The 2026 election politics

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That is whatabouttism. Why is it that we have to compare every candidate against somebody similarly bad to justify their electability? It becomes a race to the bottom if that is your criteria.

Let’s look at it from an employment environment perspective. I’ve worked with corrupt and incompetent people because they were hired at some point in time, somehow. Should the company decide that anybody sending their resume should be hired too, just because we have fool#1 and fool#2 around here? I don’t think so.

102

The whataboutism was tongue-in-cheek.

She actually went to Yale and Harvard, is a lawyer, and served in the House of Representatives for 6 years. She is easily qualified for the Governor role. I don’t think she’s corrupt or incompetent, but it’s true that she might have other issues. But maybe she’ll correct since she and everyone else knows about it now. I’d expect this to come up in debates or interviews.

103


https://defensescoop.com/2026/04/16/trump-economic-pressure-iran-blockade/

U.S. launches ‘Operation Economic Fury’ to obstruct Iran’s revenue streams amid blockade

Senior officials signaled how the Trump administration is augmenting the war effort with economic pressure against Iran.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control revealed on Wednesday that it has been intensifying pressureon Iran’s allegedly criminally-run oil transportation infrastructure.

OFAC sanctioned more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. He’s the son of senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani, who was killed by U.S. strikes on the first day of the war.

“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” Bessent said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”

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Oooh, “Economic Fury”. We’re shaking in our boots!
-Russia and China, probably

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https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-more-mr-nice-guy-trump-sends-witkoff-pakistan-us-iran-talks-hormuz-traffic-freezes

No More Mr. Nice Guy": US Strikes, Seizes Iranian Cargo Ship Trying To Break Blockade

Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them.

The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS SPRUANCE intercepted the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman, and gave them fair warning to stop.

The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.

Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel.

The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity.

We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!

edit. More on the incident

https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/World/20260420/4441245.html

CENTCOM confirms interception of Iranian vessel TOUSKA, says US forces fired “several rounds” to disable it

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Sunday (local time) confirmed that American forces intercepted and disabled an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, TOUSKA, in the Arabian Sea after it violated a US naval blockade, stating that “several rounds” were fired to halt the ship.

“TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. forces operating in the Arabian Sea enforced naval blockade measures against an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, April 19,” CENTCOM said in a statement on X.

The command said the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the vessel as it was en route to Bandar Abbas in Iran.

“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” the statement read.

CENTCOM added that the vessel failed to comply despite repeated warnings issued over several hours.

“After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” the statement further read.

107

Another assassination attempt on Trump, this time from a well-educated CA teacher / engineer who seems to have gone off the rails and was radicalized with too much far left Democratic propaganda on Blue Sky. Luckily he wasn’t too competent and was captured quickly and the one security guy he shot in the chest had body armor and survived.

Legacy media - ”loud noises” at dinner scare Trump

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108

Imagine getting admission into CalTech, earning a mechanical engineering degree, only working in that field for 18 months, and switching to tutoring high-schoolers. Something was very wrong in his life.

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109

Right? Not to knock tutoring, as I know a guy who has done very well as a top notch tutor to rich families’ high school and college kids, but maybe he had mental issues or something. Caltech was not known for much affirmative action either, especially so in the past, so everyone admitted was very smart. Motivated or focused on class work, not always, and it was usually personal issues rather than academic abilities that lead to drop outs or the like.

110

Supreme Court strikes down race-based voting districts in Louisiana, with implications more widely.

the Court—in a lengthy opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito—strongly suggested that nearly all deliberately created majority-minority districts are likely unconstitutional. Dividing up citizens by race, said the Court, is “odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” And “where the State assumes from a group of voters’ race that they ‘think alike, share the same political interests, and will prefer the same candidates at the polls,’ it engages in racial stereotyping at odds with equal protection mandates.”

Other states where this could matter ‘

Top GOP candidates, elected officials and party chairs across Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina — as well as rafts of Republican lawyers and MAGA allies — called for special sessions in their states to dismantle minority-majority districts

https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2026/04/29/blackburn-pitches-9-0-gop-map-for-tennessee-after-supreme-court-decision

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/29/voting-rights-act-2026-midterms-republicans-gerrymandering-redistricting-00899022

https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/04/29/supreme-court-decision-weakening-voting-rights-act-could-impact-future-political-maps-in-georgia/

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111

Why am I feeling like the narrative here is going to be how Republicans dont want black people to have representation?

Way too much money is spent on this issue. Just overlay a grid, adjust the grid size to achieve somewhat equal registered voters in each sector of the grid, and there are your districts. There shouldnt be any strategy involved.

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Following up on the SCOTUS districting ruling

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**
Some great primary election results for conservatives in Indiana**

Trump-backed candidates romp to wins in Indiana Senate races

President prevails in his call for retribution over congressional redistricting defeat.

Indiana Republican voters decisively sided with President Donald Trump’s call for political vengeance against state senators who defied him and voted down congressional redistricting.

Results from Tuesday’s primaries showed six Republican challengers endorsed by Trump defeating incumbent candidates, with another Trump-backed candidate winning an open seat primary. Only one of the eight senators opposed by pro-redistricting groups — Greg Goode of Terre Haute — was a certain winner.

Those incumbent senators defeated were Travis Holdman of Markle, Jim Buck of Kokomo, Linda Rogers of Granger, Dan Dernulc of Highland, Rick Niemeyer of Lowell and Greg Walker of Columbus. All those winning challengers received at least 56% of the vote, according to preliminary tallies compiled by The Associated Press.

Sen. Spencer Deery of West Lafayette was ahead of challenger Paula Copenhaver by just three votes — 6,334-6,331 — and both candidates made declarations of victory.

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VA’s Democrat redistricting lost in the VA court system as unconstitutional due to some last minute special session used to ram it through, and appears to be dead for midterms but could well be redone down the road.

Article also recaps the current redistricting gains and losses elsewhere, with Republicans slated to pick up 5-10 House seats presently.

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115

It’s pretty messed up when instead of voters deciding who they elect as their representatives, the representatives are deciding who gets to vote for them.

The number of voters in each district should be the sole factor, past election results shouldnt even be part of the equation.

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VA follow up, Democrats next move in the next few days to reclaim their rightfully gerrymandered map is

1. Replace the entire VA Supreme Court and have their new hand picked one rule in favor of their map, or

2. Ban republicans from voting entirely, or failing that remove their candidates from the ballot?

Only one of these is satire…

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117

Wow. I would only expect this kind of shenanigans from the GOP. Desperate times I guess.

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“The ends justify the means” in many more words -

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday named six Democratic states he wants to join New York in pursuing mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2028 election—a longer-term play as both parties have raced to redraw maps before the November 2026 midterms.

“It’s going to be incredibly important that states like New York, New Jersey, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland and Illinois are aggressive in moving forward to ensure that there’s a fair national map, particularly in light of what the Supreme Court’s attack on the Voting Rights Act has unleashed,”Jeffries said in an interview with CNN published on May 8.

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119

Both of those statements (“Saving our Democracy” and “Literally Fascism”) can be true, because the first is a response to the second. None of this would be happening if TX hadn’t done the mid-decade redistricting first.

120

You are mixing up cause and effect. it’s only in this year’s election that democrat House districts may disappear from the south. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia,

>>Massachusetts’ U.S. House delegation has been entirely Democratic since 1997. The last Republicans to serve Massachusetts in the House of Representatives were Peter I. Blute and Peter G. Torkildsen. Both were elected in 1992 and subsequently defeated in the 1996 elections.

edit:

There were no Republican congressman elected to Massachusetts 9 members of congress despite the fact that Trump/Vance got 36% of the vote in 2024.

https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Massachusetts,_2024

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