Retired General From Oxford Seeks Democratic Nomination To Challenge Collins

A retired Air Force general from Oxford has kicked off his U.S. Senate campaign. Democrat Jon Treacy will seek his party's nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins next year.

Treacy says he has the experience and the vision to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate. "We have such serious challenges in front of us. For instance, climate change, our issues with health care, certainly gun violence, women’s rights and those issues that need to be tackled now."

Treacy says Maine needs a senator who will challenge the policies of the Trump administration.

"This current administration and the folks that are enabling this administration are deliberately putting our nation though the ringer, if you will," Treacy says. "Divisiveness is the word of the day.”

He joins three other Democrats seeking to unseat Collins.

https://www.mainepublic.org/post/retired-general-oxford-seeks-democratic-nomination-challenge-collins
(no more at link)

The Secret Space Shuttle

Labor advocates say Collins' vote for Scalia shows 'which side she works for'

Maine’s unions and worker advocates condemned Senator Susan Collins’ vote Thursday afternoon to confirm Eugene Scalia, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor. They said his record on of defending corporate interests over workers is the antithesis of the department’s mission, which is to protect wage earners.

“We are very disappointed with Senator Susan Collins for allowing this man to take over the Department of Labor where he can do the bidding of billionaires and multinational corporations by further trampling on workers’ rights and making it harder and more dangerous to make a living in this country,” Maine AFL-CIO president Cynthia Phinney said in a statement. “Maine workers deserve a secretary of labor who will work to protect their rights, safety, wages and freedom to organize. Senator Collins has shown which side she works for.”

The Senate voted 53-44 along party lines to install Scalia as labor secretary. Maine independent Senator Angus King voted against the nomination. On Tuesday, Collins, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, cast the deciding vote to advance Scalia’s nomination to the full Senate.

Scalia is the son of the late conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He was selected by President Trump to replace former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who resigned on July 19 amid criticism of a plea deal he offered to serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/labor-advocates-say-collins-vote-for-scalia-shows-which-side-she-works-for/

LePage, Collins and Maine GOP disgrace themselves and democracy

My dictionary defines “jackass” as a word for “a foolish or stupid person” or a “nitwit.” Former Maine Governor Paul LePage proved recently just how entitled he is to such a sobriquet (Is that word too big for you, Paul?) when he joined forces with Maine Republican leaders to stand firmly against the democratic principles that helped make our nation a beacon for the rest of the world

According to a report in the Lewiston Sun Journal, LePage and Maine’s Republican elite combined threats and personal pressure to force Derek Levasseur of Fairfield, who had mounted a Republican primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, to end his five-month-old campaign. Levasseur reportedly told the newspaper that LePage recently warned him to quit the contest because “I’m coming after you” otherwise. The Sun Journal also reported that, according to Levasseur, a young staffer on his campaign was told by the former governor to quit the team or LePage would “destroy” his political future. Levasseur also provided the newspaper with screenshots of messages he exchanged with Maine Republican Party executive director Jason Savage related to the GOP’s decision to cut off his access to voter data until he promised not to criticize the party’s leaders.

Levasseur, a backer of Donald Trump’s “America first” policies and a former police officer, had his own personal baggage when he announced his candidacy. He had been involved in a 2012 incident at his wedding reception in which he was charged with assaulting four people, including a daughter. At the time, newspaper reports said that he was charged with domestic violence and other counts of assault after the fight resulted in minor injuries. Levasseur reportedly blamed the incident partially on post-traumatic stress disorder, and after complying with the terms of a one-year deferred disposition on several charges, he has no criminal record resulting from the incident.

Whether one might or might not find Levasseur worthy of support for a seat in the U.S. Senate, it appears he followed the appropriate procedure to mount a legitimate candidacy for the nomination and Republican voters should have been allowed to make their own choice. But instead, LePage and members of the GOP establishment went after him. Many of us here in Maine learned during his two terms as governor just how repugnant LePage is capable of behaving, but in his zeal to protect Collins (who hasn’t even yet formally announced that she will seek re-election), the worst governor in Maine’s history achieved a new low, trampling on the entire concept of a truly democratic process.

Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/lepage-collins-and-maine-gop-disgrace-themselves-and-democracy/

CNN Poll: Democrats knotted in Nevada while Biden leads South Carolina

Washington (CNN) -- Joe Biden holds a wide lead in South Carolina, while the former vice president, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are knotted up in Nevada, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS in the third and fourth states to cast ballots for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Biden tops Warren by 21 points in South Carolina -- 37% of likely voters back the former vice president, 16% Warren and 11% Sanders. In Nevada, there is no clear leader, with Biden and Sanders tied at 22% of likely caucusgoers with 18% for Warren, all within the poll's margin of sampling error. In neither state does any other candidate reach double-digits.

RELATED: FULL POLL RESULTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Biden's strong standing in South Carolina rests on support from black voters. Overall, 45% of black likely primary voters back Biden, more than 30 points ahead of his closest competitor. Among white likely primary voters, however, Biden and Warren are deadlocked: 29% favor Biden, 28% Warren.

RELATED: FULL POLL RESULTS IN NEVADA

Nevada's three-way race rests on the demographic and political divides that are driving the contest nationwide. Liberal likely caucusgoers break heavily for Sanders, while moderate and conservative caucusgoers give Biden a wide edge. Those under age 50 break toward Sanders: 35% for him vs. 13% for Warren and 12% for Biden. Among those over 50, 32% back Biden, 23% Warren and 11% Sanders. Voters with college degrees are more in Warren's corner, while those without degrees split between Sanders and Biden with Warren lagging behind.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/2020-poll-democrats-south-carolina-nevada/index.html

Gov. Mills wants Maine carbon-neutral by 2045. What will that take?

AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills made a surprise announcement when she addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last week: She had issued an executive order pledging that Maine will be carbon-neutral by 2045.

The pledge followed commitments enacted by the Legislature this spring to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050, moves that will require swapping fossil fuels for solar, wind and hydro-powered alternatives, from electric cars and heat pumps to fuel cell-driven trucks, buses and boats over the next 30 years.

But what does the added carbon-neutral pledge mean and how much more would have to be done to achieve it? It would be a major symbolic achievement – only one small Himalayan country and no U.S. state has done it – but in the case of forest-rich Maine, it might not actually require much more action beyond those needed to slash our greenhouse gas emissions.

Going carbon-neutral – a goal Boston, New York, Hawaii, Sweden, France, Costa Rica and other polities have pledged to achieve by midcentury – means your city, state or country makes no net contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In practice, this entails finding ways to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and buying or creating carbon-devouring “offsets” to make up for what you have left, usually by planting trees, which store carbon dioxide.

Read more: https://www.centralmaine.com/2019/09/29/gov-mills-wants-maine-carbon-neutral-by-2045-what-will-that-take/

O'Rourke talks guns and impeachment in Austin

Beto O’Rourke repeated his calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and a mandatory gun buyback program on Saturday.

O’Rourke, who has long supported impeachment, applauded U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. House would begin an impeachment inquiry.

Pelosi, D-Calif., launched the inquiry after a whistleblower complaint, since made public, alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt, we now know that the president must be impeached,” O’Rourke said, speaking at the Paramount Theatre during The Texas Tribune Festival. “I’m cautiously optimistic about the path that we’re on now.”

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190928/orourke-talks-guns-and-impeachment-in-austin

O'Rourke talks guns and impeachment in Austin

Beto O’Rourke repeated his calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and a mandatory gun buyback program on Saturday.

O’Rourke, who has long supported impeachment, applauded U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. House would begin an impeachment inquiry.

Pelosi, D-Calif., launched the inquiry after a whistleblower complaint, since made public, alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt, we now know that the president must be impeached,” O’Rourke said, speaking at the Paramount Theatre during The Texas Tribune Festival. “I’m cautiously optimistic about the path that we’re on now.”

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190928/orourke-talks-guns-and-impeachment-in-austin

Pete Buttigieg's mom voices fears around his White House quest

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Several times a week, Anne Montgomery makes her way a few miles from her home to a fifth-floor office in downtown South Bend that teems with young adults working to elect her son president. She reads letters that bring back anxieties about being the mother of Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay man to run for president.

The ones that touch her most are testimonials of people who have come out as gay, or from their parents, praising Pete.

“To read them, I realize the terrible time some people have,” she said. “The cruelty. The ignorance.”

In her own quiet way, the lively, 74-year-old retired Notre Dame linguistics professor, with bouncing white curls and a devilish grin, is clear-eyed about the ugliness that persists in the country her son hopes to lead.

Read more: https://www.centralmaine.com/2019/09/28/pete-buttigiegs-mom-voices-fears-around-his-white-house-quest/

New England moose population dwindling as climate warms

ACTON — The devastating toll of ticks on New England’s moose herd has caused the region’s population to shrink, and experts worry it could get worse with climate change.

The northern New England states are home to thousands of moose, but the herd has dwindled in the last decade, in part because of the winter ticks. The ticks infest moose and suck their blood dry, and sometimes tens of thousands are found on a single animal.

Maine has the largest moose population east of Alaska and was home to some 76,000 animals about seven years ago. The herd size is commonly estimated at 60,000 to 70,000 now, but Lee Kantar, Maine’s moose biologist, said that number might be as low as 50,000.

The ticks are a worsening problem because of recent mild winters, which allow them to thrive, Kantar said. Scientists in Maine are entering the final year of a multiyear study of the moose population in its northern and western areas and have found better survival of moose calves in northern areas, which is usually Maine’s coldest corner.

Read more: https://www.journaltribune.com/articles/stateregional/new-england-moose-population-dwindling-as-climate-warms/
(Biddeford Journal Tribune)