From purple to blue in a single night
Last night Virginians voted to gerrymander their state and disenfranchise about half the voters of Virginia. The great divider came out to push for it as did the governor who ran as a moderate but has governed as a radical leftist. The dems also spent a lot of money on it and the wording of the ballot initiative was partisan. Virginia’s congressional delegation is currently 6-5 in favor of Democrats, but the new map will give democrats a 10-1 advantage, effectively making Virginia a blue state.
A victory for the radical left, but it may be temporary. The Virginia Supreme Court allowed the vote but has yet to rule on the Constitutionality of putting it on the ballot just before an election.
In other news:
Another Supreme Court leak regarding the Court's upcoming decision on after election day voting. Law Professor Jonathan Turley responded to the leak on Fox News saying: “For the future of the court and the faith of the public, Roberts has to set his reservations aside and bring in the FBI to find the culprit. Most importantly, he has to guarantee total transparency in allowing the public to see the results wherever they may lead. In other words, with two strikes, Roberts needs to protect the plate.” The leaker must be HUNTED down and prosecuted!
Meanwhile partisan gridlock has basically strangled congress as democrats resist anything the President wants to do.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat, who has been as bold as brass, resigned from the House yesterday to avoid an expulsion vote. She had violated more than two dozen House rules, including campaign finance laws, according to the chamber’s ethics committee. (She still faces federal criminal charges alleging that she stole $5 million in coronavirus disaster relief funds.) Did you know her middle name was Cherfilus?
The President has decided to extend the cease fire at the request of Pakistan (some say China advocated for it) in order to give Iran's waring factions time to get together on the same page. In the meantime, Iran is losing $400 million per day.
Iranian state media reports that Iranian forces have taken custody of two trade vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after firing upon them.
On Twitter Chris Murphy reposted a piece of Iranian propaganda about ships escaping the blockage (a lie) and posting the word "Awesome." It wasn't the first time Murphy sided with the enemies of the US. Now he is trying to say he meant something else and few are likely to buy it.
The man accused of a string of deadly shootings including the killing of a Department of Homeland Security employee walking her dog, has died in jail before authorities could determine a motive. Olaolukitan Adon Abel is dead and people can now safely walk the streets again.
The New York City Citizens Budget Commission reported that the city’s overall population declined in 2025. The study explained further that the decline in population is due to the 70% drop in New Yorkers moving to other areas and international migration.
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Good morning and welcome to the Vic Eldred cast.
For the woke: Happy Earth Day.
For the rest of us spring has arrived.
Vic,
Earth Day, was started in 1970, well before the word "woke" in response to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and is now celebrated by over 190 countries. It is hardly "woke". It's caring about the only planet we call home.
And Spring arrived on March 20, at 2:37 a.m. PDT (09:37 UTC).
Yup. As I recall, a young comedian by the name of Norm Macdonald had his first shot at live tv during what was known as "earth hour" when people were supposed to shut off their electricity. At least that is the way Norm likes to tell it.
And Spring arrived on March 20, at 2:37 a.m. PDT (09:37 UTC).
Is that supposed to be a correction? I don't know about NY, but here in MA we hit 80 degrees last week and are in the 40s this week. I know what the calendar says but the season known as "spring" doesn't always follow it, nor does it usually present itself for a full season.
No, a clarification, because there is an actual date that Spring starts, and your comment made it sound as if Spring was replaced by Earth Day, which it was not.
I think Americans are universally aware of the first day of spring. I doubt many have heard of earth day.
I don't think that's true. I can remember each of my children talking about earth day from early grade school projects. I believe it's still taught as a class project in early grades but ignored in later grades. They should have heard of it but many have likely forgotten it. I remember planting pine trees as a class project in kindergarten, we planted them behind the school building.
Hell, where i live i can get all 4 seasons in a 24 hr period at any time of the year.
I would say you lived in London, where they say, "Three seasons in a day", but you got all 4, LOL!
I remember planting trees, too.
And as the science teacher, I taught about Earth Day, as were my kids.
Exactly the way Texas republicans had planned to gerrymander their State to disenfranchise the Democrat voters that live there. Funny how it only seems to be a problem for some when Democrats do it. Just another example of how the hypocrisy of rightwing conservatives knows no bounds.
Trump and his minions fucked around and found out. This all got started when Trump demanded Texas add 5 new Republican districts so as to ensure they would win the House in '26 and he could avoid being held to account by Congressional committees.
There are blue states and there are red states. Virginia was a purple state,
As far as Texas is concerned, they are owed seats:
"Tripped up by politics and the pandemic — and with only a last-minute investment in promotion by the state — the 2020 census likely undercounted the Texas population by roughly 2%, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.
The once-a-decade national count put Texas’ official population at 29,145,505 after it gained the most residents of any state in the last decade, earning two additional congressional seats. In a post-count analysis using survey results from households, the bureau estimated that the count for people living in Texas households — a slightly smaller population than the total population — failed to find more than half a million residents. That’s the equivalent of missing the entire populations of Lubbock, Laredo and then some ."
U.S. census missed more than a half-million Texans during 2020 count
So it isn't quite the same as what Virginia just did.
Just like California was owed seats....
It falls under self defense since it was in response to Trump telling red states to start gerrymandering.
Democrats in Wyoming are permanently unrepresented.
Vic,
Personally, I hate gerrymandering, but Texas started this, and Virginia finished it. Gerrymandering is never for representation. It's for keeping parties in power. Let's not pretend it's for anything more.
Well said.
I don't like being in same district with Fairfax, nothing in common with that place.
And I do not like Gov Spamberger
When you're that biased to begin with, it's not surprising they feel that way. More neutral observers, though, consistently ranked Texas as one of the most gerrymandered states in the US, and that was before the new redistricting.
I think to say Democrats think the new Virginia map is "fair" is a misnomer. What Democrats think is that Trump demanded five new Republican districts in Texas, and got them, and the Democrats needed to fight back.
and remarkably, you along with Gregg Abbott now want to count the illegals who were hiding from the system?
That purely evil politics. IMHO.
I think it is very simple. Most states have been gerrymandered. I regard the worst offenders as those that can't be gerrymandered anymore. For example, I live in MA. We have 9 democrats representing the state at the federal level and 0 Republicans. You will not be hearing our governor getting into this debate or threatening to redistrict MA. There is no point to it.
Actually, we want it one way or the other. The US census can't count them in CA and ignore them in Texas.
So, do I. I would love to see AI used to create fair districts throughout the country, but it just isn't going to happen.
but Texas started this, and Virginia finished it.
You mean Texas started the redistricting between census counts. You are correct on that. As far as Virginia finishing it, that is far from true yet. You see, the Supreme Court of Virginia has received many appeals and lawsuits over the proposed redistricting. The Court declared that they could not hear those cases until the state actually voted on it. The hearings will begin as soon as Monday. I believe one of the lawsuits involves the convoluted language used on the ballot initiative claiming that a yes vote was a vote for fairness or something like that. At any rate the entire vote could easily be overturned. The ruling is expected by the end of May.
I understand Fairfax was crucial in eking out a win for redistricting. It was really strange. I was watching the vote count and minutes after the vote count showed the NOs ahead by about 100,000 votes, in came Fairfax to turn it around and that was like one of the final districts to come in. Although it is hard to get a breakdown of registered voters in Fairfax County (some say it is 60/40 for democrats) it came in at about 85% for the YES vote on election night.
the dems spent about $64 million on the redistricting campaign. Republicans only spent about $21 million.
And I do not like Gov Spamberger
She promised not to do it as a candidate and made it a top priority as soon as she got elected.
This is easily explained and has been observed over many elections.
My county of 42,000-ish people (total population, not registered voters and not voters who actually cast a ballot) can tabulate their votes fairly quickly, and counts are generally in soon after the polls close. Fairfax County, which is basically a DC suburb and has a much higher number of voters, takes longer to count their ballots. They also happen to have a higher number of Democrats compared to Republicans than rural areas. Same for the Richmond area.
Cities generally tend to lean more liberal, and also tend to turn in their results later because they're cities. Nothing nefarious about it.
I wonder how many folks who are upset about this would have supported the GOP attempt to redistrict Virginia back in 2013, when that measure was tabled until a Black Democratic state senator went to Obama's inauguration. With him gone, suddenly a redistricting bill was added to the legislative agenda and passed on the one day the GOP had a one-seat majority. The GOP Speaker of the House blocked it from going forward, to his credit. That bill was nefarious, and several GOP officials recognized that, including Speaker Howell and Governor McConnell. But that didn't stop Senate Republicans from pushing it through, anyway.
But we don't talk about that.
True. Urban voters usually vote for social programs, infrastructure and handouts. That is part of it.
I wonder how many folks who are upset about this would have supported the GOP attempt to redistrict Virginia back in 2013, when that measure was tabled until a Black Democratic state senator went to Obama's inauguration.
Worried about the native population of a state being totally disenfranchised?
I think I'll wait for the Superior Court of Virginia to decide.
That happened when the FF signed their famous documents and was further "refined' by Andrew Jackson, James Polk and others.
You sound more and more like those people who want Utopia.
What does that have to do with the question you quoted from me? You blew right by the hypocrisy of the GOP squalling about Dems doing what they tried to do themselves, 13 years ago, and what they have done in other states in recent days.
You seem to think that urban areas contain only "transplants", and that rural areas contain only native Virginians. I can assure you that is not the case.
Northern Virginia’s shift toward blue began in earnest in the early 2000s, but the tipping point came in 2008 when the region flipped from reliably Republican to a Democratic stronghold Reddit . Before that, Virginia was a swing state with rural and suburban areas leaning Republican, and even in Democratic presidential wins like 2008, the state often leaned red overall Reddit .
The change was driven by rapid population growth and demographic shifts . Over the past two decades, Northern Virginia (NOVA) expanded into a dense, urbanized metro area with many residents working in Washington, D.C. — a base of strong Democratic support. As government jobs in the capital drew in workers, the region’s political leanings shifted left, overpowering the traditionally Republican rural and coastal counties Reddit .
By the 2012 presidential election, NOVA counties were already reliably Democratic, and the state’s overall margin swung to the left:
2012: D+4
2016: D+5
2020: D+10 Reddit
This trend continued into 2025, when NOVA counties powered Virginia’s “blue wave” in the gubernatorial race, with Democrat Abigail Spanberger winning in areas where President Trump had done better in 2024 Axios .
In short, while the roots of the shift began earlier, 2008 marked the year Northern Virginia decisively turned blue , and since then the region has dominated Virginia’s politics, making the state a consistent Democratic stronghold at the federal level Reddit .
And yet, there are still native Virginians living in the DC area, and transplants (like me) living in rural areas.
If the blue shift started in 2008 in those urban areas, well, you likely have voting age children of those folks who are native Virginians who were raised by Democratic parents. Should they, who are native Virginians, be disenfranchised?
And come to think of it, why should native votes count for more, anyway? I pay taxes, same as anyone born here. I provide employment and pay wages and benefits to my employees. I participate in making my community a better place to live by volunteering for the same nonprofits as my native neighbors. My economic interests are the same as my neighbors', although I don't get the farm subsidies some of them receive. I see no reason why my vote should count for less.
I was raised by democratic parents. It does not mean the children will share the views of their parents.
And come to think of it, why should native votes count for more, anyway?
Count for more? I think you have it backwards. The new districts would take Virginia from a 6-5 democrat majority split to a 10-1 democrat one party state. The votes of the native population wouldn't count at all.
Now we wait for the Virginia Supreme Court to rule. They had allowed the ballot to move to a vote but didn't rule on the constitutionality of the measure.
I hope they overturn it
And it's moving along the process to get to the Virginia Supreme Court. I see that a Republican judge has now blocked it and the Virginia AG is going to appeal. Will take some time but it should be resolved before November.
This judge was waiting for this.
However,
We shall see who prevails, I suspect it will be VA's SCOTUS
Actually everyone with a working brain will likely buy it.
He was obviously cheering on Iran.
uh, no.
For idiots like Murphy the hate of Trump is so great they would rather cheer on our enemy than agree with Trump.
He is counting on the feeble minded to buy his feeble excuse.
It's idiotic to apply the logical fallacy of composition. A + B = C doesn't not automatically mean C - B = A when talking about anything other than algebra. It certainly doesn't apply to political opinions. One can criticize the Trump's handling of an unjustified war without automatically supporting a terrorist state.
I have no published metric for it, but my guess would be less than 5% of Americans would prefer the Iranian style of government to ours.
Many on the left have gone waaaay past that. They hide behind that statement while cheering the terrorists on.
It is not fooling anyone capable of independent thought.
Confirmation bias on the part of those that think this is true?
I think some people are fooling themselves thinking they are capable of independent thought.
No
I totally agree
Do you think the Iranians that see Chris saying this on their state run TV agree it is propaganda? Don't you think Chris and others should consider this before opening the yaps?
Why do you feel that applies to whether Chris supporting Iran or not supporting Iran? Iranian TV is using what Trump says against him too, does that mean Trump supports Iran?
You don't see that those statements by Chris are being used are being used?
Does Trump make statements like we are losing the war or it is awesome when the shios get around a navel blockade?
Your deflection attempt is noted though.
Because Iran is using anything and everything it can for it's propaganda has little to nothing to do with whether a poster supports them unless the post is specific, which this one is not.
When Trump does a taco Tuesday every tuesday Iran uses it to make America look weak.
Your logic is tragic.
Well that is a crock of shit.
Yea, we look weak. Sure we do. Many folks on the left whine if he goes through with it and whines if he doesn't.
Nope. It just doesn't start and end with I hate Trump
Obvious sarcasm should be obvious. It's like when you break something and say "Great!" Only the deliberately obtuse (born of extreme partisanship) could read his post any other way.
...and mangle the logic to justify it.
And it isn't the first time Murphy did it.
It's really not. Changing my original post -
To
Is called moving the goalposts. Continuing to argue something I did not ask, or say, further twists logic into pretzels. You can argue Mathews was stupid to comment, you can even argue saying anything give Iran ammunition to use against the US, but you can't say a sarcastic poke at the Admin is tacit support for Iran. At best your position is a biased opinion bereft of logic.
It was dumb posters did this when Bush invaded Afghanistan & Iraq. It's still dumb now.
It is called probative question. Politicians (including Trump) should know enough to understand what should and not be said during a conflict.
Believing it was a sarcastic poke is partisan bullshit and Chris should have known saying it could give ammo for the Iranians to use.
If you didn't want to address my point then you should have said so, instead of deflecting to your 'probative question.'
I don't really give two shits if it was, or wasn't. Giving ammo to the Iranians to use is still not implied support. The argument it does, does not hold up under even basic scrutiny.
It's perfectly okay to say it's your opinion that this guy supports Iran, but you cannot make a declarative statement and expect anyone to take you seriously.
He was promoting and cheering literal Iranian propaganda.
The entire premise of Murphy's tweet was a lie.
If democrats of today were voters in 1942, Tokyo Rose would be in the Senate.
He is too stupid to know people like him are loved by the Iranian propaganda machine. He is probably on Iranian TV. I am sure their government is not saying it is sarcasm.
What Obummer really should have said "“Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet, because we did it first”
The wording on the ballot was truly orwellian. No shame from democrats, that's for sure.
President Trump can't even win his own gerrymander game played by his rules. Give that President a participation award!
How could Iran lose $400 million a day since they're isolated by sanctions? Trump 45 imposed those sanctions when he withdrew the US from the JCPOA agreement. Is Trump 47 really smarter than Trump 45? That would be a bit of a schizophrenic argument with Trump being both the bad guy and the good guy.
Lloyd's List isn't exactly a left-wing rag, ya know. As usual, Trump Republicans think that shooting the messenger somehow hides the facts. Chris Murphy raised a stupid question, besides he's fat and ugly, and the GOAT ballroom will be the best thing since cave art.
What the hell does New York have to do with the heartland? Why is this news of any interest to Bible Belt Republicans? How is slamming New York going to improve Donald Christ Trump's poll numbers?
from Lloyds of London -
At least 26 Iranian shadow fleet vessels bypass US blockade
================
The truth is neither side in this war is completely credible. Sincere Americans dont know who to believe.
Man, you got that straight. Nobody knows what the hell is going on any more.
I would certainly believe this country before I believe Iran, as some democrats have shown they do.
Where did Lloyds get their information?
I wouldnt believe Donald Trump (without corroboration from another source) if he told me water is wet.
ask them
Now the Pentagon is arguing with Hegseth and Centcom as the killed and injured lists are different by different agencies, the largest difference being 15 that fell off the lists.
people old enough to remember VN are saying it's just the old Brass two step, a cover up.
Barry claiming the democrats have an actual platform to run on?
Democrats actually had a platform last election and the gop did not...
The GOP had Project 2025, although Trump denied he knew about it!
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Get Trump isn't a platform. It's a hissy fit thrown by children.
Democrats and the left claimed they had Project 2025. Of course that claim was never proven.
People want to "get" Trump because he is not fit for office. Not intellectually, not psychologically, not morally, not ethically.
MAGAS need to get that through their thick skulls.
That's one unfounded opinion. Democrats have been investigating for 10 years and come up with with a goose egg.
Actually prove it and they might. For a decade now, that's all we've heard but you have provided ZERO proof. Flapping your lips over and over hasn't done a damn thing but make you all look desperate.
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2024 Democratic Party Platform | The American Presidency Project
Too bad you had to google that to find out what their platform was. Reason why that is is because they did not follow it. Their only platform on the trail was "Orange Man Bad". That's it..Nothing more.
What makes your claim even funnier is in the "platform", here is what chapter 7 is about..
Chapter Seven: Securing our Border & Fixing the Broken Immigration System 67
Securing The Border 68
Expanding Legal Immigration & Deterring Illegal Immigration 70
This is comedic as democrats opened the border wide open for four years under the dementia president and his DEI VP. There is absolutely no doubt that if DEI was elected that the open border would continue for at least 4 more years.
With that being said that chapter 7 is pure bullshit, then there is no doubt the rest of the "platform", with the exception of LGBTQQQSTR++MMI and DEI is also bullshit.
Picture this - the Republican party sued Obama 97 times during his eight years in office;
the Republican party sued Biden 133 times during his time in office;
AND -
the Democrats have sued Trump, a s of April 2026, AP News reported hundreds of active lawsuits challenging the administration, with over 300 cases tracked in various courts.
The Trump administration’s sweeping policy changes face a number of lawsuits — more than 700.
In more than 400 cases, the courts have let the administration’s policies stay in effect even as they remain in active litigation. In more than 150 cases, however, the courts have at least partially halted the administration’s policies either through temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions.
Working with the President??? The Dems/Libs sure as hell don't know how.
Yup - How's that "Orange Man Bad" working out for you?
Hey this is the game Trump and MAGA wanted to play. So, the Democrats are playing to win and you all wanna cry about it now. Too bad. You brought this shit on yourselves.