Politico Hacks Insist Gerrymandering Is Different When Democrats Do It

On Sunday, Politico’s Gregory Svirnovskiy regurgitated talking points by Illinois Democrat governor J.B. Pritzker and former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to suggest Democrats’ gerrymandering is permissible, while smearing Republicans’ attempt to redistrict in Texas as a Trump-backed “attempt to cheat mid-decade.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to, in part, consider new maps “in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.” This came right after the DOJ expressed “serious concerns” that four Texas districts were unlawfully gerrymandered on racial grounds. Last week, close to 60 Texas House Democrats abandoned the state and headed to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts to protest a new redistricting proposal that could give Republicans five more congressional seats.

As The Federalist reported, Illinois is the most gerrymandered state in the country. In fact, as Nathaniel Rakich and Tony Chow wrote in 2022 in FiveThirtyEight, Illinois’ “gerrymandered congressional map seems hell-bent on making Republican congressmen from Illinois an endangered species.” Democrats — who were in charge of redistricting in the state — “drew a map that packed all five Republicans” in Illinois’ U.S. House delegation “into just three.” And despite Democrats not winning even 60 percent of the popular vote in 2024, the party holds 14 out of the state’s 17 congressional seats.

In New York, Democrats at the state level blocked a proposal drawn by the state’s bipartisan Independent Redistricting Committee (IRC) last year and instead approved a map which, as NBC News’ Jane C. Timm wrote, gave “Democrats a slight boost.”Notably, New Yorkers passed a constitutional amendment in 2014 creating the IRC, which is tasked with drawing new maps every 10 years. Democrats had previously been shot down by the courts after they, as Timm described, passed maps “that so significantly boosted their congressional prospects” in 2022.

In Massachusetts, there are a total of zero Republican congressional districts despite the state swinging more than 36 percent for Trump in 2024.

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The Quiet Part Out Loud: What the Left Really Thinks of Illegal Immigrants

For all of their pious pontificating about the nobility of illegal immigrants as people who simply came here in search of a better life for themselves and their families, Democrats and others on the Left in and out of Congress actually have a much more patronizing view in unguarded moments.

While out of one side of their mouths, the Left lionizes illegals as latter-day huddled masses yearning to breathe free, these same leftists speak of the migrants in ways that are condescending or at best utilitarian, even as they fight to block President Donald Trump from deporting them back to their countries of origin.

Most of these liberals, in unscripted moments, appear to be less concerned about the well-being of the millions of illegals the Biden administration allowed to pour into our country unvetted and more concerned about their food supply, even though none of them looks like he or she has ever skipped a meal.

Consider the following quotes, transcribed verbatim from a video compilation circulating on Facebook, the many iterations of which make it impossible to ascertain the original source for attribution. Speaking of Biden, as we were, let’s start with former first son Hunter Biden, who—as is his custom—kept it classy:

HUNTER BIDEN: “How do you think you got food on your f—— table? Who do you think washes your dishes? Who do you think does your f—— garden?”

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ, D-Calif., mocked ICE raids as heartless assaults on “the immigrant workers who feed America.”

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-Calif.: “Why are you shipping these immigrants up north? We need them here to pick the crops.”

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, Biden’s secretary of Department of Homeland Security: “Food is not reaching our table because those who pick the crops have been removed.”

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, D-Fla.: “I mean, you’re going to have vegetables rotting in the fields.”

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.: “Our vegetables would rot in the ground if they weren’t being picked by many illegal immigrants.”

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: “If you think your groceries are expensive now, wait until the farms are empty.”

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL, D-Wash.: “If you look at the food that’s on your table, think about who picked it.”

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN on CNN: “It’s going to deport 20 million people, the people who pick your crops.”

SEN. DICK DURBIN, D-Ill.: “They come with regularity from Mexico, usually, to work in the fields.”

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT, D-Texas: “Those immigrants that come into our country work in the fields, something we ain’t done in a long time.”

JENNA ARNOLD, Democratic strategist: “I can’t wait until American women can’t get blueberries for their smoothies.”

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN on TikTok: “Good news, Red States, you can now pick your own fruits and vegetables in the blazing hot sun for $5 an hour.”

THE RT. REV. MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, Episcopal bishop of Washington: “The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants; who wash dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals … .”

ANNA NAVARRO, one of the co-hosts of ABC-TV’s “The View”: “What’s going to happen here is that milk gets a lot higher [in price], because I don’t know if any of you have ever been in a dairy farm, because it is god-awful work.”

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‘Defund The Police’ NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Has Already Spent $33,000 on Private Security

Like many Democrats running for office, New York City mayoral candidate Mohran Zamdani is a glaring hypocrite.

Mamdani, a self-described socialist and New York state assemblyman who won the Democratic nomination back in June, has poured tens of thousands of dollars into hiring a private security firm for his personal protection.

Campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News show that in June and July alone, Mamdani’s team made three separate payments to Advanced Security & Investigations, each ranging from roughly $8,000 to $13,000.

In total, the campaign shelled out $33,495 over the two-month period.

The firm openly promotes itself as a “proud employer” of New York Police Department (NYPD) officers, despite Mamdani’s long-term support for defunding the police.

Back in 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter riots across the country, Mamdani described NYPD as “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety.”

”NO to fake cuts – defund the police,” he wrotea the time.

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UK Government Warns Against VPNs, Caught Using Them Themselves

The UK’s technology secretary urged citizens to think twice before using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the country’s new oppressive online digital ID checks, framing it as a matter of child safety. His comments have landed awkwardly, given that many MPs, including senior ministers, rely on taxpayer-funded VPN subscriptions themselves.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Peter Kyle warned: “For everybody out there who’s thinking about using VPNs, let me say this to you directly: verifying your age keeps a child safe. Keeps children safe in our country, so let’s just not try to find a way around.”

Politico reported that official spending records show parliamentarians across party lines have been billing the public for commercial VPN services.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds charged taxpayers for a two-year NordVPN subscription in April 2024.

Labour MP Sarah Champion, who in 2022 pressed the government to investigate whether teenage VPN use could undermine online safety rules, also has a subscription on record.

The government says it has no intention of outlawing VPNs but admits it is monitoring how young people use them. This comes after a sharp increase in downloads following the rollout of mandatory digital ID checks under the new censorship law, the Online Safety Act.

For security experts, VPNs are not a subversive tool but a vital one.

The real danger lies in the age verification industry itself.

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Texas Democrats Are Raging Over GOP Gerrymandering—But They Did It First

Democrats in Texas are currently accusing Republicans of using redistricting to gain a partisan advantage. This accusation, however, is both disingenuous and historically inaccurate.

When Democrats controlled the state in the 1990s, they engaged in the same tactics—so aggressively that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled their districts racially gerrymandered and unconstitutional.

In 1990, Democrat Ann Richards was elected governor of Texas, and the Democratic Party controlled the state legislature. This control allowed them to redraw congressional districts to maintain their political dominance. 

State Senator Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat, chaired the redistricting subcommittee and took charge of drafting the new maps. Her explicit goal was to create new minority-majority districts to favor the Democratic Party.

Johnson’s plan resulted in a majority-Hispanic district in Houston and a majority-Black district in Dallas—both aimed at consolidating long-term Democratic control. 

This political maneuvering did not go unnoticed. The newly drawn districts, which included those represented by Democrats Martin Frost and John Wiley Bryant, became more homogeneous and less politically diverse.

Despite protests, the Texas Legislature passed Johnson’s plan in 1991. Critics, primarily Republicans, argued that the maps used flawed census data, potentially undercounting minority populations.

Yet, the U.S. Department of Justice granted preclearance under the Voting Rights Act, and the new districts were used in the 1992 elections.

In 1994, Republicans filed a lawsuit, claiming that several new districts—particularly Districts 18, 29, and 30—were racially gerrymandered in violation of the Constitution. 

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Mamdani’s Plan for Schools Draws Angry Backlash from New York Parents

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani continues to make waves with his radical agenda. This time he’s targeting charter schools, producing some strong reactions from parents and residents.

In an exclusive report by The New York Post, the newspaper wrote that Mamdani “plans to declare war on charter schools if he’s elected mayor,” according to a survey he answered June before the Democratic primary.

The state assemblyman said he would “fight efforts to open more charters, which largely educate minority, working-class students, and even opposed the schools sharing space in city-owned buildings,” the article read.

“I oppose efforts by the state to mandate an expansion of charter school operations in New York City,” he said in a Staten Island Advance questionnaire.

Mother Arlene Rosado, who has a son in 10th grade at the “Nuasin Next Generation” K-12 charter school in the Bronx, said Mamdani doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

“I don’t understand why Mamdani would be hostile to charter schools,” she said. “I think he’s very misinformed.”

Rosado reportedly moved her son there because he was being bullied in public school. His situation has since improved after he was given the option to leave.

“Charter schools are helping kids in the community,” Rosado added. “You should always have a choice. Taking that choice away is not cool.”

The socialist candidate claimed charter schools divert public resources and mainly serve the wealthy, while harming lower-income families, The Hill reported last month.

Mamdani also promised to conduct audits of charter schools that are within the city’s Department of Education buildings, claiming they get too much public money.

“I also oppose the co-locating of charter schools inside DOE school buildings, but for those already co-located my administration would undertake a comprehensive review of charter school funding to address the unevenness of our system,” his survey answer read.

He added, “Matching funds, overcharged rent, and Foundation Aid funding would be part of this audit as my administration determined how to manage the reality of co-located schools and legal entitlements.”

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Zohran Mamdani Opposes Charter Schools in NYC, Even Though He Went to a Private School

New York City Democrat candidate for mayor, and noted communist, Zohran Mamdani has gone on record saying that he opposes charter schools in the city.

When Mamdani came to the United States as a child, he attended the Bank Street School for Children, a private school that charges $37,554 – $68,793 in tuition, according to Wikipedia.

There are two important issues in play here.

First, charter schools are important because they offer an alternative to traditional public schools, which frequently benefits minority children. Second, charter schools are typically opposed by teacher unions who correctly see these schools as a form of competition for public schools. As a Democrat candidate, Mamdani is undoubtedly depending on the support of teacher unions in the mayoral election.

The New York Post reports:

Zohran Mamdani’s vow to declare war on charter schools if elected NYC mayor sparks outrage from parents, advocates: ‘Very misinformed’

Socialist Zohran Mamdani plans to declare war on charter schools if he’s elected mayor, according to a survey he answered — sparking outrage from advocates and parents who called the front-runner’s views “very misguided.”

The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman said he would fight efforts to open more charters, which largely educate minority, working-class students, and even opposed the schools sharing space in city-owned buildings.

“I oppose efforts by the state to mandate an expansion of charter school operations in New York City,” he said in a Staten Island Advance questionnaire before the June 24 Democratic primary.

Mamdani’s hostility to charter schools — which are privately run and publicly funded — puts him in sync with the United Federation of Teachers union, which endorsed him in the November general election following his primary victory over ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others.

So typical for the left. School choices for me but not for thee.

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Massachusetts Governor Criticizes Texas Redistricting – From a State With ZERO Republican Representation

Democrat Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey was asked about the effort to redraw congressional districts in Texas and criticized the move, suggesting that efforts by Democrats to do more gerrymandering in response is justified.

The irony of this is that despite the fact that about a third of the state of Massachusetts voted for Trump, there is ZERO Republican representation there.

This fact was apparently lost on Healey.

Hot Air reported:

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey now has Republicans quaking in their boots.

In response to the Texas legislature’s move to redistrict its state to create more Republican districts, Healey is making a brave stand and threatening revenge.

She, too, will redistrict the state in retaliation.

It is a frightening prospect, I know. In a state known for its fairness to Republicans, a change in attitude could have serious repercussions.

Currently, the state has nine Congressional Districts and nine Democrats representing them. Should a less favorable map be created, the state will have nine Congressional Districts and nine Democrats representing them.

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Don Lemon Embroiled In New Controversy

Former CNN host Don Lemon is once again facing intense backlash after appearing to give tacit approval to an outrageous Holocaust comparison made by a Texas Democrat during a livestream discussion on the state’s 2026 redistricting battle.

Texas State Rep. Jolanda Jones (D–Houston), who recently fled to Illinois along with dozens of other Democrats to block a Republican redistricting proposal, created outrage when she likened the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting efforts to the Holocaust.

“I will liken this to the Holocaust,” Jones said. “People are like, ‘well, how did the Holocaust happen? How is somebody in a position to kill all them people?’”

“Well, good people remained silent or good people didn’t realize that what happens to them can very soon happen to me or somebody I love,” Jones claimed.

As she delivered the incendiary remarks, Lemon nodded in agreement and muttered, “Mmhmm.”

Jones remained defiant, even as the Holocaust analogy threatens to derail her party’s messaging. “God forbid they end up targeting you and your family,” she added in her closing line.

Jones, who was elected in 2022, made the comments during a virtual town hall discussing the Republican-led redistricting plan. That proposal—unveiled earlier this summer—aims to redraw 37 of Texas’s 38 congressional districts, potentially giving the GOP control of up to 30 seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Democrats claim the map disproportionately targets Black and Latino-majority districts in cities like Houston, Austin, and Dallas–Fort Worth. But comparing political maneuvering to one of the most horrific genocides in human history has even some liberals backing away from Jones.

Jones’s full comments were even more dire. “If you think it can’t happen, it can,” she said. “We will lose all of our rights. And if you think it can’t happen, it can. And I will liken this to the Holocaust.”

While most of the attention has focused on her remarks, Lemon’s visible affirmation is raising eyebrows as well. The former CNN anchor, who has previously come under fire for bizarre on-air moments, including suggesting women over 40 are “past their prime,” was recently attempting a career pivot through online platforms. Many are now calling for advertisers to cut ties.

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Obama caught insisting gerrymandering is wrong when Republicans do it, but it’s ‘democracy’ when Dems take advantage

It’s unfair, it’s wrong, it’s “gerrymandering” when Republicans do it.

But it’s “democracy” when the perpetrators are Democrats.

That odd bit of hypocrisy is courtesy Barack Obama, who this week joined in an orchestrated campaign by Democrats to condemn a redistricting proposal in Texas.

It would, if fact, give GOP members a higher probability of winning some seats, analysts have said.

Obama wrote, “We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections. This is a power grab that undermines our democracy.”

However, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, pointed out the two different definitions of redistricting, or gerrymandering, Democrats, including Obama, trot out.

Democrats “only call it ‘gerrymandering’ when it’s in a Republican state,” he explained. “When it happens in Illinois, they call it ‘democracy.’”

A report on the politicking by Obama, in Twitchy, cited a 2012 article in the New Yorker in which Obama confessed that his own national political career “was launched with the assistance of gerrymandering that Barack had a personal hand in helping with.”

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