As despicable as the anti-immigration rhetoric in Alabama is, there’s something grimly funny about the fact immigrants by and large skip Alabama for Georgia and Florida.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 7h ago

Tuberville: "If we don't straighten out this country's voting and immigration system, we're not gonna make it. It's gonna be over. I'm gonna go back to Alabama and hey, we might build a 30-foot wall around our state."

Glad this piece notes how segregationists led the attacks on The Media in the 1960s. I’d add that George Wallace discovered in the 1966 campaign that going after Alabama newspapers — some of them quite conservative — worked just as well as attacking national ones.

Nieman Lab@niemanlab.org · 6h ago

How much of the decline in media trust is actually about the media’s actions, versus the narratives that get spun about them? www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/is-a...

Via Ariana Figueroa: A small Texas firm with no specialty in immigration law and run by a former Trump official is slated to receive a $150 million contract for legal services to tens of thousands of immigrant children, according to a Wednesday pre-published notice in the Federal Register.

Small Texas law firm run by Trump ally wins contract for legal aid to immigrant kids | Alabama Reflector

Of the nearly 30 lawyers on the law firm’s website, only two list experience in immigration and asylum law.

alabamareflector.com

Via Kelcie Moseley-Morris: In a conference call hosted by the White House Faith Office on July 30, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said he was committed to working to ensure that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision “becomes permanent in every single state.” https://ow.ly/5oes50ZwAkz

Also becoming a major issue in Alabama, where Doug Jones has called for a moratorium and Tommy Tuberville is embracing data centers; calling concerns about them “bullcrap” and suggesting opponents are being swayed by China. Here’s @annabjournalist.bsky.social on Monday.

Data centers emerge as top Alabama election issue as community concerns grow | Alabama Reflector

Data centers have emerged as a top issue in Alabama’s midterm elections as concerns over public health impacts and a lack of transparency over the multibillion dollar facilities grow among communities...

alabamareflector.com

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 15h ago

I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.

Via Anna Barrett: Five of the six Republican candidates in a special primary in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District made their pitch to voters in Barbour County Tuesday night, one week before the election. https://ow.ly/yGXM50Zwpvq

Via Anna Barrett: The Alabama Fair Ballot Commission on Tuesday approved language to describe four statewide constitutional amendments that will be on the statewide ballot in November, including a measure mandating the broadcast of the National Anthem in schools. https://ow.ly/Rbq750ZwjhA

lots of things in my life are better today, and lots of things that should be better are not - my cat

I’m in roughly the same cohort but I think this is more universal. We just talk a lot less about the stuff that’s gotten better. Like, in 1980, there were plenty of improvements over 1940.

Protease inhibitors to fight AIDS; acid rain and the ozone layer are vastly improved; violent crime is demonstrably lower than in the 1980s, whatever your uncle posts on Facebook

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · yesterday

So this is basically one of the entry points to becoming a reactionary

Early results show Kansans rejecting constitutional amendment by wide margin | via @journalist-sherman.bsky.social, Jacinda Hall and @kansascarpenter.bsky.social #ksleg

Early results show Kansans rejecting constitutional amendment by wide margin • Kansas Reflector

Kansas voters were set to evaluate a proposed constitutional amendment that would spike a 68-year-old system for selecting justices for the highest court

kansasreflector.com

Via Stateline: Three states this year became the first ones to enact laws restricting companies from using personal data such as browsing history or shopping habits to set individualized prices on goods and services, a practice known as surveillance pricing. https://ow.ly/tomZ50ZwlaS

EA had a high percentage of classics in its early years: Archon, Pinball Construction Set, Adventure Construction Set, Music Construction Set, M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold, The Bard's Tale, Starflight . . .

List of Electronic Arts games: 1983–1999 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Via Jacob Fischler: Alabama could lose up to $167 million in federal transportation funding if Congress does not renew funding authorized by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, set to expire on Sept. 30.

Alabama could lose $167 million in federal transportation funding | Alabama Reflector

The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which authorized highway and transit programs for five years, expires Sept. 30.

alabamareflector.com

The Alabama Public Service Commission Tuesday approved a 1,400-acre solar project in Macon and Barbour counties aimed at supporting a Montgomery data center.

Alabama Public Service Commission approves solar project supporting data center | Alabama Reflector

It is another solar project along with the one planned in Baldwin County that will support the planned data center in Montgomery.

alabamareflector.com

Via Ashley Murray: Two skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans voted to advance U.S. acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department Tuesday after Blanche signed a promise that President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is dead.

Blanche nomination for attorney general advanced by US Senate panel on party-line vote | Alabama Reflector

Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had been withholding support for Blanche, voted with other members of the committee along party lines, 12-10, to send Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate.

alabamareflector.com

Also former Alabama solicitor general.

Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · yesterday

Opinion by Brasher, a Trump appointee: media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Speaking of talented journalists who left CBS News after repeated clashes with the owner

Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · 2d ago

Quick question for you @brianstelter.bsky.social after reading David Ellison in his op-ed this morning. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/o... Are legends like Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow known for their middleness?

I must be one of the few people who read “A People’s History of the United States” without feeling very strong emotions one way or the other about the book. I was a history buff so I suppose I was familiar with a lot of the stuff Zinn was describing, which might have made it less novel.

Book Review: ‘The People’s Historian,’ by Dave Zirin

Dave Zirin traces the radical career of Howard Zinn, whose “A People’s History of the United States” has sold millions of copies.

nytimes.com

Fascinating history of the “stand your ground” doctrine, where the American judiciary repeatedly shows itself to be filled with macho dupes.

Using a Gun to Defend Yourself? The Right to Kill Is Growing. (Gift Article)

States are pushing to pass laws sanctioning more reasons to use lethal violence in self-defense, a distinctly American tradition.

nytimes.com

Via Andrea Tinker: Schools in the University of Alabama System have removed LGBTQ+ inclusive language in their non-discrimination policies. https://ow.ly/YyE250ZvYJo

Via Ariana Figueroa: More than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children Monday lost legal representation because the Trump administration has not entered into a new agreement to take over their legal services after it let a longstanding contract with a nonprofit expire. https://ow.ly/HILX50ZvYPf

Via Ralph Chapoco: Alabama Power reported an increase in its comprehensive income this spring compared to last year, according to a quarterly report filed by Southern Company, its parent company, last week. https://ow.ly/eqFA50ZvYvL

Via @timhenderson.bsky.social and Stateline: Today’s children could be the first generation since the 1970s to do better than their parents as young workers become more sought after and well paid. https://ow.ly/y6Sk50ZvKUw

Via Sam Gauntt: Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, on Sunday said Rep. Max Miller, also of Ohio and his former son-in-law, is not fit to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives as he faces allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, who is Moreno’s daughter.

Ohio US Sen. Moreno says former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller unfit to serve in Congress | Alabama Reflector

The Ohio representative faces allegations of domestic violence from his ex-wife Emily Moreno, who is Sen. Moreno's daughter.

alabamareflector.com

Via Jacob Fischler: Leaders of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee announced a bipartisan deal over the weekend that would keep the federal government funded through Dec. 11 and pause the Trump administration’s effort to add controversial new criteria for federal grants.

Spending deal freezes Trump proposal to gain power over federal grants, extends highway law | Alabama Reflector

Democrats championed blocking provisions that would increase spending for military action in Iran and allow transfers for immigration enforcement, while adding sections to extend housing and food assistance programs and a section blocking the proposed rule on grant funding.

alabamareflector.com

Via Nada Hassanein and Stateline: States will have to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to implement new Medicaid work requirements, after a federal judge denied 25 Democratic-led states’ request to pause implementation of the rule. https://ow.ly/ANqy50ZvKIY

Editor Brian Lyman writes that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones' policy agenda gives Alabamians a clear choice and looks like an attempt to break from the usual patterns of state campaigning by Democrats. https://ow.ly/J0oC50Zv5ES

My column this week. To have any chance of winning this November, Alabama Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones has to draw a contrast with the GOP and try to break from the state's usual political patterns. His speech last week did both.

Doug Jones' agenda is a reminder: Alabama Democrats have to be bold | Alabama Reflector

Conservatives play the music in Alabama politics. They set the tempo, call out the steps and judge the dancers. So the ball is always the same. The right-wingers waltz with large business; do a bit of...

alabamareflector.com

On Jan. 11, Gregory Bovino watched as his Border Patrol agents dragged a man out of his car at a St. Paul Speedway, knelt on his back until he lost consciousness, and dragged his limp body into the back of a van. The man's name is Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano and this is his story.

Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano survived a violent arrest in St. Paul. It still haunts him. • Minnesota Reformer

The morning of Jan. 11 began for Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano with an ominous warning: The gas light on his Jeep Cherokee was glowing yellow on the dashboard. He didn’t want to go to work at the r...

minnesotareformer.com