Alabama

The Senate has voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general in a 52-47 vote that went along party lines, following days of rigorous discussion and capping a vicious debate that left Democrats and Republicans seething, and Elizabeth Warren barred from speaking.

Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to break party rank and vote to back Sessions. Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted alongside 45 Democrats in opposition to the nominee.

Not The Onion. Following a scathing speech against Trump's nominee for Attorney General, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said Senator Elizabeth Warren had "impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama," violating the so-called 'Rule 19'. By a vote of 49-43, Senator Warren was then barred from speaking on the floor until Senator Sessions nomination debate is complete (likely tomorrow evening).

The value of the Venezuelan Bolivar has crashed by 50% in the last two months, breaking above 2000/$ on the black market today for the first time ever. We know this thanks to Gustavo Díaz, a Home Depot employee in central Alabama, who runs one of Venezuela’s most popular and insurgent websites, DolarToday.com, which provides a benchmark exchange rate used by his compatriots to buy and sell black-market dollars.

Update 2: U.S. SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS HAS ACCEPTED TRUMP'S OFFER TO SERVE AS U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL -TRANSITION OFFICIAL

Some background on the Sessions appointment, courtesy of Bloomberg,  which elevates one of Trump’s earliest congressional backers, and one of the most conservative senators, to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

A 75-year-old disabled veteran has been sentenced to death due to a mandatory sentence involving marijuana possession.  Lee Carroll Brooker grew marijuana plants in his son’s backyard in Alabama for his own medical use. When Alabama officials found out, they arrested Brooker, and sent him to prison for life without the possibility for parole. Vox.com reports: How did this happen? Jesse Wegman explained for the New York Times: [Brooker] said the plants were for his own medicinal use only — he suffers from multiple chronic ailments — and prosecutors did not dispute that.