-
Figures exaggerates Dobson net worth in CD-2 debate with weeks to go in election
Caroleene Dobson and Shomari Figures debated how to reduce crime and took shots at each other's net worths during a debate on Thursday.
The debate was hosted by AL(dot)com with a few weeks left before voters go to the polls on Nov. 5. Dobson, a Republican, and Figures, a Democrat, are running to represent the new Congressional District 2.
Dobson said the Biden-Harris administration was failing Congressional District 2 residents.
"They've made our communities less safe and they've made our economy less prosperous. All due to Washington insiders like my opponent. He spent his entire adult career in Washington D.C. He started leasing an apartment in the district two days before the filing deadline but he kept his $1.5 million house in Washington D.C. What's more he was part of the administration that has hurt Alabama families. He wants to continue the policies of the last four years," Dobson said in the debate.
Figures said he could better relate to people in the district.
"It starts with having people who can relate to the issues, people who understand who have grown up in communities in and around people who are struggling because people are struggling. My opponent can't relate to that. My opponent is a billionaire and that just generally keeps people from understanding the struggles of everyday people," Figures said.
According to an AL(dot)com fact check, Dobson's net worth is between $580,000 and $1.85 million, while Figures' net worth is between $2 million and $6.8 million.
A young voter from the district asked candidates during the debate about their solutions to address crime problems.
"You can't trust my opponent to be hard on crime. He likes to talk about the role that he played in Obama's clemency initiative, which the inspector general for the Department of Justice said was "poorly planned and poorly executed," resulting in the release of 1,500 criminals back onto our streets," Dobson said.
Dobson continued, "What we certainly don't need is someone who is soft on crime who released someone like Brosarick Trammell, a drug dealer who then was re-arrested last year in Alabama for trafficking fentanyl, fentanyl that is killing our young people in droves."
Figures said Republicans weren't serious about reducing gun violence.
"I hear a lot of concerns and a lot of problem identification but no solutions. Here's the truth about it. The truth about it is Republicans aren't serious about addressing gun violence. They're serious about just screaming about the issue. If they were serious about addressing gun violence, then our Republican-led state legislature, State House, State Senate, our Republican Governor, our Republican Lt. Governor would never, would never have backed a plan here in the state of Alabama that was fully opposed by every law enforcement organization in this state to remove the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in this state. If they were serious about it, they would all be backing plans right now to outlaw glock switches here in the state of Alabama which they're in opposition to," Figures said.
See more here: Figures exaggerates Dobson net worth in CD-2 debate with weeks to go in election (1819news.com)
-
September Was Deadly Month for Russian Troops in Ukraine, U.S. Says
September was the bloodiest month of the war for Russian forces in Ukraine, U.S. officials said, with the costly offensive in the east bringing the number of Russia’s dead and wounded to more than 600,000 troops since the war started.
U.S. officials attribute the high number of Russian casualties to what they describe as a grinding war of attrition, with each side trying to exhaust the other by inflicting maximum losses, hoping to break the enemy’s capacity and will to continue. Russian troops have made steady but incremental gains in recent months in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
It is a style of warfare that Russians have likened to being put into a meat grinder, with commanding officers seemingly willing to send many thousands of infantry soldiers to die.
“It’s kind of the Russian way of war in that they continue to throw mass into the problem,” a senior U.S. military official said this week, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments, in announcing the Pentagon’s latest Russian casualty estimate. “And I think we’ll continue to see high losses on the Ukrainian side.”
According to U.S. assessments, Russian casualties in the war so far number to as many as 615,000 — 115,000 Russians killed and 500,000 wounded. Ukrainian officials have zealously guarded their casualty figures, even from the Americans, but a U.S. official estimated that Ukraine had suffered a bit more than half of Russia’s casualties, or more than 57,500 killed and 250,000 wounded.
The official did not specify the number of Russian casualties last month beyond calling it the costliest month for Moscow’s forces. U.S. and British military analysts put Russian casualties at an average of more than 1,200 a day, slightly surpassing the previous highest daily rate of the war that was set in May.
Despite its losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month — roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, U.S. officials said. That has allowed its army to keep sending wave after wave of troops at Ukrainian defenses, hoping to overwhelm them and break through the trench lines.
U.S. officials said President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was trying to avoid a mass mobilization, which would be deeply unpopular domestically. Russia has offered sizable bonuses and other increased pay for voluntary soldiers to avoid a major mobilization, U.S. officials said.
“We’re just watching very closely how long that stance can actually be one that he can maintain,” a senior Pentagon official said.
Russian casualties have surged at other times, especially during the assaults on Avdiivka this year and Bakhmut in 2023. But the assaults on those cities were spread over many months.
The push in September involved trying to advance along the front in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, as well as defending against the Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region of southern Russia. It has involved intense periods of Russian attacks, with small infantry units pouring into relatively small areas that created what one senior Pentagon official called “a target-rich environment” for Ukrainian forces.
Russia’s use of infantry in waves of small unit attacks reflects one of its advantages in the war: Its population, roughly 146 million, is three times as large as Ukraine’s, giving it a larger pool of potential recruits.
But the casualties have forced Russia to ship new recruits to Ukraine relatively quickly, U.S. officials said, meaning that those sent to the front are often poorly trained.
Read the rest of the story here: Russian Casualties in Ukraine Surpass 600,000, U.S. Says - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
-
Health insurance costs up 7% for employers: Survey
The average annual cost of employer-provided health insurance for an entire family rose by 7% this year to an average of $25,572, according to a new survey. Of that, workers contribute an average of $6,296, or about a quarter of the total cost.
The 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey, conducted by the health policy organization KFF, shows that employers are paying more for employees’ health insurance while workers’ contributions have remained fairly flat over the past five years.
“Employers are shelling out the equivalent of buying an economy car for every worker every year to pay for family coverage,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a news release.
“In the tight labor market in recent years, they have not been able to continue offloading costs onto workers who are already struggling with health care bills,” he added.
One major sign of the times in this new survey: Just 18% of the large employers (at least 200 workers) surveyed offer coverage for weight-loss drugs. Fifty-two percent say they don’t cover medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Of the companies that do cover weight-loss drugs, 53% attach conditions to the coverage, such as consulting with a dietician or other health care professional or taking part in a formal weight-loss program either before or while taking the drugs.
Among the survey’s other findings:
27% say they offer IVF and artificial insemination
37% say they cover fertility medications
8% say their health plans don’t cover legal abortions under any circumstances
18% say they cover abortions in limited circumstances
48% say they have added mental health resources
READ MORE: Health care premiums up for employer-provided policies: Survey (newsnationnow.com)
This Morning with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton Orwig
FM Talk 1065
The Jeff Poor Show
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile
FM Talk 1065
The Paul Finebaum Show
FM Talk 1065
The Michael Berry Show
FM Talk 1065
Sweet Home CannaBama
FM Talk 1065
The Car Doctor with Kevin Rehwinkel and Tom Claxton
FM Talk 1065
The Joe Pags Show
FM Talk 1065
The Dana Show
FM Talk 1065
This Morning with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton Orwig
FM Talk 1065
The Jeff Poor Show
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile
FM Talk 1065
The Paul Finebaum Show
FM Talk 1065
The Michael Berry Show
FM Talk 1065
The George Williams Show
FM Talk 1065
Beyond the Blockchain
FM Talk 1065
The Joe Pags Show
FM Talk 1065
The Dana Show
FM Talk 1065
This Morning with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton Orwig
FM Talk 1065
The Jeff Poor Show
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile
FM Talk 1065
The Paul Finebaum Show
FM Talk 1065
The Michael Berry Show
FM Talk 1065
What's Working? with Cam Marston
FM Talk 1065
Scuttlebutt Radio
FM Talk 1065
The Joe Pags Show
FM Talk 1065
The Dana Show
FM Talk 1065
This Morning with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton Orwig
FM Talk 1065
The Jeff Poor Show
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile
FM Talk 1065
The Paul Finebaum Show
FM Talk 1065
Tiger Talk
FM Talk 1065
Tiger Talk OT with Doug Holton
FM Talk 1065
FM Talk 1065 - Best of the Week
FM Talk 1065
The Joe Pags Show
FM Talk 1065
The Dana Show
FM Talk 1065
This Morning with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton Orwig
FM Talk 1065
The Jeff Poor Show
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile
FM Talk 1065
The Paul Finebaum Show
FM Talk 1065
The Michael Berry Show
FM Talk 1065
FM Talk 1065 - Best of the Week
FM Talk 1065
The Joe Pags Show
FM Talk 1065
Outdoors Show with Don Dubuc
FM Talk 1065
FMTalk1065 Outdoors
FM Talk 1065
Prep Sports Report
FM Talk 1065
Midday Mobile - Saturday Encore
FM Talk 1065
Southern Fairways
FM Talk 1065
FMTalk1065 - Best of the Week (Saturday 12p)
FM Talk 1065
What's Working? with Cam Marston (Saturday)
FM Talk 1065
Retire Right Radio
FM Talk 1065
The Jolene Roxbury Variety Hour
FM Talk 1065
The Kim Komando Show
FM Talk 1065
Free Talk Live
FM Talk 1065
FMTalk1065 Outdoors
FM Talk 1065
Free Talk Live
FM Talk 1065
FMTalk1065 Best of the Week (Sunday AM)
FM Talk 1065
FMTalk1065 Outdoors
FM Talk 1065
The Jolene Roxbury Variety Hour
FM Talk 1065
Truitt News Radio
FM Talk 1065
Plain Living with Bill Finch
FM Talk 1065
Sip & Chew with Mike & Stu
FM Talk 1065
Coasting in Retirement with Josh Null
FM Talk 1065
What Would Your Money Say? with Swan Capital
FM Talk 1065
This Weekend with Gordon Deal
FM Talk 1065
Talking Dirty
FM Talk 1065
Relax and Retire Financial Services
FM Talk 1065
FM Talk - Best of the Week
FM Talk 1065
What's Working? with Cam Marston
FM Talk 1065
Plain Living with Bill Finch
FM Talk 1065
Prep Sports Report (Sunday Replay)
FM Talk 1065
Free Talk Live
FM Talk 1065