Congressional Glance
One of Graham Platner’s high school yearbooks shows him babyfaced with a buzzcut, holding a sign proclaiming, in part: “Free Palestine.” The image is accompanied by a superlative his classmates bestowed upon him: “Most Likely To Start A Revolution.”
“Well see!” Platner wrote on X Thursday, posting a photo of the yearbook page, in a post that’s been viewed 4.5m times. Now bearded, burly and tattooed, with a sweep More...of dirty blond hair above a sunburnt face, Platner still believes in a free Palestine. He also thinks it’ll take something revolutionary to save the US, so earlier this week, when the oysterman announced his candidacy to be the next US senator from Maine, he pulled no punches.
“I did four infantry tours in the Marine Corps and the army. I’m not afraid to name an enemy, and the enemy is the oligarchy. It’s the billionaires who pay for it, the politicians who sell us out,” he said in a campaign launch video, showing him chopping wood and at the helm of a small fishing boat.
“And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins. I’m not fooled by this fake charade of Collins’ deliberations and moderation.”
This Maine oysterman thinks Democrats are doing ‘jack’ about fascism. So he’s running for US Senate
Greene issues scathing rebuke of conditions in Gaza: ‘I will not be silent about it’
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) on Saturday upped her crusade against conditions in the Gaza Strip following a declaration of famine in the region by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
“U.S. taxpayers fund Israel $3.8 billion annually for military aid. That means every U.S. tax payer is contributing to Israel’s military actions,” Greene wrote in a Saturday post on X.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay for genocide in a foreign country against a foreign people for a foreign war that I had nothing to do with. And I will not be silent about it,” she added.
The Georgia Republican lawmaker has urged her colleagues to raise their voices on the topic and urge the Trump administration to shift its stance on repeated strikes on Palestinians in the region.
Several world leaders have spoken out against the Israeli government’s actions and said they would take the necessary steps to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.
Trump administration restores public spending data after legal fight
The Trump administration restored a public database that showed how funding is apportioned to federal agencies following a recent order by a federal appeals court.
Public access to the data was restored over the weekend, not long after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the website be restored in a unanimous ruling.
“To hear the Government tell it, the separation of powers hangs in the balance and only this Court can set things right. But when it comes to appropriations, our Constitution has made plain that congressional power is at its zenith,” U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson wrote last wee
Under the apportionments process, agencies are given limited authority to spend funding allocated by Congress in installments.
More...Texas Democrats Prevent Trump-Backed Redistricting Vote Despite Abbott's Threats
Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state’s House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters.
After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members of the opposition from their seats. Democrats have countered that Abbott is using “smoke and mirrors” to assert legal authority he does not have.
The Republican-dominated House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent members and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but Democrats who are not in Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities.
Texas Democrats flee state in bid to stop GOP maps from advancing
Texas House Democrats announced on Sunday that they were leaving the state in a bid to stop Republicans from advancing House maps that would give the GOP five more pickup opportunities ahead of 2026.
The Texas Democrats said they were denying Republicans a quorum, or the minimum number of lawmakers needed present in order to conduct legislative business, following a similar tactic they employed the last time the GOP pursued midcycle redistricting in 2003.
“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement.
“Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historic tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. He is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal,” he continued. “Apathy is complicity, and we will not be complicit in the silencing of hard-working communities who have spent decades fighting for the power that Trump wants to steal.”
Record number of Senate Democrats vote to block weapon sales for Israel
A record number of Senate Democrats, more than half the caucus, voted in favor of two resolutions to block U.S. military sales to Israel on Wednesday night.
While the resolutions ultimately failed, the vote demonstrated how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fractured historically bipartisan support in Congress over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip in Israel’s war against Hamas.
The resolutions, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), failed in the face of all Republicans voting against the measure and 20 Democrats.
Senators voted 27 in favor https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5429072-sanders-resolution-fails-israel-military/and 70 to defeat Sanders’ resolution (S.J.Res.34), which sought to block more than $675 million in weapons sales to Israel.
TVNL Comment: AIPAC rules.
Virginia City Councilman Set On Fire In Brazen Attack
A city councilman in Virginia was set on fire in what witnesses described as a vicious attack Wednesday morning.
Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler was airlifted to a local hospital following the attack, the Danville Police Department said, noting that the “full extent of his injuries” is not yet known.
Vogler, 38, was in the offices of Showcase Magazine when an attacker stormed in with a five-gallon container of flammable liquid, poured it over the councilman, chased him through the building, then set him on fire, publisher Andrew Brooks said in a video posted to social media, adding that Vogler identified the attacker by name when he saw him.
The councilman was “awake and talking” last he saw him, he continued.
Police identified Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, as the suspect in the attack. He’s been charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding, and is being held without bond.
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