You Didn’t Think The Supreme Court Would Stop That Texas Gerrymander, Did You?
The Supreme Court on Friday evening temporarily allowed Texas to use its newly redrawn, Republican-friendly congressional voting map for the 2026 midterm elections.
The decision blocked, for now, a lower-court ruling that had said Texas could not use the map. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who is assigned to handle emergency applications from that region of the country, issued the administrative stay, a temporary ruling meant to give the full court time to consider the issue.
The Texas attorney general earlier in the evening had filed an emergency application with the justices, asking them to allow the state to use the new map.
Justice Alito requested that the civil rights groups that had challenged the map respond to the attorney general’s request by Monday at 5 p.m., signaling the court would likely consider the issue speedily.
We all know how this will play out. It was fun while it lasted…
MTG Resigns From Congress. Effective January 5:
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently became the latest target of President Donald Trump’s ire, said she will resign from Congress after the new year.
Greene, a Rome Republican, will leave with roughly a year left to serve in her third term in office. She has not said what she will do next, although she has a massive social media platform and her split with Trump made her an even bigger national sensation.
Greene announced her resignation in a 10-minute video posted on social media, followed by a written statement. She said she would not stand by and allow Trump to dump millions of dollars supporting a primary opponent running against her.
Greene said the likely result would be that she would win reelection and then have to defend Trump in the next Congress when Democrats are likely to win the majority.
“It’s all so absurd and completely unserious,” she said in the video. “I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better.”
Hey, there’s more money in podcasting. There’s no doubt that she will remain an annoying presence in our lives for years to come.
Feds Drop Charges Against Woman ICE Agents Shot 5 (Or More) Times. It’s the least they could do:
Federal prosecutors are dropping charges against a woman who was shot by Border Patrol agents in early October.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Bond filed the motion to drop charges against Marimar Martinez, 30, and co-defendant Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, early Thursday.
Martinez and Ruiz were accused of hitting a Border Patrol agent’s vehicle, according to federal prosecutors’ charging documents. Agents were allegedly pinned in by the cars and saw Martinez continue to drive at agents, at which point an agent got out of his car and shot Martinez multiple times, prosecutors said.
But Martinez’s attorney disputed that narrative, saying footage from body-worn cameras contradicts their version of events. The agent who shot Martinez was allowed to drive the car involved in the incident to Maine before Martinez’s attorney could inspect it.
The move to drop the charges happened just hours before a hearing where defense attorneys were expected to reveal new texts from the agent who shot Martinez, according to the Chicago Tribune. Previous texts from the agent had already been read to the court, including texts from the agent in a group chat of other agents in which he said he was “up for another round of “f––– around and find out.”
He had also texted a link to a news article about the shooting and wrote, “Read it … I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” according to the Tribune.
I think there are a few factors.
One is that Mamdani is personally very charming. He’s got oceans of charisma. Even his foes know this. That’s a big thing for Trump. Always has been. It’s of a piece with his being a pushover for any good looking guy he could imagine being a movie leading man. As Trump also noted explicitly in one of the video clips, Mamdani brought a press horde with him. That’s a really, really big thing for Trump. That impresses him. Trump wants to be near that — especially if the recipient of that love provides a pathway to see that love as not being at Trump’s expense, as not the inverse of rejection of Trump.
Obviously, I have no idea what they discussed. But I figure Mamdani came in and said two things right off the bat. I want to build a lot of new housing stock. New construction. You love that. And my victory was built on a lot of voters from the outer boroughs who also voted for you. You’re hearing all this stuff about me. But we actually agree on some key things. We share supporters. I suspect he also said, or would have been wise to say, we don’t have to fight. So let’s not fight?
The best way for Mamdani to pull New Yorkers to his side is to get into a pitched battle with Donald Trump, along the lines of what we’ve seen in LA, Chicago, now Charlotte. But it’s really not necessarily the best way for him to succeed as mayor, to notch a bunch of policy wins that allow him to say he’s delivering on his promises about affordability. There’s a difference. I’m not saying he can’t do both. That’s possible. But if he can come to some understanding with Trump to refrain from targeting New York City, that’s a win for his ambitions as mayor even if it lacks the partisan fireworks some are expecting. In the most basic sense, if a mayor’s job isn’t to do everything he can to stop a renegade president from targeting his city what is it?
Oops, sorry. Kinda let this Open Thread get away from me. Was having too much fun seein’ as how John Atkins is back on the scene…hmmm, couldn’t find a local story to close with. It’s a wrap.
What do you want to talk about?