UA In the News  — Nov. 17, 2017

UA In the News — Nov. 17, 2017

UA to launch crowdsourcing fundraiser for Million Dollar Band
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Nov. 16
Tomorrow, the University of Alabama plans to launch an online fundraiser to help one of its big football support systems. They’ll launch the inaugural UA Crowdfunding. UA says they hope to raise $40,000 to fund a new section of instruments for the Million Dollar Band.

UA Professor: Gun Ownership is a Problem in America
WSQX-FM (Binghamton, New York) “The World” – Nov. 16
Although to be fair, our starting point is America and the serious problem our country has with mass shootings. We will be hearing from Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama. He studies where the U.S. stands globally when it comes to mass shootings.

When trying to determine why the US has so many mass shootings, only one statistic matters
Nashville Public Radio – Nov. 17
Every time there’s a mass shooting in the US, the same question comes up. Does the availability of guns lead to such tragedies? Adam Lankford, a criminology professor at the University of Alabama, saw an opportunity to use data to provide an unambiguous answer.

Blaming the media is tried and true political strategy in Alabama
Al.com – Nov. 17
Moore has called The Washington Post’s piece an “intentional act” to discredit him. At the University of Alabama, however, associate journalism professor Chris Roberts believes that the Post team did a “pretty solid reporting job.” “We talk in my reporting classes that if you are going to take on something big, you have to kill it,” said Roberts. “You cannot wound it. People will complain about it. But I think they came close to killing the bear. They got it. They didn’t pay sources. They got people on the record.”

Christian Support for Roy Moore ‘Looks Like Hypocrisy to the Outside World’
The Atlantic – Nov. 17
Before this month, Roy Moore was best known nationally for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama state supreme-court building. Now, the aspiring senator is accused of hitting on teens at an Alabama mall and inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl … To outsiders, the support might seem like a stark contradiction in values. Even to insiders, it can seem that way. “I’m … bothered,” wrote William S. Brewbaker III, a law professor at the University of Alabama, in The New York Times, “by what Mr. Moore’s popularity says about the sorry state of evangelical Christianity.”
True Viral News – Nov. 17
Politics of Hope – Nov. 17

Trump tweets about Franken, silent on Moore (Live Interview)
MSNBC – The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell – Nov. 16
Joining us now, Donna Edwards, former Cemocratic Congresswoman of Maryland and sere your fellow at the Center for Justice, Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama an professor at University of Alabama Law School.

Why Trump won’t touch the Moore harassment scandal
Politico – Nov. 16
Donald Trump loves nothing more than a good controversy. But the president isn’t touching the Alabama Senate race, the biggest talker in American politics right now … Ronald Krotoszynski Jr., a professor of law at the University of Alabama, said Ivey has the power to delay the special election until a date of her choosing. But Ivey was unlikely to move the election, he said, because she is running for reelection and faces a primary in which many of Moore’s supporters will vote. “I think her options legally are pretty wide,” he said. But, he noted, Ivey is “on the ballot in the late spring of 2018, and she’s going to face these same Republican voters.”

Will Alabama’s politics scuttle its chances at Toyota-Mazda?
Al.com – Nov. 16
Here’s the good news Alabama: Your state is reportedly one of the two finalists for the $1.6 billion Toyota-Mazda manufacturing plant, bringing 4,000 jobs, another big manufacturing presence, and perhaps a whole new crop of auto suppliers … However, Alabama’s political problems may not have as big an effect as some fear. Samuel Addy is the associate dean for economic development outreach at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. He says there are many other factors that go into finding a home for a manufacturing plant, and politics is only part of the equation.

Alt-right just a new euphemism for white supremacists
Albany Times-Union (New York) – Nov. 17
The radical right is an umbrella term that encompasses numerous groups including the alt-right, a term that came into usage during the 2016 presidential campaign … In “Making Sense of the alt-right,” University of Alabama political scientist George Hawley states the typical alt-right enthusiast does not fit the stereotypical radical-right KKK or Neo Nazi profile.

Where’s the line between free speech and unprotected speech?
WWL 105.3 (Louisiana) – Nov. 17
Tommy talks to Ron Krotosynski, Director of Faculty Research and Professor of Law at the University of Alabama, about free speech and obscenity.

Tehama shooting (letters to the editor)
Sacramento Bee (California) – Nov. 16
Re “One lesson from Tehama shooting: School lockdowns save lives” (Editorials, Nov. 15): Is a teacher locking classroom doors and ordering children to take cover under their desks our only defense against a gunman armed with a semi-automatic weapon? … In a worldwide study, Adam Lankford, University of Alabama, found the higher the number of gun ownership in a country, the higher the odds of a mass shooting.

Diane Mufson: Our nation has found its guns but lost its way
The Logan Banner (West Virginia) – Nov. 16
Today, we Americans seem to relish political incivility, accept violence as normal, fear immigrants, consider bipartisan co-operation immoral and worship guns. Only briefly do we stay aghast at mass shootings of 6-year olds, concert attendees and churchgoers … Today, we Americans see too many gun deaths and massive shootings. In his studies, Adam Lankford at the University of Alabama, reported in the New York Times, that Americans own 42 percent of the world’s guns, but have less than 5 percent of the world’s population.

Annual Paul W. Bryant Scholarship Dinner held at UA
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 16
Former Alabama player John McIntosh and Nick Saban were speakers at the event. The Bryant scholarship was established by Coach Bryant to assist children of former football team members who played for him at the University of AlabamaThere are currently 56 students benefiting from the Bryant scholarship.

UA Political Science professor says Alabama voters have a bond with Roy Moore (live interview)
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 16
We have a special guest tonight who can help us dig through all this information and what it may mean for the state of Alabama. We’ve got Dr. Allen Linken with us. He’s a University of Alabama political science professor.