7 Things: The point of no return on impeachment, Sewell following her Dem colleagues, majority in a new poll support impeachment inquiry and more …

7. Alabama is No. 1

• The Associated Press has released their college football poll for the week and Alabama has reclaimed the top spot for the first time of the season, surpassing Clemson.
• After Clemson barely beat the University of North Carolina 21-20, they moved down in the polls. Auburn University is holding at seventh place.

6. Alabama schools being honored for excellence

• Seven schools in Alabama have been chosen as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their “overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.” The schools in Alabama are “exemplary high performing schools.”
• The schools being honored are Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet School in Montgomery; Daphne Elementary School in Daphne; Eichold-Mertz Magnet School of Math, Science & Technology in Mobile; Guin Elementary School in Guin; Hampton Cove Elementary School in Owens Cross Roads; Prattville Christian Academy in Prattville; and Maxwell Airforce Base Elementary/Middle School in Montgomery.

5. Unconstitutional speech ban is unconstitutional

• Not content with banning plastic bags and straws, the liberal city council in New York City have now moved on to banning the phrases “illegal alien” and “go back to your country,” while also making it illegal to threaten to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• Each offense would carry a  $250,000 fine, but most expect the law to be challenged and found unconstitutional if it is ever enforced. Additionally, U.S. code uses the “illegal alien” term used and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned that his department should only use the term.

4. No debates scheduled for the 2020 GOP U.S. Senate primary

• Last week, three Republican U.S. Senate candidates showed up at a “forum” in Gulf Shores where they all gave five-minute speeches, and those in attendance were Secretary of State John Merrill, State Representative Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) and businessman Stanley Adair.
• People have tried to use this as a way to criticize candidates Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), with Merrill saying, “There are a couple of candidates not here. That shows how much of a priority this is to them,” but it’s still so early in the campaigns that not showing up to a forum right now doesn’t exactly hurt them.

3. A majority now support impeachment, independents evenly split

• As the media and their Democrats go on a full-blown 24/7 impeachment warpath, the American people are being brought along for the ride with 55% in a new poll showing support for the impeachment inquiry.
• While this doesn’t mean they are in favor of impeachment, it does show the campaign against President Donald Trump is working for now. Only 41% say he acted illegally with Ukraine, which shows there is just a general sense that the accusations are effective is swaying some public opinion.

2. Terri Sewell has cable news in her office and can repeat what she hears

• U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham)said that the whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump’s contact with Ukraine officials is a clear “road map” to impeach the president and that this is “a very sombering moment in American history.”
• Siding with many of her fellow Democrats in Congress, Sewell thinks that Trump has crossed a line, and she believes that this issue goes back to “the integrity of our elections.”

1. We are at the point of no return on impeachment

• Impeachment is happening. Democrats know that impeachment support is growing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said that she doesn’t know how long the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is going to take but knows that all other legislative issues are dead.
• While it’s likely that the impeachment inquiry could take nearly the rest of Trump’s first term, and possibly without any real resolution, Democrats are continuing to push, but Trump is standing his ground that the whistleblower complaint “is completely different from my actual conversation with the new President of Ukraine.”