7 Things: Shutdown possible as Democrats want less detention for illegal aliens, State Sen. Waggoner isn’t pushing for Medicaid expansion, media try to salvage busted Green New Deal and more …

7. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-WA) officially announces her run for the presidency and exchanges barbs with President Donald Trump

— Warren’s announcement came days after her hometown paper suggested she shouldn’t run. Trump tweeted a reference to the Trail of Tears, which plays on Warren’s decades of cultural appropriation. Not to be outdone, Warren then intimated that President Trump may be in jail by 2020.

6. Black voters in Virginia don’t seem to care about blackface if the guy doing it is a Democrat

— While presidential candidates and Democrats from all over the country have called for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to resign, a poll by the Washington Post shows that black voters may not care all that much. Virginians as a whole are split 47-47 on whether the governor should resign; 58 percent of black voters say he should stay, compared to 46 percent of white voters. He believes he can fix things by reading some books on race.

5. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) somehow says Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s accusations and those of the Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax in Virginia aren’t comparable

— Jones had very strong views on Kavanaugh’s accusations. He tweeted, “Dr. Ford was credible & courageous. What message will we send to our daughters & sons, let alone sexual assault victims? The message I will send is this—I vote no. #RightSideofHistory.” But when asked about the accusation the Virginia lt. governor, his answer was, at best, a cop-out. Jones said, “I don’t know how you can apply to somebody that’s in office now with somebody who is trying to get a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.”

4. Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) combats Congressional office neighbor Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who is clearly advocating for illegal immigrants

— Castro hung a poster outside his office declaring that the congressman was “FIGHTING FOR TEXAS DREAMERS,” which Brooks responded with his own sign display that read, “THESE AMERICANS, KILLED BY ILLEGAL ALIENS, HAD DREAMS TOO.” Brooks further explained his position in a press release, “Over 2,000 illegal aliens were apprehended for homicides on American soil in fiscal year 2018 alone. In addition, illegal aliens average committing more than 100,000 crimes and 15,000 sexual assaults on American soil every year!”

3. Democrats’ Green New Deal is a disaster — media find the reaction more interesting

— When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) released their plan to remake the government, economy, health care, and transportation, two things happened: Democratic presidential candidates signed on and people mocked the absurd proposal so much that the sponsors pulled it off their website. The media praised the plan, complained of conservatives pointing out how absurd it was and boosted the lies told by its advocates.

2. A top Alabama Republican reportedly was pushing for a Medicaid expansion, he says that is not true

— It was widely believed that State Sen. Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) was coming around on the idea of Medicaid expansion when discussing the closing of rural hospitals with ABC 33/40. He stated, “I think we’re going to take a lot closer look at the Medicaid issue this year, expansion of Medicaid, than in times past.” He walked that back while speaking to state-funded APTV, saying, “All I’m saying is to prevent the closing of rural hospitals we need to study this. We need to take a look at it. I did not endorse expanding Medicaid.”

1. Government shutdown talks stall, the battle continues over the Democrats’ desire to decrease the number of detention beds

— Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) seemed optimistic last week that a deal could be made by Monday, but it turns out that isn’t happening. Even though it appears that the president will not get close to his $5.7 billion for the wall, Democrats are demanding the number of beds for illegal aliens to be lowered from 40,520 to 35,520 and limit the number of illegal aliens caught in the U.S. that can be detained, which would require more catch and release than we already do. The president will not sign this.