7. The Department of Justice is looking into the decision to let “Empire” star Jussie Smollett off the hook

— ABC reported that the FBI is “reviewing” the circumstance that led to Smollett’s 16 felony charges being dropped. As of right now, this is not an investigation but is an “inquiry” or “review.” Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police has already been seeking a federal investigation into Cook County’s State Attorney Kim Foxx’s office. Messages between Foxx and a relative of Smollett’s about talking to the police superintendent about the case have been made public, which raises questions. To make matters worse, Foxx admitted she believed that her office would have found Smollett guilty.

6. Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) is asking the Supreme Court to toss out his 2016 conviction

— This week, Hubbard’s attorney filed a brief that claims he did not commit a violation of the ethics law, that he passed, and that prosecutors stretched the intent of ethics laws. Hubbard was convicted of multiple ethics violations, as well as asking company executives for investments in his business and work. The Alabama Supreme Court has agreed to hear Hubbard’s appeal. Hubbard has been free on bond since his conviction and will remain free as he appeals his conviction of four years in prison. This is not the first time we have seen Hubbard’s team try to get this thrown out. It appears to be unlikely that he is successful this time either.

5. In spite of the fact that we are told there isn’t an emergency at the border, the largest day for apprehension in 10 years took place this week

— U.S. Customs and Border Protection tweeted out that this week has been huge for apprehensions, saying, “#BorderPatrol recorded more than 3,700 apprehensions along the Southwest Border yesterday—the largest single day total in more than a decade.” This is all happening as the new chief in charge of most of Arizona’s international border, Roy Villareal, says his agency is near the breaking point with the surge of migrant families crossing the border. This week, it was also announced that catch-and-release is back and 24,000 individuals have been released into the interior over a two-week period.

4. Attempts to end the tax on food in Alabama are nothing new; A new approach would leave it up to cities and counties

— State Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) wants to allow counties or municipalities the ability to reduce or completely remove their sales taxes on groceries. This comes up every single year and then goes nowhere. Leaving the issue up to the municipalities is a unique approach because the part of the sales tax on food that goes to the Education Trust Fund would go untouched while local governments could forgo their part of the sales tax. The exempting of food from sale taxes overall is the end game for this movement.

3. Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Mobile) calls for stronger borders after a Mobile woman is killed in a car accident by an illegal immigrant

— Byrne appeared on “Fox and Friends” and voiced his support for more secure borders after Sonya Jones of Mobile was killed in a hit and run car accident by Domingo Francisco Marcos, a 16-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala who came to America claiming asylum. Marcos is one of the many illegal immigrants who never appeared for their court date after claiming asylum. Byrne spoke about the incident saying, “Look what happened in Mobile, Alabama, well away from the Mexican border. By the way, we’ve had two rapes by illegal immigrants in the northern part of Alabama. It doesn’t matter where you live in America, these people can come into our country and harm us.” During the interview, Byrne also spoke in favor of building a border wall,and stated that incidents just like this are why the country needs secure borders.

2. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is back to talking about voter suppression, but continues to fail to present one example

— On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a press conference in support of the “For The People Act,” which has been criticized as the “Democrat Politician Protection Act,” and Doug Jones followed suit. The legislation has the support of many Democrats, and it’s been driven with the narrative that Republicans don’t want African-Americans and other minorities voting. Jones tweeted, “It’s time to put our democracy back where it belongs: in the hands of the American people. The #ForThePeople Act will help expand access to the ballot box & restore ethics and integrity to our political system.” Jones’ tweet came only minutes after Schumer’s Capitol Hill press conference where he claimed that the right to vote is at risk. Jones has claimed many times that Alabama is guilty of “voter suppression,” but Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has shut down those claims with facts and his appeals for evidence have gone unheeded.

1. A majority of Americans don’t believe that the Mueller report cleared the president of Russian collusion (it did); This proves Congressman Mo Brooks’ (AL-1) “Big Lie” speech was dead-on

— In what can only be seen as a failure of the American education system and the news media, 56 percent of Americans polled believe the president and his campaign have not been cleared of collusion. The synopsis from Attorney General William Barr does clear Trump and his campaign in no uncertain terms. He concluded, “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” But, the American people have been digesting a steady stream of misinformation for two years and the media and their Democrats still haven’t come to grips with the facts of the Mueller report yet. Showing the “Big Lie” is working, 58 percent of independents say the president and his campaign were not exonerated. Also, the overall number of those that say the president was cleared, 43 percent, is almost the same as the number was a year ago and long before the actual exoneration.