Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

A Democratic lawmaker is seeking to deal with a problem his GOP colleagues have had in recent months: disappearing from Capitol Hill without any information on when they’ll return. Rep. Ritchie Torres, Democrat of New York, announced on Tuesday that he will introduce the Duty of Transparency Act, which would, “require Members of Congress to give constituents timely notice of an extended absence from voting.” His bill comes after two Republican lawmakers—Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—vanished from Capitol Hill without providing information on what was preventing their returns. McConnell’s office had disclosed that he was in the hospital—but not why he was there nor how long he was expected to be away from his congressional duties. And Kean provided even less information regarding his departure. His office admitted that he was on an extended (paid) leave only after reporters noticed he had missed more than two months of votes. 

Kean’s absence lasted nearly four months. Only on his June 30 return did he reveal that he had been hospitalized for depression. According to Torres’ office, his bill would require members who are going out on an extended absence “to file a public notice stating that they will be out, roughly how long they expect to be away, and whether they are still able to perform their official duties.” “The requirement would apply to prolonged absences, not to routine or short-term leave. The notice would be made publicly available so that constituents are not left guessing about their representative’s status, and it would apply equally to all Members, regardless of party or chamber,” his statement continued. The bill may have bipartisan support. Even Republicans have criticized McConnell and Kean for their lack of transparency about their absences.

I absolutely love Ritchie Torres

ritchietorresny15

Mehdi Hasan via Zeteo has rated me as “one of the villains of the year.” The reason? I’m an outspoken Zionist, and Zionism is a thought crime in the fringes of American politics. If Mehdi Hasan considers me a villain, I wear it as a badge of honor. Judge me not by my friends but by my enemies. Zeteo posted the following image, which I will happily repost with a sense of pride.

Ritchie Torres on the Adam Friedland Show difficult to watch in both halves. The first half, I just felt sad for Torres for the first time ever-- Friedland tried to tease out that there's a person there with a genuinely interesting human story about his coming out, tough background, etc., but struggled against Torres's relative lack of charisma. Still, I felt sad knowing Torres became this creature, when he could've possibly been a person.

And then the second half-- not even just the Israel talk but as soon as Friedland asks why Torres doesn't refuse money from Blackstone, Torres goes into robotic Democrat Machine mode. And that becomes just ... really, really hard to watch when Friedland becomes genuinely emotional talking about the genocide and rising antisemitism, and Torres is all AIPAC talking points, no humanity, just a total refusal (or more likely, inability) to connect. There's no point talking to the Democrats, we know that from 2024, if you try they just show you crude cartoons of Trolleys and then repeat the One Opinion that is allowed on bluesky. But Torres shuts down and goes propaganda mode on an Adam Friedland Show interview (which is a ludicrous decision) and gets angry when Friedland points out that he's shut down.