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Club for Growth Action, the super PAC associated with Club for Growth, reported spending $851,070 on three federal races in Alabama this week, the majority of which will go towards running ads on television.

Most notably, in the Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate, the group reported spending $196,409 in support of former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville.

Members of the Republican Party are often divided over Club for Growth. Many cite it as a bastion of fiscal conservatism and limited government principles; others say that the groups opposition to President Donald Trump during the 2016 primaries and continuous objections to the Farm Bill prove that it is out of touch with key conservative constituencies.

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The Club was an ardent supporter of Jeff Sessions while he was in the Senate, but earlier in 2020 decided to support Tuberville a few days after the former Auburn coach was endorsed by Trump. In contrast to the other primaries in the state, the PAC so far is refraining from attacking Sessions and instead solely focusing their resources on supporting Tuberville.

In addition to Tuberville, the group is backing former State Representative Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) and former State Senator Bill Hightower (R-Mobile) in the states two open congressional primaries.

The group often intervenes in primaries where they believe they can help elect a potential ally.

Notable Club for Growth-backed politicians are U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY).

In the Republican primary runoff for Alabamas Second Congressional District, the super PAC reported spending a total of $484,375 in the past week, with $383,842 of it going towards airing ads on television.

Barry Moores opponent in the AL-02 primary runoff is Dothan businessman Jeff Coleman, who has been endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federations political arm.

In terms of Club for Growth money, $316,579 was spent opposing Coleman, and $167,796 was spent supporting Barry Moore.

In an email to supporters, Colemans campaign manager Dalton Dismukes criticized Moore for welcoming the groups support, and described the Club For Growth as a special interest group made up of a small group of disgruntled Never-Trumpers who are anti-farmer, pro-China, and weak on many other issues critical to our district.

The original never-Trump, anti-farmer Super PAC Club for Growth is up to their old swamp tactics again. Its disturbing that Barry Moore would welcome this group into our state after they ran millions of dollars in attack ads against Donald Trump in 2016, Dismukes stated. [N]ot only has Club targeted our President, but they have also targeted the livelihood of our farmers and producers by routinely opposing the Farm Billand other critical needs that support farmers and agribusiness across our district.

Jonathan Barbee, a consultant for Moore, said that it was sad that Mr. Dismukes has already resorted to mudslinging, and added, Barrys always supported farmers and agribusiness across District 2; he even grew up on a farm and has a degree in agriculture.

The Clubs favorite candidate in Alabama, at least by money spent, appears to be Hightower in AL-01. The group has spent more than $1 million since the start of the 2020 cycle with the goal of getting Hightower elected, including $170,286 in the last week.

Hightowers opponent on July 14 is Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl, who has also been endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federations political arm. The entirety of Clubs spending in AL-01 during the past week has gone to opposing Carls campaign.

Additionally, Stephen Moore, a past president of Club for Growth and former economic adviser to President Donald Trump, endorsed Hightower this past week.

Carl called on Hightower to renounce the endorsement due to Moores alleged adulterous behavior and his heinous comments about women and minorities. Hightower did not respond to Carl, and called Moore a Major Endorsement in a Facebook post.

A representative in the communications department of Club for Growth did not immediately respond to Yellowhammer News request for comment.

The groups ad supporting Tuberville focuses on Trumps endorsement.

Club for Growths ads supporting Hightower focuses on the candidates record while an Alabama state senator, as well as his support for term limits.

Their ad opposing Carl zeroes in on a 2019 clip where Carl indicates favorability to raising the gas tax in Alabama.

Clubs ad supporting Moore focuses on the candidates early endorsement of then-candidate Trump.

Club For Growth Actions ad(s) opposing Coleman have not yet been made publicly available.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email:henry@yellowhammernews.comor on Twitter@HenryThornton95

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7 Things: Supreme Court rules Trump can't undo Obama executive order, Fauci suggests football may not be played even with no new lockdowns, states...

On Fox Across America With Jimmy Failla, V.A. Secretary Robert Wilkie explained why President Trump has done more for America's veterans than any other elected official, and gave an example of why the V.A. is during better now than under President Obama.

"This is not the scandal plagued V.A. of the Obama Administration and I certainly don't mind saying that. I will shout that from the rooftops. And this President, as I said yesterday in the White House, you can't find another president in American history who first as a candidate, and then as a president, put veterans at front and center. And the proof is there."

"In a normal month, we have 40,000 mental health tele-encounters. In the month of April, we had over 900,000. This allows veterans to talk to us without the pressure of going into a large clinical setting, without the pressure on their families to get them hundreds of miles to a V.A. center. So it is an all encompassing thing and it's about time."

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V.A. Secretary Robert Wilkie: This Is Not The "Scandal-Plagued V.A. Of The Obama Administration" - FOX News Radio

Three and a half years after UN Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlement activity passed thanks to an US abstention, as opposed to their usual veto, new details published this week raised new questions.When the resolution passed in December 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governments representatives in the US were furious.Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said he has evidence that the Obama administration not only abstained from the vote, but pushed and supported the resolution forward. US Ambassador to Israel at the time Dan Shapiro denied the claims and maintained on Wednesday that Resolution 2334 was not a US initiative, which it technically was not Venezuela, Senegal, New Zealand and Malaysia were the sponsors.But in 2019, a New York Times Magazine article featured a quote from an anonymous member of the Obama White House somewhat confirming Dermers account, saying that they ensured the vote would only take place after the November 2016 election in order not to scare donors away from Hilary Clintons presidential campaign. An Israeli source said this week that Obama aides worked on the text, as well.Comments by Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon at the time summed up the feeling in Jerusalem.To be in a room and see all the other member states voting against Israel, and the US allowing it to happen, was a moment I will never forget, Danon said. I think the resolution was the lowest place in decades regarding Israel and the US at the UN. We did work with the US mission very closely and we achieved a lot of things together, but that shameful vote will be what people remember of president Obamas presidencyThey will remember that moment when the US abandoned Israel and allowed a one-sided resolution to pass.But it turns out the acrimony in Danons words and those of others, were hiding what was, in Israels eyes, even more egregious behavior by then US president Barack Obama and his administration.An Israeli source confirmed most of the details of an account in Israel Hayom this week, that Obama pushed a second UN Security Council resolution that would be damaging to Israel, and Netanyahu ended up convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin to threaten a veto. The resolution was never actually submitted to the UNSC, because it had no chance to pass.Netanyahu hinted at the story in an election rally in Maaleh Adumim in February, but a clearer picture came out of the Israel Hayom article, which says the prime minister told the full story in a closed meeting this week.Months before Resolution 2334 passed, journalist David Zeev Jablinowitz, who was a correspondent for Israel Radio in 2016, spoke to Obama in October of that year and confirmed that part of the story. The then-president told Jablinowitz he had a resolution in the works that would set the parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian final-status agreement that would include a Palestinian state and would include a time frame by which such talks should be completed, the journalist recounted.The impression I got from him was that he wanted to show he was a friend of Israel but [the resolution] was all about Netanyahu and the right-wing, he added.In December, Israel tried to block [Resolution 2334] and Obamas people worked behind the scenes to push it. He wouldnt take Netanyahus calls at the time, the source said. [Then president-elect Donald] Trump was also involved in trying to stop it. Egypt were sponsors of the resolution, but they pulled their sponsorship because of Trumps pressure.In his talks with various UN delegation, Danon found out that there was a second resolution that the Obama administration was quietly supporting, and informed Jerusalem.There was the resolution people know about and a second one, which was the parameters for a peace agreement, which included a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 lines with land swaps, the source said. The parameters would have paved the way for a General Assembly decision, and forced an outline of how peace agreement would look, which was more like what the Palestinians want and very far from the Trump plan.Danon appealed to his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin, and the matter went up to the Netanyahu-Putin level. The Russians did not agree to veto Resolution 2334 condemning settlements, but they were opposed to the second one, and generally did not approve of the Obama administration making these last-minute moves right before Trump took office.The Israeli source posited that the Obama administration did not want to be seen as less pro-Israel than Russia, so they backed down from the second initiative.Jablinowitz may have played his own part in the second resolution not going to a vote. During his October phone call, he suggested to Obama that he tell the US Embassy to Israels staff to reach out to the Zionist parties in the Knesset, suggesting that while the Israeli Left may want a two-state solution, they might not like it being imposed by a UNSC resolution. An Obama aide later contacted Jablinowitz to tell him he was right, and Labor and Meretz, in addition to everyone to their Right, did not support the idea.Shapiro denied the story: I dont know anything about promises Putin might have made, and I certainly wouldnt trust himThe idea that Israel had to be rescued by a Russian veto is false.There was no second resolution planned, and the first wasnt our initiative. Shapiro added that The Israeli administration knew that at the time.As for the claim that Obama would not take Netanyahus calls, Shapiro said it doesnt sound right, and he doesnt recall Netanyahu trying to call Obama at the time.Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied the report that Putin stopped the resolution, calling it "disinformation." Zakharova pointed out that Russia already recognized a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders in 1988, and reaffirmed Russia's position in support of direct negotiations for a two-state solution.What is indisputable is that two days after Resolution 2334 passed, then secretary of state John Kerry gave a long speech on how the Obama administration envisions a two-state solution. The plan described in the speech is consistent with the Israeli sources description of the second resolution that never came to pass. There is still the question of why this story is coming out now, three-and-a-half years after Trump came into office.The answer is likely that it is politically beneficial to both Netanyahu and Trump, and the fact that the story came out in Israel Hayom, owned by Sheldon Adelson who supports them both, supports that theory.The Trump reelection campaign can use the story as a cudgel to attack Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who was vice president under Obama, by associating him with yet another anti-Israel move.Netanyahu can send a similar message to Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz or to opponents on his Right that if Trump is voted out of office, they can expect a return to Obama-era relations with the US.In fact, the timing could not be more convenient for Netanyahu, who is currently trying to push for Israel to extend sovereignty to parts of the West Bank in July, in accordance with Trumps peace plan.He can make the argument that not annexing doesnt mean staying with the status quo and saving Israel from international censure, it means missing an opportunity and still opening Israel up to punitive measures from the world.

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Did Putin save Israel from Obama at UN, and why are we hearing this now? - The Jerusalem Post

Former President Barack Obama told America on Wednesday he doesn't believe the protests that have erupted across the country are anything like those that reverberated in 1968, which many believed helped elect President Richard Nixon.

"I've heard some people say that you have a pandemic, then you have these protests, this reminds people of the '60s and the chaos and the discord and distrust throughout the country. I have to tell you, although I was very young ... I know enough about that history to say there is something different," Obama said.

Former President Obama spoke Wednesday about police violence at a virtual town hall a week after George Floyd's death. Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a police officer held his knee to his neck for more than eight minutes. Four former policemen have now been charged in connection with his death, with one of them charged with murder.

In Obama's speech, he echoed much of what he said in a previous blog post, urging reforms in the collective bargaining agreements with police that are negotiated by mayors and county executives. He highlighted the role played by attorneys and district attorneys in leading prosecutions.

He also outlined what he views as the differences between 2020 and 1968, when riots broke out across the country as it battledinequality domestically and the Vietnam War abroad. TheApril assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King set off four days of protests, while theAugust Democratic National Convention served as another launching pad. Richard Nixon was elected president in November, after campaigning on a platform that focused on "law and order."

"You look at the protests and that was a far more representative cross-section of America out on the streets peacefully protesting who felt moved to do something because the instance they had seen injustice," Obama said. "That didn't exist in the 1960s, that kind of broad coalition."

Donald Trump has in recent days used language to echo rhetoric employed by Nixon during his 1968 run. He has tweeted out "Law and Order!" and labeled protesters the "Antifa."He has demanded that governors use harsher tactics against those who are protesting the death ofGeorge Floyd.

While the demonstrations have largely been peaceful, violence and looting erupted in numerous cities over the weekend as groups of protesters clashed with law enforcement officers.

Those protests have come as the coronavirus pandemic has thrown an unexpected curveball in Trump's campaign for reelection, seemingly threatening the U.S. economy Trump was expected to use as a linchpin of his run. The unemployment rate has reached nearly 15%, with expectations it will soon edge closer to 20%. That's even as the stock market has so far proven largely immune, with the Dow Jones Industrial Averagerallyingmore than 500 points Wednesday.

Polls currently show former Vice President Biden leading Trump by about 8 percentage points. This week, Bidensurged past Trump in online betting markets tied to the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.

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Barack Obama says protests across the country aren't like the 1968 riots, which some think helped elect Nixon - CNBC

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On a Wednesday afternoon livestream, President Obama delivered an optimistic message about the protests gripping the nation in response to police violence: There is a change in mindset thats taking place, he said.

In a town hall, organized through My Brothers Keeper, an initiative he launched as president, Obama acknowledged that while the last few weeks have been difficult, uncertain, and scary, we are also living through an incredible opportunity for people to be awakened to the ongoing reality of structural racismthe result of a long history of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and redlining.

He called on every mayor in the United States to review police use-of-force policies.

This is not an either/or, he said of protesting and pushing legislative reform on the local level. This is both/and.

Comparing the discord and unrest of today to that of the 1960s, Obama said were witnessing a far more representative cross section of America out there on the streets protesting than in the past. He credited the organizing and engagement of young people with forging popular support among a broad coalition of Americans regarding the need for transformative change in police use-of-force tactics. And he pointed to the Guide to Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing that came out of a task force he convened as president, stating that mayors and police chiefs across the country have been too slow to implement the reports recommendations.

As Mother Jones has reported, President Obamas tenure featured renewed attention to enforcing consent decrees, which subject local police departments to federal oversight and sometimes lead to reform. Obama enforced 14 of the 20 legally binding consent decrees that have arisen since Congress created the system after the Rodney King uprisings of 1992. Trump and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions have all but eliminated this oversight.

Yet Obama has also drawn flack from Black Lives Matter activists for what they see as his lukewarm embrace of the movement, centrist critique of protest tactics, and unflinching support for law enforcement. After police officer Darren Wilson killed Mike Brown in 2014, Obama and Eric Holders Justice Department released a 100-page report on patterns of racial discrimination among officers in Ferguson, Missouri, but declined to prosecute Wilson. In todays town hall, Obama commended officers who have chosen to march with protesters, but did not spare a word for the ongoing police repression tactics. He also did not mention the editorial from Sen. Tom Cotton, published by the New York Timeshours before, calling for troops to be sent in on protestors.

Instead, focusing on a message of hope, Obama thanked youth leaders for prompting a necessary conversation. Just make sure that we now follow through, he said.

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Obama Sees Hope in Protests: There Is Something Different Here - Mother Jones