Tag: alabama

Ammo Vending Machines Arrive At Grocery Stores In Red States 

Nothing says ‘Merica like supermarkets with automated vending machines stocked with ammunition. A select number of supermarkets across Alabama and Oklahoma have these new machines. This means you can leave the store with milk, eggs, and boxes of 9mm and .223 rounds. 

American Rounds installed AI-powered ammunition vending machines in several Alabama and Oklahoma supermarket stores. These vending machines are said to feature built-in AI technology, card scanning capability, and facial recognition software to verify that buyers are 21 or older and match the identity on the license. 

“Our automated ammo dispensers are accessible 24/7, ensuring that you can buy ammunition on your own schedule, free from the constraints of store hours and long lines,” American Rounds notes on its website. 

American Rounds shows six supermarkets, including two Fresh Value stores in Alabama and four Super C Mart stores in Oklahoma, have these new retail automated ammo dispensers. 

In an interview with Newsweek, Grants Magers, CEO of American Rounds, said that the company’s AI-powered ammunition vending machines have recently been expanded to eight across four states. 

“We have over 200 store requests for AARM [Automated Ammo Retail Machine] units covering approximately nine states currently and that number is growing daily,” Magers said. 

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Hyundai is sued after 13-year-old girl is found working on assembly line in Alabama car factory

The federal government has sued Hyundai after a 13-year old girl was found working on an assembly line. 

The  Department of Labor on Thursday sued the South Korean auto giant, an auto parts plant and a labor recruiter over illegal use of child labor in Alabama.

The complaint follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found a 13-year-old worked between 50 and 60 hours a week operating machines on an assembly line that formed sheet metal into auto body parts. 

The filing also seeks an order requiring the companies to relinquish any profits related to the use of child labor.

The defendants include Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC, SMART Alabama LLC and Best Practice Service, LLC. 

Hyundai said in a statement that it cooperated fully with the Labor Department and that it is unfair to be held accountable for the practices of its suppliers.

‘We are reviewing the new lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend the company,’ the statement said.

Reuters reported in 2022 that children, some as young as 12, worked for Hyundai subsidiary SMART and in other parts suppliers for the company in the Southern state.

SMART Alabama in Luverne, an automotive parts manufacturer that has supplied parts for Hyundai since 2003, reportedly fired multiple underage workers as publicity around the missing girl’s case heated up.

A former employee alleged that as many as 50 underage workers were employed across various shifts when he was working at the plant.

The accusations date back to a February, 2022, Amber Alert regarding Eidy Aracely Tzi Coc, who had briefly disappeared from her family’s home in the town of Enterprise alongside 21-year-old Alvaro Cucul.

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Unity: Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine Supporters Chant “Fuck Joe Biden” in Alabama

In a heartwarming moment of unity, pro-Palestine and pro-Israel supporters at the University of Alabama both began chanting “fuck Joe Biden” simultaneously.

Nothing brings Americans together greater than hating on Biden.

Biden ran his campaign on uniting America, and it seems that at least in one way he’s accomplished that.

Indeed, it seems the sentiment is spreading across the country, with pro-Gazans and frat bros in Arizona also sharing the chant.

As we highlighted yesterday, Biden’s support for Israel is causing so many young leftists to abandon the Democrats, it could even cost him the election.

A recent poll showed that 81 percent of voters aged 18 to 35 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict in the Middle East.

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Trans Antifa member arrested over bombing at Alabama Attorney General’s Office

A trans person with links to Antifa was arrested and charged with the February detonation an improvised explosive device, a nail bomb, outside the Alabama attorney general’s Montgomery office.  

Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale, Alabama, was indicted on Wednesday and charged with malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device. 

The charges per the indictment allege that Calvert “maliciously damaged, and attempted to maliciously damage, by means of fire and explosive materials, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office,” and that Calvert “knowingly possessed a firearm, to wit: a destructive device… which was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.” 

A detention memo from a US attorney’s office stated, “That device had the characteristics of an IED, and Calvert added a substantial number of nails and other shrapnel to increase its destructive capability.” 

The explosion was outside the office of Attorney General Steve Marshall on February 24, in the early hours of the morning, at approximately 3:42 am. Surveillance footage showed an individual wearing dark clothes, a mask, and goggles near the statehouse.  

In addition to the explosive device, law enforcement officers discovered that Calvert vandalized state buildings with stickers that were advocating for various political ideologies. These included Antifa and anti-police sentiments as well as sentiments expressing opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Some of those stickers read, “Support your local antifa,” and surveillance footage showed the individual putting the stickers on the doors of the Alabama State Capitol Building. Shortly thereafter, the suspect could be seen near the attorney general’s office, right before the explosion. They were then seen walking away. 

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How the ‘NASA Nazis’ helped transform sleepy Alabama farming town into America’s ‘Rocket City’ and win the Space Race – but dark legacy of ‘our Germans’ led by former SS officer remains divisive

Huntsville, Alabama, is fiercely proud of its Rocket City nickname – earned for its crucial role in America’s space race success.

The city, which transformed in the 1950s from a cotton market town to the world’s foremost hub for space travel research, is home to NASA‘s Marshall Space Flight Center, which led development of the Saturn rockets that put the first man on the moon.

But there is a dark side to the story of these epic achievements: many of the men who led the groundbreaking work were Nazis – recruited through a top secret operation after the Second World War.

The fascinating, and troubling, reality is often omitted from lessons about America’s victory in the space race against the Soviet Union. It is also something Huntsville continues to grapple with today.

There are those who say the ‘greater good’ outweighed the moral cost of recruiting members of an evil regime, allowing them to avoid justice in the process.

But others say bringing these men to the US was an inexcusable decision – compounded by the fact their Nazi backgrounds go largely unmentioned in lessons about America’s space history.

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Frozen Embryos Are Now Children Under Alabama Law

Frozen embryos are “children” under Alabama law, the state’s Supreme Court says. Its decision could have major implications for the future of fertility treatments in the state.

Frozen embryos are “unborn children” and “unborn children are ‘children,'” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the court’s main opinion. Only two of nine justices dissented from the holding that an 1872 wrongful death statute applies to the destruction of frozen embryos.

The ruling seems to represent a turn toward judicial activism among members of Alabama’s Supreme Court, which for a long time held that the law’s text could not justify reading it to include “unborn children”—let alone frozen embryos.

It also portends a creeping Christian conservatism into court decisions, with Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker citing the Bible in his legal reasoning. In a concurring opinion, Parker justifies prohibitions on murder not by invoking classical liberal principles, like natural rights, but rather on the basis of “Man’s creation in God’s image” and the “you shall not murder” edict of the Sixth Commandment. “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself,” Parker writes.

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Alabama Medical Marijuana Access Could Take Months, Even After Licensing Lawsuits End

Antoine Mordican has a medical cannabis cultivation license. And he is building out a facility to begin growing the product.

Under state law, he has to demonstrate he can maintain cultivation facilities; use an inventory control system approved by the state; can start cannabis cultivation within 60 days; can dispose of plant waste according to regulations; and can maintain financial stability.

“I’m building—getting everything in place, getting the necessary parameters and everything in place to be in compliance, such as security,” said Mordican, the CEO of Native Black Cultivation.

But when he will see actual marijuana plants grow depends on what approach he takes.

If he grows from seed, which Mordican plans to start out with, it would take about six to eight months before he can get the first harvest.

If growing from a clone, or a cutting from a growing plant, it would be closer to four to six months. Mordican said he might look at that approach, but added that he’s not in a rush.

“Everybody’s got their own techniques,” he said. “My goal is to be within compliance with the revenue rules and regulations.”

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An Alabama Couple’s Lives Were Upended by an Unconstitutional Police Raid. A Jury Awarded Them $1 Million.

Six years ago, Greg and Teresa Almond were left destitute and living in a utility shed after sheriff’s deputies in Randolph County, Alabama, illegally raided their house and seized their savings over a misdemeanor drug crime.

Now the Almonds will be made partly whole, at least financially. Last month, a jury in their federal civil rights lawsuit awarded the couple $1 million in punitive and compensatory damages after trial testimony showed the deputies never got a warrant to search the Almonds’ property.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Department’s 2018 raid on the Almonds’ house, first reported by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, exemplified the worst aspects of the war on drugs and civil asset forfeiture—a practice that allows police to seize property when it’s suspected of being connected to criminal activity. 

On January 31, 2018, a Randolph County sheriff’s deputy showed up at Greg and Teresa Almond’s house in Woodland, Alabama, to serve Greg court papers in a civil matter. The deputy reported that he smelled marijuana.

A county drug task force returned two hours later, busted down the Almonds’ front door, threw a flash-bang grenade at Greg Almond’s feet, detained the couple at gunpoint, and ransacked their house. The search only turned up $50 or less of marijuana, which the Almonds’ adult son tried in vain to claim as his, and a single sleeping pill outside of a prescription bottle with Greg’s name on it.

Using the paltry amount of narcotics as justification, deputies seized roughly $8,000 in cash, along with dozens of firearms and other valuables, under Alabama’s civil asset forfeiture laws. The deputies took the money right out of his wallet, Greg Almond told Reason in 2019.

More than a year after the initial raid, the Almonds were indicted on two misdemeanor charges: unlawful possession of marijuana for personal use and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, thus violating “the peace and dignity of Alabama.” However, prosecutors dropped the charges, and a judge ordered their property to be returned.

The Almonds filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2019 alleging that the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department used excessive force; stole, lost, or failed to inventory their missing property; and violated their constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as their right to due process.

That was in addition to the other injuries they suffered. As a result of the raid and arrest, the Almonds’ missed a crucial deadline to refinance loans on their farm and lost their house. Their reputation was tarnished, and their ability to earn a living was practically destroyed.

What’s more, depositions and trial testimony showed that the deputies never obtained an official search warrant from a judge for the raid.

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Alabama Cops ‘Violently’ Arrested Two Elderly Women For Taking Care of Feral Cats

In 2022, Wetumpka, Alabama, police violently arrested two elderly women and charged them with a litany of criminal offenses. Their crime? Taking care of stray cats. The pair has now sued the officers, arguing that their arrest and the resulting charges against them were unconstitutional and caused “significant physical and emotional injuries.”

According to the complaint, Mary Alston, who was 60 at the time, often worked with Beverly Roberts who was then 84, to “trap-neuter-return” (TNR) feral cats. TNR is a common strategy of limiting stray cat populations by safely capturing cats, having them spayed or neutered by a veterinary clinic, and releasing or putting them up for adoption. According to their complaint, Roberts and Alston took up this practice because “neither the Humane Society nor any other animal rights organization had the resources to conduct TNR in or around the City of Wetumpka.”

On June 25, 2022, Alston was setting up a trap for a feral cat on local public property when she saw Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis drive past, followed by police vehicles. However, within minutes the three police officers who had been trailing Willis turned around and approached Alston. 

According to the complaint, Willis later admitted that after observing Alston, he ordered the police to approach her. Further, the lawsuit alleges that “Willis was angry that Ms. Roberts and Ms. Alston frequently complained, both publicly and to officials at Wetumpka City Hall, that. Willis was failing to enforce laws and ordinances prohibiting the ‘chaining’ of dogs.”

Body camera footage shows one officer telling Alston that someone called about a person feeding feral cats.

“Ya’ll got three cop cars because I’m feeding cats?” Alston said to the officer. “Wow, it’s unbelievable.”

The officers demanded that Alston leave the public property, and then left the scene. However, Shortly after this encounter, Roberts joined Alston. The pair were on public property, and sitting calmly, waiting for a cat they were hoping to trap to arrive. However, the three officers soon returned. This time, the complaint states that they informed Roberts that she would be arrested. When the officers handcuffed Roberts, Alston got out of her car and attempted to speak with the officers.

“The officers ordered Ms. Alston to quit talking and to get in her vehicle. Ms. Alston complied with the officers’ demand to get back into her vehicle but continued to try to speak to the officers,” the complaint states. In response, one of the officers, Brenden Foster responded by grabbing Ms. Alston, jerking her out of her vehicle by force, and then handcuffing her.”

The pair were then taken to a local jail, where they were mistreated further. While in jail, Roberts lost consciousness and hit her head. However, the complaint alleges that an officer who witnessed this did nothing, and she was not given any medical help. When Roberts later asked to make a phone call, she was allegedly told that a call is a “privilege, not a right,” which is in violation of Alabama law.

Ultimately, the pair was charged with “criminal trespass, obstructing governmental operations and disorderly conduct,” according to the complaint. In December 2022, a municipal Judge found the pair guilty and sentenced them to “10 days in jail, suspended, two years supervised probation, and a $50 fine on each charge,” though the charges were later dismissed on appeal.

While their charges were ultimately dismissed, the pair is still suing, arguing that the officers and mayor “directed the unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution of Ms. Roberts and Ms. Alston to retaliate against them for exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble on public property, engage in expressive conduct…and engage in peaceful political speech.”

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Alabama Attorney General vows to use nitrogen gas executions AGAIN as he doubles down on ‘textbook’ controversial death with 43 Alabama death row inmates set to die just like Kenneth Eugene Smith

Alabama‘s Attorney General has vowed to keep using nitrogen gas to execute inmates despite harrowing reports from witnesses to Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution.

Steve Marshall even offered to assist other states in procuring the previously-untested method, brushing off claims the killer writhed and shook in agony as he was slowly suffocated to death in a 22-minute ordeal on Thursday night. 

‘What occurred last night was textbook,’ Marshall said Friday, contrasting allegations from many, including Smith’s spiritual advisor who said it was ‘torture’ and the ‘worst thing’ he had ever seen. 

‘When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,’ spiritual advisor Jeff Hood, who was in the chamber, said immediately after the execution.  

In the face of the controversy, nitrogen hypoxia has opened a new avenue for US prisons to continue the practice of executions, with some states going years without amid a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. 

Marshall cited this in his remarks Friday, praising how nitrogen gas executions are ‘no longer an untested method – it is a proven one.’ 

Officials insisted for months leading up to the execution that it would be humane and painless for Smith, who had a previous execution in 2022 called off after prison staff tried and failed to insert an IV line for several painful hours. 

Following the failed execution in 2022, Smith sought his subsequent execution to be carried out via nitrogen hypoxia – in an apparent gamble that officials wouldn’t follow through with the untested method.

However, Marshall said of the 165 inmates on Alabama’s death row, 43 prisoners have opted to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia over lethal injection when their time comes. 

‘We’ll definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions in Alabama,’ he concluded. 

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