7. At least one county in Alabama is taking on their clearly illegal gambling issues with “electronic bingo“
— Newly elected Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith is going after electronic bingo halls operating illegally. He told the Daily Mountain Eagle he would seek charges against operators and employees. Most of the other bingo halls are shutting down in his county. There really is no question that none of the electronic bingo machines operating in the state of Alabama are legal. They are all slot machines with extra steps. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall praised Walker County and sounds like he is prepared to act on these machines, outlining, “Should local agencies in other jurisdictions fail to enforce State laws on gambling, my office will take action as needed to hold the perpetrators accountable.” The state of Alabama has seen all of this before.
6. Alabama Democrats think that money being spent on the border could be better spent in Alabama
— $1 billion in Pentagon funding has been made available for the wall. Monday, Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), made it clear he is not in favor of this, arguing, “There are no circumstances under which it would be acceptable or appropriate. These projects are critical to the national security and to the state of Alabama, and I will oppose every attempt to delay or otherwise negatively impact them in any way.” On Alabama Public Television, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) said, “I don’t believe that we need a wall from sea to shining sea to actually protect us.” Sewell voted for the legislation that would block President Trump’s emergency declaration since she believes that it’s not a national emergency. She went on to say that if she could have Trump walk through her district for at least one hour, she could show him what $5.7 billion could do to turn around communities within our own country, and that she believes in a “smart wall” that could be done through drones, increased patrol and enforcing the existing laws.
5. Attorney General William Barr is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Mueller report
— After releasing his bombshell report, members of Congress from both parties and chambers have declared that the AG needs to appear before them to answer questions about the report. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that during a phone call with Barr, Barr told him that he would be willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Mueller investigation. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has also called for AG Barr to testify before Congress after he sent in his four-page summary of the investigation.
4. Michael Avenatti has been charged with extortion — A CNN contributor is a co-conspirator
— Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, has been charged for attempting to extort between $15 and $25 million from Nike. According to prosecutors, Avenatti tried to extort Nike by threatening to use publicity to inflict financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands weren’t met. Last week, Avenatti approached Nike with a list of demands in exchange for covering up allegations of misconduct on behalf of the company, and he demanded a $1.5 million payoff for his client, and tens of millions of dollars for legal services, which Nike never requested. Avenatti previously entertained the possible idea of a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and appeared on MSNBC and CNN over 100 times. CNN has fired Los Angelos-based attorney Mark Geragos, even though he has not been arrested for his role yet.
3. Doug Jones is courting support from outside of Alabama and he did not want voters in the state to know about it
— Jones apparently believes that his support in Alabama is conditional on his attempts to be portrayed as a moderate in the state, while courting financial support from outside with his liberal position. Yellowhammer News reported that recent campaign ads, that are now inactive, could not be seen by residents of Alabama. One even stated “Don’t just take our word for it: Even election expert Nate Silver knows the path for the Democrats to take back the Senate goes through Alabama. Doug Jones HAS to win for us to have a chance.” Many of the ads Jones ran outside of Alabama all linked to a fundraising page for his campaign. While Jones has become a sort of cult figure nationally for beating former Judge Roy Moore with the help of the media, he should also know that it’s important to have the support of people who actually live in the state. This deception will not play well.
2. Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5) condemns the media and what he calls “socialist Democrats” for the two-year Russian collusion investigation
— Brooks gave a House floor speech on Monday, where he discussed the Russia probe. In the speech, he said that the investigation was “the most sordid ‘fake news’ ‘big lie’ propaganda, scam, fraud and smear campaign in American history.” He then went on to say that “socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies: CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post and countless others have perpetrated the biggest political lie, con, scam and fraud in American history.” The Russia investigation is just one example of how the political left has spread false facts on a massive scale. As if they were prepared to prove his point, some outlets focused on Brooks’ quoting of Hitler’s Mein Kampf on the floor instead of the context of his comments.
1. If you are hoping for the full Mueller report to be released soon, you better relax
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked for a non-binding resolution to force the Mueller report to be released in its entirely and publicly, which was voted on 420-0. However, on Monday Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked these efforts. There has been very vocal support from many Democrats to release the report publicly, and President Trump has also said that he’d be ok with the report going public. However, McConnell blocked the release because he realizes the whole report will not be released. McConnell said, “I look forward to the release of more information in the coming days as the attorney general says he intends to do in consultation with special counsel Mueller.”
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