7 Things: Gas tax calculation hurts big counties, Speaker McCutcheon says there is no deal on Medicaid expansion, New Zealand attack already politicized and more …

7. The president of the United States spent the weekend ripping the corpse of former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

— President Donald Trump brought up McCain’s role in turning over the Steele Dossier, tweeting, “Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier ‘is, unfortunately, a very dark stain against John McCain.” The dossier was part of the controversial decision to open probes into the Trump campaign with questionable reasoning that continues to dog Trump to this day. McCain is still dead and Trump will not stop bringing his name up with little to gain from doing so.

6. Black woman who took over after racist Alabama newspaper publisher called for the KKK to “ride again” quits, citing interference

— Elecia R. Dexter took over for Sutton Goodloe after the latter became an international punchline for an editorial calling for the citizens to pretend to be in the KKK to thwart tax increases. Sutton gave up his control of The Democrat-Reporter but never truly stepped away. Dexter said she resigned to keep her “integrity and well-being.” Sutton claims the paper made $350,000 last year because of Alabama’s law requiring legal notices be advertised in local papers.

5. As Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall continues to fight the battle over census counts, the Supreme Court will take on the issue on another front

— Last week, Marshall warned that “our electoral vote will go to the state of California” if illegal immigrants are allowed to be counted for apportionment of federal monies, representation and electoral votes in the 2020 census. Marshall and Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) are suing the federal government over the matter. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine if Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross adding a citizenship question in the 2020 census is constitutional because a federal judge ruled he could not add the question. Several states and Washington D.C. oppose adding the question because they feel they will not get an accurate count of illegals and that will hurt their total population numbers.

4. New Zealand is preparing to overhaul their gun laws in response to last week’s terror attack by a white supremacist that wanted to use a gun to change American laws

— Even though New Zealand’s gun ownership rate is one of the highest in the world and their homicide rates are below average, the response to the horrific attack on two mosques is going to change those laws. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says her cabinet will be “looking to move as quickly as we can” as they prepare to meet today to start making changes. Reports from the nation find that citizens are purchasing firearms, ammunition and magazines as the changes are expected to be wide-ranging.

3. The American media and their Democrats spent the weekend proclaiming “white supremacy” is the world’s largest terrorism problem as Palestinians handed out candy after a terror attack in Israel

— The main storyline in the American media following last week’s terror attack in New Zealand are the attempts to connect Donald Trump to the massacre and lambaste him for not rebuking white supremacy stringently enough for their liking. Although Trump has denounced white supremacy in the past, he has taken heat for accurately calling the movement “a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.” There are serious problems with white nationalists committing acts of terror, but no one is defending them or acting as if they have a point. The main terror threat on the planet is still radical Islam.

2. Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) says that there has been no deal cut on Medicaid expansion

— There have been questions about how serious calls to expand Medicaid in Alabama actually are with House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) saying there was a deal to hear the issue, Governor Kay Ivey not slamming the door on it, and McCutcheon said he doesn’t see it coming to fruition. When asked if he thought there would be a Medicaid expansion he said, “I don’t think so,” adding, “If you want to call it Medicaid expansion, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about health care.”

1. Bigger counties will lose gas tax revenue in the first two years of the latest gas tax increase

— When the gas tax starts being distributed in 2020, the larger counties will end up losing out on some of the monies they should receive because the population numbers used will come from the 2010 census. This means counties that lost population will get more money than they are entitled to.  Conversely, counties that increased in size since 2010 will have to wait until the 2020 census is completed to see the numbers re-calibrated.