NY Times: “A North Carolina court rejected a Republican-drawn map of the state’s 14 congressional districts on Wednesday and substituted its own version, the second time in less than two weeks that a court in the state has invalidated a Republican House map as unconstitutionally partisan. The new map, drawn by a nonpartisan panel of four redistricting…
Month: February 2022
“After Trump Surge, a Liberal Democrat in South Texas Shifts Tactics”
NY Times: “In South Texas, another test is developing over the power of identity politics and whether liberals can answer the fears that conservatives are stoking about “open borders,” “critical race theory” and rising crime. In the primary campaign for Texas’ 28th district, it is Mr. Cuellar’s experience versus Ms. Cisneros’s storytelling: the powerful and…
Sen. Tommy Tuberville Thinks Russia is Communist Country
Political Wire: ““He can’t feed his people. It’s a communist country, so he can’t feed his people, so they need more farmland.” — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), quoted by 1819 News, explaining why he thinks Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.”
“‘Blood Red’: How Lopsided New District Lines Are Deepening America’s Divide”
NY Times: “Representative Dan Crenshaw was tagged as a rising Republican star almost from the moment of his first victory: A conservative, Harvard-educated, ex-Navy SEAL who lost his right eye in Afghanistan, he bucked the 2018 suburban revolt against Donald J. Trump to win a House seat in the Houston suburbs. Mr. Crenshaw won again…
Right-Wing State Senator Aims to Drastically Cut PBS Funding in AR
AR Times: “Sen. Dan Sullivan (extremist R-Jonesboro) filed legislation today to punish Arkansas PBS, which he thinks is left-wing. It’s his own hand-crafted budget bill for the education channel. The budget approved by the Joint Budget Committee, but to date falling short of the 75 votes needed for passage in the House, contains about $14.5 million in two…
“Texas kicks off 2022 midterms with primaries featuring battles for attorney general, U.S. House”
Chicken Fried Politics: “Voters in Texas kick off the 2022 midterm elections with the nation’s first party primary Tuesday, featuring a pitched battle among Republicans for attorney general, the last pro-life Democratic in the U.S. House trying to hang on to his South Texas seat, and two House Republicans facing primary challenges for not being…
TX Lt Gov. Aims to End Tenure at State Schools
TX Observer: “On Friday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced he would seek to abolish tenure for professors at Texas’ public universities, the latest in an ongoing GOP attack on public education. “What we will propose to do is end tenure, all tenure for all new hires,” said Patrick, whose proposal would eliminate tenure for new…
Guilty of Being Hateful: Arbery’s Murderers Convicted of Hate Crimes
NY Times: “A jury on Tuesday found the three white Georgia men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery guilty of a federal hate crime, determining that they were motivated by racism when they chased the 25-year-old Black man through their neighborhood. The case was one of the most high-profile hate crime trials in years, and came after…
“Decision in Arkansas case could limit lawsuits under Voting Rights Act”
Chicken Fried Politics: “Can private groups and individuals who believe their electoral prospects are harmed by new political maps bring suit in federal court under the Voting Rights Act? For more than 50 years, the answer to that question has been yes. But a federal judge in Arkansas has come down on the other side,…
“Texas could be an unlikely model for Democrats on voting rights”
MSNBC: “In the midst of the ongoing debate over Republicans’ siege on voting rights in states they control, here’s an unconventional suggestion: Democratic state legislators should take a page from the Republican playbook and empower private citizens to sue people who are “aiding and abetting” voter suppression efforts…. While personally I believe this law is…