Thomason Tracts

Movie theater to open tonight in Bessemer - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

I actually remember when you could see a movie in Bessemer, but I don’t think my younger siblings do. It’s been a long, long time. The old movie theater has spent the last several years as a temporary public library, of all things.

Airport Authority board approves name change to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport- al.com

I’m all for honoring Fred Shuttlesworth. However, this particular formulation makes it look like this airport serves two cities, one named “Birmingham” and one named “Shuttlesworth”. I’m just saying.

Jefferson County authorities looking for owner of abandoned mule; animal may be auctioned- al.com

Seriously, someone abandoned their mule. This is news only in that it was a mule, not that draft animals aren’t routinely being abandoned.

Cases of abandoned big animals are on the upswing. Since last year they’ve increased sevenfold in Jefferson County, Sloan said.

Most of the 25 cases in the last year have involved horses, including four found late last month on property owned by U.S. Steel Corp. near Fairfield.

If nobody comes forward — and nobody will — the mule will be put up for auction.

Langford clarifies Olympics proposal- al.com

“Clarifies” in the sense that he’s now saying that the $250,000 payout to the Alabama Sports Festival has nothing to do with the — I wanted to say “Quixotic”, but BMLL makes Don Quixote look sane and rational — utterly, hallucinatorially, mad attempt to bring the actual Olympics to Birmingham. In fact, says Larry, it’s just the ASF’s fee for holding the events in Birmingham. Also, the guy from the ASF will be working on the Olympic bid as a volunteer. Huh.

“If it’s somebody on my staff who made this mistake, they won’t make it again,” he said.

It was you, Larry, it was you. And you will.

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford proposes paying the Alabama Sports Festival up to $250,000 to implement plan for 2020 Summer Olympics- al.com

It’s funnelling money to someone with the ASF. Either that, or BMLL is completely and utterly insane. No, that’s not true. It could be both!

Councilwoman Valerie Abbott said it did not sound like a good use of public money.

“We have so many things that need to be done in this city that a quarter of a million dollars could be better spent on,” she said.

BLASPHEMER!

Authorities eradicate 18,751 pot plants in Alabama this year in ongoing drug search- al.com

Talk about a waste of time. Look, even if you think that marijuana eradication is a worthwhile pursuit (I don’t — full disclosure, I don’t smoke pot and never have) this is a colossal waste of time. That’s not one tenth of one percent of the marijuana grown in this state. It’s nothing. That stuff grows wild around here.

Alabama Aircraft workers urged to fight for aircraft care jobs.- al.com

BMLL held a “pep rally” at Alabama Aircraft Industries. Apparently, the Air Force gave a maintenance contract to Boeing and they’re claiming that it was awarded improperly. This is completely different from the one where they gave a construction contract to Northrop and Airbus and Boeing got that overturned. Well, completely different except that it’s done for the same reasons (Washington has Democratic Senators and Alabama has Republican ones).

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions opposes expansion of global AIDS program- al.com

He says because of the $10 billion a year (for five years) price tag, which is absurd on the face of it. What’s $10 billion to the federal government? The real reason is that he hates gays. (Ironically, Troy King is a protege.) He objects to the lifting of the ban on HIV-positive people immigrating to the US. Who else has rules like this? Just thirteen countries, including fine global citizens like Iraq, Libya, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Our peers!

Vandals make racist attack | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL

Multiple attacks, really — swastikas, KKK graffiti, the N-word, vandalism, bullets fired into the back of an unoccupied car. Six African-American and two Guatemalan families were targeted. These creeps have been working since at least 2006, but of course the Northport police can’t catch them.

Stonewall Jackson loans raise a fuss- al.com

Okay… Apparently, the state of Alabama has a fund which pays “loans” (which are never paid back) to students who write essays that “memorialize that great American and Confederate general, `Stonewall’ Jackson”. It was, of course, launched in the fifties in an attempt to prop up Jim Crow.