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Darrell Ehrlick| The Daily Montanan

Kevin Hamm told a crowd gathered in the backyard of a downtown Billings house that he can help unify the state behind one shared value that transcends both political parties a belief in being stubbornly independent.

As he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, he said the spirit that has made Montana so unique a state is characterized by its ability to support people over partisan politics. He told the group gathered on Tuesday evening that he was that type of person who respects and understands Montanas purple heritage, a mix of both major political parties.

Hamm, who ran in 2022 for a seat on the states Public Service Commission, announced his candidacy for Montanas central and eastern Congressional district as a Democrat. Montanas current Congressman representing the district, which includes Billings, Helena and Great Falls, is held by Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Republican in his second term.

With the 2024 Election still 18 months away, Hamm told the Daily Montanan the timing gives him ample opportunity to speak with Montanans who may believe that the race is impossible for a Democrat.

I am not a politician, and I havent inherited my wealth, he told a gathering of about 50 people on Tuesday night. I took the drink orders of the pompous people whose fathers were paying for their drinks, while I was worrying about paying my own bills. I knew the good people in the kitchen. I was ridiculed, but I was able to live here authentically anyway. I built communities in the hallways, and I built communities in schools. I have a life of solidarity with those who are work for a living.

Hamm told supporters that he may not always agree with them, but he was willing to talk and return phone calls. He said that hes heard from many Montanans who are concerned that the political reputation of the state, which includes a tolerance and respect for diversity and a range of opinions, is under siege.

Hamms background is in telecommunications. He is the chief executive of Auxilyum and Treasure State Internet and Telegraph.

He said that his campaign is rooted in the belief that Montanans still support labor, still value a work ethic, are concerned about the climate, and want personal freedom.

I believe those are things that are more important than any political party, he said.

He also told the group that he planned on being a representative for a longtime, instead of using the office as a stepping stone to the next political office.

You have to have a representative with skin in the game and something to lose, he said.

He said current discussions at the federal level have been frustrating and he believes as a business owner in the technology industry, he understands the challenges both as an employer and a citizen.

I hear Congress talking about why it cant raise the minimum wage. That itd be too expensive to businesses. But businesses cant find employees and they cant find housing, Hamm said. Its too expensive not to do it.

He said some of those positions wont make him popular, but he said, I have thick skin.

He said that politicians in Congress have to stop playing with Social Security as a bargaining chip, and that the effects of weakening labor laws and federal oversight have led to catastrophes like the train derailment recently in Ohio.

He said that Montana and the nation have wrestled with a stubborn housing problem, but he said its not necessarily a case of not having enough houses, rather its an economic problem: The houses are no longer affordable.

Hamm said he was intentionally starting early and kicking off his candidacy in Billings, Montanas largest city, which is often considered to tilt conservative. He pointed out that even in the more conservative parts of the state, residents have historically been willing to split their ticket. He said hes beginning early to let independent voters know they have a choice, even though most political analysts see the seat as safely Republican.

Just watch me, Hamm said.

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Democrat Kevin Hamm announces bid to rep Montana in U.S. ... - Great Falls Tribune

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here in September, is facing a united opposition in Sunday's election that threatens his grip on power. Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here in September, is facing a united opposition in Sunday's election that threatens his grip on power.

When Turkish citizens head to the polls on Sunday, they will vote in one of the most pivotal elections in their country's 100-year history. That's because for the first time in 20 years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a united opposition threatening his grip on power.

Turkey, a NATO ally on the border between Europe and Asia, has experienced a decade of democratic backsliding as Erdogan has methodically consolidated all branches of government under his authority. Experts say Sunday's election will determine whether Turkey can return to democratic rule or will continue its path toward an autocracy.

"Erdogan is the inventor of nativist, populist politics globally, and his defeat would mean something globally," said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute.

The threat to Erdogan's reign comes amid an economic and financial crisis that has been compounded by deadly earthquakes this year. Erdogan and his ruling AK Party have received much of the blame for the economic situation.

Furthermore, alleged corruption and negligence that led to building code and safety violations may have contributed to higher death tolls from the earthquakes, according to a preliminary report from scientists at Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

"Had the earthquake not happened, Erdogan would probably be leading in the polls today," Cagaptay said.

The irony that an earthquake and economic crisis could bring down Erdogan is not lost on those who have followed his political rise. It was a 1999 earthquake that killed 17,000 people that helped elevate his profile and catapulted him and his party to victory in the 2002 general election.

"It's a parallel that almost every Turkish person made in the first days after this earthquake in February," said journalist and writer Suzy Hansen, who lived and reported from Turkey for over a decade. "He was going to fix the economy, and he was going to eradicate corruption."

Erdogan is credited with expanding the Turkish middle class by making credit more easily available to those families. His government also embarked on massive infrastructure projects that provided lots of jobs. Gross domestic product per capita more than tripled during his first decade in office, from $3,600 in 2002 to $11,700 in 2012. He delivered growth, lifted people out of poverty and improved access to government services, such as health care.

Those successes over his first 10 years in power allowed him to build a loyal base of followers. But that base is starting to abandon Erdogan now as more and more middle-class families are struggling to make ends meet in today's Turkey. Runaway inflation and a currency devaluation have seen prices surge in recent years. In April, food prices increased 54% year on year.

"People are hungry in Turkey," Hansen said. "People cannot afford meat. They can't afford food. They can't afford diapers. They are really struggling."

Inflation has come down since reaching a high of more than 85% in October. The Turkish lira has lost 76% of its value during Erdogan's second term as president.

"People are angry," Hansen said. "I had one young man say to me, 'If you watch the Turkish news, which is controlled by Erdogan, all they're telling us is that life is great. And meanwhile, I can't afford onions.'"

But it's not just economic challenges that threaten Erdogan. It's also the political and cultural changes that he undertook during his second decade in power. Erdogan, who grew up in a poor conservative Muslim family in the Anatolian hinterland, always felt like a second-class citizen in Turkey's secular society, according to Cagaptay.

His rise to power in the early 2000s also led to the rise of political Islam in the country. Many in the majority-Muslim country remain loyal to Erdogan for making religion a bigger part of Turkish politics and society. At the same time, it alienated more progressive parts of society and those secularists who want to keep religion out of politics.

"Erdogan has demonized so many groups from secularists to Kurdish nationalists to liberals to social democrats to leftists," Cagaptay said. "When you add them up, that makes up about half of Turkey's population."

And those groups for the first time are now united in their opposition to Erdogan.

Similar to other authoritarian rulers, Erdogan has attempted to hold on to power by going after his opponents. He also started to centralize the government around himself. In 2017, Turkey transformed from a parliamentary system to a presidential one after 51% of voters approved the change in a public referendum.

This change came less than a year after a failed military coup in July 2016. More than 300 people died in the clashes between the military and Erdogan supporters during the coup attempt. Erdogan responded to the attempted overthrow of his government with mass arrests and large purges across the military, government and civil service.

"He became head of state, head of government, head of ruling party, head of the national police and head of the military as chief of staff. He became all powerful as Turkey's new sultan," Cagaptay said.

The change to this new presidential system means that for the first time, Erdogan has to win 50% of the vote. Going into Sunday's election, Erdogan and his main opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, are neck and neck in the polls.

Should none of the candidates win more than 50% of the vote, then there will be a runoff election on May 28 between the top two candidates.

Cagaptay and Hansen both believe Erdogan won't go quietly if he loses the election.

He might even take a page out of former President Donald Trump's playbook and call on his supporters to stop any transfer of power.

"You could very well see the repeat of Jan. 6 in Turkey after the elections, if this is a closely contested race," Cagaptay said.

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From democrat to autocrat. The story of Turkey's Recep Tayyip ... - NPR

As a Democrat, the fact that I would praise the politics of my adopted home state of South Carolina might surprise you. Republicans control near super-majorities in the state legislature, and the Palmetto State has not elected a Democratic governor or U.S. senator in more than a quarter-century.

Yet, as their right-wing peers in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia routinely wage culture wars that divide their citizens and rally Democratic voters across the country, South Carolinas leaders have provided a strong example of a third way, where logic and reason can unite people of different parties, races and beliefs to actually form a more perfect union and achieve shared goals.

In 2016, neighboring North Carolina passed H.B. 2, also known as "the Bathroom Bill'' into law, prohibiting transgender citizens from using public facilities aligned with their individual gender identity. In response, the state suffered serious financial consequences totaling billions in lost revenue as many businesses moved offices, investments and events out of North Carolina. The unpopularity of the policy also helped contribute to first-term GOP Gov. Pat McCrorys defeat later that year.

The U.S. and South Carolina flags (Kevin Ferris/Fox News Digital)

At the same time, then-Gov. Nikki Haley led opposition to similar legislation in South Carolina, which never passed the state Senate. Even more recently, the South Carolina Supreme Court solely elected by the Republican-controlled legislature struck down a bill that would have prevented abortion after six weeks. Today, in this very conservative state, most abortions are allowed up until 22 weeks. The author of the decision was one of the states first female jurists and the spouse of a Republican state legislator.

WHY THESE SEVEN WORDS OF SYMPATHY AFTER A TRAGEDY DESERVE PRAISE NOT SCORN

Most recently, South Carolinas legislature has sought bipartisan consensus on some of the most controversial issues of our time. In 2022, while other Republican-led states battled with restrictive voter and ballot access laws, South Carolina unanimously adopted an election reform bill, H. 4919, that required each county to offer two weeks of in-person early voting for at least six days a week before an election or runoff and no longer required an excuse like being out of state or having a disability to early vote. For Republicans wary of election security, it also included voter ID and installed ballot security measures.

While curriculum battles rage in a number of states, especially in Florida, just last week a bipartisan majority on the South Carolina Senate Education Committee sent a consensus education bill to the floor with broad support. The shockingly non-controversial bill essentially allows teachers to teach, and allows a statewide process for parents to object, at a local level, to content they may deem problematic.

For instance, in the South Carolina bill, there are no bans on teaching about slavery or the Holocaust or books being removed en masse from library shelves. Parents no longer have carte blanche to sue teachers or districts, but the legislation does allow a process for complaints to be heard at the local level.

The State House, Columbia, South Carolina (Epics/Getty Images)

And even current language about what should (or should not) be taught in schools is pretty basic and something on which most reasonable people can agree: homosexuality in the context of health classes at age appropriate levels is allowed, but pornographic materials are not.

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When it comes to library content, the legislation is quite simple: let local school boards decide, with an emphasis that books should be age appropriate for the kind of school, as guided by the state Department of Education a department overseen by a Republican elected statewide by voters, with a state Board of Education elected by the state legislature.

There is no question that the Palmetto State still has room to become an even better place, especially for a northern transplant like me. For instance, the state remains one of only two states without a hate crimes legislation bill even as legislation has continually passed the House but has been stuck awaiting approval in the state Senate.

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However, as states across the country become more acrimonious, they should look to ruby-red South Carolina as an example of the comity, decency and bipartisan compromise needed in our American legislative process.

When progressive Democrats and MAGA Republicans can agree unanimously, in the former cradle of the Confederacy, on issues ranging from voting rights and ballot access to school curriculum, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for other states, and our leaders in Congress, too.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM KEVIN WALLING

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Why this Democrat believes a Republican state can be a model for the country - Fox News

Pentagon leaks 2023

Chair of Senate intelligence committee addresses Pentagon leaks and says central entity should oversee classification process

Reuters in Washington

Sun 23 Apr 2023 12.45 EDT

Too many people have access to the US governments closest secrets and a central entity should oversee the classification process, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee said on Sunday, addressing leaks of documents in an online chat group.

A US air national guardsman was charged on 14 April with leaking classified documents on the Discord platform.

It is believed to be the most serious US security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.

On Sunday, Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia, told ABCs This Week that once we get to that highest level of classification, we maybe have too many folks taking a look at them, over 4 million people with clearances.

The senators powerful position gives weight to his recommendations as Joe Bidens administration examines the handling of intelligence and looks for ways to clamp down on future leaks.

The US has numerous intelligence-gathering entities and Warner said the situation needed to be dealt with.

We need somebody fully in charge of the whole classification process and I think for those classified documents there ought to be a smaller universe, he said.

As an example, Warner said the National Security Agency has suffered leaks in the past notably including the disclosures by Edward Snowden in 2013 and internal controls now limit the copying of documents.

The Pentagon has called the latest leak a deliberate, criminal act.

Warner also said that not everyone handling a document needs to see the whole document and that just seeing the header could be enough.

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Limit access to US secret documents, Democrat says in response to leaks - The Guardian US

Recently, House and Senate Republican and Independent leaders sent a letter to Senate President Rob Wagner and House Speaker Dan Rayfield asking for an equal bipartisan and bicameral Joint Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The letter includes the names of those who would serve as Republican and Independent members of the 12-person equal committee.

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Presiding Officers,

As you may know, House and Senate Republican and Independent leaders sent letters in March and April urging the Governor to launch independent, nonpartisan investigations into the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commissions (OLCC) (1) potential favorable treatment of land acquisitions; (2) alleged rare liquor distribution; (3) process of granting retail licenses. In response, the Governor has said that the DOJs investigations will suffice. We disagree.

Today, Oregon House and Senate Republican and Independent leaders are calling on you, as presiding officers, to create an equal bipartisan and bicameral Joint Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Its first order of business should be to seek answers in the alleged actions of the OLCC.

The OLCCs actions have been greatly covered in the news over the past several months, with several allegations leading the public to believe this agency is corrupt. We must resolve these issues with full transparency.

We put forth the following names to serve as Republican and Independent members of the 12-person committee:

Senator Tim Knopp, Senate District 27

Senator Dick Anderson, Senate District 5

Independent Senator Brian Boquist, Senate District 12

Representative Vikki Breese-Iverson, House District 59

Representative Greg Smith, House District 57

Representative E. Werner Reschke, House District 55

We understand that in certain instances, investigations are being conducted by the Department of Justice. This is not sufficient. We must provide the standard of oversight and accountability that our Constitution and the people of Oregon expect. We ask that you take immediate action by creating this committee today.

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Democrat Leaders urged to create a Joint Oversight and ... - Coos Bay World