The 7 Things You Should Be Talking About Today

1. Qualifying is now over; most GOP candidates for governor participate in their first forum as Kay Ivey polls well

— The four major GOP gubernatorial candidates met at the Mid-Alabama GOP Meeting to participate in a forum, each staking out the message that they will try to make over the next 4 months.

— Recent polling reportedly shows Kay Ivey at 52 percent; even if you include Roy Moore, this is a pretty high bar for her opponents to reach.

2. Democrats have a larger field in the House and smaller field in the Senate than 2014, but they lost two long-time members

— Alabama Democrats seem to have given up on northern Alabama, outside of Huntsville and Muscle Shoals, and have decided to focus on GOP candidates in Jefferson and Shelby Counties.

— After former Congressman Bobby Bright left the Democratic Party in order to run for AL-02 as a Republican, former Alabama House Minority Leader, State Rep. Craig Ford, has decided he will run for State Senate as an Independent.

3. Vice President Mike Pence is open to talks with North Korea

— Pence led the U.S. delegation to the Olympics and left the games with a message that the U.S. will talk with the North Korean leader if it was something “The Hermit Kingdom” wanted.

— Pence said his goal in South Korea was to apply “maximum pressure and engagement at the same time”; sanctions will continue as well.

4. The American media falls in love with the horrific regime of North Korea because they think it hurts President Trump 

— Kim Jung Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, smiled her way into the hearts of the American media, with CNN proclaiming that she was “stealing the show”.

— Another favorite for the North Korean dictator’s fangirls in the American media was the NK cheering section, which consisted of uniform dress and synchronized cheers during the nation’s events.

5. Another Senate Republican has an immigration bill; this one is more in line with the White House

— Sen. Tom Cotton and six other GOP Senators have a bill — which includes amnesty for 1.8 million illegals, $25 billion for a wall, an end to chain migration, and an end to the visa lottery — that is patterned after President Trump’s immigration desires.

— Both chambers of the Congress have promised a debate over immigration, but most believe there is a wide gulf between what each party will accept, significantly decreasing the chances of something passing.

6. Democrats say GOP FISA memo included “sources and methods” (it didn’t) while demanding Dem memo be released

— After the president blocked the release of a memo written by Rep. Adam Schiff, Schiff says he will meet with the FBI to discuss redactions over actual sources and methods.

— The White House says they believe Schiff “intentionally put in there methods and sources he knew would need to be redacted” to stop his memo from being released.

7. White House mishandles the exit of an accused wife-beater; it becomes the No. 1 story of the weekend

— Another week, another completely unnecessary “scandal” allows the media to pound away on the White House for being insensitive to <insert group here>.

— By all accounts, folks at the White House did not believe the allegations against Trump staffer, Rob Porter, were credible until photos emerged and then he was fired.