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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Here's a quick written visual of TX-23.
Take the southern border of New Mexico with Texas, continue this line out to north of San Antonio, then draw it just to the south of the city, then draw it again to the border with Mexico, circle El Paso and San Antonio and then color in every thing but those two cities.
Edited by tclittle on Aug 2nd 2019 at 3:54:40 AM
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/14/trump-pence-2024-presidential-run-1364992
A bit old but I love how Trump flat out just refuses to endorse Pence for a Presidential run.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Here's a map of the U.S.
color-coded by party-held House district seats.
TX-23 is that huge block of red on the southwest side of Texas. And yes, it's the only red district along the US-Mexico border.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 2nd 2019 at 3:08:10 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Feeling good about the House elections, members retire when they're not feeling good about their chances in the next election. By the way, this rating website model predicts a five seat gain in the House and six seat gain in the Senate with things as they currently are.
As far as I know, a lot of districts like that are large because the Republicans try to catch as much rural territory (where people tend conservative, but are spread out) as possible, sometimes while cutting up large urban centers (which tend liberal) so that, say, three otherwise red districts split a city into thirds. The end result is that the district turns a bit purple, since you have a lot of blue voters, but the blue population is less than the red population by design, so the district goes red and the blue voters are effectively neutralized.
It's been fun.It's none of that, partly for Red Savant's reasons (but not usually by intent - check what California's districts look like) and mainly because Republicans tend to be based in rural areas, which are thinly populated and thus need a larger area to get the same population.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanYeah, the districts are divvied up by population, not by area size. It's part of what the census is for; to determine how many people are in a particular area and thus how to split up all the districts. Gerrymandering comes in when you're trying to shape those districts, but you still have to come up with a roughly even population in all those spaces.
Which means rural areas, by default, are going to take up a larger space on the map.
Removing partisan bias is always harder than it sounds.
"We use algorithms for districting to remove human biases!" "Cool, cool. Quick question. Who writes the algorithms?"
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The thing you always have to keep in mind with AI is that an AI in this context would most likely just tell people what they want to hear, not the objective truth.
Leviticus 19:34https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/08/02/day-925/
2/ The White House will block the nation's No. 2 intelligence official from taking over as acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down. A federal statute requires that if the director of national intelligence role becomes vacant, the deputy director — currently Sue Gordon — will serve as acting director. The White House, however, can choose who to appoint as acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, raising the question of whether Gordon will be ousted as part of a leadership shuffle. The White House, meanwhile, has asked the national intelligence office for a list of all its employees at the federal government's top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more. While it's unclear what the White House will do with the list, many of the people on it may be eligible to temporarily takeover as acting director of national intelligence. (New York Times / Daily Beast)
3/ State prosecutors in New York subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its role in hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen Mc Dougal. The investigation is examining whether senior executives filed false business records related to the $130,000 payment Michael Cohen made to Daniels, as well as the arrangement between Cohen and the National Enquirer to pay off Mc Dougal. Falsifying business records would constitute a state crime. The Manhattan district attorney separately subpoenaed American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/01/nyregion/trump-cohen-stormy-daniels-vance.html
4/ China threatened to retaliate against Trump's latest round of tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump's latest round of tariffs would effectively extend punitive duties to everything the U.S. imports from China. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said that if the new tariffs go into effect, "China will have to take necessary countermeasures to resolutely defend its core interests." (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/bb149842a3d04f29a784824edd15db72
5/ The U.S. will test a new weapons systems in the coming weeks that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed in 1987. The current Pentagon budget includes $48 million for research on potential military responses to the Russian violations of the INF treaty. The options do not include a nuclear missile. Separately, the U.S. military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using up to 25 unmanned solar-powered, high-altitude experimental balloons intended to "provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats." (Associated Press / The Guardian)
https://apnews.com/65d75aef66234b07abd82143762b7493
6/ Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The Trump administration already imposed an initial round of sanctions last year, in accordance with a 1991 law. The same law requires that the administration impose a second round of sanctions if Trump cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons, which U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to do. Russia continues to deny their involvement in the attack on Skripal and his daughter. (Politico / New York Times)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/01/trump-sanction-russia-chemical-weapons-1444845
📌 Day 594: Putin claimed he doesn't know the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the names of the suspects "do not mean anything to me." (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/923de5b021e84a90aef52c856f85f2aa
📌 Day 735: The Trump administration hasn't imposed required sanctions on Moscow nearly three months after determining that Russia had violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act in connection with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. (NBC News)
7/ Trump contradicted his own intelligence advisers and Robert Mueller that Russia is already interfering in the 2020 presidential election, asking reporters: "You don't really believe this. Do you believe this?" FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 23 that "The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections." When asked if he raised the issue of ongoing Russian political interference during a call with Putin this week, Trump replied: "We didn't talk about that." (NBC News / USA Today)
Gerrymandering probably isn't going to go away until we start thinking about expanding the House. The last time seats were added, the country had like less than a third its current population.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."Who is Michael Quinn Sullivan — and what does he say happened?
Sullivan is the CEO of Austin-based Empower Texans, a nonprofit promoting fiscal conservatism with a well-funded political action committee. Last week, on his organization’s website, Sullivan posted his account of the June 12 meeting. Sullivan says during their meeting, Bonnen walked out and Burrows gave him a list of 10 GOP House members to target during the 2020 primary elections. In return, the organization's news site, Texas Scorecard, would receive House media credentials when the Legislature reconvenes in two years.
While Sullivan says he sent Bonnen a letter rejecting his offer, neither has released a copy of it.
Sullivan has threatened to release recorded audio of the meeting if Bonnen does not "recant the lies and misrepresentations he has made."
What is Bonnen's response?
In a June 27 letter, Bonnen wrote that Sullivan had a “misimpression of our meeting” and that such a deal had never been offered. Although he didn’t directly address the allegation of a 10-member list, Bonnen again denied Sullivan’s account last Friday evening. In an email sent to House Republicans that was obtained by The Texas Tribune, Bonnen says the two ran into one another at a Houston airport, where he approached Sullivan, had “a short and curt exchange” and was asked to meet later.
At that meeting, Bonnen says, he and Burrows told Sullivan it would be important for Empower Texans “to not engage against House Republicans in the upcoming March primaries” and that if the organization did, it would have a “difficult time” qualifying for media credentials.
On Friday evening, Bonnen emailed House Republicans, disputing Sullivan's account of the meeting, and he further denied the allegations Monday — four days after the they surfaced. On Monday, Bonnen said the "true nature" of his conversation with Sullivan was getting lost within media narratives.
"Let me be clear," Bonnen said. "At no point in our conversation was Sullivan provided with a list of target Members."
What about Burrows?
For now, Burrows, who chairs the House GOP caucus, has stayed out of the matter and has not commented publicly since the allegations surfaced.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Who is on the alleged 10-member list of House Republicans?
The list of GOP lawmakers includes some House members who played key roles in the speaker's race of late 2018, including Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, Drew Darby of San Angelo and Tan Parker of Flower Mound, according to Sullivan.
In his post last week, Sullivan wrote that Burrows said the list included those who voted against a proposal to ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying — though Sullivan noted that if that were true, some lawmakers were missing from the list.
One name said to be on the list, Steve Allison of San Antonio, drew confusion since his campaign recently received a near $20,000 in-kind donation from Bonnen's political action committee for polling, according to a Texas Ethics Commission filing.
The other Republican House members on the alleged list are:
Trent Ashby of Lufkin
Ernest Bailes of Shepherd
Kyle Kacal of College Station
Stan Lambert of Abilene
John Raney of College Station
Phil Stephenson of Wharton
What do media credentials have to do with it?
House media credentials provide organizations like The Texas Tribune and The Dallas Morning News access to the chamber floor when the Legislature is in session. Texas Scorecard has long been denied those credentials because it is affiliated with a PAC that tries to influence legislation and elections. After the organization's application for credentials was turned down earlier this year — despite being approved in the Senate — the outlet sued the House Administration Committee chairman, arguing its rejection amounted to “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.” A federal district judge dismissed the case, and Empower Texans is appealing.
How have political observers and House Republicans reacted?
At the end of the legislative session, Bonnen told reporters that regardless of political party, he wouldn’t tolerate incumbents campaigning against other House members and warned of consequences if that were to happen. Many political observers suggested last week that Sullivan’s allegations were a fabrication.
According to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, a majority of the House Republicans on the 10-member list had spoken with Bonnen or members of his office by Friday afternoon and were told that Sullivan’s account is not true.
But after listening to audio of the June 12 meeting, two Texas House members disputed Bonnen's account.
“What I derived from the audio tape — it’s very clear — is that Speaker Bonnen was not truthful about a list not being provided," state Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican from The Woodlands, told The Texas Tribune after he listened to a recording.
Clardy, one of the GOP lawmakers who is said to be on the alleged list, told The Dallas Morning News what he heard is "consistent with" what Sullivan has alleged and that Bonnen made "disparaging" comments about members of the Texas House. Clardy added that, in the recording, Burrows mentioned House Republicans who could be targeted in the primary elections.
The recording has not been released to the public.
Where could this leave the GOP-controlled House?
Ahead of one of the most important election cycles in recent history, this could have major implications for Texas Republicans. State Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday night that some Republican House members had privately discussed the possibility of meeting as a caucus to discuss the matter. Stickland has received large donations from Empower Texans’ political action committee toward his past House campaigns. After accounts from House Republicans who heard Sullivan's alleged recording of the meeting, Bonnen's future as the Republican House speaker could also be in peril. Stickland, who is not running for reelection in 2020, has called for his resignation.
Edited by tclittle on Aug 2nd 2019 at 12:51:27 PM
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."What? Proportional representation means all seats are elected in the same district, it never involves "one electee per district". So California would have its 53 districts distributed proportionally between parties.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

If enough Republicans become disgusted and disillusioned with Trump's behavior, the next crop of replacements might be Democrats.
Especially if the retiring Representatives are indicative of the direction in their districts. The latest retiree, Will Hurd, represents TX-23. The Cook Political Report, in the wake of Hurd's retirement, has shifted the district from "Toss-Up" to "Lean-D".
Democrats stand to gain when Republicans lose the incumbent advantage in competitive districts. Especially if the reason they're losing that advantage is because the Republican brand is becoming too gross to be associated with.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 2nd 2019 at 2:46:48 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.