Good morning! Here’s your Daily News for Monday, July 23, 2018.

1. POTUS tweets Iran. 

• That escalated quickly.
• Late last night, President Trump tweeted the above to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
• What threat is he responding to? Rouhani reportedly told a group of diplomats that “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”
• Sometimes comments like that are just asking for a reaction and, well, he got one.
• It’s a bit reminiscent of President Trump tweeting at North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, calling him “Rocket Man” and threatening “fire and fury.”
• Somehow that led to peace talks, so perhaps the same is possible here?
• I can’t help but notice we’ve stopped talking about Russia for five minutes, which maybe was part of the point?

2. Trump polling numbers up. 

• President Trump’s job approval rating ticked up by one percent from June to July and is now at an all-time high of 45 percent.
• That’s according to the Wall Street Journal / NBC News poll.
• The survey was conducted over four days last week, meaning it got results before, during, and after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladamir Putin.
• Trump has endured withering criticism for his handling of the Russia situation, including from Republicans. Just 26 percent of all voters – and only 53 percent of Republicans – approve of his handling of Russia.
• But, even Republicans who disagree with the Russia stuff aren’t abandoning the president overall.
• Trump’s best polling performance – and probably the number that matters most – is the economy. 50 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy.
• That’s how presidents get reelected. Chill on the temperament, get tougher on Russia, don’t start any wars, bring the trade fights to a positive conclusion and he probably sails in 2020. Easier said than done, I suppose.

A message from Troy University

• Each week TROY students meet in the kitchen to do their part to eliminate hunger in Pike County.
• Learn more about their amazing work and how it helps make the TROY family so special HERE.

3. Bummer: Red Snapper season closes early. 

• Fishing for popular Red Snapper in Alabama waters will end six weeks early.
• Remember that Red Snapper season was extended this year after a years-long effort from Sen. Richard Shelby and Congressman Bradley Byrne to open up more fishing to recreational anglers.
• So, why is it closing down early? Well, it looks like we got a little excited and fished the species to the max.
• Alabama’s quota of 984,291 pounds issued under a special NOAA permit has already been met.

“Alabama anglers fished extremely hard on the good weather days during the season,” said Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Marine Resources Director Scott Bannon. “That level of effort, coupled with larger average-sized fish harvested this year as compared to last year, resulted in a daily harvest rate two times higher than 2017, which prompted an earlier than anticipated closure.”

• Recreational fisherman can still fish for Red Snapper in federal waters, which start nine miles off the Alabama coast.

4. WaPo strikes again. 

• When the Washington Post has a major dispatch from Alabama, it usually doesn’t show our state in a positive light.
• WaPo reporter Stephanie McCrummen ventured down to Luverne for a story on how Southern Baptists and Christians in general reconcile deeply-held moral beliefs in a zero-sum political environment.
• Taken on the whole, I actually found the story interesting and revealing  in the way that it laid bare some uncomfortable truths.
• Like this quote from Terry Drew on accepting a flawed Trump over a Hillary Clinton that “hates us”:

“My wife and I talk about it all the time. We rationalize the immoral things away. We don’t like it, but we look at the alternative, and think it could be worse than this.”

• Unfortunately, the story is and will become better known for some wild quotes about immigration and slavery.

Love thy neighbor, she said, meant “love thy American neighbor.”

Welcome the stranger, she said, meant the “legal immigrant stranger.”

“The Bible says, ‘If you do this to the least of these, you do it to me,’ ” Sheila said, quoting Jesus. “But the least of these are Americans, not the ones crossing the border.”

• The quote about slavery not being all that bad for slaves is worse.
• National reporters tend to gravitate toward the fringe, and the problem with that is we all get painted with the same brush. Still, somebody’s got to tell Sister Sheila to dial it back when the Washington Post is in town.
• Read the whole story HERE.
• (BTW, if you know anyone who was quoted and they feel like they were misrepresented, please let me know by emailing me [email protected]) 

5. Tuscaloosa News wins best major newspaper.

• The Tuscaloosa News was awarded First Place for General Excellence for major papers in the Alabama Press Association’s 2018 Better Newspaper Contest.
• Contest awards were announced this weekend at the APA’s annual convention in Orange Beach.
• It was a privilege to attend this year’s convention and see the celebration of great journalism from so many local papers throughout the state.
• A list of individual story and other editorial award winners is on the APA’s website HERE.

Headlines.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Red snapper season-ending six weeks early in Alabama.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS –  Lawmakers reject claim that records confirm misconduct.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Senate set to confirm Wilkie for Veterans Affairs secretary.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Trump fires off explosive threat to Iran’s leader.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Kavanaugh: Once questioned Watergate tapes decision.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – After a week of walkbacks, Trump returns to Russia doubting.

ALABAMA DAILY NEWS –  G-20 calls for more dialogue on rising trade tensions.

SELMA TIMES JOURNAL – SPD Chief releases video of Rose Sanders’ arrest, comments on incident.

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Secretary of State: Human error responsible for John Knight voting snafu.

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – City health benefits change now optional after dramatic council meeting

MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Everything’s peachy for the Hayes family.  

DOTHAN EAGLE – Police deserve support without the burden of fundraising.

DOTHAN EAGLE – Teacher hope to lend support through writing on bathroom walls. 

DECATUR DAILY – The sheriff’s nemesis: Blogger hopes she ‘made a difference’.

DECATUR DAILY – Change by state comptroller could block sheriffs from pocketing food money. 

DECATUR DAILY – Limestone farm producing solar energy, another under construction.

ANNISTON STAR – Editor Anthony Cook: We are not the ‘enemy of the people’.

CULLMAN TIMES – Veteran miner says Trump restoring confidence, potential for industry.

LAGNIAPPE – Columnist Rob Holbert:  Zig zagging around the truth.

YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – What’s in a name? It don’t matter. 

ALABAMA POLITICAL REPORTER – Columnist Josh Moon:  What in the world happened to Robert Bentley?

AL.COM – Are Alabama’s high school graduates ready for the next step?

AL.COM – Alabama research reverses hair loss and wrinkles in mice.

AL.COM – Maddox unveils his ethics plan, challenges Ivey to debate like Trump.

AL.COM – Columnist Kyle Whitmire:  Alabama corruption trial: Tying up the loose threads. 

WASHINGTON POST – Trump creates a summer of discontent for Republican candidates.

WASHINGTON POST – Judgment days:  In a small Alabama town, an evangelical congregation reckons with God, President Trump and the meaning of morality.

NEW YORK TIMES – There Is a Revolution on the Left. Democrats Are Bracing.

NEW YORK TIMES – Lawmakers, Lobbyists and the Administration Join Forces to Overhaul the Endangered Species Act

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