Old, white, homophobic GOP lawmakers in this state protest a little too much against diversity, don’tcha think?
Alabama Republi-chickens are scared to death of diversity, equity and inclusion. They see ‘DEI’ and they think it spells ‘DEVIL’. These chickens are obsessed with and threatened by everything they don’t understand.
Read Roy S. Johnson’s column: ‘Running scared’ from students supporting DEI, Republicans choke on their red-meat bill – al.com
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Here a few excerpts:“They are running scared.”
“They are Alabama Republicans. On a day when they were to squash diversity, equity, and inclusion—daggumit—throughout the state; when they were going to defund programs that create safe, welcoming spaces for employees, students, and citizens; when they were going to emphatically ramrod Alabamians with a bill based on their ill-informed, unfounded fears, they shrank, hid, and squirreled away.
“They avoided more than 100 students—children!—from colleges and universities across the state who came to the statehouse in Montgomery Wednesday to protest divisive (yes, I’m boomeranging their word back on them) SB129. To share what DEI is to them. To tell their elected officials how DEI, as University of Alabama senior Sean Atchison bravely told my AL.com colleague Rebecca Griesbach, “saved my life.”
“They ducked, dived, and dodged the mosaic of students waiting patiently in the hall outside Room 200 where legislators were lunching. When they were done, “They ran out the back door to avoid us,” said University of Alabama-Birmingham sophomore Sydney Testman.
Related: Alabama college students rally against anti-DEI bill: ‘We won’t stand for it.’
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“Added Atchison: “They are so afraid of students showing our voices and being heard on SB129 because they know the damage they are trying to do to this state and to students, and they are running scared from us.
“He added this: “They want to bring back Jim Crow.”
“Or hang a “white’s only” sign at the statehouse door.
“They were, quite simply, an embarrassment.”
Goodman: Alabama’s war on DEI could impact what unites us all – al.com
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Joe Goodman agrees these lawmakers are an embarrassment and cites another problem with this anti-DEI bill: It could be devastating to college football. Lordy, now that’s a problem.
Goodman writes:
“The proposed bill, which has already passed through the Alabama House of Representatives, could make university compliance departments illegal. That’s a problem because universities are required to have compliance departments to be full members of the NCAA.
“The bill is a train wreck waiting to happen, in other words, and needs to be killed immediately. If not, and the NCAA doesn’t fit the mission of Alabama anymore, then I guess there’s always the ol’ Alabama Independent School Association to fall back on.
Woodfin says if anti-DEI bill passes, he would urge athletes to leave Alabama – al.com
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“The AISA was formed back in 1970 to give the state’s segregation academies a league of their own, so to speak, or are we not supposed to speak about that at all anymore? When so-called “divisive concepts” form the backbone of a state’s history it’s hard to avoid all the topics.”
“Alabama should be attracting diversity and fostering inclusivity as public policy instead of fighting to keep it away. What’s next, Alabama anti-DEI nut jobs standing in the schoolhouse door?”
Read all of Goodman’s column here.
Anti-DEI bill heads to Alabama House of Representatives for final vote – al.com
Op-ed: What seeds are we planting when we attack DEI? – al.com
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Guest opinion: The land of the free-ish – Alabama and the DEI ban bill – al.com
More cartoons by JD Crowe
Is Katie Britt auditioning for VP, SNL or The Handmaid’s Tale? – al.com
‘Burn the freaking books:’ Alabama libraries under fire from witch hunters – al.com
GOP owns this IVF minefield: Theocracy is a dangerous playground – al.com
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Steve Marshall’s law: Alabama’s war against diversity – al.com
White fragility, fear of diversity rules Alabama legislature. The cost? Our future – al.com
Latest Alabama star in transfer portal hits Nick Saban hard – al.com
True stories and stuff by JD Crowe
The mysterious ‘Bubble Guy’ of Fairhope and the art of bubble Zen – al.com
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How I met Dr. Seuss
Robert Plant head-butted me. Thanks, David Coverdale
I was ZZ Top’s drummer for a night and got kidnapped by groupies
Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe
JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @jdcrowe@al.com.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Some social media users are bracing for a possible ban on the popular social media app TikTok.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to ban the social media platform by Jan. 19 if the Chinese-owned company does not sell the platform due to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
It’s a dilemma between free speech and national security.
“Many of the content creators on TikTok are Americans, so they are protected under the First Amendment, and it was also argued that TikTok could be seen as a public forum, and Americans have freedom of speech in a public forum,” Troy University Assistant Professor of journalism and communications Dr. Stefanie East said.
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Montgomery-raised content creator Funmi Ford says this ban could affect many Americans financially, not only content creators, but also small business owners.
“There are entrepreneurs that have used TikTok not only to get income but to get new clients,” Ford said. “There’s so many people that use this app to feed their families that I think it’s going to be really hard for them.”
TikTok has provided Ford with a way to share her culture from Accra Ghana and interact with other cultures. She fears without this social media platform, it may be more difficult to make those global connections.
“I feel like TikTok is one of the few places, because it’s video and it’s short form, you got to digest a lot of information, whether good or bad, that either widened your horizon, made you think differently, made you want to travel,” said Ford. “So with it possibly being banned, which we hope it’s not, it’s going to close a window to somebody else’s life, a window to another part of the world that you would not see otherwise.”
TikTok, as well as some of its users, have sued to block the U.S. ban contending that it violates First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court is now faced with the decision between those claims and Congress’ concern the Chinese government may have influence over the social media platform.
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President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief at the Supreme Court asking justices to temporarily block the law so he can “pursue a political resolution” once he takes office.
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The SEC has taken the men’s college basketball world by storm this season. When this week began, the SEC had nine teams in The Associated Press top 25, including six in the top 10.
Auburn and Alabama are in the top 10 and making their marks as favorites to win the national championship. Before they cut down the nets in the Final Four, they will try to win a conference championship.
The SEC regular season conference winner odds for Auburn and Alabama show a pair of teams expected to be there at the end. That’s what we are examining today.
Note: Odds are based on the best value our experts find as of publication; check lines closer to game time to ensure you get the best odds.
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SEC regular season conference winner odds
These are the odds for each team to win the SEC regular season men’s basketball conference title from BetMGM Sportsbook:
Team
BetMGM odds to win SEC regular season
Auburn
-115
Alabama
+450
Tennessee
+500
Florida
+800
Kentucky
+1800
Mississippi State
+2000
Texas A&M
+2000
Ole Miss
+5000
Arkansas
100-to-1
Georgia
125-to-1
Oklahoma
125-to-1
Texas
125-to-1
Missouri
200-to-1
Vanderbilt
200-to-1
LSU
250-to-1
South Carolina
250-to-1
The top five teams in this betting odds market rank in the top eight in this week’s AP poll. The next two are not far behind at Nos. 10 and 14. After that, the odds drop significantly, but even Ole Miss is a top-25 team.
Don’t nitpick about how the odds and rankings compare. Tennessee entered this week undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation but lost to Florida on the road by 30 points. With so much parity in college basketball, the regular season is more of a survival challenge than an expectation to win every game.
Auburn and Alabama were among the favorites to win the regular season title when the season began and both teams have played well thus far. They’ll be favorites if they win a large majority of their games and beat a couple of fellow contenders along the way.
Auburn SEC championship odds
Sportsbook
SEC championship odds
BetMGM
-115
FanDuel
-130
DraftKings
-105
No. 2-ranked Auburn (14-1) has lit the court on fire throughout its 14-1 start, including marquee wins over Houston, North Carolina, Iowa State and Purdue. The Tigers’ only loss came on the road against Duke.
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The biggest spark has been forward Johni Broome, who averages 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 blocks. His performance has catapulted him to the top of the Wooden Award odds listed by DraftKings Sportsbook. Broome has odds of -280 while Duke’s Cooper Flagg is at +230. No other player has odds better than 16-to-1.
Broome is the MVP, but five other Auburn players average at least 10 points per game. That’s an incredible feat in this day of college basketball.
The Tigers rank fourth in the nation in points per game with 87.9. They rank first in blocks per game with 6.9 and 26th in shooting percentage allowed at 39.2%
Auburn hits the road to play South Carolina on Saturday before returning home to face No. 14 Mississippi State on Tuesday. A home game against Tennessee looms Jan. 25.
Alabama SEC championship odds
Sportsbook
SEC Championship odds
BetMGM
+450
FanDuel
+380
DraftKings
+550
No. 5 Alabama (13-2) has had an incredible season with the only blemishes being losses to Oregon and Purdue. The Crimson Tide have big wins over Illinois, Houston, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
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The whole SEC schedule will be tough, but the next three games especially stand out for Alabama. The Tide play Texas A&M on the road, Ole Miss at home and Kentucky on the road.
Like Auburn, Alabama has balanced scoring at the top. Five players average double figures, led by Mark Sears’ 18.3 points. Fellow returner Grant Nelson has been pivotal, too. He averages 13.1 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds.
If Alabama is going to win the regular season title, it will have to earn it over the final handful of games. The Tide’s final five games are against Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Florida and Auburn.
North Alabama Lions (10-6, 2-1 ASUN) at Stetson Hatters (4-12, 2-1 ASUN)
DeLand, Florida; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: North Alabama visits Stetson after Jacari Lane scored 22 points in North Alabama’s 75-70 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
The Hatters have gone 3-3 at home. Stetson has a 0-2 record in one-possession games.
The Lions have gone 2-1 against ASUN opponents. North Alabama has a 0-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
Stetson’s average of 8.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 8.3 per game North Alabama allows. North Alabama has shot at a 45.7% rate from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points greater than the 44.8% shooting opponents of Stetson have averaged.
The Hatters and Lions square off Saturday for the first time in ASUN play this season.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Mehki is averaging 15.8 points for the Hatters.
Corneilous Williams is averaging 9.8 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Lions.
LAST 10 GAMES: Hatters: 3-7, averaging 74.5 points, 30.5 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 82.0 points per game.
Lions: 6-4, averaging 76.3 points, 34.6 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.2 points.
___
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
