that Assange put lives in danger with his publication of the documents but his supporters call him a political victim. The CIA has reportedly previously had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive CIA hacking tools, known as “Vault 7.” The agency said it suffered “the largest data loss in CIA history” after Wikileaks published the materials. According to a September 2021 Yahoo report, the CIA during the Trump era had discussions “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London. Following orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, the agency had drawn up kill “sketches” and “options.” The report further noted advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and that the CIA made a political decision to charge him. Assange’s legal team has appealed Britain’s High Court ruling to authorize his extradition. Read More…

In Russian-Occupied Izyum, She Was Raped And Tortured https://digitalalabamanews.com/in-russian-occupied-izyum-she-was-raped-and-tortured/ A portrait of Alla, a Ukrainian woman who said she was held by Russian forces for 10 days in July in the occupied city of Izyum in Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region. During that time, she said she was raped and tortured by her captors. (Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post) October 9, 2022 at 1:00 a.m. EDT IZYUM, Ukraine — Soon after Russian forces took her prisoner, the 52-year-old woman picked up a nail and carved her name into a brick wall. A-L-L-A, she wrote. Below, she scratched how many days she had been held in the shed outside a medical clinic in her hometown. Above, she wrote in simple words what she had endured in captivity: ELECTRICAL SHOCK. UNDRESS. PAINFUL. She hoped the markings would one day serve as clues for her son about what she expected to be the final days of her life. “I thought if my son would look for me, he could find these writings and understand that I was there and died there,” she later recalled. Alla, 52, claims Russian forces brutalized her and her husband for 10 days during the occupation of Izyum. (Video: Whitney Shefte, Jon Gerberg/The Washington Post) Some of Alla’s writing is still visible in the small shed in Izyum, the city in northeast Ukraine, where she said occupying Russian forces tortured, raped and beat her while she was held captive for 10 days in July. The men who detained her, Alla said, were seeking information about her son, who works for Ukraine’s internal security service, the SBU, and about her own work at the region’s gas company. Her husband, who worked at the same company, was also detained and tortured on the clinic’s property. Alla’s account of her treatment at the hands of Russian forces adds to a growing body of evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops and officials in the parts of Ukraine they occupied this year, after President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion and launched a full-scale war. Russian forces have left a trail of destruction and cruelty across Ukraine, including in Bucha, where they were accused of atrocities. New reports of barbarity are emerging as Ukraine’s military liberates more towns following months of occupation, and as authorities and rights groups try to document these acts of inhumanity in hopes of one day bringing perpetrators to justice, perhaps before an international tribunal. Russia controlled Izyum, a small city in the northeast Kharkiv region, from March through September, when a surprise Ukrainian counteroffensive forced Russian troops and local collaborators to rapidly retreat. In the weeks since Ukraine retook its territory, horrific details have emerged about some of the most grievous offenses Russian forces allegedly committed during their violent occupation. Civilians who survived the occupation have recounted other instances of rape and torture at the hands of Russian and Russia-backed troops. Some of the hundreds of civilian bodies retrieved from a mass burial site in Izyum showed signs of torture, Ukrainian officials said. Alla shared her account with The Washington Post on the condition only her first name be used. The Post is also not naming her husband, or son, to protect her identity. Washington Post journalists twice visited the site where she was imprisoned, once independently and once with Alla and her husband. Her account was consistent with what Post journalists found inside, including her name and other details still scrawled on the wall. It was impossible to independently verify every detail of Alla’s case. But in an investigation into torture in Izyum, Human Rights Watch spoke to eight other men and one other woman who were detained at the clinic during the Russian occupation, said Belkis Wille, senior researcher in the group’s conflict and crisis division. The woman told the group she was threatened with rape but not sexually assaulted. A man who was held in a garage at the clinic during the same time as Alla reported that he heard women’s screams, and soldiers talking about denying food to a prisoner because she had not performed a sex act, Wille said. Alla also showed The Post journalists a video of herself after she returned home, in which she appeared gaunt and disheveled. The harassment started in mid-March. After surviving heavy shelling, Alla braved a pedestrian bridge across the river that runs through Izyum to check on her son’s empty apartment near the city center. On her way, she found a scene of ruin: Corpses lay on the sides of the road, and there were destroyed buildings everywhere she looked. Her son’s neighbors told her that Russians had visited the building, asked about her son, who was working elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, and searched his apartment. The men “started taking out everything,” she recalled, including his coffee machine, CD player, television and washing machine. Fearing all his belongings would be looted, she moved what valuables were left to a friend’s house nearby. That same month, Russian forces began visiting her and her husband at their home. First they said they were looking for weapons or wanted photos of her son, who was deployed for work outside of Izyum. Later they started searching her phone, interrogating her and her husband about whether their son was hiding in Izyum and insisting he should collaborate with Russia. Soldiers also told them that her son’s neighbors had provided intelligence to them about their family. They were “threatening us all the time, telling me that if my son collaborated with them, they won’t touch us, everything will be good,” Alla said. “We lived in constant fear, but they didn’t touch us, didn’t torture us.” Like many other civilians, Alla and her husband knew they might be safer elsewhere but they feared leaving behind her elderly parents. Then the Russians’ demands escalated. The Russian-appointed mayor of Izyum and men who identified themselves as FSB agents repeatedly asked Alla to return to her job at the Kharkiv gas company. The gas supply was cut to the much of the city and Russian officials wanted to turn it back on. Alla insisted she would not return to work and that as a manager, she did not have the technical expertise they needed. When she finally visited her office, she found the door kicked in and her belongings turned upside down. The next day, on July 1 at 11 a.m., two cars pulled up outside their house — both emblazoned with the Russian “Z.” About 10 men jumped out of the vehicles, including those who had visited them before. “ ‘You were saying you wouldn’t go to work?’ ” Alla recalled them shouting. “ ‘You went to the gas bureau and bossed around there? Now, get ready.’ ” The men placed bags over Alla and her husband’s heads, tied their hands with duct tape and shoved them into the trunks of each car. With her eyes covered, Alla did not know where she was being taken. Then the cars stopped and the soldiers jumped out. “ ‘We’ll beat the Ukrainian out of you here, you won’t come out of here alive,’ ” they told her. “ ‘Either you accept our rules and acknowledge that you live in Russia or you’ll go missing. No one will find you, ever.’ ” Then they pushed Alla through a door, untied her hands and took off the bag covering her eyes. She was inside a small, dark shed with a cement floor. The men locked the door and said they would be back soon. An hour later, six men returned to the shed, placed the bag back over her head and brought her to another building nearby, where they demanded she undress. When she refused, “they forcefully undressed me, laid me on [the] table and started touching me, everywhere,” she said. They laughed as they groped her. “Then they were throwing me on my knees, screaming, ‘Oh you are Ukrainian. Do you know what we do with Ukrainian women and mothers of Ukraine’s Security Service officers?’ ” Alla said. “ ‘We tie them up naked on the main square and send pictures of them to their sons so they would see what we can do to their parents.’ ” The commander made rules about how Alla should behave, threatening to beat her if she disobeyed: When the men entered the shed, she should be naked from the waist down and keep her back turned to them. She initially refused. “ ‘What do you mean you would not take your clothes off? Do you think you can argue with us?’ ” she recalled the commander saying. “I started crying and screaming, but he took my clothes off and asked his soldiers who would be the first to rape me.” The assaults — carried out by the commander — usually began after 4 p.m., when the men returned to the clinic. For three days, the commander forcibly touched her and forced her to perform oral sex on him while holding her husband hostage in a garage nearby. Alla said she could hear her husband cry out as the troops beat him, and overheard the commander tell “my husband that he raped me, and that we both enjoyed it.” The shed was so stuffy that she found it difficult to breathe and had to remove a loose brick from the wall to try to get fresh air. She begged the soldiers for anti-anxiety medication, which they provided. They also gave her two buckets — one to use as a toilet and the other for porridge and stale bread. Through a hole in the wall, she once saw the men escorting her husband back to the garage, beaten so badly he could barely stand. “I was determined to commit suicide. There were some spikes inside the barn, and I had a bra so I thought of hanging myself,” she said. “It did not work out. I started crying. I was crying all the time. They heard me crying and came back, and started harassing me again.” As the days passed, the men continued to demand information from her about the gas supply in Izyum — at one point shocking her feet with electricity and laughing as she screamed. “I cannot express what kind of pain it was,” she said. The commander also asked about money on he...

Kanye West Said He Will Go 'death Con 3' On Jewish People In A Now-Removed Tweet https://digitalalabamanews.com/kanye-west-said-he-will-go-death-con-3-on-jewish-people-in-a-now-removed-tweet/ Kanye West said that he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” on Twitter Saturday night. Twitter removed the tweet for violating its guidelines.  West was accused of posting antisemitic content to his Instagram earlier on Saturday.  Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go. Rapper Kanye West faced more accusations of antisemitism on Saturday after posting a rant about Jewish people.  In a tweet now removed by Twitter for violating its guidelines, the rapper and fashion designer said he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”  West defended himself by saying he could not be antisemitic because “black people are actually Jew [sic].” —Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 9, 2022 West returned to Twitter — from which he had been on hiatus since Nov. 4, 2020 — after his Instagram account was restricted amid a week of tirades on the platform. Instagram confirmed to Insider it had restricted West’s account but did not specify which post was in violation of its policies. After his return to the platform Saturday, tech mogul Elon Musk replied to West, tweeting, “welcome back to Twitter, my friend!”  Users on Twitter were swift to call the rapper out for antisemitism and Fox News Host Tucker Carlson for enabling his remarks by interviewing him on his show on Friday.  After photos and videos surfaced of West on Monday wearing a hoodie with the words “White Lives Matter,” prominent Republicans like Candace Owens, former congressional candidate Lavern Spicer, and the GOP House Judiciary Committee came to his defense. West, a friend of Former President Donald Trump, pulled the stunt as a part of his YZYSZN9 show at Paris Fashion Week. Critics pointed out that the phrase on West’s hoodie is tied to white supremacist movements. —Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) October 9, 2022 The American Jewish Committee chastised the rapper Saturday, calling into question an interview he did with Carlson on Friday in which he called into question the motives of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former adviser to President Donald Trump. During the interview, West said Kushner, who is Jewish, brokered the Abraham Accords — declarations of peace between Israel and other countries in the Middle East — in order “to make money.”  West also shared screenshots of texts that he purportedly sent to Sean “Diddy” Combs, where the rapper said he will use Combs “as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”  Representatives for West and Twitter did not respond to Insider’s request for comment. Read More…

Evaluating QB1 Jalen Milroe: 'We're Gonna Live And Learn With Him' https://digitalalabamanews.com/evaluating-qb1-jalen-milroe-were-gonna-live-and-learn-with-him/ Throughout the week, with Bryce Young’s game status in question, his backup Jalen Milroe heard a consistent message from both Young and Alabama’s offensive coaches: take one play at a time. Milroe listened to it as the crowd in Bryant-Denny Stadium welcomed him with cheers as he jogged onto the field for his opening drive and throughout a scoreless first quarter. He also had to listen to it following his first touchdown and the three turnovers that followed, each of which handed Texas A&M momentum and nearly led to an upset. “Jalen did some good things but obviously a couple turnovers,” Tide head coach Nick Saban said. “He’s going to live and learn. We’re gonna live and learn with him.” A week after Young sprained his shoulder and Milroe was tasked with outlasting a rally at an SEC road game, the Tide had a week to prepare the redshirt freshman for Texas A&M, his first start. The nail-biting 24-20 win showed the expected — Milroe ran for 83 yards on 17 attempts, Jahmyr Gibbs led the ground game with 154 yards — but also some causes for concern. Milroe went 12-for-19 as a passer for three touchdowns and one interception. His 111 yards was the lowest for a Tide quarterback since Jalen Hurts and punter JK Scott combined for 103 at Auburn in 2017. MORE Tide football: Alabama lands in-state 5-star WR during Texas A&M game Alabama survives Texas A&M scare, live updates rewind Instant analysis: Alabama outruns Texas A&M, 24-20, holds off late upset On a night when Alabama faced another second-string quarterback and feasted upon Texas A&M’s offensive line, its own miscues (including a Jase McClellan fumble) cracked the window. Milroe’s fumbles turned into 14 points. Three of Alabama’s four final drives also ended on A&M’s side of the field. Facing Tennessee next weekend and moving forward, the Tide’s margin for error with Young sidelined remains thin. “It’s relative to how do we protect him, how do we run the routes, how do we get open,” Saban said about evaluating Milroe as a passer. ” … I think he did a good job making some plays scrambling with his feet. But we had 111 yards passing and that’s certainly not our goal. So something in the passing game needs to get better. I’m not putting it all on him, I’m just saying we need to do a better job in protection, route running and we need to do a better job of being able to make good decisions in the pocket so we don’t have negative plays.” One of Milroe’s worst snaps mirrored his best. On a third-and-2 at the Aggies’ 17-yard line, A&M blitzed and Milroe tried to scramble but lost 12 yards. Will Reichard missed the ensuing 47-yard field goal. But earlier in the game, in a similar scenario, Milroe bid his time in the pocket on a three-man route and exploded forward for 33 yards. Milroe’s second touchdown came via a run-pass option in the second quarter. Milroe noticed the linebackers flooding to Gibbs after a long gain, so Milroe kept it and threw a strike to Jermaine Burton in front of the safety for a 35-yard catch-and-run. It was a play Alabama knew it could generate success on during the week, Milroe said. “The ball can get there before my legs can. So any play it is, what I’m looking to do is throw the ball,” Milroe said. “No matter what play it is, just throw the ball. It’s pass, then my legs and if I can extend my legs to help the team out, then that’s what I’ll do.” Some of the quarterback-designed run schemes Saban’s hinted at earlier in the fall, the plays Milroe can excel at over Young, were on display. Tight ends Cameron Latu and Amari Niblack blocked for a 14-yard keeper in the first quarter. Milroe evaded the rush and ran for 14 yards on the following snap. He’ll need more of that moving forward and less of the unease he flashed in the pocket. Milroe waited too long before chucking a deep try downfield and into double coverage for his second interception of the season on 46 throws. When asked about the improvements he’s planning on making during the week, Milroe said it has to come in “complete quarterbacking.” After Alabama forced an incompletion on A&M’s last drive, Milroe found Young, who was dressed in full uniform, for a postgame hug and celebration. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough on Saturday night. “We had to flush (the turnovers). “You come to Bama for games like this,” Milroe said. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to have fun. Football is an enjoyable sport. I love it.” Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Biden Administration Says It Has Reunited 500 Migrant Families Separated Under Trump https://digitalalabamanews.com/biden-administration-says-it-has-reunited-500-migrant-families-separated-under-trump/ October 09, 2022 01:49 AM The Biden administration has reunified more than 500 migrant families separated at the southern border under former President Donald Trump, it revealed. News came through a statement released Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who celebrated the family reunifications as a “significant milestone that reflects the tireless dedication of the many public servants.” Mayorkas has led the family reunificaiton effort, a major tenet of an otherwise vague set of immigration policies by the Biden administration, for nearly two years now. BIDEN REMAINS IMPERVIOUS TO POLITICAL PRESSURE ON SOUTHERN BORDER “Five hundred is a really important milestone. Obviously, the first step for these families is that physical reunification and going through that process,” Michelle Brané, executive director of the administration’s Family Reunification Task Force, told The Hill. “Those are 500 individual children that are now with their parents.” “While the Department of Homeland Security and the Task Force take great pride in this accomplishment, we also know that this important work isn’t finished,” Mayorkas, who is tasked with reuniting the more than 1,000 children who remain separated from their parents as a result of the Trump administration’s 2017 “zero tolerance” policy, said in a statement Friday. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The DHS secretary went on to reveal that the task force is in the process of reunifying nearly 200 children with their parents, as well as reach out to formerly separated families to notify them of available mental health resources. As part of its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, the Trump administration began separating children and parents caught crossing the US border illegally in 2017 in an effort to deter migration. Immigrant rights groups and the public alike began expressing their dismay at the policy after it became publicized in 2018, with backlash growing so intense that the then-president signed an executive order ending the policy. Read More…

Julian Assange Supporters Protest Against US Extradition In London, DC: 'crucial That We Fight' https://digitalalabamanews.com/julian-assange-supporters-protest-against-us-extradition-in-london-dc-crucial-that-we-fight/ Hundreds of supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gathered in London and Washington, D.C., on Saturday to demand the U.S. government end its efforts to extradite him over the publication of classified documents.  Assange, who is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, will face espionage charges if he is extradited to the U.S. He is accused of publishing information detailing crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan, and reveals instances in which the CIA engaged in torture and rendition. Britain’s High Court ruled over the summer that Assange can be extradited to the U.S. Supporters in London on Saturday formed a human chain outside Britain’s parliament that stretched from its perimeter railings and across nearby Westminster Bridge to the other side of the River Thames. JULIAN ASSANGE EXTRADITION TO US APPROVED BY BRITISH GOVERNMENT Assange, who is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, will face espionage charges if he is extradited to the U.S. (FOX News Digital/Landon Mion) Assange’s wife Stella said the British government should speak to U.S authorities to stop the extradition attempts. “It’s already gone on for three and a half years. It is a stain on the United Kingdom and is a stain on the Biden administration,” she said. In the U.S., supporters of the Australian-born activist gathered outside the Justice Department to call on the federal government to drop its extradition bid. The protestors said they hope Assange never steps foot on U.S. soil and that he would not be treated fairly by the judicial system. “Julian wasn’t trying to help dictatorships, he was trying to stop the United States from becoming one! And that’s why they want him in jail, and that is why it is crucial that we fight to set Julian free,” 2020 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Spike Cohen said at the rally. Human trafficking survivor Eliza Bleu urged the “global elites, the ruling class” and employees of the CIA and FBI to “be a hero, quit your job and become a whistleblower.” “If it’s a choice between free speech and the United States government, trust and know, one’s gotta go! If one has to go, it ain’t gonna be free speech!” she said, adding that she is so passionate about freedom because she knows what it is like to lose it. EXTRADITION OF WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE APPROVED BY UK JUDGE Supporters of Assange gathered outside the Justice Department to call on the federal government to drop its extradition bid. (FOX News Digital/Landon Mion) Bleu said that, despite being a female trafficking survivor, she skipped out on the Women’s March that also took place on Saturday because, without a free press, there would be nobody to cover women’s issues or survivor’s issues. Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London years ago because he faced extradition to Sweden after two women accused him of rape. The investigations were eventually dropped.  Multiple speakers at the rally in D.C. railed against the corporate press for their lack of journalists at the event, particularly calling out The New York Times and The Guardian for being among the outlets to also publish the contents of the documents Assange had obtained. “We need watchdog journalists not lapdog journalists,” two-time Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said. In addition to publishing war logs leaked to him by former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, Assange’s site published internal communications taken from the Democratic National Committee and then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign that shed light on the DNC’s attempts to boost Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. Assange has been blamed for impacting Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency in 2016. The Wikileaks founder is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts over the publication of classified documents. Multiple speakers at the rally in D.C. railed against the corporate press for their lack of journalists at the event. (FOX News Digital/Landon Mion) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The U.S. has said that Assange put lives in danger with his publication of the documents but his supporters call him a political victim.  The CIA has reportedly previously had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive CIA hacking tools, known as “Vault 7.” The agency said it suffered “the largest data loss in CIA history” after Wikileaks published the materials. According to a September 2021 Yahoo report, the CIA during the Trump era had discussions “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London. Following orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, the agency had drawn up kill “sketches” and “options.” The report further noted advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and that the CIA made a political decision to charge him. Assange’s legal team has appealed Britain’s High Court ruling to authorize his extradition. Read More…

Trump Tells Minden Rally To Stop Democrats By Turning Out In November https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-tells-minden-rally-to-stop-democrats-by-turning-out-in-november/ Then-President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at Minden-Tahoe Airport in September 2020. Photo special to The R-C by Michael Chan Read More…

Suspect Arrested In Unprovoked Stabbing Death In Bronx Subway Station https://digitalalabamanews.com/suspect-arrested-in-unprovoked-stabbing-death-in-bronx-subway-station/ MORRIS HEIGHTS, Bronx (WABC) — Police have made an arrest in the deadly stabbing of a man in a Bronx subway station on Thursday. Saquan Lemons, 27, of the Bronx was arrested Saturday afternoon on charges including murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said. The victim, Charles Moore, 38, was getting off a northbound No. 4 train as it arrived at the 176th Street station just before 9 p.m. Thursday when he was stabbed multiple times in the back and chest. Moore collapsed on the platform awas rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died, becoming the seventh person to be killed in the NYC transit system this year, and the second fatal subway stabbing in less than a week. Friends and family say that Moore’s world revolved around his 8-year-old daughter, Charlie. “She was his life. She was Charles’ life – if there’s one thing I can say about my son, he was a damn good father. A better father than what we had,” said Moore’s mother, Frances Vanterpool. On Saturday, friends toasted him, cried and lit candles for a second night – but this time, they knew that a suspect was in custody. Police did not say how they found Lemons, but the MTA’s Security chief thanked him in a statement for their use of MTA cameras in making the quick arrest. Police are still investigating whether this was a random attack. Moore’s mother says it had to be. “It was unprovoked, there was no words spoken between that man and my son. The man stabbed my son in the back, several times,” she said. While the arrest is a relief to family and friends who were honoring Moore, it doesn’t make the loss any less painful. “I mean, he’s arrested – that’s it. But it won’t bring my friend back,” said Darrel Colquhoun. Colquhoun was actually on the phone with Moore minutes before he was attacked, while Moore was on his way home from work at Citi Field. “Everything was normal, we were just talking about my son’s basketball,” Colquhoun said. They were planning to hang out before Moore would spend the weekend with his little girl. Moore’s mother says a murder conviction is all she wants at this point – her family has been through unimaginable loss. Ten years ago, Moore’s nephew, Teddy Beckles was killed in a stabbing outside his school. Just last year, Moore’s sister suffered a fatal heart attack. “I can’t take no more,” said Vanterpool. ALSO READ | Who is the NYC rooftop jumper? Eyewitness News solves mystery behind viral daredevil stunt ———- * More Bronx news * Send us a news tip * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts * Follow us on YouTube Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply. Copyright © 2022 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved. Read More…

Advertisement For Bids https://digitalalabamanews.com/advertisement-for-bids/ Details for Advertisement for Bids 12 min ago L6712 ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Sealed proposals (One Copy Required) will be received by Auburn City Schools by the Superintendent of Education located at 855 East Samford Avenue, Auburn, AL 36830 until 2:00 PM local time Thursday, November 17, 2022, for: Demolition & Site Restoration Project for East Samford School 332 East Samford Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36830 BDW Project No. 2022-137 at which time they will be publicly opened and read. Interested contractors must be Pre-Qualified & Approved prior to submitting a bid for this project. Fully executed Pre-Qualification Questionnaires are due on Thursday, October 27, 2022, from perspective bidders. Pre-Qualification Questionnaires can be obtained from the architect at rwilliams@bdwarchitects.com. Approvals for Pre-Qualified Contractors will be issued by email from the architect on Thursday, November 03, 2022. A non-mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held on Wednesday November 9, 2022, at 10:00AM. The meeting will be held at The East Samford School Gymnasium Building, 332 East Samford School, Auburn, Alabama 36830. Because of the complexity of the project and the schedule of construction, the owner strongly encourages prospective bidders to attend the Pre-Bid Conference. A cashier’s check or bid bond payable to Auburn city Schools in an amount not less than five (5) percent of the amount of the bid, but in no event more than $10,000, must accompany the bidder’s proposal. Performance and Payment Bonds and evidence of insurance required in the bid documents will be required at the signing of the Contract. The Contract Documents, Drawings and Project Manual, may be examined at Auburn Reprographics & Supply, Inc., 660 North Dean Road, Auburn, Al 36830, and may be obtained electronically from Auburn Reprographics, www.auburnrepro.com; greg@auburnrepro.com or 334-501-8235. Send all RFI’s to the attention of Ray Williams. rwilliams@bdwarchitects.com Architect is not responsible for other websites that provide documents. Addendums will be provided to entities that have registered as a confirmed bidder for this project with the architect. The Architect retains ownership and copyrights of the documents. If a bidder requires printed documents, the following shall apply: Submit a request to the Architect at rwilliams@bdwarchitects.com, the companies name, first & last name of contact, phone number, email address along with a deposit of $25.00 per set. The deposit will not be refunded. Bids must be submitted on Proposal Forms furnished by the Architect or copies thereof. All bidders bidding in amounts exceeding that established by the State Licensing Board for General Contractors must be licensed under the provisions of Title 34, Chapter 8, Code of Alabama, 1975, and must show evidence of license under the provision of Title 34, Chapter 8, Code of Alabama, 1975, and must show evidence of license before bidding or bid will not be received or considered by the Architect (Engineer); the bidder shall show such evidence by clearly displaying his or her current license number on the outside of the sealed envelope in which the proposal is delivered. The Owner reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive technical errors if, in the Owner’s judgment, the best interests of the Owner will thereby be promoted. The project is being bid EXCLUDING SALES TAXES and requires the Contractor to comply with the requirements of Act 2013-205 which was signed into law on May 19, 2013. The Contractor and Owner will be required to apply for Certificates of Exemption with the Alabama Department of Revenue which will handle administration of the Certificates. The Contractor shall account for the tax savings on the Accounting of Sales Tax ABC Form C-3A-Sales Tax form included in the Specifications behind the Proposal form. Failure of the Contractor to complete this form and include with their Proposal shall render the bid non-responsive. The Contractor shall be responsible for paying the Division of Construction Management’s Permit Fee for construction. The Fee Calculation sheet is included in the Project Manual or contractors may visit the Division of Construction Management website to calculate the fee to be included in bid. Performance Time: The anticipated “Notice to Proceed” is December 12, 2022. Major Demolition & Haul-off of the Gymnasium Building must be completed from 12-12-22 through 1-5-23. The overall project must be completed on, or before March 15, 2023. Prospective bidders need to see the Construction Documents for additional information on the required completion dates of intermediate phases. Scope of Work: The Work is required to be completed in two Phases. Phase I – Major Demolition & Haul-off of the Gym Building. Phase II construction of remaining site restoration. Awarding Authority: Dr. Christen Herring Auburn City Schools 855 East Samford Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36830 Architect: Barganier Davis Williams Architects Associated 624 South McDonough Street Montgomery, Alabama 36104 Telephone: (334) 834-2038 Read More…

Crimea Bridge: Russia Ramps Up Security After Blast https://digitalalabamanews.com/crimea-bridge-russia-ramps-up-security-after-blast/ Image source, Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies. Image caption, New satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies show smoke and fire following the explosion on the symbolic Crimean bridge. Russia ramped up security on its only bridge to Crimea after a huge blast destroyed sections of it on Saturday. President Vladimir Putin has now ordered the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to oversee the key connector to the occupied peninsula. The bridge is also a pivotal symbol of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The blast killed three people, Russian investigators said. Officials said work to fix the damaged sections will begin immediately. Russia’s deputy prime minister ordered the destroyed parts of the bridge to be taken down immediately, and said divers would begin investigating damage below the waterline on Sunday morning, Russian news agencies report. Hailed by Russian media as “the construction of the century”, the bridge has been crucial to Russia for the movement of military equipment, ammunition and troops into southern Ukraine. But new satellite images released on Saturday showed smoke and fire near the collapsed areas of the 19km (12-mile) bridge, which was opened with much fanfare four years after Moscow annexed Crimea. Since it plays a strategic role in the war, Ukrainian authorities have said it is a legitimate target, as they vow to retake the peninsula. Ukrainian officials responded with thinly-veiled approval to the explosion – but have not indicated that their forces were behind the attack. President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the incident in his nightly address on Saturday, saying: “Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory.” “Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm,” he added. Media caption, Watch: Fire and smoke seen on Crimean bridge after explosion reported Russian authorities moved swiftly to reopen those parts of the key connector still intact, and said late on Saturday that the bridge has been partially reopened to road and rail traffic. It is a vital artery in Moscow’s supply chain to the battlefront in its invasion of Ukraine – and to the annexed Crimean territory itself. The Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said there was a desire for revenge, but made reassurances that the peninsula still had a month’s worth of fuel and more than two months’ worth of food. “The situation is manageable – it’s unpleasant, but not fatal,” he said. Ukrainian official David Arakhamia, parliamentary head of Mr Zelensky’s party, said “Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire. “The reason is simple: If you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode.” And a Ukrainian MP told the BBC that regardless of who was responsible for the attack, this was a “big Ukrainian victory and very severe and hard loss for Russia.” “The bridge is not destroyed but damaged, but the image of Putin is destroyed, that is the most important thing,” Oleksiy Goncharenko said. It is hard to overstate the political, symbolic and strategic significance of the Crimean bridge. Russian officials previously claimed it was well protected from threats from air, land or water – particularly since it is more than 100 miles from Ukrainian-held territory. A Russian national anti-terrorism committee said the damage was caused by a truck bomb blowing up, which caused seven railway carriages to catch fire. The home of a man from the Krasnodar region of southern Russia is being investigated, it added. While Ukraine has not linked its armed forces to the explosion, it has targeted Crimea in the past. Last month, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a series of air strikes on Crimea – including an attack on Russia’s Saky military base. Since the bridge attack on Saturday, Ukraine’s social media has erupted in celebration. Its second-largest bank says it has already issued a new debit card design featuring the collapsed bridge. In recent weeks, Kyiv’s forces have taken back significant amounts of territory seized by Russia earlier in the war. Hours after the bridge explosion, Russia appointed a new commander to lead its troops in Ukraine. Sergei Surovikin is a veteran commander known for leading Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing the decimation of the city of Aleppo. But Russia still controls fast swathes of Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – the biggest in Europe – which has lost all external power and is relying on emergency diesel generators for the energy it needs for reactor cooling, according to the UN nuclear watchdog. And the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia, in Ukraine’s south-east, saw overnight shelling which killed at least 17 people, according to a local official on Telegram. Buildings and apartment blocks have been damaged in the missile attacks, said Anatoliy Kurtev, the city’s secretary of administration. Unverified posts on social media also appeared to show apartment blocks in flames. Read More…

St. James Major Catholic Church Holds Fall Festival https://digitalalabamanews.com/st-james-major-catholic-church-holds-fall-festival/ MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – St. James Major Catholic Church in Prichard got into the autumn spirit Saturday, hosting its fall festival on the church grounds. Organizers said the festival is the church’s biggest fundraiser of the year. All of the vendors were St. James Major parishioners and donated their profits to the church. Most of the events at the festival were geared toward the kids. “I think the best part about it is the kids’ activities,” said Herman Thomas, parish council president. “We love for the kids to come out and just have a good time and be affiliated with the church and so when we have our back-to-school rally and our vacation Bible school, they have a relationship with the church, so we get more kids to come back to activities surrounding the church.” Young attendees expressed delight with the event. “The booths up there with the face painting–the whole thing was good,” said Demarco Moore. “I liked the bouncy house and the food,” said Douglas July. Event Coordinator Caress Alexander said, “I am very thankful for the volunteers and the people who came out and gave their time and support. I really appreciate them.” All of the help keeps the church’s outreach ministries going throughout the year, including the food pantry, back to school services and community activities. — Download the FOX10 Weather App. Get life-saving severe weather warnings and alerts for your location no matter where you are. Available free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Copyright 2022 WALA. All rights reserved. Read More…

Trump Decries Nevada Gas Prices, Boosts Laxalt, Lombardo And GOP Ticket – The Nevada Independent https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-decries-nevada-gas-prices-boosts-laxalt-lombardo-and-gop-ticket-the-nevada-independent/ Former President Donald Trump attacked Nevada’s top Democrats as weak on crime and damaging to the economy during a Saturday campaign rally in Minden, Nevada for the state’s top Republican candidates, including U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt and gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo. During a nearly 90-minute speech delivered in front of thousands of cheering supporters at the Minden-Tahoe Airport, roughly 12 miles south of the State Capitol, Trump blamed Democrats for high inflation and what he described as an “invasion” at the southern border, while also boosting down-ticket Republicans, including secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant and attorney general candidate Sigal Chattah. “Under Democrat rule, the price of gas in Nevada is up 100 percent,” Trump said. “Two years ago, everything was so good in our country, and now, it’s going to pieces. It’s falling apart. You now have gasoline, $5 today, $5.54 a gallon.” But the majority of his remarks disregarded Nevada entirely. Trump repeatedly attacked Democratic President Joe Biden, lamented the United States as a “failing nation” and denounced investigations into his conduct as political attacks — including the Department of Justice’s investigation into classified documents Trump took after leaving office. “For six straight years, the witch hunts, hoaxes and abuses have been coming at us fast and furious,” Trump said. “We have a weaponized Department of Justice and FBI on everything. including of the courts. I mean think of this, how about, including the break in of my home, concerning the so-called ‘document hoax’ case.” He also hinted at plans to run for re-election in 2024, saying about his presidential runs, “we may have to do it again,” followed by chants of “We want Trump” from the crowd. The event marked Trump’s second visit this cycle to battleground Nevada, where Republicans are seeking to capitalize on high inflation and dissatisfaction with Democratic President Joe Biden to flip a slew of Democrat-held federal and statewide seats, including a pivotal seat in the U.S. Senate, three House seats and the governor’s office. During his last Nevada visit, a trip to Las Vegas in July to boost Lombardo and Laxalt, Trump railed against Democratic crime policies, describing Nevada as a “cesspool of crime.”  Trump echoed messaging from that Las Vegas speech, attacking Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak as weak on crime, and calling for the use of the death penalty to punish drug dealers. The Saturday rally came just as mail ballots are being sent out to voters across deep red, rural Nevada, and just two weeks before the start of the state’s early voting period on Oct. 22. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt appears before the crowd during a “Save America” Trump campaign rally in Minden, Nevada on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (David Calvert/Nevada Independent) Along with Lombardo and Laxalt, the event featured “the entire Nevada Trump ticket,” who urged Republicans in the audience to turn out to vote in November. That ticket included Marchant; Chattah; Rep. Mark Amodei, who represents Congressional District 2; Sam Peters, candidate for Congressional District 4; Michele Fiore, candidate for state treasurer; Stavros Anthony, candidate for lieutenant governor; and Andy Matthews, candidate for state controller. The group of candidates, who each delivered roughly five minute-long campaign speeches, offered praise for Trump, while addressing key issues for the Republican base, including the economy, crime and immigration. By and large, the group pointed to high inflation and rising gas prices, denouncing economic conditions in Nevada under Democratic control. “Why we’re hurting worse than any state in America — it’s because of these policies,” Laxalt said in a speech focused on tying his opponent, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, to Biden. Lombardo’s remarks centered on the key issues of his campaign, as he called for economic diversification and school choice and said he would “fix our safety.” “The goal of government is to make criminals’ lives harder, not easier,” he said. “Sisolak has done the opposite, and we’re going to fix that … because you’re going to have a subject matter expert in the office of the governor.” Marchant, standing alongside Trump, said he and the former president had both lost a “rigged election” in 2020, despite state election officials finding no evidence of widespread fraud in Nevada. In a speech earlier in the event, Marchant highlighted his push for major election changes, including using strictly paper ballots and hand counting results. He also said he convinced a Nevada county to implement a “new prototype for the election system,” referring to Nye County, where the top election official plans to tabulate votes electronically and by hand. But Marchant, a former assemblyman who has said Nevada has not had a legitimate election in more than a decade, did not hope to dissuade turnout with that message. “No matter how much rigging they can do of the system, if you show up on November 8, in mass, with such a turnout, it doesn’t matter what they do. We overwhelm the system. So it’s critical that you get out and vote like you’ve never voted before,” he said. Trump echoed Marchant’s claims about a “rigged election,” falsely claiming he ran twice and “won twice.” He also urged the crowd to vote in person on Election Day, saying that it would make it “harder for them to cheat.”  Trump also referenced Jan. 6, 2021, while boasting about the size of the crowd at the Minden rally, saying that it was “the biggest crowd I believe I’ve ever spoken to.” On that day, Trump supporters gathered in Washington D.C., before violently storming the Capitol. Multiple Nevada residents have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with their participation in the insurrection. Republican secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant waves to the crowd during a “Save America” Trump campaign rally in Minden, Nevada on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (David Calvert/Nevada Independent) Democrats moved swiftly to denounce the event following its announcement late last month, attacking Lombardo and Laxalt for their connections to Trump, who lost Nevada by roughly 2.4 points in both 2016 and 2020. Since Trump’s endorsement of Lombardo in April, Lombardo has, at times, kept a distance from the former president. In an October debate against Sisolak, Lombardo, asked if Trump was a “great” president, said: “I wouldn’t say great. I think he was a sound president.”  But soon after the debate, Lombardo’s campaign issued a press release stating, “By all measures … Trump was a great President.” On Saturday, he echoed that sentiment.  “We’re here to rally for the Republican ticket. And who’s going to help us today? Who’s going to help us? The greatest president, right? Donald J. Trump,” Lombardo said. “I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart for being here today and helping us, helping us achieve what we’re trying to achieve.” Laxalt, who earned the endorsement of Trump in August last year, has been a close ally of the former president, serving as the Trump campaign’s Nevada co-chair in 2020, and leading legal efforts to challenge the election. However, Laxalt recently acknowledged that Biden is the “legitimate president,” in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s editorial board. Attendees arrive at the “Save America” Trump campaign rally in Minden, Nevada on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. (David Calvert/Nevada Independent) Nearly 100 attendees gathered outside the event gates as early as four hours before the doors opened for the “Save America” Trump rally. Chants of “Let’s Go Brandon” and a playlist featuring classic rock and country filled the air as people waited to be let in. As the time neared for guest speakers to deliver opening remarks, the sea of red merchandise — featuring Trump graphics and candidate names, including Peters, Lombardo to and Laxalt — grew to an estimated 2,000-5,000 people, some who came from as far as Florida. By the end point of his speech, Trump said he was speaking to a crowd of 25,000 people. John DeCicco, a North Las Vegas resident who flew to Reno a few days before the rally, pointed to crime, immigration and voting integrity as his top issues during an interview with The Nevada Independent. He identified himself as a supporter of Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, who finished second in the Republican primary for governor.  DeCicco said he believed the 2020 election was rigged, and he agreed with Gilbert’s decision to contest the result of the primary. Gilbert alleged that algorithms in the voting machines were responsible for flipping votes, and for his loss in the election, though a judge dismissed the lawsuit finding “no competent evidence.”  “Nevada was one of the six states, and it was probably more than that, where I think the Democrats cheated,” DeCicco said. “Personal opinion — Democrats can’t win unless they cheat.” There is no evidence of widespread fraud in Nevada’s 2020 election. The state’s Republican secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, also found no “evidentiary support” for claims of massive fraud alleged by state Republicans following a review of those claims in 2021.  Attendee David Entriken, an electrician who traveled to the event from Jamestown, California, expressed support for the message of the “Save America” rally. “Our country is broken. We got to fix it,” he said. Not all attendees were energized about the Nevada slate, though. When asked about his opinion of Lombardo, Steve Machutta, a Reno resident, said, “We’re kind of on the fence … we thought we could have done better than him.” But Machutta still plans to vote for Lombardo, adding that he hopes for “an...

Delaware Republicans Celebrate Court Ruling: Vote-By-Mail Unconstitutional https://digitalalabamanews.com/delaware-republicans-celebrate-court-ruling-vote-by-mail-unconstitutional/ DEWEY BEACH, Del.—“There will be no vote-by-mail on November 8! There will be no same-day voter registration!” said M. Jane Brady, the chair of the Delaware Republican Party on Friday. Brady was overjoyed on sharing the news about a ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court with some 100 people who had gathered at the Rusty Rudder restaurant for a Freedom Festival Banquet. Earlier that day, the court had stated in its ruling that both Delaware’s vote-by-mail and same-day registration statutes violate the state’s Constitution. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Delaware Governor John Carney, Democratic Party, declared a public health emergency, and the General Assembly passed laws to allow people to vote by mail. “We are working hard to protect the integrity of our elections in Delaware,” said Brady. “The way they’ve been for a very long time, that’s trying to be undermined and undone, and I won’t let it happen on my watch.” Brady is a former Delaware attorney general and a former Delaware Superior Court judge. “The Supreme Court ruled that vote-by-mail statutes that were passed in June and signed by the governor in July are unconstitutional under Delaware’s Constitution,” Brady told an Epoch Times reporter during the banquet. Brady said that Delaware had not permitted universal vote-by-mail before June, but allows absentee ballots. If someone is unable to go to one’s designated polling station due to military service, illness, injury, or travel, the person can request an absentee ballot. “But they can’t just for no reason not show up to vote and ask for a ballot to be sent to them,” said Brady. Stephen Moore, former senior economic advisor to President Donald Trump and senior economist at FreedomWorks, was keynote speaker at the Freedom Festival Banquet at the Rusty Rudder on Oct.  7, 2022. (Lily Sun/The Epoch Times) Brady expressed admiration for Delaware’s top court. “I’m very happy we have a great court. Our courts are like the federal courts. If you’re once appointed, you cannot be involved in partisan political activity. We don’t elect our judges,” she said. “They’re much more true to the law than in some states where they have to answer politically for their job.” Brady said that as a lawyer, she believes in the rule of law. “The law is very clear to me, not ambiguous at all. You cannot vote by mail; you cannot register to vote on the same day as the election. The court agreed with me.” Brady encourages people to go out to vote on Nov. 8. “Every one of us who cares about our kids, and education, and then inflation, and gas prices, and our national security, and energy independence, needs to be at those ballot boxes.” ‘Level the Playing Field’ Lee Murphy, the Republican candidate for Delaware’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said that he is happy with the court’s decision. “The big news today in Delaware is that the Supreme Court ruled that there are no mail-in ballots, and no election-day registration, which will really level the playing field for all the candidates in the state,” Murphy said. “The court understands the Constitution, the Delaware Constitution, and everyone here tonight, and especially myself as a candidate for Congress. We’re very happy about what we feel was the absolute right decision.” Murphy shared his own election story related to mail-in-voting. He ran for Congress in 2020 but lost to incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester. “It’s very important because in 2020, as you know, we had mail-in ballots. I ran in 2020. I won the machine ballots on election day, I’m proud to say,” he said. “However, we lost the mail-in ballots in 2020.” Murphy said he is happy that people will once again be able to go to the polls, cast their vote, or cast an absentee ballot. Other attendees were excited about the news. Ruth Briggs King, the state representative from the 37th District, said: “We’re celebrating in Delaware tonight the finding of our Supreme Court of some unconstitutional laws that they tried to pass this year.” Follow Lily Sun is an Epoch Times reporter who covers the tri-state of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Follow Read More…

Lynn Smith: Cowards, Crooks, And Crazies, Part III https://digitalalabamanews.com/lynn-smith-cowards-crooks-and-crazies-part-iii/ Lynn Smith  |  Community Columnist It’s long been observed that American politics is best conducted between the 40-yard lines because when extremists are allowed to dominate either end of the field, our country loses its moorings. But with Republicans pandering to the most extreme elements of their voting base, primary battles have become radical right-wing scrums, with the nuts in possession of the ball, and running it downfield. This month, as the cowards quake, and the crooks corrupt, I’ll end my three-part series on the downfall of the Republican Party, with the conspiracy-loving crazies. More:Lynn Smith: Cowards, crooks, and crazies The embrace of the kooks within the GOP is not an aberration, it’s a culmination. From McCarthyism to Birtherism, from Christian Nationalism to rural militias, from FOX News to Breitbart News, from Rush Limbaugh to Tucker Carlson, and from the John Birch Society to MAGA, the Republican Party has deliberately nurtured extremism. Not only are Republican politicians brandishing firearms and threatening to extinguish the Dems, but former President Trump is overtly embracing QAnon conspiracies that among other nonsense, call for his lifetime appointment as President. More:Lynn Smith: Cowards, crooks and crazies, Part II In today’s GOP, President Reagan’s bold and unapologetic disdain for dictatorships, is long gone. When Republican Sen. Joseph Welch courageously asked, “Have you no decency, sir?” during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, he basically ended Republican Joseph McCarthy’s reign of terror in the U.S. Senate. And during his unsuccessful run for president in ’64, Republican Barry Goldwater spoke derisively about the racism among his own supporters. Thankfully, his candor and courage allowed him to thrive in the Senate long enough to join colleagues, John Rhodes, R-Ariz., and Hugh Scott, R-Pa., in encouraging President Nixon to resign in ‘74. Ronald Reagan openly referred to the John Birch Society as a “lunatic fringe,” and Republican congressional leaders Everett Dirksen and Gerald Ford, publicly agreed. During the civil rights movement in the turbulent decade of the ‘60s, conservative bulldog William F. Buckley ran critical commentaries on Republican displays of “conspiratorial and unpatriotic hostility” from his editorial perch at the National Review. Compare those quaint times with now, when a substantial portion of the American right is animated by any action, however illegal or immoral, that allows them to retain control. Shockingly, neither Trump’s attempted coup, nor his theft of our country’s national security secrets, is enough to shake the few remaining Republican patriots out of the trees. No fewer than 86 judges rejected at least one post-election lawsuit filed by Trump and yet, almost 150 Republican candidates are currently running on the gospel of election fraud. Some candidates running for secretary of state, and even governorships, are openly saying they won’t certify a Democrat if they win in 2024. Now, truth is nothing more than an inconvenient annoyance, and the crazies are given free rein to gin up one farcical fantasy after another. What tragic irony in a nation birthed during the Age of Enlightenment! But most dangerous of all are the crazies’ public bouts of rage, increasingly peppered with threats of violence, that are driving the sane and stable folks out of public service. We are losing our most experienced servant leaders, those that have exhibited decades of apolitical excellence, because they can no longer endure the abuse meted out by radical loud mouths. Tragically, we are left with ethical and moral vacuums within our school boards, our election commissions, and at all levels of government. Because democracy is dependent upon our ability to self-govern, the out-of-control extremists at either end of the field, are fundamentally incapable of providing the clearheaded leadership that our country requires. But because we’re the folks that elect the governing class, we’ve all played a part in creating our political brokenness. I voted for independent candidate Ross Perot in 1992. It was the first time that I didn’t vote a straight Republican ticket in a national election, and I still regret that decision. George H.W. Bush was a far better man than Bill Clinton, and in 1992, the GOP was still a functioning political party. But now, the GOP is mostly engaged in igniting culture wars and spreading lies, while the Dems, however imperfect, are passing forward-looking legislation that will improve the lives of millions of Americans. Appallingly, Republicans have harnessed the worst elements in politics, poisoned our national discourse, and are no longer worthy of representing the world’s only remaining superpower. This post-truth, pro-conspiracy, pro-rage cult of personality, must be decisively defeated in November. So for the first time in my life, I will vote a straight Democratic ticket in the upcoming elections. And candidly, I’m praying that millions of Americans will do the same. — Community Columnist Lynn Smith is a retired wealth management executive who resides in Holland. Contact her at lynn.angleworks@gmail.com.   Read More…

Bryan Harsin 'freaking Frustrated' By Miscues In Loss https://digitalalabamanews.com/bryan-harsin-freaking-frustrated-by-miscues-in-loss/ An exhausted Bryan Harsin let out an audible sigh before answering a question on Auburn’s scoring woes Saturday after the Tigers lost 42-10 against No. 2 Georgia. “I wish I had the answer for that. Alright? I really do,” Harsin told reporters. “If I did, we would fix those things. I think part of the struggle is you’re playing good teams. Part of the struggles are self-inflicted things we’ve done to ourselves.” One of the biggest issues for the Tigers was getting called for 10 penalties for 60 yards. Auburn had several false start penalties during the game, which put the team in challenging situations on third down. “It’s freaking frustrating,” Harsin said. “It is. It’s frustrating as hell. And you don’t know why. I mean, that’s one of the things, too; it happens like it’s not changing in the game. And right or wrong, you can argue it all you want. But it’s not going to change the outcome right there in that moment. So you’ve got to respond to that. And, you know, we’ve been saying it too: first and 10, second and five is different than second and 15. Right? First and 15.” Read More Auburn Football: Rewinding Auburn’s blowout 42-10 loss vs No. 2 Georgia What Bryan Harsin said during the presser after 42-10 loss at No. 2 Georgia Auburn’s defense gets worn down by Georgia’s ground attack, gives up 6 rushing touchdowns Auburn didn’t cross the 50-yard line on offense until late in the second quarter, down 14-0. Despite the struggles, there was a chance for the Tigers to close the gap before halftime. Auburn had 10 first downs and punted nine times against Georgia. Two of Auburn’s 10 first downs came on a drive that started on the Tigers’ 29-yard line with a little over eight minutes left in the first half. Robby Ashford connected with John Samuel Shenker for a 13-yard pass, and Shenker caught a nine-yard pass to the UGA 48 for another first down. Ashford fumbled at the Georgia 41-yard-line with 4:42 on one of the Tigers’ rare drives that got some yards. “I don’t know if he just dropped it or somebody knocked it out. I was kind of watching something else. I just saw the ball come out,” Harsin said. “So, either way, it’s a turnover. And those are costly, and that’s been something that, you know, everybody knows that, too. No one’s trying to put the ball on the ground. You want to take care of it. But that becomes a big factor in games.” Perhaps the slow-moving offense led to Harsin attempting a fake punt with 25 seconds left in the first quarter with the ball on Auburn’s 34-yard-line. Auburn needed six yards, but Shenker gained two yards. “We knew tonight was going to be a challenge offensively with their defense, so any positive yards we could get and extension of drives, that was a chance for us to do that, in that field position as well, because they weren’t going to be in safe;” Harsin said. “They were going to give us a chance with that look, and they did give us the look. They out-executed us in that moment right there, but overall I thought we had a good design for that opportunity.” Auburn’s defense kept the Bulldogs from scoring off the fumble. Turnovers have been an issue for Auburn throughout the 2022 season. Auburn has a -9 turnover ratio. They were even in turnovers against Georgia. But, missed an opportunity to pull within seven points in the second half. Colby Wooden recovered a fumble by Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second half. Auburn got the ball at the Tigers’ 19 but failed to score in the red zone. Auburn settled for a 29-yard field goal by Anders Carlson. “We have to score a touchdown in that situation,” Shenker said. “We had a chance and we didn’t capitalize.” Auburn got outscored 7-3 in the third quarter. Bennett’s 64-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter put Georgia ahead 28-3. The long run by Bennett closed the door on the Tigers. Jarquez Hunter caught a 62-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 35-10, but it was too little too late on another frustrating night for Harsin as the Tigers’ head coach. “You know, we do some really, really good things at times, and then, you know, we just have some things that hurt us.,” Harsin said. And the consistency piece, that’s the key, right. And as you watch teams, and why they win, they’re consistent.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Trump’s Hard-Line Policies Toward Iran May Have Led To Current Protests https://digitalalabamanews.com/trumps-hard-line-policies-toward-iran-may-have-led-to-current-protests/ Protests in Iran have spread like wildfire and former President Donald Trump’s hard-line policies may have provided the kindling. The protests that have rocked Iran for three weeks are the largest the country has seen in over a decade, fueled by women angry over the increasingly repressive measures of the regime and a growing sense of hopelessness about the country’s economic future. Watching the unrest unfold, some have asked whether Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign paved the way for the current anti-government uprisings.  Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on U.S.-Iran relations, said Trump’s implementation of harsh sanctions following his exit from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran may have been an important factor in creating the conditions for the current protests. “The combination of the regime’s mismanagement, repression and economic mismanagement, and on top of that sanctions that have really devastated the economy creates an explosive situation that makes protests more likely,” Parsi said.  The protests began on Sept. 16, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who had been arrested three days earlier by the country’s morality police for violating strict rules on head coverings. A photo of Amini lying unconscious in a hospital bed went viral as her family claimed she had been beaten by dress code-enforcing officials, resulting in a nationwide protest that has since spread to over 80 cities.  Like other recent protests in Iran, this has been met by a harsh response from law enforcement. There have been at least 154 confirmed deaths since the protests began, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights. Even with the government’s eagerness to quell the protests, they seem to be intensifying. Dozens of videos have surfaced on social media showing large crowds confronting law enforcement officers, tearing down pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yelling “death to the dictator,” and repeating the slogan “Woman. Life. Freedom.” Most dramatically, there are  videos showing women removing their mandatory headwear, the hijab, and throwing them into the flames.  Though this round of protests stands apart from others in Iran’s recent history — because of its inclusion of the middle class, clear revolutionary aspirations and focus on women — the underlying motivations are not new, according to Parsi.  “You have 40 years of repression, corruption, mismanagement by the government and a continuous depriving of the population of any hope and faith that the system can be reformed,” Parsi said.  Despite these long-standing grievances, it’s likely the current uprising was accelerated by Trump’s rejection of Obama-era foreign policy, Parsi said.  In May 2018, Trump followed through with a campaign promise to end the United States’ participation in a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. The deal was meant to limit the Iran nuclear program in exchange for relaxed U.S. sanctions. But, according to Trump, the deal was inherently flawed and “failed to protect America’s national security interests.”  Upon exiting the deal, Trump announced that previous sanctions would be reimposed on Iran and throughout the remainder of his presidency additional sanctions were levied, making it the toughest sanctions regime ever applied to the country. In the two years following Trump’s decision, the sanctions, which levied fines on Iran’s oil exports and hundreds of individuals and companies, caused Iran’s economy to contract by almost 12%, pushing roughly 10 million people from the middle class into poverty, Parsi said, citing Hadi Kahalzadeh of Brandeis University. According to Parsi, the failure of the Iran nuclear deal and the economic turmoil brought on by the reimposition of sanctions undermined the arguments of reformers, such as former Iran president Hassan Rouhani, 2013-2021, and paved the way for hard-liners to come to power, such as current president Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected in 2021 after the country’s Guardian Council disqualified all other serious contenders.  Since becoming president, Raisi has refused to compromise in negotiations over a revised nuclear deal and has increased enforcement of the Islamic dress code, something Raisi’s moderate predecessor had discouraged. With a failing economy and a more repressive regime in place, hope for reform has disappeared, Parsi said.  “With the manner in which the hard-liners have increasingly closed the space for change and reform from within, it is not surprising to see that people are increasingly losing confidence and faith in that it is reformable and as a result feel, rightly or wrongly, that protests and a complete overhaul of the government is the only way, the only option they have,” Parsi said.  While Trump’s policies were an important factor in creating the conditions that resulted in the current protests, they may have also decreased the chances of success, he said. A 2012 study, co-authored by Parsi, found that almost no authoritarian regimes under broad economic sanctions have experienced a successful transition to democracy. Economic sanctions have actually helped consolidate authoritarian rule and weaken opposition, Parsi said, by making it more difficult for an impoverished population to sustain protests and by destroying the institutions and norms needed for a successful transition to democracy. Economic sanctions against Iran remain in place under the Biden administration as negotiations over a revised nuclear deal have stalled and uncertainty over the future of the current regime continues to grow. While it’s unlikely the regime will collapse in the near term, Parsi has no doubt that the protests will have a lasting effect. “I don’t think things can go back to the way they were.” Read More…

Chickasaw City Schools In The Process Of Putting Narcan In Schools https://digitalalabamanews.com/chickasaw-city-schools-in-the-process-of-putting-narcan-in-schools/ CHICKASAW, Ala. (WKRG) — As we are seeing fentanyl in more and more places, school districts are taking precautions, by keeping the drug that can treat an opioid overdose on hand at their schools. Chickasaw City Schools are in the process of putting Narcan in their middle and high school, and making sure some staff is trained on how to use it. It’s a life-saving precaution. “It could happen any day and we’d rather be prepared than not,” said Vicki Wren, the lead nurse for the health services department at Chickasaw City Schools. Wren is currently in the process of making sure the three nurses at Chickasaw City schools are trained on how to use the Narcan nasal spray, in case a child ever overdoses from Fentanyl or another opioid at school. “I don’t think there’s going to be a school system anywhere that’s not going to have to deal with this at some point or another,” said David Wofford, the Chickasaw City Schools Superintendent. “It’s just so readily available, unfortunately. It’s so easy to get. It’s on the streets. Because it is a prescription medication, many many people have those medications on hand,” Wren said about fentanyl. Chickasaw City Schools started the process of getting the drug at the beginning of the school year. Other staff, including counselors and some administrators, will also be trained eventually. “I believe all school systems should have this in their schools, it’s a necessity in the age that we live in,” said Wren. That necessity, nearly a reality, after a fentanyl scare at Chickasaw High School last week. Chickasaw Police were called to the school after it was believed a student took fentanyl and overdosed in a classroom. A doctor determined at the hospital it was not a fentanyl overdose. School and law enforcement officials were thankful for the response, as everyone acted quickly. “No one wants to go through a trial run in this fashion, but if it had to happen we were thankful that they did handle it with expertise the way they should have,” said Wofford. Narcan should be arriving at Chickasaw City Schools by the end of the month. “I do think that’s a comfort, knowing that if something should happen, whether it’s intentional or accidental, there is a protocol that can possibly, it’s not guaranteed, but it can possibly save a life,” said Wofford. Both Baldwin County Schools and Mobile County schools have had Narcan at their schools since 2019. Stay ahead of the biggest stories, breaking news and weather in Mobile, Pensacola and across the Gulf Coast and Alabama. Download the WKRG News 5 news app and be sure to turn on push alerts. Read More…

North Korea Fires Two Ballistic Missiles In Seventh Of Recent Launches https://digitalalabamanews.com/north-korea-fires-two-ballistic-missiles-in-seventh-of-recent-launches/ TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) – North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early on Sunday, authorities in neighbouring countries said, the seventh such launch by Pyongyang in recent days that added to widespread alarm in Washington and its allies in Tokyo and Seoul. Officials in the South Korean capital have said the uptick in the North’s missile launches could signal it is closer than ever to resuming nuclear testing for the first time since 2017, with preparations observed at its test site for months. Both of Sunday’s missiles reached an altitude of 100 km (60 miles) and covered 350 km (218 miles), Japan’s state minister of defence, Toshiro Ino, told reporters. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The first was fired at about 1:47 a.m. (1647 GMT) and the second some six minutes later. They fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and authorities were looking into what type they were, including the possibility that they were submarine-launched ballistic missiles, he added. The U.S. military said it was consulting closely with allies and partners following the launches, which it said highlighted the “destabilizing impact” of the North Korean nuclear arms and ballistic missile programs. Still, the United States assessed that the latest launches did not pose a threat to U.S. personnel or American allies. “The U.S. commitments to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad,” the Hawaii-based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The latest missile launches from the Muncheon area on North Korea’s east coast are a “serious provocation” that harms peace, South Korean authorities said. On Tuesday, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile farther than ever before, sending it soaring over Japan for the first time in five years and prompting a warning to residents there to take cover. Ino said Tokyo would not tolerate the repeated actions by North Korea. The incident was the seventh such launch since Sept. 25. Japan’s foreign ministry said the nuclear envoys of the United States, South Korea and Japan held a telephone call and shared the view that the North’s ballistic missile launches threatened the peace and security of the region and the international community, besides posing a civil aviation risk. North Korea, which has pursued missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, said on Saturday its missile tests were for self-defence against direct U.S. military threats and had not harmed the safety of neighbours. “Our missile tests are a normal, planned self-defence measure to protect our country’s security and regional peace from direct U.S. military threats,” said state media KCNA, citing an aviation administration spokesperson. South Korea and the United States held joint maritime exercises on Friday, a day after Seoul scrambled fighter jets in reaction to an apparent North Korean bombing drill. The United States also announced new sanctions on Friday in response to North Korea’s latest missile launches. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo and David Dolan in Tokyo, Phil Stewart in Washington; Additional reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Leslie Adler and Clarence Fernandez Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More…

Tuberville: ’Pro-Crime’ Democrats Want ‘reparations’ For ‘people Who Do The Crime’ https://digitalalabamanews.com/tuberville-pro-crime-democrats-want-reparations-for-people-who-do-the-crime/ News Updated: Oct. 08, 2022, 9:39 p.m.| Published: Oct. 08, 2022, 9:20 p.m. WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 21: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) rides in a Senate elevator near the Senate Chambers in the U.S. Capitol on July 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Senate wrapped up their votes for the week and is expected to consider legislation for legalizing marijuana and the House-approved bill protecting same-sex marriage. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)Getty Images U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Saturday said Democrats are in favor of “reparations” because they are “pro-crime.” Tuberville, R-Ala., made the comments while at a rally held by former President Donald Trump in Nevada. “They want reparations because they think the people who do the crime are owed that,” Tuberville said as the crowd cheered behind him. “Bullshit!” he added. Tuberville’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Tuberville joined Trump and other Republicans speaking at a rally near Lake Tahoe in Nevada in support of Adam Laxalt, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and Joe Lombardo, a candidate in the state’s governor’s race. “We’re going to take our country back and we’re going to straighten up education and we’re going to close the border,” Tuberville said. “We’re going to get inflation under control, and we’re going to stop this damn crime. You have to select and get Adam Laxalt elected senator of the state of Alabam-of Nevada.” During the rally, Tuberville also said the U.S. cannot afford food stamps and “people need to go back to work.” Reparations typically refer to “financial recompense for African-Americans whose ancestors were slaves and lived through the Jim Crow era,” according to the NAACP. The association has called for a national apology, as well as financial payments, social service benefits and land grants to every descendant of enslaved African Americans. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Critics Sound Alarm Over ‘Twitter Troll’ Elon Musk’s Company Takeover https://digitalalabamanews.com/critics-sound-alarm-over-twitter-troll-elon-musks-company-takeover/ Elon Musk’s looming Twitter takeover has triggered warnings on the left that under his leadership the platform will be flooded with hate speech and misinformation, especially ahead of coming election cycles. Musk hasn’t provided a detailed picture of the version of Twitter he plans to run, but he’s foreshadowed creating a platform focused on what he deems “free speech,” meaning there would be less content moderation and a strong likelihood of former President Trump regaining access to his once favored account. With the deal barreling ahead after Musk agreed to follow through on his purchase of the company and a judge halted the trial in Twitter’s lawsuit against the billionaire, those changes could be fast approaching — and they have critics worried. “Even if you don’t use Twitter, this is going to affect you,” Angelo Carusone, president of the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters, told The Hill. He likened the potential Musk acquisition of Twitter to when Fox News launched more than two decades ago, offering an alternative to balance what its founders viewed as a media landscape that catered to liberals. “That’s what Fox became — and it had a profound distorting effect on the news media, on our society. And if you look at what Musk says about social media, we are in the same moment, just updated 30 years later,” Carusone said. “[Musk] sees Twitter, and the policies that he wants to put in place and the way that he wants to use the platform, as a way to balance out those other social networks,” he added. The changes Musk could make at Twitter are “going to start to reshape and influence” how other platforms interact with disinformation, extremism, harassment and abuse, he said. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO came to an agreement with Twitter to buy the company for $44 billion in April, but over the summer he backed out of the deal and accused Twitter of not being forthcoming with information about spam bots on the platform. Twitter denied the allegations and sued Musk to hold him accountable for his agreement. This week Musk said he would, again, agree to his offer and tried to get the case dismissed. Twitter is still pushing for its trial against Musk, but a judge halted the case and gave Musk until Oct. 28 to close the deal or face a November trial date. One constant throughout the five-month process has been Musk’s pledge to embrace his vision of free speech, one that appears to be in line with the lax content moderation measures Republicans have been advocating for. “I’m not doing Twitter for the money. It’s not like I’m trying to buy some yacht and I can’t afford it. I don’t own any boats. But I think it’s important that people have a maximally trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas and that it should be as trusted and transparent as possible,” Musk, who has previously dubbed himself a “free speech absolutist,” said in an interview with the Financial Times published Friday. At the same time, he seems to be trying to separate his view from that governing the fringe sites that have popped up to cater to right-wing users — including Trump’s Truth Social. He called the former president’s app “essentially a rightwing echo chamber.” “It might as well be called Trumpet,” Musk said. Musk’s own style of using Twitter may guide how he leads the company. Throughout the on-and-off-again deal, he used his account on the platform to call out top executives. At one point in May, for instance, he tweeted a lone poop emoji in response to a lengthy explanation from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal about bots. “He’s a premier Twitter troll himself,” said Paul Barrett, a deputy director of New York University Stern’s Center for Business and Human Rights. “He loves to insult people on Twitter and I think the fact that that’s his motivation as opposed to a clear business plan for Twitter, or even a clear ideological plan … makes the situation very volatile and difficult to forecast. Because I think a lot of it has to do with his whims and what he’s feeling like when he wakes up on any given day,” Barrett added. That troll-like approach could lead Twitter to “slide back toward” the “real cesspool” it was five to 10 years ago, Barrett said. As Twitter grew in those years, it implemented more moderation measures to rein in harassment and other forms of hate speech. Feminist group UltraViolet warned Musk’s changes could especially harm marginalized communities online. “If this deal goes through, Twitter will become an even more dangerous place for women, threats of violence online against Black women and women of color will skyrocket, and anti-trans content will take hold of user feeds,” UltraViolet communications director Bridget Todd said in a statement. Musk has offered the most concrete glimpse into his plans for Twitter changes when it comes to the fate of Trump’s account. Twitter took among the most stringent steps of any tech company regarding Trump’s social media accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack last year, putting in place a permanent ban after deeming the former president’s tweets about the riot that day violated Twitter’s glorification of violence policy. Company executives doubled down repeatedly that the ban would be permanent, even if Trump runs for office again. But Musk has other plans. In May he said he would reverse the ban, calling it a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.” If Trump is allowed back onto Twitter, it would give him access to the account he used most to post online when he was running for president and while in office. It could also influence other platforms to lift their bans on Trump. “Twitter easing up and allowing the former president to return to the platform would put pressure on the other platforms to do the same,” Barrett said. Meta, the new parent company name for Facebook, has already teased potentially letting Trump back on in January. The platform said its temporary suspension of Trump would be reevaluated in 2023, two years after it was put in place. “It is likely that Meta is going to restore Donald Trump’s Facebook account, but it’s not certain, there’s clearly a window of engagement there. It’s a guarantee that they will restore his Facebook account if Twitter does, it’s a fact,” Carusone said. Letting Trump, or other figures that have been banned, back on could play a key role in the lead up to the 2024 election, and in earlier contests. Carusone said Twitter changing hands may impact the midterm races, and the narratives about their results, pending the completion of the deal on its new October deadline. “I don’t think he’s going to allow Twitter to enforce those policies early on, even in the immediacy. So I think the effects will be smaller, certainly, into the midterms than they will be for 2024, but they will feel them. Especially in the races that are very tight and contested,” he said. While figures on the left lament the potential changes, Musk’s vision for Twitter has been embraced on the right. Republicans, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), poised to take control of the House Judiciary Committee if the GOP wins the House in November, cheered Musk’s push to buy the company. “Two things the Left hates: Elon Musk and the First Amendment,” Jordan tweeted Wednesday. Musk’s renewed takeover effort comes as online content moderation faces an inflection point. Motivated by accusations that tech companies are censoring content with an anti-conservative bias, Republican-led states are trying to put in place laws that would tie the hands of those companies when they seek to remove posts or accounts that violate their policies. Florida and Texas are entrenched in legal challenges with tech industry groups over the laws, and one of the cases is expected to wind up before the Supreme Court. At the same time, another case involving tech companies’ controversial liability shield, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, is already slated to be heard by the nation’s high court this session. “The social media industry is now subject to kind of a legal pincer maneuver with people coming at it from very different orientations, but all of those approaches, those assaults are threatening to how the social media industry does business —and I think Elon Musk is a third threat,” Barrett said. “He’s not legislation, and he’s not litigation, but he’s a threat via a volatile personality coming to own a major platform and possibly disrupting the general direction toward more self regulation on the part of that platform in particular. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Read More…

One Dead, Another Injured Saturday Night In Tuscaloosa Shooting; Suspect In Custody https://digitalalabamanews.com/one-dead-another-injured-saturday-night-in-tuscaloosa-shooting-suspect-in-custody/ TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit says one person is dead and another in critical condition following a shooting Saturday night. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. TPD confirmed to Patch that officers responded to the call of a shooting in the 3000 block of 20th Street at approximately 6:18 p.m. Saturday. Find out what’s happening in Tuscaloosawith free, real-time updates from Patch. TPD spokeswoman Stephanie Taylor also said the suspect left the scene following the shooting, but was taken into custody a short time after officers responded. Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Captain Marty Sellers told local media that the suspect took one of the victim’s vehicles and fled the scene, before being taken into custody. Find out what’s happening in Tuscaloosawith free, real-time updates from Patch. The suspect has not been identified at this time, nor has the male victim who died from his injuries. The case is now being investigated by the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you’re interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com. The rules of replying: Be respectful. This is a space for friendly local discussions. No racist, discriminatory, vulgar or threatening language will be tolerated. Be transparent. Use your real name, and back up your claims. Keep it local and relevant. Make sure your replies stay on topic. Review the Patch Community Guidelines. Read More…

UAB Football Gets Win Over Middle Tennessee, 41-14 https://digitalalabamanews.com/uab-football-gets-win-over-middle-tennessee-41-14/ The following article is from the UAB Athletics Department: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB football team had a season-high 581 yards of total offense as the Blazers downed Middle Tennessee 41-14 on Saturday afternoon at Protective Stadium. Facing Middle Tennessee’s top-ranked rushing defense which only allowed 107.8 yards per game coming into the contest, the Blazers (3-2, 1-1 C-USA) notched a season-best 303 yards on the ground and added 278 through the air for the dominating victory. Trea Shropshire had six catches for 193 yards and one touchdown through the air, all in the first half, while Jermaine Brown Jr. and DeWayne McBride combined for 234 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. The nation’s leading rusher, McBride had 120 yards and three touchdowns. He now has nine touchdowns in four games this season and is averaging 160.3 yards per game. Led by Keondre Swoopes with a career high 14 tackles, the Blazers held Middle Tennessee (3-3, 0-2 C-USA) to 336 yards of offense and had three sacks, seven TFL, one interception and seven pass breakups. Winners of five in a row at Protective Stadium, the Blazers are now 6-2 in their new home and 27-3 overall in Birmingham since returning to action in 2017. The Blazers’ offense got going quickly on the first drive of the game. Dylan Hopkins found his big-play wide receiver Trea Shropshire for a 46-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage to set up the scoring drive. DeWayne McBride punched it in from five yards out just a few plays later to make it 7-0. After forcing a three-and-out on the first Blue Raider possession, the UAB offense picked up right where it left off. This time, Jermaine Brown Jr. did the bulk of the work for the Blazers. Brown took three carries for a total of 55 yards including a 24-yard touchdown carry to put the finishing touches on the drive. Trailing 14-0, the Blue Raiders led their first touchdown drive, going 72 yards in 10 plays. Chase Cunningham found Jaylin Lane in the back of the end zone on third and goal from the 15 yard line to cut the UAB lead in half. Hopkins and Shropshire again connected for a big play, jump-starting the Blazers’ offensive possession with a 45-yard pass. McBride finished the drive with a one-yard plunge into the end zone to put the Blazers’ lead back at 14. On the ensuing MTSU drive, the Blue Raiders reached midfield before Cunningham’s deep ball on first down was picked off by Grayson Cash. Cash returned it for 10 yard to set up the UAB drive at the Blazers’ 26. Looking to make it a three-score game, the Blazers drove the length of the field in 14 plays before they settled for a field goal. Matt Quinn’s 19-yard attempt put the score at 24-7 for UAB. The UAB defense stepped up after the Blue Raider offense moved across midfield to the Blazers’ 35 yard line. The secondary force three-straight incompletions and Fish McWilliams sacked Cunningham on fourth down to turn the ball over to UAB. McBride punched in his third touchdown of the half with a 27-yard scamper to extend the Blazers’ lead to 24. After the UAB defense forced a quick three-and-out, Hopkins and Shropshire connected on yet another deep ball for a 68-yard touchdown. UAB held a 38-7 lead at the half. The Blazers opened the second half with a stop before adding three points on a 48-yard field goal from Matt Quinn. MTSU responded with a 15-play touchdown drive to cut the Blazers’ lead to 27. The Blazers controlled the clock for the remainder of the game on offense and the defense kept the Blue Raiders off the scoreboard. UAB’s Devondric Bynum’s fourth down stop in the fourth quarter from inside the Blazers’ 10-yard line held the score at 41-14, where it would stay. Prior to his performance tonight, Swoopes had never accounted for more than six tackles in a game during his collegiate career. The Blazers have had six individual 100-yard rushing performances over their five games this season. UAB is back in action next weekend when the Blazers return to Protective Stadium to host Charlotte. Kickoff is once again scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here. Copyright 2022 WBRC. All rights reserved. Read More…

Alabama Lands In-State 5-Star WR During Texas A&M Game https://digitalalabamanews.com/alabama-lands-in-state-5-star-wr-during-texas-am-game/ Alabama Football Published: Oct. 08, 2022, 7:50 p.m. College football subsists on recruiting and no time is the wrong one to be pursuing the next crop of prospects. Alabama proved that on Saturday. During its game against Texas A&M, the Crimson Tide got a start on its class of 2025. Ryan Williams of Saraland is a five-star per 247Sports Composite and a top-25 sophomore in the country. He was in Bryant-Denny Stadium against the Aggies and fired off his commitment tweet during the first quarter. “I would like to thank my family for understanding the sacrifices that it takes for me to be where I want to be,” Williams wrote. “…. ROLL TIDE.” Williams’ father played at Auburn, but the 6-foot, 155-pound wideout held 11 offers, including the Tigers, Arkansas and Alabama. Assistants Charles Kelly and Holmon Wiggins were listed as Williams’ lead recruiters. For the eight-win Spartans this fall, Williams has recorded 941 all-purpose yards and 18 total touchdowns. He’s mainly played receiver with 38 catches and 712 yards. The Tide has three commits in the 2023 class at WR, and one in 2024 (Foley’s Perry Thompson). Williams is the first verbal pledge in 2025. MORE Recruiting: Breaking down Texas A&M-Alabama recruiting and future Tide DLs Watch as we break down Auburn’s DB commits. Do players pick school or coach? Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

New Florida Records Raise More Questions About DeSantis’s Migrant Flights https://digitalalabamanews.com/new-florida-records-raise-more-questions-about-desantiss-migrant-flights/ In the request for bids to round up migrants to transport across the country, the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was unequivocal: The winning contractor needed to fly out unauthorized new arrivals found in the state. The parameters, laid out by the Florida Department of Transportation and disclosed in public records released by the state late Friday, are raising new questions about whether the program violated state protocols when DeSantis officials chartered two planes to fly 48 migrants from San Antonio — far from Florida’s shores — to Massachusetts last month. The widely criticized political maneuver appeared to operate outside the boundaries of the $12 million program Florida lawmakers authorized in their budget in June to “facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state.” Vertol Systems, the Oregon-based charter airline company, flew the group of Venezuelans, some of whom said they were lured onto the flights with promises of work and housing, to Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the Massachusetts coast known as a politically liberal-leaning community. The flights on Sept. 14 began in San Antonio and first landed in Crestview, Fla., a Panhandle city 36 miles north of Vertol’s Florida headquarters in Destin. After a brief stop, they proceeded to Martha’s Vineyard later that day. Florida officials have not offered an official explanation for the stop in Crestview, which has raised speculation about whether it was intended to look like the mission had a plausible connection with the state, as the rules of the program had laid out. The information released Friday does not include the full contract the DeSantis administration awarded to Vertol. But records show that the state paid the company $615,000 for the Texas flights on Sept. 8 and another $950,000 on Sept. 19, reportedly for another flight carrying migrants to President Biden’s home state of Delaware, which was canceled. DeSantis has said the flights were designed to send a message to Democrats, who he claims have resisted efforts to address the country’s border crisis. “Most of them are intending to come to Florida,” he said during a news conference in Dayton Beach, Fla., two days after the Texas flight. “Our view is you have to deal with it at the source.” The relocation program was launched in July, when Rebekah Davis, the Florida Department of Transportation’s general counsel, issued a request for quotes from interested transportation companies. The transportation department sought a company to “implement and manage a program to relocate out of the State of Florida foreign nationals who are not lawfully present in the United States,” according to the request for quotes in the newly released records. The winner would transport by ground or air “Unauthorized Aliens who are found in Florida and have agreed to be relocated” elsewhere in the United States and the District of Columbia. The plans also required the contractor to work with a multitude of Florida agencies, including the Florida Department of Corrections, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Nowhere in the requests for bids was recruiting migrants from Texas or San Antonio mentioned. Other cities were mentioned as possible destinations. Vertol’s chief executive, James Montgomerie, gave Davis quotes in an email for possible charter flights on a King Air 350 turboprop from Crestview to Boston (at a cost of $35,000) and Crestview to Los Angeles (at a cost of $60,000) for between four and eight people, an indication that the state was interested in these potential destinations for migrant flights. The subject line in Davis’s email to Montgomerie was “Florida Charter Flights.” The migrant flights are the subject of a criminal investigation in Texas and a civil suit from several of the asylum seekers who say the DeSantis administration deceived them. State Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat from South Florida, who has filed a lawsuit as a private citizen seeking injunctive relief, alleges that the program violates state law, in part because the migrants were not being relocated from Florida. “Oops, the five people that reviewed this missed it — or they will have to claim that the vendor went rogue” by flying the migrants from Texas, Pizzo said in an interview. “It was pretty clear with a plain reading of the law what was supposed to happen.” When asked for comment on Saturday, the governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, did not address the question of whether the DeSantis administration may have violated state guidelines with the Texas flights. “We’re exclusively focused on Hurricane Ian relief and recovery. I’m with Floridians right now,” Fenske said. Read More…

October 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine News | CNN https://digitalalabamanews.com/october-8-2022-russia-ukraine-news-cnn/ Surveillance footage captures large explosion on key bridge to Russian-annexed Crimea 03:23 A huge blast severely damaged the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, causing parts of Europe’s longest bridge to collapse. At least three people were killed in the explosion, according to Russian officials. Russian officials say the explosion was caused by a truck blowing up on the road bridge. Ukrainian officials have publicly celebrated the explosion, without directly acknowledging that Kyiv was responsible. Meanwhile, a cargo train in Ilovaisk in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region was hit by a “powerful explosion,” an aide to Mariupol’s mayor says. The last power line connecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to Ukraine’s power grid was damaged and disconnected Saturday due to shelling from Russian forces, according to Ukraine’s nuclear operator. Satellite image of Crimea Bridge explosion aftermath. (Maxar Technologies) Maxar satellite images captured the damage to the Kerch Strait bridge Saturday, shortly after an explosion rocked the only direct road and rail connection between annexed Crimea and mainland Russia. The blast caused parts of the bridge to collapse, though Russian transportation officials restarted rail service and allowed vehicles to use some undamaged portions of the roadway by Saturday evening. A close up view of damaged bridge and rail cars on fire Crimea bridge. (Maxar Technologies) Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, speaks with workers visiting the road section of the road-rail bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia near Kerch, Crimea, on March 14, 2018. Putin hailed the bridge, which is set to be completed later this year, as a major engineering achievement and praised those involved in its construction. (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool/AP) The Crimean bridge explosion accelerates the strategic choices Russian President Vladimir Putin must make about Russia’s occupation of southern Ukraine. This entire presence was already poorly supplied, managed and in retreat. Rickety ferry crossings in bad weather or highly dangerous air cargo flights may now be needed to bolster military shipments into Crimea and toward the frontlines. Ukraine has been targeting Russia’ aging transport dependencies — particularly its reliance on rail — with slow, patient accuracy. First Izium, which led to the collapse around Kharkiv. Then Lyman, which is leading to the erosion of Russia’s control of Donetsk and Luhansk. And now the Kerch Strait bridge, which had become so vital to everything that Russia is trying to hold on to in the south. Putin now faces a series of expedited and painful decisions, all of which will severely belie his continued poker-face of pride and bombast toward the gathering signs of slow defeat. To the west of the Dnieper river, his army in Kherson is besieged by fast-moving Ukrainian forces. Putin’s troops are already in retreat, partially owing to the same poor resupply that will be accentuated by the Kerch blast. They are again cut off from this faltering supply line by another series of damaged or targeted bridges across the Dnieper. Over the past week, they have already fallen back over 500 square kilometers (about 193 square miles). Can Moscow sustain this force over two damaged supply routes? A precarious presence has perhaps overnight become near-impossible. The second point of decision relates to Crimea. Putin now faces the difficult choice of fortifying it further with depleted forces who face resupply issues, or partially withdrawing his military to ensure their significant resources on the peninsula do not get cut off. Putin must choose between feeding his larger ambitions with a dwindling chance of success or consolidating forces around an objective he has a greater chance of achieving. One carries the risk of catastrophic collapse, for his entire brutal adventure into Ukraine — and quite possibly, his rule. The second leaves him with an immediate loss of face, but a stronger chance of sustaining the occupation of smaller parts of Ukraine. Read Nick Paton Walsh’s complete analysis here. Freight trains are moving again on the Crimean bridge following an explosion early Saturday, and 12 passenger trains should pass through the railway line overnight, according to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin. Khusnullin also said that so far, one lane of car traffic is moving on the bridge, and the goal is to open two lanes to traffic by morning.   “We have visually inspected the Crimean bridge, you already know that one lane of traffic has been launched, the task is to prepare everything overnight and tomorrow launch traffic in two lanes,” Khusnullin told Crimean media.  While Russian officials said that a limited amount of car traffic had resumed on the undamaged sections, trucks were told to take ferries across the Kerch Strait, state media reported. The Russian Ministry of Transport announced that trains have permission to run on the Crimean bridge, and the first test train run on the railway track was successful.  The Telegram channel of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Crimean Railway said that after the first stage of repairs to the bridge, a train with 15 cars passed through it.  An explosion on a bridge linking Russia with Crimea dealt a strategic and symbolic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. Meanwhile, more shelling near the Zaporizhzhia power plant renewed fears of a possible nuclear accident. If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest: A blast on the Crimean bridge: A huge explosion severely damaged the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, causing parts of Europe’s longest bridge to collapse. At least three people were were killed, according to Russian officials. Ukrainian leaders celebrate: While stopping short of claiming responsibility, high-ranking Ukrainian officials publicly celebrated the bridge explosion. Ukraine’s secretary of the National Security and Defense Council posted a taunting birthday message for Putin and the postal service announced stamps commemorating the blast. In Kyiv, residents posed for selfies in front of a billboard depicting the burning bridge. Russia restores some travel on the bridge: Russian officials rushed to investigate the explosion and restore partial service on the bridge’s parallel rail and roadway structures. By evening, limited car traffic resumed on undamaged parts of the bridge and train service had restarted. The blast disrupted major transport links, however, and Russian officials planned to use ferries for trucks. The Kremlin said Putin has signed a decree strengthening the bridge’s defenses, but provided few other details. Power plant knocked off power grid: The nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia is once again running on emergency diesel generators after renewed Russian shelling damaged and disconnected the facility’s connection to the Ukrainian power grid. The shelling sparked condemnation from the UN nuclear watchdog and the Ukrainian energy minister, who warned of a potential nuclear accident. Who controls the plant? While Putin signed a decree that puts the power plant under Russian state control as part of the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Western allies reject the move as illegal under international law. Ukraine’s military claims that plant employees are being pressured to sign employment contracts with Russia’s nuclear energy agency. The EU’s top diplomat reiterated Saturday that Russia’s claim to the plant is “legally null and void.” Here are the current frontlines and the location of the Kerch Strait bridge connecting Russia to Crimea: NATO needs to work on strengthening its defense, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Saturday. “We live in serious times, and in such times, it is also important to know where we have gaps in defense. The air defense is one such area where it is urgent to act,” Lambrecht said while visiting German troops deployed in Lithuania. Germany also announced more weapon deliveries for Ukraine, including the IRIS-T air defense system, and a total of 100 tanks from Greece and Slovakia. Facing an increased security threat, Germany will also create a new armored infantry brigade that could be quickly deployed to Lithuania in times of need, Lambrecht added. Train service on the Crimean bridge was restored Saturday evening as routes from the cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol depart to Moscow, according to a statement published by the operator of the passenger train service. The Russian Grand Service Express carrier company said Saturday that the “double-decker train No. 28 Simferopol-Moscow left the capital of Crimea today at 17:10 according to the schedule. Train No. 8 Sevastopol-St. Petersburg left Sevastopol at 17:15.” The structure has separate infrastructure for its rail and roadway bridges, which run parallel to one another. Car traffic on the undamaged part of the road bridge has also resumed, according to the Russian-appointed head of Crimea. Car traffic on the undamaged part of the Crimean bridge has resumed, said the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, in a statement on his Telegram channel on Saturday. “At the moment, traffic is open to cars and buses with a full inspection procedure. We ask truck drivers to plan their route using the Kerch ferry crossing. The Kerch-2 ferry will begin to sail across the strait in two hours,” he said. Social media video reviewed by CNN indicates that the westbound lanes on the road bridge were severed, but eastbound lanes appear intact.  Cars have begun to pass over the Crimean bridge from Taman on the Russian mainland toward the Crimean peninsula en route to the city of Kerch, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported on Saturday. Russian state media RIA Novosti reported Saturday th...

US Officials Meet With Taliban In Person For First Time Since Drone Strike Killed Al Qaeda Chief In Kabul https://digitalalabamanews.com/us-officials-meet-with-taliban-in-person-for-first-time-since-drone-strike-killed-al-qaeda-chief-in-kabul/ Top U.S. officials held their first in person meeting with the Taliban since a U.S. military strike killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in July.  The Biden administration sent CIA deputy director David Cohen to the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday to meet with a Taliban delegation led by Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Taliban’s head of intelligence, Fox News has confirmed. The meeting marks the first time the two sides have met in person since a U.S. drone strike this summer killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan capital of Kabul raising questions about the terror group’s presence in the country. The Taliban claimed it was unaware that the Al-Qaeda chief was in the country and called the drone strike a “clear violation” of the Doha agreement struck with former President Donald Trump in 2020. AFGHANISTAN ONE YEAR LATER: HOW DAILY LIFE IN THE WAR-TORN COUNTRY HAS CHANGED SINCE THE TALIBAN’S TAKEOVER Taliban fighters escort women march in support of the Taliban government outside Kabul University, Afghanistan.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) However, under the 2020 Doha Agreement signed by the U.S. and the insurgent group, the Taliban pledged not to allow safe haven for members of al-Qaeda or anyone seeking to attack the U.S. Al-Zawahri was found to have been residing in a Kabul safe house that had ties to the deputy leader of the Taliban. WORLD ‘LESS SAFE’ WITH AFGHANISTAN UNDER TALIBAN: ‘HOSTILE MEDIEVAL DEATH CULT’ COMPLICATES GLOBAL SECURITY The fact that Ayman Al Zawahri was living openly in Kabul is a sign that al Qaeda is on the rise, Sales says. (Maher Attar/Sygma via Getty Images) According to U.S. officials, the al-Qaeda leader had stayed at the home of an aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, top deputy of the Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Haibatallah Akhundzada, for months. Al-Zawahri was killed by a U.S. drone strike after he stepped outside onto a balcony. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, to travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.  (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) and is based out of the Washington D.C. bureau. She joined the network in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent. Read More…