#gerrymandering

#gerrymandering

The English language is extraordinarily adaptable and our tongue friendly and receptive to innovation and creativity. Speakers of American English have welcomed words and coined new ones for accuracy and for fun. Colonialism played its role in this capacity, of course. For instance, 700 years of colonial rule in Ireland gave Americans bog, whiskey, hooligan, shenanigans, and smithereens. If you say heaps of in place of a lot, you got it from droll Australians.

When Donald Trump ordered Texas Republicans to conduct a rare mid-decade gerrymander of U.S. House seats to help protect the GOP's fragile trifecta in the 2026 midterms, there may have been some private grumbling about the possibility the gambit would backfire by exposing some incumbents to a bit more competition. But more than likely, Trump was pushing on an open door.

The ability to retaliate against Donald Trump's power grabs and other outrages is a rare pleasure for Democrats, which is why Gavin Newsom's counter-gerrymandering effort in California is so wildly popular among Democrats. If Democrats can't stop Trump's egregious policies in Congress (and they really can't) and the U.S. Supreme Court is either enabling him or slow-walking efforts to rein him in (which it clearly is), then they need different arenas in which to contest his authoritarian ways.

More dead children, dead because they were shot by what we now know is the classic American mass shooter our uniquely native-born young person whose craziness, whose need to destroy, won't be contained because Republican legislators make sure he has access to assault weapons. Going to school has become one of the riskiest things a child can do. Why? Unbelievably, someone in America is today planning an assault on a school district that we won't identify until more children are dead.

On Wednesday, we heard about another killing and wounding of children and adults as their Minneapolis school, Annunciation, began its school year at mass. More dead children, dead because they were shot by what we now know is the classic American mass shooter - our uniquely native-born young person whose craziness, whose need to destroy, won't be contained because Republican legislators make sure he has access to assault weapons.

California has 43 Democrats and nine Republicans in Congress. The new congressional maps Newsom is asking voters to approve (maps that were created in secret with no public input) have the goal of having 48 Democrats and 4 Republican members of Congress. In the 2024 election, Trump won 38% of the California vote. If Newsom has his way, the 4 Republicans would only make up 8% of the California congressional delegation.

He then revealed, for the first time, details of his private meeting with Trump at the White House, when Trump pointed out a painting of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president to serve more than two terms: He showed me a painting. He said, Turn around.' And I said, Oh, there's FDR.' And I went, Of course.' And he goes, he said, What do you mean?' I said, I know exactly what you mean.' And then he went on and on about the third term.

Now look, folks, I'm sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight. We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore, Martin said, adding: We've got to stand up and fight. We're not going to have a hand tied behind our back anymore. Let's grow a damn spine and get in this fight, Democrats! LFG, that's right, Martin said, repeating a cheer from the crowd.

If this Clickhole article is to be believed (it shouldn't be), California's governor is looking to get a job in comedy. The reality is a bit less appealing: Gavin Newsom wants to be president of the U S. His office has ramped up social media attacks on Donald Trump, his policies, and, predictably, his bugnuts tweeting. I have witnessed the rise of Gavin Newsom firsthand:

The veteran Democrat, who represents part of San Jose and a swath of central California, chairs the state's Democratic congressional delegation. That group not Newsom's office, nor state lawmakers tasked with approving the plan this week was responsible for crafting the new, politically slanted maps that voters likely will consider in November. And Lofgren was at the helm of that process this summer,