Good morning! Apologies to all my Nats fan friends reading, but baseball doesn’t get much better than David Bote’s walk-off grand slam for the Cubs last night. Also, Tiger is back. Here’s your Daily News for Monday, August 13, 2018.
1. More like NOmarosa, amirite?
- We knew that erstwhile White House staffer and Trump world player Omarosa Manigault secretly taped conversations with President Trump.
- Now we are learning – because she bragged about it on live TV – that she also recorded her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly INSIDE THE SITUATION ROOM.
- That’s not like the Wolf Blitzer Situation Room, but the actual Situation Room – a secure space inside the White House where the president is briefed on matters of national security.
- The Situation Room is a SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. Normally, anyone who enters must check their phone at the door.
- I bet that’s why Kelly decided to do the firing there – so she couldn’t record it. But, hoo boy, she did it anyway.
- You can’t do that, so Omarosa is probably in some trouble.
- She also comes off as a little crazy and Kelly, who might be her biggest target here, comes off as pretty reasonable.
- Can’t help but ask, though, why hire documented drama queen Omarosa in the first place? And why on earth was she allowed anywhere near the Situation Room?
- Read more HERE.
2. Another big gun bust in Selma.
- A special joint operation between federal, state and local law enforcement has nabbed another 24 suspects and the confiscation of 50 illegal firearms.
- U.S. Attorneys for the Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama joined Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and local sheriffs to announce the results of “Operation Focused Remedy,” which is aimed at reducing violent crime in Selma and the greater Gulf Coast region.
- It’s part of the Project Safe Neighborhood initiative restarted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year.
- 11 were arrested in Selma back in January and then 15 were arrested in Montgomery in March – all for gun violence.
- Read my story in ADN HERE.
- Also read The Selma Times-Journal.
3. Groups of losers gather, argue in D.C.
- That white nationalist rally in Washington, D.C.? It had about 20 participants.
- I think more people showed up to mourn the loss of the Zelda Road Taco Bell in Montgomery.
- Yet the “rally” received wall-to-wall coverage on cable news.
- Antifa, the ostensibly anti-fascist group that acts like a bunch of fascists, showed up in much higher numbers to protest the protesters, talk about how horrible America is, and hurl abuse at the police.
- We gotta stop putting these people on television.
- Nothing got too out of control, which we can thank the police for.
- Meanwhile hundreds participated in peaceful vigils and remembrances of Charlottesville.
4. News briefs, or, what you may have missed.
Dems keep Worley, Reed reigns
- Nancy Worley will remain chair of the Alabama Democratic Party.
- That really means longtime party boss Joe Reed remains in control.
- It was pretty significant that U.S. Sen. Doug Jones and other prominent Democrats publicly opposed Reed/Worley.
- I’m going to get into this a little more later, but this whole thing stems from Reed suing the party back in the 80s and then being granted the ability to add committee seats almost at whim.
Confirmation hearing set
- Confirmation hearings for SCOTUS nominee Brett Kananaugh will begin September 4.
- Keep in mind that U.S. Sen. Doug Jones is waiting to make his mind up about Kavanaugh until after he meets with him, which he says won’t happen until after the hearings.
- Unless something crazy happens, Kavanaugh is on his way to being confirmed.
- The only questions are when and how the votes for/against might impact midterm elections and the balance of the Senate.
Manafort trial goes to jury
- The jury has the case in the Paul Manafort trial. He is charged with 18 counts of bank and tax fraud.
- A conviction is pretty likely. What happens after that will be interesting. Will he be offered some kind of sentencing deal for flipping on the president?
- If you’d like to know more about who Manafort is and how he got to this point, Ken Vogel and Maggie Haberman did a really good piece on “the Rise and Fall of Paul Manafort” you can read HERE.
5. Headlines.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Worley reelected Democratic Party chair.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – 24 suspects, 50 guns nabbed in Selma sting.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – New book details Lisa Theris’ near-death experience.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Alligator hunt now underway in Alabama.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Huntsville chooses superintendent, also has a budget crisis.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Omarosa says she secretly recorded firing, plays audio.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Security experts, Trump allies alarmed by Omarosa recordings.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Marches, vigil mark one year anniversary of deadly white suprememacist protest.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Georgia Washington goes, Goodwyn grows: What happens when a school adds more than 200 students.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Brian Lyman: Worley reelected Democratic Party chair.
DOTHAN EAGLE – Bentley for Alabama? Thanks, but no thanks.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Birmingham woman’s dog becomes full time rescuer.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Tim Howe: Alabama-built rocket powers launch.
ATHENS NEWS COURIER – Limestone County Schools: Training for college, workforce awaits students.
CULLMAN TIMES – Education, training keys to growth.
DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE – Loss of wife inspires man to fight county’s addictions.
SELMA TIMES JOURNAL – Experts, legislators talk importance of broadband.
TROY MESSENGER – House candidates report spending, contributions.
LAGNIAPPE – Columnist Jeff Poor: Richard Shelby and Trump’s wall.
ANNISTON STAR – JSU ready for students, but recovery not done five months since tornado.
AL.COM – Alabama science, tech are all over NASA’s new Parker Solar Probe.
ANNISTON STAR – Divided we fall.
ANNISTON STAR – Editor Anthony Cook: Newspaper journalists have to prepare for active shooters.
OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS – School bullying: Local educators get new help in protecting school children.
OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS – Reward offered for info on people who moved shorebird eggs.
OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS – Striking union says it will meet with company and mediator.
DECATUR DAILY – Suicide victims getting younger as numbers increase.
FLORENCE TIMES DAILY – Bentley, will you please go away?
GADSDEN TIMES – Albertville sextuplets show to premiere Sept. 18.
GADSDEN TIMES – Would later school starting date benefit kids’ education?
AL.COM – Columnist Shelly Haskins: Go ‘Over The Edge’ for Kids to Love.
AL.COM – Columnist Roy Johnson: Alabama’s violent criminal sweeps extract cancers among us; what happens next?
AL.COM – Columnist Dana Hall McCain: Cutting the cord.
AL.COM – Alabama Democrats vote to keep Nancy Worley as chairwoman.
AL.COM – Here’s how Alabama school officials are keeping students safe.
AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire: It’s time to treat Drummond campaign money like poison.
AL.COM – Group objects to ‘fire and brimstone’ prayer before Mobile school employee meeting.
WASHINGTON POST – Online activists hit hatemongers like Alex Jones where it hurts the most — in the wallet.
WASHINGTON POST – Contributor Joe Scarborough: History will wonder why these men defended Trump but not their country.
WASHINGTON POST – Both sides of the aisle stretch the truth in the soybean debate.
WASHINGTON POST – Analysis: Trump still flirts with racially tinged rhetoric.
NEW YORK TIMES – The Age That Women Have Babies:
How a Gap Divides America
NEW YORK TIMES – Voting Rights Advocates Used to Have an Ally in the Government. That’s Changing.
NEW YORK TIMES – How Broad, and How Happy, Is the Trump Coalition?
Front pages (Images link to newspaper websites, which you should visit and patronize)
