Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Hmm, the Iranian delegate already left before they got there!      "Live updates: Iran’s foreign minister leaves Islamabad without meeting US envoys, Pakistan officials say". AP News.

Opps, latest update, Witkoff and Kushner aren't going either! Meanwhile, a third aircraft carrier has arrived on station and the pundits are saying with that much fire power, we'll be a bombin again next week!

Anybody else seeing the irony in this?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d4dzwdp53o

Originally Posted by James Brown

Gutted?   Can you explain to me why the voting rights act requires majority minority districts? A good place to start would be reading the voting rights act.

Really!? That's your response? Take the case presently in question in Louisiana wherein a majority of black voters will have their democratically elected representative, currently two and likely reduced to one or even more likely, none, and removed via Republican action so that all of them will have no choice but to have their voting bloc represented by white Republicans. That's the story in much of the deep south, too.  Oh, sure, they can still vote...without the hope or possibility that the representative who is elected will represent them in the first place...

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Really!? That's your response? Take the case presently in question in Louisiana wherein a majority of black voters will have their democratically elected representative, currently two and likely reduced to one or even more likely, none, and removed via Republican action so that all of them will have no choice but to have their voting bloc represented by white Republicans. That's the story in much of the deep south, too.  Oh, sure, they can still vote...without the hope or possibility that the representative who is elected will represent them in the first place...

The perspective of those who are affected by it:     https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-act-black-americans-political-representation-a4eeb2367a33d99a54fa1d3cd36bdbf7

Originally Posted by James Brown

Like I said, there may be very good reasons for having majority-minority house districts.   Did you not read that part, or do you not believe me?

The voting rights act does not require majority-minority districts, so the argument that the Supreme Court gutted the act is really stupid.  Racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional.   Those who argue that majority-minority districts are the only way to have black representatives are being terribly patronizing in my opinion.

I saw this post after submitting mine so we crossed at about the same time.

As has been discussed in prior cases in regards to racial gerrymandering, the bar to prove it exists to the cons on SCOTUS in general and Alito in particular is so high that the case on it might as well not exist. They simply will not accept that it occurs.

On edit: An attempt to present both sides from an article in TheHill:    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5859899-voting-rights-act-supreme-court/

Originally Posted by James Lacey

In most states, the state legislature controls redistricting, and, as we all know, that often leads to partisan redistricting. Until redistricting is taken out of the hands of state legislatures and replaced with an independent or bipartisan method universally employed, redistricting political battles are inevitable. I guess that, over time, redistricting will once again reach a steady state that is not too different from what we have now. Let the redistricting wars commence! And I hope that both parties play hardball, which is the only way to level the playing field currently.

"In most states, the state legislature controls redistricting, and, as we all know, that often leads to partisan redistricting. Until redistricting is taken out of the hands of state legislatures"

Actually, it's been enabled by SCOTUS (and currently utilized by the southern states on steroids) as this reporting in TheHill details:


"Supreme Court VRA ruling encourages new redistricting..."

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5860114-redistricting-battle-states-midterms/

For an opinion on the matter:     https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V2ho_o85qGM

Originally Posted by James Lacey

In most states, the state legislature controls redistricting, and, as we all know, that often leads to partisan redistricting. Until redistricting is taken out of the hands of state legislatures and replaced with an independent or bipartisan method universally employed, redistricting political battles are inevitable. I guess that, over time, redistricting will once again reach a steady state that is not too different from what we have now. Let the redistricting wars commence! And I hope that both parties play hardball, which is the only way to level the playing field currently.

"In most states, the state legislature controls redistricting, and, as we all know, that often leads to partisan redistricting. Until redistricting is taken out of the hands of state legislatures"

Actually, it's been enabled by SCOTUS (and currently utilized by the southern states on steroids) as this reporting in TheHill details:


"Supreme Court VRA ruling encourages new redistricting..."

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5860114-redistricting-battle-states-midterms/

For an opinion on the matter:     https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V2ho_o85qGM

Concurrently, and while in took awhile for reality to sink in, "Most Americans say Trump is mentally, physically unfit to serve effectively: Poll"

"A new poll found that most Americans say they believe President Trump is mentally and physically unfit to serve as commander in chief."

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5862406-trump-mental-fitness-physical-health-poll/

The cons on the court are even speeding up the process for the Republicans in Louisiana:

"The Supreme Court on Monday immediately put into effect its ruling invalidating Louisiana’s congressional map, leaving conservative Justice Samuel Alito sparring with liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent."

"The order speeds up the normal 32-day timeline before the justices formally return a case to the lower court."

"Some groups questioned if the lower court had jumped the gun in the Louisiana case when it moved quickly to ensure state Republicans would have an opportunity to draw a new map before conducting this year’s election. Technically, the case remained with the justices."

"The justices gave no guidance, however, on whether the state should redraw its map before this year’s midterms, although the high court has previously ruled that changes to elections should be avoided too close to the actual date of an election. "

"In dissent, Jackson said the majority “unshackles itself” from “constraints.”


https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5863197-supreme-court-alito-jackson-louisiana-map/

" Amid raucous protests Thursday, Republicans in Tennessee enacted a new U.S. House map that carves up a majority-Black district in Memphis"

" Republican leadership quickly adjourned the special session, sending the new map on to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who promptly signed it into law."

"The Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with federal law. The high court’s decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats."

https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-congress-voting-rights-trump-33d3a24a63aeb1a0b3702d362e1325c9

It's about time all these districts should be ruled by Republicans, don't ya think?!