1. Scoop: Ivey appoints Mendheim.

 

2. Marshall reviewing social media scam.

• Attorney General Steve Marshall is reviewing whether deceptive social media tactics used in last year’s U.S. Senate race might have violated the law.
• The Washington Post and New York Times reported last week that a social media researcher mimicked Russian tactics to mislead voters and depress turnout to help Doug Jones defeat Roy Moore.
• “The impact it had on the election is something that’s significant for us to explore, and we’ll go from there,” Marshall told The Washington Post yesterday.
• That full story HERE.

• We’ve been told the effort was a small “experiment” – a $100,000 budget in a campaign that saw more than $50 million spent.
• However, a new report from Buzzfeed challenges that characterization.
• NYT reporter Scott Shane attended and spoke at an American Engagement Technologies event in September (which he did not disclose in the story, btw).
• That’s the group that sponsored “Project Birmingham,” as the effort was known, and the project was discussed at the meeting.
• “Project Birmingham” was not described as an experiment at all, but rather as “a serious effort to influence 650,000 Alabama voters.”
• This story is getting some legs.
• Read Craig Silverman’s full story in Buzzfeed.

 

3. House punts.

• House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy advised his GOP Conference that no more votes are expected this year.
• That all but puts a bow on the 115th Congress and the eight-year GOP control of the House of Representatives.
• Democrats assume control on January 3rd. It’s possible but highly unlikely that votes could be scheduled before then.

• A fourth of the government is still shutdown having not been funded by Congress.
• The GOP-led House passed a stop-gap funding bill that included $5.7 in border wall funding, but Democrats are blocking it in the Senate.
• Even if President Trump does reach a deal with Senate Democrats on border security, and any funding bill would have to be approved by the House – a Nancy Pelosi-led Democratic majority House.

• House Democrats are eager to project an image of responsible governing in contrast to a chaotic White House.
• In fact, that’s almost exactly what incoming Speaker Pelosi said.
• “We will vote to swiftly reopen government and show that Democrats will govern responsibly in stark contrast to this chaotic White House.”
• Media will eat that narrative up, and let’s face it, the president doesn’t do himself any favors with his twitter habits.
• You’ll start to hear a lot of talk about how the Senate should pass the House’s “clean bill” that doesn’t have wall money.
• It changes the game for Trump and Senate Republicans because there will presumably be alternative legislation to consider and a legislative body to reckon with.

Read more HERE .

 

4. Skip Tucker: NOLA New Year’s Shenanigans.

• We’re in the middle of bowl/playoff season. Auburn plays today and Alabama plays tomorrow.
• It’s memories of an old Crimson Tide triumph that Skip Tucker writes about today.
• The 1993 Sugar Bowl victory over Miami inspired many things, including plenty of post-game shenanigans in the city of New Orleans.
• I’m sure lots of people have stories from that night, and the Walker County contingent is no different.
• The legendary “DT” and Captain Trav Lee Keaton maybe had a little too much Bama in them that night when they ran into a bunch of Texas cowboys.
• Here, let Skip tell it.

• This is a fun one. Read Skip’s full column HERE.

 

5. News Briefs.

• This year’s court decision allowing states to regulate sports betting had myriad upshots.
• One is for American Indian casinos, particularly those in the South where lots of people bet on college football.
• AP’s Reginia Cano goes to Mississippi to look at how the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is attempting to expand into the world of sports betting. It not as easy or as cut and dry as you might think, she writes.
• Full story HERE.

• California is moving up its presidential primary date in an effort to lure candidates to take the state more seriously.
• Early voting in California’s primary will now overlap with the traditional early nominating contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
• That could force the sprawling field of 2020 Democrat hopefuls to navigate California’s notoriously complex and expensive.
• Looking past 2020, it would also force Republican presidential hopefuls to contend with a more moderate electorate early on.
• That full story HERE.

• The ongoing boom of oil and gas production in the United States is fueling global energy growth.
• From AP: “When Congress lifted restrictions on shipping crude oil overseas in 2015, soon after the Obama administration opened the doors for international sales of natural gas, even the most boosterish of Texas oil men wouldn’t have predicted the U.S. could become one of the world’s biggest fossil-fuel exporters so quickly.”
• Some environmentalists are worried about a corresponding effect on the climate, while some researchers say new technologies Shale and Liquified Natural Gas can actually reduce global emissions.
• Full story HERE.

 

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