Middleboro Review and so on

  If you haven’t heard yet, Republican-controlled legislatures across the South are actively trying to carve up congressional maps to ensure there are zero Democratic seats left in their states. They are aggressively gerrymandering every single district they can get their hands on in a blatant, panicked gambit to maintain control of the House of Representatives. In fact, just yesterday, Tennessee passed a resolution for a 9-0 map that carves up Memphis to ensure it is not represented by a Democrat. You don’t try to artificially erase the opposition if you are confident in your policies. You do it because   your party is historically unpopular, your agenda is a toxic disaster, and your president is an exhausted circus dragging down the entire ticket. They know they cannot survive the midterms at this rate, so they are trying to legislate the competition out of existence. It isn't going to work. When the map is stacked against you, you don't complain—you just have to stay in th...

    03 October 22 Live on the homepage now! Reader Supported News   FOCUS | NYT: The Supreme Court Isn't Listening, and It's No Secret Why The New York Times Editorial Board Excerpt: "All they have is their black robes and the public trust. A court that does not keep that trust cannot perform its critical role in American government." T he Supreme Court’s authority within the American political system is both immense and fragile. Somebody has to provide the last word in interpreting the Constitution, and — this is the key — to do so in a way that is seen as fair and legitimate by the people at large. What happens when a majority of Americans don’t see it that way? A common response to this question is to say the justices shouldn’t care. They aren’t there to satisfy the majority or to be swayed by the shifting winds of public opinion. That is partly true: The court’s most important obligations include safeguarding the constitutional rights of vulnerable minorities who ...