Tea Party Group Angered After Gun Store Owner Calls Off Senate Debate
An event featuring candidates for U.S. Senate took a bizarre turn Thursday evening. The Rainy Day Patriots had organized a debate for all five republican candidates at Hoover Tactical Firearms. But when Senator Richard Shelby didn’t attend, things quickly began to unravel.
At first, people thought things were just a little behind schedule. Then several minutes after the debate was supposed to have started, people buzzed about what could be the holdup. Finally, Hoover Tactical owner Gene Smith asked everyone to put all cameras away. Then, he said, this was the deal:
“Is that because he’s not here to defend himself, no negative statements will be made about Senator Shelby,” Smith said. Smith told the crowd he was a strong supporter of Shelby, who had another commitment booked months ago. His four challengers were there. One of them was former Marine Captain Jonathan McConnell, who asked Smith this:
“Does that apply to his commercials about me sir?” Smith said the event was over. “Y’all can go on home,” he said.
And then, chaos.
Ann Eubank, an official with the Rainy Day Patriots, the tea party group that organized the event, asked people to vacate the premises.
“I don’t know what to say. Yes it is an absolute surprise,” she said. “We’ve held them before,” referring to the Rainy Day Patriots monthly meetings and candidate forums over the years. All at this very gun superstore. Owner Gene Smith, she said, considered this outside the scope of the group’s regular gatherings, and called it off.
“It’s sort of a fiasco,” Hoover resident Ben Marcus said. “I’m very disappointed. I didn’t get to hear any exchange of information and ideas between the candidates. And that’s what I came here for.”
Marcus left feeling frustrated with the political process. Meanwhile, among the candidates, accusations were flying. McConnell blamed Shelby.
“The fact that Richard Shelby’s able to intimidate his way and get his way, no surprise at all,” McConnell said.
Shelby’s campaign spokeswoman said the senator had nothing to do with what happened. Former Alabama State Senator Shadrack McGill, also running for the US Senate seat, blamed McConnell. McGill said in a closed door meeting before the debate, all four candidates had agreed to the ground rules: no bashing Shelby.
“And then we come out here and it seems his campaign manager is intentionally railroaded the event, I believe for publicity purposes,” McGill said.
McConnell called that ridiculous. At some point, someone at Hoover Tactical had called the police. An employee ushered the crowd out to the parking lot, where three police SUV’s awaited. And in the distance, a giant billboard for Richard Shelby.
US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say
The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, members of Congress said Thursday, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.
Deadline looms as Anthropic rejects Pentagon demands it remove AI safeguards
The Defense Department has been feuding with Anthropic over military uses of its artificial intelligence tools. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts and access to some of the most advanced AI on the planet.
Pakistan’s defense minister says that there is now ‘open war’ with Afghanistan after latest strikes
Pakistan's defense minister said that his country ran out of "patience" and considers that there is now an "open war" with Afghanistan, after both countries launched strikes following an Afghan cross-border attack.
Hillary Clinton calls House Oversight questioning ‘repetitive’ in 6 hour deposition
In more than seven hours behind closed doors, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answered questions from the House Oversight Committee as it investigates Jeffrey Epstein.
Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin
Memorial services for the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. to honor his long civil rights legacy begin in Chicago. Events will also take place in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born and began his activism.
In reversal, Warner Bros. jilts Netflix for Paramount
Warner Bros. says Paramount's sweetened bid to buy the whole company is "superior" to an $83 billion deal it struck with Netflix for just its streaming services, studios, and intellectual property.
