Tag: politics

Redistricting Isn’t A ‘Threat To Democracy,’ But These 4 Dem Vote-Rigging Tactics Are

For a party that never stops lecturing Americans about “defending democracy,” Democrats sure spend a lot of time trying to undermine its outcomes. Whether it’s weaponizing the legal system to sideline their opponents, overturning voter-approved ID laws, or trying to scrap the Electoral College entirely, Democrats treat every election loss as a problem to be solved — by changing the rules. But let Republican voters in Texas elect lawmakers who — in compliance with a recent DOJ directive — draw new district maps and Democrats clutch their pearls. But it’s not redistricting that threatens “democracy” (in actuality, our constitutional republic), it’s Democrats’ never-ending crusade to manipulate the election rules until they guarantee permanent power.

Fifty-seven Texas House Democrats abandoned the state on Sunday and headed to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts to protest a new redistricting proposal. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to vote on new maps that would fall in line with both a recent Department of Justice finding that four districts were unlawfully gerrymandered on racial grounds as well as a Fifth Circuit Court ruling.

Democrats decided to flee the state to avoid voting on the maps.

“We’re leaving Texas to fight for Texans,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement on Sunday. “We’re not walking out on our responsibilities; we’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said “everything” is on “the table” to “fight back,” and that this is “about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said “this is what fighting for our democracy looks like.” Newsom called it a “five-alarm fire for democracy in the United States of America.”

But for all the screeching the left does about “democracy,” they sure have had no problem upending it when it delivers outcomes they don’t like.

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REPORT: Plane That Carried Texas Democrats to Illinois Was Funded by Beto O’Rourke’s PAC

When Texas Democrats fled to Illinois a few days ago in an effort to stop the state legislature from moving forward with redistricting efforts, they traveled there by private plane. How did they afford such a thing? Beto O’Rourke’s PAC apparently paid for it.

This makes sense when you consider that O’Rourke has run for almost every possible office in Texas except dog catcher and has lost every time. Beto probably jumped at the chance to help these Democrats.

This news is certainly not going to help their cause with Texas voters.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Now We Know: Beto O’Rourke’s PAC Funded Texas Dems’ Private Jet to Illinois

State lawmakers in Texas make just $7,200 a year. A group of Democratic legislators spent roughly four times that amount to take a private jet to Illinois in an attempt to block their Republican counterparts from passing a new congressional map. But they didn’t have to worry about the price tag—because Beto O’Rourke’s PAC picked it up.

That’s according to a report in the Texas Tribune, which cited two people involved in the effort to raise funds for Texas Democrats’ walkout. O’Rourke’s PAC, Powered by People, is “armed with a $3.5 million war chest” and has covered most of the costs associated with the walkout so far, including “air transport, lodging, and logistical support,” the outlet reported. Every dollar the group receives going forward will go toward supporting the walkout.

O’Rourke’s emergence as the walkout’s financier could land him in legal trouble. Lawmakers who flee Texas to prevent the state legislature from having enough members to pass laws are subject to $500-a-day fines under Texas house rules, which also prevent walkout participants from soliciting political contributions to pay those fines. Republican governor Greg Abbott has said that “any other person who ‘offers, confers, or agrees to confer’” such contributions to the “fleeing Democrat House members” may be in violation of state bribery laws.

Is anyone surprised by this?

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How JFK and the CIA Gave NYC Zohran Mamdani (and Obama to the US)

Prompt Grok to create an Alex Jones-inspired headline about modern American politics and it would be easy to conceive a title similar to that of this article. Of course, like chemicals in the water turning frogs gay—or, at least, significantly impacting their sexual functions—this would result in another quarter in the “Alex Jones is right jar.”

Zohran Mamdani’s unexpected nomination as the Democrat nominee in New York City’s mayor’s race has been a boon for political pundits. For the left, he embodies the future of the American political left: a charismatic radical with bold visions who consistently churns out social media content that attempts to provide leftwing solutions to “kitchen table” problems. On the right, he is a perfect example of the true socialist impulses lurking behind their opposing party and, perhaps, a symptom of some deep-seated Islamic agenda in America.

While the political impact of Mamdanism is difficult to forecast, the history of the Mamdani family does serve as an interesting example of the consequences of state-directed immigration policy.

To truly understand the Mamdani story, we must return back to the days of the Cold War. In 1959, a Kenyan liberation activist named Tom Mboya organized with the African American Institute a plan to subsidize the travel of African college students to America for their intellectual development. While attempts to secure direct Washington funding initially stalled, Mboya found an essential benefactor in the form of Senator John F. Kennedy, who at the time was running for president in 1960.

His family’s Kennedy Foundation dedicated $100,000 to the program, resulting in 295 African students being brought to American universities as part of the initial run of the “Kennedy Airlift.” For JFK’s political ambitions, history judges it to be a prudent decision. Mboya’s time in America gave him the admiration of many of the leading Civil Rights leaders of the time, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Harry Belafonte. In 2009, The Nation noted that Tom Shachtman, a historian of the effort, credits JFK’s support for the project as being “’equally if not more crucial’ in Kennedy’s razor-thin victories in several key states with significant African-American voting strength than the often-cited phone call Kennedy made to Coretta Scott King after her husband was arrested and a subsequent call Robert Kennedy made to the judge in the case.”

One of the students that benefited from this program was Mahmood Mamdani, father of Zohran.

While one could point to the Kennedy Airlift as a purely private venture, the historical record is a bit more complicated. While it is true that the Kennedy Foundation was a major benefactor in the plan to come to life, the Eisenhower State Department offered to match the funding offer, widely viewed as an attempt to prevent JFK from obtaining valuable political capital with black voters.

More important though, the CIA had their own plans for the students that made the trip to the United States. With rising Soviet influence in Africa, Washington officials saw the potential for the development of a rival political elite that could compete with political leaders whose alliance was directed towards Moscow. In 1967, it was revealed that the CIA was funneling money to a number of international youth groups and student organizations, which included the African American Institute—the same organization Mboya used to help support his airlift program. In 2024, the CIA published previously classified documents revealing that the organization had assets so deeply embedded in AAI that it would report full meeting minutes back to the State Department.

Originally reported by the Washington Post, historian Dr. Susan Williams noted “The exposure of the CIA was picked up by the radical magazine Ramparts and the Saturday Evening Post, which fleshed out the details. ‘Like electricians tracing out the underground wiring of complicated circuits’, reported one journalist in 1969, newsmen dug deeper and ‘examined hundreds of foundation tax records and grant lists. Again and again, to their amazement they succeeded in making connections between a labyrinth of non-profit organisations and a hidden generator. This generator was demonstrably the CIA’.”

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Jasmine Crockett Joins Dems Who Fled Texas, Says Republicans Are ‘Weak’ and ‘We About to Beat You Down’

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) joined Democrats who fled her state to avoid voting on redistricting, and laughably claimed it’s Republicans who are “weak.”

Crockett also amped up the incendiary rhetoric by threatening violence in the wake of the controversy that caused her Democrat colleagues to tuck their tails and run away from the Lone Star State.

“This governor talks a lot of noise, and I made sure that I put up my warrant from four years ago,” Crockett began. “To make it plain that they talk a lot of noise, but these guys are weak.”

The wannabe leader of the Democrat party is referencing the fact that she was a major player in the same stunt Texas Democrats pulled in the state in July 2021 to prevent a vote on Republican election integrity bills. It’s a good reminder that Governor Greg Abbott had better put some teeth behind his arrest threats this time around.

“The difference is they expect Democrats to kind of be the nice guys that we are,” Crockett continued her rant. “They expect us to take the punch and say thank you. Well, I am here to tell you not only are we going to punch back, but we about to beat you down.”

Narrator: Nobody expects you to be the “nice guys,” especially when a recent study has shown the left is embracing an “assassination culture.”

Paging House Republicans – When are we going to have enough of Crockett and her street threats before we censure her for them? Are we waiting for the actual violence again, like in 2020?

This is the same woman who claims violence doesn’t come from the left side of the political aisle.

“The violence doesn’t come from Democrats, just to be clear,” she told comedian Hasan Minhaj. “I mean, obviously, anyone can be a criminal, but, um, it is MAGA. It’s specifically MAGA faction.”

Violence doesn’t come from Democrats, oh, and also … “We about to beat you down.”

Aside from Crockett’s violent language, several other prominent Democratic figures engaged in similar rhetoric. Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) called the matter of fleeing to avoid a vote “an all-out war” while California Governor Gavin Newsom said the resistance party was prepared to “fight fire with fire.”

Considering their party’s rhetoric has led to multiple assassination attempts on the President, it should be taken seriously. That said, listening to them shout in defense of their colleagues who are currently hiding and dispersed throughout the country so they can avoid doing their jobs is utterly hilarious.

This is like running three blocks away from a street fight and then yelling back to your opponent, “I’m gonna kick your a**,” all while shaking a fist in the air.

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Texas Dems ripped for ‘cartoonishly dumb’ strategy to flee to blue state notorious for gerrymandering

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is rolling out the red carpet for Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas as they push back against a move by President Donald Trump to add five Republican-controlled congressional seats in their state.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that they’re welcome here, that they have the ability to stay as long as they need to and want to,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Sunday evening as the lawmakers arrived in Illinois.

The lawmakers fled Texas in order to prevent the quorum needed in the Republican-dominated state legislature to vote on Monday on the new redistricting maps, which passed a committee vote this past weekend along party lines.

The redistricting push in Texas is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the House and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats in midterm elections.

But veteran Republican strategist Matt Whitlock argued that the decision by most of the Democratic lawmakers to head to Illinois – with a few others decamping in two other blue states, New York and Massachusetts – was “cartoonishly dumb.”

Tom Bevan, the RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, wrote on X, “The idea that Texas Democrats would flee to Illinois, a state where Dems have abused gerrymandering to comical levels, is perfection.”

“To protest ‘partisan gerrymandering’ Texas Democrats are fleeing to…Illinois,” Republican Missouri Senator Eric Scmitt wrote on X. “You can’t make this up.”

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Abbott Orders Arrest of Fleeing Democrats After House Fails to Reach Quorum

Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the arrest of Texas House Democrats who fled the state to block a Republican redistricting plan, calling their absence a “dereliction of duty.”

On Monday afternoon, the Texas House officially failed to reach the 100-member quorum required to conduct business, with only 90 members present. Members present quickly approved a “call of the House,” a procedural maneuver that authorizes the speaker to compel absent lawmakers to return, by civil arrest if necessary.

“Speaker Dustin Burrows just issued a call of the Texas House and issued warrants to compel members to return to the chamber,” Abbott said. “To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans.”

The call of the House allows the chamber to lock doors, restrict exits, and dispatch law enforcement to retrieve absent members—an escalation used when lawmakers intentionally break quorum. The House is expected to reconvene at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5.

While arrests of members out of state are unlikely, Capitol sources indicate that several quorum-busting Democrats may be hiding in Texas. 

In a floor speech Monday, Speaker Burrows condemned the quorum break, accusing Democrats of abandoning their posts under pressure from out-of-state activists. 

“Leaving the state does not stop this House from doing its work—it only delays it,” said Burrows. 

“I will do everything in my power to establish a quorum and move this body forward by any and all means available.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton also weighed in, releasing a statement calling the Democrats’ walkout a “cowardly desertion.” He warned that they must be “swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law.”

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Consumer Advocate: Dick Durbin, Roger Marshall Looking to Take Away Your Credit Card Rewards

Richard Hunt, the executive chairman of the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC), said at a Breitbart News policy event last week that Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KY) are trying to take away your credit card rewards with their credit card legislation.

Hunt explained that the EPC represents a diverse group of organizations, including credit unions, community banks, large banks, and unions. He warned that two senators, Durbin and Marshall, are moving to take away credit card rewards, which many Americans use for cashback or even to pay for travel for vacation.

Marshall and Durbin have been pushing the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) for years. Hunt dubbed it the “Credit Card Cancellation Act,” noting that some large retailers have backed the bill.

Advocates for the bill believe that they can inject more competition into payment processing by requiring banks to work with at least one alternative payment network besides Visa and Mastercard, the dominant players in the industry.

Under the current system, if a merchant accepts credit cards, it is “locked in” to whatever payment network that credit card runs, usually Visa or Mastercard, and thus must pay whatever the fee that payment network charges for transactions.

Durbin and Marshall believe that by passing the bill, more competition among payment networks would drive down merchants’ credit card costs, and the retailers would pass on that savings to consumers. Critics of the bill contend that it would, in addition to compromising the security of payment processing, likely kill credit card reward programs, just as previous Dodd-Frank legislation eliminated debit card rewards.

Hunt told Breitbart New Economics Editor John Carney that Americans used to receive rewards on debit cards and used to get free checking accounts. However, this ended when Durbin managed to get the Durbin Amendment included in the post-2008 financial crisis financial bill known as Dodd-Frank.

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Democrats Plan to Spend Tens of Millions of Dollars to Fund Hundreds of Content Creators

Democrats are planning to spend tens of millions of dollars to spin narratives on social media as part of a $110.5 million fundraising effort, according to images of slides from a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) donor event obtained by Breitbart News.

Under a heading “Urgent Off-Year Funding Needs” on one slide, it states the DCCC looks to raise $10 million for social media and content creation, $20 million for “Accountability work,” $15 million for “Voter Registration,” $5 million for “Recruitment” and “Primary Engagement,” and $2 million for “Research” and a “Rapid Response Infrastructure.”

One goal is to enlist at least 667 content creators, with the aim of reaching 83 million Americans and drawing 6.6 million engagements, per another slide that focuses on content creation. The program aims to engage at least 167 “Non-Political Creators” and 8 “Vetted Creators for ads in every target state.”

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House Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Accuses Republicans of Trying to ‘Steal’ the 2026 Midterm Elections

The 2026 midterm elections are more than a year away from now, but Democrat House Leader Hakeem Jeffries is already accusing Republicans of trying to ‘steal’ the elections because of the redistricting efforts in Texas.

Democrat controlled states like California, Illinois and New York have been gerrymandered like crazy but that is different for some reason.

What this reveals is that Democrats are really worried about their chances in the midterms.

Breitbart News reports:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” that Republicans in Texas are attempting to steal the 2026 midterm elections with their redistricting effort.

Jeffries said, “The Texas governor is a cowardly fake bully. He was ordered by Donald Trump to convene a special session of the legislature in order to gerrymander the Texas congressional map and try to rig the midterm elections.”

He continued, “This is a cowardly move by Republicans in Texas. And I’m so appreciative of the courage, the character and the conviction being shown by Texas democrats from the legislature.”

Jeffries added, “Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and at all points in between to this effort to steal the midterm elections.

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Texas Democrats’ Walkout Over Redistricting Endangers Hemp Ban Legislation

Texas Democratic House lawmakers are leaving the state to prevent a vote on redrawing the state’s congressional district map in Republicans’ favor—a move that could lead to a stalemate on a Senate-passed bill to ban hemp products containing any THC.

The cannabis legislation moved through the Senate on Friday and is now in the House’s court. But without a quorum, the chamber won’t be able to conduct legislative business as Democratic lawmakers flock to other states such as Illinois and New York—a strategy that’s produced mixed results in the past.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has threatened to remove those legislators from the House if they fail to show back up, and he also said members who received any financial support to leave the state could be subject to prosecution for felony bribery violations.

But in any case, time is running short in the special session the governor convened to address a series of outstanding issues, including legislation related to hemp cannabinoid products. Abbott vetoed an earlier version of the controversial ban, and he recently outlined what he’d like to see in a revised version of the bill.

The special session started on July 21. Under the state constitution, special sessions cannot last longer than 30 days, meaning a quorum would need to be reestablished before August 20 if any bills are to move. Of course, nothing prevents the governor from calling another special session once that deadline passes.

“The path forward for legislation during this special session is unclear, including whether or not a THC ban could advance,” Heather Fazio, director of the advocacy group Texas Cannabis Policy Center, told Marijuana Moment on Monday.

“The status quo is certainly better than THC being banned outright, but we hope the legislature can sort through their differences and find a way to pass common sense regulations that restrict youth access, at minimum,” she said. “We are continuing our advocacy and working with those remain in the building to ensure they understand, the issue can make good decisions when the time comes. That could be later during this first special session or during the next one.”

Austin Zamhariri, executive director of Texas Cannabis Collective (TCC) said that “Texans have been fighting a total hemp consumable ban since it was announced by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) in December of last year.”

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