Category Archives: government

Santa Clarita Congressman George Whitesides Responds To Nancy Pelosi’s Retirement Plans

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**Nancy Pelosi Announces Retirement: Will Not Seek Re-election in 2026**

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House, announced on Thursday that she will not be seeking re-election in 2026. At 85 years old, Pelosi plans to serve out the remainder of her current term, which ends on January 3, 2027, after which she intends to retire.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative,” Pelosi said in a nearly six-minute video posted on X early Thursday morning, addressing her constituents.

Pelosi was first elected to Congress to represent San Francisco in 1987 at age 47. She made history as the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House, a position that placed her third in line after the President and Vice President. She led her party in the lower chamber of Congress from 2003 until 2023.

“Speaker Pelosi made history as the first female Speaker of the House and brought billions in federal funding home to California,” said Congressman George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce. “She was instrumental in lowering health care costs for millions of Californians through the Affordable Care Act. I look forward to serving alongside her for the remainder of this term.”

Throughout her decades-long career, Pelosi became well-known for her advocacy on several key issues. She championed efforts to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, fought against climate change, and funded programs supporting early child development, including universal pre-kindergarten initiatives.

“Nancy Pelosi was not content to be just a master legislator in Congress,” said U.S. Senator Adam Schiff. “She was a global leader. Her voice carried far beyond the walls of Congress as she championed human rights, democracy, women’s equality, and a healthier planet in her travels around the world. She represented the United States on the world stage—trailblazing while balancing the demands of an unruly Congress. Like Ginger Rogers, she did it backwards and in heels.”

When asked about Pelosi’s upcoming retirement, former President Donald Trump commented Thursday that the senator was “an evil woman.” He added, “I’m glad she’s retiring. I think she did the country a great service by retiring. I think she was a tremendous liability for the country.”

The race for Pelosi’s seat is expected to be highly competitive. State Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have already announced their candidacies.

The filing period for California’s congressional primary begins on February 9, 2026, and closes on March 6.

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https://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-news/politics/santa-clarita-congressman-george-whitesides-responds-to-nancy-pelosis-retirement-plans-570513

Election Results – Numbers and Narrative – Liberty Nation News

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Democrats Celebrate Strong Election Results in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City

The results are in from yesterday’s elections, and while the final ballots are still being tallied, it was a great day for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. In what was essentially a clean sweep, Democratic Party contenders overperformed in just about every race.

What comes next is the narrative building around how these victories can be used as indicators for the 2026 midterms. Although the burgeoning story suggests that November 4 was a repudiation of the Donald Trump presidency, it’s worth remembering that all these contests took place in reliably blue locations. But what does the data tell us?

Virginia Election Turnaround

Democratic Party candidate Abigail Spanberger secured a decisive victory with 57% of the vote, compared to 42% for GOP Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. While this race was never expected to be close—especially with large numbers of Virginians furloughed due to the shutdown—Spanberger exceeded her polling numbers significantly.

Liberty Nation News’ Public Square polling aggregator had her leading by 8.4%, yet her election day winning margin of 15% surpassed expectations. In fact, only one poll came close, a mid-October YouGov survey that predicted a similar result.

Two factors likely harmed Earle-Sears’ chances beyond demographic challenges in the DC-adjacent region. First, her contentious relationship with President Trump—who notably did not endorse her—damaged her standing. After the 2022 midterms, Earle-Sears blamed Trump almost entirely for the GOP’s losses, despite him not being in office at the time.

Second, running on the same ballot, Attorney General Jason Miyares politically undercut her on polling day by urging voters to split their tickets to ensure his own election. While this last-minute endorsement shift may not have drastically affected in-person voting, it likely didn’t help her cause.

Virginia Attorney General Race

This contest was the only one where surprises were expected. Democrat Jay Jones trailed for weeks before a scandal involving released text messages—where he wished death upon the small children of a political rival—caused polling to shift.

By election day, an average of polls suggested just a 0.3% advantage for Jones. Despite the controversy, Virginians appeared unbothered by the scandal, as Jones comfortably won 53% to 46%.

Notably, neither Abigail Spanberger nor other elected Democrats distanced themselves from Jones, continuing their support despite his scandal. This underscores that, for some, tribal voting and party loyalty take precedence over principle and morality.

New Jersey Election: GOP Falls Short Again

Democrat Mikie Sherrill trounced Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli by 13 points, winning 56% of the vote to Ciattarelli’s 43%. Despite recent political headwinds suggesting a potential close race, the margin of victory was wider than expected.

No poll predicted such a decisive win; polling averages pointed to just a 5.2% difference. This was Ciattarelli’s second attempt, following a narrow loss to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in 2021 by three points, and likely his last.

As Liberty Nation News’ Senior Political Analyst Tim Donner noted, “He has run an effective campaign in a state that, while heavily blue, has elected GOP governors four times in the last 30 years, with Chris Christie and Christine Todd Whitman each serving two terms.”

New York City Mayoral Race: Record Turnout Amidst Divided Votes

With more than two million votes cast, the New York City mayoral election saw the highest turnout since John Lindsay’s blowout victory in 1969. Democrat Zohran Mamdani won just over 50% of the vote, defeating independent former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who secured 41%, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who captured 7%.

To put it in perspective, Cuomo’s vote total of over 850,000 would have been enough to win any similar contest since Rudy Giuliani in 1993. This suggests that despite Mamdani’s substantial polling lead, a significant minority of voters were determined to block the socialist candidate from entering Gracie Mansion.

An aggregate of surveys gave Mamdani a 16.2% advantage; however, he was the only major candidate in yesterday’s elections who underperformed relative to polls.

The Trump Narrative

Victory laps abound as the dust settles, with many touting these election results as a damning indictment of Donald Trump. While the outcomes are unfavorable for the former president, they are not surprising.

New Jersey is a solidly blue state that has not voted for a Republican president since George H.W. Bush. Trump lost here in 2024 by almost six points. Virginia mirrors this pattern, with Trump again falling short by roughly six points, and its last GOP presidential choice being Bush the younger. New York City was an almost 70% vote blowout for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ultimately, Trump remains the party’s figurehead, and the election reflects on his leadership as captain of the ship. Democratic supporters are celebrating not only these wins but also the margins by which their candidates exceeded polling expectations.

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These election results underscore the challenges the Republican Party faces in reliably blue regions and offer early insights into voter sentiment ahead of the 2026 midterms. As the political landscape continues to evolve, the significance of party loyalty and the impact of candidate controversies remain key factors shaping electoral outcomes.
https://www.libertynation.com/election-results-numbers-and-narrative/

Trump Vows to Withhold ‘SNAP BENEFITS’ Until Government Is Reopened

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This thread has been removed.

**Date:** November 4, 2025
**Time:** 10:20:04 AM PST
**Removed by:** Admin Moderator
**Reason:** Copyright infringement
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4350638/posts

Evergy Selects Kigen To Strengthen Grid Resilience Across Private and Public Networks

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**Evergy Selects Kigen’s Secure eSIM OS and eIM to Maximize Grid Reliability with Automated Failover Across Private and Public Networks**

Evergy, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the Midwest United States serving 1.7 million customers across Kansas and Missouri, has selected Kigen, the global leader in eSIM and iSIM technology, to strengthen grid resiliency.

By adopting Kigen’s secure eSIM OS and eIM solution, Evergy is unifying private LTE and public networks into an automated connectivity layer. This creates a foundation for more reliable operations in the face of severe weather, growing energy demand, and the complexity of distributed energy resources (DERs).

Reliability is central to Evergy’s strategy, alongside affordability and sustainability. As utilities integrate distributed energy resources, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), and dynamic billing, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity becomes critical.

Severe thunderstorms, storm-related outages, and routine network upgrades can all disrupt real-time telemetry that forms the “heartbeat” of a modern grid. Without automation, managing tens of thousands of IoT devices at scale would create unacceptable risks to both service continuity and cost efficiency.

Evergy’s LTE network already spans 100 sites, supporting thousands of IoT sensors, AMI, and operational technology devices. With an expansion expected to reach tens of thousands of devices, failover between private and public networks must be seamless. Manual approaches cannot keep pace at this scale.

“As we modernize our grids, uninterrupted device data means visibility and preparation against outages from both the fast-changing energy transition and unpredictable severe weather. Taking control of our infrastructure requires network availability, and automation is the foundation on which dynamic billing and AI can build. Kigen eSIMs and the eIM, configured to Evergy’s needs, enable us to set a new benchmark in grid resiliency—what has long been the holy grail of resilient, intelligent grids,” said Bill Franzen, Evergy lead radio engineer.

Kigen’s secure eSIM OS and SGP.32-compliant eIM solution give Evergy the flexibility to manage connectivity dynamically through eSIMs provisioned with multiple operator profiles. Kigen eSIM OS for IoT and consumer devices includes configurable features such as its network rescue and recovery applet, which enables dynamic, automated failover between private LTE and preferred public networks based on business rules.

These operations are centrally managed through Kigen Pulse, allowing control at fleet scale—by geography, asset type, or site—ensuring continuity of operations, reducing lifecycle costs, and supporting broader goals of capital efficiency, safety, and sustainability.

Cybersecurity is paramount in critical infrastructure. Evergy’s deployment relies on the Kigen eIM hosted at its Dublin site, which is fully certified under the GSMA Security Accreditation Scheme for Subscription Management (SAS-SM). This site operates the Kigen eIM solution to the latest GSMA SGP.32 IoT eSIM specification, providing both assurance of compliance and the trusted foundation required for secure, grid-ready operations.

“Building in dynamic automation for scaled failover and recovery, we enable Evergy’s vision to design for improved reliability, resilience, and operational intelligence. As utilities navigate the energy transition, uninterrupted connectivity is the foundation for AI, dynamic billing, and DER integration. With Kigen’s configurable eSIM OS and SGP.32-compliant eIM, utilities can take control of their connectivity and create the intelligent grids the future demands,” said Vincent Korstanje, CEO at Kigen.
https://iotbusinessnews.com/2025/11/03/evergy-selects-kigen-to-strengthen-grid-resilience-across-private-and-public-networks/

Native News Weekly (November 2, 2025): D.C. Briefs

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**Details By Native News Online Staff**
**November 02, 2025**

**WASHINGTON** — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other recent news from Washington, D.C., impacting Indian Country.

Today marks the 33rd day of the federal government partial shutdown. This shutdown is likely to become the longest in U.S. history, potentially surpassing the previous record of 35 days, which occurred during the first Trump administration.

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### Mother Kuskokwim Statement Condemning Donlin Gold Project’s FAST-41 Designation

The Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition strongly condemns the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s decision to add the Donlin Gold project to the FAST-41 list. This decision overlooks widespread opposition from Alaska Natives in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

The tribal coalition emphasizes that this action is especially inappropriate as regional Tribes await federal agencies’ responses to court-identified permitting flaws and continue to recover from the devastation caused by Typhoon Halong.

Fast-tracking the permitting process threatens vital environmental protections and silences Yukon-Kuskokwim communities that depend on healthy rivers for their survival. The Donlin Gold project endangers the Kuskokwim River and the communities sustained by it for millennia.

Concerns include an increase in residents’ utility bills by up to $265 a year, the production of massive cyanide-laden tailings, and the construction of a 316-mile gas pipeline through untouched lands—further jeopardizing already struggling salmon runs and subsistence resources.

Originally, FAST-41 was intended to streamline transportation infrastructure projects—not to fast-track controversial projects that fail environmental review.

While project sponsors claim to value community input, their rush to accelerate permitting despite unresolved issues demonstrates otherwise.

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### Medicare Enrollment is Open

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15, 2025, through December 7, 2025. During this period, beneficiaries can review and update their Medicare coverage for 2026, including switching plans or updating prescription drug benefits.

—

### Additional Updates

– **Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:** [Details forthcoming]
– **D.C. Briefs:** Recent news and developments impacting Indian Country.
– **US Presidents in Their Own Words Concerning American Indians:** Oral History Project announces its 14th stop in Portland, Oregon. The National Anthropological Botanical Society (NABS) continues gathering vital stories across Indian Country.
– **Time to Fall Back:** Remember to turn clocks back for the Sunday time change.

Stay tuned for further updates.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/native-news-weekly-november-2-2025-d-c-briefs

Malaysia’s central bank sets three-year roadmap to pilot asset tokenization

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Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, has unveiled a three-year roadmap to explore and test asset tokenization across the financial sector. The initiative aims to drive innovation and modernization through blockchain-based digital assets, enhancing efficiency and accessibility in financial services.

As part of the roadmap, BNM will launch proof-of-concept (POC) projects and live pilots via its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH), established earlier this year. The central bank announced this development on Friday, emphasizing its commitment to advancing digital asset technologies.

A key component of the roadmap is the creation of an Asset Tokenization Industry Working Group (IWG). This group will coordinate industry-wide exploration, facilitate knowledge sharing, and identify regulatory and legal challenges surrounding asset tokenization. Co-led by BNM and the Securities Commission (SC), the IWG will initially focus on foundational use cases that demonstrate clear economic value.

### Focus on Real-World Asset Tokenization

BNM clarified that the tokenization efforts will concentrate on real-world assets rather than cryptocurrencies. Highlighted use cases include:

– **Supply chain financing** to expand credit access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
– **Tokenized liquidity management** for faster settlement processes
– **Islamic finance applications** to automate Shariah-compliant transactions

Additional areas of interest encompass programmable payments, green finance initiatives, and 24/7 cross-border trade settlements.

### Exploring MYR-Denominated Tokenized Deposits and Stablecoins

The central bank also plans to study the role of Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)-denominated tokenized deposits and stablecoins. This exploration aims to preserve the “singleness of money” while enabling more efficient digital settlement mechanisms. Furthermore, the integration of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be examined as part of the broader digital asset strategy.

### Regional Collaboration and Industry Feedback

Malaysia seeks to align with other leading Asian regulators such as Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) by piloting asset tokenization projects to modernize financial infrastructure across the region.

Industry stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the discussion paper until March 1, 2026, enabling collaborative development of the regulatory and operational framework.

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### Malaysia’s Regulator Proposes Faster Crypto Listings

In a related development, Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) proposed a new framework in July aimed at accelerating cryptocurrency listings on approved exchanges. Under the proposal, exchanges would be permitted to list certain digital assets without requiring prior approval from the regulator.

However, listed assets must meet specific conditions, including undergoing public security audits and having been traded for at least one year on platforms compliant with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. This move seeks to balance market innovation with investor protection and regulatory oversight.

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**Related:**
– Malaysia launches Digital Asset Hub to test stablecoin and programmable money
– Tokenized money market funds emerge as Wall Street’s answer to stablecoins

Bank Negara Malaysia’s roadmap signals a significant step toward embracing digital innovation in the financial sector, positioning Malaysia as a key player in the evolving landscape of tokenized assets.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/malaysia-central-bank-roadmap-pilot-asset-tokenization?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Louisiana set aside funds to bridge the SNAP gap — but not everyone will get some

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On the eve of federal SNAP benefits being deposited into recipients’ accounts, Louisiana is taking additional steps to support its residents.

The state is stepping in to fill the gap for the 1 in 5 Louisiana residents who rely on the program. However, this extra assistance will only be available to certain individuals within that group.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/31/nx-s1-5592911/louisiana-set-aside-funds-to-bridge-the-snap-gap-but-not-everyone-will-get-some

Distressed by Maine health insurance rate hike | Letter

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I have lived over half of my life in Maine, and I consider myself lucky. I have always been employed and had health insurance through my employers. Because of this, I have never had to worry about paying for the health care my family needs. We have never experienced food insecurity or had to choose which bills to pay to make our budget work.

Unfortunately, we are the exception—and it’s about to get worse.

Recently, the Maine Bureau of Insurance approved a 23.9% rate increase for 71,000 Maine residents who get their coverage through the ACA marketplace. Additionally, there is a 17.5% increase for residents covered by small employers with fewer than 50 employees. These rate hikes are driven by multiple factors, including the rising cost of drugs and medical services, as well as the potential loss of premium tax credits at the end of the year.

I can’t turn away from the fact that many families may now have to choose whether to keep their insurance or not. They may have to decide if they can make do with less coverage—or none at all—and hope they don’t experience significant health issues.

This situation makes me wonder: will mothers still get the prenatal care they need? Will children see their primary care providers regularly to avoid long-term health problems?

And those are just my concerns for the coming year. What happens if we experience more rate increases and uninsured patients begin using the emergency room as their primary care?

Who pays for that, and how?

Can we really afford to let this happen in Maine—and across the country?
https://www.centralmaine.com/2025/10/31/distressed-by-maine-health-insurance-rate-hike-letter/

Joshua Dunlap deserves confirmation to US Court of Appeals | Letter

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In nominating Maine native Joshua Dunlap for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Senator Susan Collins has made an outstanding choice.

As Josh’s former law partner, I know first-hand of his superb qualifications: his intelligence, thoughtfulness, humility, and love of the law and the Constitution are exceptional. He will work vigorously for the impartial dispensation of equal justice under the rule of law.

In better times, Josh would receive near-unanimous confirmation. However, in today’s hyper-partisan climate, judicial appointments are sadly exploited for more political skirmishing.

Thankfully, we don’t do it that way in Maine. As former Governor Angus King knows first-hand, qualified judicial nominees routinely receive bipartisan support, and Maine’s judiciary is the envy of many states where partisanship infects judicial selections.

Senator King should join Senator Collins in supporting Josh’s nomination. Washington sorely needs another lesson in why Maine is “the way life should be.”
https://www.sunjournal.com/2025/10/31/joshua-dunlap-deserves-confirmation-to-us-court-of-appeals-letter/

UNH Poll: Majority of Vermonters support a Gov. Phil Scott reelection campaign

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The latest University of New Hampshire Green Mountain State Poll results, released on Friday, indicate that the majority of Vermonters approve of Governor Phil Scott’s performance in office and want him to run for reelection next year.

The October poll outlined political positioning leading up to next year’s statewide elections, according to Professor Andrew Smith, an author of the poll and director of UNH’s Survey Center. It draws on 880 survey responses collected last week, which are weighted according to demographic information from U.S. Census data and recent election results, Smith said.

The governor has remained relatively popular with Democrats and “mitigated some of the anger” from those farther to his right since the presidential election, Smith noted. “He’s in a pretty good spot for reelection.”

Over 60% of Vermonters approved of Scott’s work as governor, with 57% to some extent in favor of him running for reelection. Slightly less than half believed he actually deserved to be reelected, the survey said.

Scott’s consistently high standing in polling is particularly noteworthy given the state’s strong blue leanings in other areas of politics, Smith added.

The survey found that 80% of Democrats and over half of all Vermonters describe Scott as far or slightly to the right of their own views. Yet, in a question that allowed poll-takers to say they wanted multiple potential candidates to run, Scott registered only slightly lower support—47% among Democrats—compared to the 50% garnered by liberal State Treasurer and rumored gubernatorial hopeful Mike Pieciak. An even lower 38% of Democrats said they wanted State Attorney General Charity Clark, another possible challenger for governor, to run.

However, Scott’s potential Democratic opponents also registered high rates of “don’t know/no opinion” responses to this query. “The major reason for Vermonters’ ambivalence about Pieciak and Clark is they are largely unknown,” the survey authors observed.

For more than 70% of Republicans, Scott sat far or slightly to their left. Just 20% of all Vermonters thought that Scott’s politics are “close to (their) own views,” the survey estimated.

U.S. Representative Becca Balint (D-Vt.) continued to demonstrate strong appeal among the state’s Democrats, with just over half the state saying she deserves reelection, according to the survey. Mark Coester, a Republican who ran against Balint in 2024, has filed to challenge her again next year. Just 6% of Vermonters had a favorable opinion of Coester, and more than three-quarters didn’t know enough about him to say, the survey found.

The survey also included several questions about current state policy decisions, “taking a look at what issues are in the news, what people are paying attention to,” Smith said.

One such question focused on the Scott administration’s much-discussed return-to-office plan for state employees, which has drawn pushback from the Vermont State Employees Association, among others. Overall, 51% of Vermonters supported the policy to some extent, with 13% remaining neutral.

However, public opinion on the governor’s policy ran heavily along party lines: 80% of Republicans and 64% of Independents strongly or somewhat supported the measure, compared with just a third of Democrats.

The governor’s refusal to send Vermont National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. at the request of President Donald Trump was met with relative popularity across the state, Friday’s poll said. The move was opposed to some degree by 70% of Republicans, but affirmed by 98% of Democrats. Combining all responses, 72% of Vermonters approved of the decision.

Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.org. This story was republished with permission from VTDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.
https://vnews.com/2025/10/29/vermonters-approve-scott-reelection/