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The Journal
3 days ago
- General
- The Journal
'Remigration': The far right's plan to expel non-white people from Europe
WHITE NATIONALISTS ACROSS Europe have for more than a decade promoted a policy called 'remigration', which despite its innocuous-sounding name is a plan to expel non-white people from the continent. Now, far-right activists and fringe political parties in Ireland are joining that chorus of extremists. In doing so, they are continuing to take inspiration from anti-immigration movements abroad and attempting to introduce their talking points into Irish politics. On 17 May, members of the far-right National Party attended a 'Remigration Summit' in Italy, and at an anti-immigration rally in Dublin city centre on 26 April, they marched down O'Connell Street chanting: 'Save the nation, remigration!' The National Party's only elected representative, Patrick Quinlan of Fingal County Council, repeated the call in a speech he made at the Customs House on the same day. 'Ireland belongs to the Irish people. We must start a policy of mass remigration,' Quinlan told a crowd of thousands gathered along the quays who chanted: 'Get them out! Get them out!' 'We'll shut the borders, we'll house the people, we'll rekindle our ancestors' divine fire,' Quinlan said. The party's youth wing also turned up selling the same message – the mass expulsion of immigrants and those who do not fit their definition of Irishness. Quinlan is not the only Irish politician to call for 'remigration'. Dublin City Councillor Gavin Pepper did so last year on social media , while complaining about crimes committed by Muslims in Ireland. Gavin Pepper and Patrick Quinlan were contacted by The Journal and offered an opportunity to respond. And at the summit in Italy, National Party member John McLoughlin said that while his party does not advocate violence, when 'our people reach breaking point, you most certainly won't be able to depend on the likes of me or any other political leaders here to hold them back'. Opponents of 'remigration', he said, should think twice because 'it's not our last hope to save ourselves, it's their last hope'. The Journal sought to contact John McLoughlin via social media and the National Party, but received no response by the time of publication. Those on the far-right fringe in Ireland are following the lead of more established anti-immigration parties (and right-wing extremist groups) elsewhere in Europe, who have made mainstreaming 'remigration' their goal. In the last year or so, they've begun to see some success. It's great to have young men stepping up, Fair play John and well done on representing the party. — Cllr. Patrick Quinlan (@PQuinlanNP) May 25, 2025 What does 'remigration' mean? Those who call for 'remigration' want to see non-white people expelled from Europe en masse, regardless of their citizenship, legal status or place of birth. This, according to those who support the idea, can be done forcibly or through incentivising people to leave a country voluntarily. The term 'remigration' has long been used in academia to describe people returning to their countries of origin voluntarily, like refugees returning to their home countries after World War II, for example. More recently, the word has been hijacked by supporters of Identitarianism - a pan-European, ethnonationalist movement that began in France in the 2000s. Remigration is the only ticket to make Europe European again! 👉🏻 Get yours now (in the comments below) and join us in that fight on Saturday the 17th of May in Milano, 🇮🇹 Let's make history together ✈️ ! — Remigration Summit 26 (@resum25) March 24, 2025 Identitarians are racial segregationists. They oppose multiculturalism, globalisation and immigration in general, all of which they see as existential threats to the white populations and national cultures of Europe. Like other far-right groups, they are particularly concerned with demonising Muslims and often try to stoke fears of 'Islamisation'. In a 2019 report , the Institute for Strategic Dialogue – a think tank focused on combatting extremist ideologies – described 'remigration' as 'essentially a non-violent form of ethnic cleansing'. A general election poster erected by a grouping of far-right parties, including the National Party Telegram - The irish People Telegram - The irish People If 'remigration' is the goal of white nationalists, the animating fear behind it is the 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory , which casts foreigners – especially Arabs – as an invading force marshalled by global elites whose objective is to wipe out white people. The 'Great Replacement' theory featured on general election posters erected last year by a grouping of far-right Irish parties that included the National Party, the Irish People party and Ireland First. It also came up in the speech delivered by the Nationals Party's John McLoughlin in Italy, when he talked about 'ethnic replacement', casting out 'the invader' and referred to asylum seeker accommodation buildings as 'plantation centres'. He compared British control of the six counties in the north to how 'Germany lost Frankfurt to Turkey, or France lost Paris to Algeria'. As is typical with proponents of the theory, which originated in France, McLoughlin inverted the real history of the French invading and colonising Algeria. He also said those who oppose 'remigration' aim to deny its supporters 'the very heritage of our ancestors, carved in stone and soil'. During the speech, McLoughlin made repeated references to soil, and the phrase 'stone and soil' has echoes of the Nazi slogan 'blood and soil'. He also said the National Party stands for 'excellence over equality'. National Party members represented Ireland today at the Remigration Summit 2025 in Milan. Many thanks to the conference organisers for hosting such a thoroughly well-run event despite interference from multiple state governments and their leftist foot soldiers. Remigration is… — The National Party | An Páirtí Náisiúnta (@NationalPartyIE) May 17, 2025 As Quinlan and McLoughlin did in their speeches, Irish adherents to the theory cast their project as one of liberation, and resistance to the 'invasion' and 'plantation' of Ireland. They do so using language that invokes the Irish struggle against British rule and colonialism. Quinlan said in his speech that Ireland has lost 'that holy fire that blazed in our patriot dead'. Advertisement 'They were able to conquer tyranny because of that fire,' he said. Elsewhere in Europe, white nationalists call for a new 'Reconquista', a reference to the campaign by Christian kingdoms to retake land conquered by Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula centuries ago. Anti-immigration protesters gather at the Customs House in Dublin. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Who has called for 'remigration'? 'Remigration' has been promoted by far-right political parties and extremist groups in a number of European countries over the last ten years or so. More recently, it's found expression in Canada, Australia and, most notably, in the United States. Those who promote the idea aim to bring it into mainstream political discourse, which was the purpose of the ' Remigration Summit' that took place in Italy on 17 May. In 2024 the vision of Remigration became the hope of our entire continent. In 2025 we will organize the first Remigration Summit: in May we will gather activists, journalists and politicians to unite our ideas, reach and influence. If we work together, Remigration is inevitable. — Remigration Summit 26 (@resum25) January 1, 2025 The most prominent exponent of the idea in the European context has been the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which came second in this year's federal election with just over 20% of the vote. The AfD has been officially labelled a right-wing extremist group by Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) and one of its members has been convicted for using banned Nazi-era slogans . The party also has documented ties with neo-Nazi groups. The BfV said the AfD aims 'to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, subject them to unconstitutional discrimination, and thus assign them a legally devalued status'. Ahead of this year's election, AfD leader Alice Weidel endorsed the idea of 'remigration' at a party conference, where she talked about 'large-scale repatriations'. 'And I have to be honest with you, if it's going to be called remigration, then that's what it's going to be: remigration,' she said, making a U-turn on a topic that had brought intense scrutiny upon her party only a year previous. AfD leader Alice Weidel gives a speech at a party conference in Riesa, Germany. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo In 2024, the policy was deemed too extreme by another major player in far-right European politics, Marine Le Pen's National Rally party in France, after a report by Correctiv exposed a secret meeting between AfD members, neo-Nazis and like-minded businesspeople, at which 'remigration' was the main talking point. Reports of the meeting led to massive demonstrations across Germany. National Rally, which itself has Nazi-sympathising roots , and the AfD have since broken off their alliance in the EU Parliament. Another far-right French politician, Éric Zemmour, has called for a ministry of 'remigration' to be established. In Austria, the idea has been promoted by the leader of the Freedom Party (FPO), Herbert Kickl. The party laid out plans to create 'Fortress Austria' ahead of parliamentary elections in 2024, in which it won around 29% of the vote. The FPO has also called for the EU to have a 'remigration commissioner' . FPO leader Herbert Kickl at a party meeting in Vosendorf, Austria. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo In Sweden, 'remigration' is government policy, although it does not involve forcing people to leave the country. Sweden does not strip people of their citizenship or refugee status, unlike the more extreme ideas promoted elsewhere in Europe. The Swedish government incentivises people to leave voluntarily by offering them money, something Denmark also does. And then there is the case of the United States since Donald Trump won the presidency for a second time. There, the term has become more common since the 2024 election campaign, when Trump himself used it in a Truth Social post attacking his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. Trump wrote: 'As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America. We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala's illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration).' US President Donald Trump's Truth Social post about immigration Source: Truth Social While Trump did effectively freeze all refugee resettlement on his first day in office, he also signed an executive order intended to provide white South Africans asylum status. He has also said white people in South Africa are being subjected to 'genocide', a common myth among white nationalists. Since coming to power, the Trump administration has been expelling people from the US under dubious pretexts, some of whom have a right to reside in the country and others who are in fact American citizens . The US president's use of the term 'remigration' was celebrated by those in Europe who have sought to mainstream it, including the well-known Austrian white nationalist Martin Sellner , who hailed it as a 'victory'. 'Remigration has had a massive conceptual career,' Sellner wrote on X. 'Born in France, popularised in German-speaking countries, and now a buzzword from Sweden to the USA!' Last week, the US State Department sent a plan to congress that would transform the government agency that oversees immigration into an 'Office of Remigration'. Implementing 'remigration' as envisioned by extremists like Martin Sellner would involve a state either revoking or breaking its own laws around citizenship. It would also mean withdrawing from international treaties that guarantee people the right to seek asylum. This is why Germany's AfD has been labeled a right-wing extremist organisation, because its intention is to violate the country's constitution and deny citizens their most fundamental rights. Need more clarity and context on how migration is being discussed in Ireland? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online. Visit Knowledge Bank The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. 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Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
North Carolina eyes grid-enhancing tech to improve aging power lines
Last summer, utility Duke Energy joined U.S. and state officials to announce with fanfare that it would rebuild a 40-mile transmission line between hurricane-prone Goldsboro and Raleigh, North Carolina. The company said the new infrastructure would result in fewer power outages, more solar connected to the grid, and hundreds of new jobs. Funded jointly by the federal government and Duke, the project highlighted how advanced technology can help solve the problems posed by an aging electric grid: It will include cables better able to withstand extreme weather and modern support structures that can accommodate new sources of power. 'The grant announced today by the Department of Energy is a win for the communities Duke Energy serves, and signals North Carolina's leadership in the energy transition,' Kendal Bowman, president of the utility's North Carolina operations, said at the time. But advocates and experts say the Lee-Milburnie transmission line in Eastern North Carolina is just the tip of the iceberg. To save consumers money and meet growing energy demand, they believe policymakers should follow other states' lead and encourage Duke to perform many more grid upgrades like the one unveiled last summer. Bipartisan legislation that would do just that failed to meet a key deadline last week, but its contents could still end up in another bill before the session ends later this year. Backers of the measure remain hopeful, in part because it would benefit all energy sources, not just renewable ones. 'It's not a clean energy bill,' said Mel Mackin, state policy director for the nonprofit advocacy group Ceres. 'It's a grid-modernization bill. It's about upgrading transmission lines to improve efficiency, to improve reliability. It's about reducing grid congestion. We're hopeful legislators will see it that way.' In North Carolina, as across the country, the transmission grid — the network of high-voltage lines designed to transport electrons across long distances — faces a confluence of challenges. For one thing, the grid is old: about 70% of today's transmission lines were installed at least 35 years ago. These aging conductors have much less capacity than newer ones, said North Carolina-based Maureen Quinlan, senior officer for energy modernization at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Old lines are also susceptible to failure from normal wear and tear as well as from extreme weather events like hurricanes and heat waves, causing 'road closures' on the electricity highway. 'An element of the grid may go out, and you have to reroute the power,' Quinlan explained. 'Detours are always going to be slower; you're on smaller roads. That's going to create inefficiencies.' The resulting grid congestion from existing, interconnected power suppliers is one 'today problem,' said Quinlan. A study from the consulting firm Grid Strategies estimated these bottlenecks cost consumers some $11.5 billion nationwide in 2023 because they force utilities looking to avoid congested areas to dispatch more expensive electricity than they otherwise would. A second challenge for the present is the long line of projects waiting to merge onto the clogged highway that is the transmission grid. In North Carolina and throughout the Southeast, that 'interconnection queue' is dominated by solar farms and battery storage. As Duke and other utilities race to build power plants of all kinds to supply large data centers, manufacturing plants, electric vehicles, and more, the queue is poised to lengthen until the road is widened — that is, until the grid's capacity is expanded. 'You already have a system that's experiencing a lot of these constraints and backlogs,' said Quinlan. 'That's going to be compounded by growing energy demand.' Addressing today's bottlenecks helps utilities save money to address a hurdle for tomorrow: building brand new highways to bring large sources of energy, such as offshore wind, to population centers, such as the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area known as The Triangle. That's why experts are increasingly looking to advanced transmission technologies, which can quickly be added to the existing grid to allow it to carry more power. 'They can be deployed in a matter of months to a few years,' said Quinlan, 'and they're also very cost-effective. [Some] can pay for themselves in less than six months, so they're seen as a bridge to these bigger transmission grid-level needs.' The technologies include both hardware and software. Carbon composite conductors, for instance, are up to twice as efficient as traditional aluminum cables reinforced with steel, in part because they sag less when overheated. These modern lines are a key reason the Lee-Milburnie upgrade is expected to reduce the length of service interruptions by 10%. Through a process called dynamic line rating, utilities can place sensors on lines to assess temperature, wind speed, and other factors, allowing significantly more power to flow under favorable conditions. Installing advanced hardware is more economical than building new conventional transmission lines because it offers more bang for the buck, doesn't involve new rights-of-way, and reuses some existing infrastructure. One recent study found that replacing conventional lines with advanced conductors nationwide would increase the transmission grid's capacity by four times as much as only building new lines. Such 'reconductoring' would also save $85 billion by 2035 compared to business as usual. The Lee-Milburnie line, for instance, will allow 1,600 megawatts of solar and 260 megawatts of energy storage to connect to the grid in Eastern North Carolina. Duke also told regulators the project would bring $2.1 billion in benefits, The News and Observer reported. Advanced software technologies are also money-savers. A pair of studies from Quanta Technologies and The Brattle Group shows such software could reduce energy costs nationwide by over $5 billion annually, a former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrote in a Utility Dive opinion article last year. However, he wrote, 'a policy vacuum' in the U.S. is holding back adoption. From Arizona to Maine, there's growing bipartisan interest around the country in filling that void. Just this week, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, signed a bill requiring utilities to report on their advanced transmission efforts. Advocates made some headway in North Carolina last November, when the state Utilities Commission approved Duke's long-range carbon-reduction plan. Regulators wrote in their decision that they believe that grid-enhancing technologies 'can be used to overcome interconnection limits, address transmission outage challenges, and interconnect resources while transmission system upgrades are being constructed.' Commissioners ordered that Duke's next plan, a draft of which is due in September, report on the utility's progress toward implementing such technologies, including explanations for not proceeding with any grid enhancements it evaluated. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Kyle Hall, a Stokes County Republican who co-chairs the House Energy and Public Utilities Committee, would set that directive into law. 'That makes it more durable,' said Cassie Gavin, director of policy at the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. The proposed legislation, House Bill 814, also takes the order a step further, asking Duke to examine a full suite of advanced transmission technologies, including hardware modernization and new software. Gavin's group has long supported energy efficiency, she said, and promoting advanced transmission technologies is a logical next step. 'This is like energy efficiency for the grid,' she said. 'And it can benefit ratepayers at the same time, so it seems like a no-brainer.' Still, HB 814 as written won't be eligible to advance for the rest of the General Assembly's two-year session since it failed to pass the House by May 8. The bill also has yet to be discussed by a single legislative committee. Duke, which holds significant sway in the Republican-controlled legislature, hasn't taken a public stand on the legislation. However, the utility has previously expressed concern about challenges posed by grid-enhancement technologies. During its planning process last year, the company told regulators that such tools could 'contribute to operational complexities and reduced situational awareness.' Asked recently about Duke's position, a company spokesperson told Canary Media: 'We appreciate the importance of discussions around ensuring safe and reliable power infrastructure to serve our customers in North Carolina and will continue to work with policymakers and other state leaders toward that goal.' Official legislative deadlines notwithstanding, North Carolina lawmakers often combine an array of energy policies into one grand compromise bill; that's how they passed the state's bipartisan climate law in 2021. So, advocates remain hopeful that if there's enough political will, there will be a way. 'We're cautiously optimistic,' said Quinlan. 'We look forward to finding a path forward to promote [advanced transmission technologies] in the state as part of its energy future.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Voters Are Frustrated. Will Democrats Be Able to Do Something With It?
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Around 6 on a Monday evening, I found myself standing in a Marriott Hotel ballroom in Bridgewater, New Jersey, talking to a retired police chief about his newfound passion for protesting Donald Trump. 'Never been much of a protester, until Jan. 20,' Robert Quinlan told me. 'I never in my lifetime thought that this could happen in America—that our democracy could really be in danger.' Dressed in jeans and a track jacket, the 66-year-old had warm eyes and spoke softly as he explained to me the case of Karim Daoud, a father of two who had recently been detained by immigration authorities after a regular check-in. Daoud has been living in the U.S. for the past 20 years; he's married to a U.S. citizen and worked at a local bar and grill. According to his GoFundMe page, there's a chance Daoud could be moved to a detention center across the country, separating him from his family and lawyer. 'He's got a wife and kids—what are they going to do without him?' Quinlan's voice cracked, and tears began welling up in his eyes. He took a minute to compose himself. 'What good does that do this country to have a family now who doesn't have a father? We're seeing good, hardworking people getting dragged off by ICE.' Quinlan said that ever since Trump took office again, he's been stuck in a state of shock. He decided to do something about it by creating a Facebook group with like-minded friends and community members in which they organize protests against the Trump administration and their Republican representative, Tom Kean Jr.—who has been following GOP leadership's recent directive to avoid giving in-person town halls as Trump's agenda has grown more unpopular. (Kean did recently hold a 35-minute telephone meeting with constituents for which questions had to be submitted in advance. He did not respond to a request for comment.) At this point, the ballroom was filled with locals peering around. Some brought homemade signs with them, while others were holding the 'Benefits Over Billionaires' posters that had been placed on each chair. Sitting front and center, just a few rows from the stage, Quinlan and his wife were patiently waiting for California Rep. Ro Khanna to take the stage. Since losing the presidential election last November, Democrats have been grappling, quite publicly, with an identity crisis. While Trump is actively trying to dismantle the federal government, firing thousands of federal workers, defying court orders, and carrying out deportations without due process, Democrats have struggled to find the right response. Voters are infuriated: First, it was allowing every one of Trump's Cabinet picks to sail through the nomination process, then it was the paltry protest to his State of the Union address. What pushed many over the edge was when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer actually whipped Democratic votes to pass Republicans' government funding bill. The party faced seething criticism for this. But more recently, in a twist of fate, Republicans have handed them an opportunity to step up and show some leadership. Shortly after GOP leaders advised Republican members of Congress not to host town halls in their home districts—constituents angry about the president's agenda were showing up and turning those gatherings into a political liability—the Democratic National Committee announced a new initiative: It would host in-person town halls across the country instead. It has recruited willing members of the party to speak to frustrated voters and field their questions, specifically in competitive GOP-held districts. Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, has been vocal about how the Democratic Party needs a change in direction. 'Our party became stale,' he told reporters when he was speaking at Yale Law School earlier this month. 'The same personalities. The same talking points. The same consultants. And I'm excited that you've got a lot of new voices that are emerging.' Similarly, in March, during a town hall in Bakersfield, California, Khanna said, 'Our messaging is too fragmented. The old guard isn't cutting it.' I wanted to see for myself what kind of message the party was putting out there now, and how it was being received on the ground. So I went to two Democratic-run events back to back—one in New Jersey and another in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They both served a similar purpose—to engage with frustrated voters—but their approaches differed. One offered a sympathetic ear, while the other handed out tools to combat an administration set on dismantling American democracy. 'The goal is to get Republicans to be more loyal to their constituents than to Donald Trump,' Khanna told me in an interview ahead of the New Jersey town hall. 'Right now, these Republicans are hiding from their constituents. They're not standing up for them, and they're voting against their constituents' interests on Medicaid, closing Social Security offices, and cutting public education.' Khanna, who has not shied away from the speculation over his potential future presidential run, hopes that applying pressure to Republicans will flip enough of them to stop the drastic cuts to social programs that the Trump administration is eyeing in the upcoming budget bill. If they don't, Khanna hopes that they will realize they risk losing their seats in 2026. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin has also been headlining town halls in Ohio and in a GOP-held district in his state. 'In the old days, it was sufficient for a lot of members to show up, press a red button, and send out a monthly newsletter,' he told me over the phone before I headed out to the town halls. 'Today our constituents across the country are demanding that elected officials be organizers, strategists, and leaders for democratic opposition to authoritarianism in America. That's a daily assignment.' Back at the New Jersey Marriott, the ballroom was nearing capacity, and there was an excited energy in the air as hundreds of locals—a mostly white, older crowd—chatted with their seatmates, waiting for the town hall to begin. Soon, every chair was occupied, and stragglers stood on the thick maple leaf–patterned carpet at the edges of the room. Bridgewater falls in New Jersey's 7th District, one of the wealthiest congressional districts in the United States. The Cook Political Report, which rates how partisan districts are, scores the 7th District as 'even,' meaning it votes about the same as the nation as a whole. Trump won the district in 2024; Biden won it in 2020. Kean, the district's relatively new rep, did not seem particularly popular here. Standing right outside the ballroom was a person dressed in an inflatable chicken costume, handing out flyers with 'Missing: Have You Seen This Congressman?' printed across the top in all caps. Kean is a former state senator who went on to work for the George H.W. Bush administration. In 2020 he unsuccessfully ran for Congress, but after redistricting made the 7th slightly redder, Kean was able to narrowly win the seat in 2022. Sitting toward the back of the ballroom was a couple looking around anxiously. I approached them and asked what had brought them to the town hall. 'I'm upset that we have taken away money for research for cancer, for kids, for education, for public safety, only to save a couple million dollars,' he said, adding that he's got two young kids at home. 'And only to pledge to give it to the military. I'm upset about all of that.' He declined to give me his name for fear of losing his job—he said he's a contractor for the Department of Education, an agency that the president has pledged to dramatically pare back. Around 7 p.m., the organizers of the event took to the stage. After a few speeches from local leaders and activists, Khanna walked onstage. The audience welcomed him with thunderous applause. Khanna opened his speech with all the ways the Trump administration has hurt Americans' pocketbooks, pointing to the recent stock-market crash resulting from the president's erratic tariff plan. Then he laid out his vision of what sets his party apart from Republicans. 'Democrats believe instead of cutting Medicaid, we need to expand Medicare,' he said. 'Instead of dismantling education, at a time where the world is competing based on knowledge, that we need to fundamentally invest in preschool, K–12, and college.' He drew on his personal story to make the case that Democrats are the true party of the working class. Khanna's parents immigrated to the U.S. from India in the 1960s, right as President John F. Kennedy pledged to send an American to the moon. 'This was the place to be,' he said. 'America was the place that spoke to the hopes and dreams of people around the world.' As a child growing up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Khanna said, he flourished because everyone from his teachers to Little League coaches had helped him. Now, by cutting education funding, forcing the stock market to tumble, and threatening Medicare, he said, the Trump administration was attacking 'the very thing that makes America exceptional.' Khanna spent much of his speech painting a picture of the party's promise and potential—but when it came to addressing the pointed questions of people in the room, he was more evasive. After his remarks, two long lines began forming on each end of the stage. One audience member, Jacob, who identified himself as a 28-year-old with autism, stepped up to the microphone. 'I think there's an elephant in the room—in this case, a donkey,' he said. 'The Democratic Party, who has presented itself as the resistance, has up to this point done anything but resist.' The room erupted into cheers and applause. 'As a young person, I see this real thirst for more-progressive policies, like universal health care and the like,' Jacob continued. 'What are you and some of your colleagues doing to push the Democratic Party into doing more?' Khanna focused only on the last part of Jacob's question, saying he believes that the future of the country is a progressive one and noting that he has advocated for Medicare for All, universal child care, and increasing the federal minimum wage. He also endorsed a new initiative launched by DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, the founder of progressive advocacy group Leaders We Deserve, that will fund younger Democratic candidates who primary older incumbents in safe blue districts. Answering a question about immigration, Khanna took the chance to put his own party on blast. A middle-aged woman took the mic and explained that, as a naturalized U.S. citizen from Colombia, she's deeply concerned about the Trump administration's lawless deportation of immigrants, like Venezuelan makeup artist Andry Hernandez Romero. 'What do we do?' she asked. 'We're doing everything we can. We are in the streets to make Democrats have more spine.' After first prompting the crowd to give her a round of applause, Khanna ran down his own record on immigration, pointing to a recent speech he gave at Yale about the Trump administration's attack on the rule of law, due process, and the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. 'If you're a Democrat and you're not willing to stand up for the due process rights of immigrants and the vulnerable, then you need to find another line of work,' Khanna proclaimed to roaring applause. 'It's not the time for cowardice, because what beats fear is not hiding. What beats fear is inspiring and reminding people of the vision of America we believe in.' But throughout the evening, Khanna answered questions mostly with broad, big-picture answers—he was light on specifics about what Democrats would be doing next to push back on Trump. It's an approach that voters generally seem to be tired of; some who spoke to the New York Times earlier this year criticized Democrats for being too scripted and controlled. Now, five months out from a bruising general election loss, the party is attempting to stand up a coherent strategy with this town hall tour but still appears to be struggling with pushing a message that voters want to hear. Khanna focused on a broad-strokes reprimand of Trump, but many folks in that Marriott ballroom already agreed that the president's agenda is bad, their sinking retirement accounts a flashing-red reminder. Instead, they wanted to know exactly what levers Democrats are pulling right now to prevent or at least slow down the president's attacks on Medicare, Social Security, education, and immigration. Internally, even the party is divided over what approach it should be taking in this current political climate. The Times reported that Schumer held a private call with half a dozen Democratic governors, who urged him to push back on the entirety of Trump's agenda, not just on issues the party perceives as winnable. 'He is not somebody that you can appease,' J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, told the Times. 'We've got to stand up and fight. And by the way, at the state level, I think many of us are. But I think that we've got to make sure that in the Senate and the House, that the people who have a platform are standing up.' To his credit, Khanna continued to answer residents' questions at the town hall for another two hours, making sure to allow every person in line behind the microphone a chance to say something. He genuinely engaged with the crowd and did so with a noticeable ease and comfort, throwing in jokes and holding a smile. Despite his evasiveness on some questions, the attendees were clearly thrilled to see Khanna and appreciated that a member of Congress had flown over to hear them out. When one resident, named Raj, took the mic, he made a familiar—and probably not particularly welcome—reference: He told Khanna that he reminded him of former President Barack Obama. 'Obama rescued the auto industry, but [Trump] is destroying it,' Raj went on. 'The next four years look disastrous,' he said. 'How are you going to solve this?' Khanna, who just minutes earlier had endorsed the idea of bringing in a new, younger class of Democratic leadership, demurred. 'Wishing for another Obama is like wishing for another king who is once in a generation,' he said. The next night, rather than taking in another session of top-down messaging from national Democrats, I got a more grassroots look at the resistance to Trump right now. I drove over to Scranton, Pennsylvania, for a civics fair that local Democratic groups had decided to put on instead of a town hall. With support from the national party, the 'Good Trouble Fest' was an opportunity for local Democrats distressed about the direction of the country, and perhaps tired of waiting for elected reps to come to the rescue, to gather, talk to each other, and discover ways to get more engaged in politics themselves. 'We want to make sure that we're giving them opportunities to take action and fight back now so that they don't have to wait for the upcoming election,' said Kait Ahern, the deputy political director of youth outreach for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. The group organized the civic-action fair along with the Lackawanna County Federation of Democratic Women, Abington Democrats, Sierra Club Pennsylvania, 50501, PA College Democrats, and more. The community space looked like one that would normally be used for a post–church service dinner, located a couple hundred yards behind St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic church. It was outfitted with wood-paneled walls and green-and-red carpet that reminded me of Christmas wrapping paper. It could hold about 400 people and was filling up by the minute. As each person entered, they were handed a white label and a Sharpie to create a name tag for themself. The room kind of had the energy of a Scholastic book fair. Several round, family-style tables were concentrated in the middle of the room, and each one had a cluster of red, white, and blue balloons floating from the center, alongside a basket of pretzels. At the edges of the room, local groups had tables where people could sign up to become a poll worker, apply for a mail ballot, or make friendship bracelets, reminiscent of Taylor Swift's beaded-bracelet craze during her 'Eras' tour. One table was piled high with free white yard signs that said 'Medicare Saves Lives' in a large red typeface. On the left-hand side of the room was an array of different climate groups. One of them was handing out slices of a giant vanilla sheet cake, half of it covered in green icing to represent grass and the other half a hodgepodge of brown, black, and gray icing to depict trash. 'Good Trouble Can Stop Landfills' was written along the side of the cake in red icing. The next table over offered cookies decorated with the green recycling symbol and trash cans. There was also an open bar serving soft drinks, wine, and beer. Most folks came to the fair with a plus-one but, upon entering, would spot a neighbor or acquaintance across the room and begin chatting. People seemed genuinely curious and excited, stopping by each table to understand what each organization was about, grabbing a free pen or sticker before moving on to the next table. The people I met in Scranton seemed to share similar frustrations to the folks I saw in New Jersey, but this event gave them an opportunity to channel those concerns into action. Stripped of any pomp and circumstance, the fair was purely focused on highlighting Democratic groups in and around Scranton that were looking for more people to join their ranks. Abington Democrats was one of these groups, and its members were seeking to recruit potential candidates for the city's upcoming municipal elections. They were handing out one-sheeters that listed all the open positions, alongside a job description, expected time commitment, and pay. Jen Partyka, a registered nurse who serves as the group's treasurer, told me that almost all of those positions currently had no Democratic candidate running. She hoped to change that by educating people on what it actually takes to become an elected official. 'We have an open judge of elections position, there's a school board position open, things like that,' Partyka said. 'Then we're teaching them how to do a write-in campaign, whether that's getting 10 Democratic signatures on the primary ballot so then they'll show up in the general election, teaching them basic stuff about getting yourself into office.' Scranton—famously, Joe Biden's hometown—is a staunchly blue dot in Lackawanna County, a historically Democratic district that over the years has shifted to battleground territory. In 2012 Obama carried Lackawanna by 30 points, but in 2020, Biden held on by only 8. Last year, the county voted for Kamala Harris for president by only 3 points. The county falls within Pennsylvania's 8th District and is surrounded by cities that largely went for Trump. In November, Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr. replaced Democrat Matt Cartwright, who had held the seat in this district for six terms. Abington Democrats wants more people to pay attention to Scranton's local elections and understand the connection between local government and core community resources, like maintaining hospitals and funding schools. 'I feel like there's a tremendous amount of respect that we should be holding for these offices,' Partyka said. 'Yes, you're only a supervisor for a town of a thousand [people], but these are roles that are closest to your community.' Partyka doesn't consider Trump's second presidential win a mandate for Republicans. She thinks there were plenty of Democrats who chose to stay home for the election. 'We just have to do this silly little work,' she said. 'Go to your municipal elections, vote, run for something. It sounds silly, but it's the way that you change things.' That idea resonated with Cathi McCormack, a 60-year-old supervisor at a local medical lab who said she's frustrated with national Democrats and is itching to do something. She said she has attended a few protests since Trump took office, and after this fair, she's also seriously considering running for local municipal office. After the president's tariff whiplash, McCormack said, her 401(k) took a huge hit. 'I wanted to retire in five years, and now I might not be able to do that,' she said. She's also concerned about Medicare cuts because she has a niece with Down syndrome who relies heavily on federal assistance. Even though the focus of the fair was on how one could take action locally, it also opened up the floor for those in attendance to air their frustrations. Organizers of the event took to the stage at the front of the room, asking folks to settle down. They began to deliver short speeches, mostly thanking people for taking the time to come. Suddenly, one of the speakers turned the agenda around to the audience. 'What are you frustrated about today?' he asked. For the next 20 minutes, the room turned into a therapy session; people stood up and shared pent-up thoughts and emotions they had been experiencing over the past three months. 'Undocumented students and their parents should never be afraid to go to a public school. They should always be welcome!' a middle-aged woman with glasses shouted. 'As a physician, I'm sick and tired of nonmedical people telling us how to practice medicine,' said an older woman with white hair and a hot pink T-shirt. 'If one person doesn't get due process, none of us do!' a woman toward the back of the room shouted. 'Congress should be doing more!' a man with salt-and-pepper hair exclaimed. Since Trump took office for the second time, Democratic leadership has emphasized that its hands are tied. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted the reality of what his party is dealing with when the GOP controls 'the House, the Senate, and the presidency. It's their government.' Still, there are levers Democrats can pull, like when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor for 25 hours to rail against the Trump administration, while also conceding that his party has made some serious mistakes. Eventually, the 'Good Trouble Fest' wound down, and the small crowd began to pack up their pamphlets and finish the last bites of their cake. On her way out, I caught Karen Arscott, a retired doctor who spoke about practicing medicine in Trump's America. She told me she comes from a family of Republicans but that after Trump's first election, she switched her party registration to Democrat. 'I don't want to be aligned with that group,' she said. Arscott believes that the Democratic Party has been consistently outsmarted by Republicans, and that it should be uplifting a younger generation of politicians, the likes of Booker and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 'I think we totally blew it with Biden. We have so many young Democrats who are strong. I love what Cory Booker did—oh my gosh, that was moving,' Arscott said. 'Four years ago, when Biden took office, that's when we should have been doing something to look four years into the future.' While the people who showed up to Khanna's town hall in New Jersey basically walked away with a pep talk, in Scranton, people were leaving with something concrete to do. 'So many voters are frustrated right now,' Ahern, of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, told me. 'Democrats, we don't have the Senate right now, we don't have the House, the courts, or the White House. But that does not mean we are toothless. And it sure as hell doesn't mean we can't fight.'
USA Today
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Mike Quinlan named Challenge Man of the Year for role in elevating U.S. Senior Challenge
Mike Quinlan named Challenge Man of the Year for role in elevating U.S. Senior Challenge From the many chapters of Mike Quinlan's golfing life came this realization for Quinlan: The game has always endured within his family. As he was set to receive the Challenge Man of the Year award later this month, Quinlan relayed memories of his relationship with golf while looking at a photo of his father, standing together with his buddies on the golf course. 'The things that he gave to me now carried on,' Quinlan said, detailing how golf became the family game among his wife and children, too. ' … everybody at one time or another held a golf club in their hand and loved the game the same way I do.' Quinlan, 72, has made contributions back to the game in many arenas, perhaps most notably serving as the current president of the Sun Country Amateur Golf Association as well as the President and Executive Director of the U.S. Senior Challenge organization, which annually runs a state team competition for senior amateurs with a college golf-like scoring component. That tournament will be played April 28-30 at Hobe Sound (Florida) Country Club. Quinlan has been a part of the latter organization for nearly 15 years and has played a substantial role in infusing the event with some much-needed energy. Notably, Quinlan helped get the Sun Country Golf Association on board to run the events – a concept he had seen several Allied Golf Associations around the country putting into practice with national events run in their state. Quinlan also helped forge a partnership with Golfweek four years ago. Despite his long association with the tournament, Quinlan still was taken aback when the U.S. Senior Challenge Board of Directors brought up his name for the Challenge Man of the Year award. 'I was humbled and really excited and a little bit embarrassed because I'm the executive director, so it seems like a rigged deal,' Quinlan joked. Quinlan lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and plays out of Albuquerque Country Club (where earlier this month he made his eighth career hole-in-one). His beginning in the game, however, dates to his native Omaha, Nebraska, where his father coaxed him onto the golf course with Cokes and Snickers candy bars. After short stints as an arborist and a small-business owner, Quinlan returned to school and then moved to Albuquerque in 1981 for a job with Sandia National Laboratories. Work and fatherhood forced Quinlan to put golf aside until his 40s, when he began to pursue it competitively. 'After consistently losing to a good friend for several years every weekend, my game improved significantly,' Quinlan said. 'After lots of local success, I qualified for the 2002 U.S. Senior Open – an amazing and humbling experience. I played in the group directly in front of Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller and Jim Thorpe. Thousands of fans on every hole was a different forum for sure. 'My three brothers were quick to comfort me by saying they were sure I would have played better a few groups back since no one would be watching.' Quinlan's competitive career also included two U.S. Senior Amateurs and a U.S. Mid-Amateur. He qualified for the latter at the age of 56. Now in his early 70s, Quinlan has turned over U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying to 'the youngsters' of the senior circuit but enjoys competing in the Legends division in national senior amateur events. 'The enjoyment is still every bit there and I love the competition and it's just been great – a big part of my life and I love passing it on to others," Quinlan said. "It's really helped every aspect of my life, I think, the game of golf and the principles and values associated with it.'
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Yahoo
Bayles Lake highway still awaiting safety improvements in Iroquois Co.
WATSEKA, Ill. (WCIA) — There is still no decision on if Iroquois County will apply for a state grant to fund the improvement of a dangerous stretch of road at Bayles Lake. WCIA's partners with the Ford County Chronicle reported that on April 3, another meeting of the Iroquois County Board's transportation and highway committee commenced without a decision being made. The debate is for if the county should apply for a state grant to pay for the installation of guardrails or other safety improvements along a dangerous stretch of County Highway 10 in Watseka at Bayles Lake. Bill cracking down on license plate flippers in Illinois passes Senate With the grant application running from early May to mid-June for the Illinois Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Improvement Program, there is still no evidence that the county is attempting to apply. There have been repeated requests from the public to make immediate safety upgrades on the road, including from the mom of a Loda crash victim, the Loda Homeowners Association and many other members of the Loda community. There have also been two accidents in just over a year at this location where vehicles slid off the highway and crashed into the cold waters of Bayles Lake. The first in which 68-year-old Stevie A. Chapman died after his vehicle slid into the lake and sank underwater on Dec. 16, 2023. The second instance is when 18-year-old driver Elaine Carmen-Loveless hit a patch of black ice before losing control of her SUV which slid into the lake on Dec. 20, 2024. On the contrary, some have said the problem is not the county's responsibility to fix, but rather the Bayles Lake Homeowners Association's. Charles Alt, the transportation and highway committee chairman, said last month that State's Attorney Mike Quinlan raised an issue about the subdivision's potential responsibility and was looking into the matter. Quinlan said to Alt to not move forward with 'anything' until his review was finished. Woman arrested in connection to Urbana crash that killed two-month-old Additionally, Quinlan has not been present for the committee's meetings in recent months, and did not immediately respond to messages left over email with a secretary at his office requesting his comment. Iroquois County Highway Engineer Alan Hardwood confirmed this week that the committee and himself were still waiting to hear from Quinlan. 'There has been no further discussion,' Hardwood said in an email, 'as the committee is awaiting counsel from the state's attorney.' In January, Hardwood said Quinlan's predecessor, former State's Attorney Jim Devine, had advised that the county is not legally responsible for protecting drivers from hazards located outside the county's 'right-of-way.' This area would include Bayles Lake. County Highway 10 is owned and maintained by Iroquois County. However, Bayles Lake Homeowners Association president William Dick said he thinks there should be no question that the county, not the homeowner's association, is entirely responsible for keeping this road safe. 'We were startled to hear that the county would think that the Bayles Lake HOA — a neighborhood — should in any way financially support that project,' Dick said last month. 'We were startled to think that we had any responsibility for that road at all.' Illinois House passes 'Dillon's Law' to help more people carry Epi-Pens On the other hand, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Paul Wappel said in January that the county, not the homeowner's association, would need to be the entity to apply for a grant through IDOT's Highway Safety Improvement Program. Dick said he would be happy to help the county's highway department write the grant application if asked. While he said he fully supports the project, he also said it's not his responsibility to follow through with writing out and applying for the application. 'We are willing to help write the application if that is useful to the county, but we cannot be responsible for a major county road,' Dick said. The topic of County Highway 10 was listed under the 'public comments' portion of the April 3 meeting's agenda. The only person to comment on the matter was the committee's vice chairman, Jode Munsterman, who offered to share pictures she took of the highway where it bisects Bayles Lake. For more information on other business discussed during the April 3 board meeting, head to the Ford County Chronicle's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
