On Tuesday, voters in Ohio's 12th congressional district will send either Republican Troy Balderson or Democrat Danny O’Connor to Congress in a special election, while Kansas, Michigan, Washington, and Missouri hold primaries. Ohio's 12th district has been in Republican hands for decades, most recently Rep. Pat Tiberi (R), but polls show a tight race. Tuesday's winner will have to run again for a full term in November. In Missouri, Republicans are expected to choose Attorney General Josh Hawley to challenge vulnerable Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and voters will determine if Missouri becomes an anti-union "right to work" state. President Trump endorsed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach Monday in his GOP primary challenge against acting Gov. Jeff Colyer (R), and three Democrats are running to challenge the victor of that primary. Democrats are selecting nominees they hope will flip two House seats in Kansas, at least two in Michigan, and one in Washington. Democratic Reps. William Lacy Clay (Mo.) and Adam Smith (Wash.) face primary challenges from their left. Michigan will also choose its nominees to replace term-limited Gov. Rick Snyder (R) — four Democrats and three Republicans are running — and Republicans will select their nominee to go up against Sen. Debbie Strabenow (D); Trump has endorsed businessman John James over businessman Sandy Pensler. Democrats will choose the likely replacement for Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D) in the state's solidly blue 13th congressional district; Conyers resigned last year amid sexual harassment allegations. Peter Weber

Disney's new film "Christopher Robin" isn't getting a China release because Winnie the Pooh has become a symbol of resistance against the ruling political party and its removal of term limits, and memes of the fictional bear have been used to criticize the country's leader.

The "insensitive" erasure of Pluto has caused a new rift in the scientific community. This week's issue of the Planetary Exploration Newsletter contained a strongly-worded open letter from a group of scientists defending Pluto's honor, reports LiveScience. The signatories argue that their colleagues should respect the former planet despite its fall from astronomical grace. Not everyone was on board when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to "dwarf planet" status in 2006, so it's just pouring sodium chloride in the wound when scientists use terminology that make the demotion sound like incontrovertible fact, the scientists said. The latest offending phrase is "Planet 9," which some researchers use to refer to the outer limits of the solar system, which remains mysterious and unexplored. "We the undersigned believe the use of the term 'Planet 9' for objects beyond Pluto is insensitive to Professor Tombaugh's legacy," wrote the nearly three dozen scientists, referring to astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto's existence in 1930. "We further believe the use of this term should be discontinued in favor of culturally and taxonomically neutral terms for such planets, such as Planet X, Planet Next, or Giant Planet Five." The dwarf planet's defenders noted that the reclassification was — and remains — controversial, and they illuminated one very important point: that Pluto may be gone from our science textbooks, but it is never gone from our hearts. Summer Meza

Togo illustrates the difficulty of moving away from personalised politics.

Americans will be able to purchase short term health insurance plans that provide limited coverage at relatively low cost for up to three years.

Curing the symptom rather than the disease.

A new law reverses recent reforms and highlights the government’s split personality

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday he would not seek a second term under a new constitution, countering suspicions he might seek to overturn the single-term limit which will not allow him to stay in office beyond 2022. A 22-member panel that is reviewing the 1987 constitution is expected to submit its draft to Duterte on Monday. Congress will begin debating the proposed constitution this month, aiming to put it to the public in …

State Sen. Patrick Colbeck faces three challengers, but says that he'll pull off a major upset in August's GOP primary election for Michigan governor. What did he say? In a Tuesday interview with WZZM-TV, Colbeck said that he is set up to win the Aug. 7 Republican gubernatorial primary.  The Michigan gubernatorial election is set for Nov. 6. Two-term incumbent Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is term-limited. The Detroit Free Press has billed Colbeck as the most conservative candidate running for governor. "It's paying dividends and I think we're going to win this," Colbeck said. "I am not blowing smoke. I see it on the ground." According to WZZM, the latest statewide polling done by Michigan Information & Research Service shows Colbeck having less than 10 percent support. Colbeck admits that some state residents just don't know who he is — but that doesn't deter him. "It's about one-on-one relationships winning hearts and minds, and that's the way we are …

Mexico votes Sunday in a historic election that could potentially reshape the country. President Enrique Peña Nieto is limited to one six-year term, and cannot run for re-election.

Mexico goes to the polls Sunday to vote for a new president — the office is limited to a single, six-year term, so President Enrique Peña Nieto cannot run again — plus some 18,000 lower offices, including all congressional seats. Advance polling suggests left-wing populist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known by his initials, AMLO) holds a strong lead for the presidency. More broadly, the election is focused on issues of corruption, drug-related violence, and President Trump's immigration policies, with candidates from across the political spectrum slamming Trump's approach. Mexico "will never be the piñata of any foreign government," López Obrador said on the campaign trail. "A door opens for opportunity with Andrés Manuel," Marcos Fastlicht, who has known AMLO for two decades, told Politico. "He's willing to speak with [Trump], willing to sit and negotiate, but part of this requires we wait and see." Bonnie Kristian

A university in southern China recently began offering a course that teaches women to become "wise," "sunny," and "perfect" in the name of President Xi Jinping's "New Era," The Washington Post reported. Zhen­jiang College and the All-China Women’s Federation launched the females-only etiquette course in March, shortly after China abolished presidential term limits. The course lessons include teaching women how to dress, pour tea, and sit properly. "You must sit on the front two-thirds of the chair — you cannot occupy the whole chair," Duan Fengyan, 21, explained to the newspaper while demonstrating. "Now, hold in your belly, relax your shoulders, legs together, shoulders up." Xi became the leader of the nation's Communist party in 2012. Is there a movement to traditional culture? The nation's economic growth has slowed, and its population is shrinking, which may be among the reasons for reestablishing a culture where men are the breadwinners and women are wives and …

The Florida Senate race is looking to be a close one in November. A new poll showed sitting Sen. Bill Nelson (D) leading Gov. Rick Scott (R) by just 2 points, which is within the margin of error. What are the details? Because of laws governing term limits, Scott can no longer run for governor. So he decided to run for U.S. Senate instead, challenging incumbent Nelson. This latest poll by Public Policy Polling showed Nelson leading Scott 48 percent to 46 percent. The remaining 7 percent said that they were undecided (poll numbers add up to more than 100 percent due to rounding). The margin of error for this poll was +/- 4 percentage points. But this poll is not all bad news for Scott. In April, a poll conducted by the same company showed Nelson leading 50 percent to 44 percent. Another poll shows Scott with a slight lead. A poll released in …

With Florida Gov. Rick Scott leaving office due to term limits, a crowded field of Republicans and Democrats have jumped into the race to replace him.

After a week of political chaos, endless dispatches of depressing news from the border, and widespread evidence of years of government incompetence, I have a proposal certain to unite citizens of a…

Shares of the Dutch company Aegon N.V. (ADR) (NYSE: AEG) have outperformed American and European peers since the start of 2018, but Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Tennessee House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh expressed support Thursday for eliminating criminal punishment for possessing small amounts of marijuana statewide if elected governor. The Democrats, along with Republicans Beth Harwell and Randy Boyd, attended a forum sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. The candidates seeking to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Haslam answered questions on Confederate statues, the Memphis industrial megasite, immigration and legal topics such as cash bail reform. The issues could play roles in voters' decisions during the August primaries and the November general election.

After their Nevada primary victories Tuesday, the state's Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt will battle Democratic Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak for the governor's seat in November, The Hill reported. Outgoing GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval is limited to two terms at the helm of the Silver State. The 39-year-old Laxalt positioned himself as an "archconservative," The Hill noted, when he won statewide office four years ago. And he blew away the competition in the Republican gubernatorial primary, winning every county in the state and handily beating treasurer Dan Schwartz with 71 percent of the vote to Schwartz’s 9 percent, the Nevada Independent reported. Not that he needed it, but Laxalt also got an endorsement from President Donald Trump — via tweet — on Tuesday: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1006619872367804416 What about the Democrats? The primary race on the Democratic side was closer, with Sisolak, 64, leading fellow Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani by a 51 to 38 percent margin …

========= ========= Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement. ========= ========= Yesterday, Mitch McConnell became the latest example of the need for term limits when he became the longest-serving, anti-conservative leader in US Senate history, at eleven years, five months, and ten days. Mickey’s pro-establishment mentality during his tenure has successfully protected incumbency against “unelectable”—his word, not mine—conservative opponents who threaten | Read More »

Republican state Attorney General Adam Laxalt will face Democrat Steve Sisolak in November's election to replace Nevada term-limited Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The Michigan gubernatorial election is set for Nov. 6. Two-term incumbent Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is term-limited. Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties will choose their nominees in an Aug. 7 primary. Other parties will choose respective nominees at state party conventions. Who are the GOP candidates? ● Dr. Jim Hines, president of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations ● Lt. Gov. Brian Calley ● Attorney General Bill Schuette ● State Sen. Patrick Colbeck A May poll from Public Opinion Strategies has Schuette currently favored to win the party nomination at 42 percent. Trailing Schuette are Calley at 19 percent, Colbeck at 6 percent, and Hines at 1 percent. The Detroit Free Press bills Colbeck as the most conservative candidate of the four. Schuette is the Trump-endorsed candidate and the party's favored candidate. Calley, however, has been vocal in his support of the president, though he initially supported John Kasich in the 2016 presidential race. Hines has said that he has supported Trump …

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s opponent, Paul Vallas, tells Sneed he not only gives the term-limits petition drive a thumbs-up, but he is going to help!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants his deputy, Sen. John Cornyn, to stay in the Republican leadership ranks once terms limits force the Texan to give up the number two job at the end of the year.

Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) is in good position to become South Dakota's first female governor after winning Tuesday's Republican primary against state Attorney General Marty Jackley. Noem is favored against Democrat Billie Sutton, a state senator and former rodeo cowboy. In New Mexico, former state Democratic Party head Debra Haaland beat two challengers for a shot to become America's first Native America congresswoman, and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham won the Democratic nomination for New Mexico governor. If Lujan Grisham beats Rep. Steve Pearce (R) in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Susana Martinez (R), New Mexico will become the first state to elect back-to-back female governors. In Iowa, 28-year-old state legislator Abby Finkenauer won the Democratic nomination to face Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) in the key swing 1st congressional district, and if she wins, she would be the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Iowa is one of six states that has never sent a woman to the U.S. House, The Washington Post's David Weigel notes, and along with Finkenauer, Democrats nominated Cindy Axne to face Rep. David Young (R) in Iowa's 3rd congressional district. Another one of those six states, Mississippi, will keep its record intact: Three Republican women were running for an open seat in the safely red 3rd congressional district, and they came in fourth, fifth, and sixth place. Peter Weber

Iran told the U.N. on Tuesday that it had finished construction on a nuclear centrifuge assembly site, The New York Times reports. It's Iran's first step toward increasing its nuclear enrichment capacity. The move could signal an end to the country's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, colloquially known as the Iran deal. In 2015, Iran, the U.S., and several other countries agreed to the JCPOA, which limits Iran's enrichment level to 5 percent, per the Times. For now, Iran said it'll stick to those terms. But if the JCPOA collapses, the head of Iran's atomic agency told BBC that the country will likely break those limits. President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA in April, taking a lot of the deal's bite with it. Iran didn't specify whether this new site will start producing centrifuges now, per the Times, but it does show that Iran has nuclear options if remaining dealmakers can't hold the agreement together. Kathryn Krawczyk

Critics of President Trump saw Thursday's full pardon of admitted campaign-finance-law violator and conservative provocateur Dinesh D'Souza as yet another signal that Trump will use his pardon power to protect and reward his allies. "While it is nothing new for a president to use clemency to reward friends and family, there is something unique and darker taking shape," law professor and former federal prosecutor Mark Osler argues at CNN. "Trump seems to be using the pardon power not only for the sodden purpose of helping buddies, but also to hurt those who have opposed him." On Friday morning's New Day, Joe Lockhart, Bill Clinton's former press secretary, said Trump is clearly promising "get of our jail free" cards "in order to survive the special counsel probe." "Traditionally, presidents do controversial pardons near the end of their term," says President Clinton's former press secretary @JoeLockhart. "Trump is using it differently. He understands that in order to survive the special counsel probe, he has to keep his base together" pic.twitter.com/5fp3XbPTot — New Day (@NewDay) June 1, 2018 But Roger Stone, an ally and longtime confidante of Trump's, said basically the same thing to The Washington Post. "It has to be a signal to Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort and even Robert S. Mueller III: Indict people for crimes that don't pertain to Russian collusion and this is what could happen," Stone said. "The special counsel has awesome powers, as you know, but the president has even more awesome powers." "The constitutional pardon power is a rare and remarkable thing: It gives the president nearly unchecked power to relieve the burdens of a criminal conviction," Osler writes. "It was meant to be a tool of mercy; Alexander Hamilton described it as such in Federalist 74." But Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe explained on New Day that like all presidential powers, it isn't absolute: "Every power of the president is limited by the impeachment clause." Peter Weber

The U.S. Department of Justice revealed recently that it has sent the case of a Texas abortionist accused of killing live babies to the FBI's Houston office. According to a report from the pro-life organization Operation Rescue on Monday, a letter from DOJ to the watchdog group stated that the case of Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen has been "forwarded to the FBI Houston Field Office for any action deemed necessary." Who is Karpen? Harris County authorities said in May 2013 that they were investigating Karpen for conducting late-term abortions in 2011, the Houston Chronicle reported. Four women who used to work for Karpen accused the doctor of performing illegal abortions. Operation Rescue originally brought the women's testimony and photographic evidence to the public. According to their testimony and photos, the babies were killed far past the legal limit of 24 weeks and had had their necks cut. Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said at the time: The …

Labor accuses the Tasmanian Government of attempting to further limit access to abortion in an email to doctors at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Parliament in Chechnya submitted the legislation on Friday. It would enable the Russian leader to have a third consecutive term.

More leaders in more African countries will abolish term limits unless organisations like the African Union take action.