Today is Wednesday, August 6, 2025. In light of the despicable Texas attempt to redraw the political map in order to pick up more Republican seats – in which the pedophile in chief arrogantly chimed in that repugnicans are entitled to five more seats when clearly they’re not – NBC Politics has an article today entitled “Democrats draw up plans to retaliate if Republicans gerrymander Texas – but they face legal hurdles,” and it’s by Sahil Kapur and Adam Edelman and it outlines steps that Democrats could adopt if Texas gets away with this effort to suppress the vote for millions of minority Texans.

Retaliation threats have come from California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who lead states where Democrats control large legislative majorities. Two can play at this game, they say, vowing to eliminate GOP-held seats in their states.

But that’s easier said than done, according to this article. Democrats have legal hurdles to clear in California and New York, which have restricted partisan gerrymandering, which liberal advocates pushed in previous years in the name of good government. But as expected, Texas has no such limits, and that’s why odious Governor Greg Abbott can call a special session to draw a new map.

Still, Newsom of California intends to get around those limits in his state only if Texas dares to enact its GOP-favored map, which is aimed at giving GOPers up to five more seats in the U.S. House, thus giving them a majority yet again.

Newsom hopes to work with the Democratic-dominated Legislature starting this month to set up a special election for a statewide ballot measure on November 4. It would offer a newly drawn map if Texas moves forward, a source close to Newsom told NBC News.

In a fighting spirit after hearing about Texas’ immoral bid to stack the deck against democracy, Newsom said, “We’re not going to roll over. And we’re going to fight fire with fire.” The governor added, “We will also punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing. And I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California.”

The potential Republican-held seats that could be flipped by Democrats in California if this change does go in effect is three, four, or five seats, according to Paul Mitchell, a California-based redistricting consultant who has advised Democrats and has said any new House map would be constrained by the Voting Rights Act as well as the governor’s office and the Legislature, which would need to green light it.

As for New York, changing the redistricting process must move forward as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment – a lengthy and arduous exercise that probably wouldn’t lead to new congressional maps until the 2028 election cycle, even if Texas acts before the upcoming midterms.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on All In, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “I wish I could just call a special election and change it. I’d do it in a heartbeat.” She added, “But we have a constitutional amendment process that’s required first. I’m willing to do that. I’m working hard with our legislative leaders to pass legislation immediately – as soon as they return in January – pass it in this current session of the Legislature, go to the next one, which is required, so it won’t be until 2027 we can get it on the ballot. But what would that mean – is that in 2028, we could have different lines.” Thus it appears that New York will have barriers to redraw the map before the 2026 midterms, which is bad.

Maybe only California will be able to sidestep the ingrained barriers to redrawing their maps and can effect change only if Texas gets away with its undemocratic move. The article doesn’t mention other blue states, so I’m not sure what these states could do in light of the Lone Star State’s push for unfairness in the political realm. Let’s see what happens next.

Democracy was in sharp relief at a repugnican town hall held by Representative Mike Flood (R-NE) in Lincoln, Nebraska, as he was pelted with boos, catcalls, and fierce opposition from his constituents who voiced their opposition to his endorsing the “big, beautiful bill” that his party rammed through Congress. You can say that this representative was “flooded” with his constituents’ ire at this town hall.

Thus House members are facing mounting backlash from voters on multiple fronts, including controversies around convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein and the slashing of Medicaid funding.

In light of such hatred directed at them, it’s totally inexplicable that House repugnican leadership has demanded that their vulnerable members go home on a hopeless mission to try and sell this cruel, unpopular law that election experts have said will cause House Republicans to be ‘eaten alive’ for their support of it. I say, “Let them be eaten alive by their voters who now wish them dead!” Or at least to be removed from political office.

On a personal note, this will be my last blog until next week, probably until next Wednesday, since we will return later on Tuesday. As I mentioned, we’ll be flying to the West Coast to attend our friends’ 50th-wedding anniversary party. And to celebrate our 11th-wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Have a great rest of week and a good weekend.

See you next week.

And so it went!