Via Ralph Chapoco: A new report finds that almost 1,200 Alabamians paroled out of life sentences are on supervision for the rest of their lives; must pay a $40 monthly fee and can lose their freedom for slightest infraction, even if they remained trouble-free for decades. https://ow.ly/l1Kb50XMSvg

Alabama will get about $203 million under the rural health grant program, equal to about 2% of the total spending on the state's Medicaid program, most of which is paid for by the federal government. The grants are meant to partially offset cuts in Medicaid signed by Donald Trump earlier this year.

Microblogging: The elevator pitch

Met friends in Atlanta and got a reminder the Georgia Aquarium Is damn cool.

If you have any interest in ancient Christianity or just ancient Roman culture, “Antioch and Rome” by Raymond Brown and John Meier is a book you’ll want to read. It carefully uses New Testament sources to build a very plausible profile of two early Christian communities and the tensions within them.

My column this week. Here are the major Alabama political stories I’ll be watching in 2026. The election is the big one. But the Legislature will have to address rising health care costs. And it might try increasing money for a school voucher-like program.

Via Anna Barrett: An Alabama lawmaker has pre-filed a bill for the 2026 legislative session that would allow a voter with a disability to have assistance with filling out an absentee ballot. https://ow.ly/Ayxv50XMEp1

Yacht Rock victorious

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains. Flansburgh and Linnell are two of America’s finest songwriters.

Having done a decent amount of reporting on governors who faced impeachment, the striking thing is that most resigned to avoid the spectacle, embarrassment and eventual defeat. They are afraid of becoming Rod Blagojevich. But Blago is the exception. Lawmakers hated him and he was caught on tape.

One of the common issues with impeachment is that the people who draw up constitutions — at the federal or state level — don’t give it a lot of thought. It’s supposed to be a weapon of last resort, not a regularly-used power. There are political disincentives, but the process itself can be hazy.

Good piece. Zero immigration will mean a colder, crueler, and stagnated society. Whatever comes next, I hope it focuses on making legal immigration easier for people of good faith. Right now, it’s an ordeal completely ignorant of the limited resources of most immigrants.

Via Lisa Sorg and Inside Climate News: Deep cuts to state budgets and at the Environmental Protection Agency are preventing regulators from fully protecting the public from pollution, according to a report released earlier this month by the Environmental Integrity Project. https://ow.ly/Nq2e50XMy7m

My parents grew up rural. They didn't do all of this. This feels like they're equating rural with "poor white people making bad decisions."

Grew up in rural Florida in the 80s/90s. We had lots of HS parties that involved alcohol weed etc. You know what we didn’t do? As a rule no one would get behind a wheel if they were partaking. Sober kids gave rides but mostly ppl crashed where they were. Even the outdoors. 🤷‍♀️

Making public policy through “let’s get drunk in the woods” country songs

Awful as Alabama government can be, the state keeps producing brave Alabamians who demand better. Who sometimes end up transforming their state and the nation.

My column this week. Tommy Tuberville has repeatedly shown contempt for vast swathes of the state he wants to govern. And Alabama voters can’t dismiss his recent threats against Muslims as performative. Making him governor will allow him to harass innocent people over the way they worship God.

I missed the AP story when it ran earlier this month. It included this photo of Jo Ann taken by Bethany Mollenkof on the day she and I sat at her table in her LA home in 2019. I was working on a project interviewing those who desegregated America’s schools. Not the laws, the people.

Via 19thnews: A crowd-sourced effort, as well as trackers from advocacy organizations and labor unions, show that the Trump administration has implemented roughly half of the goals laid out in the 920 pages of Project 2025, a right-wing plan to remake the government. https://ow.ly/r7Au50XMzlJ

Sen. Robert F. Wagner Sr., who grew up in grinding poverty, particularly hated this idea. “For every one who rises to the top,” he said, “a thousand are destroyed.” And he became one of the New Deal’s most effective spokesmen and architects.

“Finally, a theater that knows what we want.” — Flagellants

Walked into a bookstore with my daughter this afternoon, opened a book and saw one of my articles cited in a footnote. Kind of neat.

some good climate/energy news: * 96% of new US power capacity was carbon-free in 2024 (56 gigawatts!) * 2025 included the first month ever when 51% of power on the U.S. grid was carbon-free * The golbal trend is overwhelming: The world is now investing more $ in clean energy than fossil fuels

this is really reckless, unethical, and irresponsible behavior, especially as we approach the peak of flu season. it’s also not the first time he’s done this — he’s fully aware what he’s doing is not okay because we have already explained that to him. this guy shouldn’t be repping public health

This how I discovered a 19th century congressman had not, in fact, been eaten by wild animals.

Via Anna Barrett: An Alabama lawmaker has pre-filed a bill that would prohibit the use of the term West Bank in all government documents when referring to the Palestinian territory on the Jordan River. https://ow.ly/FgLJ50XMQaH

(Stranger Things characters see limited window for escape) You know, this would be a good point for a 20 minute dialogue about our feelings

Via Jennifer Shutt: Federal prosecutors have sent a million more pages related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the Department of Justice, which plans to release them in the coming weeks, officials said Wednesday.

Night Court had a whole episode about one of Dan Fielding's friends being transgender, and treated the character with a lot of respect.

Via @timhenderson.bsky.social and Stateline: GOP reversals in this year’s elections, especially in some urban and immigrant communities, are setting off alarm bells for Republicans using redistricting to try to keep control of Congress in next year’s midterms.

I could be wrong, but I think any economic gains companies see in a world dominated by generative AI will be offset by the expense of dealing with unreliable or outright erroneous business contracts hallucinated by chatbots.

Via Anna Barrett: Alabama Medicaid enrollees led the nation in receiving contraceptives from public health departments in 2023, according to a recent report. https://ow.ly/X6z350XKsfx

45 minutes in and

President Donald Trump’s administration will start garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers in default beginning early next year, the U.S. Education Department said Tuesday. https://ow.ly/enU750XNSXe

Via Jacob Fischler: The president is only empowered to federalize National Guard units when the troops are enforcing laws that regular military forces are legally allowed to enforce, the court said in a ruling from its emergency docket that will apply while the merits of the case are argued.

Via Kelcie Moseley-Morris: The DOJ opinion is written by Joshua Craddock, who joined the DOJ in July after years of writing about his views that life begins at fertilization and there should be legal protections beginning from that stage of life. His views include opposition to traditional IVF.

“Hey, stop writing, that’s enough.”

The Justice Department has faced heat for opting to release the files in batches instead of adhering to the congressionally mandated full release of the files by mid-December.

He . . . he saw that this is a ranking from almost 80 years ago?

When the Montgomery Advertiser did a lynching series in 2018, I learned of two trials in Elmore County in 1901 in which white men were convicted of killing a Black man. I went to Alabama Archives. And in a box there, I found a complete typed transcript of one of the trials. Untouched for 116 years.

A friend was processing the George Wallace collection at the Alabama state archives. She sent me a copy of a letter to Wallace parents asking him to not “stand in the schoolhouse door” in June 1963. It was from my parents.

This is as easy a test of your belief in the American system as is conceivable: Should this be an acceptable argument from a president?

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals Friday upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that alleged that inmates were being forced to labor in involuntary servitude in violation of the state constitution. https://ow.ly/aC8J50XNp5b

Fan mail for the Tommy Tuberville column.

(Gazing over edited holiday evergreen stories) I will never be this prepared for anything ever again

The Department of the Interior claimed that reports have "long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference,” which poses a national security risk, according to a department release.

Via Jonathan Shorman and Stateline: Nationwide, state judges are poised to play a pivotal role in adjudicating legal challenges to congressional maps, as the U.S. Supreme Court has all but taken federal courts out of the business of reviewing redrawn maps this year. https://ow.ly/WlIT50XNeae

Editor Brian Lyman writes that no one should be dismissive of Tommy Tuberville's recent threats against Muslims in Alabama, as he has made it clear he views many people living here as threats simply because of who they are. https://ow.ly/smLj50XMOls