7 Things: ISIS loses its caliphate, Doug Jones thinks he is as ‘close to in the middle as you can possibly get’, Alabama’s Common Core bill gets clarified and more …

7. In a twist on active shooter drills, a school in Indiana staged mock executions

— Looking for realism, trainers used non-lethal ammo and pellet guns to shoot teachers in mock executions that led to screams and gave educators bloody welts. It sounds surreal but it is very real. According to tweets from the Indiana State Teachers Association in the middle of a legislative tweet storm, “four teachers at a time were taken into a room, told to crouch down and were shot execution style with some sort of projectiles — resulting in injuries.” The teachers were being taught that the “duck-and-cover” technique doesn’t work. One of the shooters told teachers, “[T]his is what happens when you just cower and do nothing,” and then shot them.

6. Alabama woman killed by an illegal immigrant in Mobile

— Every year, thousands of illegal immigrants are arrested for murder in this country. Domingo Francisco Marcos is one of them. Marcos is a Guatemalan immigrant in the United States illegally and has been arrested for vehicular homicide and fleeing the scene of an accident. Like many illegal aliens, Marcos entered the country and only claimed asylum after he was caught in Arizona. He was given a court date that he did not show for, fled to Alabama, had his asylum claim denied and lived in the U.S. illegally until killing Mobile’s Sonya Jones.

5. Trump says that it’s time to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights

— In what is clearly a boom to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election campaign, the president announced that decades of U.S. foreign policy declaring the Golan Heights “occupied territory is over.” Israel took over the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981, but that annexation has not been recognized by the international community, even though Israel has operated it as their territory. Remember, this is the president that apparently has issues with the Jews, even though he constantly supports Israel.

4. China is ready to talk trade with the U.S. — Not much is expected

— U.S. officials will be in China next week to discuss the trade deal. China’s goal is to put an end to all U.S. tariffs that have been placed against them, but President Trump has clearly said that’s not happening. Trump said that the deal is coming along, and even if a deal is struck, the tariffs won’t be removed immediately. The president also added that if a deal isn’t made then the tariffs against China will increase.

3. Common Core repeal passes the Alabama State Senate

— After a lot of debate and consternation, the bill passed the Alabama State Senate 23-7. A couple of concerns were addressed by amendments to the legislation. Now, the state will move away from Common Core standards in the 2021-2022 school year and into new standards created by the Alabama Board of education. Originally, they called for transitional standards in the 2020-2021 school year. Also addressed were questionable concerns that the removal of these standards would keep the state from using ACT tests, AP tests, national teacher certifications and exams. Surely, new concerns will emerge in the State House.

2. Alabama’s U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is still pretending he is a moderate 

— Despite his votes on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, against tax cuts and for partial-birth abortion, Jones told late-night host Stephen Colbert that he is as “close to in the middle as you can possibly get.” Jones said, “I just say I’m a Doug Democrat because I’m going to do what I do, and I’m going to do it with the same authenticity I did during the [2017] campaign.” This is the same Senator Jones that has voted with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on almost all major votes, except the votes to confirm Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Bill Barr.

1. Last ISIS stronghold liberated; The caliphate has crumbled

— The previous occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue called the terrorist organization the “JV team.” After that, they went on to claim massive ground gains and establish a “caliphate.” But now bombs have stopped dropping and gunfire has disappeared. The ISIS flag is down and the caliphate is essentially dead. As many as eight million people were living under ISIS rule at one point.