Florida
Alex Vindman, who testified against Trump during his first impeachment, to run for Senate
Alex Vindman, who became a key player along with his twin brother in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, announced on Tuesday that he is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in Florida.
Vindman, an Army veteran, was serving on the National Security Council in 2019 when the Republican president pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden, then a Democratic candidate. He and his brother, Eugene, a lawyer on the National Security Council, reported their concerns and sparked investigations.
Eugene Vindman now serves as a congressman from Virginia. If Alex Vindman clinches the Democratic nomination, he’ll challenge Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Marco Rubio as he became secretary of state.
The winner of November’s special election will finish the last two years of Rubio’s term.
Vindman described Trump as a “wannabe tyrant” and federal immigration agents as “thug militias” in his announcement video, which features the recent killing of two U.S. citizens during the deportation campaign in Minnesota.
Vindman was forced out of the National Security Council and later retired from the Army after testifying against Trump during impeachment hearings. He said “this president unleashed a reign of terror and retribution, not just against me and my family but against all of us.”
He urged voters to “stand with me now to put a check on Donald Trump and the corrupt politicians who think your tax dollars are their personal piggybank.”
Vindman becomes the most prominent Democrat in the Florida Senate contest as the party tries to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections.
Their task in Florida will not be easy. The onetime swing state, which is Trump’s legal residence, has swung decidedly red in recent years. A Democrat has not won a Senate seat there since 2012.
Still, Democrats are hopeful that Vindman’s fundraising prowess and the national political environment — including the backlash against Trump’s immigration crackdown and his lack of focus on the economy — gives them a chance.
Trump denied any wrongdoing when he was impeached, and he was acquitted by the Senate. He later was impeached over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and again was acquitted.
New York
Republicans appeal decision that threw out NYC’s only GOP-controlled House district
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Republicans on Monday appealed a judge’s decision to throw out the lines of New York City’s only GOP-controlled House seat, a case that could have national reverberations in the fight for control of Congress.
The appeal came just days after a judge ruled U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ Staten Island and Brooklyn district was drawn in a way that dilutes the power of its Black and Hispanic voters. The judge ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to complete a new map by Feb. 6.
The case was filed by an election law firm aligned with the Democratic Party. It came as part of a national gerrymandering fight that started after President Donald Trump pushed to craft new congressional districts in Republican-controlled states such as Texas.
Republicans filed appeals to both a mid-level appeals court and to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals, rejected congressional maps that had been seen as helping Democrats and directed a court-appointed expert to redraw districts. It then threw out those maps before the 2024 congressional elections. It was not immediately clear when the Court of Appeals would take up the most recent case.
The state’s current House districts were drawn by Democrats in the state Legislature, after they rejected a proposal from the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. New York state is currently represented in the House by 19 Democrats and 7 Republicans.
Washington
‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nuclear weapons, climate change and AI
Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the U.S. and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday and advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending.
Last year, the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight.
Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.
They worry about the threat of escalating conflicts involving nuclear-armed countries, citing the Russia-Ukraine war, May’s conflict between India and Pakistan and whether Iran is capable of developing nuclear weapons after strikes last summer by the U.S. and Israel.
International trust and cooperation is essential because, “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group also highlighted droughts, heat waves and floods linked to global warming, as well as the failure of nations to adopt meaningful agreements to fight global warming — singling out U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to boost fossil fuels and hobble renewable energy production.
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity. At the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
Alex Vindman, who testified against Trump during his first impeachment, to run for Senate
Alex Vindman, who became a key player along with his twin brother in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, announced on Tuesday that he is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in Florida.
Vindman, an Army veteran, was serving on the National Security Council in 2019 when the Republican president pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden, then a Democratic candidate. He and his brother, Eugene, a lawyer on the National Security Council, reported their concerns and sparked investigations.
Eugene Vindman now serves as a congressman from Virginia. If Alex Vindman clinches the Democratic nomination, he’ll challenge Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Marco Rubio as he became secretary of state.
The winner of November’s special election will finish the last two years of Rubio’s term.
Vindman described Trump as a “wannabe tyrant” and federal immigration agents as “thug militias” in his announcement video, which features the recent killing of two U.S. citizens during the deportation campaign in Minnesota.
Vindman was forced out of the National Security Council and later retired from the Army after testifying against Trump during impeachment hearings. He said “this president unleashed a reign of terror and retribution, not just against me and my family but against all of us.”
He urged voters to “stand with me now to put a check on Donald Trump and the corrupt politicians who think your tax dollars are their personal piggybank.”
Vindman becomes the most prominent Democrat in the Florida Senate contest as the party tries to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections.
Their task in Florida will not be easy. The onetime swing state, which is Trump’s legal residence, has swung decidedly red in recent years. A Democrat has not won a Senate seat there since 2012.
Still, Democrats are hopeful that Vindman’s fundraising prowess and the national political environment — including the backlash against Trump’s immigration crackdown and his lack of focus on the economy — gives them a chance.
Trump denied any wrongdoing when he was impeached, and he was acquitted by the Senate. He later was impeached over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and again was acquitted.
New York
Republicans appeal decision that threw out NYC’s only GOP-controlled House district
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Republicans on Monday appealed a judge’s decision to throw out the lines of New York City’s only GOP-controlled House seat, a case that could have national reverberations in the fight for control of Congress.
The appeal came just days after a judge ruled U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ Staten Island and Brooklyn district was drawn in a way that dilutes the power of its Black and Hispanic voters. The judge ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to complete a new map by Feb. 6.
The case was filed by an election law firm aligned with the Democratic Party. It came as part of a national gerrymandering fight that started after President Donald Trump pushed to craft new congressional districts in Republican-controlled states such as Texas.
Republicans filed appeals to both a mid-level appeals court and to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals, rejected congressional maps that had been seen as helping Democrats and directed a court-appointed expert to redraw districts. It then threw out those maps before the 2024 congressional elections. It was not immediately clear when the Court of Appeals would take up the most recent case.
The state’s current House districts were drawn by Democrats in the state Legislature, after they rejected a proposal from the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. New York state is currently represented in the House by 19 Democrats and 7 Republicans.
Washington
‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nuclear weapons, climate change and AI
Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the U.S. and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday and advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending.
Last year, the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight.
Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.
They worry about the threat of escalating conflicts involving nuclear-armed countries, citing the Russia-Ukraine war, May’s conflict between India and Pakistan and whether Iran is capable of developing nuclear weapons after strikes last summer by the U.S. and Israel.
International trust and cooperation is essential because, “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group also highlighted droughts, heat waves and floods linked to global warming, as well as the failure of nations to adopt meaningful agreements to fight global warming — singling out U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to boost fossil fuels and hobble renewable energy production.
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity. At the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
