A Republican senator slugging a Democratic senator gave the Alabama Legislature a national black eye, much like what happened eight years ago when the southern state's lieutenant governor urinated in a jug, discreetly, at the front of the Senate chamber.
Both incidents occurred during battles between Democrats and Republicans over Senate operating rules. And both became popular fodder for TV comics.
"It's something everyone is talking about and some people are laughing about. It's a black eye," said Glen Browder, a political science professor and former member of the Alabama Legislature and US House.
"It feeds into the stereotype of the rural South," said Merle Black, an expert in Southern politics at Emery University in Atlanta.
Browder and Black agree about something else: Alabama's one blow wasn't nearly as bad as some fights in foreign governments, including the large brawl last month in Taiwan's legislature.
"These are just two guys. It didn't get any more involved," Black said.
On Thursday -- the last day of the Alabama Legislature's session -- Senator Charles Bishop, a Republican, and Senator Lowell Barron, a Democrat, were having an emotional exchange when Bishop hit Barron in the side of the head, knocking him over a desk. Senate security and other senators pulled Bishop away.
The ensuing national attention was a repeat of 1999, when then-lieutenant governor Steve Windom urinated in a jug that was hidden from view behind his desk. A Republican, Windom had remained at his post at the front of the Senate chamber because he feared Democrats would strip him of power as the presiding officer if he left to visit the restroom.
House Speaker Seth Hammett said the Senate slug tarnishes an international reputation that Alabama has struggled to build by recruiting international companies.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS