• We're probably going to have a partial government shutdown starting at midnight tonight.
• Not the end of the world. It's only a fourth of the federal government and essential personnel will keep working.
• But it is a mess.
• 24 hours after telling the Senate he would sign a continuing resolution to keep the government open through February, President Trump changed his mind and doubled back to demanding wall money.
• The House of Representatives obliged, ping-ponging the funding bill back to the Senate with an amendment for $5.7 billion in border wall money.
• President Trump is now asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to use the "nuclear option" to pass this bill. That means ending the 60-vote threshold needed to cut off debate and pass legislation. It means ending the filibuster.
• That might sound good. Everybody hates the filibuster when their favorite legislation is up.
• However, wise Republicans understand that they may well want that 60-vote threshold when Democrats assume the majority in the House in a few weeks.
• Also, without the filibuster, legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller would have already passed.
• Just saying, be careful what you ask for here. And remember this is all over about $3.4 billion in border money.
• Read more HERE.

• Secretary of Defense James Mattis is leaving.
• At 4:20 yesterday, President Trump tweeted that Mattis was retiring and thanked him for his service.
• Within an hour, Mattis' letter of resignation was public, telling a much different story.
• Gen. Mattis outlined in careful detail his foreign policy beliefs, including how he feels about Russia and China and why allies are so important.
• And he said the President deserves a Secretary of Defense that shares his beliefs on all these things.
• "Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position," he wrote.
• In other words, Trump's decision to pull out of Syria and Afghanistan was Mattis' breaking point.
• Read that full story, plus the letter of resignation HERE.

• Sen. Doug Jones says he was unaware of an experiment run by outside researchers during his campaign seeking to emulate Russian tactics to influence elections.
• The Washington Post and New York Times have both reported that a social media researcher acknowledged testing misleading online tactics during Jones’ campaign against Republican Roy Moore last year. The effort was modeled on alleged Russian attempts to bolster the candidacy of President Donald Trump in 2016.
• Jones told reporters during a conference call Thursday his campaign didn’t know anything about the effort at the time. And Jones says he is “as outraged as everyone else” about the allegations.
• Alabama Republican Party Chair Terry Lathan said the effort was “deeply disturbing.”
• Jones says his campaign tracking software didn’t detect any anti-Moore effort.
• Read more from Alan Blinder and other authors of the original story HERE
• Also read John Sharp who got Roy Moore's reaction HERE.
• And read Sean Ross who got the reaction from GOP Chair Terry Lathan HERE.

• The House passed the First Step Act yesterday, a wide-ranging criminal justice bill that will reduce some of the harshest sentences for federal drug offenders and boost prison rehabilitation programs.
• That secures President Donald Trump a major, bi-partisan legislative victory. He pushed for the bill and got it over the finish line after legislative efforts stalled.
• The bill gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders and boosts prisoner rehabilitation efforts. It also reduces the life sentence for some drug offenders with three convictions, or "three strikes," to 25 years. 
• Another provision would allow about 2,600 federal prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before August 2010 the opportunity to petition for a reduced penalty.
• The House passed the bill 358-36, sending it to Trump for his signature.
• "This is a great bi-partisan achievement for everybody," Trump tweeted moments after the vote. "When both parties work together we can keep our Country safer. A wonderful thing for the U.S.A.!!"
• Not everybody is happy about it, though.
• Every Republican in the Alabama Congressional Delegation voted against the bill.
• To be clear, most wanted some kind of criminal justice reform, but believed the final Senate bill went too far.
• Rep. Mo Brooks spelled out his displeasure at length...
• "The Senate version of the First Step Act is a step backward. My experience in law enforcement taught me early on that strong enforcement of criminal statutes and tough penalties for criminal conduct help keep dangerous criminals off the street" Brooks said.
• "Let the record show, I voted against this irresponsible, soft-on-crime, and dangerous legislation.”
• So did Reps. Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Gary Palmer, and Robert Aderholt. Sen. Richard Shelby voted no earlier this week.
• Alabama's Democrats - Sen. Doug Jones and Rep. Terri Sewell - each supported the bill.