Celerity
Celerity's JournalKai Kahele (replaced Tulsi Gabbard in 2020) is not running for re-election, will run for HI Governor
31st House Dem not seeking reelection in 2022https://twitter.com/bresreports/status/1519767354598694913
https://twitter.com/bresreports/status/1519769933630038016
Democratic Rep. Kai Kahele will retire from Congress, source says
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/kai-kahele-retire-democrat-congress/index.html
(CNN) Democratic Rep. Kai Kahele of Hawaii is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. The congressman has been telling colleagues that he intends to run for governor, according to a person close to him. That source said Kahele will make an announcement about his political future in early May.
Punchbowl News first reported that Kahele will leave Congress to run for governor. The freshman congressman, who has yet to release an official statement on stepping down, was elected in 2020 to replace Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. He was a pilot before he ran for office.
Kahele recently came under fire for his part-time work as a commercial pilot for Hawaiian Airlines, which raised questions of whether he was breaking any ethics rules for continuing his work with the airline.
Questions about Kahele's work with Hawaiian Airlines arose after the Honolulu Civil Beat published an in-depth story looking into his attendance at the Capitol this year and his personal income since he entered office. The report found that Kahele has voted by proxy at least 120 times since the start of the year, meaning another lawmaker has cast his votes for him.
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Kai Kahele (replaced Tulsi in 2020) is not running for re-election, will run for HI Governor
31st House Dem not seeking reelection in 2022https://twitter.com/bresreports/status/1519767354598694913
https://twitter.com/bresreports/status/1519769933630038016
Democratic Rep. Kai Kahele will retire from Congress, source says
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/kai-kahele-retire-democrat-congress/index.html
(CNN) Democratic Rep. Kai Kahele of Hawaii is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. The congressman has been telling colleagues that he intends to run for governor, according to a person close to him. That source said Kahele will make an announcement about his political future in early May.
Punchbowl News first reported that Kahele will leave Congress to run for governor. The freshman congressman, who has yet to release an official statement on stepping down, was elected in 2020 to replace Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. He was a pilot before he ran for office.
Kahele recently came under fire for his part-time work as a commercial pilot for Hawaiian Airlines, which raised questions of whether he was breaking any ethics rules for continuing his work with the airline.
Questions about Kahele's work with Hawaiian Airlines arose after the Honolulu Civil Beat published an in-depth story looking into his attendance at the Capitol this year and his personal income since he entered office. The report found that Kahele has voted by proxy at least 120 times since the start of the year, meaning another lawmaker has cast his votes for him.
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Senate's rejection of a Labor Department nominee is horrible news for American workers
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-04-27/column-the-senate-rejection-of-a-labor-department-nominee-is-horrible-news-for-american-workersPresident Biden’s nomination of David Weil as head of the Labor Department’s all-important Wage and Hour Division died on April 7 when Weil voluntarily withdrew his name from consideration. From Weil’s vantage point, the confirmation process following his June 3 nomination had been long, drawn-out and wholly dispiriting.
Having earlier served in the job during the Obama administration, Weil came under ferocious attack by business interests and Republicans from the start, because they knew of his commitment to enforcing the labor laws on the books and the court rulings that have upheld them.
At the end, his abandonment by three Senate Democrats (Manchin, Sinema, and Kelly) sealed his fate. “I could see there was no pathway” to confirmation, Weil told me recently. The public announcement of Weil’s withdrawal came the day that Ketanji Brown Jackson won confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, so it went almost unnoticed.
But it deserved to be more widely marked, because the loss of his nomination points to a greater setback for many battles for worker rights — among them the fight for fair pay and the right to unionize, and efforts against wage theft and workplace discrimination. Moreover, Weil’s loss was a blow for Biden, who is certainly the most pro-labor president in decades, perhaps ever.
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Sinema v Gallego 2024
I was told by a Sinema supporter in another thread that plenty of AZ group DU'ers think it doubtful that Gallego can win state-wide, and intimating that not supporting Sinema (or even criticising her at all on anything she does) over Gallego is playing right into the Rethugs' hands.
Is this the case?
background:
Possible challenger surges, as Sinema promises big donors she’ll protect their tax breaks
Mitch McConnell says he hopes Sinema's opposition "will be enough to keep this thing underwater permanently"
https://www.salon.com/2022/04/13/likely-primary-challenger-surges-as-sinema-promises-corporate-donors-shell-protect-their-breaks/
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., assured corporate donors on Tuesday that she would fight her party's efforts to unwind tax breaks for America's elite as Democrats try to revive portions of President Biden's stalled Build Back Better plan. Sinema, who has received more than $900,000 in donations from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups opposing Biden's plan, attended an event held by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Phoenix to assuage donors' concerns that the renewed spending negotiations may threaten their low tax rates.
"What I can't tell you is if negotiations will start again or what they'll look like," she said. "But what I can promise you is that I'll be the same person in negotiations if they start again that I was in negotiations last year." Sinema assured the group that she would oppose raising taxes on corporations with her pivotal vote in the 50-50 Senate. "You all know, the entire country knows, that I'm opposed to raising the corporate minimum tax rate," she said, adding that she opposes "any tax policies that would put a brake on any type of economic growth or forestall business and personal growth for America's industries."
https://twitter.com/jordanzakarin/status/1514214900922568713
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Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has emerged as a leading potential progressive primary foe after repeatedly calling out Sinema, though he would have to compete with a well-funded effort backed by Sinema's corporate supporters if he chooses to challenge her in 2024. Gallego raised more than $510,000, a personal record, in the first three months of the year — officially for his re-election bid in the House, which he is expected to win easily. That number is more than four times the amount he raised during the same period last election cycle, according to Insider. He raised a total of $1.8 million in 2020. Groups backing a potential primary challenger have also reported hundreds of thousands in donations.
Speculation about Sinema's political future has continued to mount. Along with her opposition to rolling back the Trump tax cuts, Sinema has opposed Democratic efforts to repeal the filibuster to pass legislation related to voting rights, LGBTQ protections, union protections and raising the minimum wage. Just 19% of Arizona Democratic primary voters have a favorable opinion of Sinema, according to a January Data for Progress poll, compared to 78% for fellow Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. The poll showed Gallego with a 58% favorable rating and leading Sinema by a 74-16 margin.
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Sinema v Gallego 2024
I was told by a Sinema supporter in another thread that plenty of AZ group DU'ers think it doubtful that Gallego can win state-wide, and intimating that not supporting Sinema (or even criticising her at all on anything she does) over Gallego is playing right into the Rethugs' hands.
Is this the case?
background:
Possible challenger surges, as Sinema promises big donors she’ll protect their tax breaks
Mitch McConnell says he hopes Sinema's opposition "will be enough to keep this thing underwater permanently"
https://www.salon.com/2022/04/13/likely-primary-challenger-surges-as-sinema-promises-corporate-donors-shell-protect-their-breaks/
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., assured corporate donors on Tuesday that she would fight her party's efforts to unwind tax breaks for America's elite as Democrats try to revive portions of President Biden's stalled Build Back Better plan. Sinema, who has received more than $900,000 in donations from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups opposing Biden's plan, attended an event held by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Phoenix to assuage donors' concerns that the renewed spending negotiations may threaten their low tax rates.
"What I can't tell you is if negotiations will start again or what they'll look like," she said. "But what I can promise you is that I'll be the same person in negotiations if they start again that I was in negotiations last year." Sinema assured the group that she would oppose raising taxes on corporations with her pivotal vote in the 50-50 Senate. "You all know, the entire country knows, that I'm opposed to raising the corporate minimum tax rate," she said, adding that she opposes "any tax policies that would put a brake on any type of economic growth or forestall business and personal growth for America's industries."
https://twitter.com/jordanzakarin/status/1514214900922568713
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Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has emerged as a leading potential progressive primary foe after repeatedly calling out Sinema, though he would have to compete with a well-funded effort backed by Sinema's corporate supporters if he chooses to challenge her in 2024. Gallego raised more than $510,000, a personal record, in the first three months of the year — officially for his re-election bid in the House, which he is expected to win easily. That number is more than four times the amount he raised during the same period last election cycle, according to Insider. He raised a total of $1.8 million in 2020. Groups backing a potential primary challenger have also reported hundreds of thousands in donations.
Speculation about Sinema's political future has continued to mount. Along with her opposition to rolling back the Trump tax cuts, Sinema has opposed Democratic efforts to repeal the filibuster to pass legislation related to voting rights, LGBTQ protections, union protections and raising the minimum wage. Just 19% of Arizona Democratic primary voters have a favorable opinion of Sinema, according to a January Data for Progress poll, compared to 78% for fellow Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. The poll showed Gallego with a 58% favorable rating and leading Sinema by a 74-16 margin.
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Photos of the Week
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2022/04/photos-of-the-week-convict-poker-beautiful-bulldog-owl-therapy/629710/
Is American Democracy Built to Last?
Yascha Mounk’s new book questions deeply held beliefs about the stability of Western societies.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/us/politics/us-democracy.html
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I sometimes joke that I’m a democracy hipster: I started arguing that democracy was in danger in 2014 and 2015, before it was cool. I was seeing the rise of authoritarian populist candidates and parties in many countries around the world. If they were not in power yet, they were within arm’s reach of it.
The most dangerous thing about them is the anti-pluralism, the claim that they alone represent the people. That drives them to concentrate power in their own hands and refuse to accept electoral defeats.
So in that sense, there’s nothing especially surprising about the way that Trump conducted himself in office, or for that matter, how he has refused to accept his defeat as legitimate. For him, it’s a conceptual impossibility that the majority of his compatriots might actually have chosen President Biden.
When Trump first won election in 2016, I don’t think he recognized the extent to which various institutions reined in his power. If he’s re-elected in 2024, he would be much more determined to concentrate power in his own hands from Day 1. A second Trump presidency would be much more dangerous than the first one was.
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💙 Finland's PM Sanna Marin in Stockholm in a leather biker's jacket to meet Magdalena Andersson
She also posted a video of herself doing chin-ups in said jacket, with Finns later on mocking Putin and Russia.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1518439562472742913
https://twitter.com/eskelinen_antti/status/1514535766386515971
https://twitter.com/PMeemit/status/1518588093074395139
GOP Paedo and/or Rape Tour of 2022 Continues: Republican Ex-Lawmaker Guilty of Raping Teen Intern
A dramatic courtroom exit by Aaron von Ehlinger’s accuser set up a seemingly insurmountable hurdle for prosecutors. But jurors still found enough evidence of his guilt.https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-idaho-gop-lawmaker-aaron-von-ehlinger-guilty-of-raping-teenage-intern
After 11 hours of deliberation, an Idaho jury has found disgraced ex-Idaho GOP state lawmaker Aaron von Ehlinger guilty of raping a 19-year-old intern last year after a dinner date.
The decision followed a lurid three-day trial in which von Ehlinger vehemently disputed the allegations, insisting the encounter had been consensual, and his accuser, who testified under the pseudonym Jane Doe, fled the courtroom mid-way through her emotional testimony.
Her dramatic exit meant her testimony was struck entirely, setting up a seemingly insurmountable hurdle for prosecutors, criminal defense lawyer David P. Shapiro said prior to the verdict. “It will be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to get a conviction without her testimony,” Shapiro, who was not involved with the case but has handled many similar ones, had predicted to The Daily Beast.
But the jury was able to hear powerful testimony from Doe’s mother, as well as a hospital nurse who examined Doe in the aftermath of the attack, finding their statements credible enough to convict the failed politician.
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GOP Lawmaker Under Fire Over Texts to Inmate Facing Child Porn Charges
North Dakota’s longest-serving state senator, Ray E. Holmberg, stepped down from a leadership post over his 72 messages with an inmate accused of sexually abusing his nephews.https://www.thedailybeast.com/north-dakota-gop-state-sen-ray-holmberg-quits-leadership-post-over-texts-to-inmate-facing-child-porn-charges
An influential Republican state lawmaker stepped down as leader of an important legislative panel less than a week after a report accused him of exchanging more than 70 text messages with a jailed landscaper facing federal child pornography and sexual abuse charges.
Sen. Ray E. Holmberg, a 78-year-old grandfather of five, is North Dakota’s longest-serving state senator—and until yesterday, chairman of the Legislative Management Committee, which decides members’ assignments and topics to consider for legislation.
“Recent events and discussions have made it clear to me that the interim governing body of the legislature, Legislative Management, does not need to be any part of that discussion,” Holmberg said in a statement on Wednesday announcing his resignation. “Consequently, I will be stepping down as chairman of Legislative Management, effective immediately. This will allow Vice-Chairman Chet Pollert to complete my term. No further comments on this announcement will be forthcoming.”
Reached by phone Thursday morning, Holmberg, who last month abruptly announced he would not seek reelection due to “medical issues,” declined to comment on the texts or explain why he had been in touch last August with 34-year-old Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier, whom the feds allege had victimized as many as 21 children, including his own nephews. The two reportedly texted back and forth some 72 times, with 65 of the messages being sent within a two-hour timeframe, according to the Forum Of Fargo, which obtained the jail call log through a Freedom of Information request.
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Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
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