The Maps
Well, that was a nice curve ball that was tossed our way. Commentary is talking about yesterday’s ruling on the mid-decade redistricting plan here in Texas. Charles Kuffner has a good take here: Federal court blocks Texas mid-decade gerrymander | Off the Kuff.
Here is from NPR on yesterday’s ruling on the maps:
The 160-page opinion was written by District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, who was appointed by Trump during his first term as president. His ruling drew upon statements and contradictions in what Republican lawmakers said as the maps were passed.
A letter the Department of Justice wrote to encourage the redistricting, ended up being grounds the court used to block the effort.
The judges noted that when Gov. Abbott originally called lawmakers into session to draw the map, he cited a letter from justice department officials criticizing districts that had majority non-white voting populations as “racial gerrymanders.” In other words, the letter implied the districts as they stood gave non-white voters an advantage and that had to be reversed.
Eventually, Texas Republicans said the map was not intended to correct for a racial tilt but for partisan gain.
That letter put lawmakers, who for years had denied their use of race when making maps, in “a difficult spot” according to University of Texas at Austin political scientist Josh Blank, because they were “ultimately saying opposite things.”
Brown’s ruling criticized the construction of the letter itself, which was sent by Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “It’s challenging to unpack the DOJ Letter because it contains so many factual, legal, and typographical errors,” Brown wrote.
Your guess is as good as mine as to how the Supreme Court will rule. Abbott and cheating, crooked Ken Paxton are hoping that the court will rule along partisan lines. That is their play. Let’s hope the court reviews the facts.
MAGA Cong. Kevin Kiley from California is one of the MAGA members of congress who will lose his district under the new California redistricting plan. Here is what he had to say yesterday after the ruling:
“To the extent there was any point to begin with — which I don’t think there was — I don’t think even if you’ve got a partisan advantage on this it in any way shape or form justifies it. But that’s not even gonna happen it looks like. And with this court decision, it’s even more in doubt. So it’s just utterly foolish. It was a total failure of leadership to let this happen in a way that is going to be bad for our own members, bad for the House, bad for representation across the country.”
You get what you deserve. MAGA House Speaker Mike Johnson and Abbott have blindly followed Donald Trump’s orders. Folks like Cong. Kiley have also bought into the MAGA life. Like I said, you get what you deserve. Crocodile tears for sure.
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That is Jeff Goldblum in the featured photo. It is from “Today” this morning where he played the keyboard as he made up a tune about folks should be buying tickets to see “Wicked: For Good” in which he plays the Wizard of Oz. Commentary is one day older than Goldblum. I was born on October 21, he on October 22 of the same year. He has been in some great flicks like “The Big Chill”, the Jurassic movies, “Independence Day,” and now the “Wicked” films. He also has a Christmas tune – “The Christmas Waltz.”
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From the Chron:
Jose Altuve underwent a minor procedure on his right foot to address an ailment the Houston Astros star played through late in the season, manager Joe Espada confirmed Tuesday.
In an appearance on “Foul Territory,” Espada did not provide specifics of the procedure but said “we got a little bit of work done trying to clean the area.” MLB.com reported that Altuve had a “skin aspiration” procedure Monday to remove fluid from an area between two of his toes.
Get well.