7. Birmingham’s mayor wants to name a municipal facility after a convicted felon who used his office to enrich himself

— Mayor Randall Woodfin wants to honor the late Larry Langford by naming the CrossPlex after the corrupt politicians because “it’s fitting for all the work he did.” The pious government watchdog at AL.com who excoriated Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth (R) for a completely legal event at Topgolf in Birmingham and convicted former Speaker Mike Hubbard for his legal issues, is fine with a guy who received guilty convictions on 60 of 101 corruption charges being lauded.

6. You may hear that your taxes are going up — it’s not true; 69 percent of Americans are optimistic about their economic future

— There is a disingenuous storyline, that even the IRS has debunked, that tells people their taxes are going to go up because of the Trump tax cut. Even with that silly narrative floating around, Gallup found that over two-thirds of Americans expect their financial outlook to improve this year. That is a 16-year high.

5. The media was totally wrong when they relentlessly smeared the Covington Catholic school kids

— When the video of a confrontation between a “Native American elder” and some MAGA hat-wearing Catholic school kids went viral, they were vilified by the media, liberal celebrities and their own church. As usual, this narrative has been busted. An investigation found “no evidence of offensive statements by the kids, no evidence that of a ‘Build the Wall’ chant and the elder in the middle of this lied about his military service, his actions that day and refused to participate with the investigation into this incident.”

4. Alabama legislator continue to demand failing school districts be able to hold students hostage

— State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham) has brought back a bill that would make it harder for smaller communities to break away from failing school district to start their own. This is just another effort by Democrats in Alabama to control students and keep them in failing situations for the benefit of the failing status quo.

3. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill testified on voting issues to a Congressional committee

— Secretary Merrill told the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee that there are a lot of problems with a proposed “vote by mail” legislation being pushed by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham). He specifically mentioned problems with holding people accountable for voter fraud, usually done by mail, saying, “[W]e have a number of prosecutors in our state that are not really interested in advancing investigations into voter fraud because they think the penalties are too stiff.” Merill also told the hearing that he doesn’t believe we need a national standard for voting, which is something that could be gaining steam for fear of irregularities and foreign bad actors.

2. A judge has now voided a plea deal from former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort

— After cold water was thrown onto the collusion narrative over the last few days, news that Manafort has had his plea deal voided for “intentionally” lying tossed fuel on the fire for the advocates of that storyline. The issue he lied about includes “$125,000 he received for the legal bills, about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation and about his interactions with his longtime Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik while he was campaign chairman and later,” according to CNN.

1. President Donald Trump has still not officially agreed to sign on to the deal to avoid a shutdown he praised “hard working” U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) for putting together

— All signs point to the president signing the compromise deal, but the White House still hasn’t said he will sign it. The bill has the support of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), but there are many members raising concerns about the deal. The White House had not seen the deal as of last night, and Trump said, “[W]e’ll be looking for “land mines.” Soldiers are heading to the border as part of a plan to send 3,750 troops to do surveillance and build wire barriers.