Source: CNN

(CNN)Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama announced Monday that he will not run for reelection in 2022, after serving 42 years in Congress.

"Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the US Senate in 2022," the 86-year-old Republican said in a statement. "For everything, there is a season."

Shelby's announcement follows several other high profile Republican senators who've announced plans to not run for reelection in 2020. Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio have both said they will not run again when their term is up next year.
Shelby chaired the Appropriations, Rules, Banking and Intelligence committees in the Senate. He said he was proud of his work focusing on the economy, education, space exploration and, ever the appropriator, the Port of Mobile.

Shelby's decision will open up a fierce race in the deep red state. Possible candidates include Shelby's former chief of staff, Katie Boyd Britt, who is now the president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and Rep. Mo Brooks.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/richard-shelby-retiring/index.html

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Mo Brooks!

Source: NBC

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by quarterback legend Tom Brady, largely dominated Kansas City on Sunday during Super Bowl 55. Brady earned his seventh title as the Bucs defeated Kansas City 31-9.

Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City had the opportunity to become back-to-back Super Bowl champions. But Brady, regarded as the greatest football player of all time, and the Buccaneers playing at home sacked their chances.

The Brady-Mahomes matchup was the first among players who have won both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards. It's was the sixth meeting between former regular-season MVPs and the second between former Super Bowl MVPs.

There was significant hype before the game touting a battle between the greatest of all time, Brady, against the greatest quarterback of his generation, Mahomes.

Read more: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/tampa-bay-buccaneers-kansas-city-face-off-in-super-bowl-55/2872709/

Source: NCPR

Feb 07, 2021 — The judge presiding over the race in New York’s 22nd Congressional District has ordered all county Boards of Elections to immediately certify the results of the race and transfer them to the state.

According to the court’s final tallies, Republican Claudia Tenney leads by 109 votes. After Oneida County certifies its vote count, Tenney is likely to be sworn into Congress. That would put Republicans with 212 seats in the House of Representatives, while Democrats hold a majority of 221.

According to Justice DelConte’s decision, after adjustments and corrections, 156,098 ballots were cast for Tenney and 155,989 for Democrat Anthony Brindisi, who unseated Tenney in the 2018 election.

326,566 people voted in the district, which covers parts of the Southern Tier, Central New York, the Mohawk Valley, and a small slice of the southern Tug Hill Plateau, including Boonville.

Read more: https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/43166/20210207/ny-22-republican-claudia-tenney-to-be-certified-winner-with-109-vote-margin

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Damn, every single one of these super-tight races that took weeks (or months) to decide went to the Republicans.

Well, he is 87. What worries me though is that while he's not good, he's certainly not an insurrectionist Qrumper, perhaps because he was once a Democrat (like Darth Vader, there was still good in him). So who will replace him? Only chance I see for any Democrat is if Roy Moore wins the nomination again, and judging by the 2020 primary, he'll probably get crushed again.

The worst of the bunch is Mo Brooks. If he gets the nomination, Tommy Tubberville becomes the liberal of the two Alabama Senators, let that sink in. Any thoughts on Shelby's retirement? Anyway, here's the link:

Richard Shelby: Alabama Senator has indicated he won't run again, according to AP sources

Source: AL.COM

U.S. Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the Senate’s fourth most senior member, has indicated to confidantes that he does not intend to run for reelection next year — prompting some Republicans to urge the powerful, establishment politician to reconsider, even as potential replacements prepare to run for his seat.

The senator in recent weeks told one close Alabama ally that he was not planning on running in 2022 for what would be his seventh term, according to the ally, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The person said some in the state were still trying to get Shelby to change his mind out of concern about losing clout and worries that the senator might be replaced by a fringe candidate who would not be as effective.

Shelby spokeswoman Blair Taylor said the senator has not made a decision, “but there will likely be an announcement forthcoming in the next few weeks.”

“As I previously stated, the Senator has not made a decision or an announcement regarding whether or not he plans to run in 2022. Any speculation is just that, speculation,” Taylor wrote in an email Friday.




Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/news/2021/02/ap-sources-alabama-senator-richard-shelby-has-indicated-he-wont-run-again.html%3foutputType=amp

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Oh boy, I fear a Senator Mo Brooks.

Source: MSN

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said Tuesday he is opposed to passing an economic relief bill without bipartisan agreement.

Asked by reporters if he would support a budget resolution to pass the legislation, Manchin said, "I will only support moving in a bipartisan way." He added, "That means an open process. I've been very clear about that."

Manchin also released a statement on his stance, where he said, "I will vote to move forward with the budget process because we must address the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis. But let me be clear--and these are words I shared with President Biden--our focus must be targeted on the COVID-19 crisis and Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic."

"The President remains hopeful that we can have bipartisan support moving forward. I will only support proposals that will get us through and end the pain of this pandemic," the statement added. "For the sake of the country, we must work together with laser focus to defeat the COVID-19 crisis, support our neighbors and communities who continue to suffer and get back to a more normal life as quickly as possible."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-manchin-deals-blow-to-democrats-stimulus-plan-won-t-support-it-without-bipartisan-agreement/ar-BB1dkqMC?li=BBorjTa&ocid=U452DHP

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He's always been a conservative Democrat, but the past weeks leads me to fear that he might be switching Party's.

Source: Newsweek

A progressive group called the No Excuses PAC aims to replace West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, claiming the Democrats "stand in the way of progress."

The co-founders of the No Excuses PAC are searching for candidates to run against the pair since both Manchin and Sinema are up for re-election in 2024.

Two of the PAC's co-founders, Saikat Chakrabarti and Corbin Trentare, are former aides to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In 2018, the PAC helped elect Ocasio-Cortez to Congress.

On its website, the PAC claims that Manchin and Sinema "stand in the way of progress" because they sided "with Republicans to shrink their own party's pandemic relief, climate, and economic investment plans."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/progressive-group-that-helped-elect-aoc-targets-joe-manchin-kyrsten-sinema-replacement-1566190

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Not sure how they think a progressive can win in a state where Trump got almost 70% of the vote...

Source: CNN

(CNN)Dustin Diamond, who played the role of Screech on the popular 1990s high school comedy "Saved by the Bell," died Monday after a recent cancer diagnosis, according to Diamond's manager, Roger Paul.

He was 44.

Diamond first shared news of his cancer diagnosis last month.

At the time, his manager said his client's health was "serious" and that Diamond was undergoing further testing at a Florida hospital. He underwent his first round of chemotherapy days later.

An actor and stand-up comedian, Diamond found fame playing Samuel "Screech" Powers for more than a decade on the "Saved by the Bell" franchise.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/01/entertainment/dustin-diamond-obit/index.html

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Source: WETM-NBC

OSWEGO, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Lawyers for Democrat Anthony Brindisi filed paperwork in court Monday afternoon requesting Tuesday’s court-ordered certification of votes be delayed pending a new audit.

The request was uploaded to the court’s website during the one hour break of what could have been the last session at the State Supreme Court level.

In Monday’s court hearings, each county boards of elections are during an updated canvass of ballots that were ruled either valid or invalid by Justice Scott DelConte on Friday.

Friday’s ruling was a blow to Brindisi’s hopes that batches of dozen ballots, challenged by the campaigns during the initial canvass after Election Day, would be ultimately counted.

Read more: https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/your-local-election-hq/boards-of-elections-due-back-in-court-monday-to-make-final-counts-in-ny-22-race/

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — To the last moments of his presidency, Donald Trump trumpeted Space Force as a creation for the ages. And while President Joe Biden has quickly undone other Trump initiatives, the space-faring service seems likely to survive, even if the new administration pushes it lower on the list of defense priorities.

The reason Space Force is unlikely to go away is largely this: Elimination would require an act of Congress, where a bipartisan consensus holds that America’s increasing reliance on space is a worrying vulnerability that is best addressed by a branch of the military focused exclusively on this problem.

The new service also is linked to an increasing U.S. wariness of China, which is developing capabilities to threaten U.S. satellites in space and which has become, in the minds of some, the singular national security challenge. Russia, too, stands accused by Washington of seeking to challenge American dominance in space.

“They’re building capabilities to use space against us. We have to be able to respond to that,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Security Space Association, an advocacy group, last week, referring to Russia and China.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-politics-national-security-edcb01683ab38e740ae87530c49ecd4e

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