7 Things: Mini-Madoff arrested; Ainsworth calls school choice a lifeline; and more ...

7. Mike Hubbard could be out of jail soon

Former Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard is expected to be released from prison as early as Jan. 8, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Justice Tommy Bryan of the Alabama Supreme Court said he was not “entirely convinced” 48 months in state custody is an appropriate sentence and appeared to be saying he didn’t support the maximum sentence of four years.
Attorney General Steve Marshall doesn’t seem so keen on the idea, “Even as he sits in state prison as a six-time felon, Mike Hubbard continues to deny any guilt or offer any remorse for his actions in violation of the law.” Hubbard was quoted saying he “held my nose and signed” on to a letter expressing regret for his actions but believes he still had done nothing wrong.

6. Britt wants the GOP messaging to focus on values

In order to broaden the audience for the GOP, U.S. Sen.-elect Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) was appointed to the Republican National Committee’s GOP Advisory Council. Britt told Fox News she was excited to be on the committee, “In order to win, we have got to all get on the same page and make sure that we get our message to voters. And so, whatever role that I can play in that, you better believe you can count me in.”
Britt appears to have two real messages moving forward: bring in new blood to win elections and represent the values GOP voters actually care about. Britt said, “I believe we need new blood. We need fresh blood,” she said. “We are the party of faith, family, freedom and opportunity. We missed being able to get that message to some of the younger generation, so we’ve got to reconfigure how we do that.”

5. Brooks could face ethics charges but won’t

The media and their Democrats really feel that their Jan. 6 moment is almost over so they will now attempt to convince you that U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and four other congressmen could face a congressional ethics hearing. This seems unlikely, as the Democrats have lost the House of Representatives.
it is worth noting, the outgoing GOP congressman had offered to appear before the committee in public and Brooks only wanted to be questioned by the esteemed congressional members on the Jan. 6 committee, not their lowly aides.

4. Ivey bans TikTok

No more TikTok for government employees after Gov.r Kay Ivey becomes the latest GOP governor to ban the Chinese government-owned app. Ivey said, “Protecting the state of Alabama and our citizens’ right to privacy is a must, and I surely don’t take a security threat from China lightly.”
Ivey acknowledged she doesn’t use the app, but said, the evidence speaks for itself, and I want to make sure I’m doing everything we can as a state to stand against this growing security risk.” Her not using the app is a real loss to Alabamians because we all deserve to see Ivey do the “Celine Dion lip-sync challenge” challenge.

3. Huntsville’s drag queen educator admits to gay messaging in classes

It is now abundantly clear that the Huntsville school teacher in the middle of a recent Drag Queen Story Hour controversy has been using his position as a teacher to introduce his gay messaging into the classrooms he taught in “strategically” and “covertly.”
James Miller, a Mountain Gap Middle School teacher, appeared on the “Look Who’s Tucking” podcast with Sharon Cocx and talked about bringing books, flags, and stickers in to indoctrinate the children. He also called the school he worked at previously a “redneck” school and called parents “dumbasses.”

2. Ainsworth supports school choice

Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth appears to be the latest elected official to voice support of school choice after he told Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” “I support school choice 100%.” The more options the better.
Ainsworth is talking about vouchers, charters and more as options for failing schools that he feels have “trapped” children: “You’ve got students that have been in historically failing schools. Look at Montgomery, right here the state’s capitol, you’ve got a lot of failing schools and those students are trapped, and so to give them an opportunity to go to potentially a private school, wow, that could be a lifeline for those students.”

1. SBF arrested after failure to CYA leaves him SOL

Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, is now locked up in the Bahamas while awaiting extradition. The island government released a statement saying, “S.B.F.’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against S.B.F. and is likely to request his extradition.” The Southern District of New York is expected to unseal an indictment today.
Bankman-Fried led an alleged scam cryptocurrency exchange (FTX) that at one point was worth more than $32 billion. SBF was expected to appear before Congress today, but he said that was not going to happen and now he definitely will not.