7. Virginia’s governor is trying to clean his record

• Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) is now making headlines for his push to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the United States Capitol, which is there as Virginia’s statue.
• There are two statues for Virginia in the National Statuary Hall Collection, but U.S. Representatives Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) and A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) wrote a letter to Northam, who has been involved in a blackface scandal, saying that the “statues aimed to rewrite Lee’s reputation from that of a cruel slave owner and Confederal General to portraying him as a kind man and reluctant war hero who selflessly served his home state of Virginia.”

6. Money flows to both parties gearing up for 2020

• In the fourth quarter of 2019, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign raised $46 million, which was a good bit more than the top earner out of the Democratic presidential candidates, with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) raising $34.5 million.
• South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg brought in $24.7 million in the fourth quarter, which was just above former Vice President Joe Biden, who raised $22.7 million. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang raised $16.5 million.

5. War on smokers continues

• The Trump administration has finally announced plans to ban sales of flavored e-cigarette cartridges, except for menthol and tobacco flavors. Those who want more done are not pleased at all because it doesn’t go far enough.
• In 21 states, U-Haul has announced that they’ll no longer hire people who use nicotine products; Alabama is included in those 21 states.

4. Congressional candidate touts a strong stance against illegal immigration

• Jeff Coleman, a businessman and Republican congressional candidate in the District 2 race, has released a new campaign ad to air on television where he clearly states his stance on illegal immigration.
• In the ad, he says that part of the reason for his campaign is to “help President Trump end illegal immigration and finally built that wall.” He then goes on to say that illegal immigrants who have committed other crimes, such as human trafficking, terrorism and drug dealing, need to be deported, adding, “How can we get ‘em all back across the border? Well, I’m in the moving business.”

3. A judge is about to decide if Merrill is allowed to block people on Twitter

• A federal judge is set to decide if Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has violated people’s free speech rights by blocking them on Twitter, which is an absurd thing for a judge to be deciding.
• The lawsuit was filed in 2018 and in December 2019, lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in a court filing that if letting public officials “block individuals from their public social media accounts if they post replies which the public officials find ‘annoying’ or ‘harassing’ would run afoul of the very liberties protected by the First Amendment.”

2. Alabama lawmakers ready to take on Roe v. Wade

• All six of Alabama’s six Republican members of the House of Representatives have requested that the Supreme Court look to overturn Roe v. Wade and another abortion case that has stood for decades and guaranteed the “right” to an abortion.
• The Supreme Court will take up a Louisiana law that requires an abortion provider to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. This will be the first major abortion case to come in front of the Supreme Court since President Donald Trump appointed two conservative justices to the court.

1. Terrorists dead in U.S.-controlled Iraq

• It was confirmed via Iraqi state TV that Iran’s most revered military leader, Qassem Soleimani, was killed by an American airstrike. Hezbollah commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes was also killed.
• This blow to Iran comes after increased tensions over an attempted raid on the U.S. Embassy and after Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei taunted President Donald Trump, telling him, “You can’t do anything.” He was wrong.