Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
April 1, 2024
TRACKLIST:
00:00 Kos:mo - Speak Up (Original Mix)
05:00 Turquoise Music, Sam WOLFE - Hold On (feat. Turquoise Music)
09:21 MOTVS - Dna (Original Mix)
13:40 Danny Avila (ES) - Notre Dame (Original Mix)
18:02 MOTVS - Automa (Original Mix)
22:35 Feyln - Swine (Extended Mix)
27:35 Kos:mo - On My Mind (ORiginal Mix)
31:55 UMEK, Sam WOLFE - Robocop (Original Mix)
36:30 UMEK - Annihilating Rhythm (Original Mix)
41:11 JAVIIS - Stardust (Danzah Remix)
45:50 HNTR - Away Too Long (Original Mix)
50:10 Peku, Bluntac - Leave The World Behind (Original Mix)
53:07 HNTR - Mind Games (Original Mix)
TECHNO MIX 2024 - RAVE NEW WORLD - Mixed by EJ
TRACKLIST:
00:00 Kos:mo - Speak Up (Original Mix)
05:00 Turquoise Music, Sam WOLFE - Hold On (feat. Turquoise Music)
09:21 MOTVS - Dna (Original Mix)
13:40 Danny Avila (ES) - Notre Dame (Original Mix)
18:02 MOTVS - Automa (Original Mix)
22:35 Feyln - Swine (Extended Mix)
27:35 Kos:mo - On My Mind (ORiginal Mix)
31:55 UMEK, Sam WOLFE - Robocop (Original Mix)
36:30 UMEK - Annihilating Rhythm (Original Mix)
41:11 JAVIIS - Stardust (Danzah Remix)
45:50 HNTR - Away Too Long (Original Mix)
50:10 Peku, Bluntac - Leave The World Behind (Original Mix)
53:07 HNTR - Mind Games (Original Mix)
April 1, 2024
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/maga-influencers-falsely-claim-trump-paid-mortgage-for-slain-nypd-officers-family
David Zere, host of the MAGA Real America's Voice show Breaking Point, kicked off a firestorm of social media misinformation Friday when he falsely claimed that disgraced former President Donald Trump had paid off the mortgage for the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. Trump used the wake for Officer Diller, who was killed at a traffic stop on Monday, as a photo op, posing for cameras in front of a line of NYPD officers and railing against crime in the U.S.
“We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. This is not working. This is happening too often,” Trump said, despite violent crime rates being lower now than they were during his presidency. Zere said in an interview with Jack Posobiec prior to the wake, "The story here is that Trump gave a donation to Tunnels to Towers, I believe he paid off the mortgage for this family." Trump himself never claimed he would be donating to pay off Diller's mortgage, but the lie quickly spread on social media following Zere's interview. Students for Trump Chair Ryan Fournier posted, "[Trump] has a huge heart and I've seen it time and time again."
https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1773742531370430484
Other MAGA accounts chimed in to praise the former President for his supposed act of charity for the fallen officer's family, calling him a "man of the people" and saying "this is our President who cares."
https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1773438105967587538
https://twitter.com/PU28453638/status/1773412739508994214
https://twitter.com/MattZimmerman26/status/1773452742620520942
In reality, Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a non profit that provides "mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children, and [builds] specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders," quickly announced it would be paying off Diller's mortgage to provide relief for his family. The charity put a button link for the public to donate to Diller's mortgage on the home page of its website:
snip
MAGA Influencers Falsely Claim Trump Paid Mortgage for Slain NYPD Officer's Family
MAGA misinformation takes flight following Trump's photo op at NYPD officer's wakehttps://www.meidastouch.com/news/maga-influencers-falsely-claim-trump-paid-mortgage-for-slain-nypd-officers-family
David Zere, host of the MAGA Real America's Voice show Breaking Point, kicked off a firestorm of social media misinformation Friday when he falsely claimed that disgraced former President Donald Trump had paid off the mortgage for the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. Trump used the wake for Officer Diller, who was killed at a traffic stop on Monday, as a photo op, posing for cameras in front of a line of NYPD officers and railing against crime in the U.S.
“We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently. This is not working. This is happening too often,” Trump said, despite violent crime rates being lower now than they were during his presidency. Zere said in an interview with Jack Posobiec prior to the wake, "The story here is that Trump gave a donation to Tunnels to Towers, I believe he paid off the mortgage for this family." Trump himself never claimed he would be donating to pay off Diller's mortgage, but the lie quickly spread on social media following Zere's interview. Students for Trump Chair Ryan Fournier posted, "[Trump] has a huge heart and I've seen it time and time again."
https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1773742531370430484
Other MAGA accounts chimed in to praise the former President for his supposed act of charity for the fallen officer's family, calling him a "man of the people" and saying "this is our President who cares."
https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1773438105967587538
https://twitter.com/PU28453638/status/1773412739508994214
https://twitter.com/MattZimmerman26/status/1773452742620520942
In reality, Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a non profit that provides "mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children, and [builds] specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders," quickly announced it would be paying off Diller's mortgage to provide relief for his family. The charity put a button link for the public to donate to Diller's mortgage on the home page of its website:
snip
April 1, 2024
We should counter the radical right, Robert Misik writes, not with left-wing populism but the power of reason.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/the-case-for-a-radical-liberal-left
The liberal left seeks to engage diverse individual citizens in dialogue in the public sphere, whereas populists claim to speak on behalf of a homogenised ‘people’ (Henrik Winther Andersen / shutterstock.com)
Today, democracy is threatened almost everywhere by the spirit of illiberalism, anti-pluralism and an authoritarian far right. This has a number of sources. They include a growing climate of pessimism and fear of decline—displacing the feeling of progress associated with the postwar decades in western Europe—as well as counter-reactions to progressive cultural changes over time, such as those associated with tolerance and anti-discrimination. Also at work however has been a dumbing down of discourse. To borrow a phrase from Jürgen Habermas, in a ‘structural transformation of the public sphere’ straightforward propaganda has been conveyed through ‘social media’ and the internet in general, the headline culture of the tabloids and media sensationalism. Right-wing extremism operates via exaggeration, simplification and the conjuring up of imagined enemies. Although it is beholden to its rich patrons, it stylises itself as the advocate of regular guys against ‘those up there’, the ‘elites’ and politicians: all are portrayed as bought, corrupt, incompetent, aloof, ‘against the people’, indeed agents of a ‘system’.
Perverse revolt
There is though a kernel of good in this—the longing for something completely different, for a politics that is not satisfied with the mere administration of what exists and the management of details. It is a kind of revolt in perverse forms, the desire for a real change in the system. Hence the contention that broad sections of the moderate left have left these rebellious energies to the extreme right. This criticism is sometimes accompanied by a plea for ‘left-wing’ populism. What this is supposed to be is however often not so clear. The British-Argentine philosopher Ernesto Laclau, who died a few years ago, was regarded as one of the smartest advocates of left-wing populism. For Laclau, the left had to appeal to the underprivileged—as a resistant ‘we’, against the ‘they’, the established, the rich, the winners, those who created the system to their advantage. Others associate left-wing populism simply with more radicalism or easily understandable demands. In this vein, such demands should be couched in powerful, resonant language, which does not get lost in lifeless exchanges—‘on the one hand’ … ‘on the other hand’—among progressives in government.
Depressing simplifications
Many such arguments not only sound plausible but have a lot going for them. Yet left-wing populism very often leads into a dead end, where a regressive left presents its arguments with a sledgehammer to a world divided into black and white, good and evil. Such Manicheanism ignores the ambiguities of reality and the complexity of every issue. Nor do these depressing simplifications, allied to pseudo-Leninist grandstanding, even lead to success. Among the quite heterogeneous potential electorate of left-wing parties, an unreasoning pitch scares off at least as many as it might attract—particularly among those not ideologically committed to the left side of the political spectrum but amenable to being convinced.
What is sometimes called left liberalism in continental Europe has always been a counter-reaction to a left that thought it could conduct conflicts in a modern world in the guise of a lost past. But, as with left-wing populism, it too has its pitfalls. Left liberalism easily loses itself in such moderation that it no longer achieves anything at all. Worse, it often simply capitulates to ‘realities’, to acceptance of contemporary capitalism. And very often it is reasonable to the point of boredom. If it cannot arouse any passions due to its Realpolitik, the hard left can present a certain ‘unrealism’ as essential in the fight against violence, injustice and social and economic inequality. But left liberalism still has one major advantage over (verbally) radical left-wing populism. The dumbing down of discourse—the petulance, the worn phrases, the omnipresent propaganda—that goes hand in hand with right-wing extremism really gets on many people’s nerves. Trying to compete with the far-right populists on this terrain is the road to nowhere.
Power of the word.............
snip
The case for a radical, liberal left.
We should counter the radical right, Robert Misik writes, not with left-wing populism but the power of reason.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/the-case-for-a-radical-liberal-left
The liberal left seeks to engage diverse individual citizens in dialogue in the public sphere, whereas populists claim to speak on behalf of a homogenised ‘people’ (Henrik Winther Andersen / shutterstock.com)
Today, democracy is threatened almost everywhere by the spirit of illiberalism, anti-pluralism and an authoritarian far right. This has a number of sources. They include a growing climate of pessimism and fear of decline—displacing the feeling of progress associated with the postwar decades in western Europe—as well as counter-reactions to progressive cultural changes over time, such as those associated with tolerance and anti-discrimination. Also at work however has been a dumbing down of discourse. To borrow a phrase from Jürgen Habermas, in a ‘structural transformation of the public sphere’ straightforward propaganda has been conveyed through ‘social media’ and the internet in general, the headline culture of the tabloids and media sensationalism. Right-wing extremism operates via exaggeration, simplification and the conjuring up of imagined enemies. Although it is beholden to its rich patrons, it stylises itself as the advocate of regular guys against ‘those up there’, the ‘elites’ and politicians: all are portrayed as bought, corrupt, incompetent, aloof, ‘against the people’, indeed agents of a ‘system’.
Perverse revolt
There is though a kernel of good in this—the longing for something completely different, for a politics that is not satisfied with the mere administration of what exists and the management of details. It is a kind of revolt in perverse forms, the desire for a real change in the system. Hence the contention that broad sections of the moderate left have left these rebellious energies to the extreme right. This criticism is sometimes accompanied by a plea for ‘left-wing’ populism. What this is supposed to be is however often not so clear. The British-Argentine philosopher Ernesto Laclau, who died a few years ago, was regarded as one of the smartest advocates of left-wing populism. For Laclau, the left had to appeal to the underprivileged—as a resistant ‘we’, against the ‘they’, the established, the rich, the winners, those who created the system to their advantage. Others associate left-wing populism simply with more radicalism or easily understandable demands. In this vein, such demands should be couched in powerful, resonant language, which does not get lost in lifeless exchanges—‘on the one hand’ … ‘on the other hand’—among progressives in government.
Depressing simplifications
Many such arguments not only sound plausible but have a lot going for them. Yet left-wing populism very often leads into a dead end, where a regressive left presents its arguments with a sledgehammer to a world divided into black and white, good and evil. Such Manicheanism ignores the ambiguities of reality and the complexity of every issue. Nor do these depressing simplifications, allied to pseudo-Leninist grandstanding, even lead to success. Among the quite heterogeneous potential electorate of left-wing parties, an unreasoning pitch scares off at least as many as it might attract—particularly among those not ideologically committed to the left side of the political spectrum but amenable to being convinced.
What is sometimes called left liberalism in continental Europe has always been a counter-reaction to a left that thought it could conduct conflicts in a modern world in the guise of a lost past. But, as with left-wing populism, it too has its pitfalls. Left liberalism easily loses itself in such moderation that it no longer achieves anything at all. Worse, it often simply capitulates to ‘realities’, to acceptance of contemporary capitalism. And very often it is reasonable to the point of boredom. If it cannot arouse any passions due to its Realpolitik, the hard left can present a certain ‘unrealism’ as essential in the fight against violence, injustice and social and economic inequality. But left liberalism still has one major advantage over (verbally) radical left-wing populism. The dumbing down of discourse—the petulance, the worn phrases, the omnipresent propaganda—that goes hand in hand with right-wing extremism really gets on many people’s nerves. Trying to compete with the far-right populists on this terrain is the road to nowhere.
Power of the word.............
snip
April 1, 2024
Some people take their religious commemorations a little too seriously.But Jesus fighting back has really made my Easter
https://twitter.com/omid9/status/1774520554621481117
March 31, 2024
13 Reasons Why Writer: Why We Didn’t Shy Away from Hannah’s Suicide
Nic Sheff defends the controversial choice in an eloquent, exclusive op-ed about how his own dark history informed the Netflix series.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/13-reasons-why-suicide-controversy-nic-sheff-writer
https://archive.is/D9cuK
snip
'13 Reasons Why' premiered 7 years ago today.
https://twitter.com/PopBase/status/177429823490487513813 Reasons Why Writer: Why We Didn’t Shy Away from Hannah’s Suicide
Nic Sheff defends the controversial choice in an eloquent, exclusive op-ed about how his own dark history informed the Netflix series.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/13-reasons-why-suicide-controversy-nic-sheff-writer
https://archive.is/D9cuK
snip
March 31, 2024
Tracks
1. Millie Smalls - Enoch Power
2. Les Foster - Do It Nice
3. Gene Rondo - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
4. Radcliffe Butler - You Got To Love Me
5. Rupie Edwards - Exclusively Yours
6. Ewan McDermott & The Vibrators - Don't Bring Me Your Dreams
7. The Bleechers - Easy Up
8. The Mellotones - Facts Of Life
9. The Royals - Mind Yourself (You Think You Too Bad)
10. Lord Tanamo - Come Down
11. Eric Morris - Penny Reel
12. Daniel Johnston - Come On My People
13. Derrick Morgan - Blazing Fire
14. Andy Capp - The Law
15. Count Matchuki & Randy's All Stars - Pepper Pot
16. Anonymousley Yours - Green River
17. Jay Boys - Tilly
18. Lloyd Parks & The Techniques - Feel A Littler Better
19. Silverstars - Promises
20. The Yardbrooms - My Desire (Alt Take)
21. The Enforcers - Musical Fever
22. Carlton Alphonso - Belittle Me
23. Derrick Harriott - Been So Long
24. George Lee & The Family Circle - Reggae Groove
25. The Hippy Boys - Cloudburst
26. Candy - Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
27. The Zodiacs - Renegade
28. Winston Samuels - My Bride To Be
29. The Silvertones - True Confession
30. Daniel In The Lions Den - Dancing In The Sun
31. Chuck & Dobby - I Don't Need Your Love
32. The Uniques - A Yuh
33. Marguerita - Woman A Come
34. The Dingle Brothers - This Is Thunder
35. Johnny Youth - Darling It Won't
36. The Upsetters - Dollar In The Teeth
37. Tony Tribe - I'm Gonna Give Her All The Love
38. Stranger Cole & The Conquerors - Drop The Ratchet
39. The Fabion - V Rocket
40. The Tennors - Reggae Girl
41. Rick - Deep In My Soul
42. Lloyd Robinson & Glen Brown - Too Late
43. Clive & Naomi - You Are Mine
44. Black & George - Candy Lady
45. The Clarendonians - Lick It Back
46. The Royals - Pick Out Me Eye
47. Hugh Malcolm - Good Time Rock
48. Trojan Sound System/Dandy Livingstone - Rudy, A Message To You
49. Sir Harry - Musical Right
50. The Bleechers - Everything For Fun
51. Winston Samuels - Time Will Tell
52. Des All Stars - Night Food Reggae
53. The Aces - Working On It Night & Day
54. Winston Francis - Girl I've Got A Date (feat. The Rudies)
55. Eric Morris - Sammy Dead
56. Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - Try Me
57. The Blues Busters - Soon You'll Be Gone
58. Justin Hindes - Rup Up, Push Up
59. The Pioneers - Jackpot
60. Alton Ellis - Play It Cool
TROJAN RECORDS SKA ROCKSTEADY REGGAE MIX
Tracks
1. Millie Smalls - Enoch Power
2. Les Foster - Do It Nice
3. Gene Rondo - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
4. Radcliffe Butler - You Got To Love Me
5. Rupie Edwards - Exclusively Yours
6. Ewan McDermott & The Vibrators - Don't Bring Me Your Dreams
7. The Bleechers - Easy Up
8. The Mellotones - Facts Of Life
9. The Royals - Mind Yourself (You Think You Too Bad)
10. Lord Tanamo - Come Down
11. Eric Morris - Penny Reel
12. Daniel Johnston - Come On My People
13. Derrick Morgan - Blazing Fire
14. Andy Capp - The Law
15. Count Matchuki & Randy's All Stars - Pepper Pot
16. Anonymousley Yours - Green River
17. Jay Boys - Tilly
18. Lloyd Parks & The Techniques - Feel A Littler Better
19. Silverstars - Promises
20. The Yardbrooms - My Desire (Alt Take)
21. The Enforcers - Musical Fever
22. Carlton Alphonso - Belittle Me
23. Derrick Harriott - Been So Long
24. George Lee & The Family Circle - Reggae Groove
25. The Hippy Boys - Cloudburst
26. Candy - Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
27. The Zodiacs - Renegade
28. Winston Samuels - My Bride To Be
29. The Silvertones - True Confession
30. Daniel In The Lions Den - Dancing In The Sun
31. Chuck & Dobby - I Don't Need Your Love
32. The Uniques - A Yuh
33. Marguerita - Woman A Come
34. The Dingle Brothers - This Is Thunder
35. Johnny Youth - Darling It Won't
36. The Upsetters - Dollar In The Teeth
37. Tony Tribe - I'm Gonna Give Her All The Love
38. Stranger Cole & The Conquerors - Drop The Ratchet
39. The Fabion - V Rocket
40. The Tennors - Reggae Girl
41. Rick - Deep In My Soul
42. Lloyd Robinson & Glen Brown - Too Late
43. Clive & Naomi - You Are Mine
44. Black & George - Candy Lady
45. The Clarendonians - Lick It Back
46. The Royals - Pick Out Me Eye
47. Hugh Malcolm - Good Time Rock
48. Trojan Sound System/Dandy Livingstone - Rudy, A Message To You
49. Sir Harry - Musical Right
50. The Bleechers - Everything For Fun
51. Winston Samuels - Time Will Tell
52. Des All Stars - Night Food Reggae
53. The Aces - Working On It Night & Day
54. Winston Francis - Girl I've Got A Date (feat. The Rudies)
55. Eric Morris - Sammy Dead
56. Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - Try Me
57. The Blues Busters - Soon You'll Be Gone
58. Justin Hindes - Rup Up, Push Up
59. The Pioneers - Jackpot
60. Alton Ellis - Play It Cool
March 31, 2024
snip
7 delicious chocolate recipes for Easter
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7-delicious-chocolate-recipes-for-easter-jjkxkd7lb
https://archive.is/munNK
River Cafe's torta di Capri
Serves 8-10
Pasticcerie all over Capri serve slices of this torta, and you’ll see everyone walking around eating this delicious cake wrapped in a napkin.
Ingredients
• 225g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 350g blanched whole almonds
• 350g best-quality dark chocolate (at least 85 per cent cocoa solids), broken into pieces
• 250g caster sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
Method
1. Heat the oven to 130C fan/gas 2. Butter a 20cm round, deep, springform cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Finely grind half of the almonds in a food processor. Tip into a bowl, then coarsely grind the rest of the almonds with the chocolate.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until pale and light. Add the egg yolks, one by one, beating well between each addition, then beat in the ground nuts (both finely and coarsely ground) and chocolate.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold about a quarter of the whites into the stiff chocolate mixture to loosen it a little, then fold this into the remaining egg whites.
5. Turn into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until set – test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the torta: if it is cooked the skewer will come out clean. Cool in the tin.
Pasticcerie all over Capri serve slices of this torta, and you’ll see everyone walking around eating this delicious cake wrapped in a napkin.
Ingredients
• 225g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 350g blanched whole almonds
• 350g best-quality dark chocolate (at least 85 per cent cocoa solids), broken into pieces
• 250g caster sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
Method
1. Heat the oven to 130C fan/gas 2. Butter a 20cm round, deep, springform cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Finely grind half of the almonds in a food processor. Tip into a bowl, then coarsely grind the rest of the almonds with the chocolate.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until pale and light. Add the egg yolks, one by one, beating well between each addition, then beat in the ground nuts (both finely and coarsely ground) and chocolate.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold about a quarter of the whites into the stiff chocolate mixture to loosen it a little, then fold this into the remaining egg whites.
5. Turn into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until set – test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the torta: if it is cooked the skewer will come out clean. Cool in the tin.
snip
7 delicious chocolate recipes for Easter
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7-delicious-chocolate-recipes-for-easter-jjkxkd7lb
https://archive.is/munNK
March 29, 2024
"There will be a need for radical change, if we don't do it, sorry, the right wingers will do it."
In a wide ranging discussion of the world stage, Putin, Ukraine, Trump and the dangers of religion in an era of atheism, Slavoj Žižek tells #timesradio how the West can navigate the threats of modern nationalist populism.
Trump, Himmler, Putin and 'Atheist Christianity'
Slavoj Žižek's plot to save the West"There will be a need for radical change, if we don't do it, sorry, the right wingers will do it."
In a wide ranging discussion of the world stage, Putin, Ukraine, Trump and the dangers of religion in an era of atheism, Slavoj Žižek tells #timesradio how the West can navigate the threats of modern nationalist populism.
March 28, 2024
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/4th-circuit-declines-to-block-new-north-carolina-senate-map-for-2024-elections/
WASHINGTON, D.C. — North Carolina’s new state Senate districts will remain in place for the 2024 general election as a result of a 2-1 opinion issued this morning by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling affirms a lower court’s decision that denied Black voters’ request to preliminarily block the map earlier this year.
Last October, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Legislature redrew the state Senate districts — along with the state House and congressional districts — nearly five months after the state Supreme Court’s newly constituted Republican majority greenlit partisan gerrymandering and overturned its prior redistricting decisions.
In response to the new state Senate map, Black voters filed a federal lawsuit in November 2023 alleging that the newly drawn 1st and 2nd Senate Districts violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and “crack” Black voters across multiple districts. The lawsuit argues that the districts unlawfully deprived Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in the Black Belt counties of northeastern North Carolina, including Bertie, Hertford, Edgecombe, Northampton and Halifax Counties.
A federal judge in January declined the voters’ preliminary motion to block the state Senate map and adopt a new one prior to the 2024 elections that includes a minority-opportunity district in the northeast part of the state. In that ruling, a Bush-appointed federal judge wrote that there is “insufficient evidence [to show] that Section 2 requires a majority-black Senate district in northeast North Carolina.” The judge added that doing so would amount to the creation of a racially gerrymandered district that was impermissibly drawn using “race-based sorting.”
snip
4th Circuit Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/4th-circuit-declines-to-block-new-north-carolina-senate-map-for-2024-elections/
WASHINGTON, D.C. — North Carolina’s new state Senate districts will remain in place for the 2024 general election as a result of a 2-1 opinion issued this morning by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling affirms a lower court’s decision that denied Black voters’ request to preliminarily block the map earlier this year.
Last October, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Legislature redrew the state Senate districts — along with the state House and congressional districts — nearly five months after the state Supreme Court’s newly constituted Republican majority greenlit partisan gerrymandering and overturned its prior redistricting decisions.
In response to the new state Senate map, Black voters filed a federal lawsuit in November 2023 alleging that the newly drawn 1st and 2nd Senate Districts violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and “crack” Black voters across multiple districts. The lawsuit argues that the districts unlawfully deprived Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in the Black Belt counties of northeastern North Carolina, including Bertie, Hertford, Edgecombe, Northampton and Halifax Counties.
A federal judge in January declined the voters’ preliminary motion to block the state Senate map and adopt a new one prior to the 2024 elections that includes a minority-opportunity district in the northeast part of the state. In that ruling, a Bush-appointed federal judge wrote that there is “insufficient evidence [to show] that Section 2 requires a majority-black Senate district in northeast North Carolina.” The judge added that doing so would amount to the creation of a racially gerrymandered district that was impermissibly drawn using “race-based sorting.”
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,333
