7 Things: Democrats make impeachment excuses, Doug Jones worried about impeachment, Alabama U.S. Representatives sound off on impeachment and more …

7. Opioid research facility to be established

• The Harrison School of Pharmacy at Auburn University has announced that it will be opening a Center for Opioid Research, Education and Outreach in a further effort to fight the opioid epidemic.
• The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in Alabama there were 121 opioid prescriptions written for every 100 Alabamians, which is the highest rate in the country.

6. Woodfin endorses Biden

• A new national poll by NPR/PBSNewsHour/Marist has been released that shows former Vice President Joe Biden is at 24%. Now, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has announced his endorsement of after meeting with Biden in Atlanta.
• Weeks ago, Woodfin met with Biden and other black southern mayors, and Woodfin has said that he’s decided to endorse Biden because he “would view mayors as his partners in the campaign and he would view us as partners in the White House.” Woodfin sees Biden as the best candidate to beat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

5. A hero needs help

• After Ozark Police Department Officer Samuel Yoh was shot in the line of duty December 12, a GoFundMe page was set up to help pay the medical bills and other expenses, including helping his wife who is pregnant with their fourth child.
• Officer Yoh is in critical condition at Southeast Health in Dothan after an incident where he witnessed a man carrying a rifle and when he exited his patrol car, the suspect opened fire and hit Yoh and his vehicle multiple times.

4. Byrne is taking shots at his opponents

• During a GOP meeting in Marion County, U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) took aim at his opponents in the U.S. Senate race, saying, “I’m not coming out of retirement because I’m bored and need something to do.”
• He very specifically called out former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying that he failed “at being attorney general for the president of the United States” and then decided to come “back to Alabama” because he wanted to “get his old job back.” He also took a shot at former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, suggesting that he is only in the race because he wanted “to do something other than just sitting on [his] front porch down in the Florida panhandle.”

3. Roby and Byrne sound off on impeachment

• In an editorial at Yellowhammer News, U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) notes that the latest impeachment efforts by the media and their Democrats are nothing new; he says this all started with a fraudulent Russia investigation and ends by declaring, “Democrats will not let up working to remove President Trump from office, even after he is acquitted by the Senate.”
• U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) hasn’t always been the biggest Trump fan, an issue that her opponents tried to use to defeat her in 2018, but she is making it clear here that she sees no reason for moving forward with this sham impeachment.

2. Doug Jones concerned about impeachment

• While U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has said he has not made a decision on impeachment yet, he did express concerns to CBS 42 in Birmingham that the issue of impeachment inquiry is “is going to hurt the country.”
• Jones continued to push the Democratic narrative that anyone who opposes impeachment has somehow violated their oath of office and he’s “concerned that people are already making up their mind,” that this process has become too partisan because Republicans won’t do what Democrats demand and then repeated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) call for more witnesses than the U.S. House of Representatives called during their impeachment hearings.

1. The excuses are ready for impeachment failure

• The media and their Democrats spent months telling us that impeachment was a political act while declaring they didn’t have to do anything they didn’t want to do. Now, as the doomed impeachment heads to the Senate, the Democrats are making inane demands, the media’s crocodile tears are flowing and people are not happy.
• Schumer is utterly confused at this point. He appears to want only his witnesses to testify and has said that he wants the impeachment trial to focus “on the facts that the House presented, not on conspiracy theories that some established liar puts forward.” He also added that he’d be open to hearing from other witnesses “who might have strong evidence on the facts that the House presented.”