1. The unlikely meeting of President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un finally happens
— After the meet and great and photos, Trump tells Kim Jong Un, “We will solve it”— an agreement to denuclearize is in its infancy.
— As the people who screamed about Trump’s bellicose “fire and fury” comments now scream about comments calling Kim “a powerful man”, Trump reminds them “The past does not have to define the future..there’s no limit to what North Korea can achieve..today is the beginning of an arduous process…only the courageous can make peace.”
2. AG Sessions puts the brakes on using gang violence and domestic violence as reasons for asylum
— Sighting the rare adjudication and the release of asylum seekers into the U.S. before their cases are heard, Sessions ended programs he called “inherently ambiguous.”
— Columnist for Alabama Political Reporter calls Sessions a Nazi, repeatedly, and a domestic-abuse enabler.
3. New Jersey becomes the second state to allow sports gambling; Alabama may not be ready yet
— New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill making New Jersey the second state to allow it, casinos and racetracks in the state will soon be able to take sports bets.
— Republican consultants have told The New York Times that the lottery would pass in Alabama, but no polling appears to have been done on this issue.
4. Supreme Court allows Ohio to purge inactive voters from the rolls
— Justice Neal Gorsuch continues to pay off for conservatives as a 5-4 ruling allows states to wipe voters after years of inactivity from the polls. The vote was about allowing state’s to manage themselves.
— The goal of Ohio’s law was best summed up by their Republican Secretary of State who wanted to “make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
5. Bill Clinton seems to OK unwanted sexual touching in the past, says things have changed
— In a continuation of his disastrous roadshow, Clinton is now seemingly absolving himself of bad behavior by saying, “Norms have changed about what you can do to someone against their will.”
— The cleanup crew was out afterwards saying, “He was not suggesting that there was ever a time that it was acceptable to do something against someone’s will. He’s saying that norms have changed in a variety of ways in how we interact with one another, and that’s all for the good.”
6. Two Americas: Trump’s foreign policy is “We’re America, Bitch“, while Obama is coaching 2020 nominees
— A senior White House official told The Atlantic’s Jonah Goldberg the following: “The Trump Doctrine is ‘We’re America, Bitch.’ That’s the Trump Doctrine.”
— It doesn’t really seem that far off (it also seems awesome). It says as Americans we are done being pushed around and we are going to push back, unlike Obama who made nice with our enemies to pick up wins.
7. Trump may endorse Congresswoman Martha Roby
— Prior to last Tuesday’s primary, Trump had not forgiven Roby for her negative words in 2016, but now “Republican officials” believe that Trump and Pence will eventually endorse her in the runoff.
— This would be an absolutely astonishing move that would obliterate her competition in the Wiregrass, Bobby Bright, a former Democrat Congressman who has one thing going for him and that is Roby’s issues with Trump’s behavior.