The mystery of the missing congressman has finally been solved. Almost four months ago Tom Kean Jr, a Republican, vanished from public view. He missed more than 100 votes, all while continuing to collect his full taxpayer-funded salary of $174,000 along with excellent benefits. The only explanation given for his absence was a cryptic statement from his office in late April saying he was dealing with a “personal health matter”. Kean’s father, former New Jersey governor Tom Kean Sr, further told CNN in May that his son was battling a temporary illness and would be back to work soon.
This week, Kean finally resurfaced and explained that he’d been absent due to inpatient treatment for depression. Why hadn’t he said anything about this earlier? Kean said he was “private person by nature”. Which is great, but maybe don’t choose a job in public service in that case.
Depression can be debilitating, and empathy should obviously be extended to anyone suffering from it. However, as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview: “There’s a valid discussion here about when it comes to the volume of an absence, what is our responsibility to our constituents in communicating around that?”
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There’s also a valid discussion here about how Kean is a massive hypocrite who has devoted his life to ensuring normal Americans are not afforded the same sort of time and resources to deal with a personal crisis that he has just enjoyed. Not everyone gets to take four months of paid leave when they need it: the US is the only OECD country without a national paid leave policy. Some employers will offer paid time off for mental health reasons, and various states offer paid leave benefits, but a majority of Americans have to figure it out on their own. According to a 2024 Department of Labor fact sheet, “among the lowest wage workers, who are predominately women and workers of color, 95% have no access to paid family leave and 90% lack access to short-term disability leave.”
Why is the US like this? Because of lawmakers like Kean. Mother Jones notes that the nepo baby “voted against New Jersey’s historic Earned Sick Leave Act, which mandates 5 paid sick leave days per year for New Jersey workers. He also voted against New Jersey’s No Surprise Medical Bills act and two of its paid family leave laws, in 2008 and 2018.” Kean also supported Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, which makes devastating cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, and will make life a lot harder for people with disabilities. Kean, in short, voted to ensure the most vulnerable people in the US suffer, all so the rich can get more tax cuts.
Kean, to be fair, is far from the only politician to be a raging hypocrite. It’s basically a job requirement, particularly for Republicans. There are a number of Republican men who make a big song and dance about how evil abortion is, but quickly change their tune when their mistress needs one. In 2017, for example, Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania resigned from Congress after claims he pressured a woman he was having an extramarital affair with to have an abortion. The following year, Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for Donald Trump, resigned from the Republican National Committee after it was revealed that he paid $1.6m to a Playboy Playmate he had had an affair with. Broidy got the woman pregnant and she decided to have an abortion. Herschel Walker, a former football star who unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for a US Senate seat in Georgia in 2022, has also been accused of paying for an abortion. Walker denied the claim but also said he didn’t know the woman. It later transpired she was the mother of one of his children. Walker, by the way, is now United States ambassador to the Bahamas.
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I could go on and on about Republican hypocrisy, but there’s not really much value in pointing it out, is there? You know they’re craven hypocrites, I know they’re craven hypocrites, but their voting base doesn’t care. Indeed, far from being ashamed of their inconsistencies and lies and corruption, Republicans revel in it. They seem to take great pleasure in the fact that there is one set of rules for them and another set of rules for the hoi polloi. Trump has even said he believes the constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president”. Many of his minions seem to believe they also have the right to do whatever they like.
Which is why I don’t feel much hope that Kean might have had some road-to-Damascus moment from his treatment for depression, and become a more empathetic human. Indeed, instead of hard work to make up for lost time, his calendar is full of self-serving fundraisers for his re-election. I’m glad he is feeling better, but his disregard for his constituents is a prime example of just how sick American democracy is.
After implementing a Muslim ban, Stephen Miller is now mulling a ‘pregnancy ban’
Maga is melting down after the US supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, which Trump has been trying to dismantle as part of his broader anti-immigration agenda. Stephen Miller, the man behind Trump’s Muslim ban and family separation policy, is now fantasizing about potentially banning pregnant foreigners. “Mr Miller, are we banning pregnant women from America?” the Fox News host Jesse Watters joked. “Well, what I’m saying, Jesse, is that you have to now think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis, because the possibility [for] birth tourism,” Miller replied.
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The most dangerous part of being a woman in the US army? Your male colleagues
Women in the US army are more likely to be killed by fellow servicemen than enemy combatants, according to an analysis by the Intercept. This found: “Between 2011 and August 2025, at least 41 women died by homicide in the Army – more than half of them at the hands of other service members or veterans.” The analysis further noted “that active-duty Army women face a higher risk of homicide than male soldiers, the opposite of national and global trends”.
England and Wales increase minimum sentence for domestic murder
Offenders who kill their current or ex-partner face will now have a minimum sentence of 25 years, which is an extra 10 years from previous sentencing minimums. The increase comes after a seven-year campaign by mothers of victims for a change in the law.
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Australian man charged with murder of 17-year-old Thai girl found in suitcase
Thai police are now investigating to see whether he has been linked to two unsolved cases in the region.
British man arrested in Ecuador after woman’s body found in suitcase in Colombia
Matthew Ashley Foster-Smith is alleged to have beaten 36-year-old Natalia Villalba to death before hiding her body in the suitcase. Haven’t heard anything from the far-right about this. Normally they love talking about how violent immigrants are a threat to local women.
ICE releases Texas nun detained walking to church dressed in her habit
Exactly why 56-year-old Sister Leticia Ugboaja was detained while walking peacefully to Church is unclear. But I’m not sure ICE would have been quite as interested in her if she happened to be white.
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseats incumbent in Colorado’s primary elections
Kiros was fired from her New York law firm after writing a blogpost saying: “There is no justification for the attacks on Israel on October 7th, just as there is no justification for the disproportionate and collective punishment being waged on the Palestinian people by the Israeli government in retaliation,” and pointing out entrenched anti-Palestinian biases in the media. Now Kiros, who has joined with numerous human rights organizations and experts in calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, is almost certainly heading to Congress.
The week in pawtriarchy
Giraffes tend to be at a bit of a physical disadvantage when it comes to playing hide and seek. However, after running away from a private game ranch in rural Texas, a giraffe called Gracie managed to vanish for nearly two weeks. She’s finally been found and is apparently “fat and happy”. Also fat and happy is a 1000kg elephant seal called Neil, who is currently wreaking havoc in Tasmania. Neil the seal has been getting into fights with traffic cones and blocking traffic. He’s got a very cheeky grin though, so it’s hard to be mad at him. Indeed he’s now a local sealebrity.
