#fair representation

A circuit judge in Leon County, which includes the capital of Florida, has struck down Ron DeSantis's gerrymandered US House map for Florida.

A judge in Florida has ruled in favor of voting rights groups that filed a lawsuit against a congressional redistricting map approved by Ron DeSantis in 2022. Voting rights groups had criticized the map for diluting political power in Black communities. In the ruling, Leon county circuit judge J Lee Marsh sent the map back to the Florida legislature to be redrawn in a way that complies with the state’s constitution. “Under the stipulated facts (in the lawsuit), plaintiffs have shown that the enacted plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida constitution,” Marsh wrote in the ruling. The ruling is expected to be appealed by the state, likely putting the case before the Florida supreme court.

DeSantis had rejected a somewhat gerrymandered map his rubber stamp legislature had drawn and insisted that it pass his super-gerrymandered alternative instead. That's the map Judge Marsh threw out.

I don't know how independent the Florida Supreme Court is these days, but that looks like the next stop for this case.

The lawsuit focused on a north Florida congressional district previously represented by the Democrat Al Lawson, who is Black. Lawson’s district was carved up into districts represented by white Republicans. DeSantis vetoed a map that initially preserved Lawson’s district in 2022, submitting his own map and calling a special legislative session demanding state legislators accept it. Judge Marsh rejected claims from Florida Republicans that the state’s provision against weakening or eliminating minority-dominant districts violated the US constitution. “This is a significant victory in the fight for fair representation for Black Floridians,” said Olivia Mendoza, director of litigation and policy for the National Redistricting Foundation, an affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, in a statement. “As a result, the current discriminatory map should be replaced with a map that restores the fifth congressional district in a manner that gives Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.” In 2022, the Florida Legislative Black Caucus labeled the DeSantis-approved congressional map as voter suppression. The map resulted in Florida Republicans picking up four congressional seats in the state, increasing Republican representatives from 16 to 20 out of 28 seats and helping Republicans seal a slim majority in the House in 2022.

Of course DeSantis will complain that permitting fair representation is "woke" and may try to get Judge Marsh fired in retaliation for the ruling.

For fair representation nationally, consider supporting the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

I usually don't advertise a petition for a project, but this one is different for me.

This past year, I have been exposed to a wonderful person, Marilyn Monroe. To her films, her impact on the industry, and the effect she had on many lives. But recently, with some films about her life, and failing to represent her right! Whereas with this project by Jbunzie (Jessica Vill), she aims to give Marilyn Monroe the proper film she deserves! With, Jbunzie only uses authentic sources in her script. Such as Marilyn Monroe's audio tapes/diary to recall her life. 

If anyone can do this Marilyn Monroe biopic, it's definitely Jbunzie! 

If you want to see the REAL life of Marilyn Monroe on film, please go to the link down below to sign the petition.

Link to the Fair Representation of Marilyn Monroe petition and more details about the project: 

https://rallystarter.com/r/1422/fair-representation-of-marilyn-monroe?fbclid=IwAR22opWXT74VrSDqHQ2ev914_Mxv1BhWTDKfk6wYFdqXocMigoVk-YNOZhU 

Also links to Jbunzie’s Facebook and TikTok accounts to learn more about the biopic and to receive updates: 

https://www.facebook.com/theofficialjbunzie 

What’s up everyone? In order to bring about meaningful change within our judicial system, it is crucial for society to acknowledge and confront the numerous atrocities and injustices that plague it. Dismissing these issues as irrelevant only hampers our collective progress. We possess the power to be heard and must pay attention to the voices of prisoners and those trapped in this flawed system…

Size matters – when it comes to representation.

You ever wonder why there are just 435 seats in the House of Representatives? It’s certainly not in the US Constitution.

Personally, I think it’s time for an upgrade. We’ve been stuck at 435 since the William Howard Taft administration.

[T]he fact that the size of the House hasn’t increased in more than a century is a real problem for our democracy. For starters, there is an ever wider gulf between Americans and their representatives, as the average number of people represented in a district has more than tripled, from about 210,000 in 1910 to about 760,000 in 2020.3 Moreover, some states are severely over- and underrepresented as a result.

It only takes a law, not a constitutional amendment, to change the number of House seats.

Compared to countries with similar systems (mostly federal, mostly ‘first past the post’), people in the US are underrepresented in the lower chamber of their national legislature.

There’s easily enough room in the House chamber for another 150 seats. So why not raise the total to 585? That’s a rather modest increase of under 35%.

So, you think there isn’t a problem?

Take the smallest and largest states with only one representative: Wyoming and Delaware, respectively. Wyoming, with just under 578,000 people, winds up overrepresented because it’s guaranteed a seat despite falling well short of that 760,000 national average. Conversely, Delaware has nearly 991,000 people, which leaves it underrepresented because it isn’t quite large enough to earn a second seat. Meanwhile, Montana has only about 95,000 more people than Delaware, but that’s enough for the apportionment formula to eke out a second seat, meaning Montana will have two districts to Delaware’s one and an average district size of just over 542,000, making its constituents the most represented in the country.

We already have excessive overrepresentation of small states in the Senate - that is the constitutional point of that body. But the House is supposed to be based on population. We’ll never quite do that perfectly, but we can do much better than we are now.

Contact your House member and make a case for increasing the size of the House.

My Opinion On: George Takei & New Interpretations of Old Characters

Something that made big news this weekend was George Tekei’s comments regarding Star Trek’s character, Helsman Hiraku Sulu, being homosexual in the next film. As a fangirl, I am very quick to rally behind same-sex couples. I wish they occupied more leading roles and held an appropriate amount of existence in these fictional universes to which we so tightly cling. I was intrigued when I saw a slew…