Incompetence is going to save democracy

[Aviation Pro]

Or end humanity as we know it.

Damn, I hate absolutes.

[wiggs]

1. We are at a crossroads, for sure. I'm thinking this is a different kind of world war...not necessarily nations

fighting each other over borders and sovereignty using hard weapons and instruments of violence as in past world wars. The weapons of this global war include misinformation, money, power, bribery, legislation, control of media, fear and polarization, desperation. World War III may not involve nations except in that nations have been captured by the economic, corporate, and individual entities that are waging a war against the other 95% of the world.

We may be at the crossroads or we may have already passed the crossroad 9 months ago and chose unwisely. U-Turn feasibility unclear, likely removed after 50 years of right wing planning.

[H2O Man]

2. Right.

At times, I am reminded of Woody Allen's speech to graduates:

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. I speak, by the way, not with any sense . of futility, but with a pan- icky conviction of the absolute meaninglessness of existence which could easily be misinterpreted as pessimism. It is not. It is merely a healthy concern for the predicament of modern man. (Modern man is here defined as any person born after Nietzche's edict that 'God is dead,' but before the hit recording 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.') This 'predicament' can be stated one of two ways, though certain linguistic philosophers prefer to reduce it to a mathmatical equation where it can be easily solved and even carried around in the wallet.”

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Texas Redistricting-As a voting rights volunteer, I was amused to learn a new term "dummymander"

I have been volunteering on voting rights/voter protection since 2004 when I went to Florida as part of the Kerry Edwards voter protection team. I have testified before committees of both the Texas House and Senate on gerrymandered districts. Part of my testimony was used in a prior lawsuit that unfortunately failed. Texas is heavily gerrymandered. My congressional district went from a R+1 to a R+21 as part of the last gerrymander. trump wants Ohio and Texas to re-gerrymander their districts to help in the midterms. I was amused to see that these efforts run a risk of failing

Republicans run a risky strategy for holding the House that rests on redrawn maps
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

— David Darmofal (@daviddarmofal.bsky.social) 2025-07-11T18:40:41.292Z

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/11/texas-redistricting-00448145

But in Texas, Republicans are in danger of creating a so-called dummymander, whereby an attempt to draw more seats for one party accidentally benefits the other. Texas’ congressional map already heavily favors the GOP, so any changes to further benefit the party would have to walk a careful line. Adding Republican voters to blue districts to reduce Democrats’ margins means taking those same voters out of the red districts where they reside. The result is more competitive districts across the board — ones Democrats hope to take advantage of as they harness anti-Trump energy in the midterms.

“They are playing a little bit of roulette with these maps,” said Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas). “In a wave election like what we have a potential opportunity for in ‘26 I think it makes these Republicans very vulnerable.”

Texas has 38 House seats, with 25 held by Republicans. Members of the state’s Democratic delegation huddled with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the redistricting talk ramped up, with follow-up meetings planned.

Jeffries warned in a statement Wednesday that an aggressive map could “result in making several incumbent House Republicans vulnerable to fierce general election challenges.”

“Republicans are cutting off their nose to spite their face,” he added.....

Democrats are almost certain to sue over whatever new maps are created in both Ohio and Texas, said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

“I imagine we will have a lot to say about the map they create and the legalities of it,” he said Thursday.

On top of everything else, there is a trial going on with respect to the Texas maps that these efforts may affect.

This will be fun to watch

[Kammer]

4. Ha!

That describes exactly how I feel. LOL