7. Looks like Speaker Nancy Pelosi is inevitable after all
— Pelosi looks to be a lock after winning a Democratic caucus vote by a 203-32 margin. CNBC notes, “The 32 votes of opposition would be enough to sink her bid on the House floor, but some of those members will likely support her in January. When Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, challenged her for minority leader in 2016, he garnered 63 votes.”
— Pelosi has led House Democrats for 16 years. She saw them gain power in 2006, lose power in 2010 and now regain power again in 2018.
6. AGAIN: Mississippi election outcome disproves myth of Doug Jones’ 2017 win
— Since the day U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) won his election, the media has continued to hammer home a completely unsupported myth about how he won: with a huge black turnout.
— The media and their Democrats attempted to replicate this in Mississippi, but because they were unable to keep Republicans at home (which is how Jones really won) Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith won re-election and obliterated the myth that the South is in play for Democrats.
5. As school systems and legislators want to kill the Alabama Accountability Act, parents are ready to fight back
— Despite some school systems passing resolutions asking for its repeal, parents benefiting from the AAA want to make it clear the bill has helped their students, including one parent with five children who said, “We’ve had a lot of success with the scholarship program. I have five boys, and when everything fell on me, I promised myself I was going to raise them not to be a statistic.”
— With the Alabama Education Association supporting some Republican legislators’ campaigns in ALGOP primaries, many believe that the AAA may face an assault during the 2019 legislative session.
4. Migrants regret joining the caravan; Some are staying in Mexico and others say they are heading home
— The 7,000+ caravaners now in Tijuana are staying at a makeshift tent city in a baseball stadium and they are growing increasingly frustrated after being stopped at the border with no end in sight.
— But as some migrants go home, others are preparing to head to the United States from El Salvador in what is proving to be a never-ending stream of caravans heading for the U.S. border.
3. Alabama sees a year of very strong revenue collection
— State Finance Director Kelly Butler told AL.com that the state has seen the best growth since the end of the Great Recession, noting, “I think the big picture is that it’s just generally a good economy and more people working and more people making more money.”
— The Education Trust Fund grew 6.8 percent on income taxes and sales taxes, while the General Fund grew slightly slower at four percent.
2. Hoover officials apologize as they meet with the E.J. Bradford family and reschedule Christmas tree lighting ceremony; A Jefferson County official calls for a “real” boycott
— Hoover officials have met with the family of E.J. Bradford, offering their condolences and apologizing for the misinformation that came out immediately after the shooting.
— On Tuesday, Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson called for a boycott of pretty much everything in Hoover over this shooting, saying, “We ain’t shopping at no store in the Galleria. We ain’t going to Walmart. We ain’t doing nothing no more. You want a boycott? Boycott for real. [sic]”
1. Two of President Trump’s answers to Mueller have been released as attempts to “protect” the probe fail
— Trump’s answers, as we know them, show that the president denies that he knew nothing of Roger Stone’s conversations with WikiLeaks or about the Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives and campaign officials, including his son.
— If true, the narrative of the president colluding with the Russians seems less likely to play out. But if he is being less than truthful, the president could be opening the door to process crimes which the Mueller team is obviously very fond of pursuing.
